What would you like to see in the new era?

[Princesca]

IDK how, but I would LOVE some way to involve the users of this board more often, whether it be featuring 'guest host' people who've recently returned from trips to hear their thoughts or something like that. The biggest strength the DIS has *always* had are all the posters here on this board who, together, make the most amazing Disney 'hive mind' that history has ever seen. It would be neat to make all of those people more present and forefront and real.

 

[lockets]

What's the vision for these Boards? My understanding is that it's a segment of the business that benefits ownership 100%. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Total internet finance novice here. What would make a site owner more money? 1.) Steering "leads" towards a Travel Agency, DVC Sales Company, or Real Estate Company, or 2.) Getting ad revenue from sponsorships, overall viewer traffic and "hits"? Seems as if making content decisions based on the former is what led the site to become a shell of its former self which decreased viewership and caused people to look elsewhere for their WDW content. A financial interest in a DVC company begot a DVC show. Boring! A financial interest in a real estate agency begot a Moving To Orlando show. Boring. All this content came at the expense of fun and interesting WDW/Orlando content.

I don't think the DIS has ever prioritized the ad revenue from Youtube/Social media the way they could have. To have been in the game since BEFORE youtube even started and to only have ~165k followers is not great. Other relatively new Disney content creators have waaay more. Or look at AllEars, they started around the same time but successfully made the transition to video content in a way that The DIS didn't.

I'm gonna go so far as to say that they don't need a "studio" at all. People want to see what's happening in the parks. Sitting around a table talk show style is not what's hot these days.

 

[Sonnyeclipse]

My Ideal Outcome

“The Dis” returns to its original mission according to Bob Varley. A group of friends passionate and knowledgeable about traveling to and enjoying Walt Disney World. Aka Ryno’s “The Connors”. Talking about the ins and outs of enjoying a WDW vacation. As Ryno has said, The Dis isn’t a place of regular Vloggers about WDW rather a company that wants to inform travelers that will be coming to WDW. Vloggers in WDW are there to entertain others and enjoy the park themselves. It is also a larger community of people that read the boards, watch the podcast and travel with the team and go to Disunplugged events.

• Craig and Corey purchase The Dis
• Payments for the purchase are set up to repay DU, - John and Donna for losses they have incurred.
• Panda comes back as the host. He is very passionate about WDW and extremely knowledgeable about the parks. He still loves them and enjoys his time there. He has a fabulous on camera personality that is completely authentic. Very relaxed and positive with a really fun self-depreciating humor. No ego about being more informed or opinionated. He was the best addition in years.
• Craig will produce the show and video content. I love him dearly, but I know his attention is divided when he hosts. He can’t help himself and is divided mentally when on air. He is an absolute rock and has held The Dis together for the last few years. He deserves our love and support.
• Ryno covers film, merchandise, pop culture and whatever he wants. I love him dearly too and he needs to do and cover what will make him happy and he will shine doing it. He needs this opportunity to move forward with the freedom to explore. A few minutes of UO and Disney Pop Culture on “The Dis” a week would be informative and entertaining.
• Julie and Teresa cover the practicalities of travel to WDW. This is The Dis bread, butter and all the groceries. This is what people want to hear. “Has the price of strollers gone up?” “Should I bring my own?” “Should I buy a cheap umbrella stroller down there then leave it behind?” “Should I rent in the park or rent from offsite?” Teresa often chimed in about what her clients are telling her. A segment called “What are our clients asking us” gathered from DU agents would be HUGE.
• No one mentioned one word on MCO getting more direct flights from other airports.
• Erika moves to social media and joins the Dining program segments on plant-based dining. She does not have the expertise to speak on planning travel and getting groups of people, families, to and from the park. Places to stay, where to get the most value for money spent. She loves the parks and enjoys her time there, but she doesn’t plan vacations or spent money to travel there.
• Corey spends time making WDWinfo the go-to-spot to plan a vacation in WDW. Directing traffic to segments on The Dis Youtube channel on how to navigate Genie + or without The Magical Express how to get around. Again, finding out from the DU agents what their clients are asking and giving the DU agents a place to send their clients when they have questions.
• Add John and Kevin to the dining program on the finer restaurants WDW and around Orlando. If they went back to Il Mulino they would be aghast at how bad it has gotten since the pandemic. A segment about getting around WDW in a scooter would be perfect and a great addition to the WDWinfo website. DU must have clients that have trouble getting around WDW. Here is how to grab that business.

Love this

 

[MK2010]

I don't think we'll see anyone who has left come back. I LOVED when Erika was doing the TikTok lives. She was really good. Off the Rails was probably my favorite show. And yes....bring back more Park Benches!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Agree completely! That is why they’ve always gotten complaints about them being “too local”.

I think having a DU agent come on every week to talk about what feedback they get from their clients would be invaluable. The practicalities of trip planning. That is why the oversight of new direct flights to MCO made me cringe. A solid trip planning podcast would have been all over that.

I don’t want to be one of “those” people, but back when we had the Disneyland Team podcast one of the segments we would do now and then was have people write in about an upcoming trip to Disneyland. Tom would pick one, and we would have the person on the show, talk about the trip and give our recommendations. After their trip they would come on the show and give us a recap, letting us know what recommendations they used and highlights/lowlights of the trip. Those were some of my favorite segments.

 

[New England Eeyore]

I don’t want to be one of “those” people, but back when we had the Disneyland Team podcast one of the segments we would do now and then was have people write in about an upcoming trip to Disneyland. Tom would pick one, and we would have the person on the show, talk about the trip and give our recommendations. After their trip they would come on the show and give us a recap, letting us know what recommendations they used and highlights/lowlights of the trip. Those were some of my favorite segments.

I loved those segments. I still miss the DL show.

 

[yorkieteacher]

Agree totally with highlights/lowlights segment from readers sending them in. One or two a week would be great. Honestly, some trip reports are just too long to read through on the boards. Often bullet points work best for me. Love the idea of different Dreams agents coming on and discuss new things clients need to be aware of and there possible impact on trips. Or top client concerns or gasp, complaints. I loved Fiasco’s ranking shows. I honestly was not a fan of Off the Rails when the topics got totally off WDW; the Pizza Hut franchise for example. Loved Craig’s rankings from FB Disboards readers as well. So many possibilities for great directions. I do value the opinions of the panel members, but maybe more diversity to have rotating guest members who are not from the area, older people and people with young children, international visitors, and people of color.

 

[KingLlama]

My ideal outcome would be Duffy being put into a barrel and shot directly into the sun.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Am I missing something when people say Craig should purchase the dis? I thought Corey was well off but Craig didn't make much money.

Craig is the tent pole of this tent. He obviously loves it because he is so fastidious, hard-working and passionate about the show. Hard to tell he is passionate at first but Off the Rails showed that side. During the regular show he has a lot of balls in the air producing and even so he is an awesome contributor.

That's why it would be fashioned like a mortgage payment to DU. Kevin and John are decent men and I can see them doing their utmost best to help the team stay afloat and The Dis may be the only thing of value that could be used to repay DU. The Dis is probably their only advertising and DU may be pretty dependent on the business that comes their way from the sponsorship of the The Disunplugged. Every week we hear that The Dis is brought to you by Dreams Unlimited Travel.

The boards are part of The Dis. They came before The Disunplugged. Corey built them along side of Pete and probably has been doing most of the work himself. I believe Corey does IT for both DU and The Dis. If he "has money" that is where it came from so it is also in his best interest to keep things afloat. It isn't unusual in these circumstances for one partner to make the payments for the first few years until the business generates enough income for the other partner to start to make contributions.

Absolutely no one, including Dustin and Sean, want to see a "scorched earth" outcome. Dustin's love for the program was part of Pete's manipulation. Sean helped build MTO. He loves Disney too. Neither have expressed any ill will toward the members of the team.

I am hopeful in the end. Things are even better for the program.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

My ideal outcome would be Duffy being put into a barrel and shot directly into the sun.

Nice to hear from you again!! You are one of my all time favorite posters. Back to stalking you.

 

[ChrisFL]

I don't know the previous hiring practices, if it all went through Pete's approval process (lets not get into details), but I feel like soon it would be a good time to get new people with fresh takes on Disney back into the mix.

It is IMO inevitable that people who have been around for a long time may not feel the same love for the parks as they used to (even without any of the complexities). Erica has been a good addition IMO, but there needs to maybe more ideas from the audience...things like "restaurants we haven't eaten at yet" aren't a great video idea and come across as "we're running out of ideas". I say this with a LOT of respect for Craig and Ryno keeping the ship afloat all of this time.

 

[MonaMN]

I don't think the DIS has ever prioritized the ad revenue from Youtube/Social media the way they could have. To have been in the game since BEFORE youtube even started and to only have ~165k followers is not great. Other relatively new Disney content creators have waaay more. Or look at AllEars, they started around the same time but successfully made the transition to video content in a way that The DIS didn't.

I'm gonna go so far as to say that they don't need a "studio" at all. People want to see what's happening in the parks. Sitting around a table talk show style is not what's hot these days.

Great call. I know some have mixed feelings about Molly/Mammoth Club, but I very much enjoy some of their concepts and their banter. Playing Rock-Paper-Scissors and then choosing places to get food/beverage (almost never Molly because she has terrible luck)? It's fun (for me) to watch and I learn a little something about the food and beverage options.

I'd love to let them really let their creativity go now and see what happens.

 

[DanielleC]

I think they need to get back to their core "business". The Dis Unplugged was supposed to support and bring customers to DUT. It was when Pete started to "branch out" that things went down hill. Starting up the cruise line & DVC channels, dropping the Disneyland show and the Universal show because he went all gaga over DVC and Cruise Line. Why would they push DVC when DUT doesn't get any income from it? I still scratch my head with that one. Yeah, I know they got real estate licenses but they weren't selling DVC. Every week we don't need to hear how great DCL is and how bad WDW is. Once every few months is sufficient.

That said there should be great emphasis on Dis Unplugged, with the Disneyland and Universal shows 2nd and 3rd. The can roll DVC and Cruise Line into Dis Unplugged like they did pre-pandemic.

They need to understand they are not a news show, they are an opinion and editorial show. Once a week can't be a news show in this day and age. News moves too fast.

The shows needs more structure. They used to have some structure and now it's mostly all gone to a free for all discussion.

They need to learn how to stack a TV show, dividing it up into blocks. There should be 5 to 7 blocks in the stack. The first block is the latest feature story. The next block is "the weekly news". And so on, closing with a light hearted story in the last block. And they need to stay on topic so they don't run over. Forget the after show. All that was, was a way to generate more income. They need to have a pre-production meeting the day before or morning of to lay out the next show's blocks.

There needs to be more tips and planning, not complaining. There needs to be more reviews. On Dis Unplugged there should be a 10 min discussion about about a table service restaurant and another 10 min discussion about a quick service restaurant. Every week there should be a 10 min review about a resort. There should also be a section of the show where viewer questions should be answered, questions about WDW, DL, and other parks DUT books. There isn't any reason that segments can't be taped either.

There needs to be an annual Dis Con meet put on by DUT & Unplugged and not GKTW. I know GKTW is a great organization. But that was the start of taking a great event and sending it into the toilet. Anyone notice there has been very little mention of GKTW since last September?

There should be a guest panelist every week. Someone who is not a part of the Dis Unplugged team. A viewer. Someone similar to a panelist on PlanDisney. Someone who can get to the studio. Yes, they did remote during the pandemic and they still do that on TV news programs, but it isn't the same. Someone who can give them a few hours while here on vacation.

They could consider doing a show with a studio audience at some point. They could be a part of the dining reviews.

They need to let their on air talent be on air talent and stop doing technical work during the show. Is Craig a producer, executive producer, technical director or on air talent? What does he want to do? What do any of them want to do?

They need a technical crew. In the least a producer that runs the show, a technical director that runs the consoles and a floor manager that keeps them on schedule.

Lastly, they need to find ways to get Dis Unplugged fans more involved in the show.

 

[DanielleC]

Now that I said all that, I've given some thought to the content.

00:00	Intro
00:10	Theme
00:30	Welcome
1:00	Block A	Feature story 1
		Feature story 2
11:00	Block B	Resort Review
21:00	Block C	QS Dining Review
		TS Dining Review
36:00	Block D	Parent Ponderings
46:00	Block E	Ride Openings/Closing/Refurbishments/DCL Announcements/ABD Announcements
52:00	Block F	Q&A
57:00	Block G	Lighthearted story
59:30	Close theme

 

[Friendly Frog]

Total internet finance novice here. What would make a site owner more money? 1.) Steering "leads" towards a Travel Agency, DVC Sales Company, or Real Estate Company, or 2.) Getting ad revenue from sponsorships, overall viewer traffic and "hits"? Seems as if making content decisions based on the former is what led the site to become a shell of its former self which decreased viewership and caused people to look elsewhere for their WDW content. A financial interest in a DVC company begot a DVC show. Boring! A financial interest in a real estate agency begot a Moving To Orlando show. Boring. All this content came at the expense of fun and interesting WDW/Orlando content.

But if losing viewers while gaining DU customers, DVC customers and MTO customers results in a net financial gain, then a decision such as the one mentioned above makes sense even if we don't like it. Conversely, if "traffic" and "hits" leads to higher revenue, then it behooves the site owner to beef up the content that will attract viewers and "hits" even if it does the travel agency, DVC company and Real Estate Company no favors. I have no idea how any of this works, but I suspect that behind the scenes, this is the subject of a huge discussion. Some will want to make WDW content that generates viewers and traffic while others will want content that steers customers towards the businesses in which they have a financial stake. The bygone days when Bob Varley wanted a show for the fun of it are over. Earnings are going to drive decisions and I have no idea how a site like this and income generated from it all works, but I do know that this will be the singele biggest influence on the future.

I agree on all points.
The DVC & cruise push came and sucked a lot the joy out. It became too much like an infomercial. I like YouTube, it was a nice addition, but it was really hard to find the content I wanted, ( weekly park show with discussion.)

That original format was gold. It was different from the others. It felt more personal and some of the "blooper" moments just made it better. Dog toe nails on the floor, barking, an occasional lawn mower, even the back drop of a window instead of a wall, all helped to set the feel that we, the viewer, were there on a more open and intimate level. This was so much better than a scripted report from a dull studio.

I would like to once again see housekeeping first, then a topic with possible park video footage, followed with a roundtable discussion of the video or any topic. The interchange between people of differing opinions keeps it interesting.

As far as the new studio, I would love to see a outside view as a back drop rather than a wall, mural or bookshelf. I know this is more difficult production wise, but hey, show off that Florida location and make us feel there with you during the show. I love seeing the parks and keep those type of videos going, but please don't drop the studio reports. There is nothing like getting together with a group of friends and just chatting about Disney.

Finally, More diversity with the panel. Younger, older, straight, gay, and maybe someone who uses a mobility device (RIP Bob) I love the current team, but the perspective base has shrunk.

+More free discussion.
+Less script reading.
+No Disney kool-aid formats. Continue to call out what isn't working well.
+Less cruise selling or put it at the end of the show.
+Keep the studio meetings.

 

[CentralPAPete]

I’d love to see a new/updated deep dive into the resorts. Not only room tours, but what the various dining options are, pool, and anything else there is to do at each resort like the activities for families etc.

 

[tspann]

I think your vision is spot on! I may not post a lot but I "lurk" a lot. That's just me. I do the same thing on Facebook, Tiktok, IG, ect. But saying that, I have been a member since the very beginning. I know my joined date says 2000 but that is only because my original membership got "lost" in the shuffle. I have a love for these boards that I just can't explain to an outsider. These boards bring me back to a time when I was happiest. PLEASE don't let them go away all together!

 

[Kevin O'Brien]

Now that I said all that, I've given some thought to the content.

00:00	Intro
00:10	Theme
00:30	Welcome
1:00	Block A	Feature story 1
		Feature story 2
11:00	Block B	Resort Review
21:00	Block C	QS Dining Review
		TS Dining Review
36:00	Block D	Parent Ponderings
46:00	Block E	Ride Openings/Closing/Refurbishments/DCL Announcements/ABD Announcements
52:00	Block F	Q&A
57:00	Block G	Lighthearted story
59:30	Close theme

That's excellent way of planning out a podcast also for me I'd recommend a gameshow for the team at the podcast to make it more enjoyable to watch.

 

[Unclelude]

Whatever they do, stay out of politics and the cancel/social BS topic of the week... they'd say they stayed away from it, but it got bad... I unsubscribed a few months ago from all the YouTube channels...

That being said, I don't think unplugged should lose all of its edge (when they were on topic). Pete played a good 'villain'(apparently really good one)... entertaining at times... there are plenty of Disney kiss-*** channels out there.