DIS Unplugged used to be about Trip Planning

[MikeTaylor]

When we started taking trips, we just stayed at All-Stars and kept costs down. We were younger and spent most of our time in the parks. With the expansion of New Fantasyland and other announcements like FP+ (or MM+?) in the 2010s, there was a huge void where the information needed to go to have an enjoyable vacation; for a lot of people that place was here. The 7 resorts in 7 days videos were just up our alley, because we wanted content where we could contrast our personal experience to see if the upcharge was worth it. Be Our Guest restaurant was something exciting to watch the progress on. The boards had live trip reports and other strategies that were appealing, but the shows were upbeat as well as informative, so I started watching. Ultimately, being more informed and more involved, I ended up contributing in the process which resulted in better stays and new friends (some who've since passed).

The quality of the videos (to Dustin and Craig's credit) were amazing compared to other thrown-together travesties that were on the web at the time. The shows were engaging because of the enthusiastic rapport of the team, the informative and visual representation in the parks, and because other than fluff sites and rumor sites, no one was critiquing decisions being made that the casual guest would endure out in the field. From Kevin's infamous food reviews to others' rants about technology and support creating headaches for everyone, it was a fun hour to enjoy others relating about the same things that were interesting all under the Disney Umbrella... and the sad state of fandom now is that anyone can (and does) produce this type of content. Even old mainstays that had documentary-style videos on YT are now catering to this market-driven approach. It's a deep dive into a shifting sea of content where this small tree once stood on land helping provide others that leap.

Content becomes sub content, and sub content creates niche, and niche creates division and unsustainability (Galactic Starcruiser anyone?). The fact of the matter is that people will gather where the need is and it is the people that help the community, not just the gatekeepers. All of these TkTk and IG influencers are a weird bunch out for clout/money that doesn't help anyone who needs information about the parks (and sometimes they will provide false information on purpose!). It's just a shame they're polluting our desire for enjoyable vacations (and the violent/idiotic guests, too). Add to the mix the political landscape throwing a magnifying glass on top of our little anthill; except real actions are creating real consequences that have us fleeing in every different direction to preserve function and well being. It's very hard to watch and like many, people are tuning out because they're put off by it. The product has to have value for retention purposes if anything!

Anyone can read off of scripts provided by Disney Press Releases and that format is hard to watch. Acting excited by a hotdog or a misting machine being operational is passionless work and it translates as such to the viewer. Despite the culture behind the scenes, that kind of content was still being produced here, but more so as an obligation instead of an engaging interaction with the camera. Being in production, I understand how it's easy to phone-it-in when the talent is hard to work with or doing scandalous stuff. The job still needs done, but that's what word of mouth is for and from the very public revolving door of employees, I can say that the writing was on the wall for some time. We know who not to work with. As much as we despise the actions of the creator, the content was still consumed and will probably still be around (like Michael Jackson's songs for example) with many not knowing or caring. There's a reason "quiet quitting" is a thing now in the workplace.

As a former freelance contributor to this site, I can say the most motivating factor for me was adding to an already abundant conversation about park going. Just getting the information out there (and to occasionally work in obscure opinions) or to shed some light on how the parks could be better for fans (and first time park guests alike) was an enjoyable thing to do. Conversations on the air created topics discussed here. There will always be a need for someone to add to a conversation. For better or worse, once the discussions became more divisive, I had nothing constructive to offer. So, I'll leave you with this: I can also state that any money I made from that freelance work ended up going to GKTW anyway, so the added awareness that this website promoted for this charity I can confirm is a tangible thing.

 

[JJZMgailey]

When we started taking trips, we just stayed at All-Stars and kept costs down. We were younger and spent most of our time in the parks. With the expansion of New Fantasyland and other announcements like FP+ (or MM+?) in the 2010s, there was a huge void where the information needed to go to have an enjoyable vacation; for a lot of people that place was here. The 7 resorts in 7 days videos were just up our alley, because we wanted content where we could contrast our personal experience to see if the upcharge was worth it. Be Our Guest restaurant was something exciting to watch the progress on. The boards had live trip reports and other strategies that were appealing, but the shows were upbeat as well as informative, so I started watching. Ultimately, being more informed and more involved, I ended up contributing in the process which resulted in better stays and new friends (some who've since passed).

The quality of the videos (to Dustin and Craig's credit) were amazing compared to other thrown-together travesties that were on the web at the time. The shows were engaging because of the enthusiastic rapport of the team, the informative and visual representation in the parks, and because other than fluff sites and rumor sites, no one was critiquing decisions being made that the casual guest would endure out in the field. From Kevin's infamous food reviews to others' rants about technology and support creating headaches for everyone, it was a fun hour to enjoy others relating about the same things that were interesting all under the Disney Umbrella... and the sad state of fandom now is that anyone can (and does) produce this type of content. Even old mainstays that had documentary-style videos on YT are now catering to this market-driven approach. It's a deep dive into a shifting sea of content where this small tree once stood on land helping provide others that leap.

Content becomes sub content, and sub content creates niche, and niche creates division and unsustainability (Galactic Starcruiser anyone?). The fact of the matter is that people will gather where the need is and it is the people that help the community, not just the gatekeepers. All of these TkTk and IG influencers are a weird bunch out for clout/money that doesn't help anyone who needs information about the parks (and sometimes they will provide false information on purpose!). It's just a shame they're polluting our desire for enjoyable vacations (and the violent/idiotic guests, too). Add to the mix the political landscape throwing a magnifying glass on top of our little anthill; except real actions are creating real consequences that have us fleeing in every different direction to preserve function and well being. It's very hard to watch and like many, people are tuning out because they're put off by it. The product has to have value for retention purposes if anything!

Anyone can read off of scripts provided by Disney Press Releases and that format is hard to watch. Acting excited by a hotdog or a misting machine being operational is passionless work and it translates as such to the viewer. Despite the culture behind the scenes, that kind of content was still being produced here, but more so as an obligation instead of an engaging interaction with the camera. Being in production, I understand how it's easy to phone-it-in when the talent is hard to work with or doing scandalous stuff. The job still needs done, but that's what word of mouth is for and from the very public revolving door of employees, I can say that the writing was on the wall for some time. We know who not to work with. As much as we despise the actions of the creator, the content was still consumed and will probably still be around (like Michael Jackson's songs for example) with many not knowing or caring. There's a reason "quiet quitting" is a thing now in the workplace.

As a former freelance contributor to this site, I can say the most motivating factor for me was adding to an already abundant conversation about park going. Just getting the information out there (and to occasionally work in obscure opinions) or to shed some light on how the parks could be better for fans (and first time park guests alike) was an enjoyable thing to do. Conversations on the air created topics discussed here. There will always be a need for someone to add to a conversation. For better or worse, once the discussions became more divisive, I had nothing constructive to offer. So, I'll leave you with this: I can also state that any money I made from that freelance work ended up going to GKTW anyway, so the added awareness that this website promoted for this charity I can confirm is a tangible thing.

Hey, Mike!

We are always looking for contributor articles from people who visit the Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme parks and if you want to start writing again for us, we're all for it! We've been putting more focus on the planning aspect of things with the articles we've been publishing over the last couple of months, but the topics are endless and we definitely need more voices.

Shoot me an email if you want!

 

[JimmyV_2.0]

Content becomes sub content, and sub content creates niche, and niche creates division and unsustainability (Galactic Starcruiser anyone?).

I think you have landed on what may be an unsolvable problem. YT videos used to be a hobby/passion. Then they became a revenue stream and when that happened, quantity took precedence over quality. And when quantity is the guidepost, there is a natural devolution into navel gazing. "Join us as we present an hour-long show on Disney's new popcorn buckets." Each new video watered down all the others. Instead of one or two solid hours a week, we get 7 or 8 hours of mediocrity. (And I am speaking across-the-board here, not just the DIS). I'm not sure if it is fear of audience shrinkage or revenue shrinkage, but to keep up with the competition, content generation gets out of hand and the "niche" of which you speak materializes. All that said, that niche in and of itself finds an audience (small as it may be) so there is a reluctance to stop feeding the beast. So as I said, I'm not sure that there is a solution to the problem when revenue generation from quantity merges with finding that niche audience who wants to watch a show about popcorn buckets. The viewer just has to be more vigilant in filtering what they want to watch and not let FOMO overcome them when they skip over the other 72% if the content.

 

[kristenabelle]

I think you have landed on what may be an unsolvable problem. YT videos used to be a hobby/passion. Then they became a revenue stream and when that happened, quantity took precedence over quality. And when quantity is the guidepost, there is a natural devolution into navel gazing. "Join us as we present an hour-long show on Disney's new popcorn buckets." Each new video watered down all the others. Instead of one or two solid hours a week, we get 7 or 8 hours of mediocrity. (And I am speaking across-the-board here, not just the DIS). I'm not sure if it is fear of audience shrinkage or revenue shrinkage, but to keep up with the competition, content generation gets out of hand and the "niche" of which you speak materializes. All that said, that niche in and of itself finds an audience (small as it may be) so there is a reluctance to stop feeding the beast. So as I said, I'm not sure that there is a solution to the problem when revenue generation from quantity merges with finding that niche audience who wants to watch a show about popcorn buckets. The viewer just has to be more vigilant in filtering what they want to watch and not let FOMO overcome them when they skip over the other 72% if the content.

This is why I can't stand the cringe "youtube face" cover photos for each video. Entirely forced & devoid of any uniqueness or creativity. And I get it, unfortunately - people doing other things are punished by the algorithm. But ever since platforms were monetized, tons of influencers lament their views, their reach, their results. What used to be a fun place to build community is now all about numbers, and everybody does the same thing to try to get the same stats.