Disney BBS or M&Gs late 80s early 90s

[RSWA2]

Not sure if this is the right section to post this in, but it's the closest one.

So with all the "News and Rumors" that we post here, whether it's from a CM, from a friend of a neighbor's roommate's son's best friend, a valid Disney official or even just speculation based on patents or city filings, I have to wonder how these were approached by Disney fans before the internet.

Are there any DIS'ers that were active on any popular Disney BBS or face to face M&Gs and how these rumors were spread and how valid they were?

Such as, did fans speculate what DHS/MGM was suppose to be and if they thought it was going to be something completely different than what it turned out to be?

 

[ParrotBill]

I was active on newsgroup rec.arts.disney.parks (RADP) and helped organized park meets and other social activities. We had castmember connection and most rumors came from them... and bus drivers.

Anecdotally,
We used 3 "@"signs arranged in a certain way to signify our computer fandom of Mickey... until Disney lawyers contacted us with warnings to cease and desist.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I was active in RADP and several BBS's.
2) As mentioned by ParrotBill, info and rumors came from many sources.
. . . members who visited the parks and posted
. . . members who personally knew CM's
. . . park CM's who would directly post on the boards
. . . actual Imagineers who would post
3) As for Disney-MGM Studios
. . . most of the guesses were pretty close
. . . and, yes, there was anticipation for Studios
. . . followed by disappointment, since the park was rushed
. . . once Universal happened, Disney tried to rush their planning
. . . Eisner had a good idea, but Imagineering didn't come through (like at AK)
4) As a result,
. . . it was more a 1/2-day park than AK was/is
. . . WDW opened with only two rides (Great Movie Ride, Backstage Tour)
. . . had a terrible, to this day, guest flow pattern (Mickey Head)
. . . created a land-locked park with little expansion room

 

[wiigirl]

lol...I remember getting on a Disney BBS when I was younger. Used a modem and everything.

 

[RSWA2]

Oh yeah I forgot about newsgroups.

News travels so much faster and details change, good and bad, so much as well too.

 

[chartle]

What did you hear?

And I too was on RADP. I still have it subscribed in Outlook and check it out every once and awhile. That and WDWIG.com (somehow meged or morphed into allears.net) were my main source of info. I pretty much printed out the entire site.