General DIS site questions

[carmiedog]

Who owns these boards? Are they privately owned? Just curious if it's self-supporting and/or income-positive through advertising, or if it's at all supported by member donations like the smaller boards I frequent. Thanks!

 

[simonkodousek]

I think it's from donations, but I could be wrong.

 

[rhiannonwales]

It's really a combination of both.There are donations (some members have bronze silver gold platinum or lifetime membersips that they paid a fee for and get extra bonuses for) and there is also the sponsors of each board plus the google advertising which the site recieves a small amount on for each google link clicked.

The Dis is privately owned.

 

[pollioni]

The owner is
Werner, Peter
prw@WERNERMAGI.COM
12179 S APOPKA VINELAND RD
ORLANDO, FL 32836-6802 US
Phone: 407-251-8132
Fax: 407-251-8305

which also is the same as WDWINFO.COM and DREAMSUNLIMITEDTRAVEL.COM

So in short it would be Peter Werner and is patially by sponser ship but mostly back by DREAMSUNLIMITEDTRAVEL.COM

 

[SueM in MN]

This is sort of the 'abridged history' as I understand it.

It started out as Pete Werner's hobby, a site for him to share information about WDW, which was a very special place for him.
wdwinfo.com was the main site and the DIS Boards were the place on wdwinfo.com for people to discuss WDW (nowhere near as many boards as there are now).
The Moderators are all unpaid volunteers and when it got too big and busy for Pete to continue paying for the site himself, there were individual memberships and corporate sponsors who helped pay the cost of running the site.

Dreamsunlimited came after the site and the Boards had been around for a while and came out of people saying they wished that something like it existed.

 

[pollioni]

This is sort of the 'abridged history' as I understand it.

It started out as Pete Werner's hobby, a site for him to share information about WDW, which was a very special place for him.
wdwinfo.com was the main site and the DIS Boards were the place on wdwinfo.com for people to discuss WDW (nowhere near as many boards as there are now).
The Moderators are all unpaid volunteers and when it got too big and busy for Pete to continue paying for the site himself, there were individual memberships and corporate sponsors who helped pay the cost of running the site.

Dreamsunlimited came after the site and the Boards had been around for a while and came out of people saying they wished that something like it existed.

Not quite true according to internic (in order of registration)
WDWINFO.COM - was registered on 25-may-1999
DREAMSUNLIMITEDTRAVEL.COM - was registered on 29-jul-1999
DISBOARDS.COM - 20-oct-2000


Having said all this the first pages put on the internet according to Wayback Machine was
Dreams Unlimited (by 5 Months)

 

[carmiedog]

so, um, is there still a way to donate? I don't have a lot to give, but I've paid for other services for my Disney vacation (TGM, TouringPlans), and I'd also be happy to support the DIS. The members here are amazing and have helped answer so many of my questions! THANK YOU, ALL!

(now y'all've made me go all smiley happy!)

And THANK YOU to Peter and all the advertisers and sponsors!

 

[SnackyStacky]

Not quite true according to internic (in order of registration)
WDWINFO.COM - was registered on 25-may-1999
DREAMSUNLIMITEDTRAVEL.COM - was registered on 29-jul-1999
DISBOARDS.COM - 20-oct-2000


Having said all this the first pages put on the internet according to Wayback Machine was
Dreams Unlimited (by 5 Months)

That is absolutely correct.

Except that the DIS Boards didn't warrant their own domain until after Dreams Unlimited Travel came into existence.

The DIS Boards were just WDWInfo.com forums until they expanded to a point that they needed their own domain.

Domain registration dates only tell part of the story. Dreams Unlimited Travel and the DIS Boards are completely seperate entities. Dreams Unlimited pays a sponsorship fee - the same way the Swan and Dolphin do, the same way TourGuideMike.com does, the same way FL Tours does - the same way every single corporate sponsor does.

carmiedog - information for becoming a supporter can be found here.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/

 

[pollioni]

That is absolutely correct.

Domain registration dates only tell part of the story. Dreams Unlimited Travel and the DIS Boards are completely seperate entities. Dreams Unlimited pays a sponsorship fee - the same way the Swan and Dolphin do, the same way TourGuideMike.com does, the same way FL Tours does - the same way every single corporate sponsor does.

They are all owned by Werner Technologies, Inc. aka "Pete Werner"

So in short this is like Disney World paying ABC to air commercials. And ABC to pay ESPN to air sports events. No real money transfers hand.

I don't see Pete running separate books for all three domains as they all fall under the Werner Technologies banner.

The bottom line is that it is own by Werner Technologies, any sponsorship fee paid goes to them and they spend it how they wish.

If 10,000 people paid for Platinum Sponsorship this would give them $1,000,000. I hardly think that the cost of the SW and bandwidth will cost anything.

As for the banner adds, having come from a advertising and I know that these are per 1000 views. These are beyond the scope sponsorship program.

The best way to see the "Dis Boards" is an arm off of Werner Technologies used to promote the other aspects of the business.

 

[SnackyStacky]

They are all owned by Werner Technologies, Inc. aka "Pete Werner"

So in short this is like Disney World paying ABC to air commercials. And ABC to pay ESPN to air sports events. No real money transfers hand.

I don't see Pete running separate books for all three domains as they all fall under the Werner Technologies banner.

The bottom line is that it is own by Werner Technologies, any sponsorship fee paid goes to them and they spend it how they wish.

If 10,000 people paid for Platinum Sponsorship this would give them $1,000,000. I hardly think that the cost of the SW and bandwidth will cost anything.

As for the banner adds, having come from a advertising and I know that these are per 1000 views. These are beyond the scope sponsorship program.

The best way to see the "Dis Boards" is an arm off of Werner Technologies used to promote the other aspects of the business.

Since you obviously have access to Pete's books, I'll admit mea culpa.

 

[dsnymomof4]

Well, I would just like to say "Thanks, Pete. This site is awesome!"

 

[mom2cinderella]

Well, I would just like to say "Thanks, Pete. This site is awesome!"

Me too! Dreams Unlimited is pretty fabulous also!



Michele

 

[DisneyCM]

That may be the order and way that the site domains were registered, but I remember back when the boards and the site were known as Disneyinfo.com (which would explain why wdwinfo.com and disboards.com and dreamsunlimitedtravel.com were registered in 1999 and 2000.)
Disney had their lawyers go around to all of the sites that had Disney in their domain name and threatened legal action if they did not change them.
This site and boards date back further than 1999, and I believe I found it around 1998 or so (even though I registered much later than that.)

So while Pete may be a partial owner of Dreams Unlimited (there are several partners in the company), it is a separate entity than Werner Technologies (which owns/operates the DIS boards and wdwinfo.com) And as SnackyStacky has said Dreams is a sponser of one of the boards and pays to advertise there as would any other sponsor.
Just because of the way the domains were registered when the company was founded does not make them one in the same, nor does it mean that one does not actually pay to sponsor/support the other.

I think you making a blanket statement such as you have

I don't see Pete running separate books for all three domains as they all fall under the Werner Technologies banner.

without having the facts that support it is completely incorrect and an assumption you should not make.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

That may be the order and way that the site domains were registered, but I remember back when the boards and the site were known as Disneyinfo.com (which would explain why wdwinfo.com and disboards.com and dreamsunlimitedtravel.com were registered in 1999 and 2000.)
Disney had their lawyers go around to all of the sites that had Disney in their domain name and threatened legal action if they did not change them.
This site and boards date back further than 1999, and I believe I found it around 1998 or so (even though I registered much later than that.)

So while Pete may be a partial owner of Dreams Unlimited (there are several partners in the company), it is a separate entity than Werner Technologies (which owns/operates the DIS boards and wdwinfo.com) And as SnackyStacky has said Dreams is a sponser of one of the boards and pays to advertise there as would any other sponsor.
Just because of the way the domains were registered when the company was founded does not make them one in the same, nor does it mean that one does not actually pay to sponsor/support the other.

I think you making a blanket statement such as you have without having the fact that support it is completely incorrect and an assumption you should not make.

We have a winner! This post is pretty much correct. If you look up the whois registration data on disneyinfo.com you will find it dates from 13-July-1997
They are seperate companies with various owners. Being the owner of the domain name does not make you the owner of the company

 

[WebmasterPete]

I'm not sure why anyone feels this is any of their business, but since I've never made a secret out of any of this, in fact I'm fiercly proud of my accomplishments - so, I'm happy to answer the question.

I started this as a hobby in 1997 (June, 1997 to be exact). At that time we had the DIS and the forums all under one site - disneyinfo.com At the time, I lived in New Jersey and was working as a webmaster for United Parcel Service, and my partner at the time, worked as a Network administrator for another company.

In Jan of 1998, my partner was offered a job working for Disney, so I quit my job with UPS, we sold our condo and moved to Orlando. Up to that point, the DIS was completely non-commercial, and I wanted it to stay that way. My plan when we moved to Orlando was to start a web development company, Werner Technologies. However, not having a huge savings account or anything, persuing that partiuclar dream required that I make money somehow, so I began to accept advertising on the DIS. Now, keep in mind that at this point, the site was still on a shared hosting server - which meant we shared a single server with as many as 50 other sites. As the DIS became more popular (keep in mind, everything in those days was still disneyinfo.com), we needed to move the site to it's own server as we kept crashing the shared server we were on.

By the end 1998 we had a few decent advertisers, and I was forumulating a plan for a travel agency. There were very few agencies in those days offering a REAL Disney travel service, and none offering the kind of services that I envisioned for Dreams Unlimited (personalized itineraries, checking for discounts AFTER you booked, making priority seatings, golf tee times, and other services normally associated with Concierge, not to mention agents who knew every inch of Walt Disney World). I had that idea in Jan of 1999, and in Nov 1999, we launched Dreams Unlimited Travel (of which I have a 1/3d ownership stake, along with John Magi and Donna LeFever).

Dreams quickly became a success, and in short order several other agencies copied our format (in fact, every other agency out there currently doing this copied our format, I was the first). Around the same, time the forums became too busy for us to keep on one server, and required their own server- not to mention the fact that Disney wasn't thrilled with the disneyinfo.com domain name, and very nicely (really) asked us to find another name to use - hence wdwinfo.com / disboards.com I'm pretty sure that change took place early in 2000, but I could be off.

Over time, our traffic (just like the internet in those days) kept doubling and trippling at a rate that was difficult to keep up with, requiring more servers, and a more creative advertising approach.

Now, I should mention that when we launched Dreams Unlimited I set a very firm policy in place that is still in place today. There was too great a chance for a conflict of interest to occur between the DIS/Boards and Dreams, so I decided then that Dreams would have to live or die by it's own sword. It would have to pay it's own way here, just like any other advertiser, and it would be subject to the same rules of engagement on the boards as any other advertiser. Agents could not promote themselves or Dreams on the boards, nor could the moderators. Negative posts about Dreams, or client issues would not be deleted, rather, we should look at it as an opportunity to do our very best customer service work in full view of a very tough audience. I should also mention that it was no walk in the park to start a business like Dreams, with no experience in the travel industry, under the microscope of these forums. There were any number of travel agents on our boards at that time who attacked me without mercy - saying that I was going to wreck people's vacations because I didn't know what I was doing. Forgive the little chuckle I just let out.

I was also very careful about how much advertising would be used on the boards. Sponsors could lease the rights to 'sponsor' a forum, but they could not spam the boards, and they also had to accept that if they did anything wrong, it was going to be in full view of this audience and we would not intervene on their behalf - a policy I make VERY clear to every potential advertiser to this day. I also have a policy that any advertiser that we do agree to bring on must have some connection, in some manner, to Disney, or Orlando travel. I parted with that policy to a point by allowing Google ads, but the money those ads generate right now allow me to keep the boards intact, and free of charge. I can also tell you that I've turned away unbelievable sums of money and countless advertisers over the years because for one reason or another, I didn't feel it was right for these boards.

The problem with the boards was unique - the traffic required more and more servers to maintain it, and good servers aren't cheap. Yet, the boards never earned enough in advertising to offset their cost (not until just the past year - again, thank you Google). I could have filled your PM and email boxes with advertising, I could have put ads on each and every post, and I could have done any number of other obnoxious things to promote Dreams and other sponsors ad nauseum, but I didn't and I don't. The goal from day one was to give anyone who found there way to my site the best information they could, whether they patronized our sponsors or not. It has always been very important to me that the forums remain a truly un-biased place. From the beginning I recognized that forums needed editorial integrity in order to be succesful, and I was right. That's not to say that there haven't been travel agencies and other companies that have come here trying to hawk their services, and in some cases we've banned certain companies from participating here for that reason - I don't do spam, I don't like spam and I'll ban any individual or company that comes here to do it.

As time as passed, we've made a go of this - it's a real live business that does fairly well. It requires a staff of 15 people to run (some full time, some part time), not to mention the 40+ agents that work for Dreams Unlimited Travel, and I think we're up to 6 or 7 servers running the entire operation (and we're about to add another one).

As far as sponsorship, I can assure you we have no where close to 10,000 paid sponsors - I wish we did, but not even close. There were times where we had to expand the servers just to keep the boards running, and the money to do it simply wasn't there - hence our site sponsor program.

And, in the interest of complete disclosure, the only things I own (or partly own) are these sites (wdwinfo.com/disboards.com) and Dreams Unlimited Travel. Where the rest of your information is coming from I don't know, and is incorrect. We helped to launch FLTours, but I have no ownership interest in it at all - they pay an advertising fee here the same way every other company on these boards does.

All in all, not too bad for a high school drop out that was homeless on the streets of New York 22 years ago.

I hope that answers your question, but if not, please feel free to email me at webmaster@wdwinfo.com

Pete

 

[rhiannonwales]

I dont remember anyone saying that you owned FLTours, but it reaslly isnt important.
I can see why Pete feels like its none of our buisness.He's a buisness owner just like anyone else.I think the only reason he even bothered to post is because he didnt want anyone getting the idea that hes making millions off of us with sponsorships and advertising. I remember those days well wehn the boards crashed left and right because there was no money to get a better server and many folks here on the DIS.

If i'm wrong an any point Pete, dont take it personally.I think you do a great job here, and deserve the thanks andcredit froma alot of people who have used this site as a planning resource.

 

[SueM in MN]

I remember those days well wehn the boards crashed left and right because there was no money to get a better server and many folks here on the DIS.

I got registered in 1999, but I was lurking around for about a year before I registered and started posting.
I remember several of the big server crashes. The strangest thing was that often everyone's post count went back down to zero. So, if it wasn't for some of those big crashes, I'd probably have 30,000 posts.
(I sound like one of the 'old timers' talking about the big storm of '01 or something)

 

[ohMom]

as another oldie but goodie on the DIS -- i just wanted to say Pete for sharing your story. I just came across some old paperwork i had printed where i had first registered in 1999 under another username. when it came time to plan Disney trip two and I return, I re-registered. so i remember the good ole days too

 

[travelin' tigger]

All I can say is "wow!" - thanks for sharing your story Pete!

Although I am not one of the old-timers, I've been on these boards for over 5 years now and just wanted to say a BIG THANKS to Pete, Alex, the Moderators and staff for all their hard work to keep these boards up and running. They've been a wealth of info, helping me plan and get the most out of my trips to FL and I couldn't have made as many trips without them.

Thanks again!!!

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks for the background of the DIS, Pete - very interesting and inspiring - I am a great believer in the "follow your bliss" theory of life .
I (and many thousands of DISers, I'm sure) am thankful that you followed yours and made it all work. I always 'knew' that the DIS was run with integrity and have seen many, many instances over the years of just how hard you all work to keep the DISboards a positive place to learn and share. My sponsorship is just a small percent of all the $$ I've saved over the years from tips & codes shared here - keep up the great work (please!!) - I have at least 30 - 40 more years of WDW trips with my family to plan for and look forward to - they may be wheeling me around, but I'll be there!!! -