Introducing: Disney Tourist Blog Forums!

Tired of constantly refreshing the home page in the hopes of new content, re-reading old posts, or stalking us relentlessly on social media to get your Disney Tourist Blog fix? Well, we have good news for you, as today we are proud to unveil the Disney Tourist Blog Discussion Forums!

You might be thinking, “but Tom, forums are soooo 2007. Why would I post on them instead of on social media?” First of all, as with fashion, I assume technology is cyclical, and like the Sega Dreamcast, forums are poised to make a big comeback. Even if not, the fact is that the Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and even popular public darling MySpace all have their limitations.

Unlike social media, on our forums you won’t be limited to 140 characters. You won’t have to sift through baby photos from high school acquaintances you haven’t talked to in years, but who you still don’t want to de-friend. You won’t be inundated with recipes, memes, or political cartoons.

You will have the opportunity to ask & answer Disney trip planning questions, engage in thoughtful conversations about the Disney Parks, and participate in a high level of discourse among like-minded individuals. Most importantly, these forums will likely become a popular gathering-place of dignitaries, professional athletes, and celebrities. (I don’t want to name names, but someone whose name rhymes with Mistopher Gawkens might have already joined!)

All of this might sound like ridiculously lofty aspirations for Disney forums, but I’m optimistic that these forums can build upon the dynamic of the comments on blog posts here (which are generally of a much higher quality than comments on most websites–although I might be a bit biased). Of course, you will also have to deal with more of me…so I guess these forums have their own drawback, too.

Note that these forums are a work-in-progress. When it comes to backend interneting (databases, ftp, etc.), my skills are extremely limited to the point that it’s a small miracle this site is even still on the internet. I’ve spent the better part of 2 days installing, configuring, and tweaking the forums, and am now hoping that everything works as it should. If there’s a problem, please let me know by commenting in the Tech Support Thread or leaving a comment below.

As for the structure of the forums, I deliberately kept the number of sub-forums small. In addition to forums for each worldwide Disney Parks destination, there’s also a News & Rumors forum, plus Chit Chat and Photography forums. My rationale for the limited number of sub-forums is wanting to avoid dilution, and also not wanting a bunch of sub-forums that sit idle most of the time. As I notice trends and if certain popular topics present themselves, I might create additional sub-forums for the sake of organization.

Other than that, I think the forums pretty much speak for themselves. We encourage you to read the forum rules, register, and spend 6.5 hours of each workday posting on them!

Let us know if you have any questions, thoughts, concerns, etc.