Odds & Ends Update
It’s been a while since we did a random housekeeping post covering things that don’t really fit elsewhere, and that’s what this is. Nothing exactly exciting or informative–rather, this is mostly about you answering our questions and providing some feedback. (Feedback that could end up saving you money, though, so don’t close the tab just yet…)
One of the things I really enjoy about this is that it’s a personal blog with a sense of community. Even though I’m always writing to you, via the comments, forums, and social media there is back & forth. To maintain that personal connection, I think it’s mutually beneficial for you to give feedback and for us to hear it.
What is the blog doing well and poorly? What would you like to see more/less coverage of (restaurants, hotels, certain parks, etc.)? What kind of content (trip reports, rambling vlogs, planning tips, etc.) do you like? I’m genuinely interested in feedback here, and I know that is something people hesitate to give because most people don’t take well to it.
Please leave actual, constructive criticism and critique. It does us no good if the feedback merely showers us with flattery or faint praise. Obviously, it’s nice to know people enjoy the blog, but it’s also nice to know where there is room for improvement. Sometimes a third party perspective is necessary to see that.
I’m genuinely interested in reader feedback, and will incorporate some of that into the blog, but please understand that I’m not going to blindly follow all advice. I am not simply a barometer of popular opinion. I know some of you think the blog skews too negative, is too opinionated, and has too many posts about the international parks. (I’ve received your complaints!)
While we strive to make this as informative as possible, that necessarily requires value judgments, and some of those happen to be negative. I’m not one of those people who believes Disney is infallible, and everything is magical. (Sorry?) As for the international parks, I know most people don’t care, but there are so few resources in English about those destinations. Plus, I enjoy writing about them.
Second, I was going to do another photo update before Christmas, but I’m not really sure that makes sense. The photo/photography posts are almost as unpopular as the ones about the parks in Asia (almost), but the difference there is that I have other means of posting photo content: via social media.
I think not doing those posts is a bit ironic since this blog started out as centering around photography (in the beginning, I was a best described as a “Disney fan photographer who happened to have some opinions”) and at one point consisted primarily of “Photo of the Day” posts, but has since moved more towards the opinions. Now, I’m a “dude who yells on the internet and happens to own some cameras.” Some (newer, I assume?) readers have even asked who takes the photos for the blog!
In any case, I’m still thinking of doing an Osborne Lights Tribute post because I feel like there’s some sentiment worth sharing there, but I’ll probably nix additional Christmas photo posts. I’ll just share those photos on Instagram (@tom_bricker) if you’re interested in seeing those. (Sarah is also on Instagram: @sarahbricker.) I have a lot of Christmas photos, so I’ll probably be posting a few per day.
Next, we have a question. Would anyone be interested in a group rate November 26 – December 2, 2017 (rough, tentative dates)? Please note that this would not be a group trip, or any sort of meet-up event. What it would be is a group booking through a travel agency at a particular resort (or resorts, if there was enough demand) to qualify for a convention rate.
You don’t have to give a firm commitment right now–we’re just floating the idea to see if there is sufficient interest to justify looking into the logistics of this. Based on reader comments, I know a lot of you visit during this week, and as one of the 3 best weeks of the year that we recommend, I think there’d likely be sufficient interest. I just want to get a feel for whether my assumption is correct.
Tentatively, I’m thinking we’d try doing Wilderness Lodge (because that’s where I want to stay, and it’s an irrefutable fact that Wilderness Lodge is the best Walt Disney World resort at Christmas), assuming it’s a hotel that offers good convention rates. The whole goal of this would be to save ourselves (and you!) money if you plan on visiting during/around those dates. Again, I want to reiterate that this would not be an actual “event” or big group thing with meet-ups.
Trust me, I’m not nearly as cool in person (not that I’m cool online, but it’s even worse in person…if you can imagine that). Meeting me is like watching a duller version of Stitch’s Great Escape on loop. I wouldn’t want to ruin your vacation with that. 🙂
Anyway, if this is something in which you’d potentially be interested, please say so in the comments. Also, if there’s a resort aside from Wilderness Lodge that would interest you, please mention it in the comments.
Tom/Sarah….. Love the blog, keep doing what you are doing! Its your blog, you can take it any direction you want. But as you stated in your comment below, the overall vibe is just “feels” negative, which is not the vibe the blog used to have. Love the detailed trip reports, wish you would do them even though you stated they bore you at the end, but I find them some of the best reading on your site. The older trip reports were so filled with funny quotes, sarcasm, etc….. lacking from just regular articles. Love you guys!!!
Would definitely be interested in the group rate…especially at Wilderness Lodge! December 1st is our anniversary and I’m already starting to look into fun/special things to celebrate, plus I’ve never been to Wilderness Lodge before.
Longtime lurker. I would be very interested in that wilderness lodge rate. I am a passholder, Florida resident, and military, so hopefully that rate would be better than what I have access to. Though I am always grateful that I have access to my trifecta of special rates 🙂
Would definitely be interested in a group rate that week. We’re tentatively planning to go 11/24 – 12/2 or 12/3 anyway and could tweak the dates for a better rate. Wilderness Lodge would be my first choice too at that time of year.
Recently started reading your blog since we had a trip to Disney World early Dec. 2016. Your pics really motivated me to go see different perspectives, especially for fireworks shows. We also took your advice on where to find good “counter service meals/hidden gems” and ate at Wilderness Lodge (roast beef sandwich), which was really really good. Keeping these “good meal” locations up to date would be useful. Being that I’m a blog virgin, your opinions/planning guides really helped to use my time wisely this time around to WDW. I have no plans to travel to overseas park at this time so wont comment on that-I typically quickly look over them and skip on to WDW items. Since I do travel on budge, all your money saving tips also help. On this last trip we went to Fantasia Gardens so maybe posting more about hidden gems/pros/cons would help for those seeking a break from the parks/Springs. I cant say I’ve seen anything about Wide World of Sports on your blog-maybe haven’t looked enough.
Hey there. Long time listener, first time caller.
Not a criticism, but more of a article idea (maybe you have already done this and I just have missed it). I’m not sure exactly how to word this, but I would love to know your “strategy” and “goals” for your numerous trips throughout the year. As in, do you plan out yearly how often you would like to go visit WDW, and do you/how do you plan out what you would like to enjoy/achieve upon each visit?
My fiance and I have become pretty Disney obsessed over the past two years. We had both enjoyed it as kids, but it wasn’t until recently that we have become nuts. In the last year, we have done two WDW trips (6 day and 9 day) and one DL trip (5 day; had a work conference that was held at Disneyland Resort). We both travel quite frequently for work (3-4 weeks/month), so not only do we earn tons of air and hotel points, but we’re able to parlay work trips into mini-weekend vacations for free (i.e. flights on the company dime). With that said, we were looking into getting an annual pass, but want to make sure it is worth it.
So, that is why I’m interested in your “strategy” (I have your park itineraries in mind), so that if we were to get the pass and visit more often (every several weeks or so), it wouldn’t become monotonous and we’d be able to still experience what we love about Disney, but with some twists each time.
I don’t know if that makes any sense, but any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
–Even when the topic you’re writing about is not directly relevant to me (i.e., photography equipment) I almost always read every blog post because I really enjoy your writing style and it’s always informative and entertaining.
–Since reading your blog post I have been to TDR and DLP and I most definitely could not have done either without your detailed information. While there are a number of other international websites, none of them contain the depth and detail of useful information that’s necessary to actually plan the international trip (sorry other websites!).
–The only criticism I have is that it bugs me that when I’m in the “Forum” part there is no link or quick way to get back to the actual blog part of the site, if that makes sense. Maybe this is part of the search/navigation/design problems you mentioned earlier?
Hi Tom, here are my thoughts on what I’d like to see from the blog:
– Keep doing the international posts. I’ve never been to an international park, but these have motivated me to go. I’m currently thinking of Disneyland Paris next fall.
– I like the photography posts so keep them coming too.
– More posts about Disneyland would be great romance I don’t get there as much
Hi Tom and Sarah,
I was just thinking this morning that I hope you make a post where it would be okay for me to just thank you for everything you’ve done on this blog this year. My husband and I got married in February this year and didn’t have much money for a honeymoon. My husband had never been to Disneyland so of course that’s where we went. In the planning stages I found your blog and felt like I didn’t have to look any farther for help. You guys had everything, down to what was going to happen the days we would be there and which off site hotels were good but still reasonably priced. I am so grateful for that. Since then I’ve visited your site off and on because I liked reading your blog. Finally in October you guys (inadvertantly) convinced us to get an annual pass to enjoy the holidays at Disneyland and honestly its gotten us through a pretty awful year. I appreciate every single post as it has been a real world distraction for me. I’ve learnt so much about disney through you guys, and I have to say I even appreciate the negative opinions because as much as we enjoy disney we aren’t “Disney People” if that makes sense.
That being said, I’ll throw in the few critiques I have. On the negativity side, especially recently with Disney World, the more you talk about it, the less interest I have in going? I know you’re trying to convince people that Disneyland is good too and that you love Disney World and its your home park, but nothing you’ve written lately has made me feel like, yes, we definitely have to go. If anything it makes me weirdly protective over Disneyland and that’s not something I ever expected to feel haha. I even watched you live feed videos on facebook and those were really cool but not enough to make me want to go. Its not your job to sell me on Disney World I know, but we take your opinions seriously and try things we wouldn’t usually because you’ve said they were worth doing. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we dont. But the vibe I’m getting from you at the moment is that Disney World is not worth doing and I don’t think that that is your intention.
I know you addressed this already but please put dates on your posts! Sometimes I’ll find one of your articles on Pinterest that I haven’t read yet and I’ll have no idea how old or relevant it is. You do a great job on the important posts by adding the updated dates which is super helpful, but obviously you can’t be expected to update every post, so those one offs are kind of in limbo.
I like reading the international posts, I’ll comment on them if it makes you feel better. I don’t really like the camera posts but I know a lot of people do and they don’t bother me so keep doing what you do.
Lastly, sometimes when I read your blog through Pinterest it suddenly take me to spam and yours in the only site it does that consistently. Usually if I open in my browser its fine though so I don’t know if there’s anything you can do about that.
I hope the comments don’t make you feel too badly. I really do get the impression that the people who are here really love you guys, myself included. My husband always laughs when I say, “my Disney blog says” or “tom my Disney guy was talking about this today”. Your photos are amazing, I love seeing them on instagram and on your blog. I even let my work give me the camera for the website so I can practice. I would have never done that previously.
You guys are doing a great thing. Can’t wait to learn more from you guys in 2017!
Count me in as interested in that week if I can manage they days correctly.
The info and photos you present have been why I keep coming back and planning my not yet existing trips with precision. My only issue is that it seems I keep missing you at the US parks by a week (or sometimes a day or 2) in either direction! I mean, to see the legend in action with his camera in a park would be like spotting Bigfoot!
I love your photos. There is no other place I’ve found to see the quality yours have. I admit I skip the overseas parks update because I’ll never get there but not complaining! Sad story…I only get to Disneyland about every two years and to D world way less than that. You’re my “fix”. Keep it up.
I love all your blogs and don’t mind picking and choosing what I want to read although usually just read them all. Would love group rate but would never be able to have boyfriend the retail manager to that around that time. I have no problem with your negativity/honesty. Disney is expensive & I appreciate hearing how to get value for my money. It’s why also love arch nemesis easywdw’s blog & you two make me smile following you on twitter interacting. Keep that up! Lol While I completely understand running a blog is a thankless endeavor my only complaint is your Trivago ad. I believe you should monetize your blog however possible because your time is worth more then the few pennies you earn but only that ad interrupts your reader’s reading. Maybe it’s only for me but I can be halfway through post when it suddenly jumps down to that ad with cursor wanting me to choose a departure city. Still does it when blog has a second page also & it’s very annoying & I’ve almost given up reading posts because of it. Maybe it’s because I only read from my phone but that won’t change. Again, keep ads and make any money you can because you deserve it just can that ad be changed somehow? Thanks for all you do from a fellow Hoosier (ugh, always hate that term)!
The only thing I’d like to see more of is general info on what’s going on in the parks. I check a bunch of Disney blogs because a) I have an upcoming trip in March and b) that’s just one of the ways I like to spend some of my free time. But I largely check multiple blogs because I can’t ever be sure that one blog has all of the news on it. I can generally check one major newspaper (or two) and know all of the major news stories and be sure that I’m up to date on late-breaking news, but I don’t know of a source where I can do that with Disney news. You usually have some major news on here, but if I only read this blog, I wouldn’t have known that Rivers of Light had previews, people didn’t seem to like them, and then there were further delays (I think you did post some stuff about ROL, but I think I only saw current updates on other sites). I know you don’t want this to just become one of those ‘press release blogs,’ regurgitating everything Disney says, and I appreciate the criticism – started reading one blog and stopped a day later when they gave a glowing review of Tony’s Town Square (they’re either lying or they have absolutely no ability to think critically, in which case their blog doesn’t really help me plan and decide what I do and don’t want to do). I’m also grateful you don’t do those “Top X things to do at Y!!” posts constantly just for clickbait (and extra glad you don’t do a 3-item list and split it into two pages like another blog). So, generally, keep up the good work. Would just be great if I knew I only had to go to one blog to get all of my news and updates.
Let me start by saying thank you all so much for the feedback. I appreciate all of the constructive criticism and even the comments that were difficult to read because they were probably a bit more accurate in their critique than I’d like were very helpful. There will definitely be a multitude of changes as a result of the replies to this post. A few notes:
POST DATES & ORGANIZATION: These go hand-in-hand. I think this is something that I’ve mentioned before, but post dates were causing an issue with the new WordPress theme (now nearly 2 years old) of the blog and Google.
This new theme is also terribly organized and is a challenge even for ME to navigate. I hate it, but have been reluctant to change back, because I spent a ton of time adapting this theme to the site. It was a real pain, and I think I nearly broke the site in the process.
What I really should do is hire a web designer to start fresh, but I’m a stubborn control freak, and I’d rather do this myself even if it means near-disaster. In any case, it’s been almost 2 years since the last redesign, so we’re probably due for that. With that, post dates should return, as should a better main page that better balances the blog & static elements. (I don’t know if a lot of you regular readers know this, but I spent about half my time at this point updating old posts–many of which have a “last updated” date in the first couple of paragraphs.
Navigation is frustrating for me, too, but hearing so many comments on it makes me realize this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I’ll make this my goal to accomplish by the end of February 2017.
SEARCH: Yeah, it sucks. Another thing that goes hand in hand with design. What I recommend (and what I do) is going to google, typing in disneytouristblog.com followed by your search query. Much better results. Hopefully this is something I can get fixed with a new WordPress theme.
INTERNATIONAL POSTS: Again, these aren’t going anywhere. I will say I’m surprised so many of you like them, as the Google Analytics would say otherwise. I’m not exaggerating when I say that a comparable WDW post will see 10x (or more) the views.
For those who do enjoy the int’l posts, I’d appreciate if you’d comment on them every once in a while. I know it sounds silly, but it is nice to receive feedback on things and see that people are reading/enjoying these posts. 🙂
PHOTOGRAPHY: Message received about the photography posts. I will keep them coming.
TRIP REPORTS: It’s funny (to me, at least?), as I deliberately changed the style of trip reports to minimize the emphasis on attractions we’d already done because I assumed you all wouldn’t want to keep hearing about the same thing, and would instead want to hear timely opinions or whatever. I now realize this was a complete misstep on my part.
I have some ideas for making the concept of trip reports more viable on my end, and although I’ve complained about how time consuming they are in the past, there are actually some great upsides for me (forcing myself to edit photos, being able to do quick ‘updates’ to restaurant and hotel reviews) that makes it easier to justify all the time. I just need to find a way to finish the report in a timely manner.
There were a couple of other points I had to make here, but now I can’t remember them. I’ll probably add another update later today.
Again, thank you all so much for taking the time to leave your feedback. It really is appreciated, and I don’t just mean that hollowly. As this is a personal blog, I believe there’s something of a ‘blogging social contract’ between me as the author and you as readers that obligates me to be receptive to your feedback, as a condition for you reading regularly, and this feedback helps me make sure the direction of this blog is correct. 🙂
Re: your comment regarding views on international posts vs. WDW posts. It doesn’t surprise me that a WDW would get views on a scale that’s an order of magnitude higher. I’m sure you’ve got the analytics behind it, but my guess would be those are one-time or occasional readers that Google something, find the related post, get what the need, and get out. They’re like … the once-in-a-lifetime, buy-all-of-the-extras WDW visitors. All of us regular readers are your AP holders: we probably have different tastes/opinions than the masses, and we’re the ones that will comments and tell you how to improve 🙂
I think you nailed the feeling of your long time readers and loyal followers…. we do not read or enjoy the international posts. Understand they are your passion, but they seem to take priority and much content. I understand the need as there is hands down no better place for international park info then you guys…. but i would say the majority of your fans/readers have no desire (by that I mean $) to go there, so by default we simply dont read the articles. So I would say that although informative the international blogs just dont hold any real interest to your long time fans. And I know that means just more of the same from WDW and DL, but that is why we come to you. Additionally, i dont think people believe you are too negative per say… but there just doesnt seem to be the passion as mentioned in other comments. I also agree maybe its you go too much or too often or living too close to DL, but I dont think your opinions are currently being balanced out by your passion. I think you need to find that balance again, seems to be really off. anywhoo……. Love you guys, love your blog, love your trip reports, love your hotel/restaurant reviews, keep being our voice. Have a great day!!!!
Long time fan, and loyal reader…. so this is 100% constructive. Love you guys, and your work. But………… If you read your earlier stuff, there was this passion about the parks, the Trip reports ooozed with your passion. It had complaints (looking at you line jumpers, etc) but it showed how much you guys love the parks. Since your move to the Cali, the same passion and enjoyment just doesnt seem there. I know you acknowledge in the article that you skew negative, but I think it is more than that. Maybe you go to often or something but the trips and the info still is not the same. I dont think you started to be the end all be all of disney info. You started just sharing your love of disney and trips. Your new stuff is heavily focused on news, updates, etc and I dont think your long time loyal readers come to your blog for that. There are 100 other sites to get min by min updates and opinions. I come to your site as a fan of you and your travels, not as the newsfeed for everything disney. I think many of your loyal long time readers are fans of the restaurant/hotel reviews and trip reports, something that is lacking. Regardless, you still run the best disney site hands down. I know its easy to criticize disney and the profit making business it is, but dont lose the the real reason any of us became fans and love disney, and that is the parks and the enjoyment they bring us all. keep up the good work and keep being that old disney nerd from the old trip reports, I like that Tom, he was a good kid.
I very much love the old school Trip Reports. Your passion and enjoyment for the parks stood out. I suggest going back to those. Less heavy on the criticism of parks (not that its not warranted, most of your loyal readers look through things with an objective disney lens), and more focused on the trip itself and what you did day by day. Those are fun to read.
Long time reader here – I started reading when you mostly just did trip reports and I would like to see much more of those! I’ve read your honeymoon TR several time and I love how long and detailed it is. Also you inspired me to try Disneyland Paris for the first time a couple years ago.
I would love to see a post about your experience renting DVC points as I’m really interested in trying that next trip. Also would love to see a post dedicated to the music of the Disney parks. I have about 200 BGM and queue loops on my phone and want to add more but I don’t know what I’m missing! My favorite recent post of yours was about vintage Disneyland so please do more like that and posts about extinct attractions!
My husband and I would also be interested in that group rate for the end of 2017!
Also – please do trip reports from the cruises and a more detailed Aulani one! I loved your cruise tip posts but would love to see trip reports!!
I go to WDW several times a year, so I never read a lot of the newbie tip posts. I do enjoy your trip reports, but I understand not really writing a lot of them for WDW/DLR since the way you tour is similar to mine (less “riding things”, more enjoying ambiance). Your posts on the international parks are awesome, and I hope to make it out to Tokyo soon. You definitely make the international parks seem more accessible than I had previously thought (one reason I tried out Hong Kong Disneyland). My favorite posts are the restaurant and hotel reviews, since they encourage me to try out different places than my old favorites. I do wish your review posts included dates (at least a “last updated”) since we know how often menus and hotel refurbs can be.
I love this blog and always have a super fun time reading. I know that this might be something out of your comfort zone or something you’re not interesting in doing – but maybe consider posting some videos! Like of you and Sarah in the parks trying new foods or something? I know that photography is your thing (and you should 100% stick to it you’re amazing) but it’s just a suggestion!!!!! 🙂