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Episode 96 Stephanie Shuster
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In this episode of *Sharing the Magic*, we’re thrilled to welcome Stephanie Shuster, the dynamic editor of WDW Magazine. Stephanie takes us behind the scenes of Disney fandom, sharing her journey and passion for all things Walt Disney World.
Join us as we discuss the evolution of WDW Magazine, diving into the latest trends, tips, and hidden gems that make the parks truly magical. Stephanie offers her insider knowledge on planning the perfect Disney vacation, plus her favorite experiences and attractions that every guest should explore.
Whether you’re a seasoned Disney traveler or planning your first trip, this episode is filled with valuable insights and inspiration. Don’t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform for more enchanting conversations and to keep the magic alive!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Sharing the Magic' Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Sharing the Magic, the podcast that sweeps you away into the enchanting realms of Disney. Each week, we're joined by a special guest, be it a magician casting real-life spells of wonder, or a Disney expert revealing hidden secrets in the heart of the happiest place on Earth.
00:00:20
Speaker
Together, we'll venture down glittering paths, uncovering tales of daring heroes, legendary places, and whimsical wonders that make Disney sparkle.
00:00:31
Speaker
So prepare to be enchanted, delighted, and transported to a place where dreams dance, fairy tales breathe, and the magic is real.
Meet the Hosts and Their Disney Enthusiasm
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, welcome to another episode of Sharing the Magic. I'm your host, Barry, and we have another fantastic guest joining us tonight. But before we let you know who that guest is, we're going to say hello to our co-hosts and we're to start tonight with Lisa. Lisa, how are you doing tonight?
00:00:58
Speaker
Hey everyone, I'm super excited to be here. I spent um a couple of days in three parks um this week, so super stoked. I used to subscribe way back when to the um the magazine that we're going to be talking about tonight, so I'm interested to hear some of the inner workings of that. But checking in from Central Florida in the midst of storm after storm. So hey everyone.
00:01:28
Speaker
I'm so excited. I'm moving to Florida and I can't wait. So, where's well well, we'll be in the same realm. um Yeah. um Next, we have another Floridian. Ashley, Ashley, are you doing?
00:01:43
Speaker
I'm doing good. It's pouring. So I apologize if you guys hear thunder in the distance. We are getting some massive storms behind the castle, but I'm doing great and I'm excited to talk to you about your magazine. All right.
00:01:57
Speaker
Next up, we have another Floridian friend, Rena. How are doing? Hey, Barry. I'm doing great. It's storming here, like Ashley said. And unfortunately, I would say that today's the best way to
Guest Introduction: Stephanie Schuster, CEO of WDW Magazine
00:02:09
Speaker
spend it indoors, not the typical sunny Florida.
00:02:13
Speaker
But I'm so excited for Stephanie to share how she shares the magic with people all around the world. So I'm super excited. Great. And next we have our own uncle. Uncle Mike, how doing, buddy?
00:02:26
Speaker
Hey, I'm doing pretty fantastic today. we i was a Floridian, well, at least a temporary Floridian until about a month ago, but I just found a new place to live. So we move into our new place in Toronto in a week or so. And um now I get to enjoy the WW Magazine as the intended marketing of those who can't get to the park every single day to get my sweet, sweet fix of that Disney magic.
00:02:57
Speaker
So I'm excited to talk to Steph. All right. We also have Angela. Angela, how you doing? Hey Stephanie, I'm Angela. I am here in the Memphis area, just home from a trip to Orlando and visiting all the parks this weekend and was only a couple days off of
Stephanie's Disney Childhood and Fandom Evolution
00:03:15
Speaker
the cruises. So I spent a lot of time doing the things. So as a subscriber to the magazine, I'm very excited to talk with you and hear the new things coming up.
00:03:27
Speaker
All right. And we have one of our newest co-hosts, Dixie. Dixie, how are you doing tonight? Fantastic. I am tucked in with the baby, so my camera's off. um I, too, spent the beginning of my week at Disney, but I definitely want to pick Miss Stephanie's brain about what she thinks about some of the new things that have come out for us to stay in the magic, um like some of the new technologies and stuff.
00:03:55
Speaker
Awesome. And last but not least, our old pal, Jeff. Jeff, are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm excited for this interview because it's just, i think it's going to be different. We haven't had this kind of interview before, so I'm excited to see where it goes. And, and yeah, I mean, all our interviews are wonderful, but, but this might be kind of unique for us. So I'm excited. And I will say, um I'm just going to,
00:04:21
Speaker
Spoiler guest. So Stephanie, Stephanie, i I, I, when we have a guest, I will typically do a kind of a little goofy greet. I love, I love voice acting. I love all that stuff. And I'm always really interested when there's a new name. And I think, I don't know if we've had a Stephanie on here before. And so for me, it's like, okay, how would Goofy say Stephanie? It's like, what do you go? oh Stephanie.
00:04:46
Speaker
Or what he did? Stephanie. I don't know. I'm going to do my best. I'll just say, Gorsh, hey, Stephanie. yeah i was awful glad you're here with us too today. yeah Welcome. That's great, Jeff. Thank you so much. Welcome. Yeah. My pleasure. law why pleasure yeah All right.
00:05:08
Speaker
And as you heard from Jeff, our guest this week is CEO of the WDW Magazine, Stephanie Schuster. Stephanie, how you doing tonight? I'm doing great. It's snowing where I am, so I know you guys are sad about the rain, but at least it's a little warmer for you. Wow.
00:05:29
Speaker
ah I'm in California. It's like 80 degrees here and I'm just, I'm getting sunburned. So everything that you all have been saying, totally, I can't, i I'm sorry. I just, died it feels like you're on another planet to me right now.
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah. The snow. Yes. I can't believe. Right, right, right. Yeah. And we're, um I'm in North Carolina where where Jeff used to live, but um we were getting, we're getting storms this week.
00:05:55
Speaker
I'll take storms anytime over snow. I'm i'm so glad. Cause when I moved from Nebraska, I didn't want any more snow. And then in the four years I've been here, we had more snow than than I ever wanted. So, so, all right. So Stephanie, um,
00:06:09
Speaker
I start off each episode um because I'm really interested and I think this is a very important question. um And I think it it kind of is
Journey to Owning WDW Magazine
00:06:21
Speaker
is perfect knowing that you're in the magazine business and your love for for Disney. So why don't you tell us how you fell in love with Disney?
00:06:28
Speaker
Well, I grew up in a Disney family. My parents went to Disneyland on their honeymoon and they were big Disney fans when ah like they still are. But when I was growing up, um so I, ah you know, I was watching the movies on VHS or maybe going once a year to like see the Little Mermaid in the theater. Right. And I i went in 1989. I was four years old um to Disneyland for my very first time. And I was absolutely hooked. um I think I probably like pushed myself to start reading earlier than most kids because I wanted to read the Birnbaum's guidebook that my parents were always thumbing through. Oh yes, I remember those. I actually, this Christmas when I went home, my dad gave me, he's like, do you want these or can I recycle them? I was like, no, give me the precious. um So they're all sitting off on my desk now. Perfect. you know, 1994 information. It's great. um So i I just loved it. And then I would say like most families then and now, it's hard, right, in our industry when a lot of us live near the parks and with social media, it seems like everybody's at the park every single day. But for most Disney fans, it's like it was when I was growing up where your family is saving up for months, maybe years in between trips, right, making other sacrifices in your life because you love this thing so much. You want to go make these memories with your family. And at the time, we didn't have Internet and iPhones and stuff. And my dad, well, my mom is a stay at home mom, but she worked very hard taking care of us in the house. But my dad was ah he was at work a lot. Like we didn't see a ton of him um because he was working to provide for us. Right. And which I sort of understood at the time. But Disney was a special time where he wasn't bringing homework to do after dinner. He wasn't like on calls with the office anytime he wasn't in there.
00:08:18
Speaker
um We would go to Disney. And of course, it's fun. You're meeting princesses and eating so much. ice cream and you're going on these fun roller coasters. But it was actually that time spending with my family in line for 20 minutes or an hour, whatever it might have been, waiting for those rides that we would actually really talk and connect. And, you know, my dad would ask me what my favorite color was and who my friends were. My mom would, you know, chat with me about you know, other things, my brother and I would not be fighting because we were in a happy place. We were all sugared up. So we weren't at each other's throats. We were just happy to be there. And it was just such a nice family bonding time. And as I grew older, i realized that like not a lot of people necessarily have that, even if you're going on family vacations, maybe you're going skiing. That's really an individual thing, right? You're all on the mountain doing your own thing. I grew up in Vancouver, so that was a popular thing that other families went to do. um
00:09:13
Speaker
And I so even from that younger age, I realized that it was a special opportunity to make memories and connect. And we would come home with the rolls of film that we would get developed and all my aunts and uncles would come over and we we'd show them all the pictures. And if they would go on vacation, they would come show us the pictures.
00:09:31
Speaker
And as I got older, Like many Disney fans, I had to start kind of hiding that Disney um love, right? You know, when I was a teenager and we were going to Disneyland or Disney World for a family vacation, my friends would say, where are you going? I'd be like, Hollywood, Los Angeles. Like I never went from LAX to Disneyland. Like there was no Los Angeles happening. um But you wanted to sound cool for your friends, right?
00:09:59
Speaker
um And even like in university, I didn't really talk to anybody about my love for Disney. There weren't blogs and podcasts and YouTube channels. um
Magazine Evolution and Community Engagement
00:10:11
Speaker
I didn't know there were other Disney people out there like me that weren't kids necessarily anymore, which is really silly since my parents were basically Disney adults in the 80s and 90s. We just didn't have a word for it then. And when social media started happening, when blogs started happening, um i you know, I was reading, I was reading All Ears and Disney Food Blog and, you know, listening to Lou Mangiello and all of these people who've been in the industry for a really long time. um And I wasn't really thinking about
00:10:40
Speaker
making that part of my identity necessarily, but I became more involved in the community, even kind of watching and listening to the community and being like, oh, there's other people out there. There's other people who are hearing the same things as me. Their friends and coworkers being like, oh you're going to Disney again? Oh, you're going to Disney and you don't even have kids? Oh, how much are you spending going to Disney? I don't need that kind of negativity in my life for this thing that I love and I'm passionate about. And I realized it was happening to a lot of other people.
00:11:10
Speaker
which made me sad for all of us, but also happy that I wasn't going through it alone. And I started ah reading Dad's Guide to WDW.com, which was run by Carl Trent in those days. And his philosophy was a lot like my parents' philosophy. that but At that time, the blog was a lot about um giving advice to other families. and There was certainly like, here here's what the beach club resort is like, but there was a lot of like, hey, how do I navigate this situation? What do I do if my kid is afraid of this? And what I loved, and this is one example that I was just like, this is spot on for me, was that
00:11:48
Speaker
he He would say something to the effect of, um you know, if your kids are there and they're having a great time and they don't want to get off the playground or they don't want to get out of the pool, don't yell at them and be like, we spent all this money to come. You have to go on a roller coaster right now. If they love the pool, just let them hang out in the pool. That's what they're going to remember. And I always thought that was just really great advice for any vacation, but certainly um I remember being a kid and not necessarily wanting to go back to the park at night for fireworks when I was having a great time in the pool and eating nachos and whatever. um And so that stuck with me. And then Carl made this post that said, hey, the blog is getting bigger. I need some help, maybe in writing, maybe in social media. And I wrote in and I said, hey, look, here's my Disney background. Here's my journalism background. Here's my marketing background. I would love to do some writing for you, which I thought at that time was going to be just unpaid fun work kirk because I didn't think you could make money on the Internet. um And he hired me and I ended up writing for him for ah several years, mostly ghostwriting, the Ask Dad column. ah But then Dad's Guide was getting big enough that we...
00:12:58
Speaker
decided to monetize it more. And that's how WW Magazine came into play. And I started working with Carl around 2011. And as the years went on, we introduced the magazines. And when he wanted to retire in 2020, my husband and I bought the magazine from him because we wanted to um keep the legacy going of the community that he had built, the products that he had built, the advice, the websites. So Now I own Dad's Guide to WDW along with WDW Magazine and our other magazines as well. um But that's kind of my long way around around into the fandom.
00:13:36
Speaker
That's wonderful. That's cool. Thank you. I remember as a kid there was like, is it Disney Adventure Magazine? or disney Oh, i you have all those. No. By the way, Disney Adventure Magazine was Okay. Maybe this is a foreshadow. I don't know. I came in the Disney thing like kind of later, but i not really. Like I guess I grew up.
00:13:57
Speaker
No, I did grow up loving it. It doesn't matter. We had two choices growing up. Highlighter magazines. My great grandma, your birthday. Highlighter magazines. oh ah Grandma, don't send me. I don't care about the, I'm like, well, what magazine do you want? Like Disney adventures. I have.
00:14:16
Speaker
like every years and years, I have mostly original, like a whole box of every Disney adventure magazine. And so magazines were so important. And to this day, I still have friends that grab that box and go, what in the world? And they go, do you mind if I borrow this for like a week? And they go through them and they're like laughing and, and it magazines are so important. They're so important. The, the physical, the way you could feel them, the, you know the snapshot in time and everything is so fleeting but a magazine and and ashley you're absolutely right about like disney adventures was it was it was it was disney but it wasn't just disney it was this whole like bubble of just the culture and everything it was so cool i remember being sad when they went out of print i'm like what they're not praying anything
00:15:11
Speaker
Before Disney Adventure, there was another very long-standing magazine. It changed. I think it was called the Disneyland News and then the Disney News. And that it was for Magic Kingdom Club members, which is what the – before predating D23, kind of what like what the fan club was called at that time. um And we got them. And I have all my copies also from when I was getting them. And, i like, I remember – um There was an issue about the Lion King um and I was in, I guess, grade four and they were interviewing Jonathan Taylor Thomas and everybody else who was in it. Right. And that's when it clicked for me that there were actors voicing those characters. Right. Wasn't there like a Disney magazine too or was that it? That was it. Because I have, I used to, I used to get those too.
00:15:59
Speaker
And I was like, Yeah. And then when that one went out of print, people had the option to switch over to Disney Adventure. um And a lot of people did. And then that one also went out of press. And then a few years later, they started up the D23 publication, which is now sadly not publishing anymore. oh i didn't know that. They're not... but Oh, no, they they are not. They're done.
00:16:24
Speaker
they They announced maybe November of last year that they were they were done. Star Wars Insider 2, they announced last year that their first issue of 2026 was going to be their final one. So in the span of like a couple months, we lost two of the only remaining Disney magazines out there. I didn't realize that.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah. Very sad because, ah you know, A, for our industry, we want to make sure that people are still interested in magazines. But B, as a magazine lover myself, like I love both of those magazines. I would love to still be getting them and not anymore.
00:16:58
Speaker
yeah an ial hate how the D23 were like quarterly. They weren't like monthly. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's it's hard to it's hard to wait as a consumer, right? It's hard to wait for that to come in the mail. Sometimes it can build some anticipation. It can also be hard. I mean, in Disney's case, I don't think it's hard for them to come up.
00:17:18
Speaker
yeah um In Disney's case, I don't think it's ah hard for them to come up with the content, right? Because they have access to everything with the movies and the theme parks and all of that. With us, we have three different titles now. We do WW Magazine monthly and we have since 2013. And that's because there's so much going on there. When we introduced our Disneyland magazine, DLR magazine, we decided to do it quarterly and then see if there was a enough demand, but also enough information for us to actually put out something monthly. And I don't think there is enough information because they only have a set number of hotels. There's only two parks available.
00:17:57
Speaker
There's not the huge amount of change that's going on there. And we also bring in a lot of company history, Walt history into that title as well, because everything is tied back to the studio Burbank there the history of the podcast. parks and then with our new dcl magazine we're starting off with twice a year we might go up a little bit uh we might go up to quarterly we'll see we'll see if there's enough information but again the cruise ships don't change that much right we are getting new cruise ships now every every year for the next few years that probably won't go on forever but there are things like the restaurants even the menus haven't changed in about a decade on the older ships right that's what my big complaint is they need to update some of the menus yeah but like
00:18:41
Speaker
we can't We can't just every four months say, and now we're going to tell you about Enchanted Garden again. this is why you should get the sea bass. There has to be some difference. And we really try with ww w magazine well with all the magazines to kind of take that approach about how do we talk about these things? We have to talk about every year Christmas, the Flower and Garden Festival, etc., in a new way. And one of the ways that we do that is we theme our issues. um So while we do have, ah you know, we always talk about a restaurant or a hotel, we talk about Imagineering, things for families do in every single issue, it might be all tied together with a common thread, like music or color or ah tropical things. um um And just
00:19:27
Speaker
That's how we get a new angle so that if we're talking about the Flower and Garden Festival, one year it's about how to do it with kids. One year it's about how to do it on a budget. One year it's about um how to learn from the horticulturalists about what all the flowers are doing, what to do on a date night. And that's how we can keep talking about those same things again and again from totally new angles.
00:19:48
Speaker
That's cool. Not to derail, but here's Jonathan. Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Oh, that's cool. yeah Send me a P.O. o box. I'll send it to you. Thanks.
00:19:58
Speaker
I'm done.
Exploring Disney World: Tips and Insights
00:19:59
Speaker
So I have a question sort following up to the Disney adventure and D23. I think one of the real challenges is in media released by the owners of the thing they're talking about. hmm.
00:20:15
Speaker
turns into preachiness really quickly. And as much as I, d twenty three d magazine was pretty. It was very nice and everything looked perfect. Um,
00:20:28
Speaker
But honestly, I don't mind that it's gone because I didn't find it that interesting. It wasn't. it And I think. and So the to to give a question to you, how do you feel you're better able to to cover the parks, not specifically being owned by Disney?
00:20:46
Speaker
Well, we definitely have more leeway. I mean, we can do whatever we want. Of course, we want to maintain a positive relationship with Disney, but even when they invite us out to things, they have no control over our content whatsoever.
00:20:58
Speaker
um we We actually get mistaken for Disney quite a lot. And because of the quality of our publication, which is a huge compliment to my whole team and our printers, and we always correct people and let them know, I think the difference with d twenty three publication was, you're right, it's beautiful, but it's glossy.
00:21:18
Speaker
It's more like a brochure, right? And they did have some interesting interviews and things, especially when they did those that they weren't maybe letting that person talk to every magazine or podcast on the planet. So that for me was the most interesting part there. And I think for people who were not plugged into the parks all the time, those magazines might have had more useful information, right? If if i was if I was, you know...
00:21:42
Speaker
how I was growing up where I was only going to the parks every few years and and there wasn't the internet for me to learn everything. I think that there's a place for that. In our magazine, we have so many different people writing, right? Everybody who wrote for D23 works for Disney in archives or at D23. They all have to stay on message, which I don't fault at all. That's what you have to do when you're in one of the biggest companies in the world.
00:22:04
Speaker
um But with our magazine, we can have so many different voices. And we don't, we do get critiqued, I'll be honest, we get critiqued because people think that we should go more negative. um And we will say things like, this wasn't like this taco wasn't for me, but the margarita here was great. But the reason that we don't go negative is because of that but that community that we were talking about earlier, where we don't want people to feel bad about the thing that they love. You know, Port Orleans Riverside is not my favorite hotel on property. Would I rather stay there at Disney World than anywhere else that's not at Disney World? No, I would rather stay there. But there's 20 other hotels I would pick first. um But I'm never going to say this is the worst hotel and I hate this and it' stupid because for somebody that is their most favorite hotel, not not just in the Disney world, but in the entire world.
00:22:56
Speaker
And there's enough people out there making us feel bad about spending our money, spending our time, making our memories at Disney. that ah me and my team, we never want people to feel that way. So we try, we only give accurate information. We only provide information that Disney has a-okayed to go out. um We give our honest reviews on things, but we try to be more helpful than, you know, critical for the click sake. um And we also really try to give people the kind of information that we ourselves would want if we're planning a trip to Disney to really know what am I getting into if I go see this show or I dine at this restaurant or I stay at this hotel. What is that information? And maybe what is something special that not everybody else will know that could up my own knowledge so I can be that kind of like know-it-all in the parks and be like, oh, dude.
00:23:51
Speaker
Here's a fun fact about the the mountains in Pandora. See that thing up there? It's not actually a waterfall. It's a spinning tire. um So we try to give people that kind of trivia too.
00:24:02
Speaker
And so i do I do think it is different because it's not necessarily, it's on brand for us to be positive and informative and accurate, but it's not on message for the company necessarily. And that and that takes empathy if you think about it because, if you know, you could, they say, you know,
00:24:19
Speaker
sex sells but it's like uh now people are saying this even more uh that's not true you know i mean it is true but but rage sells even more rage does so it does and and easily it could be like wow i'm gonna click on that because you know it it it's like there's a there's an adrenaline rush of clicking on that kind of stuff but to say to sort of put it perspective and say, Hey, this wasn't my favorite thing, but you may love it. And then have that sort of diagnosis of like, Hey, this, minute this might not be for me, but Hey, tell me, tell me, you know, in the, if it's like YouTube or something like tell me in the chat, like, what do you think? Is this your favorite thing?
00:25:00
Speaker
I love, i love language like that because that kind of language invites curiosity and, and, and to say, Hey, this is my opinion, but, you know Let me know if this connects with you. So I love that. I love that mentality. I think there's a really frustrating thing in some parts of the Disney community where um we've lost the definition of the word negative.
00:25:23
Speaker
um we you know Simply because someone says, hey, I think Disney could have done better at this, does not mean they're being negative about that ride.
00:25:35
Speaker
ah i Personally, yeah not a big fan Toronto. right I think that they could have done better, especially the one is at at Magic Kingdom.
00:25:45
Speaker
But hey. It could have lasted little longer. Exactly. Yeah. if you If you love Tron, I'm not going to knock it. I think the experience is fantastic. And I think this is the part that we're missing.
00:25:57
Speaker
If someone's on the thing that you don't like, they aren't on the thing that you like somewhere else. That's the That's the one. Yeah. When someone's like, I hate Tower of Terror. First of all, I'm like, well, you're wrong, but its cool.
00:26:13
Speaker
I'll be over there on Tower Terror. You can go over on Slinky Dog and wait too long for that. It's fine. yeah And we don't have to have a fight. No, we can all enjoy the thing that we're there to enjoy. Some people love the shows and they don't even bother with rides. Some people don't want to eat at the restaurants at all. That's one of my favorite parts. Right. um But we're all like it's a huge big Disney world and there's so much out there for us to explore. i have spent. I've actually done this calculation. I don't have the most recent one up to this very day in time, but I've spent about one in every 37 days of my life in a Disney park. Being a Canadian who doesn't live anywhere near the parks, that is a weird thing to say. And I still haven't done it all at Disney World or Disneyland, you know, every single time there's something new.
00:27:02
Speaker
No. every Every time I have someone, I mean, believe it or not, people who know me in my life ah that go on their first trip to Disney World, or they often find me for advice. um They're like, hey, Mike, what's going on with this, that? And and the first thing i'm like you are, first they show me their plans. They're like, okay, here's our spreadsheet. I'm like,
00:27:21
Speaker
Oh, sweet summer child. oh Okay. You're going to want to cut half of that. Like literally immediately. Are you going with kids? There better be pool time.
00:27:32
Speaker
um But I think, you know, I, I, I think one of the big things about Disney world and lot less of Disneyland, you got to go there and experience the unexperience ableness of, of, of this place. Um, And then you will understand because they don't, they're like, you know, ah if if I have a dollar for a time I've been asked, hey, can you walk from Epcot to Magic Kingdom?
00:27:55
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Like physically, yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. They don't understand. A few years ago, um our our best friends actually met us down at Disney for a couple of days. We were there on a work trip that we extended for for another week. And um one of them was at a conference in Tampa. So the other one was like, okay, your conference ends Friday. I'll fly down Friday. And then they drove up from Tampa and joined us for the weekend weekend. at Disney World. And they could not believe they thought we were they were just going to like drive in the gate and park their car and everything was there. and they were like, there's multi-lane highways. Like I drove through the gates and it was another 20 minutes till I got to the hotel. What's going on? And I was like, one of them's an engineer, right? One of them's in tourism. And i I was like, I don't understand how you can't read map. But it' here we are. And it's a big place, right?
00:28:46
Speaker
It's larger than the island of Manhattan. By twice. No matter any time I tell people that, theyre still do they still show up and go, it's bigger than I thought it was. I go, were you not listening to me? I don't understand. I gave you the size of things that it's like. and no no But yeah, i think that I think the whole experience is really overwhelming, especially to first timers at Disney World. I think Disneyland is easier for a first timer um because it's it is more walkable between the two parks. Whether you're staying on property or one of the nearby hotels, it's really not that far away. um and even in something like Disneyland Park compared to Magic Kingdom, there's more rides per square foot and the whole area is not as big. So you're not you're not getting in those miles and kilometers. uh getting all those steps in quite the same way that you do at disney world which we had been to
The Enduring Appeal of Magazines
00:29:43
Speaker
disneyland i think five or six times when i was growing up before we went to disney world for the first time and my parents and i were very prepared um but or so we thought and then we got there and we realized that we were staying at caribbean beach we're like in order to get to um you know epcot when it opens in the morning we need to be ready to leave our room like at two hours before we're going because then we have to walk to the bus and then we have to wait and if the bus is full we have to wait for another bus and then we have to walk into epcot uh my my mom was very grumpy that trip you see this is why the correct order has to be do disney world first and then experience disneyland
00:30:25
Speaker
Because I grew up as a Disney World kid. I did not go to Disneyland until my late 30s. And I got to Disneyland and I'm like, okay, end of the park day, awesome, walking out and my body's like, okay, we're getting to the bus stop. And I get to where my body's like, okay, we should be at the bus stop, Magic Kingdom. And I'm like, shit, I'm in bed.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yep. What happened? This is amazing. That's the dream. That's the literal dream. It's intimate. People have said that. Walt Disney knows last week. Walt Disney World is lot more international. we weren't even on property. We were literally off property. And it was the same distance as you would have been to get to the bus stop. And I'm like, this is the greatest thing ever. Now, I would like to know when they bring out the rest of the castle.
00:31:18
Speaker
Oh, okay. Okay. All right. All right. ah Go see it at Christmas with the lights Come on. Come on. It's really stunning then. Taking swipes. Hey, I'm curious. I don't know if we want to go this direction. We don't have to, but I'm really curious about a magazine and and magazines in general and And the art form and ah gosh, what it means to be, to have a magazine in 2026. I don't know if anyone wants to jump on that.
00:31:47
Speaker
I don't, I don't have any great profound questions, but I think I'm just, I'm curious. I'd love to hear what you all think. a photographer, I will say thank you for printing foot photographs in print form.
00:31:58
Speaker
ah You're welcome. And I think that's probably what we're best known for. Because you might be the only ones left doing it. to it's it's hard and it's expensive, let me tell you.
00:32:09
Speaker
and I miss magazines. i I'm a magazine person i and I'm a book person. I love physical copies. need to feel the book, to look through the book. It's tactile and and gloss and the feeling of a glossy page and yeah and ah in a colorful photo. And i as much as I love Kindle and all that stuff, it doesn't. It's just not.
00:32:32
Speaker
It's not the same as holding a physical magazine. So I don't, you know, you all take over. Well, that was my question, you know, in a world of 15 second TikToks and Instagram and everything else where you could just scroll on through. Why do you think so many fans are so deeply still connected to that long form content? I think with the Disney community, especially, it's two things. When it comes to the magazine specifically, as opposed to like, there's like podcasts are great long form content. There's lots of YouTube videos out there that are an hour plus now, right? And those are awesome, too. I think with the magazine being tag. tactile thing being a collectible quality thing to not just something that you're going to necessarily throw in the trash. We actually get a lot of people messaging us and saying like, I'm done with my magazines. I've read them. I've let my sister read them. What do I do with them now? can't possibly throw them out. So we give them some like, you know, donate them to scrapbookers, see if your library will take them, see if one of the schools will take them, that sort of thing. Find another Disney fan in your life and just, you know, pay it forward, share them around. So I think that but a lot of people are.
00:33:37
Speaker
we have We have subscribers who order two, three d copies so that they can have one that they put in a Mylar bag and keep in mint condition, sealed up in a box, and then one that they can thumb through. And then if they have like kids or sticky fingered neighbors, ah they can have a third one to float around. um So it kind of goes it kind of goes both ways. But Disney people love collecting, right? They love their pins. They love their spirit jerseys. They love their Christmas ornaments. um and Any of the things, whatever your thing is, Disney makes it and you're going to collect every single one of them. So I think that's already part of the Disney fan culture. In terms of long form content, I would definitely say that short form content like TikTok videos or blog posts that are more listicle style where it's just giving you like really quick hits. You can read it in 30 seconds and be done.
00:34:24
Speaker
Those have their place. Absolutely. We do some of that stuff also to reach new audiences and hopefully entice them to the magazine. But I think with podcasts, longer YouTube videos, blogs that focus on more in-depth articles and definitely magazines where it's an appropriate ah place for you to have that really in-depth content.
00:34:44
Speaker
Like with a magazine, you're sitting down and you're like, I'm going to sit down and actually read something. It's like having a book. I'm going to read a chapter of the book. I'm going to read the whole book, right? Front to back. um And you're kind of mentally prepared to sit down and read something that is longer than 30 second read, but you're also expecting a lot more. And that was something that we had to overcome because we started out as a digital only magazine in 2013 and we went to print in 2018. Carl was still with the company at that time. And I said to him, we cannot do what we're doing digitally and just print it out. It is not good enough for that. It is a glorified blog. It's a good blog, but it is a glorified blog that we're selling people for their iPads.
00:35:28
Speaker
It needs to be behind the scenes. It needs to be... exclusive interviews, it needs to be very long articles um and lots of beautiful photos and facts and we have to fact check everything. Not that we weren't fact checking before, but if you make a mistake or you make a spelling error in digital, we can just go in and fix it in five seconds, hit publish and it would update for everyone.
00:35:52
Speaker
if you make a spelling mistake or a worse mistake, an informational mistake in the print magazine, it is there forever and your audience will never let you hear the end of it. So we we went from this cycle of, um you know, we would publish the April issue on April 1st and April 1st afternoon, we would talk about what to do in May. And now we actually plan about 18 months out in order to be able to go to print almost an entire month before it lands in people's mailboxes. um But we have the opportunity with the magazine to to go in depth. What I was saying before about giving people um new information about things that they love. If you love Pop Century, you think you know everything there is to know about it. You know what their rooms are like. You know which pool is your favorite. You know what every single one of those plaques along the running route says.
00:36:43
Speaker
we've got more pop century facts for you. We've got hidden details you never know about, you've never known about. We've talked to Imagineers. um We've figured out the artists that are working on things and we're going to tell you why you should look at that artist's, ah you know, previous and ah future works and see how they connect back to the pop century. um Whatever those things might be, we're making all those connections for you so that next time you go to the pop century, your experience is even greater because you have more appreciation. And I think that,
00:37:13
Speaker
a TikTok video doesn't necessarily give you enough time to build up that level of appreciation um and passion and but strengthening your fandom, right? Yeah. And I'm tired of clicking on stuff. I'm tired of everything's just so, here's the thing.
00:37:32
Speaker
I think with the long form, anything there's, especially from a trusted source, there's comfort familiarity. There is something that goes, I know that I know they do their work.
00:37:43
Speaker
um like I fall asleep, I can't fall asleep at night. So I, I listen to podcasts, but I'm so tired. the You know, if I click on something like, you know, eight minutes, oh, that's it. Now I have to click on something else, but it, but it's true in real life. I'm tired of,
00:37:59
Speaker
800 brands of cereal. I'm tired of like a gazillion brands of jeans. I'm like, and and that's, I forgot what they call it, like consumer fatigue or whatever it is of constantly just having to click on this and buy that and everything, everything vying for your attention. So I find personally, and I'm going to turn it over again to you all, with whatever you think, but I find big comfort in long form. I'm a huge fan of long form anything. Because I think there's a sense of trust, but there's also a sense of, I don't have to, yeah um i can try, okay, I can click on it and just sit down or, or a magazine.
00:38:38
Speaker
i can I can go and just calm it down. i don't have to just, it's not just constantly everything like click on this, buy this, do that. It's like i there's there's a sense of safety and a long form. It's not overstimulating, right? It's stimulating enough. you're You're reading something interesting. Hopefully you're looking at a beautiful photo, um maybe many beautiful photos, but you don't.
00:39:04
Speaker
It's really playing into that whole idea of slow media, giving our brain break, and being able to enjoy something totally being
Content Creation with Integrity and Collaboration with Disney
00:39:14
Speaker
engrossed in it, right? I don't know about you, but if I'm watching TV at night, I don't know how it happens, but my phone is in my hand and I'm still scrolling through Instagram. And I'm like, no, put it down. You're watching a show right now, one thing at a time. And I can't physically stop myself sometimes. Go ahead, Mike. Go ahead. I was going to say a couple of comments. I've been sitting on one for a while, but I do want to get into this. And I want to say the interesting thing is they're developing television with that in mind now.
00:39:43
Speaker
Absolutely. They know that you have your phone in your hand. yeah So like we've just we just spent a little while rewatching, not rewatching, watching for the first time the show of The Middle, which was built which was designed and and produced before smartphones. yeah And you can tell the difference between that and, or a great example, Scrubs, Disney example, yeah Scrubs. yeah Original Scrubs.
00:40:08
Speaker
If you look at it written very differently than the also good updated scrubs, um which it is designed for for people to have their phones. yeah um And I was going to say something Jeff said.
00:40:20
Speaker
it's It's the trust. that That is a huge thing. And no one can do any form of long form content without trust because like, I don't need to say them, but anyone who is a Disney fan, a real Disney fan, knows about three websites.
00:40:37
Speaker
for which they have been sent articles by lesser Disney friends that they know um with headlines that are very click worthy gone. The person, the friend goes, oh my God, Mike, what's happening with this? They're getting rid of it. like, no, it's bullshit.
00:40:55
Speaker
It's bullshit. just It's fine. Don't. Yeah. My uncle sends those to me at least once a week. And I'm like, why are you reading these sites? I have a site. Because because they get traffic. it's It's frustrating. As someone who is still tiny in this space, it's so frustrating that they get the traffic. It's like, come on.
00:41:16
Speaker
Yep. And it's it's I'll be honest, it's hard to compete also yeah um because people won't click on those super positive headlines. We still keep our content online positive and accurate. um And as much as we possibly can, we try to keep our titles, ah you know, straightforward or celebratory. But sometimes we have to say so. I i don't even have an example off the top of my head. But so sometimes we have to say something like if you don't like taking the bus,
00:41:45
Speaker
at Disney World, these hotels are not for you. But the article is actually about the hotels that have monorail service. yeah um you know But we have to do that. Otherwise, we don't get any clicks. We don't get the information out there. And frankly, then we don't make ad revenue, which is what keeps our website alive. And we don't bring new customers in to buy the magazine, which keeps the magazine alive. I have dozens of employees. I have to keep them employed. so I don't like playing the game at all and it frustrates me more than i will ever be able to say. Yeah. And you, you um you know, I think like you, like you said, it's, it's really important to, to realize that a lot of these are operations have employees and have, you know, and then I think that a lot, there's, there's a, there's a disconnect between some
00:42:37
Speaker
of the community and and what, like, i to me, like, I never tried to compete with any of the people who are getting that first, you know, the first, to this is brand new, this is brand new. like now I'm no, I'm gonna compete based on my personality and based on people liking my interpretation of things. yes And that's how you build trust, right? And that's how you build a relationship with your audience and hopefully build a community of like-minded people who follow your content. um And I mean, that's what we're trying to do at least.
00:43:11
Speaker
Yeah, no, definitely. And I think, I mean, you're, you're obviously doing something right. um Thank you. It's been, I mean, that, that's not, that sounded almost negative. No, no, it does is like, no. Just one, just one thing. You've got it, you know, it's okay. But like I said, I mean, as someone who takes, who who does photography, I like the the fact that you are a paying photographers and be printing photography in print form. Yeah. especially in this in this niche.
00:43:40
Speaker
um You know, there's one there's people still printing art photography and other stuff, but like the you know Disney photography. Editorial style photography. It's still like I essential i love absolutely love the photo work that you have in there.
00:43:55
Speaker
Thank you so much. Our photography team is fantastic. And many of them have been working with us for close to a decade now. um And it's... we If we're like a happy little family, you know, we go through the good times together, we go through the bad times together. um But we all really support each other. And it's nice to be friends with the people that you work with, too. Right. Well, if you ever need an uncle in that family, I know someone. Thank you. Hey, so, Barry. um you know as I know Barry's the i thought well Barry okay we have stay at castle mom we have we have Barry who who I don't know Venerina Lisa I do have a couple questions there you go that was my question behind the lady Okay. Yeah. Who else wants it? Let's go. The behind the scenes process, Ms. Stephanie. Yes. You know, i know i have some friends that have received like cease and desist letters and i know that there has to be a pretty good um open line of communication between, or i would assume, maybe I shouldn't assume anything, that there's a good line of communication between you and the company. What does that look like? and and And was that all, you know, started by previous owner or and and continued on? Or how does that work?
00:45:15
Speaker
um So there's not a formal process to get that kind of relationship established with Disney. um So I get this question a lot, actually, from people who are starting out their own channels. They're like, how do I get on a media list how do I know if I'm allowed to do this or not and I was like well to know if you're allowed to do something or not you need to go talk to a lawyer the reason we are not Walt Disney World magazine or like Disney fan magazine is because the lawyers told us no you'll get sued but wd w was fair game so that is like how we started um and we for years we were doing dad's guide we were doing the magazine we had no real contact with disney disney was definitely following us we you know didn't know that for sure at the time but now i know disney follows everybody doing anything and they're waiting to see who does good content um you know they they certainly will if you're doing something you shouldn't be doing like
00:46:13
Speaker
you know putting a photo of stitch that you ripped off the movie onto a t-shirt on etsy they're gonna come for you um eventually right but what they're really doing is trying to find and this is i think their approach to from me talking to imagineers and other people in the company their approach is not necessarily like apply to be an Imagineer. It's like they are like, we're looking for architects. We're looking for artists who's doing something cool in this new tech space. Hey, we're going to poach you so can come work for us. Not that we work for Disney by any means. We have no actual affiliation with them. But they watch over time to see what your following is like. Do you have a niche following? Is that an audience that they are interested you know, pursuing?
00:46:55
Speaker
pursuing um ah are are you speaking ah not not even necessarily well on behalf of them like saying nothing negative because there's lots of outlets that don't have the positive take that we have that get invited to previews and events and interviews um but are you doing good quality work are you not spreading malicious rumors are you not doing things that will endanger guests or um you know, employees. And then maybe this is how it happened for us. This could be different for different people, but then maybe you will get an opportunity to like go to a teeny tiny media event. That's not really exclusive. They're like, come hang out at flower and garden festival for the day. We'll give you a ticket to enter the park. Hopefully you'll put something on your Twitter account.
00:47:42
Speaker
um And then And Disney doesn't usually even say, hopefully you'll put something on your Twitter account. That's just like read between the lines. Maybe you should put something on social if they're inviting you.
00:47:53
Speaker
um and they And if they ever do say we would appreciate a post on Instagram, they have no control over what that post is whatsoever. um So we started out getting invited. I think our very first thing that we ever got invited to might have been baseline tap house opening.
00:48:11
Speaker
um And it was just come check it out before we open it to the public tomorrow. It was a small group of people. I wasn't there. We sent one of our local reporters to go. And maybe there was an interview with somebody from behind the scenes that was like a two minute interview or group interview. And then from there, we got invited to a couple more and a couple more. um And eventually, but right before I bought the magazine from Carl, we had had a few things like we had been invited to see. um ah
00:48:42
Speaker
Marvel Day at Sea Cruise and a ah Mickey's or a very very merry time cruise. Sorry, we had been invited to the opening of Galaxy's Edge, the opening of Pandora, um and a few other things like festival festival openings, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure opening. But we weren't going to a ton of them. And there were tons and tons of other outlets that were at something every single day or so it seemed. we were There are a lot of outlets um out there that get really upset when I'm not invited to everything. How come this other person? And and that is definitely not.
00:49:14
Speaker
not the headspace you need to be in. Disney is picking you to come to a specific event because they think that it will resonate for their audience and get the message across to the people that they want to get it across to. It has nothing to do with you. It doesn't mean that you or your team are not doing a good job with your flower and garden coverage if you don't get invited to flower and garden. Maybe you've done it so well that they don't need you to do anything more, right?
00:49:37
Speaker
um Or maybe they know that your people don't really care about flower and garden. um They know probably more about your audience than you do. So over time, you get invited into different kinds of media events, and maybe you have build up trust with different reps, um knowing that you're not going to go into an interview. you go into an interview and ask a question, you are definitely not supposed to ask um or conduct yourself in a way that is unbecoming for a Disney interview, they will never invite you back. like you You blew your shot, right? um So it is figuring out over time how
00:50:14
Speaker
to thread that needle, what you can ask, how to ask something. If you're not sure if somebody will will say something about it sometimes we will get ah an answer that is not like a bad answer, but i'm like, that is the verbiage that is slightly different than on the website. And I'll email our press rep and say like, they said this word. do Do you want me to use this word? Which is the one that you guys are going with currently? Because they might've been working on a project for a year and then change the code word on something. And that's fair. It's like, don't fly too close to the sun, dude. You know, like you can, you can, and that's the thing. And, and, but I, but what I appreciate, appreciated about Disney is there is, it's not, they're not, they're not ruling with an iron fist. It's like they, there really is some leeway and I, I get, I'll do goofy or voice, you know, like um voice matching stuff. and People go, well,
00:51:12
Speaker
Disney doesn't come after you. No. You know, if I do it for other people, like it's, it's not, it's not sort it's sort of not a thing, you know? Yeah. And like, you know, you know, when, like, if you were trying to like record an album of Goofy singing Christmas carols and market it as Goofy's Christmas album. have to pay people to watch this stuff. I can't. That would be something that they would get in trouble for, right? So it's using common sense, maybe consulting a lawyer, and then starting slow. Like, don't if Disney invites you to something, don't go in like guns a-blazing.
00:51:46
Speaker
just like stay back, like be confident, be yourself. They've invited you to do that, but like take the temperature of the room, see how things go. I've been doing this, going to events like this for over 10 years now. And now we're getting invited to, and it's taken years and years of trust and showing our content again and again, whether we get the interview, whether we don't, whether we get the invite, whether we don't, still doing good quality content that we know is accurate, that we're proud of. And now we do get more opportunities to do interviews or go behind the scenes and see how things are made. I got to go to Germany last summer to preview the destiny before it even had its float out. I was on board and a hard hat and steel toed boots um with everything like shrouded up. um And that was really cool. I never in a million years thought that would be the case, but I don't think it would ever have happened if I hadn't had 10 plus year relationship showing time and time again that I was, you know,
00:52:47
Speaker
We're like, rich reach yeah, trustworthy and reaching the right audience. And with the with the kind of message that would support what Disney wants people to know about. Right. And and yeah, we're sort of that podcast, too. Like, you know, we we we we call ourselves a big vault of stories and people, people behind the people. And I'm going to just channel Barry people behind the people.
00:53:12
Speaker
You know, and that's that's part of it. is' it's It really is. But it's it's the people and the people behind the people. And we love Disney. And and so there is sort of is this unspoken thing on this podcast that it's not like, oh, you can't talk bad about it. But we but you got to love Disney.
00:53:31
Speaker
That's sort of – Otherwise, what are you doing here, right? That's really are you spending your life talking about this? Yeah, yeah. And and we do – I think we've done a very good job over the past years for that. And and because, you know, I pretend maybe space alien – like the world will just – we'll have it an apocalyptic event, whatever. And then we'll just like have – space aliens will be like oh i wonder who used to live on this desolate rock and then it'll just be our podcast of disney like oh i remember the this is i'm being silly but the but they'll you know to have a vault of all the and maybe a better way to say it is you know maybe 100 years
00:54:13
Speaker
it Disney's still going alive and strong and there might be a historian out there that goes, man, I wonder who, what was it? And and any which way we can we can preserve and to vault these stories, it's just wonderful because we love Disney and and I think there's trust there and and your magazine's wonderful too. because And that physical media is important because case in point, you know, like all this stuff still for me, it's it's still here.
Digital Enhancements and Audience Adaptation
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um I think it is like, it's such an honor to be able to be kind of carrying on the torch of printing a Disney magazine because I grew up reading them, right? And now I can't necessarily get my hands on those ones anymore other than the copies I already have. um And I'm hoping that that kind of legacy,
00:55:03
Speaker
um You know, can inspire somebody else, whether it's about getting into print media or long form content or just ah the whatever, whatever comes next in the in the great communications revolution that we seem to be having. um Like, how do they take information?
00:55:19
Speaker
inspiration from the heart of what we're trying to do here. um And I love your point about, um you know, having this vault of stories. And I think that that's more valuable than you even know in our magazine, right? We try to, sure, we write about the, you know, the nine old men and really famous figures in Disney's history. But a lot of times we are digging back and trying to find out about people who you have never heard of. We did an entire issue a few years ago that was called Women Behind the Magic. And yes, we talked about Lillian Disney, but we talked about lots of women who have been involved in projects from the company's history to now who you've probably never even heard their names. um And like the projects would not have been the same without them.
00:56:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, and I'm struck a lot when we are interviewing folks, especially people who had early influence in their career from maybe one of the nine old men or folks were directly influenced by the nine old men. And I often think during that formative time in Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Company's history, did these people know what they were actually, what they were living through? Yeah. um You know, and I think, you know, so often it goes back to CalArts, it goes back to WDI, and these early, and they're very interesting. I love hearing the conversations where it's like the one, I forget who it was, but the one person was like, yeah, you know, my dad was at the studio, so I would go there on my lunch break from school, and I would kind of see this, and then... you know i was I was there and all all of a sudden this Imagineer was there and he said, oh, come with me and draw this. And then like and I'm like, that's it's wild. And i love, and one of the big challenges is that in a lot of cases, those stories didn't get written down immediately.
00:57:16
Speaker
yeah at the time you didn't know it was a story to tell because you didn't yeah exactly no one knew that you were that you were at the birth of something you know wild so it's so important that we we write down and and tell the stories that we're in now even though people often people get that like oh why is modern music not as good as you know the classic classics and stuff and it's like well no this what we're listening to now will be classic one day we just don't know it yet yeah So let's, let's tell the story of this time in Disney, because there will never be a different time. We are, we are, in my opinion, entering a very exciting period of the Walt Disney Company, especially in Florida, um that, that I think people will, you know, I, I hope I, I really, you know, I think Disney has been pushed and I hope they will respond really, really well. And we will see a, you know, a change, ah a, a, a,
00:58:15
Speaker
a resurgence or whatever in, in the company. And, um, love the fact that we have independent voices who are who are archiving that. Like I, I just, I think about you, I see your, your collection from the back and I'm like, yeah I love the idea of being a collector then having and making something that someone else collects. Yeah, right? I'm part i'm part of the little circle of life.
00:58:40
Speaker
It's absolutely wild. The first time I had someone walk up to me and say, hey, I bought one of your pictures off your website. And I'm like, oh, that's really cool. You're just like, where is it? Like, oh, it's it's hanging up my living room. like
00:58:53
Speaker
I know. Thank you. Thank you.
00:58:58
Speaker
That's a wonderful. Hey, Venerina, what do you think? I do have a question, Stephanie. How do you balance the nostalgia with new innovation when you're communicating the new Disney experiences to fans?
00:59:11
Speaker
um Well, that's a great question. And the magazine really lets us do both of those things, right? Because we have so many pages that we can really, you know, in one issue, maybe we could talk about Big Thunder Mountain's history and the evolution of that storytelling. And then we could also talk about ah the technology that they're using in the new revamp of the ride. And then we could maybe also talk about different variations of that around the world and give opinions on like, oh, wouldn't it be great if that thing came here? Or they do this so much better over in this park? um Or did you know that there was even SEA connection with this thing in Magic Kingdom? Who who would have even thought that that was happening? You have to know to look for these things and then how to piece them together. So that is, and I was just using Big Thunder Mountain as an example, but so we could have multiple stories like that in one issue or across issues. But even within an issue, we could talk about, you know, you know, the development of of the animatronics for the Tiki birds and how that was ah cutting edge technology at that time. And now people have a soft spot in their heart for the cute little Tiki birds. And then in a completely different article, you know, talk about Navi animatronics in Pandora. um So because we have all that space, we can do that. And we actually do this on our website too. On our website, we do have a blog that we have multiple posts on every day. And some are news things so that people can stay up to date with what's going on. Some are information like they're like, oh, new magic bands or new photo pass shots, or they just announced that this new thing is coming to Buzz Lightyear, whatever it may be. But then we have a whole archive section of Today in Disney History where we talk about things that happened in the parks that happened with figures in the Walt Disney Company history. So you can kind of get both of those things, whether it's a free content on our website or the paid content in our magazine. You know, and you brought it up, so I have to. As you mentioned, Disney is always watching. So Disney.
01:01:16
Speaker
The Society of Explorers and Adventurers is something that you need to build more stuff of in the parks. Please. I don't know how else to say this. Thank you.
01:01:27
Speaker
I love you, Josh. Bye-bye. Josh will make it happen if anyone will make it happen. Venerina, one more point that I did want to say is magazines, printed magazines are kind of an old fashioned medium, right? And people love it right now with the like slow returns of slow media. um Or if you've always loved it, you're you're really happy to still have some magazines that are getting printed. But we do hear from a lot of our subscribers.
01:01:53
Speaker
um We call them members because they're part of our community, even though it is technically a subscription product. um But we we started it as a digital magazine and then went to print, which is weird because it's usually the other way around. We still do have that digital magazine. And when we I know I was talking about how it was just a glorified blog before and we had to do something different for print.
01:02:13
Speaker
Now the same content that's in our print magazine is it in our digital format. um And in the last year, we've actually put a lot of effort into that because we are hearing from people like I collected your magazine for years, I don't have anywhere left to put it. um You know, they are expensive and we try our best to keep them affordable for people but like our printing costs have tremendously crippled since the pandemic. um You know, we get new tariff costs all the time, and like employment costs go up as they should because cost of living is going up. There's a whole bunch of things outside of our control. And people are like, oh, your magazines are really expensive. um Shouldn't they be a dollar? And I'm like, no, because they're not full of ads. Like when you go, a Vogue isn't a dollar and they've got a billion dollars of ads in each issue, right? It's like 70 pages of content, 700 pages of ads. And we just don't do that. All of our interior content is ah ad free. We sometimes have an an ad like on one of the inside front or back covers. um But ah sorry, getting back to digital. So what we have done is we've put our content
01:03:19
Speaker
magazine layouts, the beautiful visual editorial style, and that has, since we went to print, been our hallmark on the digital edition, which is way more affordable for people. It means that they're not, you know, junking up their closet by having stacks and stacks of magazines like I do.
01:03:35
Speaker
They also get all of our new issues, plus all of our 160 plus back issues, all in that one price. So it makes it more affordable. It makes it great for people who want the knowledge, but maybe who don't have ah the time, space, money, whatever, for that collector aspect. You're still collecting the knowledge, right? um But in the last year, we've heard from a lot of people, you know, with TikTok and all these other things, they're getting used to different Apple news. They're getting used to different formats, podcasts. So we revamped our digital edition to not only have, you can now flip through it on your iPad or your iPhone or or on your computer and see our beautiful magazine layouts. You can also hit a button and then read all of our content, more like like an Apple news piece or Google news piece where it's photos and videos in line with text and you can just scroll up and down. And we actually have an audio feature now. So for all of our new issues from last May onward, when you click, there's like a little headphone button. And if you click that, you can listen to it almost like a mini podcast. So we've heard, especially from parents, that they really love that. if They're folding laundry or doing stuff around the house. It's really nice doing the dishes, right? It's really nice to be able to just like hit that and like for five or 10 minutes, listen to an article um because they might not have time i am to sit down and read.
01:04:53
Speaker
um So that's on the operational side, how we're trying to balance the the old and the new. Are you, um for the audio, are you doing, um do you have someone doing the actual live narration or are you using the AI technology? One day I hope for that to be the case. it's It is AI technology that's doing it, but it's not something that we built. It's a software that we use um through a company based in the UK, actually. And they do a lot of magazines all over the world. But that's the only functionality they have now is for that. we We can't upload our own audio. But they said it's on their roadmap in the future. So when that happens, we will be very happy. We have lots of talented people on our team who would love to read their own articles or other people's articles.
01:05:38
Speaker
So it's not perfect, but it's i'll do one thing at a time. I'll just read all your articles in voices. And he'll do it in the voice of Goofy. We love it. It'll be like Pooh Bear one day back.
01:05:50
Speaker
Oh, hello. No, one day. well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what I would do. But i just just sign me up. it'll be Hey, can we? So we are, I don't know. I don't know if we've been going long. We're not going long. we Sometimes we go for like three hours. But we always want to be respectful.
01:06:10
Speaker
of time for our guests we don't want to drain you but i i i'm this is just one thing i thought barry barry i don't know if you've asked a question and i just um i have a question like a speed round yeah i have a question i do have a question and and it's probably not as good as some of the questions that we had tonight but um and then i'll jump over to dixie and let her ask her a question but stephanie
01:06:35
Speaker
As I mentioned before, and I think I mentioned it before we started recording, you know, I was collecting WDW magazines for a long time. My question for you is, what is that one that one article that you wrote that you look, you can look back and say, we're on the map because of this?
01:06:56
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. I'm looking, you can't see, but I'm looking over at my wall of magazines over here. Hmm.
01:07:11
Speaker
Sorry. No, that's a great question. I'm just, I'm trying to think. I don't, I don't know if it's one article particular, but I will tell you the one that we felt like we really made it big was about five or six years ago. We did a special that was all about the Haunted Mansion.
01:07:27
Speaker
And ah we actually got to interview Bob Gurr for that. And that was the first time that we had, and like, he's not represented by the Walt Disney Company and anymore. Like he does things with them, but we were able to approach him on our own. um and explain what we were doing and he wanted to talk to us and he gave us a great interview that we actually incorporated not only into our Haunted Mansion are um issue but also little pieces where he talked about the Matterhorn bobsleds and stuff that we later used in DLR magazine. It was a really wonderful interview and I think for our team at that point we were like oh they're taking us seriously. We've been to some media events and stuff but we're like this isn't like the random chef you've never heard of. I do love talking to all the chefs though. But like, this is not the random chef you've never heard of that. This is a name brand imagineer. He's really important to the foundation of the company. And he wanted to talk to us. So I think for that one, like morale wise for the company, everyone was like, we if we can get Bob Gurr, we can do this.
01:08:30
Speaker
but All right, Dixie, you have a question? Yeah, I was actually wondering where your brain is at with like the new technology stuff has come out with things um like they now have the device you can buy and plug into your TV that actually streams like live fireworks and by wait times.
01:08:52
Speaker
And if you guys ever were going to like tackle that in an issue like products that bring the magic home or something. um We might. That's a really great question. So we there are some topics that we do again and again when we do our themed issues, not year after year, but like we maybe have talked about after dark stuff or animals like every three years there's an animal issue. Right. um So that might be something for our next technology issue. We tend to stick more with devices that are.
01:09:24
Speaker
um things that Disney is actually producing so some of these things like I've seen like the magic band reader you can get for your front door and stuff that's really cool we don't want to get those people in trouble by giving them too much attention that Disney might not want on them Um, so there are there are, there are different exception things. Like we, we do work with a company who does, um, uh, like ponchos with, mouth with mouse ear things in them, right? Uh, that's not necessarily ripping off the magic band reader. Um, so we, we might look at that sort of, we might look at that sort of thing in the future. It kind of depends on
01:10:03
Speaker
where the technology is going. And also a lot of times Disney will see these things and then put out their own version um or a similar version. um So if Disney releases something, we definitely will do that. But I mean, I'm a big fan of how Disney parks, YouTube channel, they'll do like 4th of July fireworks and new year's Eve fireworks. And they'll more or less live stream them. And that's always nice for me. Cause I'm not usually there on the holidays to see that. Um,
01:10:33
Speaker
And then, you know, there's tons of great YouTube channels that you can just call up any of the fireworks that you want at any time. But I am really jealous of all my friends and coworkers who like live literally behind the magic room and they text me and they're like, fireworks are on right now. Can't get my kid to sleep because the fireworks are on. what i would I would kill to have the fireworks on.
01:10:55
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you. and Yeah, I totally get that with like not wanting to draw the attention to them. It's definitely... you know, a fine line. Yeah. And, and it's not our place to, you know, ask Disney if those are allowed things or get our lawyers involved to see if that's something that we could talk about. So if we're ever unsure, we just err on the side of caution.
01:11:24
Speaker
Well, fill in the space because that's what I do. I fill in space. If I'm good at one thing, i go uh Oh, Oh, Oh, Does anyone else have? So I do i with the, with the DCL magazine that is launching, what, what inspired you to make the leap from the land to the sea?
01:11:43
Speaker
Well, that I love, i love that. We actually just finished an ad campaign. That's all about taking your, your vacation from the land to the sea with the magazine. So I'm, it's already out there in, in the my brain sphere. um Well, back then,
01:11:58
Speaker
At the start of like prior to the pandemic, we were already looking at should we launch another magazine, we weren't really sure if we were going to do it. And then when Danny and I took over the company, we said no, we definitely need to do this. We actually surveyed our readers.
01:12:13
Speaker
Do you want a Disneyland and magazine? Do you want a Disney Cruise magazine? Do you want something else? Because we got a lot of people always saying like, I want more Disneyland content or more Disney Cruise content. we probably had an equal number of people saying like, why do you occasionally put a disney cruise or Disney Cruise article in here? It's supposed to be about WDW only. And I'm like, we never said only.
01:12:32
Speaker
um So most of our issues do have something about an international park or a Lonnie or somewhere around the world. Or, you know, if we do a Pixar issue of WW Magazine, we would have an article about Pixar Day at Sea because it made sense in there.
01:12:48
Speaker
um And we still do do this with our DCL Magazine. We'll be having Ohlone, ABD, Geo Expeditions articles in there. And with Disneyland, we do talk about Ohlone, some of the cruises and other things like we just did – It was an article called An American in Paris. And we talked about a Walt restaurant at Disneyland Paris in our Walt Disney issue of WW Magazine that just came out in February. um So we try to find little things like that.
01:13:15
Speaker
um So we had people asking for years and years, why are you doing this way? Why why aren't you making other magazines? do you And so we surveyed, do you want other magazines? Will you pay for other magazines? I can't make them if you're not going to pay for them.
01:13:28
Speaker
And we didn't know which was going to be more popular. And they were about the same amount of popular. And we almost went with DCL first, but then it was still, the pandemic was still ongoing. And that really, the effects of it lasted longer on the cruise line than it did in the parks. um Or, and more visibly, right? Like people wearing masks, that's fine. We don't put photos of people typically in the magazine, but we try to make the magazines as evergreen as possible. And they made a lot of changes like with signage or how you open doors and different protocols for shows or character greetings. And we decided if we were going to invest that money in DCL.
01:14:06
Speaker
This was not the time because we have to invest in the money. It's not like, you know, everybody has the annual pass for Disney World. You just go in. We have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for like a three day chance to get the content we need. And if that content doesn't happen, um you know, we were out $3,000. We got to go do it again. So we decided to go first with Disneyland because we felt that that was an easier opportunity for us to present a more normal version of Disneyland in the magazine. um And then people are still asking more crews, more crews. And we'd actually decided to go ahead with the cruise magazine a year ago. We did. We called it a float test issue. It was one of our very themed issues, but only about DCL just to see how it went. And like 5000 people bought it and we're like, OK, this is enough that people want us to do more.
Listener Engagement and Future Content Plans
01:14:55
Speaker
And everybody who got that issue got a survey. They filled it out. They said, yes, we want more. Please print more. Is this already a subscription? Am I getting another issue? Am I signed up?
01:15:04
Speaker
um So we had to say, no, you're not signed up, but it's coming soon. um And then, ah so we had decided this before the big announcement at d twenty three a year and a half ago that they were bringing all the new ships. And we're like, okay, with the Wish Class ships, there will be enough ships to go around. um And then when we found out there were so many more ships coming, we were like, this is great. Great. We have so much content now. And also, if Disney's investing that much in cruise, that means there's cruisers out there who are hopefully going to want to get our magazine. um Like I said earlier, right now we're starting with twice a year because we just don't know if that we we can feasibly get enough content for more than that. But we do put Disney Cruise articles on our website.
01:15:48
Speaker
on our website ah several times a week. And we have a DCL magazine, Facebook and Instagram page that's totally dedicated to cruise. So we have big followings over there of people who are already cruise lovers.
01:16:00
Speaker
now My mind is blown by the way. I'm like, I'm having all these thoughts as Stephanie, yes as you've been talking, number one, I'm like, wow, you're passionate and articulate about what no wonder you do what you do. Amazing. Thank you. And I also the other thought that popped in my silly goofy brain is like, well, gosh, we need like if you ever have like clone yourself, and then you have like life coaches that could get people like me in order. to like get their lives like really dialed in gosh just let me know send me the link because the way that you speak not only passionately about what you do but just so uh uh just yeah yeah just makes sense that that you do what you do and and wonderful I'm I gotta listen back to it and go I'm a big logistics person I love gosh but but a good balance too and that's that's tough not just You're passionate because usually there's this false dichotomy between like, you're either just this like person in the clouds. Right left brain. Yeah, but no, but you're very passionate.
Balancing Future and Historical Disney Content
01:17:09
Speaker
Full brain.
01:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, full brain. Full brain's good. well i didn't end And you're right, Jeff, because i think i think I think she's on the right path as well because not only are you not only are you looking for... um the future but you're also bringing those people who love disney history as well yeah so you're you're you're keeping you're keeping it level because um you know most of us who have kids now you know it's what have you done for me lately mm-hmm
01:17:44
Speaker
But those who love history are, is don't take away my history because that's, that's all I know. And I think your magazine, you do it, you you do it perfectly because you're looking for the future. You know, the cruise line, you know, things like that. And everything that is, is you know, people look forward to, but you know what? There's a majority of people want to look forward to the past. They want to keep the past. They want to keep it there. Well, and on this podcast, we think of it this way. I mean, we've discussed so far on these, was going to lie and be like three and a half hours. No, it's been, I don't know how long it's been. um
01:18:23
Speaker
But we've spoke we've spoken about the past, the the present, the future. And I think a good, you know, what as I'm looking back at magazines and I i love, i love actually part of it, I collect old books and yeah and all the the, you know, the stuff of the past.
01:18:42
Speaker
but there But it has something to do with the the present to preserve it um and the future as well. And so I think magazines are such a good ah medium, an artistic medium to to address the the past, the present, the future. And and wonderful. Yeah.
01:19:01
Speaker
on On that same note, I want to say for those listeners that are ready to run to the mailbox right now, tell them how they can subscribe and get their hands on this premier issue because that's going to be so important. For sure. um So if you go over to our website, which is www-magazine.com, right on the front page there or at the top in the navigation bar, you'll be able to see something. This is magazines or that encourages you to look into our memberships.
01:19:28
Speaker
um Once you click into there, you will be able to find DCL Magazine or DLR Magazine or WDW. We offer them all in print and they have different frequencies of payments. So like you could pay monthly for WDW Magazine or annually for WDW Magazine. There's different choices that you can make all along the way so that it suits your timeline, it suits your budget, all of that. Or our all access digital membership that has all three magazines plus all of our back issues for one price. that you can and access instantly on any of your devices. So if you go over there, you want to start any membership, or if you just want to pick up one of our back issues, we usually, most of them are sold out now. um I mean, we still have a couple dozen, but like of all of our issues we've ever done, they do sell out over time, right? So any of the back issues that we still have in stock or any of our memberships, I've set up actually a special code for all of your listeners that is sharing the magic. If you use that at checkout, you're going to get 10% off what you are purchasing ah that day of our magazines. If you already happen to be a member of one of our magazines, make sure that you sign in before you make a purchase because you'll get membership pricing that you could combine with your sharing the magic
Resurgence of Physical Media's Appeal
01:20:41
Speaker
promo. Wow. So, you know, I love a little coupon stack for myself. I know we've known nobody's ever done that for us before. So I wouldn't I offer that to other people? I'm feeling a little bit, ah ah a little bit proud. I don't know. and Yeah.
01:20:59
Speaker
Coupons speak in my language. ah i I love a coupon. Nobody gives us, nobody gives us discounts. yeah um andful And that's set up indefinitely. So even if you're listening to this a year from now, two years from now, i you, as long as people are still buying our magazines and we're still around, so please go buy some magazines and help us stay around. um ah You'll be able to use that code. And if you have any trouble, you can always just message our customer care team and they'll take care of you right away. They are so fantastic. um And we would we would love to have you come join our little happy Disney family of magazine. do it.
01:21:37
Speaker
Magazine subscribers, members, our little our little community of positivity. I love it. I'm in. I'm doing it right now. Awesome. Thank you, Stephanie, for for doing that. um I may have to get back on the boat again and get get some more of them. because it You know, for those for those who are listening, you know, some of you don't think magazines are cool because, you know, they're not, you know.
01:22:05
Speaker
Oh, they are cool. I'm doing it now. I'm like, they're not. They are so cool. This magazine is great. This magazine. I mean, if you love Disney, you're going to love this. and And I think, you know.
01:22:19
Speaker
I hope i hope you get you get a thousand people. it so I hope that too. Thank you. I think you will because, gosh, I'm i'm up to date on the on the just cultural trends of of media and stuff. And and it there's there's reasons why people are like, yeah, the the human brain is wired for certain things. And right now when you're on you're on social media and all that, like we're wired, we want tactile, we want we want, I want magazines. And I know it's not just me, I know
01:22:52
Speaker
tons of people in gen gen i'm a millennial but it's like but people like gen z and alpha are like oh no i just i just listen to records now it's like why because there's there's things but we are our brains are wired the way they are and i think And sometimes you have to get away from certain things in order to you you come back full circle. And I, I really fully suspect that's what's happening now with magazines and and books and all those things.
01:23:22
Speaker
I hope so. we If we can give people that little bit of escape, like I know for me, if I'm holding a physical book or a magazine or something, I am much less likely to be picking up my phone and mindlessly scrolling the way that I would if I'm watching TV, right? um Or even and like out to coffee with my husband the other day. we were we were chatting, but we both had our phone in our, and i was like, what are we even doing? Put it down. It doesn't need to be there. but when your hands are occupied, right, and you can occupy your mind,
01:23:50
Speaker
you know and with the photos and everything the big beautiful full page photos that we can put in our hope and what we've heard from people is that we can like provide that little escape i almost think about it as in mary poppins when mary steps into bert's paintings right can we give you that feeling for a moment that you're standing on main street that you have a dole whip in your hand that you're watching the fireworks and like just separate you from your everyday life for just a moment get that little disney fix You know, you're you're not going back for months or years, maybe if you're if you're like most Disney fans. And honestly, we have a ton of subscribers in Florida who are there all the time. So even though our marketing is for people who are missing Disney, apparently you can miss it from just down the block. Stand firm.
01:24:36
Speaker
Yeah. So if we can give you that moment to just be like, ah, take me away. I'm here now. um You know, that's, I think, so valuable to people and their and their mental health and just keeping that spark of passion alive for the parks.
Fun Disney Character Question
01:24:51
Speaker
Great. Well said. And Barry, I guess, dropped off the face of the earth. But we'll figure it out. um do out I actually have a silly question. But who do you think Disney character would be the worst editor for your magazine?
01:25:11
Speaker
Stitch. ah Our editor, Tim, would not be happy with that at all. ah bell Bell would be great. Of course. Yeah.
01:25:24
Speaker
Bell would be. That's a fun question. you like that stuff Well, everyone who is listening, I'm going to do the best I can. gorge i don't know. Just what ah Stephanie, thank you so much for.
01:25:39
Speaker
for taking the time to to do this and and to thank you for having me. I always love chatting with other Disney fans like myself. And it's so exciting to be able to actually talk about the magazine too. Usually yeah i get invited on podcast. They're like, what do you, what do you think of the new restaurant? What do you think of the new ride? um So, you know, because I'm passionate about Disney and passionate about long form and print was great to be able to talk with you guys about all. Yeah. Next time. and next time.
01:26:06
Speaker
here's Here's how I subtly say the next time you come on. No, let's go deeper into that because yeah that's sort of, I would love that to me, that was really, really thoughtful and meaningful to to talk about the long form sort of art and and how it still resonates and it's still relevant and all those things. And so um thank you. and to Keep sharing the magic.
01:26:34
Speaker
Thank you for joining us for another enchanting episode of Sharing the Magic. We have magical conversations that are crafted to your ears. The Edutainment Show, where education and entertainment collide each week.
01:26:46
Speaker
We bring you whimsical interviews with Disney guests who share their magical experiences and reveal how they are woven into the Disney fabric. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay updated on our latest episodes.
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01:26:58
Speaker
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01:27:10
Speaker
Until next time, keep sharing the magic and rattle the stars.