An Interview with Tom Bricker

[WDWFigment]

The "Mom's Panel" is comprised of people who applied for the spots during open submission periods. Generally happens annually. Then it's an elimination process where the Mom's (or Dad's) get chosen according to what Disney thinks they want. Like I know in the last year or so they were specifically looking for Mom's (or Dad's) who have participated in some RunDisney events. It's according to what they need to diversify their panel. There's no paycheck per se, but there are perks such as at least 1 expenses paid vacation. The perks for those people are the comps.

I'm not sure in what capacity the Bricker's might be utilized by Disney but I'd bet my britches it'd be something to do with Tom's photography. He truly does have a gift there. If his hobby has spilled over into a payoff then I say more power to 'em. Really. Wouldn't we all like to be compensated for doing what we love best??? It's the ultimate dream. If someone is going to have that kind of blessing I personally think it's cool for it to be bestowed upon someone I "know" (loosely from the boards over several years). Couldn't happen to better folks, really.

But, I can also see where it can be perceived as skewed when you have people who are in some way getting perks from Mickey being interviewed. I mean, it's not like that person is going to say anything negative even if something isn't as it should be. In the specific article mentioned in this thread I didn't really pick up where it was led to a lot of bias or fluffing of the product. It was just tips from experience on the in's & out's of getting to the destinations without breaking the bank. Tom didn't really say anything different from what I tell people when they ask me about where to find Disney travel bargains. And, I assure you, I'm in no way getting any perks from the WDC. LOL!

Perhaps it's my quote in the article, "“As a general rule, you’re paying a premium for anything that you do or buy on Disney property...They have a captive audience and they have it down to a science on how to extract the most money from you,” that is biased towards Disney?

I have done contract (freelance), per-photo photography work for Disney on three occasions. The amount of money I spend on Disney each year out of my own pocket is exponentially more than these freelance gigs. I disclose this freelance work on the "About" page of my blog, (which I assume is where the author pulled some of that bio information), for the exact reason you mention--because others may perceive there to be a potential conflict of interest. I don't think there is, and I speak my mind freely regarding how I feel about Disney, both good and bad.

 

[lebeau]

A better article would have been called "How to Save Disney Theme Parks"

That's what I thought it said....got all excited. But no.

I had the same reaction. When I saw the title, I was impressed that my co-worker forwarded such an interesting article. Then I realized it was another lame "Disney on a Dime" type article with all the same "money saving tips". I was a little bummed. Then I saw Tom was the key source of info and I had a chuckle.

There isn't really anything of substance in the article.

Not really. It's written by a non-WDW fan for non-WDW fans. I would have ignored it were it not for the fact that one of our own was prominently featured.

People send me links to Disney World related articles all the time. About 15-minutes after a co-worker sent me this one, my wife sent me an article that contained excatly the same "tips" from our local news station. These articles are a dime a dozen. What set this apart is that we "know" the interview subject.

Nothing against Tom and Sarah, but don't you think they could have interviewed someone who wasn't on the Disney payroll?

Good luck finding someone who isn't on Disney's payroll. The second anyone establishes any kind of Disney cred, Disney throws goodies at them. Yeah, they could interview one of us. But how would a travel writer even find us? And what kind of credentials could they cite? "Disgruntled Disney fan, lebeau, recommends you do the math before signing up for Disney's Dining Plan. And consider staying off site." Yeah, I don't see that flying.

I learned from YouTube to NEVER read the comments.

It will make you lose all hope in humanity.

I don't know about all that. Depends on what you're reading. The comments at the A/V club are usually pretty funny/insightful. At my own blog, the comments section is usually better than my articles. Some of the articles have conversations that have gone on for years now. And those conversations have inspired new articles. My comments section is largely what keeps me going.

But yeah, anonymity can bring out the worst in people. The IMDB forums seem to be filled with trolls.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Perhaps it's my quote in the article, "“As a general rule, you’re paying a premium for anything that you do or buy on Disney property...They have a captive audience and they have it down to a science on how to extract the most money from you,” that is biased towards Disney?

I have done contract (freelance), per-photo photography work for Disney on three occasions. The amount of money I spend on Disney each year out of my own pocket is exponentially more than these freelance gigs. I disclose this freelance work on the "About" page of my blog, (which I assume is where the author pulled some of that bio information), for the exact reason you mention--because others may perceive there to be a potential conflict of interest. I don't think there is, and I speak my mind freely regarding how I feel about Disney, both good and bad.

I did notice that statement (first bolded part above) and it made me smile. It's intelligent stating of the truth without it sounding like "Disney is digging into your pockets when you aren't looking." I liked it.

(second bolded part above) Defintely. I was thinking about that as I wrote my response earlier in the thread. I'll be honest, Tom, I haven't had the time to keep up reading on your most recent trips which really is a shame because your trips to Tokyo and Paris are of particular interest to me. ((BTW, I do wish to pick your brain about logistics and expense management on a few of the logistics.)) I didn't feel I could accurately state "Tom generally doesn't hold back when he feels there's room for improvement with something Disney does or does not do" because I've simply not been keeping up with your most recent writings. Maybe something had changed even if I had my doubts that it had. In the past I've known you to call it like it is which, IMO, always gave your writing more of an honest edge. It's not all rainbows and sunbeams. Nothing in life is. My appreciation of your honesty in your writing definitely has influenced me to be honest in my own. Plus, well, I'm just not any good at fluffing or holding back. Could be a bad thing but it is what it is.

Seems like last time I visited your blog I did see where you mentioned your free-lance work for Disney. As stated previously, if anyone can meld their happy thing into something they get compensated for in any way then I'm happy for them to have that joy. If Disney called me up and asked me to design a homespun little bag or bedding or something I'd deem it the ultimate of compliments and be over the moon. That's never going to happen but I'm just using it as an example. If your talent wasn't apparent and valued by Disney they'd never approach you so the fact that they did speaks. Plus, it's not like you're some rambling fan without a career (that likely provides better than photography) or a life outside Disney. I do hate for people to get the perception that you're one of the, for lack of better term, "lifestylers". I've never perceived y'all that way but then I haven't exactly been keeping up with your latest-n-greatest either.

Y'all take care and give my bestest to Sarah.

 

[ddbowdoin]

I'm from Indianapolis and I don't recall any jobs in the area for Disney, Indy or Chicago. How are they on the payroll being 1,000 miles away?

you can't be serious, right?

 

[George]

So, Bricker gets interviewed and I'm completely ignored again despite the awesomeness of my book, "How to Accomplish Fun Things at the Disney Theme Park Complex Located in the Southeastern Part of the United States of America, not the one in France". Harrumph!

 

[George]

The "Mom's Panel" is comprised of people who applied for the spots during open submission periods. Generally happens annually. Then it's an elimination process where the Mom's (or Dad's) get chosen according to what Disney thinks they want. Like I know in the last year or so they were specifically looking for Mom's (or Dad's) who have participated in some RunDisney events. It's according to what they need to diversify their panel. There's no paycheck per se, but there are perks such as at least 1 expenses paid vacation. The perks for those people are the comps.

I always link the Mom's Panel to my posts on here and it doesn't seem to help me get my foot in the door. What more can a guy do? *sigh*

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I always link the Mom's Panel to my posts on here and it doesn't seem to help me get my foot in the door. What more can a guy do? *sigh*

You don't wanna do what you gotta do. Be a commoner with the rest of us. We're cooler, more knowledgable, honest, and don't script our answers to questions the way the Mom's do anyway. In short, you have a brain and an opinion. You are now disqualified from the Mom's Panel.

**edit**
And I love your current signature.

 

[Nemo14]

I always link the Mom's Panel to my posts on here and it doesn't seem to help me get my foot in the door. What more can a guy do? *sigh*

There's no accounting for taste!

 

[WDWFigment]

...

I'll be honest, Tom, I haven't had the time to keep up reading on your most recent trips which really is a shame because your trips to Tokyo and Paris are of particular interest to me. ((BTW, I do wish to pick your brain about logistics and expense management on a few of the logistics.))

...

Thanks! Keeping up on all of the Disney ramblings out there would be a full-time job, so I don't blame you there.

I'm in the midst of my Tokyo trip report right now, but the succinct version of logistics and expense management are: do whatever you can to go there. Paris can wait (from what I've heard recently they are again having maintenance problems, and the WDS is getting a nice band-aid in the form of the Ratatouille dark ride in 2014/2015), but Tokyo should be a priority for any Disney fan. It is the Disney-mecca, and those two parks are unquestionably #1 and #2 in the world, in my opinion. The only downside is that you will never look at other parks the same way. Seriously.

As for expenses, it doesn't have to be that expensive if you don't take your kids. Airfare is the biggest variable, and obviously that increases per person. However, park tickets and cheaper and hotels can be cheaper. We stayed at the on-site Hilton Tokyo Bay for $150/night in off-season, and it was comparable to a WDW-Deluxe. And it's on the monorail loop. The on-site Sheraton is another popular choice that's comparably priced. Personally, given the quality of the Hilton, the low-ish price, and the location (I believe every room is either a Cinderella Castle view or an ocean view) I would not stay off-site. You can save money by staying off-site, but I doubt it's worth it.

If you stay in one of the on-site Disney-branded hotels, expect prices to be insane. Both the Hotel MiraCosta and Disneyland Hotel are gorgeous (the Ambassador is fine--didn't look nearly as nice to me), but they are priced higher than any US Disney hotel.

Generally the cheapest flight to Tokyo is going to be out of LAX, so you might price what it would cost to fly directly from your home airport (presumably with a layover somewhere else, anyway) to Tokyo versus home airport to LAX to Tokyo with a day or two at Disneyland in between. That's what we did.

Where we ended up spending a ton of money was on snacks. There are awesome little snacks all over TDR, and I'm embarrassed to admit how much we spent on those...

 

[George]

Where we ended up spending a ton of money was on snacks. There are awesome little snacks all over TDR, and I'm embarrassed to admit how much we spent on those...

Don't be. Something that seems to be universally true is that when dealing with foreign currencies is that you won't take the spending of money as seriously. Side note: I spent a lot of time in Japan in late 2002. I went to a conference in Nagoya, and then my wife (who was pregnant with our oldest, talk about jet lag to the umpteenth power) flew over and we explored Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, and Osaka for a week or two. I wasn't really aware of Tokyo Disney resort at the time (this was about 6 months before my discovery of the world of Disney theme parks on the internetz) and now I consider it a missed opportunity. Side note 2: My son is infatuated with all things Japanese and we always tell him that he's already been.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The IMDB forums seem to be filled with trolls.

IMDB gives Youtube a run for its money for being devoid of human intelligence. It does however, make for good entertainment, especially when someone makes a post along the lines of "THAT 5 SECOND SCENE WAS SOOOOO OFENSIVE!!!! HOW DARE KIDS SEEE THIS TRAHS11!!" on some G rated fluff piece.

As for expenses, it doesn't have to be that expensive if you don't take your kids. Airfare is the biggest variable, and obviously that increases per person.

Generally the cheapest flight to Tokyo is going to be out of LAX, so you might price what it would cost to fly directly from your home airport (presumably with a layover somewhere else, anyway) to Tokyo versus home airport to LAX to Tokyo with a day or two at Disneyland in between. That's what we did.

I know from personal research that a direct flight to Paris was half that of a trip to Tokyo for me. Considering DLP and Paris propper were both on my "to-do" list, it was an easy decision to decide to go there first. No regrets there despite my longing to vist TDR (or really TDS).

The LAX suggestion is new to me. Will have to look into that.

I've also thought about tour group packages as a way of seeing the country and TDR on a more affordable budget, but I'm not sure what kind of restrictions on free time they'd place and whether or not I'd really want to be dragged around from dawn till dusk without any say in the matter.

 

[unkadug]

Perhaps it's my quote in the article, "“As a general rule, you’re paying a premium for anything that you do or buy on Disney property...They have a captive audience and they have it down to a science on how to extract the most money from you,” that is biased towards Disney?

I have done contract (freelance), per-photo photography work for Disney on three occasions. The amount of money I spend on Disney each year out of my own pocket is exponentially more than these freelance gigs. I disclose this freelance work on the "About" page of my blog, (which I assume is where the author pulled some of that bio information), for the exact reason you mention--because others may perceive there to be a potential conflict of interest. I don't think there is, and I speak my mind freely regarding how I feel about Disney, both good and bad.

And I respect you even more for being forthright.

Perhaps you should consider renegotiating your freelance contract so that you can receive more perks like Ricky.

After all...you have talent.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

You don't wanna do what you gotta do. Be a commoner with the rest of us. We're cooler, more knowledgable, honest, and don't script our answers to questions the way the Mom's do anyway. In short, you have a brain and an opinion. You are now disqualified from the Mom's Panel.

I'm guessing that isn't the only piece of his anatomy that disqualifies him...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm guessing that isn't the only piece of his anatomy that disqualifies him...

No, because they've had some men on the panel. Mr.Mom's happen, too. LOL!