Disney's Punishment of Honest Media/Reviews

[bcoachable]

Vlogging at WDW has become an industry all of it's own. I went on YouTube a few hours ago and the algorithms were in overdrive. I had six livestreams at WDW recommended for me, I don't even click on them, I immediately do the 'don't recommend this channel' option. That is at least six people going to Disney for a reason other than a fun day out, they were more interested in filming themselves talking to their 'audience' of people who probably can't afford to go and are duped into thiking this is the next best thing and I have no doubt some if not all have the donation buttons on them and people are gullible enough to donate because they see these livestreams as a service to fund. I remember reading somewhere that Tim Tracker needs the money for his equipment, why? The guy lives in a house worth nearly $1,000,000, drives a Tesla, buys $500 Gucci cardigans and makes jokes about them on his channel and has countless holidays all over the place, all funded from his YouTube channels.
I am totally serious in that if someone is filming me, even in the background, I will be in my rights to do some choice little old lady sign language. Don't fund these egotistical grifters, go watch channels that support animal rescue, they need the YouTube revenue far more than Disney vloggers and you may learn something, especially Fruit Bats and Flying Foxes which have been getting a lot of unfair press recently and you won't be afraid to go and watch them in AK, one of my favourite things to do.

is it ok to watch if I enjoy them? (asking for a friend, of course...)

 

[Ayla]

First off, thank you to everyone who has the self-awareness to think critically about the different types of media they are consuming. As evidenced by the last two years, critical thinking is a skill that is sorely lacking in the world.

Second off, vloggers are not journalists. Not even close. They are infotainment (barely). They do what they do to make money.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Doesn't anyone even question the fact that Disney feels a need to strong-arm people who are commenting on their product in the first place? That alone should be setting off alarm bells in people's heads...if Disney were confident in their product, they wouldn't care what anyone said.

 

[Communicora]

Young mom's today, when researching 'How to do' their families first vacation will immediately turn to social media and youtube for this information.

Consider is that mom (or dad) were to do that today, 2/28. They will see all of this content about the Galatic Starcruiser and how fantastic the experience was. They will watch (lets be honest) maybe 60-90 minutes of content of how amazing it is. They will hear 'media event,' which can skew their perception of what this content is; younger generations already skew towards getting 'news' from social media (a lot of headline scanning).

No. Vloggers are not journalist, but a hell of a lot of people are starting to think that they are.

Is it really that different than how moms would have picked up the Birnbaum book in the 80s?

 

[nickys]

Haven't they taken over All Ears as well?

Yes, they bought out All Ears when Deb retired.

Which is why much of the blog type content on All Ears is the same as on the DFB. Meanwhile all their resort videos, which I enjoy watching, room tours and and photos are now several years old, with no sign of being updated. It’s a shame IMO.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Agree.

Basically I come here to read news/updates/rumors/criticisms/etc.

When I'm watching a vlog it's for a specific purpose (for me) - I already know I'm going, trip booked and I'm watching the vlogs to get excited/get in the mood for trip planning. I'm not watching them to help me make any kind of decision (other than getting a cheeseburger eggroll or not).

Specifically, I watch certain vlogs because I know it's pretty much going to be light-hearted fun, way to pass time before a trip.
(And then the opposite, I also know who to watch if I want to see reviews with a more critical eye)

The only time I use vlogs as anything other than entertainment is to educate myself when major changes happen, I watched several vlogs prior to my first trip with virtual queues, watched several vlogs before my first trip with Genie+ and LL… Disney tends to add lots of “helpful tools” that make vacations extremely confusing and the vlogs do a good job of dumbing down the process to be easily understood.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Yes, they bought out All Ears when Deb retired.

Which is why much of the blog type content on All Ears is the same as on the DFB. Meanwhile all their resort videos, which I enjoy watching, room tours and and photos are now several years old, with no sign of being updated. It’s a shame IMO.

I remember the early days of cable with channels like History, Discovery, A&E, and others. Good content that ended up morphing into scripted reality that became all profit driven (and yes, I get that they all want to make a profit).

Reminds me of several years ago when you had some honest vloggers with some honest content. And now, it has gotten too commercial in nature and in some cases way too formulaic. Many entered into the vloggosphere with an honest passion about the things they covered. Not so much anymore.

 

[Ayla]

Yes, they bought out All Ears when Deb retired.

Which is why much of the blog type content on All Ears is the same as on the DFB. Meanwhile all their resort videos, which I enjoy watching, room tours and and photos are now several years old, with no sign of being updated. It’s a shame IMO.

All Ears used to be my go-to resource for pictures, menus and updates. They haven't been since Deb left.

 

[LittleBuford]

Yes, she does criticize them. But like I said, she was a bit critical, but then ended with but it's still great anyway.

But many of us here feel likewise—we are critical of aspects of Disney but still like (even love) the overall product. That doesn’t make us insincere shills.

 

[LittleBuford]

You must have never watched Pete Werner (of WDWInfo) go off on one of his rants against Disney. His company is a travel agency primarily focused on Disney.

You seem like a fan of DFB. That's cool. I have bought their books in the past, so you can say the same for me. But I am not going to agree that AJ has ever given a (gloves off) negative review of anything Disney. Except maybe when they removed plastic cheese from its menus.

I am actually a regular viewer of the DIS Unplugged, so I know Pete’s approach well. I don’t always agree with him, but I appreciate his forthrightness.

As for AJ, I never claimed that her criticisms are gloves-off. On the contrary, I acknowledged that she is relatively gentle, which is consistent with what DFB is designed for and what its audience wants.

 

[jinx8402]

You must have never watched Pete Werner (of WDWInfo) go off on one of his rants against Disney. His company is a travel agency primarily focused on Disney.

You seem like a fan of DFB. That's cool. I have bought their books in the past, so you can say the same for me. But I am not going to agree that AJ has ever given a (gloves off) negative review of anything Disney. Except maybe when they removed plastic cheese from its menus.

And yet, The Dis was invited to the full 2-day experience? So doesn't that kind of invalidate the perception that you can't criticize Disney too hard for fear of not getting invited back?

 

[wdwmagic]

And yet, The Dis was invited to the full 2-day experience? So doesn't that kind of invalidate the perception that you can't criticize Disney too hard for fear of not getting invited back?

The Dis is backed by a travel agency that provides a large amount of business for Disney.

 

[larryz]

The Dis is backed by a travel agency that provides a large amount of business for Disney.

... and the Dis is notorious for banning any user who dared to voice a critical opinion about WDW...

 

[jinx8402]

The Dis is backed by a travel agency that provides a large amount of business for Disney.

... and the Dis is notorious for banning anyone who dared to voice a critical opinion about WDW...

Very fair points. So it appears different categories of media have different sets of what are acceptable "criticisms", which is obviously not good either.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I remember the early days of cable with channels like History, Discovery, A&E, and others. Good content that ended up morphing into scripted reality that became all profit driven (and yes, I get that they all want to make a profit).

Reminds me of several years ago when you had some honest vloggers with some honest content. And now, it has gotten too commercial in nature and in some cases way too formulaic. Many entered into the vloggosphere with an honest passion about the things they covered. Not so much anymore.

Is that a result of vloggers only creating content a specific way or the audience only watching a specific kind of content?

I watch Disney vlogs to escape the negativity of the world, I’m guessing that’s true of most people, so a vlogger who comes across as negative really limits their audience and isn’t likely to become mainstream.

I’d argue it’s the viewers rather than the vloggers who created the recipe for success.

 

[ppete1975]

Ummm...a CORPORATION is giving freebies to generate publicity. That is absolutely nothing even remotely comparable to a personal relationship and gift-giving.

But it instills the same emotion in someone. Free gift that a corporation isnt required to give, makes people want to continue to get free gifts. And many are afraid (legitimately or not) that they will stop getting free gifts if they say disparaging things. Is there any proof of Disney or Universal, removing that person from the next round of freebies, punishing dissenters, or even telling them they have to be positive. I have never seen proof of that. Most people removed from the freebies list has been for other reasons.

 

[UNCgolf]

But it instills the same emotion in someone. Free gift that a corporation isnt required to give, makes people want to continue to get free gifts. And many are afraid (legitimately or not) that they will stop getting free gifts if they say disparaging things. Is there any proof of Disney or Universal, removing that person from the next round of freebies, punishing dissenters, or even telling them they have to be positive. I have never seen proof of that. Most people removed from the freebies list has been for other reasons.

I have no idea, but I'm guessing @wdwmagic and @lentesta weren't removed for doing anything unsavory.

Regardless, I think some people are taking this as an attack on Disney and it's really not that. This is what large corporations do; it's not anything unique to Disney. They have massive PR departments that put pressure on people to avoid negative coverage (and promote positive coverage) as much as they can.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I have no idea, but I'm guessing @wdwmagic and @lentesta weren't removed for doing anything unsavory.

Regardless, I think some people are taking this as an attack on Disney and it's really not that. This is what large corporations do; it's not anything unique to Disney. They have massive PR departments that put pressure on people to avoid negative coverage as much as they can.

I think people are seeing it as an attack because there was a time in which Disney didn't really need people to defend the company. Hell, if you'd asked me in 2010 if I thought Disney was the same as other big corporations I'd have said no because there were too many things they did that set them apart. Now here we are in 2022...things have changed dramatically...and none for the better.

 

[Ayla]

I have no idea, but I'm guessing @wdwmagic and @lentesta weren't removed for doing anything unsavory.

Regardless, I think some people are taking this as an attack on Disney and it's really not that. This is what large corporations do; it's not anything unique to Disney. They have massive PR departments that put pressure on people to avoid negative coverage (and promote positive coverage) as much as they can.

Generally speaking, what you said is true. But, we all know the lengths Disney goes to to avoid negative PR. People are willing to talk about it openly because Disney has used up the last bit of goodwill they had with some people.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

But it instills the same emotion in someone. Free gift that a corporation isnt required to give, makes people want to continue to get free gifts. And many are afraid (legitimately or not) that they will stop getting free gifts if they say disparaging things. Is there any proof of Disney or Universal, removing that person from the next round of freebies, punishing dissenters, or even telling them they have to be positive. I have never seen proof of that. Most people removed from the freebies list has been for other reasons.

If a person's relationships are that transactional, then they've got bigger problems than what's happening at theme parks.

When a corporation gives a "freebie", it isn't really free...it's in exchange for publicity...it's a trade. Something corporations have lost sight of is that they should WANT honesty from those providing them with publicity and feedback because it ensures that they continue to supply a good product and helps them stay in business for the long-term.