In this session on top Disney Web sites, let’s focus on Disneydollarless,
which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. This site is made up
of two components: a Yahoo e-mail list and a public Web site.
Used by permission of DisneyDollarless.
Actually, I do DisneyDollarless a disservice when I describe it as a
Web site. It’s more than that. In reality, it’s a Disney community.
If you read the site’s mission statement, you understand what I mean:
“DisneyDollarless is a free e-mail list and companion Web site
where members contribute ideas on ways to raise money and tips on how
to cut cost on that next Disney vacation. It’s also a terrific place
to get all of your vacation planning questions answered — absolutely
free!
DisneyDollarless is also a unique vacation support network where members
exchange discount coupons, plan WDW meets with other list members, trade
used guide books, play games for Disney prizes, share postcards from
Epcot, and occasionally give something away completely free for no other
reason than the joy of doing it. But most importantly, DisneyDollarless
strives to create a bit of Disney Magic for all who join us.”
Special Areas
This site offers some very special areas, such as:
- Mascots – in which members reserve a small stuffed mascot,
such as Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, then use it in a unique
way of meeting and connecting by handing it off to other DisneyDollarless
members in their travels. - Fairy Godmother/Godfather Program – where members can
directly help other members by sending unused coupons, donating hotel
shampoo and soap to needy places, offering vacation ponchos to other
guests on your last day in the park, and even offering to take a photo
of others. - Kid’s Travel Journal – offers special pages where children
can put together a journal of their vacation in Orlando. This section
also offers ideas on how to bind the finished journal.
They have fun on this site too, including their own game of Survivor.
The list goes on… information on meets, photos, trip reports, discussion
boards, chats, discounts, trip planning, reviews, downloads, and all kinds
of fun. This would be everything you would expect to find in a Disney
site and more — in a community that Binnie Betten and her staff has
built.
Founder: Binnie Betten
Binnie Betten, founder of DisneyDollarless, recalls how the whole idea
of putting a Web site got started. Binnie found herself hooked on the
rec.arts.disney.parks (RADP) Usenet newsgroup.
She met a group of Disney fans who belonged to a small private e–mail
list called the DisneyDieters.
Binnie and another DisneyDieter, Stacy Fultz, began noticing Web sites
that awarded prizes or cash for clicking on sponsors’ links. That launched
an idea.
Binnie recalls, “Our initial idea was to start a small intimate
e–mail list where like–minded Disney fans could support each
other’s affiliates and/or rewards programs, eBay auctions, and so on,
as a way of earning money to go to Walt Disney World. Thus, DisneyDollarless
was born.”
But Binnie and Stacy had no idea how powerful the Internet was.
“We actually made a conscious decision to limit the size of the
group to 50 members in order to build friendships and foster trust,”
explains Binnie. “When DisneyDollarless surpassed 50 members, we
split the list into DisneyDollarlessI and DisneyDollarlessII, in an effort
to remain true to our original concept.”
However, splitting up the site into halves resulted in demands for their
time and energy.
Stacy and Binnie found themselves shuffling information back and forth
between the sites. It was obvious that the sites had to be reunited. With
that reunion came a more solid focus for the site.
“The DisneyDollarless list was now concentrating more on spreading
pixie dust, helping members in other tangible ways, and as always, sharing
Disney cost–cutting information,” said Binnie. “Just a
few months prior to our second birthday, Deb Wills featured DisneyDollarless
in an issue of her popular All Ears newsletter. Our membership
swelled to double the size — over 300 members almost overnight as
a result. We soon reached 500 members and couldn’t believe how large we’d
grown.”
Binnie and Stacy soon realized that they had an audience who was constantly
thirsting for information, especially regarding the best economical steps
towards a Walt Disney World vacation.
Binnie explained,“ Our next milestone was to create a ‘companion’
list Web site where we featured tips from list members, members’ photos,
and practically anything that our list members wanted to contribute. On
the list, we continued to swap discount coupons, trade guidebooks, pick
up park maps for new members who wanted them, and do anything we could
to encourage members to help each with their vacation planning. And we
celebrated! Any and every occasion was a reason to throw a list party.”
That list membership began to grow faster than Binnie could have ever
imagined, and as DisneyDollarless celebrates its fourth anniversary, Binnie
proudly says, “Today, our Yahoo list membership has swelled to over
6000 members, making us the largest (non–newsletter) Disney related
e–mail list on the Internet. We have dozens of volunteers who help
us manage the list and Web site. DisneyDollarless has recently begun to
receive national recognition and was featured on MSNBC’s news Web site
and in Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine as one of its top 124 money–saving
Web sites. New members often tell us that they read about our list in
their local newspaper or heard about us on a local radio show. We can
hardly believe all of the publicity we have been receiving.”
Is there an explanation for the popularity of DisneyDollarless? Binnie has some thoughts.
“I think we provide a balance between showing members how to save
money and enhancing their Disney experience.” She theorizes, “DisneyDollarless
offers the planning advice of veteran Disney park fans, lots of useful
information on saving money, exclusive discounts from advertisers and
sponsors, lots of free giveaways ranging from guidebooks to Disney Dollars
and Orlando area attraction tickets, all combined in a lively Internet
community format. We actively promote Disney ‘magic.’”
Four down, what next?
With fours years behind DisneyDollarless, what lies in the future for
this site?
Binnie envisions, “As DisneyDollarless gains more recognition,
the number of discounts and exclusive offers will increase. Our goal is
to make the best deal possible to secure discounts from Orlando area vendors
and other Internet sites that provide products and services that would
be of interest to our members and Web site visitors. Our rapid growth
over the past two years has been a surprisingly painless process. I think
we can safely say we owe it all to our wonderful DisneyDollarless members.”
Well Binnie, you’re right — but the DisneyDollarless community and
the Disney Internet community also owe you and Stacy thanks for providing
not just a site that offers information on discounts, but also a community
of “Disney magic.”
This is a fine example of a learning community on the Internet where
ideas are shared and relationships are built.
I’m sure Mickey would tip his sorcerer’s hat to Disneydollarless, and
thank Binnie and her team for everything they have contributed to the
Disney Internet community.
Next time
Next time, a little fun and a little flashback — How not
to spend the night in the Magic Kingdom!
Class dismissed.
