AND THE WINNER IS…
Thanks to everyone who entered the contest for submitting the best idea for a topic for this site to cover!
You submitted tons of great ideas, many of which will eventually find their way onto the site.
(All the entries are in the comment section of this page.)
But one submission addresses a problem that almost everyone has, and suggested a way to simplify solving it.
That submission is Ted’s suggestion to create a Resort Picker.
Ted wins the prize, a free night at a moderate resort, provided by my travel agent friends at Destinations in Florida!
THE WINNING IDEA: A RESORT PICKER
Here’s Ted’s entry (lightly edited):
Your website is amazing. I’m obsessed with it!
I’m planning my first trip to WDW for the week of October 15. I chose this week thanks to your week picker. I LOVED that! I suggest more pickers! Resort pickers and also maybe Dining Plan pickers.
I realize that you have already suggested resorts for a first trip for families and that your site is targeted at them. And that you give your opinions on other resorts. But I would just love a series of questions on what is most important to me that will lead me to the best resort for what I am looking for.
My first trip is for 2 adults so it would be interesting to see what resort your picker would pick for me.
Ted did not win for being obsessed with the site…although that didn’t count against him!
He won because he identified a real opportunity that can help a lot of readers.
As he notes, there’s lots of advice on Where to Stay on this site.
The home page says to stay at the Polynesian or Pop Century.
Next Best Resort Choices is the fundamental page of alternatives, and ranks all the other resorts in order by price class, based on appeal to kids and convenience in following this site’s itineraries.
And just like all the other major topics of this site, the site provides the underlying data and other aids for those for whom this sorting doesn’t quite work.
The problem—and opportunity—is that all of this material is filtered through the lens of first time family visitors who may never return, and ranked essentially only on kid appeal and convenience.
There’s an opportunity, as Ted notes, for a series of questions on what is most important to your visit, which, when answered, kick out recommendations for just the right resorts for you.
That’s the logic for when to go of the Week Picker, and what makes it different from 2011 Weeks to Visit Ranked in Order.
The Weeks to Visit Ranked in Order material is based on how the “average family” would weigh crowds, prices, weather, ride closures and such; the Week Picker lets you toss aside the bonds of the “average family,” and instead has you weigh these issues yourself.
This approach would be handy to have for resorts as well, and would help tens of thousands of people, based on how popular the Week Picker is.
It’ll be tricky to create…figuring out how to deal with large families, resort price classes, and price seasons…but it’s a great idea, and thanks, Ted!!
And thanks again to my friends at the fine travel agency Destinations in Florida for making Ted’s prize available!!
Travel agents cost you nothing, make reservations as inexpensive as you can do yourself, and save you a lot of time and fuss. Click here to get their help!
JUST A FEW OTHERS AMONG THE SUBMISSIONS I LIKED THE BEST
These are in no particular order…
Bob suggested adding material to help with Sea World and Universal as well, including suggestions for various trip lengths, and for returning visitors.
This is a great idea, but hard to pull off for first time family visitors who may never return (the starting point, since such families are the heart of this site’s purpose).
Seeing all the best of Disney World, Universal, Sea World etc, requires a two-week trip. US school schedules make this really hard to do without going during an extremely crowded time.
The site has some material on this—see this page. And of course there’s detailed stuff on Harry Potter here.
I may add supplements—e.g. shorter trips–to this based on Bob’s thoughts.
Meredith suggested a printable packing list—that’s a great idea that I’ll get to.
Jennifer suggested a guest writer each month—telling about how they planned their visit.
She continued “I would log on to hear different takes on the who, what where when of planning (hotels, itineraries, etc…). We all have unique special moments and learn little tricks at Disney. It would be both educational and fun.”
Neat idea!—anyone who wants to write such a post should email me a draft or an outline! Send it to davidhobartyfv@gmail.com .
On sort of a different topic, Mike wrote a long and thoughtful critique of this site’s look.
An edited version follows:
The one glaring improvement opportunity I see is that this site needs some color, graphics and visual organization (bars, borders, section boxes, etc).
There is a TON of great information and tips on this site, but the dominant theme of ‘white background with plain black text’ gives it the general appearance of a blog site.
This can really take away from the site’s credibility and, I’m guessing, has steered people away from it before they appreciate how powerful the information on the site really is.
This is a very interesting observation. The site is very bloggy…it’s built on WordPress blog software…but even so it could still look quite a bit different, and much more like what Mike’s suggesting.
My own personal preferences are towards the graphic simplicity of the current look…and I have purposely limited the amount of “graphics and visual organization (bars, borders, section boxes)” to speed up load times…but that doesn’t mean I’m right!!
What do you think?
Is the site not helping some people it could be helping because it could have a more credible look and feel?
And if you think so, can you suggest sites that to you are great examples of credible-looking visual design??
Use the comment form below both to address this issue and for your links to examples of credible looks…
SOME OTHER NOTES
I had a number of suggestions for topics where I have little expertise, but am pretty sure there’s already good ideas out there on the web.
Some random examples follow– I’ll research these and the others suggested on the contest page, and provide links to material elsewhere on the web.
- Kelly suggested material on dealing with being pregnant at Disney World
- Lynn suggested material on using your smartphone, and on the best iPhone apps
- Gloria suggested material on weddings at Disney World
- Rich suggested Valentine’s Day at Disney World
- Lisa suggested Photo ops at Disney World
- Marilyn suggested family reunions at Disney World
Any suggestions on good sites for these, including from webmasters, are welcome! Use the comment form below for good links on these topics.
ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED FROM THIS CONTEST
This wasn’t totally news…but based on the number of suggestions for stuff to write about that’s already covered on the site…The site’s findability stinks.
There’s almost 900 pages of material on this site…and although the navigation works fine for first time family visitors who land on the home page and work through its links…only about 9% of people land on the home page.
I’ve struggled with this, and in particular have modified and changed the site navigation a number of times…within the constraints of what I am capable of doing with WordPress.
My instinct…as perhaps you can tell…is to have links to important and/or related material everywhere.
I don’t think this is working, as having so many links implies that a. there’s no more material than what these links indicate, and b. that with all these links, everything must be really difficult to think through.
I have a new idea on this, and will be working on it very soon, as there’s no point to writing stuff that can’t be found!
THANKS AGAIN…
…To everyone who submitted an idea, and to Destinations in Florida for providing the prize! And congratulations to Ted!!
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!