A brief history of the development of the Disney Information Bulletin Board (theDIBB)

Many people ask us how the DIBB came about.

Many years ago I took my family on a 'Once' in a life-time holiday to Walt Disney World. Prior to that holiday I bought some guide books and also became a very active member of a couple of Disney sites, all to aid in my planning and research of Florida, Orlando and what Walt Disney World.

The guide books were good but all of them were lacking some up to date information or details in certain areas. The online sites helped fill in the gaps but all the sites were USA based and lacked the 'British' feel, so I decided to start a set of forums for UK members.

The first site came on line 2nd March 2002 and was called Disney Info (www.disneyinfo.co.uk) it consisted of just a small set of forums with about 100 members.

Just as I started the site, I received notification that I had to work overseas for a few months and I knew there would be very limited internet access. Luckily we had some very good moderators that volunteered their services and a couple of members stepped up as Administrators whilst I was away and kept the site running.

It was a very steep learning curve for all involved. I was technically capable but had never dabbled with running a dynamic website. Within the first couple of months the very first server soon ran out of bandwidth and we had to double the capacity. We didn't realise just how much bandwidth an active site uses. Very soon after that we had to increase it again and then again.
Each increase came with additional costs and it soon became clear that we would need an injection of cash as it was costing a small fortune to run.

We devised a scheme where members could signup to support the site for a small monthly or annual fee in exchange they would receive extra benefits and facilities on the site. This scheme was called 'Premium Members' the name came from the Virgin Premium Economy Seats that many members were using. The name has changed a couple of times back and forth between Annual Passholders to Premium Members. This is a very popular scheme that has really helped to keep the site online and has even been closely copied by other main stream Disney sites!

The site was becoming very popular, relying on its friendliness and its unique British feel to what is essentially an American holiday planning site.

Disney seemed to be having a purge on websites that were using the Disney name so before we were targeted we decided that it was probably a good time to change the domain name from www.disneyinfo.co.uk

We asked members to come up with suggestions and eventually after many discussions and a few Polls, the chosen name was 'the DIBB' which is an abbreviation of 'The Disney Information Bulletin Board'

Simon (SMAX) came on-board as an Administrator, he designed the current DIBB logo and came up with the slogan that we used for many years, 'Disney with a British Accent'

The DIBB was now a major player in it's own right, we started to expand by adding a front page portal and hundreds of web pages, however, the forums continue to be the main stay of the site.

We moved to a fast UK based Dedicated server located at a secure Data Center in Docklands London, this came with lots of premium bandwidth that allowed us to offer a many new features including Video, online chat and a comprehensive Photo Gallery.

The next stage was to totally revamp the DIBB's website, over a period of about 12 months we rewrote all the web pages and totally changed the look and style of the site to give much extra information.

We have since upgraded the site several times to what you see now, in fact this is now an ongoing project and we are continually adding and revising the site.

One of the main upgrades that came in 2010 was the introduction of the DIBB Guidebook, this is based on the wiki system and allows our members to edit and create new web pages directly on our site. This upgrade meant that our web pages were now written, edited and updated by the members rather than by a single author.

Since then we have been adding to the site constantly. We have some great features such as Busy Day Guide, Vacation Planner, Live and Historical wait times, FastPass+ Planner, ADR Calculator, daily updated Disney Dining Menus, updated park maps including interactive ones, and much much more.

TheDIBB has grown immensely over the last two decades and we have had to face many challenges. We have seen members come and go as their preferences, personal lives and priorities change, we have sadly lost a few members/friends to illness along the way and we have had to adapt to the ever changing landscape of online security and privacy.

That takes us up to now and the DIBB you see before you.

Our aim is to be the best UK based forum for Disney and Florida holiday planning with a side helping of general discussion.

Our Ethos is simply to be a Family friendly site aimed at Holiday Planners and Disney Fans.

The site was originally started for fun and to share information, although this is still relevant, we do now run the DIBB as part of our business. Both Simon and I run an Internet company and the DIBB is a part of our portfolio. The site is paid for and supported by contributions from member subscriptions and advertising.

I'd like to pass on my grateful thanks to all those members past and present, be they long standing members, new members or volunteer moderators that have contributed to the DIBB. It is you that make the DIBB a success and it is you that help make this site friendly and welcoming.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy the DIBB.

Regards
Stu