For more than a decade, DVCNews has been bringing the latest Disney Vacation Club news and information to your web browser, inbox and favorite social media platform.
On September 23, 2007 DVCNews.com went live for the first time, sporting the high quality banner depicted above.
DVCNews actually began as an email newsletter earlier in 2007. In those first few months, a few dozen subscribers received our weekly Disney Vacation Club news summary in their mailboxes through some sort of Yahoo mass mailing system. Truth be told, I don't even remember the details anymore. I wrote some text in Microsoft Word, saved it in HTML and sent to some generic email address which re-routed the document to others.
Some of the first newsletter is depicted below.
By mid-year it became clear that weekly reporting on DVC happenings was not sufficient. Members wanted a place to find answers to their Frequently Asked Questions, resort photographs, information on purchasing Disney Vacation Club points, sales prices, rental information and so much more.
Later came the desire for more immediacy in reporting--discussion forums, RSS news feeds, Twitter, Facebook and yes...even an updated newsletter.
The look of the site has been updated 3-4 times. Features have been added, tweaked and some removed. When it comes to Internet technology, time never stands still. But a decade later, we're still here.
There are literally dozens of people to whom I'm indebted for helping with DVCNews over the years. I have to mention Wil and Denise Lovato by name, both of whom graciously help me keep an eye on things and provide some content for the site. But there are countless others who supported the site thru news & photo submissions, posting on the forums, moderating the forums, writing the occasional story and so much more. All of you played some role in helping me--and by extension the entire Disney Vacation Club community.
It's always heartwarming to hear from people who have found some useful bit of information on the site, or even made new friends along the way.
And I can't forget to mention the folks from The Timeshare Store, DVCRequest.com and Owner's Locker. They not only help with financial support which keeps the lights on at DVCNews.com, but have also supplied us with industry news, information, photos and more. All of these organizations are assets to the DVC community and good personal friends, too.
Thanks to everyone for a great decade of covering Disney Vacation Club.
- Tim
