The Dis Unplugged #2 What a Fiasco!!!

[dizfan1124]

Long time fan of The Dis and just like some of you found these boards via Sean posting about it. Thanks Sean for sharing all your info!

I’m also wondering what is happening with the quality of The Dis. People leaving left and right and barely any of the originals show up for shows anymore. Does Pete not care about quality anymore? At least he should care about how it will hurt his pockets.

Pete - always thought he seemed like a smart business person and have enjoyed his opinions and rants for years.He made the Dis stand out from all the other sugar cookie blogs/podcasts that are so worried about loosing media access they will kiss Disneys ass. But seems to have lost interest in his own business.

Craig - seems to try and do everything which obviously means quality will suffer. And how will this work when he has a baby? Dude will not be able to be on call 24/7 anymore.

Ryno - always loved him but agree he starting to seem bored and above it all.

Panda - needs to bring back the personality he had on his own show. Just seems to be there to be Pete’s sidekick

Erika - this one is a loose cannon. I follow the Dis on their social media accounts and she is turning them into her own personal accounts splashing her face all over them. Definitely huge famewhore vibes. With Pete always wanting to be the star I’m surprised he is allowing this

The old crew - miss them all and wish they were on more.

 

[minimax]

Long time fan of The Dis and just like some of you found these boards via Sean posting about it. Thanks Sean for sharing all your info!

I’m also wondering what is happening with the quality of The Dis. People leaving left and right and barely any of the originals show up for shows anymore. Does Pete not care about quality anymore? At least he should care about how it will hurt his pockets.

Pete - always thought he seemed like a smart business person and have enjoyed his opinions and rants for years.He made the Dis stand out from all the other sugar cookie blogs/podcasts that are so worried about loosing media access they will kiss Disneys ass. But seems to have lost interest in his own business.

Craig - seems to try and do everything which obviously means quality will suffer. And how will this work when he has a baby? Dude will not be able to be on call 24/7 anymore.

Ryno - always loved him but agree he starting to seem bored and above it all.

Panda - needs to bring back the personality he had on his own show. Just seems to be there to be Pete’s sidekick

Erika - this one is a loose cannon. I follow the Dis on their social media accounts and she is turning them into her own personal accounts splashing her face all over them. Definitely huge famewhore vibes. With Pete always wanting to be the star I’m surprised he is allowing this

The old crew - miss them all and wish they were on more.

The quality has dipped terribly in the last few years and there is such a turnover of faces it should tell you all you need to know about what it's like working there. I remember Craig once calling it a "dream job" and if there were any truth to that, people wouldn't come and go so fast. Plus, you have to deal with Pete, and he's a whole mountain of issues and insecurities. In the last two years I have turned my attention to vloggers and channels that don't leave me constantly wondering if there are problems or drama behind the scenes. I watch channels now that focus on Disney itself instead of it being all about themselves, as much of the vlogosphere has become.

 

[dizfan1124]

The quality has dipped terribly in the last few years and there is such a turnover of faces it should tell you all you need to know about what it's like working there. I remember Craig once calling it a "dream job" and if there were any truth to that, people wouldn't come and go so fast. Plus, you have to deal with Pete, and he's a whole mountain of issues and insecurities. In the last two years I have turned my attention to vloggers and channels that don't leave me constantly wondering if there are problems or drama behind the scenes. I watch channels now that focus on Disney itself instead of it being all about themselves, as much of the vlogosphere has become.

Would love some recommendations!

The Dis definitely seems to struggle with finding staff that actually go and enjoy the parks! All I hear is them saying they “haven’t gone in forever” or “was just there to film”. Would be nice to actually have some real in park content from veteran visitors! Not like Erika who said she never gone to MNSSHP before Like why am I taking advice from these people about my vacation?

 

[peteykirch]

Would love some recommendations!

The Dis definitely seems to struggle with finding staff that actually go and enjoy the parks! All I hear is them saying they “haven’t gone in forever” or “was just there to film”. Would be nice to actually have some real in park content from veteran visitors! Not like Erika who said she never gone to MNSSHP before Like why am I taking advice from these people about my vacation?

To be fair, they did employ Sean who 95% of the time said "I never did x,y,z" or "I didn't know about x,y,z"

When your job is a travel agent/Disney Parks Podcaster there is no excuse for answers like that.

 

[DJD]

Nope but good guess lol

Then you're Ollies ex husband! getting warmer?
Just kidding, your privacy is hugely important.

I was a huge fan of the Dis back in 2015 when I was planning my first Disney trip.
I loved the 7 in 7's, restaurant reviews, best and worst shows. I truly learned almost everything I needed to
know from their channel and disboards. I continued watching them for a few years.
I kinda stopped watching them after our second trip because I wasn't learning anything new anymore and it started getting repetitive.

I tried tuning in recently to see how they're doing, holy tit what has happened to these people?
Everyone is so damned miserable.
Ive been keeping up with this thread so I am aware of who has left, but everyone that is still there is just so boring.
They truly are just phoning it in at this point and its embarrassing to watch.

Seeing this, timtracker, Kyle pallo, Michael kay, best life and beyond, and paging mr morrow all just start mindlessly going through the motions until their channels inevitably die off is kinda depressing. Once great and lively channels have all just become boring, negative, and repetitive.

Its almost as if a YouTube career isn't sustainable........what a concept

 

[dizfan1124]

To be fair, they did employ Sean who 95% of the time said "I never did x,y,z" or "I didn't know about x,y,z"

When your job is a travel agent/Disney Parks Podcaster there is no excuse for answers like that.

you are absolutely right! I guess they have a track record of hiring people like that. At least Sean was his boyfriend so I can understand why. Erika? No idea.

have to say I really miss JL

 

[djc12b]

This has been a super interesting thread to read the last few days (I keep up with the Kyle Pallo threads. Have tired to keep up with the Tracker threads but they move way too quickly for me to keep up with.

I found the DIS while researching buying DVC and have loved all their DVC content, watched every video and still look forward to Monday mornings on my commute to listen to the new episode. The team in general started to grow on me, and I work in the medical field and would always block off their live show in my schedule on Tuesdays. But I have to agree it has been so dull. I miss Deni terribly. Pete I'm hot and cold with, just depends on the week. Craig, when he's good he's good but when he's not good he's the dullest of dull. Ryno, I don't mind his commentary but the way he whines I wonder why he's even still around. Panda--I nothing him, can take or leave. I do love when Theresa and Kathy are on just because they aren't as regular and offer something different. Erica I don't understand how she got on this show. I'm sure Pete wanted to get into the world of Tik Tok with a younger staff member and hired her that way but I'm not buying Disney Superfan from her at all, I think she's just along for the ride like a puppy dog and one day Pete will see it but he won't be able to get rid of her because she loves the attention and the parks too much (kind of like why people say Ryno is still around...).

 

[Loueylouay]

Long time fan of The Dis and just like some of you found these boards via Sean posting about it. Thanks Sean for sharing all your info!

I’m also wondering what is happening with the quality of The Dis. People leaving left and right and barely any of the originals show up for shows anymore. Does Pete not care about quality anymore? At least he should care about how it will hurt his pockets.

Pete - always thought he seemed like a smart business person and have enjoyed his opinions and rants for years.He made the Dis stand out from all the other sugar cookie blogs/podcasts that are so worried about loosing media access they will kiss Disneys ass. But seems to have lost interest in his own business.

Craig - seems to try and do everything which obviously means quality will suffer. And how will this work when he has a baby? Dude will not be able to be on call 24/7 anymore.

Ryno - always loved him but agree he starting to seem bored and above it all.

Panda - needs to bring back the personality he had on his own show. Just seems to be there to be Pete’s sidekick

Erika - this one is a loose cannon. I follow the Dis on their social media accounts and she is turning them into her own personal accounts splashing her face all over them. Definitely huge famewhore vibes. With Pete always wanting to be the star I’m surprised he is allowing this

The old crew - miss them all and wish they were on more.

Pete is not a smart businessman. John was the brains. If Pete was a smart businessman their site would not look like from 1997, he would not have divided up all the YouTube channels, make a separate site for the Spanish site, instead of just a link, make an area on the travel site for an instant quote...I could go on. He is a product of luck and timing. He has no taste, creativity or social skills.

 

[The Mandorlandarian]

Sean said:

Fiasco was an interesting person. Pete and I were having dinner at Mounsier Paul one night and Fiasco approached and told Pete he was a huge fan and they hit it off quickly. Pete had been looking for another producer because of the DVC content and other things that were upcoming projects and Ryno and Craig had too much on their plate. He was not hired as a whipping boy or anything over Steve but he did become the butt of the joke often as he had opinions that were different from Pete and Pete isn't one to 'agree to disagree'. I talked to Pete numerous times about how hardcore his audience listens to him and when he devalues a staff members opinion on the show, the audience eventually thinks they are incompetent. One day Fiasco was out filming me for hometours and Pete went out live with Craig on production, there were some mistakes that were made and live audience started ripping Fiasco apart because they assumed the mistakes must have been him, but they weren't. He wasn't even in the studio (it was like a quick live thing so they didn't announce who the producer was) - I explained to Pete that it was his own fault because he had shined so many spotlights on any mistake Fiasco makes that people don't respect him, so he just doesn't stand a chance with the audience now. I stand behind that still, Fiasco never stood a chance with the casual audience.

Drake was never in any sexual relationship with Pete. They were strictly platonic.

Over time you have to take what Pete says as funny or else it will just destroy you and some people can't do that (totally understandable) and you need a really thick skin. I did eventually block him everywhere once I owned MTO and had the luxury too because I didn't know what he was going to call/text and say. I finally had enough when he would just call and yell Stretchmarks and hang up or he would call and just 'Moo' at me into the phone. I eventually stopped bothering to speak to him with any ounce of respect and would just tell him off constantly. I finally developed into someone that was hitting way, way, way below the belt (still above him but that's not an excuse) and I just realized that wasn't the person I wanted to be and blocked him and geared up to move on with my life.

Danielle is one of the people I feel the worst for. She has been a friend of mine since long before I met Pete and Pete was pushing hard for us to have an Admin at MTO. Neither of us knew what the admins actual job should be but he was insistent. Danielle was fresh out of college and wanted to move so I offered the job to her (might as well help a friend if I have to fill a position thats not fleshed out) - Pete wanted her salary to be $3000 per month and that the position would evolve over time to have more duties. Danielle nor I were aware that Pete wanted her to figure out what the position is and find ways to 'earn' her $3000 per month. Pete would get mad at her for 'not doing enough to earn her paycheck' but she would do her job and anything that was asked of her. She was supposed to be 9-5 M-F but she worked all night and weekends too in any capacity that she could. It wasn't her fault we hired her and didn't know what to have her do. So they first day he met her we went to lunch and we told Pete about a trip to Hawaii we had just taken in January 2021 and I explained to him that with the pandemic the flight was empty but this Delta flight was giving everyone on the left side of the plane Goldfish and the right side all got Almonds. I am allergic to almonds and Delta wouldn't swap out my almonds for Goldfish, but luckily people on the plane were nice and gave me theirs. Pete said he was shocked that they would do that to someone in first class and I said, I wasn't in first class and Pete was shocked and said 'well that's what you get in economy' and I said, 'I flew in economy with Danielle (sitting at the table) so she wouldn't have to fly alone and I didn't feel comfortable leaving her and also, it shouldn't matter if I am in economy, I still shouldn't be forced to eat something I am allergic to when they had another option and wouldn't give it to me' and he said 'That's what you get for flying in the back of the plane with the unwashed pigs' and pointed at Danielle. She was obviously devastated and Pete claims after the fact that he only called her 'unwashed' and didn't say 'pig' but he did. Finally, Danielle did everything she could to do her job in the way she was asked and Pete finally decided that she was being paid too much and that we should reduce her pay from $3000 per month down to $1500. She agreed (not that she had a choice) and at the end of 2021, she said the pay was too low and decided to leave the position. Pete then offered the job to his nephew for a salary of $40,000 per year because we were 'being left with no admin.' I told him the reason we are being left with no admin is because he wanted to change her pay form $36,000 to $18,000 per year and she left with the low wage, so he then wanted to fill it with a family member at more than double her salary. It was - in a word, ridiculous.

 

[DIZWatcher]

Listening to these Pete stories, I'm actually tempted to forward this thread to Dr. Ramani and see what she thinks...

 

[The Mandorlandarian]

Sean said:

Sorry, In addition....Pete wanted to require the agents to start carrying guns on showings. There was a story out of Virginia about a realtor getting killed by his client last year and it made Pete really nervous and said that all agents must be accompanied by another agent so we could team up on the customer if they decided to shoot us. I told him that I felt that would probably end with both agents getting shot and also, we don't have time for 2 agents to go everywhere together. He suggested us all get our permits and I said that was stupid because, number 1 the agents would have to be prepared to shoot their clients, which isn't ideal. Number 2, we would 100% become a meme as the realtors that carry guns, number 3 while carrying the guns with clients and they ask why, it would be 'to protect myself from you, in case you shoot at me.' Luckily he did drop the issue when I pushed back hard, but these were the constant types of things I would have to deal with and it just got to be too much.

 

[Rufio'sGhost]

Can Sean explain what ended things between Charles and Pete? I'm assuming it was about Sean, but I would love to actually know.

 

[Cinnamon1]

Fiasco grew on me, I think he found his way producing and contributing on the MTO show. Since he was a buyer as well and did give some good insights to the VA loan process. It seemed like he tried to do everything to please Pete, take him to a medical procedure, attend every sit-down dining review, and then he was gone. Finally, Pete did say something nice about him on a show, not sure if that was done because of the chat pressure from the Tuesday show.

Pete is such a walking contradiction in so many actions, at one time he will talk about how stuffy and snobby somewhere is, but then talks about the great unwashed in economy. He is from NJ, and in the Northeast the humor is more sarcastic, so it is really hard to read him. I find him funny, but I am only a viewer, if I had to deal with that form of humor 24/7 I could see how it would grate someone. Especially if you don't know when he is being funny or serious, if he was your boss that would keep you guessing how to respond.

I think for a Real Estate Business, $36,000 for your only Admin is a steal. $36,000 is not enough to be considered an on call at every moment job, at least to me!

 

[angelflight87]

I finally had enough when he would just call and yell Stretchmarks and hang up or he would call and just 'Moo' at me into the phone. I eventually stopped bothering to speak to him with any ounce of respect and would just tell him off constantly. I finally developed into someone that was hitting way, way, way below the belt (still above him but that's not an excuse) and I just realized that wasn't the person I wanted to be and blocked him and geared up to move on with my life.

WTF. Bullying at its finest.

 

[peteykirch]

Tell us about Fiasco and the Jambalaya disaster quick service dining review that the Dis had to scrub from their YouTube channel.

 

[Jafar]

Sean said:

Fiasco was an interesting person. Pete and I were having dinner at Mounsier Paul one night and Fiasco approached and told Pete he was a huge fan and they hit it off quickly. Pete had been looking for another producer because of the DVC content and other things that were upcoming projects and Ryno and Craig had too much on their plate. He was not hired as a whipping boy or anything over Steve but he did become the butt of the joke often as he had opinions that were different from Pete and Pete isn't one to 'agree to disagree'. I talked to Pete numerous times about how hardcore his audience listens to him and when he devalues a staff members opinion on the show, the audience eventually thinks they are incompetent. One day Fiasco was out filming me for hometours and Pete went out live with Craig on production, there were some mistakes that were made and live audience started ripping Fiasco apart because they assumed the mistakes must have been him, but they weren't. He wasn't even in the studio (it was like a quick live thing so they didn't announce who the producer was) - I explained to Pete that it was his own fault because he had shined so many spotlights on any mistake Fiasco makes that people don't respect him, so he just doesn't stand a chance with the audience now. I stand behind that still, Fiasco never stood a chance with the casual audience.

Drake was never in any sexual relationship with Pete. They were strictly platonic.

Over time you have to take what Pete says as funny or else it will just destroy you and some people can't do that (totally understandable) and you need a really thick skin. I did eventually block him everywhere once I owned MTO and had the luxury too because I didn't know what he was going to call/text and say. I finally had enough when he would just call and yell Stretchmarks and hang up or he would call and just 'Moo' at me into the phone. I eventually stopped bothering to speak to him with any ounce of respect and would just tell him off constantly. I finally developed into someone that was hitting way, way, way below the belt (still above him but that's not an excuse) and I just realized that wasn't the person I wanted to be and blocked him and geared up to move on with my life.

Danielle is one of the people I feel the worst for. She has been a friend of mine since long before I met Pete and Pete was pushing hard for us to have an Admin at MTO. Neither of us knew what the admins actual job should be but he was insistent. Danielle was fresh out of college and wanted to move so I offered the job to her (might as well help a friend if I have to fill a position thats not fleshed out) - Pete wanted her salary to be $3000 per month and that the position would evolve over time to have more duties. Danielle nor I were aware that Pete wanted her to figure out what the position is and find ways to 'earn' her $3000 per month. Pete would get mad at her for 'not doing enough to earn her paycheck' but she would do her job and anything that was asked of her. She was supposed to be 9-5 M-F but she worked all night and weekends too in any capacity that she could. It wasn't her fault we hired her and didn't know what to have her do. So they first day he met her we went to lunch and we told Pete about a trip to Hawaii we had just taken in January 2021 and I explained to him that with the pandemic the flight was empty but this Delta flight was giving everyone on the left side of the plane Goldfish and the right side all got Almonds. I am allergic to almonds and Delta wouldn't swap out my almonds for Goldfish, but luckily people on the plane were nice and gave me theirs. Pete said he was shocked that they would do that to someone in first class and I said, I wasn't in first class and Pete was shocked and said 'well that's what you get in economy' and I said, 'I flew in economy with Danielle (sitting at the table) so she wouldn't have to fly alone and I didn't feel comfortable leaving her and also, it shouldn't matter if I am in economy, I still shouldn't be forced to eat something I am allergic to when they had another option and wouldn't give it to me' and he said 'That's what you get for flying in the back of the plane with the unwashed pigs' and pointed at Danielle. She was obviously devastated and Pete claims after the fact that he only called her 'unwashed' and didn't say 'pig' but he did. Finally, Danielle did everything she could to do her job in the way she was asked and Pete finally decided that she was being paid too much and that we should reduce her pay from $3000 per month down to $1500. She agreed (not that she had a choice) and at the end of 2021, she said the pay was too low and decided to leave the position. Pete then offered the job to his nephew for a salary of $40,000 per year because we were 'being left with no admin.' I told him the reason we are being left with no admin is because he wanted to change her pay form $36,000 to $18,000 per year and she left with the low wage, so he then wanted to fill it with a family member at more than double her salary. It was - in a word, ridiculous.

Pete of all people prank called you saying "stretchmarks" and "mooed" at you? Besides being a crime, it's beyond hypocritical from that man. What a scumbag.

 

[Loueylouay]

Sean tactfully spilling some tea on his YouTube replies. Talking about people at the DIS not getting paid for weeks during COVID, Danielle and Ruben are not coming with him (did they sign non competes? ), officially left the DIS in March 2020, needs a camera person, etc.

Back to the main topic, a friend of mine reached out to a popular Dreams agent for a cruise quote. She still hasn't heard back and it's been about a week. I told her to try out Small World Vacations and if they don't reply within 24 business hours to book it directly with DCL.

I get they get a lot of email (maybe?) but wouldn't you reply within 24 hours if that was your main job? Or you know they webpage could just actually give you a quote on demand like the disney site.

This is what I have been saying. Corey is not a genius..far from it. Their site needs serious updating and a quoting system is easy for a decent coder. My husband could do it in about a week. And yes I don't know how they do business, they take a long time to email you back. Other agencies also follow up.

 

[DIZWatcher]

Pete is such a walking contradiction in so many actions, at one time he will talk about how stuffy and snobby somewhere is, but then talks about the great unwashed in economy. He is from NJ, and in the Northeast the humor is more sarcastic, so it is really hard to read him. I find him funny, but I am only a viewer, if I had to deal with that form of humor 24/7 I could see how it would grate someone. Especially if you don't know when he is being funny or serious, if he was your boss that would keep you guessing how to respond.

This part. I always chalked Pete’ s demeanor up to “oh, he’s just an old queen (I say this as a gay man myself, so don’t @ me) from Jersey”. I’ve never been a big fan of his. He was always someone I never had anything against, but not anything for either. Honestly hearing these stories about him has me feeling a bit DISillusioned (pun intended) about that operation and feeling for those who’s been caught up in his toxicity.

 

[Jafar]

Can Sean explain what ended things between Charles and Pete? I'm assuming it was about Sean, but I would love to actually know.

I dont know for a fact but I suspect Charles's probation/parole may have ended and he was free to move around and leave Pete's house where he was living under supervised release. Just a guess though

 

[wtc50e]

How did that motherfucker have the audacity to call someone a pig!? Is this man not self aware of how disgusting he is…????