From there , our sales team takes over to get the word out about our products . Carl and Gregg work to make sure our subscriptions and shop get the attention they deserve , and Stefanie and Jessica on our customer care team make sure all the emails , phone , and social messages we recieve are answered quickly and with a smile .
And that ’ s all before we even get to producing our monthly issues for you . It ’ s a big job , but we love it !
Twelve to 18 months before our issues get into your hands , we plan out our content for the upcoming year — and yes , it can result in the death of a lot of Post-It notes . We look at what ’ s been working over the last year , what hasn ’ t , audience response to what we ’ ve been doing , ideas we ’ ve collected we ’ d like to try out , and more . Then we put together an outline for most of the articles and photos we ’ ll need , saving room for any new or surprising content we might want to include as we get closer to publication .
Then Rain takes the wheel and fleshes out assignments for our writing team ( Kim , Terri , Melissa , Jessi , Maria , Brian M ., Danny M ., and Kat are long-time members , and we have a few new faces too , like Jamie , Brian C ., Trisha , and Chris !).
Assignments in hand , we know exactly what photos we need , and we task Brett , Cliff , Judd , Laurie , Mike , Courtney , and Rich to work on editing pictures from their collections and taking fresh ones to support the content we ’ ve planned . We ’ ll also look for historical photos or archival artwork if we need it . Then Jamie Cosley creates a cartoon that will work with the season or the other topics in the issue .
When deadlines come around , Rain and Tim complete structural and copy edits of each article and work through changes with the writers . Aly reads the articles and finds videos that we can use in the digital edition to make the content a bit more interactive .
With all these pieces in place , it ’ s time to head into layout , and Danny S . takes each article and image we ’ ve collected and uses his creative powers to create the final pages you see in each
TOP TO BOTTOM : Staging aerial shots of menu items at Restaurantosaurus ; Hand modeling a treat from Vivoli Il Gelato ; Our photographers wait patiently for the parks to clear out at the end of the night to get those " empty park " Cinderella Castle shots . PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE WDW MAGAZINE TEAM