Well, I'm sure all of you who are stopping by are wondering what in the world is going on with this website. Ever since I put the "history" banner up on the top of this main page and on my message board there have been questions. I think the majority would assume that the brand-spanking new website that I have been working on for over a year was going to premier on July 5. They couldn't be further from the truth.

As of July 11, 1999, ''Caines' Walt Disney World College Program Page of Adventures" will totally go off-line. For those who don't understand what that means... I'm taking down my site.

And a hush goes over the crowd.

Of course, I do feel that I owe everyone an explanation.

It is very simple. One can't work for College Recruiting and maintain a website about the college program. It could be interpreted as a conflict of interest. On July 11, I will officially join the Walt Disney World College Recruiting team.

If you don't get what is going on, reread this last paragraph.

So now I'm going to cover a lot of topics that are out there about this site and myself.

The Success of this Site.

The fact that this website has had over 120,000 visits completely astonishes me. Back in the Fall of 96 when I was sitting in my room in my fraternity house coding these pages, I had absolutely no idea that anyone other than people that I knew would even take the time to look at this thing. It was just a page about this kid from KY who had always wanted to work for Disney... how he did it and the people that he met there.

Emails started to pour in with very general questions about the WDWCP. Since I had already finished the program (Spring 95) and extended into the summer in a different position (Summer 95) and even returned and found my own housing (Summer 96), I felt that I could share what I had learned with these people.

The emails started getting to the point where I was getting the same questions over and over and over again. So instead of typing out the same info time and time again (or sending out a form letter), I just took what I knew and coded it and added it onto this site. Thinking that this would decrease the email in my in-box. Actually, it just caused more and more stuff to pile in... the old questions were not being asked anymore, but new ones were. So I just added that stuff. Pretty soon the site had grown tremendously and the original focus and idea were sort of lost in there somewhere.

The fact that this site was a success was an accident. I couldn't plan for this to happen... it just happened on its own.

The "Fame" of Caines

A girl once said to me, "Chris, you are famous. How does it feel to be a celebrity?". My reply was, "Having fame without having fortune really isn't that great of a thing."

I never thought of myself as being famous... and I really never thought of myself as being a celebrity. I was just a guy with a website. That was it.

It wasn't until my fraternity brother's girlfriend came down on the program in the Fall of 98 that I realized that some people looked at me in this light. Mindy told me how she would sometimes see printouts of my site in people's apartments. She told me that as soon as some people found out that she went to UK they would ask her if she knew me... and were even that much more amazed that she was dating my roommate.

It is odd when I'm out in the parks or at PI and someone does as double take and then finally asks "Are you Chris Caines?".

I never really enjoyed this attention. I did enjoy the "Good Job"s and the "I saw your site"s and the "Thank you for helping me"s. But I didn't like people saying "Oh my God, you are Chris Caines" when they first met me.... that really put me in an awkward position because I really didn't know how to react and I didn't know why in the world they were acting like this. I'm not going to miss the "Oh My God" one bit.

To those with websites or thinking about creating one

A guy named Will, who is coming down here this Fall, commented on Bryan's Fall 99 site. He said something to the effect that "Caines' isn't breaking any new ground with his website". What he failed to see is that this site as well as the 2-3 others that existed before or came on line about the same time (1996) actually broke the ground. The deluge of WDWCP related websites didn't exist like it does now.

I offer the following advice to those who currently have a site or are thinking about creating one

Find a Target Group

By finding a target group, you will make your sight unique (which will then increase your traffic). Jamie Doyle, Rob Zesut, and Bryan G have all done this... and their sites are and will continue to be more successful than others.

No more "General Info" sites

The reason that most WDWCP sites suck is because they simply rehash all of the info that can be found on the official site and literature distributed by the WDWCP.

The reason that I've always stated that people with questions should always call and hear it directly from an official source is because there is a lot of rumors and nonsense floating around out there.

The era of the general WDWCP site has come and gone. With the institution of the 800# and the on-line handbook from WDW, there really is no need for a general information site. There is also a new official website in the works that will be part of disney.com... which will be of greater value.

Be careful what you write

You guys should never forget that anyone and everyone who has access to the WWW can look at your site or what you write. Be aware of what you publish... don't write anything that may come back later and bite you in the arse. That includes (but isn't limited to) slanderous material and confidential information. People at Disney do look at the web. People do know what you write.

For those inclined to capitalize on this site going away because they want people to finally start visiting their site (you know who you are... and so do all of us)

Basically.. don't bother.

There isn't anything here that "needs to be kept alive". Like I mentioned above... anyone who is interested in the program can get information about it from an official source now. There is no need for you to provide that info.. especially since you just reproduce practically word for word the same information that can be found from official sources.

I know some of my critics are going to say "Well you capitalized on Barb Isert's original site going down". You are wrong. At the time that Barb's site did go down we all did depend on her message board and chat room. I didn't ever want a message board or a chat room on my site.... she had one.. no need to duplicate it. When her site went down, there was a need for these things. Again... no one else had them. So while other people were jumping at the chance to attract her lost audience, I added a very good message board and a so-so chat room to this site. Pretty much I told people, the stuff is here... use it if you want to... and over 5000 posts later and hundreds of people using the chat room.. I guess they wanted to. The funny thing is that now chat rooms and message boards are about a dime a dozen on WDWCP sites.... and if you look closely, you will notice that a good portion of them use the same message board service that I use and also use the same java-script based chatroom. Speaking of Barb's site.. it is back on-line.. go back to it if you are looking for the communication that you had here. Barb's WDWCP Alumni Web Site

The fact that my site was successful was a total fluke. It was an accident. It wasn't planned. It just happened. You can't set out to create a successful website.... you can try.. but your opinion of your site doesn't play much into its success. People will come to your site the first time out of curiosity.... people will stay if there is something worthwhile.. and they will come back if they have a reason.

I know the vultures will be circling this site to see what benefit they can get from it going off-line. I encourage all of you not to waste your time on someone who is going to try to cheaply imitate me and what I have done. Go visits the sites created by the people that maintain their site for reasons that are not selfish.

What the future holds

Well, I'm not exactly happy that all of the work that I put into my planned revised WDWCP site is going to be scrapped for on-line use. But the good thing is that all of that info is available to anyone who wants it by calling the WDWCP 800#. Think of this site as Dorothy's ruby slippers... you didn't have to come here to get your answers, you had the 1-800-722-2930 at your disposal to ask anything.

I'm not totally going to disappear from the WWW. I have a ton of ideas and projects that I have been bouncing off different people.

One of the things that I could think of is... since I'm still at WDW and I'm still experiencing adventure after adventure after adventure, this site will probably be renamed "Caines' Page of Walt Disney World Adventures" and document everything from the very first adventure. I may still keep a couple of the other popular aspects of the site on here (the News section for one)... but as far as this being a source for Q&A and having any type of communication, that will be gone. Since I don't/can't speak for Disney, I really can't have any forum that someone could interpret as me speaking for Disney.

But who knows? I do know that I will still have a presence on the web. The specifics, I haven't really ironed out.. but I'll still be here.

And it really doesn't matter to me if my new project(s) are as popular as this one ended up being. I'll just see what I can do and then leave the success up to the masses.

Family

Mom, Dad, my sister, David and Libby

People from home

Mike Oder, Larry Montgomery, the Looney bros and their wives, Price Sewell and his savage sister, Doss, Beth Bacon

People at UK

Penny Medley, Mike Agin, Karla Graham,

The brothers of the Mu Iota Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity

Especially Zark, Lorenze, Mark Alderman, K. Joynt, Farnan, Raider, Tyler, Jarrett, Bobby, my pledges, Mark Miller and I guess Mindy Amrine.

My roommates from FL

Dave, Mike D, Chad, Dean, Dunn, Jerry O'Brien, Dan,Wendy, Jose, Valerie, Heather, Rose, Dana, Jessica, and Shannon.

All of the people....

Kathi, Courtney, Michelle, Kim, Roseann, Cathy, Jimmy Buffett, Phil Marks, Omar, Mike Elliot, Meredith Hitt, Eileen, Kellie, Staci G, Mona, Paris, Ritter, Brandon Baker, Chris Cole, Shana, AJ, Angele, Brave Highlander, Jungle Thomas, Kirsten, Pappas, Halac, Helvie, Shiner, Liz S, Tramp, Matt Hoskins, Mindy Freedlander, Dave Z, M. Wilder, Scott, Ryan (the ice-cream guy), Jamie Doyle, Patty Hogan, Jennifer Liggett, Natalie Krapf, Caren Franchetti, Robz, the Beastie Boys, Kristi, Katherine, Holly, Mark K, Amy K, Allen R., Mike Kelly, Jeanae, Dale, Jeff A, Jeff M, Kaliegh, Lucas, Wade, Mary-Ellen, Wendy C, Ginger, Christina, Joanne, Todd, Bonnie, Chris L, Steve E, Dave R, Steven Miller, Deb Wills, Jennifer "Grand Floridian" Miller, Mary Westhoff, Barb Isert, Doug "mom" McDonald, Tapanga, Cat, Benz, Kristen Cory, Dani Diak, Christopher White, Vista Way Security, Bekki, Colleen K, Britain Woodman, Jason Copen,... and if I didn't mention you, I'm sorry.. it's late and I'm sad.

And anyone and everyone who ever looked at this site, said hi to me, drank with me (bigger thanks to those who bought me a drink), laughed with me, cried with me, yelled at me, talked with me, hated me, loved me.... thanks!

And now I'll leave you with this final song.... Sinatra's "My Way"

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and ev'ry highway;
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
"No, oh no not me,
I did it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!