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Today we’re launching a few upgrades for our web site that aim to enhance the overall experience for the hundreds of thousands of visitors we receive each month. New navigation, graphics, and a new blog will allow us to better display the many attractions and happenings we cover.
Outside the Magic
Over the past nine years, Inside the Magic has grown far beyond the simple Disney podcast that started it all. Now reaching out to theme parks, conventions, and other special events across the country, this site features extensive reports about much more than the Mouse.
But as our coverage areas expanded, so did our audience – so much so that a split occurred between those who are only interested in family-friendly theme parks and those who are eager to see everything that the vast world of themed entertainment offers, even when it stretches into far more adult themes.
Thus, Outside the Magic is born.
Outside the Magic is a new sub-blog, a division of – or diversion from – the classic content of InsideTheMagic.net. The new blog is now the home for everything that’s “out there” enough to potentially offend our more conservative followers. We’ve read your reactions when our coverage of extreme events exists side-by-side with family-friendly content, so we’re now separating the two.
Outside the Magic will now be home for extreme Halloween haunts, sexy cosplay, wildly themed parties, and other special events that simply don’t fit within the boundaries of all-ages entertainment. It’s a bit edgier and more adult in tone – themed entertainment and pop culture fun without the pixie dust.
In addition to the new blog, we’ve created an Outside the Magic Facebook page (“like” it!) and Twitter account (follow it!). Via those social accounts, we’ll be sharing even more “out there” content than what makes it onto the site, so if you’re up for more adult-targeted fun join the discussions there.
But the creation of Outside the Magic will not change the exhaustive coverage Inside the Magic is known for producing.
Our main site, social networks, and YouTube channel will still cover everything from theme parks: Disney, Universal Studios (including Halloween Horror Nights), Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, and more. The main site will still feature conventions like MegaCon, San Diego Comic-Con, Toy Fair, Star Wars Celebration, and numerous others. But when there is any content from these areas that walks the line of questionably adult-oriented content, it will be posted on Outside the Magic instead.
So if you ever saw any pictures on Inside the Magic and thought “that doesn’t belong here,” now they have their own place.
You can find the new Outside the Magic blog at http://www.InsideTheMagic.net/outside or more simply at OutsideTheMagic.com (as well as OutsideTheMagic.net to match this main site).
Read more about the launch of Outside the Magic here.
Inside the Magic site upgrades
The Inside the Magic site has also received a few updates. The navigation bar at the top of every page now features quick links to “hot topics” – whatever is trending at the time.
You might also notice a change to our Inside the Magic logo. The classic iPod design is being phased out of the logo, as Inside the Magic has become much more than a podcast – and that first-generation iPod was looking rather dated as well.
Our featured stories are now labeled as such, making them more prominent on the home page and differentiating them from our quick headlines or photo and video shares. Featured stories are more in-depth posts with original reporting on big topics. They’re easily recognized by large header images within each post.
The latest smaller stories can now be easily found on our home page, with big thumbnails for each post. This separate designation will allow us to share more content, more quickly.
Below that on our home page is a new section called “The Latest.” This offers our readers a quick glance at all the latest news from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld Orlando, and Busch Gardens, as well as reviews and special events. These stories are also highlighted by colorful thumbnails, making it easy to find new and interesting information.
At the bottom of the home page are our Top 3 most popular/commented posts for the month as well as a quick glimpse at the latest stories on Outside the Magic.
Other areas of InsideTheMagic.net that have received updates and a general sprucing up are our Videos page, categories (like this one), and our About page.
We hope these changes will help make Inside the Magic – and now Outside the Magic – a better place for you to more easily get the information, videos, photos, and other entertainment you’ve enjoyed for nearly a decade. We are continuing to expand our coverage every year so look for even more exciting events to come in the future!
