Today, we’d like to introduce you to Josh and Jenna with ResortTV1. They shared their story with us below.
Josh started the channel on YouTube as far back as 2008, just posting informal videos we took in the Disney Parks. It wasn’t anything we planned to grow into a large channel; it was just posting for fun. A few years later, I started posting the Resort TV Channels in the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels so I could enjoy them on my Apple TV and pretend that I was staying in the resorts. These Resort TV Channel Loops are what inspired the name ResortTV1. We tried to name the channel ResortTV, but YouTube wouldn’t accept that name by itself, so we added the 1 to the name and liked how it sounded. A few years later, Jenna suggested that we should try making some vlogs, so we started trying to do that around 2015. The vlogs were well received, and in 2017 when live streaming became available on YouTube mobile, Josh started trying a few live streams in the parks. The first Magic Kingdom Live Stream that Josh did had over 1000 people watching concurrently, so we knew that live streaming in the parks would be very popular! Jenna moved to Orlando permanently later in 2017, and we started live streaming together every Friday Night in the parks. Therefore, Friday Night Live was born. Since then, the channel has grown to over 169,000 subscribers, we’ve added more streams per week, and Disney has even invited us to be part of their media program. However, the most important part of what we’ve been able to do on YouTube is to build an amazing community. We’ve had several other friends start their channels after being part of our community, and it’s gratifying to see that!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
There are always challenges on any journey, and I think the biggest challenge for us is realizing that we can’t please everyone, and we have to be true to ourselves and do the absolute best we can every day. Another challenge we’ve had is just being patient with the growth of our channel, as YouTube’s algorithm can sometimes be frustrating and seem a bit random at times.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
YouTube has become a second job for us. Josh is still a full-time teacher daily, so I have to work on YouTube outside school hours. I would say that what sets our channel apart from other channels is that we truly focus on the quality of content and community engagement as our number one priorities. We always try to produce the absolute highest quality live streams and videos. Still, we also focus on helping our community members feel engaged and appreciated at all times.
So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to us is helping people feel magic in their everyday lives. So many people have incredible core memories of special times at Disney with family and friends. When we stream or make videos from the parks, people can relive those memories with us from the comfort of their homes or wherever they are. Many people tell us that we helped them through the lockdown period of the Covid-19 Pandemic because our videos gave them something positive to focus on. Also, several people tell us that they cannot visit Disney World any longer due to health or financial reasons, and our videos are their only way to connect with the parks they love. This connection and magic we can provide to people mean more to us than anything else.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.resorttv1.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/resorttv1
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/resorttv1
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/resorttv1
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/ResortTV1
Image Credits
All Images taken by us personally.
