Welcome To RADP.org

Welcome To The RADP Web Page

What is RADP?
Those Disney fans among you probably already know. RADP is an acronym for a usenet newsgroup named rec.arts.disney.parks -- a Disney parks enthusiast newsgroup where folks all around the world share tips, stories and general information regarding the Disney park experience. It can be accessed through your ISP's list of newsgroups or you can read it using your web browser at Google groups.

Why do RADPers meet?
We get together at least once a year to put a face to that poster/friend we met on newsgroup. New and renewed acquaintances abound every year. Fast friendships have been formed by many. There have even been a few "love connections", although those are rare. The only thing you must have is a love of Disney and desire to have good times with folks of a similar mind set.

Where do RADPers meet?
The first RADP meet occurred at Walt Disney World in December 1996 with about 20 folks (mostly from the Orlando area) and now has grown to include more than 300 of our newsgroup friends and family from all over the world! Folks come as far away as the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Canada, and as close as San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, New Hampshire and Tampa. There is no membership requirement.

When are the RADP meets held?
The dates are usually set for 2-3 years ahead of time so people can have time to make vacation plans. Currently, the next RADP meets are set for:
RADP 13: December 12-15, 2008
RADP 14: December 4-7, 2009
RADP 15: December 10-13, 2010
RADP 16: December 2-5, 2011

How can I take part in RADP meet?
All you have to do is plan a Walt Disney World vacation during the time period we will be holding our meets. Just show up at a meet and be prepared to have a great time. Every year we attract lots of solo travellers, married couples and families to our meets. You can attend as many or as few meets as you wish.

What about info on the early RADP meets?
Information on the early years of our meets is archived on AllEarsNet.com courtesy of Deb Wills and can be viewed there.

Need to get a RADP button?
Leslie Jones started out making and selling RADP buttons to raise funds for one of her daughter's activities and she continues to do so today. She'll make you up your very own RADP button complete with your name or anything you want displayed on it up to 15 characters including spaces. Full details and sample are on her web page.

RADP Chat Room
Many RADPers also get together regularly in a chat room. Topics are free form and range from Disney to vacation planning to just plain fun things. Our big nights are Wednesdays between 9:00 p.m. and Midnight (Eastern time) and Sundays between 10:00 p.m. and Midnight (Eastern time), although people drop in every night.

You'll need the a chat program installed on your computer. If you are running a windows based PC, the two most popular are mIRC and pirch. The most current version is available at http://www.mirc.com/ or for pirch, http://www.pirch.com/. Those of you who use Macs can use ircle which is available at http://www.ircle.com/.

Once you have the program installed and setup, you'll want to point it to our server. Just type /server irc.radp.org into the small line at the bottom of any open window. Once you connect to radp.org, you can join our channel by typing /join #radp-friends into that same line as you did before.

You can also access our chat room without installing any software using Javachat. Point your browser to http://chat.radp.org. You may be prompted to install the Java Virtual Machine if you don't already have it installed. It is necessary to have this to use the Java chat program. You can enter a new nickname if you don't want the default, but otherwise just click "Connect Now" and it'll take you right into our chat room.

RADP is not affiliated with, authorized or endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., or any of their affiliates.