The Midwest Artisan

This week, we’re excited to welcome Doug Sisk, the creator of WDW Passport, a Laravel-powered application designed to help users plan their Disney World trips. Doug shares his journey from developing the app to 'scratch his own itch' and turning it into a successful tool for Disney enthusiasts. We dive into the technical side of things, discussing the use of Laravel and Livewire, tackling API integration challenges, and the transition into Websockets.

WDW Passport: https://wdwpassport.com/
Doug Sisk: https://x.com/Doug_Sisk
Fused Agency: https://fusedagency.com/
ThemeParks.wiki: https://themeparks.wiki/
Give Kids The World Village: https://www.gktw.org/

0:00 - Introduction
0:11 - WDW Passport / Doug Sisk
6:25 - Inspiration on creating WDW Passport
11:18 - Wait Time APIs
14:04 - Initial WDW Passport Stack
15:44 - WDW Passport UI/UX
17:27 - Migration to Livewire
23:38 - Selecting PHP vs. Other Languages
25:19 - Which APIs are you using?
30:22 - Similiar Applications
34:08 - How do you push through being a solo developer?
40:45 - Other Projects
44:24 - Are mobile apps making a comeback?
46:25 - Tech required for Theme Parks
47:42 - What’s your queue setup?
54:04 - Give Kids The World
57:43 - Geeking out on Disney Technology
1:01:41 - Wrap / Where to find Doug