August 20, 2005 - L.A. to Port Canaveral - Eastbound Repo Cruise - The SHIP OF FOOLS Part 3

[kmiles]

I'm not a pin collector and probably won't be buying any of the pins offered on the cruise unless they really strike my fancy, but I do think they should have produced more than just 500! That just seems like they're asking for trouble.

Oh well, I guess I won't know either way.

Only 109 more days to go!

 

[piglet33]

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/eventPins?id=8835

Wow, pin collectors are going to love this. Renee better increase your budget!

Oh great, just what I needed to hear. Wait until I tell Lenny about this! His first question when I showed him the large plaque pin, was how are we going to get that home? I told him we'll figure it out, lol. Besides I can always ship it home.

Reneé

 

[RobinMarie]

Ha Ha here is what I read:

To purchase these pins, Guests should check in with a Crew Member prior to beating up Guest's name.

 

[Lisa F]

We haven't done the pin thing in quite some time (just haven't had any time/haven't made it to WDW in a few years) but we would love to do some trading on the cruise. Are people bringing pins?

DH and I decided last night that we will try to get pins but when the commotion happens due to the inevitable poor organization, we are NOT going to let that make us grumpy for even a second on our vacation!

 

[piglet33]

DH and I decided last night that we will try to get pins but when the commotion happens due to the inevitable poor organization, we are NOT going to let that make us grumpy for even a second on our vacation!

I hope everyone has that feeling, because if not, I'm sure there will be a lot of grumpy people on that ship if they don't get their pins. I just want one complete set that I'm going to give to Haley when she gets older so I hope I can at least get one of each. We'll see what happens. If I don't then I guess I'll have to drown my sorrows in a drink of the day.

 

[mississaugamom]

I hope everyone has that feeling, because if not, I'm sure there will be a lot of grumpy people on that ship if they don't get their pins. I just want one complete set that I'm going to give to Haley when she gets older so I hope I can at least get one of each. We'll see what happens. If I don't then I guess I'll have to drown my sorrows in a drink of the day.

I fully agree, Renee! Not being greedy, I'm also hoping for one complete set for Lara and I to share! (I'm not quite as wonderful as you - Lara has to share hers!) I frame our pins from previous trips in shadow boxes - we have a wonderful time planning our layouts and enjoy all the happy memories they give us.

500 is still a very low number, though ...

Arlene

 

[Lisa F]

Don't get me wrong, I am hoping for a set as well. It's just that I have been to some pin events and people get really nasty and upset if they don't get some highly limited pin. HOPEFULLY that won't be the case on this cruise but I can only control my own behavior and we have decided that we're not going to get stressed out over a little piece of metal. We will line up but that's it!

 

[mmouse37]

I'm not a pin collector and probably won't be buying any of the pins offered on the cruise unless they really strike my fancy, but I do think they should have produced more than just 500! That just seems like they're asking for trouble.

Oh well, I guess I won't know either way.

Only 109 more days to go!

Disney is asking for trouble by producing only 500. You would think they would learn from some past fiascos. Don't they know that Disney fanatics are just that...fanatical? We were on the Maiden Voyage of the Magic for the first passenger sailing and people were going nuts on that for various reasons...mainly because they had no sort of special send off or sailaway party...nada...., yet showed on the cabin TV the huge celebration 2 days before for the VIP and press and people were really upset with it...sure, have a great big celebration for the media but for the paying passenger...nothing. Then DCL gave out a commerative framed litho but only one per cabin....so folks were furious who had friends sharing a cabin...which one would get the litho??? It was chaos...so much so that one couple trashed their cabin...burned cigarette holes in walls, broke mirrors...basically did a few thousand dollars worth of damage to cabin (confirmed by a few CM's.

When we disembarked Disney must have realized they should have handled things differently as they handed everyone leaving the ship another framed litho...we wound up with six...one per person (family of 5) plus the one they gave in the cabin.

Another disaster was the first two Disneyana Conventions....they had limited pieces and crazy people wanting to buy them. People who paid good money for Disney hotels were sleeping on the sidewalk outside the convention center just to get a limited edition piece. People get caught up in the frenzy and it can get scary....the last thing I want to see onboard is people getting all worked up over pins....I for one really don't want to stand in line hours before to try to get a pin...but I fear that is what is going to happen.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Good Morning all. I have almost finished packing for my well needed vacation. I know I will forget something. I have a ton of stuff for summer heat, but it's for the cruise!

As far as pins, I too have seen the "Race for the Limited Edition". It can get pretty ugly. Personally, I hope that they increase the number available, with so many people on board, 500 is really not enough. There are going to be a lot of dissapointed people. I think they should allot one per cabin, minimum, then have extras for sale later. And the hubcap is way over my budget. I have seen the shadow boxes of pins from various cruises, it is a nice rememberance, but if you can't get the map and all the pins to go on it, sheesh! I will be bringing my remaining traders, and some WWWD pins, but I will not stand in any line for pins. Unless there is some one who really needs one and they change the distribution method, I will let those who really want them, have at them.

 

[kmiles]

It was chaos...so much so that one couple trashed their cabin...burned cigarette holes in walls, broke mirrors...basically did a few thousand dollars worth of damage to cabin (confirmed by a few CM's.)

Wow. I hope they were charged for the damage.

 

[UMTerp]

I sent an e-mail to DCL about this pin mess. I suggested order forms in the staterooms with a limited amount of time to turn in orders and a limit on the number of pins per stateroom. I have not heard anything back from them. I think it is crazy that they are purposely setting people up to be disapointed!

I am not a pin collector but like many of you (and most people on board - I think) I would like to have a set of pins for my family.

I hope they get smart on this one!

UMTerp

 

[DisneyElf]

Good idea -- - I think I'll email DCL too !

They do read them and perhaps they will realize what a mistake they are making.

People will still buy them if they are a LE Edition of 5000 vs. just 500. Plus - are they only going to sell 500 of the "hubcap" on each leg of the cruise?

I would love to get just 1 complete set -- to remember the trip .

 

[mississaugamom]

E-mailing DCL is a good idea - the Westbounders did it to get to THIS level of organization on the pin distribution.

I'm going to follow their "success" closely as to how this system is working out. If it appears to be causing problems and people unable to get what they want without spending HOURS waiting on lines, we can e-mail our suggestions for changes for the return trip!

Arlene

 

[gassmandy]

I am not a pin collector--only have the ones that have been given to me. With that said--I think it is absolutely RIDICULOUS that they limit it to 500.........for a cruise like this--they should have 1 for every person on the ship available to buy. Those that aren't purchased in the initial time frame can go for sale to anyone who wants more than one.

I won't be in line for them so that should help y'all out a little?? Or if I happen to get in line and one of you die hards doesn't get one--you can have it!!!

 

[Scratch42]

Only Problem!

They already have them produced!

Bring Your Boxing Gloves!

Scratch

 

[mmouse37]

Wow. I hope they were charged for the damage.

They were...thankfully.

 

[mmouse37]

I was cleaning out my closet and found several extra lithos (the ones the TDS gave out with the pre-purchase of videos/DVD's). I would like to do something with them for this cruise....but don't know if I should bring them onboard and offer them as door prizes for any of the activities we will be doing, or should I set up a Disney Trivia game on this thread....first one to answer correctly deal. I will list what movies they are from so people will know if they want to play or not.

Any suggestions????

 

[kmiles]

I've actually sold some of those on E-bay, MJ. Of course, this was many, many years ago.

Perhaps you could get a little extra cruise-spendin' cash!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Read this, it may impact you!

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-05-02-luggage-monitoring_x.htm

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

P I N S

Well, reading all these posts makes my heart sink and has me almost in tears. You see, we have done 4 DCL cruises and all have been Pin Event cruises. We were SO looking forwarding to a relaxing cruise finally without the crazy rat race onboard to get the pins. No lines, no havoc, no stress, no missing the beginning of dinner when the shops open, no having to choose between an excursion & a pin release, no turning in your pin forms, no returning to find out results of pin forms, no going to get pins awarded from pin forms, etc., etc., etc. We missed half of each cruise (all 3 & 4 night cruises) chasing down the darn pins!!!

I see that this has turned into yet another Pin Cruise! It makes me very sad, yes, but I will still cruise and you will see me standing in line for the pins. I can't traverse the Western Hemisphere and not come back with the darn pins.

I do see pros and cons in all of this. In yet another cathartic post, I will outline my thoughts.

• Lines. Nuff said. But at least they are doing the distribution at someplace other than Mickeys Mates. Seeing 500 people lined up down the hall toward the WD Theater would not have been a pretty site. Beat Street is definitely an improvement.
• Port Day distribution times are too close to main dinner seating. 5:30pm? You've got to be kidding! Am I supposed to stand there decked out in my formal gown waiting for pins? I should be in the Atrium with my extended family getting that longed for family portrait taken! Let's hope the formal nights are on sea days.
• Can one person get vouchers for the whole cabin/family or do each of us need to be there? Assuming they will have a names checklist to verify eligibility, this would prevent my 2 year old from having to stand in the darn voucher line.
• What does this mean: "return to Up Beat before closing that same day of release to purchase the pin"? Closing as in the one hour window of release time or closing as in 2:00am when the night club closes? If the latter that would be great, but if the former I see chaos.
• 2005 Panama Canal Crossing Logo - Super Jumbo Pin Edition Size: 1000 - I hope DCL is smart enough to release 500 of these on the May cruise and the other 500 on the August cruise.
• The port pins for the map will be different for our cruise than the May cruise so we will have our own 500 of those to scramble for.
• Forget eBaying the Jumbo pin after our cruise. The May cruisers will have had 3 months to sell their extras, hence flooding the market before we even get on the ship.
• 2005 Panama Canal Crossing Logo Pin Edition Size: 1000 - Our cruise will have it's own logo pin with LE1000. This higher edition size will give more families a chance at a commemorative pin.
• I feel sorry for the practice cruisers in regard to this pin situation, but thank God we are on the Aug. cruise so DCL has a chance to tweak the pin distribution for our cruise. Maybe they will change/lengthen/revise the distribution time frames/system for ours.

Pin Event cruises are handled differently in that only Event attendees (maybe 400-500) who signed up prior to the cruise & paid a fee (usually $35) can try for the pins. You fill out RSP forms (Random Selection Process) and the computer randomly decides who gets which pins. Some RSPs are run before the cruise and then some are done during the cruise on each day. I haven't given any thought yet about using the RSP system for the repo cruises. I am too emotionally drained from reading this new pin news.