Repo Cruise pin "fiasco"..not a debate

[Aisling]

I didn't want to take up space on the Live From thread, but I wonder if anyone else thinks that it's good for Disney to limit the number of pins sets to 500 (or 1000, whatever it is) in order to maintain their value. I've read some posts that say this is Disney's biggest mistake, calling it a fiasco, but what else can Disney do? Should it be one set of pins reserved for each stateroom? Look how people are upset that they didn't get a CC gift because it was only one per stateroom. Should it be one set reserved for every adult over 18 on the cruise? Then what happens if not everyone is interested in buying pins...should those extra pins be sold to first come first served? Well, that's what Disney is doing now. Whoever wants a set has to get on line and wait for their turn. Just because someone paid $10,000 for the cruise doesn't mean they're getting shortchanged because they couldn't buy a pin, does it? No one is forcing anyone to stand in long lines at dawn; it's not like you have to wait in those lines to eat or get into a cruise show. I'm sure there are many cruisers on board the Magic right now who look at the line and laugh at the grumblers who say Disney is starting the cruise off to a lousy start because there's a limited amount of limited edition pins.

I collect pins, and I have stood in line to be able to buy a set of Tapestry pins, so I do understand what it's like. But my attitude was that I didn't have to be there, it was only a pin. I hope there are some one line on the cruise who are making a big happy party out of the waiting, instead of calling it a fiasco. Am I the only one who feels this way?

 

[ivanova]

I'm burned out on pins, regardless of what my tagline says

But I'd like a single set of the Aug pin pursuit pins, logo and map, and ONE of the jumbo pin.....as souvenirs of a once in a lifetime cruise vacation, not because they are pins.

If I can't get them, yes I'll be disappointed. But I'm not willing to ruin a wonderful vacation by getting up at some ungodly hour to stand in line for what seems like an eternity (and in August even that early in the morning, it'll be HOT if we're outdoors).

I know about every DCL LE pin is LE750 or smaller, but I do believe that the underestimated how many people would want the repo pins.

Oh well.

Over all, I won't allow it to ruin my vacation, I have a teen to do that

 

[copper0426]

Let's keep in mind if there were a pin for every person on board it would still be a limited edition. I believe this is a fiasco and that Disney was trying to satisfy the pin entrapanuers and underestimated demand. Let's face it it is a business of supply and demand. Why not make a pin available for every person and if you don't buy within two days then it is fair game. With Disney's ability to make what seems like magic every day with outstanding planning this could have been SOOOOO much better . I would love to have one of each pin as a keep sake. But there is no way I'm wasting my magical time on board in line

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Question??? Did Castaway Club members get one (or two) in their stateroom? We have recieved one on all CC member sailings and we aren't "pin collectors". i don't know what the big deal is.....sooooo there has to be more people like us on the ship....

 

[slindamood]

I think enough vouchers should be in each stateroom so that sometime during the cruise each person cruising may buy a complete set. Sure, people will sell or give away their voucher, but that is their choice. The number of pins would be limited to the number of people onboard, which appears to me to be a very logical way to set a limited number.

 

[WDWLVR]

On the first Member Cruise in 2003 we walked into our room and found a special Member Cruise pin on the bed. Two of them in fact - one for each of us. We didn't have to buy it outright, but new it was part of the extra we had paid for this cruise. Sure some have ended up on eBay and for those who wanted to part with them it was fine. We traded one of our two to a friend for another limited edition pin (the pin from the first 7 day Western).

We didn't have to stand in line, we didn't have to worry about people buying more than their share.

I think this would work well for special cruises like this.

 

[pamkass]

Hi Everybody,
You can buy one of the pins on EBay right now.

 

[mmouse37]

Question??? Did Castaway Club members get one (or two) in their stateroom? We have recieved one on all CC member sailings and we aren't "pin collectors". i don't know what the big deal is.....sooooo there has to be more people like us on the ship....

Do you mean the Castaway Club pins? On all my previous DCL cruises there were 2 CC club pins and one "gift" (beach tote or towel, etc....whatever that gift was at the time).

So it was 1 gift and 2 CC pins for each stateroom. We had two staterooms so we received 2 gifts and 4 pins for our family.

 

[DisneyElf]

Let's keep in mind if there were a pin for every person on board it would still be a limited edition. I believe this is a fiasco and that Disney was trying to satisfy the pin entrapanuers and underestimated demand. Let's face it it is a business of supply and demand. Why not make a pin available for every person and if you don't buy within two days then it is fair game. With Disney's ability to make what seems like magic every day with outstanding planning this could have been SOOOOO much better . I would love to have one of each pin as a keep sake. But there is no way I'm wasting my magical time on board in line

I like that plan too - in fact I also emailed DCL to suggest it for our cruise in August.

 

[Doctor P]

Frankly, I think Disney is doing this generally the correct way. The more pins they put out, the more that end up being purchased for sale on Ebay. Remember, 500 pins is 33% more than is normally allocated to the ship for a DCL limited edition pin (750/2 = 375 per ship). If Disney were smart, they would have jacked up the price so that the incentive to buy would be reduced and the ability to make a profit would be reduced. Perhaps $50 per pin. And then have a non-limited edition rack pin commemorating the two repo cruises. The other thing that could have been done is that they could have had 500 of each voucher. With six pins (don't know how many there were), that would have been enough for about two vouchers per stateroom. Randomly distribute the vouchers to each stateroom and then encourage pin trading as a means to get a complete set.

 

[outahere]

As someone who is going on the August repo cruise, I have been following this pin "fiasco" closely.

I don't think DCL realized what the demand for mementos would be on the repo cruises. I believe there should be at least one voucher in every cabin, for one complete set of pins and a map (and probably one t-shirt per person). One set per cabin would still be a pretty limited edition. If unrelated adults are sharing a room, then there should be more than one.

We would like a complete set, not to sell, but as a keepsake from this once in a lifetime trip. I have no intention of putting anything up for sale.

I really hope that DCL realized their mistake and make major changes for the August repo.

 

[logan1_2000]

I have never bought any DCL pin. I have zero interest in DCL pins. I don't even know where ANY of our CC pins from three cruises as CC members might be. Here in ATL we had a little track meet nine years ago called the Olympics. You remember, pick-up trucks in the opening ceremony? Bomb in the park, left by that person who just was allowed to plead to avoid the death penalty. Anyway, pins were all the rage. I had bought a few that looked cute or interesting before the games, some months in advance. Suddenly my little $5 souvenier was going for (allegedly; I never did see anyone actually pay any of these inflated "values", just saw people quoting them) $50 or $100 or, in the case of the Varsity Onion Rings pin, much more (please don't make me explain Varsity onion rings if you are not familiar with the world's largest drive-in, next to Georgia Tech). And when the games ended any poor deluded folks who "invested" in pins were stuck with...$5 souveniers. I still have around 20, many from locally based corporate sponsors like Home Depot, Delta Airlines, etc. But they have absolutely no "value" and sit in my basement. And I won't be getting into the DCL pin scene.

Now obviously many others take the opposite approach, and enjoy collecting pins. I am dubious about any of it ever truly having value except for people willing to pay too much, but if such pins, at a modest face value, are the type of souvenier you like, please do with blessings. But it is a pin, nothing more, nothing less, and if two weeks on the Disney Magic are being colored as containing a "fiasco", because you couldn't get a pin, then that is an interesting sense of perspective. Its a pin. Your cruise contract did not guarantee a pin. The marketing materials probably did not make any promises about pins or availability. I am more disturbed that shows are twice nightly, and yet the full seating capacity of the Walt Disney theater, times 2, is hundreds less than the number of guests on board. And yes, I have seen folks sitting on the floor and in the aisles. We WERE enticed on-board by promises of entertainment, so I think that is a bigger issue--yet it does not rise to a fiasco. There is a rule of thumb for show attendance, they built a wonderful theater, and most of the time most people are accomodated.

Go ahead flamethrowers, let me have it for speaking up on behalf of those who don't collect pins. I'm willing to bet there are more of me than there are collectors, and if that ratio did not hold true on the repo cruise, oh well, I sure hope you can find something else on a 14 night Disney Cruise to enjoy.

As for me, DS is already an all star in two sports in his local youth league, and he has just announced he wants to start playing football. And I had carefully considered the risks of Hurricane season for the next DCL cruise to avoid conflicting with basketball or football...sigh...will have to change the date when the '07 dates are released...And when his All Star pin fell off his jersey, or cap, or whatever, at the PONY baseball sectionals last summer, a pin that has to be earned by making an all star tournament team, we said "its just a pin, let's go get ice cream" and he was fine. So I hope anyone shut out of a DCL pin can find happiness at Scoops.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Anyone seen this auction? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=143&item=6533702108&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

[dizneyusa]

On the side of the guests, after all these years and events and this was also promoted as a HISTORICAL sailing for the first time, DCL land and sea and
Special Events were fully aware that the guests were going for this reason and would really consider buying everything they could on the sailing!!!!!!!!! Even the non pin guests!!!!!!!!

There should have been a procedure ready to go just in case
what happened did!!!!!!!!! I for one cant believe that the posts that are coming across are even happening! There is
no reason at all that the ship was not informed prior to the guest boarding (way ahead of time and right before as a reminder!!!! of PIN 101).........there should have been plenty
of registers open and a wristband or voucher system in place with purchasing guidelines prior to the sailing (I think I even wrote that in a post prior to them leaving in another thread?)....But just go figure............There really was no reason for the guests to have gone through any negative experience on this sailing.........Pin Event or no Pin Event there should have been specific guidelines set in place prior
to the sailing for everyone to have a chance to purchase something special, from pins to merchandise............
I just cant figure out why this has to keep happening and that the cruise guests should of had to go through what they
did............Pillows, Blankets, Laying on the floor for hours,
honestly what did they expect, guest just strolling in and out
of the shops here and there.................There really was some major non communication and I really hope now that this has passed that all of you have a great CRUISE and enjoy the rest of the sailing!!!!! Hopefully everyone got what they were hoping for even if it was just 1 at least you got it, at least we hope so!!!!

Hopefully Special Events and DCL land/sea will start now for the next sailings coming up so they will run alot smoother.....
The West Coast itinerary and the August Repo Cruise.........

We are looking forward to hearing some GOOD CRUISE NEWS reports soon!!!
People just LOVE DISNEY what can we say!!!!!!!!! Lets get some major pixie dust out there on those seas!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did hear that the DCL executives were working to do whatever they could to try to fix the situations............

Hopefully you all had a great cruise day and the rest of the trip will be days of beautiful seas and FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!

Dana
dizneyusa

 

[coleland]

Speaking of pins...

Is anyone interested in a "Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer" pin? We got one a few weeks ago when my husband was chosen on stage, and I heard they're highly collectible because you can only get them by being a contestant. We just don't collect pins

 

[DareTooDream]

Hi Lisa,
I may be interested. Would you email me at daretoodream@cox.net. Thanks.
Sherry

 

[mmouse37]

I don't think we are permitted to post e-bay links, but the following is an excerpt from the auction item descritpion

For the remaining 8 pins, there was what ended up being a "slumber party" of hundreds of people sleeping and waiting from 10:00 pm until 8 am the next morning in the hallway of the Disney Cruise ship "WONDER" waiting to get their vouchers and then return later to pick up the pins. It caused quite an excitement amout the ship. It will forever be called - "The first Disney Cruise Line Slumber Party:....." It was actually quite fun, when we look back on it. At the time we had moments when it was not fun.

If someone is on a ship for 14 days you would think they would know the name of the ship they were on, especially an historical cruise like this one....just find it ironic that they were in so much of a hurry to put an auction up, but don't have their facts right...JMO.

 

[WDWLVR]

MJ - I saw the same thing and had to laugh.

 

[lbgraves]

Found it easily enough & you are so right! Good grief!

IMO the fiasco isn't just about the pins onboard. The entire marketing plan for this cruise ended up being a fiasco. If you don't collect pins, surely you would want to buy a tshirt or something that has the fact that this was the first Panama Canal crossing on it. At least DCL has rectified the situation as far as the tshirts & pins according to a post this morning on the live thread. That should help to repair their image and hopefully this wont happen on future cruises.

 

[The Adams Family]

For all you pin collectors out there, i am hoping you can answer this question for me. i have been searching disney pin collector sites but very seldom if at all do i see Genie on any pins. Why is this? I have a Genie pin that my daughter received on her make a wish cruise in oct of 04 and i have found nothing close to it in my searches.