40th Anniversary Fiasco- How to improve?

[kbelle8995]

Just listened to the podcast on this. Thanks to the crew for going over. Kathy posted wonderful pictures but now that I listened to the podcast.

A). I'm glad I did not buy the T-shirts online. I thought they looked chintzy.

B). 120 cupcakes is a travesty. Kevin's right make more or better still have them for the full 40th anniversary year.

C). I'm glad I did not go now.

Seriously you think Disney is new at this. They should have made this a year long celebration like they used to. I went on the 15th they gave away cars for goodness sake.

And to Meg Croften perhaps a speech class would help

Again thanks to the podcast team for doing this. I'm glad y'all at least had a good time despite the disorganization.

 

[safetymom]

In spite of the shortcomings on that day I can still say I was there. That doesn't let Disney off the hook but I will always have the memory of being in MK on the day they celebrated their 40th anniversary. I have come a long way since the days of not liking or understanding the attraction to WDW.

I am glad you enjoyed my pictures. Thank you.

 

[Experiment_626]

I recall a time, not long ago, when it was common to hear people grousing that Disney should stop with celebrating every anniversary that came along. Then they do, and people complain about that. Then they do a more limited celebration, and people complain about that.

I firmly believe that there is nothing Disney could do anymore that wouldn't have some vocal minority up in arms. Yes, even reducing prices.

Scott

 

[DisneyKevin]

I recall a time, not long ago, when it was common to hear people grousing that Disney should stop with celebrating every anniversary that came along. Then they do, and people complain about that. Then they do a more limited celebration, and people complain about that.

I firmly believe that there is nothing Disney could do anymore that wouldn't have some vocal minority up in arms. Yes, even reducing prices.

Scott

I don't remember the complaints about too many anniversary celebration.

I do remember the complaints about the redundancy of the 15 month celebrations that Disney seemed to manufacture a couple of years ago.

For a long time, Disney celebrated milestone anniversaries.

For the 15th, they gave away a gift every 15 seconds. It might have been a small lapel pin, but they also gave away 15 cars every day.

For the 25th anniversary, they transformed the Castle into a birthday cake. I'm not suggesting this ever be done again, but it was something.

I can't speak for anyone else about this subject, but I can tell you why I think this anniversary was important.

My folks brought my brother and I to Disney in December 1971. I'm pretty sure that it's one of the defining moments in my life. I mean, look at what I do for a living. Disney has always been a passion and it's because of my folks and that trip.

In the last two years, I lost both of my parents and attending the 40th anniversary was a way of saying thank you. it was a way of sharing it with them.
For the few hours I was there, I shared it with them.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that these anniversaries are milestones in my life as well as Walt Disney World's.

I hope they have a HUGE blowout for the 50th.

If I'm lucky...I'll be there and so will my folks....at least in my heart.

 

[sammielynn]

They only had 120 cupcakes???

 

[mikelan6]

I would not have done the artwork sales on the same day as the 40th Anniversary. They could have invited all the artists another day and it would have been just as special.

I didn't hear about the limits on cupcakes, but the pin sales were ridiculous.

I had a great time with friends and I am also happy I was there. 40 is a big milestone and I am glad they celebrated.

 

[wdwscout]

I'm glad I was there!

I did not get a cupcake, a pin or a t-shirt.
But I did experience the joy of being there with true Disney fans, celebrating an important milestone together.
WDW is my Happy Place. And to stand and sing When You Wish Upon a Star with thousands of others was truly special.

It was not about the merchandise for me. It was about community.

 

[Experiment_626]

I don't remember the complaints about too many anniversary celebration.

Not specifically those, but in celebrations in general (don't forget they did the 100 Years of Magic thing, as well as The Happiest Celebration on Earth for Disneyland's 50th that extended to all the parks, I believe). Celebrations and big promotions with a theme have definitely been the target of some criticism, and there's no question that the anniversary-themed celebrations would have to be included in that group.

For the 25th anniversary, they transformed the Castle into a birthday cake. I'm not suggesting this ever be done again, but it was something.

Yeah, it certainly was -- I was there. Thankfully, I recall most of the rest of the 25th celebration as something I really enjoyed. And though I'm glad the castle cake is gone (it looked better in the concept art than in reality), I'm also glad I was there to see it.

I can't speak for anyone else about this subject, but I can tell you why I think this anniversary was important.

I hope you don't get the idea that I'm against Disney celebrating milestone anniversaries, because I'm definitely not. One could argue, however, that keeping this one small and essentially limited to the day-of could be interpreted as making it truly fan-centric, rather than making it into a promotional and marketing campaign. There's merit to either view, I suppose -- I have nothing at all against marketing and promotion. Nice to feel recognized (after a fashion) as a fan too, though.

My folks brought my brother and I to Disney in December 1971. I'm pretty sure that it's one of the defining moments in my life.

Cool! I was there around the same time -- hard to pin it down exactly, though (I would have been not quite four years-old). Ripe oranges were on the trees, so it could have been within a month or so of that -- sometime in late fall or into the winter. 20,000 Leagues was running (one of my more vivid memories), so it was probably at least a month or so after October 1.

I hope they have a HUGE blowout for the 50th..

Me too ... I kind of have a feeling that might be part of why the 40th was kept low-key.

Wish I could have been there for the 40th ... it figures that the department where I work would have its largest outreach event (so big we only have it every other year) on that day, and because of my job, I had no hope of skipping it. I did wear my 40th anniversary Hawaiian shirt that day, though.

Scott

 

[mickeysaver]

We went. We encountered crowds that at 8:30 AM were so bad that there was no room to allow others through the ticket booths and into the plaza area below the train tracks. The lines to get up to the turnstiles was like a normal busy morning with the lines going all the way back to bag check with almost, if not every turnstile open. The crowds were unreal. There were all sorts of Disney suits around the front of the park, including Phil Holmes. I stopped and said a quick hello to him. I skipped asking for a picture. He is the nicest guy, but his smile is almost animatronic looking. (Sorry, but it's true that every time I see that animatronic at OMD at DHS, I think of his smile.)

We made our way up to the Hub area after finally finding each other again after becoming separated at bag check. We had no view of the castle stage. We saw some characters parade by, but it was nothing to have gotten up early for. We left the area before Meg Crofton began to speak, the baby was not interested in my needs for a Disney geek fix. We thought that by going on back into the park that the crowds would lessen. This was NOT the case. The place looked as busy as a normal day in July or August. After making the rounds and being surrounded by far too many people for comfort, we decided to go over to Epcot. We decided to do so by way of a meet & greet with Princess Tiana. It went well. Tiana was wearing a different dress than usual today. It looked like her parade dress. There was no Prince Naveen in sight today. Layna marched right up and asked to be picked up, asked for a hug, and then managed to sneak in a kiss, which took Tiana offguard, but she said that Layna was sweeter than a fresh batch of sugared begniets. So, we scored another great meeting with the princess that Layna loves best.

We decided to take a tour around the WS upon arrival with a stop to see if we could be among the first to see Duffy. We were in luck and there were just a few families in line. Layna loves her Duffy bear, so we were hoping that she would get over the nonface character fear that she had on our last visit, which had surprised us because she never had a problem with them before. Duffy worked his magic! Layna ran up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the nose. Thank goodness! We went around the WS starting at 11:30-ish AM. The lines at the F&W festival booths were very long in places. Like I thought Italy was pretty bad, but even worse was a line so bad in Poland that they had a constructed long roped off cue and the line went back about the same amount of people behind the end of that, which literally made the line about 5 times worse than what Italy had. Needless to say, while I was happy to grab some Ravioli for Gabby to try, I was not about to brave the line for Poland. I did however talk Gabby into trying some Moroccan food, which she actually liked and agreed that we should try that again soon. I love the food in Morocco. Anyway, we ate on a shaded bench as the baby napped in her stroller. We decided to go see The Seas with Nemo & Friends with the baby, which included her first encounter with Crush. She was very excited about all of the exhibits with the live creatures. She took particular delight in the Sea Horses, Crabs, and Dolphins. After that, we decided to head back over to the Magic Kingdom.

We got there and the park crowds had thinned a lot, but were building again. We went to Peco Bills for dinner and it was so packed, they opened up seating in the Tortuga Tavern area because there was no seating left inside. We decided to call it a day. There was some family drama stuff that really flared up for Gabby when we had just gotten back to the MK and when we left the restaurant, the crowds were getting uncomfortable again, so we called it a day.

I got a free button. I saw the $5 Cupcake that another guest had. He said there was nothing special about it other than they said it was special. The only thing that we bought to bring home was a Mine, Mine, Mine Onesie for Layna. I did not get any pins or special merchandise today. I got several great memories including the "jinx poke you owe me a Coke Zero" moments when we each said the exact same thing about leaving the MK park both times that we left the park today. I don't regret the way that things turned out. If I had gone alone, I would have missed some priceless moments with the little one and there just is no substituting the two out.

Overall, it was a great day of Disney magic, but it was not the best park anniversary celebration ever.

 

[paperdoll1986]

Just listened to the podcast on this. Thanks to the crew for going over. Kathy posted wonderful pictures but now that I listened to the podcast.

A). I'm glad I did not buy the T-shirts online. I thought they looked chintzy.

B). 120 cupcakes is a travesty. Kevin's right make more or better still have them for the full 40th anniversary year.

C). I'm glad I did not go now.

Seriously you think Disney is new at this. They should have made this a year long celebration like they used to. I went on the 15th they gave away cars for goodness sake.

And to Meg Croften perhaps a speech class would help

Again thanks to the podcast team for doing this. I'm glad y'all at least had a good time despite the disorganization.

SERIOUSLY?! I have to update my ipod tonight and listen...really?! Disneyland commissioned theirs for the 50th....they had so many CMs were outside of eateries with trays begging peopel to take them! and they were the best ever! We often use the bakery we use for my goddaughter and nephew's birthday cakes.....

OK, I gotta listen ASAP...

 

[Greenepona]

I was there with my mom, dad, and now DFH!

we had breakfast at Trail's end at 730am then took the boat over to MK
On the boat ride over, I checked twitter and saw some other Disney podcasters had been there since 530am to get in line for the merch.(or had went to MNSSHP and just stayed there ) As we pulled up to the mk all I could see was people. It was so crowded they had already let people into the courtyard hub, before rope drop, just so more people could go through the turnstiles. I have never seen it this crowded before! We saw the opening ceremony at the train station then all headed down main street to get a good spot for the parade in the hub. I stayed parked in my scooter and my family went off to see about getting merch. They only were able to find me the iPhone case (we had picked up the Kevin Kidney items the day before at DtD) Parade was cool, music was good, but I felt like a sardine. Then we decided to go ride an opening day attraction. We chose the Haunted Mansion, where my DFH proposed to me in the queue!! After riding, we left because it was too dang crowded. We came back in the evening for the fireworks and parade. The crowds were worse! Trying to leave after the fireworks was terrible. A CM said that people were so desperate to get out they tried to hop over the water near the adventureland bridge! It took us a good hour to get out of MK that night – from the adventureland bridge to boat.

I really hope that by the time the 50th rolls around they take into consideration the crowds. They were using all available cm’s to direct traffic as we were leaving, but it was too little too late. I think that was my biggest complaint, was lack of crowd management.

Kevin – they had the cupcakes there in the confectionary after the 1st… we went to the MK at least 3 more times after the anniversary and they had them every time. Maybe they heard your(and everyone elses) complaint.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Let me start by I am glad I was there BUT; it was crazy crowded and all the merchandise was gone at 9am when we arrived. I got the free button and that is about it. By 2 I was so sick of the crowds we left and went over to Epcot for food and wine. We came back for dinner and the fireworks and again had to leave before the fireworks due to the lack of crowd control. I felt suffocated after the parade left out and it was just terrible so we hopped the monorail and ended up watching the fireworks from the balcony at the CR. I think they may have learned a bit of a lesson or at least I hope they did when it comes to crowds for an anniversary. My husband made a joke if someone had a heart attack they would be dead before anyone got to them, The cast members actually sent us out of the park behind the main street shops because the inability to even move on main street. It was probably the worst park experience I have ever had.

 

[kbelle8995]

I have been rethinking my original post.

Let me explain. I am 40 years old. I was born the same year that WDW opened. I won't tell you which one of us is older. I have been going to WDW since I was 1. I grew up with the park.

The part that I enjoyed about the year long celebration was that I could be part of the celebration even if I couldn't make it on October 1st.

Coming here to read Kevin's post, Corey's videos, Kathy's photos and other posts from those who were there made me feel a part of that day and this special Disney loving community. There is still a small part of me that is upset that Disney had announced this so late because I was in the World the weekend before and I had no chance to come back or reschedule my vacation.

And the rest of the people in my party didn't want to change it either. I just think that Disney could have done something where a lot more of us could have experienced this and enjoyed it. Because they have in the past.

Thank you for all your kind responses.

 

[OKW Lover]

We did the Wishes Desert Party that night and were able to get out of the park using the behind Main Street route referred to above. That worked out well for us. BTW, we did enjoy the fireworks and the deserts!

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

SERIOUSLY?! I have to update my ipod tonight and listen...really?! Disneyland commissioned theirs for the 50th....they had so many CMs were outside of eateries with trays begging peopel to take them! and they were the best ever! We often use the bakery we use for my goddaughter and nephew's birthday cakes.....

OK, I gotta listen ASAP...

And they were FREE!!

 

[kaligal]

Meg Croften really can't speak at all...she can't even read that well. I was embarrassed for her. She needs to practice reading and speaking or just stop.

I'm sure the 50th will be something.

I hope I'm alive and able to go.

 

[clomahony]

I can't speak for anyone else about this subject, but I can tell you why I think this anniversary was important.

My folks brought my brother and I to Disney in December 1971. I'm pretty sure that it's one of the defining moments in my life. I mean, look at what I do for a living. Disney has always been a passion and it's because of my folks and that trip.

In the last two years, I lost both of my parents and attending the 40th anniversary was a way of saying thank you. it was a way of sharing it with them.
For the few hours I was there, I shared it with them.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that these anniversaries are milestones in my life as well as Walt Disney World's.

I hope they have a HUGE blowout for the 50th.

If I'm lucky...I'll be there and so will my folks....at least in my heart.

Kevin - what a wonderful sentiment and one that I share with you from the parents point of view. I'm 43 but had a stroke 4 1/2 years ago when my daughter was 2. I was lucky to have survived with no side effects but feel my mortality accutely and have on-going health problems so I take my children to Disney once a year so that once I'm gone - they can carry these memories with them of sharing a place I loved so much with them and that I'm always with them as they look down Main Street to Cinderella Castle.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories with us.

 

[wvulion]

I actually was one of the people in line around 5:00am, but my sister and I went in with really low expectations since they didn't even publicize anything until a day or two before. I didn't see the big deal about the cupcakes, but the way they organized the limited edition stuff was just plain strange. If you have an A or B wristband, you were stuck in line, while everyone else was able to freely shop. I think Disney thought since they weren't making a big deal about the anniversary, no one else would either. I did enjoy the artist signings, and the rededication, but they should've just allowed the gentleman who spoke to do so without Ms Crofton, who just came across as exceedingly uncomfortable (course she was parroting Roy Disney so perhaps she realized she wasn't going to fill those big shoes regardless). Crowds aside, we had a great time, met some fanstastic fellow Disney fans in line, and can check something off our "Disney Bucket List."

 

[DisneyKevin]

If you have an A or B wristband, you were stuck in line, while everyone else was able to freely shop.

The wrist bands were only needed for pins and the limited Vinylmations.

The folks with wrist bands were allowed to purchase first.

The standby line was allowed to purchase next.

The third line was for guests interested in artist signings and left over Haunted Mansion Event merchandise.

Guests inside were not allowed to purchase pins or Vinylmations.

To address the cupcake fiasco.....they made 120 for 60,000 people.

 

[mjtm610]

We had a wonderful time at the 40th Anniversary Party. However, we went with LOW expectations! We went to rope drop, saw the parade, the "presentation", bought a 40th birthday pin ------and best of all found out my daughter and son-in-law are having their first baby!! They told us by giving us a baby sized Mickey Ears!! How can you top that?
We will always remember being there, that's all that matters to us