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Disney prizes: Worth $17.4 million
The entertainment giant prepares to shower fans with gifts starting Oct. 1.
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 19, 2006
Cruises, world tours of all Disney theme parks, Mickey Mouse ears, shopping sprees, nights in Cinderella Castle, time-share condominium leases, commemorative pins: These are a few of the things that Disney's million dreams are made of.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has announced 1,250,000 prizes with a combined value of more than $17.4 million that will be given away through Walt Disney World and Disneyland starting Oct. 1, when the company's 14-month "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign begins.
The sweepstakes involve thousands of prizes given out each day, many of them as Disney visitors get a simple, unexpected tap on the shoulder.
The campaign also features several new attractions such as the Seas With Nemo and Friends ride opening at Epcot next month, and smaller adventures, such as costumed characters joining visitors on rides.
Disney is counting on the unexpected nature of the prize giveaways to provide as much excitement as the actual wins. The rule is anyone, any time, anywhere within Disney properties, said Ken Potrock, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts senior vice president of global alliance marketing.
"Completely random. Completely unbiased. Completely luck of the draw," Potrock said. "What we created was a mathematical model, a randomizer, that will select the different dream giveaways each and every day.
"It gets into detail like, it'll be the fourth person to walk through the exit of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at 3:01 p.m.," he said, describing a hypothetical selection. "And we've even gone so far as to say, if two people are walking through the doorway at the same time, it's the person on the left."
Winners will be split between those visitors who show up on Disney properties, and those who send in postcard entries.
To avoid spontaneous scenes of envy and disappointment among nearby people, major prizewinners won't be told what they won on the spot.
"We're not going to announce that in front of hundreds of other people who were so close," Potrock said. "We're going to celebrate later in the day by putting those people in as grand marshals in the parades."
Top prizes include three memberships in Disney's Vacation Club through the year 2054, which Disney values at $83,701 apiece.
Others include three "Grand Marshal World Tours," 15-day vacations visiting all 11 Disney theme parks in Hong Kong, Tokyo, California, Orlando and Paris. More common prizes include special "FastPass" badges that allow visitors to skip the regular lines at attractions, and dinners at Disney restaurants.
This summer when Disney announced the campaign only a handful of the top prizes were revealed. One that caught the public's fancy is a chance to sleep in the royal suite in Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, starting in January.
Christie Reynolds, a Disney fan from Princeton, Ky., is still holding out for the castle stay. The other things, however much they might cost, are things people can buy.
But you can't buy a night in the castle, said Reynolds, 37, who has an 8-year-old daughter, Lauren Quinn Reynolds.
"The list of prizes was amazing, but I would still pick one night in Cinderella's Castle for my daughter above all," she said. "It's every little girl's dream to stay in Cinderella's Castle."
Cinderella fan Brandee Foxworthy of Longwood now is thinking about other possibilities.
"I can't imagine one that we wouldn't be over the moon about. The Vacation Club and the trans-Atlantic cruise. Wow. I mean, what a trip to take the kids on," said Foxworthy, 29. She and her husband, Justin, have three children younger than 6 and have been Disney season pass holders for eight years.
"Even if it was just a pin, or the smallest prize, it would definitely make a day for us there more exciting, just wondering if you would be the one who would be stopped," she said, "Or even to see someone win a prize like that."
In the mid-1980s, Disney offered cruises, cars and other prizes, and various other theme parks have offered sweepstakes over the years, but nothing on the scale of Year of a Million Dreams, said consultant Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services in Cincinnati.
The new campaign emerges at a time when domestic theme parks remain nervous about attendance in the face of uncertain gasoline prices and tourist interest in long trips.
"Let me tell you, in this community we're seeing one thing: Everybody wants a deal," Speigel said.
People may enter the sweepstakes without visiting a Disney property by sending postcards with their full name, complete mailing address, daytime telephone number and date of birth, to Disney Dream Giveaway, P.O. Box 8629, Elmhurst, IL 60126.
The entertainment giant prepares to shower fans with gifts starting Oct. 1.
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 19, 2006
Cruises, world tours of all Disney theme parks, Mickey Mouse ears, shopping sprees, nights in Cinderella Castle, time-share condominium leases, commemorative pins: These are a few of the things that Disney's million dreams are made of.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has announced 1,250,000 prizes with a combined value of more than $17.4 million that will be given away through Walt Disney World and Disneyland starting Oct. 1, when the company's 14-month "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign begins.
The sweepstakes involve thousands of prizes given out each day, many of them as Disney visitors get a simple, unexpected tap on the shoulder.
The campaign also features several new attractions such as the Seas With Nemo and Friends ride opening at Epcot next month, and smaller adventures, such as costumed characters joining visitors on rides.
Disney is counting on the unexpected nature of the prize giveaways to provide as much excitement as the actual wins. The rule is anyone, any time, anywhere within Disney properties, said Ken Potrock, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts senior vice president of global alliance marketing.
"Completely random. Completely unbiased. Completely luck of the draw," Potrock said. "What we created was a mathematical model, a randomizer, that will select the different dream giveaways each and every day.
"It gets into detail like, it'll be the fourth person to walk through the exit of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at 3:01 p.m.," he said, describing a hypothetical selection. "And we've even gone so far as to say, if two people are walking through the doorway at the same time, it's the person on the left."
Winners will be split between those visitors who show up on Disney properties, and those who send in postcard entries.
To avoid spontaneous scenes of envy and disappointment among nearby people, major prizewinners won't be told what they won on the spot.
"We're not going to announce that in front of hundreds of other people who were so close," Potrock said. "We're going to celebrate later in the day by putting those people in as grand marshals in the parades."
Top prizes include three memberships in Disney's Vacation Club through the year 2054, which Disney values at $83,701 apiece.
Others include three "Grand Marshal World Tours," 15-day vacations visiting all 11 Disney theme parks in Hong Kong, Tokyo, California, Orlando and Paris. More common prizes include special "FastPass" badges that allow visitors to skip the regular lines at attractions, and dinners at Disney restaurants.
This summer when Disney announced the campaign only a handful of the top prizes were revealed. One that caught the public's fancy is a chance to sleep in the royal suite in Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, starting in January.
Christie Reynolds, a Disney fan from Princeton, Ky., is still holding out for the castle stay. The other things, however much they might cost, are things people can buy.
But you can't buy a night in the castle, said Reynolds, 37, who has an 8-year-old daughter, Lauren Quinn Reynolds.
"The list of prizes was amazing, but I would still pick one night in Cinderella's Castle for my daughter above all," she said. "It's every little girl's dream to stay in Cinderella's Castle."
Cinderella fan Brandee Foxworthy of Longwood now is thinking about other possibilities.
"I can't imagine one that we wouldn't be over the moon about. The Vacation Club and the trans-Atlantic cruise. Wow. I mean, what a trip to take the kids on," said Foxworthy, 29. She and her husband, Justin, have three children younger than 6 and have been Disney season pass holders for eight years.
"Even if it was just a pin, or the smallest prize, it would definitely make a day for us there more exciting, just wondering if you would be the one who would be stopped," she said, "Or even to see someone win a prize like that."
In the mid-1980s, Disney offered cruises, cars and other prizes, and various other theme parks have offered sweepstakes over the years, but nothing on the scale of Year of a Million Dreams, said consultant Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services in Cincinnati.
The new campaign emerges at a time when domestic theme parks remain nervous about attendance in the face of uncertain gasoline prices and tourist interest in long trips.
"Let me tell you, in this community we're seeing one thing: Everybody wants a deal," Speigel said.
People may enter the sweepstakes without visiting a Disney property by sending postcards with their full name, complete mailing address, daytime telephone number and date of birth, to Disney Dream Giveaway, P.O. Box 8629, Elmhurst, IL 60126.
