give a day get a day all over

[bobbiwoz]

We met lots of people on our volunteering day who did not tell the children involved that they were doing it for a free Disney day. Many of the people were doing it in case they go, or even just because they wanted their children involved in the "Give a Day" idea.

I wonder how many free days they gave during the free day on your birthday last year. Nobody in our family qualified for that.

Someone on the Disboards did mention last week that the number of volunteers was approaching a million. How they knew that, I don't know but I did pass along that information to friends.

DH and I will be volunteering again with our Boston family, not for the voucher, but for the experience. I think it was a good promotion, and the organizations that we have been involved with (3 different groups) thought that the Disney idea was a good one, and they got many volunteer inquiries because of it. One in particular, a Hospice program in NJ was especially grateful. My DSis worked with them.

Bobbi

 

[Crystal_27]

For what it's worth, if you scheduled a volunteer opportunity before the cut-off, you can still participate in the program (per the member website this morning). Although DD wasn't yet 6 when DH and I signed up for our volunteer opportunity, we made sure to pick one after her birthday so she could participate with us (although she, of course, will not get any Disney freebies).

Like many of you, we will not be telling our DD we are doing the work for Disney freebies - - we just want to let her experience a volunteer opportunity and hopefully set the precedent for future volunteer work.

 

[kbeam]

Yes, I admit my husband and I signed up to get the free tickets. However, we loved helping the organization we were signed up for, so we'll continue to donate to it....all because Disney provided that initial open door. We give monthly donations to two of our chosen charities, and we donate on a non-regular basis to others..but this is all monetary and impersonal. For us, we don't care the REASON we initially got involved...just that we did and will continue to do so.

 

[kjd469]

You know, it's just plain dumb that Disney does not continue with this program even though they've reached the 1 million mark. Think about the PR they could get if they continue and then could flaunt how many millions of volunteers there were. It really costs them nothing to allow a person through the gates, but the revenue that the person/s and their family's will generate on food, lodging, souvenirs, etc. has to be tremendous. To heavily advertise, like they did, and give everyone the impression that it would be throughout 2010 (yes, I know it stated in the fine print, until they reached the 1 million point), and then have the program end so abruptly, so quickly, I believe a lot of people that were planning trips will just say forget it. I'm sure a lot people were planning on waiting for summer vacation for family opportunities to volunteer.

 

[staceymay00]

Actually the website said: "The program begins January 1, 2010 and continues until tickets are distributed or December 15, 2010, whichever occurs first".

I don't think they had any idea they would get the one million this quickly.

Maybe they underestimated how "generous" people would be when getting something of monetary value in return for volunteering.

I have nothing at all against people who participated in this program, but it is one of those freebies that will benefit some and not others. Free WDW tickets is not an entitlement, and it is not like WDW went back on their word and reduced the number of vouchers they initially offered, right?

It's like I tell my kids when they complain about their sibling getting a cupcake at school and they didn't, or their friend who has an ITouch and they don't, etc, etc...focus on all the great things you do have in your life instead of wasting energy being upset someone got something you didn't.

 

[gritzel4]

it's like i tell my kids when they complain about their sibling getting a cupcake at school and they didn't, or their friend who has an itouch and they don't, etc, etc...focus on all the great things you do have in your life instead of wasting energy being upset someone got something you didn't.

amen

 

[twinklebug]

Like many of you, we will not be telling our DD we are doing the work for Disney freebies - - we just want to let her experience a volunteer opportunity and hopefully set the precedent for future volunteer work.

I work for a non-profit, and my supervisor said that she wanted to sign them up as participants. However, she said that Disney made the organizations jump through so many hoops, they just gave up. And I'm so disappointed this has already ended. Initially, it was supposed to be for the entire year, and since I work during tax season, I was planning to sign up and volunteer after April 15th. Had I known it was going to end now, I would have found a way to squeeze in my volunteer work earlier. Darn!

Sadly, I think Disney dropped the ball with this. From the moment the website opened and it crashed, to now ending 9 months early. They should have seen that in this economy, with a lot of people not working, more people would sign up....SO now what for the rest of the year?
There are so many volunteer opportunities in our own local areas I was dismayed that Disney had chosen so few, and some odd ones at that I wondered what was going on.

I agree, My interpretation of this program was that it, in addition to getting people to come to Disney, was to make folk aware of all the opportunities that are around them. From my viewpoint it looked like 99% of the volunteer opportunities were left out - which is odd as these places are always looking for help and I think that Disney promoted this to the point that most all the organizations were well aware of it. To see we'd have to drive an hour & 1/2 to get to the closest one that would include children aged 12 & 16 showed that there was something wrong with the sign up process for the organizations.

My hope is that this 1 million mark was simply a test on Disney's part and that they're looking at the results, fixing any issues (such as what we've seen) and that they'll revive the program for the second half of the year with new partners and new gusto.

If they do bring the program back, I'd love to see places added that can help people to become aware of all the opportunities to volunteer that are around them every day: schools, libraries, kid's sports, field maintenance, concession stands, cleaning up the towns after a rough winter, meals on wheels, visiting nursing homes, and helping the animal shelters. I realize that some of these were out there for certain areas but from January through to recently, they certainly weren't represented for anything here.

 

[bandjbaine]

I completed an activity and have a printed voucher for a ticket. We were supposed to go in June. Have the 1 million tickets already been cashed in- ie our voucher is no longer good? Or have they ended as they have handed out 1 mill vouchers?

I actually think this was great marketing ( as long as they honor the vouchers that have been printed already). We actually planned a trip solely because of the free ticket. Disney's getting a whole extra vacation out of me this year! Though I agree, it's good just to inspire people to volunteer- if those who already printed vouchers cannot redeem them- it might backfire as a promotion. Cutting it off early with clear expectations makes sense if 1 mill is all they intend to do.

 

[Slakk]

Ok, I'm going to say some thing so very unpopular.
Why should they promote any thing but the fact that you get a great vacation?

I think Disney sets itself up to not being able to rebound if the economy gets better. Free dining, buy 4 get 3 free, free tickets. It's now to the point where people get seriously offended when disney doesn't give them some thing supposedly for free. I totally admit I wasn't quiet when my valet parking ended.

Even with the dream squad, you know how many post I read from people complaining they had been to disney 59 times and were never approached by the Dream squad?

my new promotion, come to Disney have a magical vacation.

Hey I am one of those people who spent like 20-30 days in the parks and NEVER saw the dream squad until the last day and stopped them for a picture JUST so I could at least SEE them lol.

They thought it was funny...

 

[5forDiz]

I find it funny, if indeed this is true, that they wouldn't expect this to happen? People love 'free' and from what I'm reading, most people did this in order to get tickets - I'm sure there were some altruistic families out there, but on most message boards I read, the biggest incentive (which is why Disney did this), was for the tickets. As the PP mentioned, with this economy, people would sign up in order to get tickets. Not sure what one should have to do with the other, but Disney knew this, which is why they created this incentive. If it was truly to help out, they wouldn't have made organizations just through so many hoops, and they wouldn't have capped it at 1 million tix, IMHO.

This is the exact reason we did not do it - we volunteer and are very charitable already. My kids have known no other way, and I want them to continue to see that it's part of us as humans to help each other. I didn't want them seeing that a material reward is necessary, nor expected.

I'm not sure what Disney will promote now? This could be a costly situation as they have commercials, billboards, ads, etc. all advertising this promo.

Interesting, Tiger

Why judge the intention & sincerity of people who spent the time to do the volunteer opportunity just because they did want the free ticket ?? jmho but I'd say the organizations are very happy to have an influx of volunteers and why presume the worst about these GAD volunteers, ie that they don't typically volunteer or engage in charitable endeavors and even if that was the case you're not in a position to determine that they will not be back to offer their time and service in the future. Nothing wrong with connections now made and tapping into this spirit in people, it is ultimately a good thing. Often people who don't volunteer feel that what they can do really is nothing special and/or will not make a difference; I'd bet this promo taught many people otherwise and most will not be waiting around for the next offer of material reward to offer their assistance again.

 

[dburg30]

I completed an activity and have a printed voucher for a ticket. We were supposed to go in June. Have the 1 million tickets already been cashed in- ie our voucher is no longer good? Or have they ended as they have handed out 1 mill vouchers?

I actually think this was great marketing ( as long as they honor the vouchers that have been printed already). We actually planned a trip solely because of the free ticket. Disney's getting a whole extra vacation out of me this year! Though I agree, it's good just to inspire people to volunteer- if those who already printed vouchers cannot redeem them- it might backfire as a promotion. Cutting it off early with clear expectations makes sense if 1 mill is all they intend to do.

If you were already signed up, or if you already have your voucher you are fine. You can use your voucher for a day admission just fine (so long as it's not any blackout date they may have in effect for them)

 

[kapeman]

Wow, DH & I signed up then end of Feb and our volunteer times are later this month. Looks like we just made it. We'll be upgrading ours to DL APs later this year.

You were lucky.

We signed up in the beginning of Feb and the earliest service date we could get with something our kids could participate in was Mother's Day.

Which turns out to be exactly 61 days from yesterday!!!

 

[Inkmahm]

You were lucky.

We signed up in the beginning of Feb and the earliest service date we could get with something our kids could participate in was Mother's Day.

Which turns out to be exactly 61 days from yesterday!!!

Why are you mad? If you signed up in early Feb, you can still do your volunteer time on Mother's Day and get your vouchers.

 

[kapeman]

Why are you mad? If you signed up in early Feb, you can still do your volunteer time on Mother's Day and get your vouchers.

Nope, because today was the first day we could register (60 day rule) our volunteer activity through the Disney web site and yesterday was the last day of the promotion.

And actually, I am more frustrated at my bad luck striking again than angry!

 

[Inkmahm]

I find it funny, if indeed this is true, that they wouldn't expect this to happen? People love 'free' and from what I'm reading, most people did this in order to get tickets - I'm sure there were some altruistic families out there, but on most message boards I read, the biggest incentive (which is why Disney did this), was for the tickets. As the PP mentioned, with this economy, people would sign up in order to get tickets. Not sure what one should have to do with the other, but Disney knew this, which is why they created this incentive. If it was truly to help out, they wouldn't have made organizations just through so many hoops, and they wouldn't have capped it at 1 million tix, IMHO.

This is the exact reason we did not do it - we volunteer and are very charitable already. My kids have known no other way, and I want them to continue to see that it's part of us as humans to help each other. I didn't want them seeing that a material reward is necessary, nor expected.

I'm not sure what Disney will promote now? This could be a costly situation as they have commercials, billboards, ads, etc. all advertising this promo.

Interesting, Tiger

I don't think it is 1 million tickets unless Disney can estimate how many people are planning to take the tickets vs the Fast Passes. We have 6 of us going next week to WDW. Five did volunteer work and 4 will use the vouchers to get fast passes for our group and 1 will use the voucher for a free ticket. I wonder if we are counted as 5 of the million tickets?

 

[Tiger926]

Why judge the intention & sincerity of people who spent the time to do the volunteer opportunity just because they did want the free ticket ?? jmho but I'd say the organizations are very happy to have an influx of volunteers and why presume the worst about these GAD volunteers, ie that they don't typically volunteer or engage in charitable endeavors and even if that was the case you're not in a position to determine that they will not be back to offer their time and service in the future. Nothing wrong with connections now made and tapping into this spirit in people, it is ultimately a good thing. Often people who don't volunteer feel that what they can do really is nothing special and/or will not make a difference; I'd bet this promo taught many people otherwise and most will not be waiting around for the next offer of material reward to offer their assistance again.

I'm not judging those who volunteered at all. There is nothing in my post that speaks to what kind of people GAD volunteers were - sorry for the confusion. I am saying that it was silly for Disney to underestimate the number of people who would volunteer as a monetary reward was at stake. Money seems to motivate people, so Disney should have recognized that and planned better for tickets, as well as given the organizations some slack in preparing to host the actual volunteers. Some agencies simply couldn't jump through those hoops, so many areas didn't even have volunteer opportunities available for people to partake in, so I can only imagine what would have happened had more volunteer opportunities been available? That would have been great for the recipients, that's for sure, so why cap it? This program did seem to motivate people, which is great, in and of itself as not enough people volunteer, IMHO. But Disney had to have known that 'free' is a huge motivator for people - look at Free Dining. So, now that the program is full up, now what?

I have been volunteering pretty much my whole life, as does my family, so I love the whole concept of volunteering. I do think though that many people volunteered for the tix, which then drove the popularity of the program so high that at this point, the program has been depleted after only a few months. This was bad planning on Disney's part...what next? It's great that people volunteered, and that Disney awarded tix, but the program itself was problematic from the start, IMHO.

Tiger

 

[Sammie]

It is very possible that those that have not volunteered before and signed up just to get the ticket will now continue with the charity they worked with.

Irregardless of whether many did it for the monetary gain of the ticket, it was wonderful advertising for many organizations that do not have that type of captial to spend on PR.

 

[5forDiz]

It is very possible that those that have not volunteered before and signed up just to get the ticket will now continue with the charity they worked with.

Irregardless of whether many did it for the monetary gain of the ticket. it was wonderful advertising for many organizations that do not have that type of captial to spend on PR.

Well said Sammie , it was what I was trying to get across in my reply to Tiger926 but you summed it up much better than I.

 

[Inkmahm]

Nope, because today was the first day we could register (60 day rule) our volunteer activity through the Disney web site and yesterday was the last day of the promotion.

And actually, I am more frustrated at my bad luck striking again than angry!

I don't know anything about a 60 day rule.

If you signed up in early February and had a date assigned then for service to be done in the future, you would still be covered in the count for the 1 million tickets.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I don't know anything about a 60 day rule.

If you signed up in early February and had a date assigned then for service to be done in the future, you would still be covered in the count for the 1 million tickets.

I registered the first week of January. The only opportunity that worked for us takes place May 1st. We could not complete sign up until 60 days out...Disney rules. The event disappeared! We were not able to complete registration until March 8th. We just made it!