Raulandpinboy
<font color=blue>Table-dancing auctioneer<br><font
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2001
- Messages
- 1,705
Well okay what happened on the cruise? What was fun, and not so fun. This is my opinion of the pintrading portion albeit a very small portion of my cruise experience. The thoughts expressed are my own and not of any of the other members of the unholy 8.
First fun is what you make of it, you can be like me and say no matter where you go even if its not fun, I can make my own fun and have a good time.
Pintrading in general was fun I got to see lots of old and meet new friends. A lot of people where complaining about the RSPs because you see it was an all or nothing type of RSP, you either got 2 pins or no pins. And it was open to the whole ship.
Well you can imagine with LEs of 350, 500, and 750 a lot of people got nothing. A family I know who had 4 members put in 4 RSPs got no Tritons, or Mickey with Walt.
Another family of 2, well they got 4 Tritons, and 2 Mickey with Walts.
Then there was the rumors oh the rumors were a hoot, like there are 5 LE pins being released on Castaway Cay, and the entire ship will be allowed to buy them, all the left over LEs from the past cruises will be RSPd on this cruise and so on and so on. This even after we got a letter saying that there would be no surprise pins, or special releases during this cruise. Well the only rumor I started was that Bob was really Mel Fisher the treasure hunter on vacation.
Then there were the masses of pin traders that would gather in hall and actually try to calculate the RSP math process and try to figure out how it works and how in Gods name if there are 750 pins could so few people get them so if we have 400 pin traders and they each got 2 then only 50 people would not get any, and if the moon is full and the tide is right, the maid of the mist in Canada will tip. On and on and On blah blah blah blah blah.
The worst one in our party was June; she would stop and argue the math at the drop of a hat, any hat with anybody, but I dont think she got the pin she wanted.
So it went on and on, all that got what they wanted were happy until they missed one or 2 pins, then they were unhappy and crabby. Those that got nothing of what they wanted turned into Math quoting incredible Hulks I WASSSSS ROBBED ARGGGGGHHHH LOOK LETS DO THE MATH AGAIN
For those that do not know what RSP stands for it does not stand for as most of you were calling it, the Real Stinky Process. It stands for Random (mean at any given time) Selection Process.
So with that lets hit some goods and bad as seen through my eyes.
Good the first RSP handout plenty of room, air-conditioning fast friendly in and out boom boom done.
Bad the rest of the RSP handouts location, first that single file line madness in front of the theatre was a Joke, I was in line for over 1 hour, others longer. The rest of the pickups were in the Peter Pan Room it was quick but you took away a third of our exclusive pin trading area.
Good Jeff and Michelle our pin artists they were wonderful real people Jeff went to the casinos with us and mingled with the pin folks they ate with us and had no special keep away from us we are artists personnel with them, you wanted to talk to them go for it they would talk and listen.
Good The first RSP easy to do plenty of time pictures to see of what you are getting.
Bad the on board ship RSP the first one when we got on board had no pictures or reference to go by just pin names Had Jen not brought pictures she downloaded from the internet I would not have had a clue what I was signing up for, after the first one they had pins for you to see and decide, but then we had the in by this time under penalty of death time limits to live with.
Bad The pick up your pin from the third RSP was in the front of the theatre I stood in line because I saw the line getting bigger not smaller, at 11:00pm I got to the counter and the line was still going out to the lobby, a lot of people wanted to go the shows, but then we were told if you did not pick up your pins by midnight they would be returned back and added to the next RSP. This rule was later changed due to the long line.
Bad The RSP 1 line only line choice you either got the pin and had to decide if you wanted 1 or 2 (duh hello) I dont think one person on the boat got just one pin, or you got nothing, nada, zilch, nay a one.
Bad finding out at the last minute that half the Mickey pins and (rumored) the Hades pins went to the Magic.
Good The letter we got saying there will be no mystery or exclusive pins being released on this cruise so relax and dont panic because you dont have to. Oh and there will be nothing super Earth shattering on the trade board so relax there as well. And it was true. This gave some of the hard core a chance to relax.
Good the entire conference (The Pit) area all to ourselves and open 24hrs.
Bad The entire conference area was over 100 degrees and people were sweating to the oldies in there, I mean it got HOT from time to time. Also after the second day the pin team took a third of it and made it the pin distribution area, after that it was cramped.
Good The pins were cute, and I like the LE sizes being low that makes them worth a bit more in the trading circles.
Bad The RSPs were opened up to the entire ship Well there goes all your math work out the window Pin people LE 750 and now its not 400 plus pintraders anymore try 650 and each getting 2 pins because they were telling the regular guest that these pins were valuable in a way and they should get a few oops there went the pins.
Good The email messages telling you what was going on because the cards you got with times and locations were wrong, IE a lot of people went to the Cadillac lounge to get the RSPs but they had moved into the Peter Pan room.
Bad The messages arrived at 3:00am or so followed by a message around 7:00am sometimes 7:30am countermanding the one we got at 3:00am most pintraders were in the pit by 6:00am, plus most did not even answer their voicemail.
Good The timing was good you could get your pins and still do things like watch the ship leave and such.
Bad Running out of a rack pin on the island I mean come on did not anybody warn them that the pintraders were coming.
For the most part I had fun and I got all the pins I wanted, I got the Lilo and Stitch frame, and all the others. This thread is not meant to criticize anybody of point fingers the pin team did a fine job there is no way to do it and have it be perfect there are time when things will and did go wrong. This thread is meant as a hopeful guideline that I hope somebody at Disney will see and use to try to reduce the numbers of bad and increase the numbers of good.
I know the Disney Execs read these boards so I would just like to say The pin trading team did the best possible job they could consider where we where at the time Like on a ship with limited resources, Im sure that some of the things that happened were well beyond their control, and there was a lot of good that happened. We met Steven the new guy, and now that he has met us he will most likely take that job as an Alaskan oil pipeline technician. Darlene was great as always even if she did not let me have the poster in front of the pintrading area So where is now sister! your house? On your wall? Huh huh!!! Errr sorry and Judy you know shes cute. As are all the other ladies on the crew who now know me by full name scary thought.
For the rest of you that read this, and were there how about posting your own little what was good and what was bad in your opinion and lets see if they can improve on it next year. Remember if they dont know its broken they cannot fix it! You need input and comments in order to make it all better.
First fun is what you make of it, you can be like me and say no matter where you go even if its not fun, I can make my own fun and have a good time.
Pintrading in general was fun I got to see lots of old and meet new friends. A lot of people where complaining about the RSPs because you see it was an all or nothing type of RSP, you either got 2 pins or no pins. And it was open to the whole ship.
Well you can imagine with LEs of 350, 500, and 750 a lot of people got nothing. A family I know who had 4 members put in 4 RSPs got no Tritons, or Mickey with Walt.
Another family of 2, well they got 4 Tritons, and 2 Mickey with Walts.
Then there was the rumors oh the rumors were a hoot, like there are 5 LE pins being released on Castaway Cay, and the entire ship will be allowed to buy them, all the left over LEs from the past cruises will be RSPd on this cruise and so on and so on. This even after we got a letter saying that there would be no surprise pins, or special releases during this cruise. Well the only rumor I started was that Bob was really Mel Fisher the treasure hunter on vacation.
Then there were the masses of pin traders that would gather in hall and actually try to calculate the RSP math process and try to figure out how it works and how in Gods name if there are 750 pins could so few people get them so if we have 400 pin traders and they each got 2 then only 50 people would not get any, and if the moon is full and the tide is right, the maid of the mist in Canada will tip. On and on and On blah blah blah blah blah.
The worst one in our party was June; she would stop and argue the math at the drop of a hat, any hat with anybody, but I dont think she got the pin she wanted.
So it went on and on, all that got what they wanted were happy until they missed one or 2 pins, then they were unhappy and crabby. Those that got nothing of what they wanted turned into Math quoting incredible Hulks I WASSSSS ROBBED ARGGGGGHHHH LOOK LETS DO THE MATH AGAIN
For those that do not know what RSP stands for it does not stand for as most of you were calling it, the Real Stinky Process. It stands for Random (mean at any given time) Selection Process.
So with that lets hit some goods and bad as seen through my eyes.
Good the first RSP handout plenty of room, air-conditioning fast friendly in and out boom boom done.
Bad the rest of the RSP handouts location, first that single file line madness in front of the theatre was a Joke, I was in line for over 1 hour, others longer. The rest of the pickups were in the Peter Pan Room it was quick but you took away a third of our exclusive pin trading area.
Good Jeff and Michelle our pin artists they were wonderful real people Jeff went to the casinos with us and mingled with the pin folks they ate with us and had no special keep away from us we are artists personnel with them, you wanted to talk to them go for it they would talk and listen.
Good The first RSP easy to do plenty of time pictures to see of what you are getting.
Bad the on board ship RSP the first one when we got on board had no pictures or reference to go by just pin names Had Jen not brought pictures she downloaded from the internet I would not have had a clue what I was signing up for, after the first one they had pins for you to see and decide, but then we had the in by this time under penalty of death time limits to live with.
Bad The pick up your pin from the third RSP was in the front of the theatre I stood in line because I saw the line getting bigger not smaller, at 11:00pm I got to the counter and the line was still going out to the lobby, a lot of people wanted to go the shows, but then we were told if you did not pick up your pins by midnight they would be returned back and added to the next RSP. This rule was later changed due to the long line.
Bad The RSP 1 line only line choice you either got the pin and had to decide if you wanted 1 or 2 (duh hello) I dont think one person on the boat got just one pin, or you got nothing, nada, zilch, nay a one.
Bad finding out at the last minute that half the Mickey pins and (rumored) the Hades pins went to the Magic.
Good The letter we got saying there will be no mystery or exclusive pins being released on this cruise so relax and dont panic because you dont have to. Oh and there will be nothing super Earth shattering on the trade board so relax there as well. And it was true. This gave some of the hard core a chance to relax.
Good the entire conference (The Pit) area all to ourselves and open 24hrs.
Bad The entire conference area was over 100 degrees and people were sweating to the oldies in there, I mean it got HOT from time to time. Also after the second day the pin team took a third of it and made it the pin distribution area, after that it was cramped.
Good The pins were cute, and I like the LE sizes being low that makes them worth a bit more in the trading circles.
Bad The RSPs were opened up to the entire ship Well there goes all your math work out the window Pin people LE 750 and now its not 400 plus pintraders anymore try 650 and each getting 2 pins because they were telling the regular guest that these pins were valuable in a way and they should get a few oops there went the pins.
Good The email messages telling you what was going on because the cards you got with times and locations were wrong, IE a lot of people went to the Cadillac lounge to get the RSPs but they had moved into the Peter Pan room.
Bad The messages arrived at 3:00am or so followed by a message around 7:00am sometimes 7:30am countermanding the one we got at 3:00am most pintraders were in the pit by 6:00am, plus most did not even answer their voicemail.
Good The timing was good you could get your pins and still do things like watch the ship leave and such.
Bad Running out of a rack pin on the island I mean come on did not anybody warn them that the pintraders were coming.
For the most part I had fun and I got all the pins I wanted, I got the Lilo and Stitch frame, and all the others. This thread is not meant to criticize anybody of point fingers the pin team did a fine job there is no way to do it and have it be perfect there are time when things will and did go wrong. This thread is meant as a hopeful guideline that I hope somebody at Disney will see and use to try to reduce the numbers of bad and increase the numbers of good.
I know the Disney Execs read these boards so I would just like to say The pin trading team did the best possible job they could consider where we where at the time Like on a ship with limited resources, Im sure that some of the things that happened were well beyond their control, and there was a lot of good that happened. We met Steven the new guy, and now that he has met us he will most likely take that job as an Alaskan oil pipeline technician. Darlene was great as always even if she did not let me have the poster in front of the pintrading area So where is now sister! your house? On your wall? Huh huh!!! Errr sorry and Judy you know shes cute. As are all the other ladies on the crew who now know me by full name scary thought.
For the rest of you that read this, and were there how about posting your own little what was good and what was bad in your opinion and lets see if they can improve on it next year. Remember if they dont know its broken they cannot fix it! You need input and comments in order to make it all better.
