Question on Prizes Logistics

[Pumbaa_]

Just wanted to point out that htis IS a change from the information origianlly released about the prizes.

This was the info originally released:
Some prizes will be given at welcome reception, some at the dinner, and the biggie at the breakfast!
CC


And this is the post
Prizes for DC

Still curious how the winner of the snowgloba and basket will receive them.

 

[CathyCanada]

Jody,
I can understand wanting to know who all of the winners are, but you have to understand that we are in a difficult spot with the hotels who so generously sponsored the prizes. There was going to be a "booklet" available at the reception with advertisers listed, etc. and this will be a way for you to see what is offered at these sponsor's sites, you won't have to look all over the DIS, it will be on one site . As for the basket and snow globe, they will be prizes for winners of the scavenger hunt announced at the Murder Mystery Dinner as well. As I found last year, trying to "talk" to everyone at the Dessert Party is virtually impossible.

Dave, trust me, no one is more disappointed than I am after trying to make a go of this for 3 1/2 months.
CC

 

[KarenNY]

Well, no chance at the basket or snow globe for me- I don't do Scavenger Hunts So I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed for the cruise

 

[Pumbaa_]

Well that is a change too.

original post:
Our friend Jane from "Gifts of a Lifetime" is offering a gift presentation of a Dumbo snow globe to another lucky DIS Conventioneer as a prize as well! Thank you Jane!

Shirley, from The Perfect Gift is donating a wonderful Gift Basket (valued at $75.00) for yet ANOTHER lucky Full event convention attendee!! Shirley has fabulous baskets/floral arrangements for cruisers and more information on her service can be found here.

There is a difference between full event convention attendee and a scavenger hunt winner. IMHO

 

[mickeyfan1]

This disagreement over when prizes will be anounced, where it will happen, etc. seems slightly trivial. Due to circumstances beyond the organizers control, the "Official" events had to be changes, cancelled, or redone. The fact that the sponsors have not pulled out their donations has been totally overlooked. Organizing an event like this is not just a little time consuming. I know, my husband and I organized a 3 day motorcycle rally for over 300 people, all meals, activities, prizes, t Shirts, Pins, vendors, everything. We did it by ourselves, and we were lucky, the people whom we expected to come, did. So we were not in the situation of having to scramble at the last minute to refund much of the money paid, find a new place for a celebration dinner, decide where an unofficial meeting place could be for those who paid to get their reistration packet. And probably a thousand other things of which we will never know. Then there are the people like me. I did not pay registration due to my own timing issues, but I will be attending many of the meets. I won't be able to go to the Illuminations party or the Mystery dinner, so I won't have the chance to get in on the prizes. I will buy any item that is available like pin and/or lanyard, so in effect, because the dinner and dessert party are being paid for out of the registration money, I may be even with everyone else dollar wise. If I could win something, more power to me, but I am not going for the prizes, I am going to meet some people who seem pretty darn nice. I am going to be in WDW with those same people. I am going to have the best December trip this year. And when I get home, if I have to click through a few places to find out who won, and I met them, I will be thrilled to say, hey, someone I know won a Disney Cruise! Or a snow globe or whatever. I thought that DISCON was "A Gathering of Friends". That is the attitude I am taking with me, and I hope I am not dissapointed.

 

[KarenNY]

Marsha, it will be a "Gathering of Friends" and you won't be disappointed, I'm sure. We may be airing our different opinions here, but we'll all have a wonderful time when we get to WDW.

 

[WebmasterBob]

Hi Pumbaa_, Unfortunately when we originally started this whole thing and announced Discon2, we were under the impression that the attendance would be much higher on the sign-ups. It turned out not to be the case. It has been a difficult year on the travel industry which had much to do with the low attendance sign ups, along with the economy. It seems you want to hold us to what was the original plan we announced, and unfortunately we had to come to everyone and tell you it wasn't going to happen that way this year. This we already appoligized for.

We appreciate feedback and will use it for future years, but this years efforts from this point on will go towards trying to get a few more prizes for this years event and working at getting prepared for Discon2. As Cathy stated we have looked at the choices and due to circumstances and experiences at past Illuminations events and in respect to the actual Sponsors that stepped up to the plate and donated some extra prizes, we will handle the announcement of prizes as I have described earlier in this thread.

We do understand the wanting to share the excitement of winning prizes with Friends. I would love to tell you yes we will announce all the prizes at the Illuminations Event and in reality yes some prizes will be announced there, but the number of prizes will be limited that night. How many we don't really know yet and probably won't till we look at the actual total that is given to us. With Thanksgiving this week and having a short week to work, our efforts from this point on is to look for ways to increase the number of prizes we have, so more people can get prizes.

We understand it is disappointing and we are SICK that we could not pull off the original plan, but we are doing all we can to create a FUN event for those coming and hope you will enjoy the revised Discon2. Please let our GREAT team focus on that at this point, because time is very short.

If anyone wants to send me an e-mail concerning this topic you can PM me or e-mail me at bob@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com . I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Again thanks everyone for the feedback. Please know that we will be working very hard in the next week to make this event one that all will be pleased with. We look forward to seeing everyone at Discon2, and hope everyone has a great time at the Gathering of Friends next week.

 

[CathyCanada]

Actually Jody, that is not a change at all, it is a prize for a full convention attendee and the plan all along was that it was going to be for the winners of the scavenger hunt that we had hoped everyone would take part in as part of the DIS Con fun, based on the success of last year. Sorry you didn't see it that way.

As it is, we have to please the sponsors for them to still be willing to give away the prizes. I know how disappointing it is that the whole thing had to be restructured, but the lanyards and pins are going to be given for FREE, with the low number of full event attendees, you stand a better than 1 in 10 chance of winning a prize and if you choose not to participate in either of the events, it could cost you nothing. The $129/night for a deluxe hotel and $30 round trip town car service is still being offered. That doesn't sound so bad to me.

No one is more sorry than I am that this had to change. I worked my butt off for countless FREE hours to try to make things work, including putting together a fabulous menu to get others to sign up so we would lose less money. We were under the impression that the hotel would work with us despite the lower numbers, but due to circumstances outside of their control, that became an impossibility at too late a date. Anyone who has planned a large convention will understand that the hotel has to make a certain amount of money to make a convention economically feasible for them and that is perfectly understandable. We tried our best and I know we can't please everyone, but judging from the emails to Pete and responses here, the majority are understanding.

I did all I could to make this go and while I know I ruffled more than a few feathers out of my own frustration (which I apologized for), sometimes it just isn't enough. I'm sorry.
Cathy

 

[Pumbaa_]

It is always better to over communicate than end up making longwinded excuses.

For future reference, it is in your best interest to always lay out the game plan for things like this and then stick to it. If changes need to occur, communicate! It is the lack of communication that leads to misinterpretations and misunderstandings.

My intent when I started this thread was to find out when winners would receive their prizes. (Truly, that was it) If you have to pack a basket or a snowglobe, you need a little notice to fit it into your suitcase if you are flying.

DC has changed from its original form. That is a given and most of us have moved on. I know I have. I was just trying to clarify some of the loose details that I had in my mind.

So, if i ruffled any feathers, so be it. Asking questions is always appropriate.

Thank you all for your time and responses.

 

[WebmasterBob]

Hi Pumbaa_, Just to set the record straight we have not offered long winded excuses to answer your topic, just very detailed answers. We haven't tried to offer any excuses for anything. If you took it that way then "So be it". I am not going to defend what we said. We spent much time trying to get your questions answered for you and I feel we have done that now. Thanks for trying to help get the questions answered.

Our team has made a great effort to answer all questions and you never ruffled my feathers through the whole process. We really want everyone to have a great time. We have no other secret agenda than that. I am glad we got your questions answered and now we will turn all our efforts to getting ready for the Discon Event and making sure everyone has a great time.

Thanks Again and Have a wonderful Thanksgiving