Replacement for GAD?

[shaycamp21]

Again, no one is looking for free hand-outs, nor do I believe that anyone is entitled to anything free, I'm simply saying that I wish Disney had done more to alert people that they had to act fast in order to take advantage of this promotion.

Well said!!!

 

[Kayleebug]

I think you've missed my point. I'm attending a Grand Gathering in which it would have been nice for all of us to take advantage of a nice campaign Disney had launched. Unlike campaigns for Free Dining, Buy 4, Get 3 etc..., in which the end dates are clearly advertised, this one gave (at least in my opinion), the impression that it was a year-long promotion. The people going with me on this trip are heavy planners, who know a frightening amount about planning a Disney vacation. I include myself as one of the obsessive planners. The fact that none of us was aware that there was a cap on this tells me that Disney didn't do much to publicize the end of this promotion.
Again, no one is looking for free hand-outs, nor do I believe that anyone is entitled to anything free, I'm simply saying that I wish Disney had done more to alert people that they had to act fast in order to take advantage of this promotion.

I am pretty sure that each fast pass is good for up to 6 people. Maybe you can take advantage of sharing a fast pass with someone in your party who was able to complete their GAD project.

 

[doconeill]

I am pretty sure that each fast pass is good for up to 6 people. Maybe you can take advantage of sharing a fast pass with someone in your party who was able to complete their GAD project.

Just to confirm - a single GAD voucher can be turned it by a person already with a multi-day ticket for FP Exchange Cards for each member of the group - up to an advertised maximum of 6, although it has generally been reported that larger groups have been able to get more, within reason.

However, if everyone is planning to use their vouchers to get tickets,then that isn't an option.

 

[famouschinesec]

This is cut and pasted from "everything about WDW tickets" post #16 on the sticky thread from Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies on the DISboards. I'm sure this wording was taken straight from Disney.
Seems pretty clear to me.



This program is effective January 1, 2010 through December 15, 2010 or until one million certificates have been distributed, whichever comes first. It allows for an individual, age six or older, to provide volunteer service and to receive a one-day, one-park ticket (or substitute described below) for having provided such service.

 

[doconeill]

The official FAQ was worded to emphasis the tickets even more:

The program begins January 1, 2010 and continues until tickets are distributed or December 15, 2010, whichever occurs first.

 

[Scott MC]

It may be a dead horse, but I'm going to keep beating it.

I still think that in their commercials...I'll say it again, in their commercials, there was very little, if any emphasis on the cutoff. I would have caught the words "one million," if they'd used them. I also got a tweet from @DisneyParks about 2 weeks ago that said "GAD program nears 1,000,000 volunteers," and my only thought was, "Isn't that great for them! The promotion seems to be working." At no point did this set off any warning bells. Perhaps I didn't read the fine print, but I still feel that not enough was done to make the cutoff very clear.

I know there are those (most of whom already have their vouchers), who disagree with me, and hopefully, like adults, we can just agree to disagree. I don't think anyone needs any more cutting and pasting of rules and regulations. The point has been made, and yet I still feel that in advance, Disney didn't make it strongly enough.

I hope everyone has a magical weekend.

 

[KCMiller]

This is cut and pasted from "everything about WDW tickets" post #16 on the sticky thread from Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies on the DISboards. I'm sure this wording was taken straight from Disney.
Seems pretty clear to me.



This program is effective January 1, 2010 through December 15, 2010 or until one million certificates have been distributed, whichever comes first. It allows for an individual, age six or older, to provide volunteer service and to receive a one-day, one-park ticket (or substitute described below) for having provided such service.

Not that I'm agreeing or disagreeing with the OP, but to make an observation - the professional marketing people at WDW indicated that the program would be in place through 12/15/2010 or until one million certificates had been distributed. What this says to me is that the powers that be at WDW were caught off guard by the speed at which the certificates were distributed. Is that a good thing for the volunteer organizations? I should say so. Is that a successful promotion for DISNEY? I'm not so sure. It's not a philanthropy, it's a business, and frankly, the more people they get into the parks, the better. With the outstanding success of this program (and no mistaking, they are going to make money on each person who comes in on a free ticket - just think about how much money you spend on a WDW vacation - the $76 or close to that you would be spending on a park ticket is usually only a small percentage of that), I'm thinking that we'll see a similar promotion coming soon, to bring more great volunteers into the parks.

And I'll be right there!

KC

 

[doconeill]

I actually DON'T think we'll see a similar promotion this year.

Regardless of how fast they burned through the 1 million vouchers, those vouchers are going to be redeemed at a fairly constant pace between now and Dec. 15th. Disney still has to absorb that.

 

[eliza61]

It may be a dead horse, but I'm going to keep beating it.

I still think that in their commercials...I'll say it again, in their commercials, there was very little, if any emphasis on the cutoff. I would have caught the words "one million," if they'd used them. I also got a tweet from @DisneyParks about 2 weeks ago that said "GAD program nears 1,000,000 volunteers," and my only thought was, "Isn't that great for them! The promotion seems to be working." At no point did this set off any warning bells. Perhaps I didn't read the fine print, but I still feel that not enough was done to make the cutoff very clear.

I know there are those (most of whom already have their vouchers), who disagree with me, and hopefully, like adults, we can just agree to disagree. I don't think anyone needs any more cutting and pasting of rules and regulations. The point has been made, and yet I still feel that in advance, Disney didn't make it strongly enough.

I hope everyone has a magical weekend.

That's cool and maybe that's a lesson for every body. Promotions, freebies and codes are all at the discretion of the business whether it's Disney or your local department store. It's the old "customer is responsible for reading the fine print" rule.

cuts down on the disappointment factor that every one seems to feel. I mean there are at least a thread on almost every forum of posters sad/mad/disappointed that it ended without them having a change to get a voucher and wondering what Disney will offer next.

Now I wonder if Disney decides to not offer any thing what complaint we'll have. Curious and curiouser

 

[KCMiller]

I actually DON'T think we'll see a similar promotion this year.

Regardless of how fast they burned through the 1 million vouchers, those vouchers are going to be redeemed at a fairly constant pace between now and Dec. 15th. Disney still has to absorb that.

That may be true. But remember the past few years, the promotions were 'promoted' all year long - What will you celebrate? Magic Moments! So I wonder what the marketing will be now - unless they change the entire focus from 'Give a Day, Get a Disney Day' to 'Don't forget to use your GAD, and by the way, keep volunteering'. No carrot in that last one.

I'll stay tuned - it's very interesting to me!

KC

 

[doconeill]

That may be true. But remember the past few years, the promotions were 'promoted' all year long - What will you celebrate? Magic Moments! So I wonder what the marketing will be now - unless they change the entire focus from 'Give a Day, Get a Disney Day' to 'Don't forget to use your GAD, and by the way, keep volunteering'. No carrot in that last one.

I'll stay tuned - it's very interesting to me!

KC

But there is a difference between the current "celebration" or whatever they call it (currently "What Will You Celebrate?", previously "Year Of A Million Dreams", etc.) and a promotion that may or may not be designed to last a whole year.

"What Will You Celebrate?" is still active. There just isn't a tied-in promotion currently active within that right now, and it remains to be seen if there will be one, but I'm betting if there is it won't involve free tickets, etc.

 

[la79al]

I understand that they put a limit on things from the start and that they had to. Just like last year when everyone had equal opportunity to come on their birthday, even if technically everyone couldn't come on their birthday (school, no vacation time, etc) this year everyone had equal opportunity to volunteer. I do think it's lame though that people come to Disney's defense saying that they need to absorb the ticket cost throughout the entire year. I highly doubt that there will be 1 million vouchers handed out and I doubt even more that there will be anywhere close to 1 million free tickets given out. And yes, I know the main thing should be to get people to volunteer but we don't all have Florida or California weather and it's not necessarily practical to try to enjoy a volunteer opportunity amidst record setting blizzards.

 

[doconeill]

I'm not actually trying to defend Disney. I'm just saying that Disney set limits, and they were reached, whether or not they were prepared for how quickly it happened.

No, 1 million tickets will NOT be given out. But at least close to 1 million vouchers will be (depending on how much "breakage" happens at the end of the program, which is still in fact going on as there is almost two months of volunteering still to be finished).

Not all of those vouchers will be turned in. Some percentage of them will be turned in for Fastpass Exchange Cards or figurines. Others will be explicitly donated. I'm guessing the rest that go unclaimed will also be donated for tax reasons. Disney probably has some idea of the percentages.

But they can't just keep giving out unlimited free admissions and fastpasses forever. Even if they gave out only Fastpasses, they need to limit the number of those per day so as to adversely affect the queues themselves.

It would be GREAT if Disney could do this all the way through the year. I personally believe they had NO IDEA what the response level would be and would burn through the 1 million so fast. But that was the limit that was set regardless.

If they were to bring this program back (probably not until the new year), expect that there will be a fresh set of limits put in place. Say, you must use the voucher within two months of performing the work. That would prevent too many people from getting in early, and spread the work out over a longer period of time.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I got my voucher, but I was still shocked to hear it was ending so soon. That is not because I didn't know about the 1 million though. I am pretty sure that was advertised even on the commercials, but who would think they would get a million volunteers so soon. I feel very badly for those who did not get the oppurtunity to participate in the promotion.

 

[itchin2go]

I'm kind of surprised Disney is not extending the promotion, just for purely PR reasons.

That said, I knew from the day this was announced that the goal was "to inspire 1 million volunteers", right? There was talk on DAY ONE that the 1 million might be reached quickly, and then what? We wondered, but we knew there was a possibility that Disney would cut it off at 1 million.

My trip is scheduled for October. We did our volunteering in February. Now, I get that some people didn't have many opportunities near them. Things filled up fast, etc. But plenty of people DID have opportunities and just didn't take advantage of them. You procrastinated. It happens.

Last year, it was the birthday promotion. Plenty of people couldn't make it on their birthday. I actually missed my birthday by a day (birthday fell on a Saturday, and we drive 2 days, so that would have meant missing another day of work, yadda, yadda, yadda). I didn't give it a second thought. It is what it is.

 

[christa112]

Exactly!!!!

I agree with Eliza. Also, I know everybody talks about warm fuzzies after they volunteer and talk about how good it was to give back. But now that the promo is over, there seems to be a lot of people worrying they won't get a free ticket even if they DID volunteer. As if it were a waste of their time.

I thought this was supposed to get people inspired to help others, not only just to get a free ticket out of it. It's sad a lot of people only ever considered volunteering because of Disney's promo.

 

[chipscamping buddy]

I am disapointed that the program ended so early because there were still a lot of volunteer activities coming along which were more than sixty days out. I do volunteer work every week and love it and since I have had an AP for many years I really wasn't very concerned with the promotion, so fell no real personal loss. However, I was using this to help push other people I know to do some volunteer work. I had a group of twenty people who were going to volunteer together and then have a Disney day together. Our problem was in finding opportunities for that many people that were things we wanted to do. Some of the opportunities were for things like cleaning up churches or scout camps, and frankly that is part of being a member of those groups and not something I felt should be rewarded. We found some great activites planned this spring but as it was too far out, we couldn't schedule yet, although we were in contact with the organizers. Even without the promotion everyone in my group is still going to help and I let the organizer know that, but I can tell you that they are concerned that they will not have enough volunteers for what they were planning now.
I would like to see Disney find a way (not necessarily more tickets) to help keep this going. They have a huge promotion outlay and time invested in the idea of give a day, and I would hate to see it end so quickly. Frankly, this is great marketing for them and a tax write off to boot. I LOVE Disney and want them to continue their success and profitablility. Come on Disney marketing geniuses, WOW us!

 

[cathydwin]

Well said!!!

I agree that it should have been clearly marked for a limit. I was so fustrated just trying to sign up to volunteer in my area and everything was full/not accepting that I planned on trying in the spring or summner when a need opened up again. Yes, I should go a head & volunteer but I would rather do something I enjoy then anything to get a return!