The Year of a Million Dreams Announcement

[Steamboat Bill]

Disney World is launching a new program called "The Year of a Million Dreams" — but you'll have to luck out to take advantage of it.

Starting Oct. 1, Disney cast members will be empowered to grant wishes big and small to guests — including free dining, ticket upgrades, FastPasses that allow entry into all the major attractions, shopping sprees and opportunities to travel the world to be grand marshal at parades in Disney parks globally. Starting in January, families visiting the park will be chosen at random to stay atop Cinderella's Castle in Disney's first-ever castle suite.
Disney World is also debuting a new attraction in early 2007 — the Laugh Floor Comedy Club at Magic Kingdom, which will allow guests to laugh, joke, sing songs and match wits with the animated characters from Disney-Pixar's "Monsters, Inc."

Also new at Disney is "Finding Nemo — the Musical," at Animal Kingdom, opening in November, and the conversion of 400 guest rooms to 192 family suites, each sleeping up to six people, by mid-October at Disney's All-Star Music Resort.

Old favorites returning to Orlando this fall include Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, 18 parties between Sept. 15 and Oct. 31; the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, Sept. 29-Nov. 12; ABC Super Soap Weekend, Nov. 11-12, where fans can meet soap opera stars; and an outdoor juried art show called Festival of the Masters, Nov. 10-12 at Disney World in Orlando.

 

[onelugnut]

cool!!!
thats all good news.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

That's old news. Here's the June 2006 thread on this board: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1132885

 

[raidermatt]

Given the sense of "Magic entitlement" that is out there, how do we see this working out?

Will guests not only be ok with not winning anything, but will they see the chance to win something as a reason to visit?

Or will there be a sense of disappointment if they come up empty-handed, much like we see when somebody doesn't get a towel animal?

 

[GrimGhost]

Matt, Im honestly not trying to get into an argument here. However, I heard this exact argument on a Disney podcast recently and it bothered me. I guess the sense of "Magic Entitlement" is really what is disappointing. Isn't the WDW vacation itself a "Magical" experience better than anything else available out there. Isn't it realistic to expect people simply say "WOW..I love WDW or Disney" and "What a great vacation that was.." A special "Dream" coming true would be great...but I won't count on it or expect it. I'll just enjoy my "Magical" trip and that's enough. Now, for those who get it, I'm sure it will make some peoples lives...kids and adults alike. I realize though, the question is posed as to whether or not this will increase business and I hope that it will. I'll get off my soap box now.

 

[cstraub]

I think I would feel a little disappointed if the family next to mine won some great thing while at WDW and we didn't.

It will be interseting to see how it goes over.

 

[raidermatt]

I guess the sense of "Magic Entitlement" is really what is disappointing....I realize though, the question is posed as to whether or not this will increase business

Yes, I'm not asking because I think the entitlement is justified. I'm only asking the question because it is what it is. For me personally, the promotion means nothing. I have a trip scheduled, but it has nothing to do with the promotion.

I think many others will view it the same way. But this is a marketing promotion being put on by Disney to attract more guests. And that's my question... will it really do so? And if it does, what will it do to guest satisfaction?

For the entitlement crowd, I could see some adding days or making extra visits, with the expectation they will get SOMETHING. But when they don't, what then?

For everybody else, I'm not sure this promotion is going to draw many extra people at all. Certainly I could be wrong, but that's the sense I get.

And I think cstraub is on to something. I may not mind if my family doesn't "win" anything, but at the same time, its not going to help to see others getting to skip lines we have to wait in, get free meals we have to pay for, etc, all because we weren't lucky.

So, in case you haven't figured it out, I'm not "feeling" this one. And for perspective, from a marketing standpoint, I do think they did a nice job with the Millineum and Happiest Celebration promotions, and to a lesser extent, the 100 Years of Magic.

 

[Sarangel]

Rumor says this promotion will be more fizzle than pop...

David Koenig has an article over at Mouse Planet about what we can expect:

Year of a Million Yawns
An underwhelming follow up to the 50th Anniversary celebration

Wednesday, September 6, 2006
David Koenig, staff writer

If you think about it, it's actually a time-honored Disney tradition. Disneyland's popular 30th anniversary promotion, the Giftgiver Extraordinaire, was followed by the tacky Circus Fantasy. The unforgettable Party Gras parade for the 35th was replaced by the highly forgettable Celebration USA parade. And, the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade gave way to the belabored Light Magic.

So, perhaps it's only fitting that a promotion as successful as Disneyland's Golden Anniversary celebration be succeeded by something as bland as the coming "Year of a Million Dreams."

Over the course of a year (in Disney time), Disneyland and Florida's Magic Kingdom each will pass out about 2,000 prizes a day to random guests. Disney has heavily hyped the more spectacular awards (a night in Cinderella's Castle, traveling to Disney parks around the world to star a parade, invitations to private parties, one-on-one time with princesses). But the PR team has been suspiciously silent as to what will constitute the remaining 999,000-plus "dreams."

Over the next few weeks, cast members will hear a few more details of the program. Based on their department and schedule, all will attend a mandatory two-hour orientation in the main auditorium at the Team Disney Anaheim building (the resort's corporate headquarters). The presenters will reveal how the Disney Dreams will be given away and unveil the new shows, attractions, merchandise and "celebration buttons."

The "special wishes" will be granted by "Dream Squad" cast members, wearing blue shirts and pants with a white vest. At random, they'll award guests with "dreams" such as "special pin lanyards, VIP admissions to shows, or DreamEars-mouse ears with blue sky and clouds on them," said an employee attending one of the first orientations. "Cast members have to apply for the position, and the exact procedures on how the dreams will be given away were very vague." He described the overall presentation as "painful."

A new "Pixie Dust Pin" program will help create opportunities for guest interaction with cast members who didn't make the Squad. Regular employees will award guests with two identical Tinker Bell pins—one for the guest to keep and the other for the guest to give to another guest.

"Everything was really underwhelming," remarked another cast member who sat through the presentation. "Nothing that would strike you as new or interesting info. It was all stuff that's been going around, you know, suites, Golden FastPass, food, etc. The Golden Fastpass is pretty silly, though; on slow days it's useless. It is a small square that says 'Golden FastPass' with tabs go around it. Each tab has a FastPass attraction name. So I imagine it's just one use per attraction. Definitely a bummer compared to the 50th promotion."

Cast members also caught a peek at the new employee nametags: white or silver with a castle-in-the-clouds at the top. So the design can be used on both coasts, the castle looks like a cross between Disneyland's and Disney World's. In fact, whereas the 50th anniversary featured gold everywhere, the new promotion's primary color scheme will consist of sky blue, white and silver. The first merchandise tie-ins—clothing imprinted with a generic "Disney Parks: Where Dreams Come True"—arrived at the Emporium late last week.

As well, new celebration buttons were shown off. There are redesigned favorites (Happy Birthday, My 1st Visit, Happy Anniversary, Just Married, Honorary Citizen), plus several new occasions.

But more than sharing too many secrets, the presenters spent most of their time reminding cast members how to treat guests properly to make their stay a pleasant one. Each cast member was handed a brochure that outlined the basics of the promotion, but emphasized that they should plan ways "to interact with guests, as well as spontaneous opportunities to initiate guest interaction." The idea was to give every guest a "transformational experience."

Yet, that's what every visitor should expect from every Disney employee every day. An inherent flaw in the new promotion is that, unlike the giveaways of the mid-1980s, not every dreamer wins something. And, Disney is billing the million prizes they do give away as "once-in-a-lifetime experiences," making it difficult for the company to get by just giving thousands of people a churro or a sheet of stickers.

 

[raidermatt]

Actually, a free churro sounds pretty good...


But at least I'm not the only skeptical one on this.

 

[cstraub]

Rumor says this promotion will be more fizzle than pop...

David Koenig has an article over at Mouse Planet about what we can expect:

Is this happening at Disneyland too? At least I'll get two shots at winning something. I'm going to DL in Oct and WDW in Dec!

 

[korzmom]

i see fizzle!

 

[Vickie46]

I am excited.. I can't wait to see what everyone gets... and even if my family don't get picked for this or that.. who cares.. I am at Disney... you know I had always said it would be a dream to open the park or get picked to be in the parade marshall... all those extra dreams will be just like that... one in a million... I will be so blessed to be picked but happy for anyone else too!!! Just enjoy your magical trip!

 

[Santa]

I am excited.. I can't wait to see what everyone gets... and even if my family don't get picked for this or that.. who cares.. I am at Disney... you know I had always said it would be a dream to open the park or get picked to be in the parade marshall... all those extra dreams will be just like that... one in a million... I will be so blessed to be picked but happy for anyone else too!!! Just enjoy your magical trip!

I agree here. I wouldn't think of spending that kind of $$$$ on just an ordinary vacation. WDW is more than just a vacation to me. I am planning a November trip for 2007 but it has nothing to do with "Year of a million dreams".

 

[GrimGhost]

I do see your point Matt... maybe it is a questionably effective promotion. I look at it this way. If they didn't define or announce the next 15 months as the "Year of a million dreams" or in other words a promotion, and they still just gave a way the million dreams large and small, wouldn't we say "Man you wouldn't believe what happened to me at Disney". Again, I realize they wouldn't just give these things away without some hope of return on their investment.

 

[raidermatt]

Remember the goal... this is how they are planning to drive growth over the next 15 months. As successful as the Happiest Celebration (HC) may have been, growth needs to continue next year. They not only have to get just as many people to come as the HC did, they have to get more, probably at least 3-5%.

I'm not saying that giving these things away is bad. Of course it isn't. But is it going to be effective? Even those supporting the promotion are simply saying they don't care that much, and it won't impact their plans either way.

and even if my family don't get picked for this or that.. who cares.. I am at Disney...

But is this a promotion that's going to get more people to go to Disney?

Really, at a personal level, I agree. I'm not visiting because of the promotion, and certainly its not going to keep me away. If I didn't expect for my family and I to have a great time, we wouldn't be going. But that's not the point here. Its the point of our vacations, yes, but not the point of this discussion.

Disney has told investors that they are going to drive growth in the parks primarily through marketing and pricing, not through capital investment. In some ways, its seems that worked with the HC, but then again, it also had a lot to new attractions tied to it. It was also a "natural", being DL's 50th, and not a completely manufactured celebration.

Again, do you really see this promotion as having the same impact as the HC, for example? Especially given the comparatively small number of new attractions (2 at WDW?) coming with the Million Dreams?

 

[GrimGhost]

.....Again, do you really see this promotion as having the same impact as the HC, for example? Especially given the comparatively small number of new attractions (2 at WDW?) coming with the Million Dreams?

No, illustrated that way, I don't. HC was a better, more effective promotion.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

The only promotion that would MAKE me go to Disney is the free Dining-- other than that I go anyways.

If I win something like a golden fast pass or a free dinner that would be great, however, I'm just glad I get to go twice this coming year

What did they do special for the HCE? Most people went because it was an the golden anniversary and people love anniversaries. I'm sure attendance will drop as most people went last year.

 

[raidermatt]

What did they do special for the HCE? Most people went because it was an the golden anniversary and people love anniversaries. I'm sure attendance will drop as most people went last year.

That's what I meant by HC being a "natural". Everybody knows what a 50th birthday means. A Million Dreams has to be explained.

HC also had new attractions tied specifically to it. Soarin', LightsMotors, E:E, and Cinderellabration were all billed as "coming for the party." In addition, M:S, Turtle Talk, Stitch's Encounter and Philharmagic were all recent additions. Then there's the Pirates changes.

The Million Dreams lineup is less robust.

All else being equal, I'm not sure that attendance will actually fall. But I have wondered about the "this is the chance of a lifetime to visit" strategy. How many years in a row can you get people to do that, and can you do it primarily with marketing as opposed to actual product enhancements?

 

[onelugnut]

wow, at first i thought you guys had just lost your magic.
now i can see your looking at this as a marketing 101 thing.
and you are quite inciteful.
Really though, if they had any problems getting people to D.W., all they would have to do is like someone said, offer free dining, or lower their package prices. I would book it in a minute.
as for the million wishes, lets face it, they are giving away things that dont cost anything, how could that be bad idea for them?

honestly i have to admit, i was taken in a bit, by the wishes idea.
kind of exciting that something that is normally reserved for the elites, and I could never foresee getting for my own family, could be handed to me.
(or to another family is good too)

Magical.

 

[dbm20th]

Maybe I'm just ignorant, and this may sound juvenile, but what do we think the difference is between the cost of thousands of lanyards, mickey ears, free dinig cards, Golden Fastpasses, rebuilding the suites and Castle room, and so on, and a new E-Ticket attraction? It seems to me that EE will have a much more lasting positive effect on WDW then any silly marketing scheme. So why don't they build another mountain and market that? What do I know, I ain't a bean-counter...