What do you think of the 2009 theme for WDW?

[DisneyLily]

I think that it is a good theme, and I like how you can get free admission to the MK on your birthday (or a gift card). I have a few questions for you all:

1. Do you like the theme?
2. Do you think that Disney will carry it over into 2010?
3. Do you think that Disney could have come up with a better theme? If so, any ideas?

 

[MerMom60_94]

I have mxed feelings on this theme only because I have a school-aged kid (eighth grade) and I will not pull her out of school for a vacation. Therefore, we stand no chance of being at WDW on our birthdays or an anniversary or anything. The most we are celebrating when we go down is one full week of just the three of us, no interruptions, no demands. It's total devotion to quality family time. Therefore, for people like me this theme holds no / little value. Believe me, my daughter's birthday is December 1st and she and I have talked plenty of times about how much we would love to go to WDW during the holiday season. I even looked at it this past year, but I just feel too strongly about attendance and grades. Plus, she is applying to a high school and I know good attendance is part of their criteria. I suppose if she gets accepted to that high school before we leave that will be cause for a BIG celebration!!

 

[DisneyLily]

I have mxed feelings on this theme only because I have a school-aged kid (eighth grade) and I will not pull her out of school for a vacation. Therefore, we stand no chance of being at WDW on our birthdays or an anniversary or anything. The most we are celebrating when we go down is one full week of just the three of us, no interruptions, no demands. It's total devotion to quality family time. Therefore, for people like me this theme holds no / little value. Believe me, my daughter's birthday is December 1st and she and I have talked plenty of times about how much we would love to go to WDW during the holiday season. I even looked at it this past year, but I just feel too strongly about attendance and grades. Plus, she is applying to a high school and I know good attendance is part of their criteria. I suppose if she gets accepted to that high school before we leave that will be cause for a BIG celebration!!

Woohoo!
I think that every trip to WDW is a celebration.

 

[disneym2m]

I think their idea is an interesting one HOWEVER,

my birthday is in June....too hot in Florida and too crowded at WDW...so no free ticket there.

anniversary date is in October... free dining crowd and food and wine festival crowd AND really no value season...so no free ticket there.

DH's birthday in February...wait he dislikes going to WDW...so no free ticket there.


Yeah I will say I will really enjoy the opportunities of the Celebration at WDW.

But for those who will be able to use the opportunities it should be a lot of fun for them.

I miss the Dream Team.

 

[larleo]

I agree will everyone else. It's great if you're actually able to be there on your birthday.

Is it only MK that you get free admission to?
What's that about a gift card?

 

[YodaMouse]

I think it is a wonderful idea and for those who will be there on their special days, it will be really great.

I celebrated my birthday (24 Dec) at WDW in '08 - won't be there for it this year. Our 30th wedding anniversary is 6 Jan '10 and we will be there then, but the celebration will be over by then. The fact of the matter is, we will have a wonderful anniversary celebration whether Disney has any special promotion going on or not.

I am not sure I understand why there has to be a theme each year. Why can't we all just go to Disney because it is Disney? If they used the monies put into all these themes for other things, I would think they would have the potential to be much more beneficial to a wider range of visitors to the parks generally speaking. Just a thought...

 

[PK Disney Dork]

Personally I think WWYC is a cop out of a "theme".

It's basically just a promotion for things the parks already offer! Combined with some extra things you can purchase as "add ons" for meals and such that simply are expensive and not worth the money they're charging.

I can see this as a one year deal. The free on your birthday thing...while a neat idea...isn't very practical. I mean it's cool for Florida residents that don't have annual passes or the like...but for those of us that live in other parts of the world...well let's face it, how many people in this country or abroad can logistically plan their trips around their birthdays???

 

[LilGMom]

1. Do you like the theme?
2. Do you think that Disney will carry it over into 2010?
3. Do you think that Disney could have come up with a better theme? If so, any ideas?

I'm indifferent on the new theme. I think it is neat for those that can advantage of it but it is seems more like one big commercial for WDW. I know that everything in the park is a big commercial but this is a little bit of an over-the-top commercial imho. I see this as being a one year theme and, honestly, I wish they'd do away with themes. Just being at WDW should be enough for people, do they have to entice people with freebies?

 

[Cinderella89]

The Company plans the themes at least five years in advance, so I'm sure this was a great idea five or so years ago when more people were going to Disney and I'm sure people asked "What can we do to celebrate such and such". But I agree with everyone. Cool concept, but is it worth the money for the company and for guests? Not really. They had a good idea and missed the mark, but what can we do? We're only guests and some of us Cast Members.

Hopefully, next year's will be as cool as YoaMW

 

[pixistix]

I knew whatever they promoted after YOMD would just pale in comparison. It would be hard to top that 2-year promotion!
I think WWYC is cute but I think Disney could afford to offer a better perk. How many people will actually be there for their birthday anyway?
I'm going for my wedding anniversary but I'm not getting in free that day!
And since most people get a package anyway, they'd probably use the fast-pass perk which really doesn't cost them anything!
I say they should have given the free day to anyone coming down and celebrating anything.

 

[mrzrich]

I AM celebratng my 10th anniversary at WDW in 3 weeks. I wish there was more fanfare about those types of events than there seems to be. It seems to be pretty much just the birthdays that are getting something special.

I mean I know about the speciall meal for 2 that I can buy, and the special floral pieces I can buy. But having the opportunity to buy more, doesn't seem very special to me.

 

[Bell30012]

I think it is a great promotion for those that live in Central Florida. For some reason Disney feels the need to discount tickets, annual passes and now even targets promotions to people that live in Florida. Why? Those people are already there!

The rest of us have to drive or fly into Disney. Florida residents tend to go to Disney more than one time a year and are able to just hop over on a birthday for the day. The rest of the country is forced to schedule their vacations around school calendars, airfare and budgets. My daughter's birthday is in September and mine in May. Of course, these are times where taking a week off from school for Disney isn't going to happen.

People that live in other states are far more profitable for Disney as we stay in the resorts, eat at the restaurants and buy multi-day passes. Locals, pop in for the day... have a vehicle so if they want to eat offsite they can and can drive back home after closing.

[/rant]

 

[mrzrich]

I think it is a great promotion for those that live in Central Florida. For some reason Disney feels the need to discount tickets, annual passes and now even targets promotions to people that live in Florida. Why? Those people are already there!

The rest of us have to drive or fly into Disney. Florida residents tend to go to Disney more than one time a year and are able to just hop over on a birthday for the day. The rest of the country is forced to schedule their vacations around school calendars, airfare and budgets. My daughter's birthday is in September and mine in May. Of course, these are times where taking a week off from school for Disney isn't going to happen.

People that live in other states are far more profitable for Disney as we stay in the resorts, eat at the restaurants and buy multi-day passes. Locals, pop in for the day... have a vehicle so if they want to eat offsite they can and can drive back home after closing.

[/rant]

Hmmm... gee I wish you could convince my DH that living closer to WDW means we spend less money there! Its actually not true though.

As a Florida resident, I went to WDW 10 times last year. Of those 10 visits 8 of them were over night stays. Some of those stays I was able to take advantage of FL Resident discounts, but most of them I wasn't.

On each of those stays I ate Disney food, and bought Disney souveniers.

I'm sure if we compared our Disney Visa bills you'd see I spend a lot more money at WDW then the once a year visitor.

BTW work and schools scheduling means that only one of my family members will be at WDW on their birthday.

(Edited to add a visit...I had forgotten my DIS meet)

 

[Bell30012]

Mr. Zich, don't get into an uproar. You are right, you spent more at Disney than I did last year. However, that is exactly my point. You made ten shorter trips because you can just pop in. Just like the birthday promotion... a Central Florida resident can just run on over and take advantage of it.

Disney makes more money per TRIP on each out of state visitor because we are captive. Out of state visitors aren't flying in for a two day/one night trip. Out of state visitors are coming down for 7-10 day stays, where every night is in a Disney resort, where every meal is at a Disney restaurant. Now if Disney could come up with a marketing strategy that caused those families to make a second trip within the same year, look at the bonanza.

A Seasons of Disney package would be an ultimate promotion. Dress up the park for each season, then come to Disney for seven days in the Spring and get seven days in the Summer or Autumn for 50% off type promotion. Something like this and Disney stands to make much more money off the annual traveler. They tried this with free dining and the bounce back offers and I think it was very successful but it was targeted at coming back NEXT YEAR. They need to be trying to get out of state tourists back again in the same year.

If an out of state visitor buys an AP, they chances are it won't be used more than two trips within the year, maybe even one. If a Central Florida resident buys an AP, they are going to use it more often. This 7 nights for the price of 4 promotion was a perfect example. We just left in October and we are returning in February but the question was asking about the theme.

You signature line really captures it: "For Michael...whose favorite question is "Mommy can we go to Walt Disney World Today?" My daughter says: "Daddy, when are we going to Disney World this year?"

 

[mrzrich]

I'm sorry if I sounded upset in my previous post. I just thought you were saying that WDW made more money from your one visit than they did my 10, and that FL resident discounts were unwarranted.

I see now that that wasn't what you meant. You were referring strictly to the WWYC promotion.

What I will say is that everyone in my household, except one has a mid-week birthday, and we will be unable to take advantage on this promotion, regardless of how close we live.