What happens after YOAMD?

[SunshineSneezy]

I know the Year of a Million Dreams was meant for 2007, and then got extended to 2008. Please correct me if I'm wrong about if it ends this year or not. But if it does, what will happen in 2009? Will it just be plain old Disney World? If it ends this year then we'll have never gotten a dream once in all the 4 trips we took during the 2 years.

 

[kaytieeldr]

"What Will You Celebrate?"

Disney will be offering a variety of special items/experiences (for example, a shared Wishes cruise, decorating your resort room) for a fee; in addition, each person registering in advance and visiting on their birthday will get their choice of a one-day park admission, a special fastpass badge for themselves and up to five people, or a gift card with the value of the single-day admission. Whichever item the Guest chooses must be used ON the birthday.

 

[SunshineSneezy]

Thanks! Gee, sounds exciting. Well maybe I'll get to get in for free because my birthday will be during spring break!

 

[Goof-abulous]

Am I oblivious but I don't find the current theme very exciting. It seems rather like well....... how do you top the current promotion....hmm.. I don't know???...

 

[Sheribo]

I agree - not very exciting. The current promotion of 'What will you celebrate?' is a bit rhetorical since the only thing you can celebrate is your birthday. Perhaps if they included a few more options like wedding anniversaries or graduations then more people would be able to take advantage of it. Of course they'd require proof and would keep a record of it so each person could only claim once.

As it is, my family of 5 will not be able to travel on our birthdays since they just don't happen to be when we have time off.

 

[Octoberbabiesrus]

yah I am unimpressed. We are going 2 weeks after my inlaws anniversery and FIL's birthday and my sons birthdays will be the day after we leave and the week after. I find it dullsville.

 

[Sarubo]

Yeah, it's kinda hard to top the YOAMD. But I have to agree this is a little "bleh". As it only applies to birthdays and as a previous poster said, only a certain amount of people will be able to visit Disney on their actual birthday. The YOAMD promotion was available to anyone whether you physically visited a park or not.

 

[belle&beast]

I guess it all depends upon your perspective. I was in WDW for 3 trips during 2007-2008 and never received any dreams. Now we are going in January and will be celebrating our wedding anniversary (we are arriving 3 days after it), our son's birthday (on his actual birthday) and our daughter's half birthday. Only our son will receive the free admission, but it will be a week full of celebrations at dinners and we will make the most of it.

 

[wilda]

I'm surprised they are not doing something more exciting, or at least along the same lines as YOAMD. With the economy being so bad you would think Disney marketing would be more creative trying to pull people in!

 

[Woodcourt]

What the Dream Squad people that were with us said...
That next year, there will be no dream team...they will all go back to their old jobs of what they did before..BUT that there still be some special things and there will be some spreading of the magic in a different way.

So, our guess was...maybe there will still be the castle suite or some other giveaway type things, but just not a given "dream team"

They loved being on the dream team and seemed sad to have to go back to the old jobs.

 

[airhead]

I wanna know about 2010??? What will WDW be celebrating???

 

[Mindy5767]

I'm surprised they are not doing something more exciting, or at least along the same lines as YOAMD. With the economy being so bad you would think Disney marketing would be more creative trying to pull people in!

Well, truth be told, with the economy and the stock market, the Year of A Million Dreams turned out to be worth only half a million, so they extended it. The most exciting thing about that was being able to bring back our refillable mugs for 2 more visits. The new promotion What Will You Celebrate simply encourages people to come to Disney World to celebrate anything. You only get free admission or (for package dealers) fast passes (All Play) for those arriving on their actual birthday. But nevertheless, we will be celebrating my DD's 7th birthday 11 days late, my niece's birthday 2 months late and Grandma's first trip to the Magic Kingdom since 1973!! It will also be that same niece's first ever trip to Disney World. I am however, disappointed in the less than exciting new mug design. I don't know if I'll even bother to get once. The cabinet is already full of YOMD cups and All Star Music cups. Continuously filling the world with more and more un-needed mugs (when we have perfectly good ones) is not a "green" value.

 

[Rio_san7]

that is sad. It would have been much better if they keep the same theme for 2 more years. Free pass for your birthday is ok. Not that great, but better than nothing.

YOAMD is way too exciting. Can't blame anyone on this. Guess I have to take it as it is.

 

[Mindy5767]

Did they always have themed years? I don't recall them in the distant past. Our first visit when I was a kid was within a year of the grand opening. I still have the stuffed Minnie Mouse I got!!

2000 was the millenium celebration and EPCOT had the big Mickey hand with magic wand over the EPCOT ball. There was the year that the castle was made up to look like a cake (don't recall year). I don't remember 2005 having a theme.

Free admission on your birthday is not the only offer. My sister was there on her birthday running the 1/2 marathon that day. Instead of free admission since she had bought a package, she got a set of fast passes for her DH & DS that were good all day. There also is another option, but I don't remember what it is.