what is a "dream fastpass" and do they still exist?

[CurlyJo224]

We also won ours at DHS, but in the library on TOT. Everyone in the room got one. I really loved that promotion- we had lots of little magical things happen (daughter won a certificate for playing some game at DHS, girls were asked to sign a CM's autograph book in Epcot when they were dressed like princesses, free personalization on ear hats at MK, little stuff like that)

That's what I loved about the Year of a Million Dreams: You could win the big stuff (DVC memberships, night in the Castle), but there were also just smaller things going on all over.

DH and I got the Dream Fastpasses at Epcot one day. We ended up getting two sets of the dream ears, one in each year. We also got the Dream Pin set. It was one pin for you, and one to pass on. We gave it to a little girl with only a few pins on her lanyard.

The ones I really loved were the dream experiences. We were in line for Space Mountain, and when we got to the CM who asks you how many in your group, he told us to wait just a moment. He stepped over to another CM, and the 2nd CM asked us to follow him. He took us up into the control tower of Space Mountain, and showed us all of the buttons and lights and screens that control the ride. Then as we came out of the tower area, he asked us our names and wrote them down, then ushered us to the front of the line. Once on the ride, at the part where you're going up the hill getting ready to go fast, a voice came over the loudspeaker, "CJ and Jeff, ready for blastoff? 3...2...1...Go!" And off we went. They were waiting for us when we got off the ride with a certificate with Space Mountain Tower Tour and our names on it. Awesome memory!

To put the exclamation point on all of this: The first Year of a Million Dreams year, was when we were on our honeymoon. They made it perfect!

 

[seashoreCM]

If you did not get one or you used up the tabs on yours, you can look on eBay for another one with all of the tabs still on it, for a scrapbook souvenir (only).

 

[GraceMonica]

I remember that! Our first and second years going as a family (07' and 08') we all ended up getting them a total of 3 times! Epcot, when we got off Living with the Land, Animal Kingdom when we got off EE, and Magic Kingdom...When coming back from Tom Sawyer Island (I kinda cheated with this one, I wasn't feeling well, so while the rest of my family went on Thunder Railroad, I stood off to the side with my mother and waited for them. We saw people coming up the ramp with them, so as soon as my family got off the ride, we raced over to the boats, got on, went over to the island and instantly went back. It was a fun adventure, to say the least!)

I wish they would bring them back! They were so much fun and actually made us feel magical!

The only time we felt magical this trip was when we ate in Cinderella's Castle and got those wands and swords. We never noticed them before and now that we've experience them we know when we see a little girl is waiving her wand, she was lucky enough to eat up into the castle!

 

[kaligal]

This thread makes it seem like everyone won stuff, but that was far from the case. Most people got nothing.

I got nothing for over a year and went 4 or 5 times that year.

DISers were joking about the D in YOAMD standing for disappointments.

 

[doconeill]

This thread makes it seem like everyone won stuff, but that was far from the case. Most people got nothing.

I got nothing for over a year and went 4 or 5 times that year.

DISers were joking about the D in YOAMD standing for disappointments.

Sure, it was a small percentage of the overall guests, but it was not insignificant.

Those that were joking about the disappointment probably went in with the expectations that everyone got something, which was false. Or they saw someone else get something and they didn't.

You literally had to be in the right place at the right time. For most "dreams", the dream, location and time were picked at random by a computer - like "Dream Fastpasses, Expedition Everest, first load of guests coming off after 1:30pm", or "DVC membership, 10th guest exiting Carousel of Progress after 10:54am". The CMs then went to that location at that time, and handed out the dream(s).

 

[kaligal]

Sure, it was a small percentage of the overall guests, but it was not insignificant.

Those that were joking about the disappointment probably went in with the expectations that everyone got something, which was false. Or they saw someone else get something and they didn't.

You literally had to be in the right place at the right time. For most "dreams", the dream, location and time were picked at random by a computer - like "Dream Fastpasses, Expedition Everest, first load of guests coming off after 1:30pm", or "DVC membership, 10th guest exiting Carousel of Progress after 10:54am". The CMs then went to that location at that time, and handed out the dream(s).

We all knew how it worked.

Those who were hoping they'd win something weren't stupid or misinformed or even jealous. They knew there was stuff to win and hoped they'd win some.

Most people won nothing. Even on the DIS, where you have your biggest fans who go the most often, there were tons of people who hoped and were disappointed.

It wasn't major, life-shattering or heart-breaking disappointment, but it existed.

And it was funny to joke about. For some DISers.

 

[doconeill]

We all knew how it worked.

Not everyone does. My post was to let people know who didn't know how it worked. It wasn't arbitrary, which wasn't clear from the preceding posts.

Those who were hoping they'd win something weren't stupid or misinformed or even jealous. They knew there was stuff to win and hoped they'd win some.

Most people won nothing. Even on the DIS, where you have your biggest fans who go the most often, there were tons of people who hoped and were disappointed.

It wasn't major, life-shattering or heart-breaking disappointment, but it existed.

And it was funny to joke about. For some DISers.

Yes, there were plenty of jokes about it, but also plenty of posts from people disappointed apparently because they had false expectations or lack of understanding of how it worked ("Why did the group in front of us win when we didn't?" etc.). The DISboards were partly to blame, as there were so many posts from people who won, it seemed like practically everyone did - but you don't get a lot of posts from people who didn't win, so the proportions are out of whack. It's the opposite of the complaints phenomena - you tend to see more complains that are out of proportion as people don't post as much to say everything was fine (or use eye grabbing headlines...)

We went twice in 2007 and once in 2008. My wife and I got Dream Fastpasses on the first trip (without kids). On the other two with the kids, we got nothing. Disappointed, sure, but with proper expectations.

 

[Chuckers]

As I said previously, I lived 10 miles from Disneyland while the YOMD celebration was going on... as a local, we were bombarded with commercials for the event.

I think Disney helped foster some of those false expectations. All the commercials made it sound like there were more prizes to be given out than people to receive them.

I went to Disney, probably on average, 3x a month while I was out there. I only got the fast passes on 4 visits. That's fine... I knew it wasn't get something every day, but many people didn't. As for the giveaways, I only saw the DFPs and the Mickey Ears (which was what I really wanted and I only saw them being given out once).