“Year of a Million Dreams” extended
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney has decided to extend the “Year of a Million Dreams” promotion until the end of 2008.
“This has been a huge success with our guests and our cast members. To date, more than 846,000 dreams have been awarded to our guests at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland,” Sylvain said. “We expect to hit a magical one million dreams late next month.”
Now, before you start applauding Disney for wanting to give away for stuff to their beloved guests, Tom at WDW News Today is reporting a slightly less impressive reason for the extension.
The reason for the extension is that the prize obligations promised by Disney have yet to be fulfilled and must be finished to avoid any legal problems.
Personally, I have never liked this promotion and I have said that from the beginning, and it has nothing to do with the terrible decorations they have littered throughout the parks. This is not a celebration or even a way to “empower the cast members”. It is a sweepstakes, plain and simple. Instead of offering all guests the opportunity to participate in something special, they advertise “dreams” and then leave the vast majority of guests wishing and hoping for something they’ll never get. Nothing is more upsetting then seeing guests following around the “dream squad” through the park hoping for something free. That’s not what a Disney park should be about.
And now we find they have not even given these so called dreams away at the pace they promised. I just wish this sweepstakes would just end already. It just feels cheap to me.
Matt said,
August 8, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
Bring on the pins…
KINGCRAB said,
August 8, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
I think that those criticisms of the Year of a Million Dreams sound rather mean and not the kind of article that I expect to find on a blog like this.
Eric said,
August 8, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Actually, they have given away more than 846,000, and Disney expects to reach 1 million dreams late next month, which would be within the original 12 month period.
I think the YOMD promotion falls into the mob mentality that is present in so many Disney discussions (ie. Stitch is bad, kill the wand, etc.).
So, I ask, what should Disney do for park promotions? Usually there are banners, a few new attractions, and some merchandise. For YOMD, we get banners, a few new attractions, some merchandise and FREE STUFF! Why is this a negative?
In my visits during YOMD, I’ve seen smiling families wearing dream hats, lanyards and Fastpasses. I’ve yet to see guests walking around fuming because they weren’t given anything. I’ve seen children proudly waving around their Magical Moment certificates. I’ve yet to see a child crying because they couldn’t stay in Cinderella’s Castle.
I’d like to see the Dreams become a permanent fixture in the parks.
David said,
August 8, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
What can they do Eric? How about focus money on making it more affordable to go to Disney World? Or pouring more money into fixing the stuff that’s broken, needs paint, etc., etc.
Sure, some lucky folks get free stuff and that’s great. But I would prefer Disney to spend their millions on something we can all share in. Is that so bad?
Eric said,
August 9, 2007 @ 1:19 am
So, you’re saying park condition and park promotions are mutually exclusive? Why not have both?
If you are willing to limit the opportunities of a great promotion to lower admission, why not instead demand board members try to scrape by on a few thousand less?
The YOMD is doing a fantastic job in getting publicity to the company and the parks specifically, which, while hard/impossible to totally correlate, probably will bring more guests (money) into the parks. I don’t remember many other promotions that have done that.
If the YOMD can bring in more guests, and provide those guests with a few extra magic moments, then how can it be considered anything but a success?
Jason said,
August 9, 2007 @ 9:49 am
I dunno if that’s entirely true Eric. It seems, since there are a large amount of reports that some people who get “dreams” have no idea why, that the Disney parks are doing great with attendace just because they are the Disney parks. The YOMD has really done nothing to bring in more people; I think that it’s really the 50th’s doing that got people more interested in the parks and that interest has kept them coming into this year.
If you’re not convinced about the overall failure of YOMD, consider Disneyland putting in their rumored large video monitor in the Esplanade. Why would they need this huge advertisement for YOMD if the promotion is going so well? Obviously it’s needed to get the word out to people coming to the resort. WDW will probably get something soon along the same lines.
However, yes, you are right that the people who do understand YOMD are happy and people are smiling. And that, in part, deems the promotion a success.
Raidermatt said,
August 9, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Why not both? That’s a heckuva question. One that should be directed to Disney, because I think we’d all agree they should not be mutually exclusive. But while we never seem to get to the point where maintenance and rehabs are caught up across the board, there is never a shortage of marketing promotions. So its pretty clear they fall on different spots of the priority ladder.
I’ve admitted before that sometimes there is a mob mentality when it comes to criticism of Disney, but certainly the same happens with praise of some things as well. In this case, I think there are very legitimate criticisms of this promotion. Calling it wildly successful is a reach, as Disney recently announced that WDW attendance was up 4% in the last quarter, while Disneyland Resort was flat.
The attendance figures over the last 7 years or so indicate that both the Millineum Celebration and the Happiest Homecoming were both far more successful than YoaMD.
Most guests don’t even get what the promotion is all about, so its highly unlikely many are visiting because of it. And if they are visiting because of it, as David pointed out, they are hoping to win a sweepstakes, and if that’s the case, most are going to walk away disappointed.
That said, I don’t buy that they need to continue it for legal reasons. They could always just give out an extra hundred thousand lanyards if they really wanted to. No, I think the reason is two-fold. First, they aren’t ready to launch another promotion yet. They rushed YoaMD, and likely don’t want to do that again. Second, it’s not going to cost them much to just keep YoaMD going. Even if it’s not helping attendance much, its not costing much either. They can continue using most of the same promotional materials and just keep the status quo until they are ready to launch the next campaign, whatever that maybe.
Eric said,
August 9, 2007 @ 11:47 am
If you’re not convinced about the overall failure of YOMD, consider Disneyland putting in their rumored large video monitor in the Esplanade. Why would they need this huge advertisement for YOMD if the promotion is going so well?
How about because the promotion is so different than what tourists are used to in campaigns, that it requires a bit of extra explanation. Just because something is a bit more complicated and bears explanation doesn’t make it a failure.
Raidermatt said,
August 10, 2007 @ 1:47 am
I see your point Eric, but at the same time, if it needs more explanation, shouldn’t that have been done long ago? Also, if guests are showing up at the park not having any idea what YoaMD is about, isn’t that a pretty good indication that the promotion isn’t doing it’s job?
What I mean is, if they are showing up not understanding YoaMD, then YoaMD wasn’t a factor in them deciding to visit, and the purpose of a marketing promotion is to get people to visit (and spend).
biblioadonis aka George said,
August 10, 2007 @ 2:41 am
I agree with you, Eric.
Even if the guests don’t know why they are getting a dream, they are still getting a dream. Isn’t that what it is all about?
Go ahead, call me naive.
Jason said,
August 10, 2007 @ 7:55 am
Well, Eric, if Disney has to actually spend more money just to explain the intricate details of this promotion, that’s the failure right there. It’s been a year in 2 months, and they just now are deciding to explain it??? Obviously they realized it overalled failed its first go around and are trying to find a way to make it succeed it’s second time around.
Now once Disney creates a good advertisement strategy that gets this promotion across to tourists, then they can have a successful promotion. But as it stands now based on the evidence, the YOMD has failed to do what it was designed to do…bring in a ton of more people.
Eric said,
August 10, 2007 @ 11:23 am
“But as it stands now based on the evidence, the YOMD has failed to do what it was designed to do…bring in a ton of more people.”
I’d be interested in seeing this “evidence” you speak of. After a huge surge in crowds during the 50th celebration, DL attendence has basically stayed the same. So, the same huge crowds that made the 50th a success, now are a failure for YOMD? And, as was previously pointed out, WDW is up 4%. Maybe my dictionary has a different definition of failure.
Raidermatt said,
August 10, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Disney’s growth target is double digits. Flat and 4% mean it will take a lot of changes like we are seeing in the Dining Plan to make up for that gap. That’s always the case of course, since attendance never shoots up 10% across the board, but those numbers are less than they would like to be sure.
You’re right though, failure is a relative term. I would probably instead say “less successful than hoped or expected”.
George, I don’t think you are naive at all. Yes, as a guest, that IS what it is all about. But shouldn’t giving those types of smiles be a part of the everyday operation of Disney parks, and not a sweepstakes? Plus, since Disney is using it as a marketing promotion, I think it’s fair to evalutate as a marketing promotion.
biblioadonis aka George said,
August 11, 2007 @ 3:41 am
Raidermatt–exactly!
This should be a part of the cast member’s job. Making dreams come true for as many people as possible. A marketing campaign isn’t really needed, but apparently a celebration every 18 months (that lasts almost two years) brings a lot of people into the parks.
I remember seeing a lot of commercials when YOMD premiered, but then it sort of dropped when the heavy spring and summer seasons hit.
I would love for the intent of the YOMD to be continued. Empower the cast members.
Jason said,
August 11, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
That’s the thing though, I don’t think the YOMD has anything to do with any surge in attendance or anything like that. It’s the huge success of the 50th that has kept people coming back, not the YOMD which, based on the large amount of people who still have no idea why they are getting a prize, has yet to make an impact with the tourist crowd.