Are Unfairly Left Out of YOMD?

[JustPlainBill]

When my wife and I were back in 1987 and WDW was celebrating their 15 year anniversary they were giving out prizes. Sadly we received nothing, nor did we see anyone else win anything other than the 9 year old kid that got the brand new car and got to be in the parade.
Now that we have two kids and will be at WDW during YOMD, I am not optimisitic we'll win anything, though I do see how our chances have increased by having kids. While not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth, If we do win a prize I hope we don't get the castle one. What a pain that sounds like. Locked in like a prisoner away from the deluxe hotel I originally booked for the night, packing and unpacking with two tired kids. It sounds like a prize you should give to a couple without kids, who can do what they like to do behind closed doors.:lookaroun

 

[MissM]

whats rotfl mean i hope its nice!

You don't know what "rotfl" means? Wow. I thought everyone knew that since it's so very, very old. rotfl = Rolling On The Floor Laughing. Same vein as "lol" meaning Laugh Out Loud.
-m

 

[Yanks07]

Oooohhh-kayyyy, the grammar gloves are off on you punks! Every time I get the chance to slam people on spelling or grammar issues and I usually let 'em slide, because it's just a forum, we all have things to do, we're all guilty of typing too fast & not spell-checking. Well, now you will feel my mighty wrath! Prepare for a new dimension of pain! Prepare for...oh, Welcome Back Kotter marathon is on, gotta go.

Sersiouy, though, I WAS gonna invite you along if we won the overnight trip to the Castle, and now you can just forget it. Consider that bridge burned, my friend.


n yo it culd be a lot wurse i culd nott giv a da-yam bout how i rite n nott use punktatshun or nuthin



oR i CuLd Be OnE oF ThEeS jErKs WhO MaK rEeDiNg A tRu EnDuReNcE cOnTeSt!!!!!

Sorry Slappy, but once you mentioned college, Uh, coillege, it was open season. I never burn a bridge so if I say I'm Sorry, can I still come if you win????:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[DisneyJoe]

From some friends of mine who traveled in mid-October, 2 adult women, mother and daughter, daughter in her mid-20's:

"[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]We were each given Year of a Million Dreams certificates and special pins for being adults with the hearts of children and were asked to sign the cast member who awarded us the pins autograph book! and some YOAMD special fastpasses!"

-Joe


[/FONT]

 

[kachow]

I asure you , disney has a lot of controll who they let win the prizes. especialy if it's going to be marketed to a media outlet. With the day at Magic kingdom that was your typical Disney family, the girl was a ittle older then there typical choice.

It is in my oppinion and i'm almost positive that no Middle age family with all teenagers, Single parents, elderly couples, or any gay couples will recieve these prizes. They want a family that they can market and make them look like the Classic traditional family values based company everybody thinks they are. And don't get me wrong i'm not saying that everybody deserves a chance. They do. They are just not going to allow something that could possibly be a media meltdown. It is my theory that when people fill out surveys and such for these prizes, they are put in a possible stack and not possible stack, and then a family is randomly selected from the possible stack.

What you describe is so illegal it's not even funny. If Disney operated this way, and I can assure you they don't, they would open themselves to so many lawsuits that they would be out of business pretty quickly. Get a clue.

 

[durangojim]

I'm taking my wife, 14 month old son, and my parents to WDW during Christmas and New Years. When I called CRO to make reservations they asked our ethnicity, sexual preference, income, and whether we are attractive or ugly. After I answered all of these questions I was tlold that it is guaranteed that we woud be the first family to be spend a night in the castle. Watch for us on GMA on 1/2/07

 

[KnK]

I'm taking my wife, 14 month old son, and my parents to WDW during Christmas and New Years. When I called CRO to make reservations they asked our ethnicity, sexual preference, income, and whether we are attractive or ugly. After I answered all of these questions I was tlold that it is guaranteed that we woud be the first family to be spend a night in the castle. Watch for us on GMA on 1/2/07

Thanks.......I needed a good laugh today!

 

[SpaceRangrQueen]

As a young single girl who has won ears and a pin lanyard I assure you that it is totally a matter of being at the right place at the right time. Two weeks ago I was getting off of Big Thunder and I saw a CM with a clicker taking a count of everyone exiting. When I rounded the bend I was handed a pin lanyard as were the people ahead and behind me. They did not care who they were giving them to, just the amount handed out. As far as eligibility goes, ANYONE can win smaller prizes, even CMs. When it comes to bigger ones like tickets and castle stays, then where you live etc. will matter.

 

[cmatt]

what a load of...

basically i think everyone has equal chance to win these things (and im actually normally cynical!) agreed i think they may just show the token couples/families that win.

But still - at the end of the day the want to appeal to broad range of the demographic that attend disney. They want to be seen as open and fresh organisation - with loads of bright ideas.

*grumbles* I know what i mean anyway , and im personally a:

S.M.D.N.I.N.K.N.E.B

Student.Massive.Debt.No.Income.No.Kids.Not.Enough.Beer!

 

[slappy magoo]

Sorry Slappy, but once you mentioned college, Uh, coillege, it was open season. I never burn a bridge so if I say I'm Sorry, can I still come if you win????:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry, too late, I already invited Oprah and Steadman. Once I heard they weren't invited to TomKat's wedding, I felt so awful. It...it was the least I could do...really.

We get the larger bedroom, though. :lookaroun

 

[Yanks07]

Sorry, too late, I already invited Oprah and Steadman. Once I heard they weren't invited to TomKat's wedding, I felt so awful. It...it was the least I could do...really.

We get the larger bedroom, though. :lookaroun

I was wondering what Coillege Oprah went to?? (Yikes, I could not help myself)

 

[DisneyDragon]

Disney may have done this up very specifically with auditors (E&Y), but people are often very misinformed as to just how 'random' contests are. I believe the control methods are to keep the CMs in line, and to avoid 'issues'. The big prizes, well, expect them to go to those that match the target demographic.

I am going to use the oft-quoted "A friend of mine...", but I have no choice. He has been in the promotions business for years, and when it comes to drawings that aren't in public, they pretty much select an entry from a group of entries that matches the greatest return. Some of the large brand name companies use his firm, so it's not just rinky- stuff.

Basically, if they are trying to instill excitement in rural Alabama, they will pull out the entries from rural Alabama, and select from there. There are almost always disclaimers like "at the discretion of...", etc. The auditors are fine with it since, with the right wording, it's all legit. Remember, this isn't a lottery, but rather a contest...

Some state and provincial legislations may affect this process, though. I'm not the expert - but case in point, a promotion in Canada for Tim Horton's (yes, I'm Canadian, but the laws are very similar) dispersed an unbalanced per capita number of prizes across the country. Doesn't sound fair, but it was - since the contest was at the discretion of the company.

That's one of the biggest reasons why employees and affiliates can't compete - they can directly influence the outcome.

 

[SpaceRangrQueen]

I can see how all that is true when a drawing is involved. However the big prizes are awarded in the same manner as the small. CMs going to the exit queue of Big Thunder and picking the first person that comes out of the exit at a certain time . In the case of the castle it would be that person and their party, up to six people, the amount that the castle will sleep. If they don't meet the sweeptstakes rules i.e it's a fellow CM then they move on to an entirely different location as per what their envelope or what not tells them. If at the next location they get a gay inter-ratial couple with an asian child and they live in Ohio with no connections to Disney or what not, then boom they are in the castle for the night.

 

[cloudboy]

Not to burts any bubbles here, but, no they are not required to do this completely randomly.

...to help ensure that a winner will be able to claim the prize and Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to select winners at the Disney Properties during any operating hours. Then, Disney Dream Squad Members ("Dream Squad") will arrive at the randomly selected location and: (i) in the case of a single prize, subject to Sponsor's initial verification process, the first person present at that randomly selected location and time will be notified that he/she is a potential winner of the prize; or (ii) in the case of a Batch of the same prize being awarded at the same time, subject to Sponsor's initial verification process, the first number of people matching the number of prizes in that Batch at that randomly selected location and time will be notified that each is a potential winner of one (1) of the prizes in the Batch. For certain prizes that are only good for an event at a Disney Property on the same day or evening as the day the prize is awarded, the potential winner may be required to tell the Dream Squad members(s) (or, if the winner is a Minor, his/her parent/legal guardian must tell the Dream Squad member(s)) whether or not he/she wants to claim the prize won within two (2) hours of being selected as a potential winner. The prize descriptions at the end of these Official Rules contain more information about event and day specific prizes. Decisions as to the selection of winners and the identity of the first person or persons present at a randomly selected location and time are subject to the Dream Squad's sole discretion and the Dream Squad's decisions on these matters will be final and binding. Only Dream Squad members can designate a potential winner at the Disney Properties.

Also, this is NOT a random drawing or invovle entries, so at least this part does not get affected by those regulations. Lastly, nothing can't be done. It's just a matter of what happens if you get caught doing it. Also, most prices come with terms requiring the winning party to agre top promotion and various other requirements, so who first gets the prize very well may not end up keeping it.

With that in mind, I don't think that Disney would run that kind of risk. Many places would, and I am sure that in a few cases, such as the first prize or something of that nature, they might. But in the long run, they know how much bad publicity they would get, even if they were'nt ultimately found responsible, that they would think really long and hard before doing something like that.

 

[Matpez]

I figured the same thing, my wife and I go to the parks and I assumed we we out of luck. Well, yesterday I was on Tower of Terror and as we exited the Library we were all give the YOMD pin/lanyard sets. They didn't care who was in there, they just handed them out to all of us. Now, this doesn't mean I 100% believe we have the same chance of winning say the DVC membership, but I did get a better idea of how random some of the giveaways are.

 

[Hoop Raeb]

Just to be more specific, I'm NOT talking about pins and other little prizes. Just about the big gifts, morning in the park, DVC membership, coillege tuition.