It's over: Give a day...

[jakeman]

It's a discussion board, you want everyone to abstain from posting their opinion? :lol:

Why do you automatically revert to that? I've said multiple times that everyone has a right to post and other have the right to comment on post.

My opinion is that this is a discussion forum on which most people do not feel a need to enunciate everything eloquently. Thusly, leaving things up to people interpretations that often are skewed to begin with. It's like some people have decided that a line has been drawn and you have to pick a camp, which is not true at all. It really is sad that you or anyone else would immediately assume that something is overtly negative without giving people a chance to explain themselves more fully.

:sohappy: :sohappy:


Yep. Everyone loves to pick a side and stay with it. Perfectly ridiculous. What ever happened to a individual's opinion based on the issue, not past history. That's the whole basis for this thread, anyway. Who said what when, and why that makes your point wrong. That's sad.

Unfortunately a line has been drawn.

Fanbois

Pixie Dust Snorters

Sweatshirt Moms

Doom and Gloomers

Apologist (which I put in my tag in jest)

Take your pick. If you post here now, you must fall into one of these catagories.

The forums have become polarized and even those of us that try and stay rational sometimes get caught up in it out of frustration.

You're right Krank, perhaps I should have waited for the poster's intent to be spelled out, but this promotion has had no downside at all, and to criticize it for delivering exactly what was promised with the standard "Disney could have done more" is eyerolling.

I wasn't picking on you or the other "camp" specifically. I think both 'sides' have their points; I see the big problem is that the two sides are talking past each other. It's almost as if this is a political issue!

:lol: It's fine. I was pretty sure you weren't but I felt like explaining myself.

And this IS almost a political issue. WDWMagic politics.:lol:

There shouldn't be camps or sides or politics. It's a fan site for a theme park... :lol:

 

[SirGoofy]

The forums have become polarized and even those of us that try and stay rational sometimes get caught up in it out of frustration.

Exactly. It happens sometimes.:wave:

You're right Krank, perhaps I should have waited for the poster's intent to be spelled out, but this promotion has had no downside at all, and to criticize it for delivering exactly what was promised with the standard "Disney could have done more" is eyerolling.

You're right, there is no downside. But I don't think saying that there could have been more is such a bad thing in this situation, for the reasons I've already explained.

There shouldn't be camps or sides or politics. It's a fan site for a theme park... :lol:

No, there shouldn't. But you can only get pushed so many times before you get pushed back.:lol::brick::lol:

 

[Victoria]

Why do you automatically revert to that? I've said multiple times that everyone has a right to post and other have the right to comment on post.



Unfortunately a line has been drawn.

Fanbois

Pixie Dust Snorters

Sweatshirt Moms

Doom and Gloomers

Take your pick. If you post here now, you must fall into one of these catagories.

The forums have become polarized and even those of us that try and stay rational sometimes get caught up in it out of frustration.

You're right Krank, perhaps I should have waited for the poster's intent to be spelled out, but this promotion has had no downside at all, and to criticize it for delivering exactly what was promised with the standard "Disney could have done more" is eyerolling.

I don't identify with any of those categories. There must be a secret 5th category for those of use who just don't care. :shrug:

The bottom line is that there is no way for any one here to control the thoughts and opinions of others. Furthermore, there is no way to control how others react to you. A little less insistence that it is "my way or the highway" could go a long way around here. There are far too many similarities between these forums and my class of nine 3rd grade special education boys some days. :shrug:

 

[jakeman]

I don't identify with any of those categories. There must be a secret 5th category for those of use who just don't care. :shrug:

The bottom line is that there is no way for any one here to control the thoughts and opinions of others. Furthermore, there is no way to control how others react to you. A little less insistence that it is "my way or the highway" could go a long way around here. There are far too many similarities between these forums and my class of nine 3rd grade special education boys some days. :shrug:

I agree completely.

I don't put myself in any of those catagories, but rational discussions have more than once devolved into simple statements of forum allegience.

I think sometimes folks forget that we are all arguing with incomplete data sets.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Why do you automatically revert to that? I've said multiple times that everyone has a right to post and other have the right to comment on post.



Unfortunately a line has been drawn.

Fanbois

Pixie Dust Snorters

Sweatshirt Moms

Doom and Gloomers

Apologist (which I put in my tag in jest)

Take your pick. If you post here now, you must fall into one of these catagories.

The forums have become polarized and even those of us that try and stay rational sometimes get caught up in it out of frustration.

You're right Krank, perhaps I should have waited for the poster's intent to be spelled out, but this promotion has had no downside at all, and to criticize it for delivering exactly what was promised with the standard "Disney could have done more" is eyerolling.

There shouldn't be camps or sides or politics. It's a fan site for a theme park... :lol:

I revert to that, seeing that everyone starts complaining about everyone complaining. :lol:


Those groups you listed are mostly in jest, I hope you realize that. There's only one or two nutty posters on here that actually buy into that stuff, and use it to their advantage. I don't buy into it for a second. Polarization, or not, Politics or not, people will agree and disagree. Just because we don't see all eye to eye doesn't mean that the other person's point it worth of a eye roll and a "". If people want to be critical, let them. If they want to gush, let them. And let there be informative, spirited, friendly and FUN debate in the process. We are all much too quick to go for the throat here, when we all have a vested interest in what's being discussed.




Group hug?


:lol:

 

[_Scar]

I think the main problem with the birthday plan was that people used the gift cards and it lasted 6 times longer than GADGADD. I would think that also means close to 1 million tickets. Who knows?

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

If I can cut through all the silliness here I have a question. I just signed my family up a few days ago... will we still get our ticket? We will still do the upcoming voluteering regardless. We had not planned on going to any parks this year and were going to just drive right on by Lake Buena Vista(Unbeleivable, I know)... but the we decided to use our DVC and stay a few nights and just go to the one park(family of 5 here... and tix pricing ain't cheap). We will still stay just not go to the parks if that is the case(which is really no biggie).
I just want to know so we can plan to spend the day somewhere else if need be.
Thanks.

 

[krankenstein]

I agree completely.

I don't put myself in any of those catagories, but rational discussions have more than once devolved into simple statements of forum allegience.

I think sometimes folks forget that we are all arguing with incomplete data sets.

And yet you claimed to be in a group in your previous post.

I honestly don't get it... I simply don't get it. We all need to step back and realize this isn't the war for Armageddon or something. It's a Disney discussion forum. :brick:

 

[The Mom]

Krank said it quite well. This is supposed to be fun, people.

But of course, some people actually enjoy arguing, but most of us don't.

BTW, I only own one sweatshirt (hoodie) which I wear for my son's sporting events.

 

[LucyintheSky]

Wow. I don't like arguing, even online, so I'm not getting into anything that's been going on here, I just wanted to give my opinion of this promotion. :lookaroun

I think it was a great idea, and I'm happy Disney did it. I'm sure it got many people to volunteer that normally wouldn't have. Myself included. Not because I can't be bothered, but I'm a shy person, and it's hard for me to be forward and go out there and find volunteering opportunities. I've actually wanted to volunteer somewhere for a long time, I just wasn't sure how to go about it. With Disney's program, it was really easy to just select something and sign up. My family's date is next month, and we're really excited to do it, and not just for the free ticket. I can see us continuing to volunteer afterwards, also.

I know some people see it as selfish, volunteering to get something in return, but it's a great thing for my family. I'm glad that some people can choose to donate their ticket and just go on their own, but my family can't afford it. We live in Orlando, but we haven't been to a theme park together as a family in probably 5 years. That kind of thing isn't in the books for us.

So we will be taking our tickets and enjoying a day at a park together, and we'll also enjoy continuing to volunteer. And I'm sure there are more people like us out there, and that makes this promotion a huge success in my eyes.

 

[dreamfinder]

The financial point is a fair one...but I also think it's fair to ask why they offered free tickets to anyone who wasn't born on Feb. 29 (boy, were they screwed :lookaroun) last year, then capped this promotion at a million. What made the two promotions so different to the Disney accountants? It's a question born more of curiousity than disappointment for me.

The two differences is how they could be applied. Odds are, only 1 person in a family would actually have their birthday on a given day. So only 1 person in a family would be able to apply an 80 dollar credit to their ticket purchase, everyone else was full price. But with the GADGAD promo, everyone in your group could theory get the 80 dollar credit towards tickets. So the two programs may have had the same cost, but the total "cost" of the free tickets would be hit in a much different time. Also, even if people chose to just may a day trip out of it, the same applies. Before Disney still got the tickets from the rest of the family, now all they might get is parking and food. A big difference to their bottom line.

If I can cut through all the silliness here I have a question. I just signed my family up a few days ago... will we still get our ticket? We will still do the upcoming voluteering regardless. We had not planned on going to any parks this year and were going to just drive right on by Lake Buena Vista(Unbeleivable, I know)... but the we decided to use our DVC and stay a few nights and just go to the one park(family of 5 here... and tix pricing ain't cheap). We will still stay just not go to the parks if that is the case(which is really no biggie).
I just want to know so we can plan to spend the day somewhere else if need be.
Thanks.

To quote from the offical FAQ on the GADGAD site,

I already completed my sign up at DisneyParks.com and have committed to complete a volunteer activity through this site within the next 60 days. Will I still be able to receive a voucher for a free ticket to a U.S. Disney Theme Park?

Yes. If you already completed the signup process, including entering a specific day and time to volunteer, you will still be able to participate in the program. Once you complete your service, and your service has been verified, you can print a voucher for a free ticket. Please allow 2 weeks after your volunteer service to be verified for your voucher to be available at disneyparks.com. You can check the status of your verification by logging in to Manage My Account.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Hi Yoyo. Haven't seen you around in a while. Thanks for the info.

Now I have to break the news to my wife. She runs a Girl Scout troop and they were just discussing yesterday the options for volunteering for the Give a Day Get a Day for the troop since many of them are going to Disney later this year. Volunteering is great and teaching the girls to help the less fortunate is lesson needed today, but there are going to be a few disappointed campers.

I am a bit disappointed that no info was given out before the program was cut off. My wife and I were viewing the website just last week for volunteering options for the girls and no mention was made to the program nearing capacity.

Oh well, such is life and the lessons we learn.

 

[kapeman]

We registered on the site and picked the first available date for a program that would allow us to bring our 7 and 5 year olds.

The problem is the earliest date we could schedule was Mother's Day.

Today was the first day we could register the date of service and we missed it by one day!

FWIW, we are still going to perform the service, we think it will be good for the kids to do something like this.

oh well.

 

[jakeman]

And yet you claimed to be in a group in your previous post.

I honestly don't get it... I simply don't get it. We all need to step back and realize this isn't the war for Armageddon or something. It's a Disney discussion forum. :brick:

It's in jest as an example of the labelling that happens whenever an opposing viewpoint is discussed.

I agree. It shouldn't be taken so seriously. Yet it is. So much so that it smothers out real debate.

I'll admit I have failed here to convey my point and it has come across as more bluster than substance, so I will bow out.

Apologies for derailing the thread. :wave:

 

[krankenstein]

It's in jest as an example of the labelling that happens whenever an opposing viewpoint is discussed.

I agree. It shouldn't be taken so seriously. Yet it is. So much so that it smothers out real debate.

I'll admit I have failed here to convey my point and it has come across as more bluster than substance, so I will bow out.

Apologies for derailing the thread. :wave:

I think we all are guilty in here for derailing this one. :lol:

We need to let bygones be bygones and move on without these stupid labels. It's fine for people to state an opinion, that's what Magic is here for. However, the line has been crossed and the personal attacks need to stop. We do not need to have this belief that we have to convert everyone to our way of thinking. It's getting a bt ridiculous.

Anyway, it's about time for my classes to change, which means the kids are coming. :wave:

 

[CaptainMichael]

Kudos to everyone involved with making the campaign a huge success. A shame it had to end early because it was successful in getting people to help out, but I don't think anyone expected it to be so popular so quickly.

They should find a way to continue it with smaller rewards (VoluntEAR shirts, etc) Keep a good thing going you know?

That's my $.02. Time for my morning coffee.

 

[Courtney1188]

Hi Yoyo. Haven't seen you around in a while. Thanks for the info.

Now I have to break the news to my wife. She runs a Girl Scout troop and they were just discussing yesterday the options for volunteering for the Give a Day Get a Day for the troop since many of them are going to Disney later this year. Volunteering is great and teaching the girls to help the less fortunate is lesson needed today, but there are going to be a few disappointed campers.

I am a bit disappointed that no info was given out before the program was cut off. My wife and I were viewing the website just last week for volunteering options for the girls and no mention was made to the program nearing capacity.

Oh well, such is life and the lessons we learn.

Wouldn't it be better to teach the girls the importance of volunteering even when there is NO reward? :shrug:

And I think the parents will probably be more disappointed, since I bet they aren't having their kids pay for their own park admission! Although I guess they could of gotten the Mickey ears or something.

 

[Phonedave]

Actually I wouldn't have used it, had I volunteered [I did register, then thought better of it], I would have donated the day. I chose not to volunteer simply because I already volunteer in excess of 1500 hours per year and I decided it was more important that others who don't be given the opportunity to learn about volunteerism.

I would argue that spending time making crafts is a valid form of volunteer work. Poor people need pot holders, knitted sweaters, winter hats, etc... Premature babies need knitted hats, mittens and sweaters. Any time spent doing such things is certainly noble work. Defining volunteerism as needing to see the gratitude of the recipients of your magnanimosity is actually rather selfish-sounding in my view. :shrug:

My point was not really clear. Yes, making potholder, hats, etc is somthing that helps people. However, to me, and maybe I am wrong on this, it is not somthing that inspires people to volunteer more (for the most part, everyone is different).

There is a big difference in motivating a potential future volunteer between having them get a box of yarn at home, make some pot holders, and then mail them back and actualy seeing the impact your help can have on a person.

I guess it's not needing to see the results, but it does serve as a powerful motivator to future actions.

-dave

 

[swimmom]

They should find a way to continue it with smaller rewards (VoluntEAR shirts, etc) Keep a good thing going you know?

I would think that they could continue to offer the fastpass option for the next 1,000,000 voluntEARS. How awesome that would be that Disney would be behind 2,000,000 voluntEARS.

 

[fosse76]

And how much did they make back with that $25-$85 million write-off? Disney is raking in the money on this.

I'm not really sure that Disney can write this off. It's not like Disney wrote a check for $85 million. And keep in mind this was a promotion...Disney wasn't donating tickets to charities, it was giving tickets to volunteers who were doing charity work. And the value of the ticket is abstract...it doesn't actually cost the company money (well, outside of the value of the actual media used). So their deduction, if any, is very unlikely to be anywhere near the full face value of the ticket.

To me, this was a doomed promotion from start if the goal was to last a year. With it being one per family member, it just ate through the tickets too fast. I figured they would make a family cap of 2 adults and a kid or 1 adult and 2 kids, but oh well.

They most likely underestimated the number of people who would volunteer. They could have capped the number of tickets per household to 2 tickets. That would have been fair. Thats still a savings of over $160.

What really sucks about all of this is the charities that had way too many people that wanted to help last week will, odds are, be desperate for people in 2-3 months. If anyone thinks most people were doing the work out of the goodness of their heart, they are insane.

Yes and no. A lot of the opportunities I was seeing for my area weren't really looking for one-time volunteers. Many of the organizations were looking for repeated commitments, so I'm not sure this promotion would have helped them regardless. The one-time event opportunities will be the ones that may or may not notice a lack of help. But I disagree with your "desparate for help" comment. Many of these organizations most likely have enough volunteers to do the work required, it's just that in some cases more is better.