No more free Disney tickets for volunteers
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Family Money, Travel, Charity, Fantastic Freebies, In the News
Disney Parks has announced that it has met its promised goal of giving away 1 million free passes to people who donate a day of volunteering. Now that the target has been reached, the program will end.
And what a massively successful program it was. As our incisive sister site Gadling pointed out, Disney gave away about 100,000 tickets a month, or 1.2 million total, in 2009, when it let guests in for free on their birthday. But its 2010 program created a much wider frenzy, with 100,000 being given away every seven days.
Just a month ago, it was announced 600,000 passes had been given away, which means that nearly half the allotment was distributed in the space of a mere four weeks.
Some theme park observers have suggested that Disney may be tempted to revive the program, particularly since revenues are down slightly in its resorts and even a person with a free pass ends up spending money on parking, hotels, food, and souvenirs, to say nothing of the friends and family they almost always bring along.
But for now, the Mouse is taking a break. Conveniently, it comes right as the mini high season of Spring Break is upon us, and a few months before summer kicks in. Those who hold vouchers for free passes still have until December 15 to redeem them.
Non-profits around the country reported a bump in participation during the promotion. Will Americans continue to feel so magnanimous now that Mickey has moved their cheese, and there's no longer a reward in it for them?
Last month at Epcot, Disney promoted the runaway success by sponsoring the construction of the world's largest structure of canned food in a convention pavilion inside the World Showcase. WalletPop was there to catch the feat on video:
And what a massively successful program it was. As our incisive sister site Gadling pointed out, Disney gave away about 100,000 tickets a month, or 1.2 million total, in 2009, when it let guests in for free on their birthday. But its 2010 program created a much wider frenzy, with 100,000 being given away every seven days.
Just a month ago, it was announced 600,000 passes had been given away, which means that nearly half the allotment was distributed in the space of a mere four weeks.
Some theme park observers have suggested that Disney may be tempted to revive the program, particularly since revenues are down slightly in its resorts and even a person with a free pass ends up spending money on parking, hotels, food, and souvenirs, to say nothing of the friends and family they almost always bring along.
But for now, the Mouse is taking a break. Conveniently, it comes right as the mini high season of Spring Break is upon us, and a few months before summer kicks in. Those who hold vouchers for free passes still have until December 15 to redeem them.
Non-profits around the country reported a bump in participation during the promotion. Will Americans continue to feel so magnanimous now that Mickey has moved their cheese, and there's no longer a reward in it for them?
Last month at Epcot, Disney promoted the runaway success by sponsoring the construction of the world's largest structure of canned food in a convention pavilion inside the World Showcase. WalletPop was there to catch the feat on video:
MoreOli Scarff, Getty Images
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-11-2010 @ 1:58PM
j said...
I am going to disney for a week this summer. I looked into this offer and figured it would save me about $12 which is not really worth the savings. Their list was restrictive to certain charaties which I have nothing against but I am personally more of a local guy donating my time to my church and local schools and library (none of which were on the list). I have nothing against other charaties- it's just easier to donate money to them. It seemed all of the charaties wouldn't let me bring my children along (even though they were old enough according to Disney for the offer- they were too young for the charaties and I understand that).
But at a savings of $12 total what difference did it make.
I am thinking about a trip to Fla for the Xmas holidays and might of used it then for the day but as it listed in the fine print- only good until12/15.
But really who were the passes good for?
People mostly in Florida (most of whom already own season passes at a very reduced rate) or possibly southern Ga.
It was a good publicity stunt - gained a lot of good will and worked well with what was being said by our politicians. But great savings or giveaway- I really wonder how many of those 1 million will be used or how much they will lose in revenue because of the giveaway.
My guess is the ad buy for all the commercials really cost them more.
So it's over big deal they will come out with some new deal soon enough- the thing I find about Disney is no matter what the offer is the price is preety much always the same for that time of year. They just find ways to redress it so you think you are getting a bigger bargain.
Reply
3-23-2010 @ 4:39PM
dissapointed said...
Perhaps many people are pleased with this donating a day to charity for a ticket to Disney. We are not one of them.
We did our day of charity. It took a while to get a date confirmed, but once it was - and I tried to complete the registration online, the program was closed and it would not let me plug in the information.
we did our day of charity. The organization attempted to verify it on the website, and couldn't because they couldn't find our account.
I sent emails to Disney and the Hands on Network. Did no good. Their reply was - I'm sorry you are disappointed. Can you believe that? What really ticks is that we are still seeing commericals for this program! Now, to me, that is false advertising. If they are still showing the commercials, then they should still have the program up and running and allow people to get what is promised.
No, I'm not pleased. This "massive publicity program" is more of a "massive fraud program"
Reply
4-01-2010 @ 12:42AM
cloudyinsunnyca said...
I find it amusing that people are upset they can no longer get into Disney Theme parks for free for doing charity work....I think the point here is that it charity work is a good thing and it should be done because it is a good thing to do, and not because you get to spend a few hours with Mickey....Geez, folks . . . . spend a little time doing for others . . . . karma will take care of the rest.....
Reply
5-10-2010 @ 11:08AM
DustyRoads said...
The three of us shoveled horse S*** for 4 hours to obtain the Disney passes. It was a great experience but........... for some reason they couldn't find my registration. Like "dissapointed" their response was "Oh Well". Haven't been to Disney for years and thought this might be a nice vacation. Don't hold your breath Mickey cause it's going to be a long time before I find my way there.
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