MouseStation 282 – How does the “What Will You Celebrate?” promotion work?
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Show run time 0:36:22
In today’s show, Mark talks with Courtney Mills from Orlando Fun Tickets about the “What WIll You Celebrate?” promotion.
NOTE: If you’re going to be at Walt Disney World next Thursday, February 12, join Mark at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station from noon to 2 p.m.! He’ll have MousePlanet buttons and he’s looking forward to meeting you!
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Thanks to our sponsors
Today’s show is sponsored by:
Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center. A luxury hotel one mile from Walt Disney World, where special MousePlanet rates ALWAYS get you at least 15% off the normal rates available for the property.
Advantage Vacation Homes. A great vacation home rental company that gives you a place to stay with lots more space than a regular hotel room for a lot less money.
Feature: “What Will You Celebrate?”
Mark chatted with Courtney Mills of Orlando Fun Tickets about the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign.
The “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign features the “free on your birthday” admission, though there are a number of choices available if you already have your park admission. In either case, you can save time at the gates by filling out the form at DisneyBirthdayTreat.com, printing the voucher that’s presented when you’ve completed it and bringing the voucher to Guest Services at the entrance of the theme park on your birthday.
If you’ve already got a multi-day pass, you can get your choice of:
- a birthday fun card (with the same value as a one-day park pass) that you can use to purchase merchandise at most shops throughout the theme parks;
- a birthday Fastpass which gets you and up to five guests onto select attractions throughout the park on your birthday; or
- a free one-day, one-park Magic Your Way base ticket that is valid for one year from your birthday for the next time that you return to the parks.
The birthday fun card and the free Magic Your Way base ticket have a value of $75 for adults and $63 for kids (Mark guessed low at the kids’ price on the show); to take the free admission amd reduce the number of days on a multi-day pass by one is not your best value, as subsequent days of your pass cost much less than the first day, so your best value would be to use a multi-day pass for your entire stay and then get either the free return base ticket or the birthday fun card.
Orlando Fun Tickets is MousePlanet’s official ticket resales agent, so you can get a great price on your Walt Disney World tickets (as well as discounted tickets for all other Orlando-area attractions) through them. They’ll deliver to your home before you leave or to your hotel before you arrive, or you can pick up your tickets at their office. The staff at Orlando Fun Tickets are well-versed in everything that they need to know to help you in planning your trip.
There are carts inside the entrance of each park that stock all of the buttons for your celebration. In addition to the already-existing “It’s My Birthday/Anniversary/Honeymoon/First Visit/Reunion/etc.” buttons, there also a generic “I’m Celebrating” button that can be customized for any other celebration not covered by the other buttons.
There are also other birthday treats that you can get. Specialty cakes, including pirate or princess cakes are available for purchase at most sit-down restaurants. You can also get free birthday cupcakes at most restaurants if you let your server know that it’s your birthday (Courtney will be getting her birthday cupcake tomorrow at Epcot). You can get customized cakes and other items delivered to your room to celebrate your special day, as well.
An interesting thing is that Disney will let you bring your own cake to be served at your table if you notify them in advance. They’ll probably ask you to bring the cake to a certain location rather than bringing it through the front turnstiles, but you can have your own homemade or store-bought cake served at your Disney restaurant instead of buying one from Disney. They may not be thrilled to see characters from another company on the cake, so you may want to check before you bring a Spongebob Squarepants cake to your Disney restaurant.
You can set up the use of your cake by called the Walt Disney World Dining Line at 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463). Advance ordering of a Disney cake can be done through the Disney cake line at 407-WDW-CAKE (407-939-2253). Mark guessed incorrectly at translating the cake line on the show. Specialty items for delivery to your room can be ordered from the Disney Florist online or by calling 407-827-3505.
There is a smaller choice of cakes if you just notify them at your table that you need one; however, if you notify them through the cake line at least 48 hours in advance, you can get any sort of specialty cake that you might want.
If you need help setting up your celebration, the folks at Orlando Fun Tickets are all trained to provide you with whatever assistance you may need, either via phone when you’re ordering your tickets or in person when you pick them up. You can order your tickets online, via phone or even by just walking in to their office. Remember that all Disney tickets cost less through Orlando Fun Tickets that at the gate or on the Disney Web site.
Our thanks to Courtney Mills of Orlando Fun Tickets for joining Mark on the show.
Listener Feedback
On our MousePad discussion forums, mpdb6 let us know that Imagineering did not design Pixie Hollow, Disneyland Entertainment did. We aren’t sure whether it was Imagineering or Walt Disney World Entertainment that created Walt Disney World’s Pixie Hollow. Therefore, when Margaret Kerry challenged Imagineering to do better with Pixie Hollow in Episode 278, it was something that they didn’t have anything to do with.
In the first of our three responses to Steven Ng’s discussion of Future World Past with David Koenig in Episode 280, Charles Travis wrote that he was very disappointed last year when he returned for Epcot for the first time since 1986, noting that “[a]ll of the good pavillions were gone.”
Meg wrote to thank us for discussing the changes at Epcot. The two rides that she misses most at Epcot are Horizons and World of Motion. She feels that “the gentle rides at Epcot are what make the place unique.”
Chuck Kearsley, who was involved in the installation of the General Purpose Ride Control System that was installed in almost every pavilion, enjoyed the show and noted the accuracy of David Koenig’s description of the early days of the park. He hopes that current Imagineers will drop the sarcasm and hipness and return to the fantasy.
March of Dimes
Mark has gotten an early start on raising funds for the March of Dimes! Last year, MousePlanet readers and MouseStation listeners helped Mark to raise over $5,000 for the worthy charity. We’re looking to beat that this year and raise $6,000! Just go to Mark’s fundraising page and help to provide a better chance to prevent prematurity and to help those babies that are born prematurely.
We’re now on Facebook! Join the MousePlanet and MouseStation groups. You can also become a fan of MousePlanet or the MouseStation. If you join the club and use Pieces of Flair, you can get your MousePlanet and MouseStation flair from Mark (though you have to friend him first).
Wrapping up
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Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
Thank you for listening!
