Update for September 18 – September 24, 2006
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News and Views
“Year of a Million Dreams” really “15 Months of 1.25 Million
Dreams and Dreamlets”
Last week, Disney finally announced the rules and list of prizes for the
“Year of a Million Dreams” promotion (link),
and there will actually be 1, 250,001 prizes given away over the 15 months
of the event. While, as we would expect, almost all prizes have a very small
actual value (1,248,754 of the prizes have a value of $25 or less), there
are also 60 prizes with a value of $5,000 or more.
The 367 nights in the “Mickey Mouse Penthouse” at the Disneyland
Resort and the 307 nights in the new Cinderella Castle Suite inside Walt Disney
World’s Magic Kingdom are valued at $572 and $587, respectively. The top-value
prizes are three fully-paid 220-point memberships in the Disney Vacation Club
at the Saratoga Springs Resort, including ownership purchase, taxes and maintenance
fees and exchange fees, plus $25,110 to defray the income taxes on the prize,
valued at an estimated total of $83,701 per prize.
Three Grand Marshal World Tour prizes, 15-day, 14-night round-the-world trips
for four to visit all 11 Disney theme parks and serve as grand marshals in
all five Magic Kingdom-style parks, including airfare, local transportation,
park admission and $75 per person per day toward meals, plus $10,470 toward
taxes, are valued at $45,370 apiece.
Other big prizes include six Adventures By Disney trips to various locations
with values from $15,500 to $25,600, eighteen Disney cruises with values from
$9,880 to $16,900 and fifteen trips each to Walt Disney World and Disneyland,
valued at $5,200 each. Each of the big prizes includes cash toward income
taxes.
MousePad discussion forum member Darkbeer, a frequent photographic contributor
to the Disneyland Park Update, has put together a great summary of all of
the prizes and the chances to win (about one in 60, based on historic attendance
at the parks) over a series of posts on our discussion forums (link).
The entire process is being overseen by Creata (USA) Inc., an outside company
specializing in adminstering large sweepstakes.
Transition at first Not So Scary party goes smoothly
Last week, we reported that cast members were expecting the worst for the
transition from day guests to holders of hard tickets for Mickey’s
Not So Scary Halloween Party due to the party’s starting time matching
the park’ closing time of 7 p.m. We’re happy to report that the crowd control
at the first party last Friday night went very smoothly.
By 5:45 p.m., Main Street Operations cast members were out directing day
guests to exit through the right (west) tunnel while Party guests were arriving
through the east tunnel. Later on, as closing time approached, Main
Street was set up for two-way traffic, with incoming and departing guests
both staying to their right.
Day guests were allowed to purchase merchandise in the shops on their way
out until 7:30 p.m., though cast members stood at every doorway to the shops
starting at 7:15 to prevent further entry of day guests. (Party guests could
still enter.)
Each land was “swept” of those without wristbands starting at 7:00, and the
sweep reached Main Street by around 7:35. As the sweep went down Main Street
toward the train station, the cast members in the doorways would join the
street. By 7:45, the park was “clear.”
As the first parade was scheduled for 8:15 p.m., that did not leave much
time to get the guide ropes and other crowd control measures in place, but
they managed to finish in time.
As it turned out, the start of the parade was delayed due to thunder and
lightning, but it did indeed go off. There were some issues related to the
rain that did come down during the party, and there was about a 3-4 minute
hold along the parade route, but it did finish the route. The Happy HalloWishes
fireworks and the second showing of Mickey’s Boo-To-You Parade went off without
a hitch.
We’ll repeat from last week: If you’re planning to attend the party, make
sure that your wristband is visible and that you retain your park ticket.
That will make it easier for you and quicker for the cast members doing the
sweep of the park.
Not So Scary party details, corrections
We’ve also got a few corrections and clarifications to our party guide that
we published last week:
The new times for Mickey’s Boo-To-You Parade are 8:15 and 10:30 p.m., and
Happy HalloWishes now runs at 9:30 p.m. These times were likely pushed back
due to the time required to sweep the park of day guests. Captain Jack Sparrow
does appear on the Pirates float in the parade. Candy scents waft from the
Goofy’s Candy Company float features cast members walking alongside, handing
out candy to parade spectators.
The dance parties are known as Stitch’s Cosmic Dance Party (at Cosmic
Ray’s Starlight Cafe) and Get Up and Boo-gie Dance Party (at Ariel’s
Grotto).
The Villain’s Mix and Mingle takes place after a short stage show in front
of Cinderella Castle, which occurs at 7:45,
9:00, 10:15 and 11:15 p.m.
The Liberty Belle Riverboat was not operating
on Friday night, but that’s no guarantee of whether or not they’ll be using
it at later parties, as it only returned to service from an extremely lengthy
refurbishment a week earlier.
There don’t appear to be free photos this year, but Photopass photos are
reportedly 50 percent off.
Finally, there have been some questions as to what kind of candy was given
out at the trick-or-treat stations. Thanks to MousePad message board member
cheshirecatgirl, we have the following lengthy list of what there was: Nestle
Crunch, Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, 100 Grand, Raisinettes, Almond Joy, Reeses
Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s Miniatures, Snickers, York Peppermint Patties,
Hersheys Kisses, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Twix, generic Halloween chocolates,
Skittles, Smarties, Spree, Necco wafers, DumDums, Starbursts, Bottlecaps,
Mike and Ikes, Laffy Taffy, Tootsie Rolls, Sugar Daddies, Raisins, Sunkist
Fruit Chews, Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, Airheads, Hot Tamales, Nerds, Bit
o’Honey, and mini-gummy hotdogs and hamburgers.
We’ve updated our park guide page for
the Halloween Party to correct inaccuracies.
Main Street Family Fun Day Parade details revealed
We’ve finally got a little more information on the Main Street Family Fun
Day Parade, which will go through rehearsals on September 21 and 23, and officially
debut on September 25. About 60 or so guests will join Pluto, Chip, Dale,
Daisy Duck, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and eight dancers (4 male,
4 female) in a parade from the Hub down Main Street to Town Square. The Main
Street Fire Truck will also be used in the parade. It will run three times
per day, at 12:25, 1:05 and 1:55 p.m.
