2010 promo information is here! "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."

[Hawleys]

We did our volunteer activity today and I wanted to share with you guys how much fun it was. I picked our activity because it was a convenient location, the timing was right and it had spots for all four of us to volunteer. Little did I know that our activity (painting and gardening at James Denman Middle School in San Francisco) was a stop on the Disney "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" tour. Heck, I didn't even know there was a tour! I guess I should have been suspicious when we had to sign a release waiver giving Disney the rights to our images and sound in all media, throughout the universe, in perpetuity but I just assumed this was part of the regular volunteer procedure.

At check-in, we were all given WWYC? sweatshirts and giftbags with mouse ears and chocolate dipped mickey shaped rice krispie treats. Sweet! When the four of us go to the parks in under two weeks, we will be taking a picture with our ears on.

The day started with an assembly in the auditorium for all the volunteers and guess who was there to see us?!? Mickey and Minnie and the Jammitors! There was also a pretty cool set up on stage.


PR types from Disney and Hands on Bay Area greeted us and then we all got on stage to have our picture taken and some video of all of us saying "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day". Then it was off to weed for several hours. Spent alot of time pulling and things looked great when we were done. I hope they put some mulch down to stop them from growing back. Mickey and Minnie came around while we were working and we had our picture taken with Mickey.


(No comments on this photo...I had been working hard for several hours and let's just say it's not my best photo.)

After we finished our projects, we went back to the auditorium and were treated to a very cool performance by the Jammitors. These guys just rock. Best moment--one of the performers was rapping about volunteering and dropped this line: "Everybody knows volunteering is the bomb/ you can find more information at Disneyparks.com" Straight dope.

The day ended with the Disney PR team giving us our park tickets!! These are the actual plastic cards; not a voucher!

All in all it was a great day. Volunteering with our friends was pretty special and taking them to the parks for the first time will be special too.

Ok, for those of you that made it through my super long post, do we have to upgrade our 1-day, 1-park tickets before going into the park or could we do sometime in the middle of day?

[Hawleys]

The website for the GADGADD tour is here: http://disney.prizelogic.com/

You can also enter the Cheers to Volunteers sweepstakes at the website.

Cheers to all you Disney volunteers!

[Sherry E]

That sounds like a GREAT day of volunteering! How fun! I bet if everyone thought that Mickey and Minnie would show up, and that they would get treats & goodies and get their tickets right there on the spot, more people would be signing up left and right!!

[Hawleys]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

That sounds like a GREAT day of volunteering! How fun! I bet if everyone thought that Mickey and Minnie would show up, and that they would get treats & goodies and get their tickets right there on the spot, more people would be signing up left and right!!

Sherry, it was really fun! We met a nice woman who worked for Radio Disney and a manager at a Disney store and students and families from the middle school. I know you weren't that thrilled with the opportunities close to you. Have you been able to find anything?

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by Hawleys

Sherry, it was really fun! We met a nice woman who worked for Radio Disney and a manager at a Disney store and students and families from the middle school. I know you weren't that thrilled with the opportunities close to you. Have you been able to find anything?

Well, I was thrilled with the location of some of the opportunities when I first saw them, as they were right round the corner from me, literally. But the actual things that are needed in my area seem to be ongoing positions - almost like part-time jobs, but without pay - and very specific titles, like Case Manager or whatever. (This makes sense to me, as I know someone who does a lot of charity work with these organizations around the corner from me, and she said they pretty much do have regular people volunteering part-time for specific positions on an ongoing basis.) There was nothing like a day of painting or a day of gardening (which I think anyone could do for one day and just be shown what to do) or a day of this or that in my immediate area, but I will keep checking periodically because you never know what could pop up!!

[Hawleys]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Well, I was thrilled with the location of some of the opportunities when I first saw them, as they were right round the corner from me, literally. But the actual things that are needed in my area seem to be ongoing positions - almost like part-time jobs, but without pay - and very specific titles, like Case Manager or whatever. (This makes sense to me, as I know someone who does a lot of charity work with these organizations around the corner from me, and she said they pretty much do have regular people volunteering part-time for specific positions on an ongoing basis.) There was nothing like a day of painting or a day of gardening (which I think anyone could do for one day and just be shown what to do) or a day of this or that in my immediate area, but I will keep checking periodically because you never know what could pop up!!

It does seem like a bit much to ask folks to do an ongoing job. Fingers crossed that something comes along for you.

[sunflowersis]

We just got our vouchers today. We would like to redeem them for 4-day park hopper tickets. Can this be done online somehow? Or do we have to do it at the gate? How much are tickets at the gate compared to online?

[bambii]

I tried to read how many hours you need to do it but i can find any thing.. we are working four hours on Monday my youngest who is 11 is looking forward to it since i also have to work that day..

[Disney Dreams]

Hawleys, what a great bonus surprise to your day of volunteering! Sounds like a wonderful day! (You never know what great things can happen when you take the time to help others, huh?) Thanks for sharing!

- Dreams

[Peace.love.mickey]

I go tomorrow in the POURING rain! We are working on the trail by the river and they are saying the river could flood...greeeaaat!!

[Lollipop's Mom]

I got my voucheres emailed to me last night!! Printed and all set to go!
We had no opportunites around here that I could do with my daughter - everything was age 16 and over, so we did Blankets for Canada and had a blast doing that together. We had to make 2 blankets (and we made 2 really big fuzzy warm ones!) and mail them to Ottawa. Not only did we have fun, but now I know a really cool way to make blankets and plan to make some for Xmas gifts next year!
I didn't know about that tour -thanks for posting photos. What a great day!

[lisaradz]

Originally Posted by sunflowersis

We just got our vouchers today. We would like to redeem them for 4-day park hopper tickets. Can this be done online somehow? Or do we have to do it at the gate? How much are tickets at the gate compared to online?

Sunflowersis this looks like a partial answer to your question for the Q&A on page 1:

May I upgrade my free one day ticket to an Annual Pass or multi-day ticket?

Yes, you may upgrade the free ticket to another ticket type of greater value within the applicable upgrade window. However, you are responsible for the incremental cost and the new ticket may only be used by you. No changes or refunds will be given. The value of the free ticket may not be used to combine or upgrade with a separate single or multi-day ticket.

I would assume you have to do it in person (not online) because id is required. I'm just not sure what "applicable upgrade window" means. I'm hoping it means before 12/31/10 when the promotion ends.

[Gisele]

I did not know either, that there is an official tour for this promotion. I would like a chocolate treat too please.

[Peace.love.mickey]

Has anyone gotten their vouvher e-mailed on a weekend?

[lisaradz]

Originally Posted by Peace.love.mickey

Has anyone gotten their vouvher e-mailed on a weekend?

Try logging into the website. I received a thank you for volunteering email and then it said that shortly they would contact Disney and we would receive our vouchers. I never got an email that the vouchers were ready (no clue why cause I kept checking spam). Anyway, when I logged into my account it showed all 5 of us had our service confirmed and then I could choose DL or WDW and print the vouchers.