The in-park highlight of the campaign will be a nightly musical presentation at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, where Disney will project photos of park guests onto Cinderella's Castle (in Florida) and it's a small world (in California).
Photos = memories. Get it? :-)
The details, from Disney's press release:
In both locations, Disney PhotoPass photographers will capture guests caught up in the Disney experience – a memory in the making – and as many as 500 photos will be used in each location every day, producers estimate.The nighttime show will use the latest in high-intensity projection technology to create vivid visuals that seem to defy the architecture of the building. A new song commissioned for the show will provide an emotional context for these images of the Disney guest experience.
No word yet on schedules for the shows, though Disney says they will begin in January.
Disney also is asking fans to submit photos and videos of their Disney theme park visits for possible use in Disney's TV and online campaigns. The website to submit and view the photos and video will be www.DisneyParks.com/Memories.
If that part of the campaign sounds familiar, SeaWorld did something similar a few years back to collect visitor photos for use on SeaWorld's website. SeaWorld, though, offered free tickets and other goodies to visitors whose photos where selected for use online. I've heard no word yet from Disney whether the folks whose videos or photos are used prominently within this campaign will get anything in return from the company, other than some pretty sweet bragging rights.
That said, from an initial glance it appears that Disney's campaign is much more aggressive in scope on the Web side of things than SeaWorld's. Instead of collecting a few photos for illustrating the main Disney theme park websites, Disney looks to be creating a sort of "Disney Facebook Lite," where people can publish photos and videos for all other Disney fans to see (once Disney approves them, of course). So it'll become a huge archive of in-park media, rather than a handful of promo photos.
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As for an actual opinion, meh- I'll give it a chance before passing judgment, but it doesn't fill me with the anticipation that Year(s) of a Million Dreams did.
"Let the Memories Begin": Park visitors give Disney free photos and video.
About sums it up, doesn't it?
Are we all just supposed to love everything Disney does? When Disney delivers a new high quality ride, show, restaurant, etc., I'll give them praise. When they deliver a half-baked promotion that doesn't go beyond projecting pictures onto the castle, I'll criticize them.
And if you see that great picture of you on the castle (or Small World), aren't you going to be pretty darn certain to go order a copy of that photo, even if you'd never intended to when the photog snapped your picture?
This is a brilliant in-park marketing strategy for PhotoPass, in my opinion. I don't know that the website isn't anything more than a way for Disney to capture Web traffic from some of its fan sites, but the photo presentation within the park should help increase PhotoPass traffic and sales substantially. Smart move by Disney. Look for it to be copied throughout the industry, swiftly.
You could project my photo on the moon, I'm still not buying it at the end of the day, especially for what Disney charges.
You can always have the Disney Photographer take a picture of you with your camera after he snaps one with his own, so if your picture is used, you'll essentially have the same one at about the same moment. Don't be afraid to ask them to do this, they never say no, trust me.
Thought that just made me shudder:
The Disney Kiss Cam.
"Oh hey look it's the guy who stopped in the middle of the path"
"There's the family that pushes a stroller and makes the kids walk"
and of course
"oh look, the sunburned tourists"
As the so called "Highlight", of a yearlong promotional campaign....weak.
I was, at first, apprehensive about "Celebrate Today", but with some fake balloons, some buttons, and guest participation, they were able to create something Magical that everybody, even the guests, could chip in and help!
I am reminded of the "Making Memories" song on the Disneyland Sing A Longs from the 90s. Weird, I know.
Also, Photopass is an excellent and underrated item in the parks. Professional Pictures that, if you do the math, come out cheaper than the ride photos. Its not a bad idea to get one and they actually sent my family one to start registering though!
Personally this doesn't bother me, i never go to the parks because of the promotions. As for this little picture show, I'd rather be on Space Mountain or Dumbo than watch this.
Bobby, formally known as Bob & Robert!!!!!!!
And I still do not understand what this has to do with Universal's WWOHP. If you are looking for a Disney response, the New Fantasyland might be something comparable to WWOHP and grade them on that. This has nothing to do with new rides, but rather Disney figuring out after the 25th anniversary of WDW that they should have year long celebrations.
Even if the moments are not yours, I think that there will be connections with the photos that are made that bring up your own moments at the park.
Not every year can be the year (2yrs?) of a million dreams. That was as popular as it gets.
Fan boys can be the worse fans sometimes.
I'm comfused when people say Disney is falling behind on things, or because there's no new ride. None of that has to do with Disney's advertising theme. Disney really is the only ones who run campaign themes like this, and it is in it's own category. Not rides, or firework shows etc. It's just a little campaign.
I do agree with Robert, though, in that it's brilliant for marketing purposes.
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