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View Full Version : Who took the "ball" from Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball?



AVP
12-22-2003, 01:10 PM
The Disneyland Resort has just announced a massive change to the Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball event, previously scheduled for the evening of Valentine's Day.

Registration for the event has been suspended, and will resume in 2004.

Here is the information, directly from Disney. I'm still trying to figure out what a "Princess Academy" class is, WHO STOLE THE BALL, and if there is going to be event merchandise now.

(And what happened to the BALL?)

SLEEPING BEAUTY'S ROYAL BALL

**ROYAL PROCLAMATION**

King Stefan has received word that Maleficent is once again after his daughter, Princess Aurora. Fearful that Maleficent will appear at Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball and cast her spell, he has changed some of the royal activities. Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball currently scheduled to take place on the evening of Saturday, February 14, 2004 will now take place during the morning and afternoon of Saturday, February 14, 2004. Please see changes to the Royal Celebration below.


EVENT: SLEEPING BEAUTY'S ROYAL BALL
EVENT DATE: Saturday, February 14, 2004
EVENT LOCATION: DisneylandÒ Resort
EVENT TIME: Morning/Afternoon

EVENT INFORMATION:

ENCHANTING ROYAL EVENT PACKAGE


ONE (1) night accommodation at the DisneylandÒ Hotel (2/14/04 only) *

Breakfast at a DisneylandÒ Resort Hotel Restaurant

One (1) admission ticket for a showing of the Walt Disney Animated Classic film "Sleeping Beauty" on February 14, 2004 at the AMC 12 Theater in the Downtown DisneyÒ District.

Attend a Princess Academy Class

Themed Lunch with Enchanting Entertainment
Attend a Storytelling session
Reserved Seating for a Performance of "Disney's Snow White - An Enchanting Musical"
Commemorative Gift
TICKET SALE INFORMATION:

Tickets for the Enchanting Royal event package are $295, per person. Limited to availability. No discounts will be offered in conjunction with this package.

*Standard accommodations; one person per room. Couples purchasing the "Enchanting Royal Event Package" will be offered a second night hotel accommodation (consecutive to the first night - 2/14/04) in a standard room/double occupancy at the DisneylandÒ Hotel in lieu of two rooms for one night. Subject to availability. No items in this package may be redeemed for cash, and all items are non-refundable, non-transferable and will be forfeited if not used in conjunction with Sleeping Beauty Royal Ball Event. Other restrictions apply. Separate admission is required to enter the DisneylandÒ Resort theme parks.

EVENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. No items in this package may be redeemed for cash, and all items are non-refundable, non-transferable and will be forfeited if not used in conjunction with the Sleeping Beauty Royal Ball Event. Other restrictions apply.

Reservations for the Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball Event will be accepted via www.DisneyGallery.com on January 8, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. PDT.

MALEFICENT'S SPELLBINDING EVENT PACKAGE

One (1) admission ticket for a showing of the Walt Disney Animated Classic film "Sleeping Beauty" on February 14, 2004 at the AMC 12 Theater in the Downtown DisneyÒ District.

Attend a Princess Academy Class

Themed Lunch with Enchanting Entertainment
Attend a Storytelling session
Reserved Seating for a Performance of "Disney's Snow White - An Enchanting Musical"
Commemorative Gift

TICKET SALE INFORMATION:

Tickets for Maleficent's Spellbinding event package are $89, per person. Limited to availability. No discounts will be offered in conjunction with this package.

EVENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. No items in this package may be redeemed for cash, and all items are non-refundable, non-transferable and will be forfeited if not used in conjunction with the Sleeping Beauty Royal Ball Event. Other restrictions apply.

Reservations for the Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball Event will be accepted via www.DisneyGallery.com on January 8, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. PDT.

Ó Disney

PRINCESS AURORA'S EVENT PACKAGE (CHILDREN ONLY AGES 3-9)


One (1) admission ticket for a showing of the Walt Disney Animated Classic film "Sleeping Beauty" on February 14, 2004 at the AMC 12 Theater in the Downtown DisneyÒ District.


Attend a Princess Academy Class

Themed Lunch for our Little Princes and Little Princesses with Enchanting Entertainment
Attend a Storytelling session
Reserved Seating for a Performance of "Disney's Snow White - An Enchanting Musical"
Commemorative Gift


TICKET SALE INFORMATION:

Tickets for the Princess Aurora event package are $49, per person. Limited to availability. No discounts will be offered in conjunction with this package.



EVENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. No items in this package may be redeemed for cash, and all items are non-refundable, non-transferable and will be forfeited if not used in conjunction with the Sleeping Beauty Royal Ball Event. Other restrictions apply.

Reservations for the Sleeping Beauty's Royal Ball Event will be accepted via www.DisneyGallery.com on January 8, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. PDT.

Disneyphile
12-22-2003, 01:17 PM
Sounds like they took a cool idea and cheapened it up quite a bit. :rolleyes:

Lani
12-22-2003, 01:18 PM
Hmmm, interesting... The price hasn't gone down though, right? I wonder if they're allowing cancellations?

justagrrl
12-22-2003, 01:43 PM
I love how they put in the clause of "EVENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. No items in this package may be redeemed for cash, and all items are non-refundable, non-transferable and will be forfeited if not used in conjunction with the Sleeping Beauty Royal Ball Event."

So basically - they can change it on a whim, like they just did, and once you've paid, you're out of luck if you don't like it.

Princess Academy sounds like it could be a new show of some sort.

cstephens
12-22-2003, 01:45 PM
Originally posted by Lani
Hmmm, interesting... The price hasn't gone down though, right? I wonder if they're allowing cancellations?

I was wondering the same thing. If I paid for a ball and got a class, I certainly wouldn't be happy.

Maybe they decided to change it because they weren't getting the response they'd anticipate it. "People aren't interested", they though. "We'll give them something else." Of course, they might not have stopped to think that people weren't interested because no real details were given about the event, so they expected people to fork over that amount of money without knowing what to expect?

mousey_girl
12-22-2003, 02:07 PM
It still sounds expensive and vague.

It also sounds as if they are now going from targeting couples without kids to families with kids.

So much for a nice romantic evening (not that my hubby would know romance if it bit him on the butt).

olegc
12-22-2003, 02:43 PM
Hmm - well if I looked at ALL of the changes happening at the DLR over that last few weeks(since Matt arrived) and at a similar event being held at WDW - it looks like either someone at TDA is trying to prove they know what they are doing - but their only success metric is number of attendees. So it does not matter how they change the event - only that the number of paying guests (and profits) are visible - so that a Merchandise event is successful.

Trouble is, as previously posted, those that wanted a nice ball - adults who are into Disney fantasy, will now need to push their way to get a refund.

The other possibility? TDA is out of the picture on this one - and WDW events was allowed to create the show piece - see how they have added Snow White? talk about pushing this out there to create buzz - and thus justify expenditures. Looks like any and all events happening at the Park(s) from Jan on will have some tie in to the Snow White show.

Good for business - but bad show when you shift gears like this. I predict we'll see more of this until all of the staffing and planning is shaken out.

I think of Matt and his new staff as a pride of lions among the zebras of the previous regime. They hang out right nearby all of the herd , in plain sight, until they get hungry. Then someone has to pay the price. This will happen repeatedly, and some events or other activities will get some shuffling or may be cancelled altogether.

tod
12-22-2003, 03:02 PM
If you ask me...
NObody forked out for the $250-a-head ball. The economy is going south faster than a flock of birds with frostbitten tails, and I'll bet nobody is making plans for February.
Rather than try to get grown-ups to go to their kid-oriented "Ball," they are focusing on their little-girl Princess consumers to whine, wheedle, plead and cajole mommy and daddy (If it's a single mommy or a daddy, forget it, they're so guilty they're getting off cheap at $300 per.)
This looks like cheap city -- a Friday night in the Hotel (I'll bet that the Disneyland Hotel is NOT the romantic rendezvous of Orange County), a screening of Sleeping Beauty (and I know for a fact that there's a mint restored print because I saw it at the El Cap not long ago), trot out the Princesses for a storytelling gig at a new venue instead of the old Tinker Bell's Toy Shop while the kiddies get a box lunch, show 'em "Snow White -- An Enchanting Musical" -- and if they can call "Aladdin" "A musical spectacular" without snickering your guess is as good as mine what "enchanting" means -- and for a big finish give 'em a "special commemorative gift" which I will bet is a cloisonne pin (and I really would but CMs read this and they can make a lot of money off me if I'm wrong). Nothing new, nothing special, just a lot of already-existing stuff.


Two words: FLOP SWEAT.

And if the Merch Wizards who came up with this can't bring in the warm bodies, they'll be on their way out of TDA faster'n you can say "No takers."

--T
enjoying this, in a weird schadenfreude kind of way

olegc
12-22-2003, 03:17 PM
I agree with some of Tod's post - but, no offense, you have some serious "joy" issues dude! (use Crush voice here)...

Happy Holidays everyone...

tod
12-22-2003, 03:28 PM
Originally posted by olegc
I agree with some of Tod's post - but, no offense, you have some serious "joy" issues dude! (use Crush voice here)...

Happy Holidays everyone...

No offense taken, primarily because I don't know what you mean by that.

I thought the "Royal Ball" was a dumb idea from the jump, and this last-minute retooling to a kiddie event makes me think I'm not alone in this.

And I'm kinda enjoying watching them squirm, especially with a new boss looking over their shoulder.

--T

sediment
12-22-2003, 03:39 PM
Wouldn't the night before be better than the night after for the hotel stay?

ModHatter
12-22-2003, 04:21 PM
Well, I'm just wondering, but I know my mom has been entering a contest related to the Ball. So, are there other corporate partners involved in this event that might not be so thrilled about their prize being downgraded in such a blatant manner?

Sleeping Beauty is probably my favorite Disney film, but yeah, as an AP holder, I still received bare bones info on this event, and didn't feel like shelling out the bucks for who knows what. When the main thing I want to do, $89 seems rather much, even for an AMC theater.

dghosthost
12-25-2003, 12:57 PM
Part of the problem with the original event, at least for me, was that it was NOT an adults only event.

It went way past dinner, and was billed as a romantic ball. Am I going to want young, very tired, kids around me while I hug my loved one?

If they wanted to let kids in, they should have held it earlier.

KarenW2
12-25-2003, 08:30 PM
Definitely sounds like they didn't get any "takers" for this "special" event! Now they've turned it into basically a "kiddie" event, in the morning and afternoon of Valentine's Day?? No thank you. Why would I be interested in going to this event, especially since I wouldn't be accompanying a child?

I was wondering why they couldn't just have a similar event to the one planned on 2-14-04 in WDW, but when I went to look at the details of this one again just now, I noticed they've changed the details of THIS event as well! It's now going to be held on 2-4-04, not 2-14-04! It sounds like an interesting evening, but since we won't be in Florida then, we won't be going to that one either.

I was hoping for something along the lines of the past event that I read about here, and looked forward to making, purchasing or renting suitable costumes, but alas, it is not to be.

I sure hope they're going to refund all the monies they've collected so far! If I'd been one of those people, I would definitely be wanting my money back.