I'm just so sick of disney. My parents go EVERY TIME they are here.

I like this - a great incentive to get people to volunteer!

I spent a@Oranges w/ Cheese ontopofBrocolli: I spent a whole day at Epcot in 1990, is it worht going back or is it pretty much the same?

We get it, Disney: you don't want our golden poop. Fine.

Fine. We didn't want to give you the stinking golden poop anyways. We'll find lots of crappier companies if we want.

I think this is a wonderful idea, and I'd do it if we lived anywhere near either one of the parks. The animal lover in me hopes that they find a way to include local animal shelters in the "approved volunteer locations" lists.

How incredibly cool they are giving away passes to encourage volunteering. This is not only a great way to give a vacation to families or individuals that might not be able to afford it due to the current economic climate, but will undoubtedly provide a ton of help to charities that are in need, and probably create some new long-term volunteers in the process.

I think more companies should do this type of thing. It is good publicity, does not cost much in terms of the company, gets people to volunteer, and it's tax deductible.

It's win/win! For both Disney (Promotion, plus $ spent once in the park) and for the organizations.

@Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?: They really need to do this to work off federal income tax owed, or for people to attending schools or college. I'm sure the ratio of hours worked to "money" earned would be high, but it gets people to be a part of the community while giving people the option to work off things they owe or desperately need to get.

Even if you hate them, you have to admit it's actually a very good initiative.
For those who don't know, a day pass goes for around $70.

Never been to Disneyland but I'm going for my birthday this month. They give you a free pass just for being born too!

Up to 8 people per household? That's a huge household!

Despite encouraging people to have many babies, I commend Disney for encouraging people to volunteer.

This is a great idea because it creates short-term volunteer opportunities. One of the problems with helping many organizations is the amount of red tape and training you have to complete before you can work with them. Being able to give a little time, without having to make an extended commitment, is very attractive to volunteers.

How can anyone have something negative to say about this? Private company promoting volunteer work for the community? This is exactly the type of thing that makes people want to support a company.

By the way, this applies to all Disney World and Disneyland theme parks, according to the site.

On a related note, Disney World opened 38 years ago today.

@TCama: It is but I'm guessing that you can include grandma and grandpa too.

@pecan 3.14159265: Or you could be Dawn Meehan.

Sounds like a good way to go to disneyland AND pass high school where I am. Yes, we have 40 hours of mandatory volunteering. I managed to avoid it by 1 year. It's a great way to put kids off the volunteering spirit for life and make sure that charities have to deal with insolent teenagers trying to get their 40 hours @ 50% pass grade.

@Oranges w/ Cheese ontopofBrocolli: "here?"
I suppose being surrounded by something all the time would make anyone sick of it.

And they are spending a good amount of money to advertise this promotion as well. Good for them!

@TCama: It sure is but it STILL doesn't cover John and Kate. Hell, it doesn't even cover John OR Kate!

This makes me want to go out and commit a misdemeanor!!

@BigFoot_Pete: If you're doing it primarily with the expectation of getting something in return, it's not volunteering.

Maybe Denny's should run a promotion where you eat free so long as you agree to volunteer to wash dishes for an hour before you get to leave.

@Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?: I think it is a great idea too, but considered you got the same deal last year just for being born, I'm not all that impressed on their part. However, I'm not totally heartless, I think this is a great idea and I hope a lot of people take advantage of it. I already have a trip planned in March, so I will!

@Scrutinizer: Well, if you didn't eat at any of the restaurants, I'd say you must go back. The food is the best part of Epcot.
They've also recently introduced the "kimpossible adventure" which basically makes the countries less boring for the little kids (truly it was boring to me, too until about.. 5 years ago when I realized its actually full of history and stuff - oh and there's beer!)

@Homerjay is utterly alone.: Well, I'm not surrounded by it but I live in the Orlando area. As much as many people would think that was awesome, having to shell out $79 to go see something you've seen doesn't really hold any merit. Same for universal. The rides are fun, but I've done them before. Not really worth the $150 you spend to be there (ticket + food)

@calchip: And get them a shit ton of money in the additional costs such as the hotel stays and the merch these people buy when they come to the parks!!
nooo, they couldn't possibly have any ulterior motives!

@Scrutinizer: I actually went back (at 30!) with a couple friends just to see if there was any point (we also had a free pass so...).

Turns out we really enjoyed Epcot, seeing a taste of the culture of all these different countries... and of course the architecture.

Some things, like the Mexico pavilion, were disneyfied and lost their teeth but it was still fun to see.

On the flip side, we didn't enjoy the magic kingdom much at all as adults.

@pmcpa4: Actually... for the cynic in me, I believe I read somewhere that they make more money from concessions than they do tickets.

@calquist: but for this 8 family members can all get in free on the same day. The birthday thing was only the birthday boy/girl.

Of course getting kids to volunteer may be hard to do.

@Oranges w/ Cheese ontopofBrocolli: Look outside of that grey cloud of yours!

If they get what they want and people do good things, who cares. Some of the people who volunteer to get free tickets may end up liking the feeling and may even continue to volunteer. but yeah screw disney for trying to make more money.

@smartmuffin: Still has people volunteering though. and technically, as proven on friends, volunteering is always for something. Even if it just makes you feel good to do it, you did for something in return

@The Porkchop Express: Unless you are Octomom, of course!

@Bunnies_Attack!: I hope this doesn't come out the wrong way (haven't been to epcot in more than 12 years) but can you really gat "a taste of the culture of all these different countries" in a DISNEY THEME PARK?

@Homerjay is utterly alone.: would those hours the judge is making me do count?

@kenbennedy: Sure they've got Bratwurst and Lo Mein and Sushi and even Couscous. But that's all you "gat" is the taste. The "culture" is very disneyfied.

@TCama: Epcot opened 27 years ago.

@shepd
This does seem like a great match. My local high school band goes to DisneyLand every year and this would be a great way to ensure that all the kids can go a park just be helping out without creating the insolent teens you talk about.

I'll stick with sagewood's promotion.

Even with free lodging, disney doesn't warrant the vacation time we'd have to take to use this promo.

Vacation time that's better spent in the national parks :D

@MostlyHarmless: Do they want a golden statue of the SMACKS frog? Can we give them that?

@The Porkchop Express: Thats kinda what I meant. They probably would! :)

@shepd: Yes, because so many people have the "volunteering spirit" to begin with.

Oh man if I lived anywhere NEAR the Disney Parks instead of smack in the middle of the dang ol' country I would be all over this. I've been dying to go to Disneyland.

@Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?: If you volunteer with the expectation of getting something in return, it's no longer volunteering.

I signed up two days ago. The rules seem pretty open in terms of redemption. I'll see what I can finagle when all is done. I have no kids and am not a big one.

An idea for people who want to volunteer but don't live near a Disney park: I wonder if you can transfer the admission passes to others? If so, you could donate them to shelters, kids' groups, Big Bro/Sis, whatever.

Pretty sure that's double karma points, which you can use to work off that thing you did with that hooker that one time.

@AdvocatesDevil:

Yup! That's why we have to beat it out of them by making it into work, rather than something good to do because you're nice.

@shepd:

We didn't have mandatory volunteering but had to do it for National Honor Society. I did it gladly (as I already volunteered a lot) but several organizations forced students to volunteer for organizations where the children didn't know how to help. Forcing kids to go take care of old people is rediculous because those old people do not WANT obnoxious kids around not helping them. Our "Girls Reserve" sort of forced this upon girls. So instead of getting much needed help, the organizations were saddled with babysitting girls who were too busy chatting on their phones (this was before texts).

@YardanCabaret: LOL, that sounds like the food court at my local shopping mall