Coral Reef

[handmaidenofprincesses]

My aunt and I are going to go to Coral Reef for her birthday in January.

I was so excited about setting up a diver sign and personalized menus as a surprise for her. I emailed the restaurant in October and got an email back saying that because of the new ADR system, I needed to email them back in December. So bright and early December first, I emailed them back, and here's the response I got:


We will not be continuing the dive banners or personalized menus for 2009. This was a part of the year of a million dreams celebration and that will be ending on December 31st. If it changes I will let you know. I will keep your message in my files.

Grr.. Kind of a stupid thing to discontinue considering the whole "Celebrate You" promotion, but oh well.

Thought I would let everyone know so that you wouldn't all have to waste your time! lol

[mainemajor]

Bummer :( Maybe they will change their minds. I don't know why they would stop doing something so popular just because "the year" ends.

[DisneyPrincess21]

I was so excited about setting up a diver sign and personalized menus as a surprise for her.

how does the diver sign and personalized menu's work. We will be in the parks from 12/16-12/22 and it will be my father's birthday. So I have been trying to find any extra surprises I can plan for him. But I have never heard of that before. Can anyone help?

[ElenitaB]

Actually, the fact that they're discontinuing this does not surprise me in the least. Once information about this creeped out on the various Disney discussion boards, it was bound to blow way out of proportion. As there are a limited number of timeslots and availability, there would be people who could obtain a diver sign and those who couldn't. There are very many (not us, of course :angel: ) who have a strong sense of entitlement when it comes to their Disney vacations ("I paid a lot of money for this trip and I want ___"). These same people are also extremely vocal in their protests.

I also imagine that the requests for diver signs were beginning to take up a large part of the contact CM's day. While it might not fit exactly with the grand scheme of next year's branding, I find it very understandable and was actually surprised that it went on so long once it became so public. I always worry when the magic moves out of the realm of serendipity and into the realm of requests and planning. Stepping down from my :soapbox: now. :blush:

[TheRustyScupper]

Actually, the fact that they're discontinuing this does not surprise me in the least.

1) They actually wanted to stop it this past January.
2 It has caused a lot of problems.
. . . many could not get a diver due to capacity
. . . divers have other duties that could not get done
. . . there were loud complaints when the sign didn't show up *
3) I think, as ElenitaB that things got out of control.

* I was there when a lady arrived late for the ADR. When the diver didn't show, she screamed at the hostess. The girl told her she was late and the guest said that lateness shouldn't matter. Boy, some people . . . . . . .

[handmaidenofprincesses]

I realize that there are reasons to stop it... It just seems like bad timing...

Worse, I got my "December Disney Hello" yesterday, and they were advertising the Coral Reef diver signs in a video done by one of the WDW Moms! Talk about poor planning.....

[disneyfan328]

I guess I can understand them discontinuing the divers as they were hard to come by, but the menus I think are a different story. To keep some of the Disney magic, as the menus are very inexpensive for them to do, I just don't see it. With everything else that is being "downsized",I think that its a mistake to take away something that was easy and inexpensive for them to provide to guests. We had them done last September and they are truly a cherised keepsake.

I truly hope Disney reconsiders.

[buzznwoodysmom]

I don't think this was a year of a million dreams thing at all. Maybe I am mistaken, but I seem to remember first learning about this way before Year of a Million Dreams started. I know its been going on for 2 years now, but I thought I'd first heard of it long before that. We got the diver and personalized menus last year for Thanksgiving and at the time I requested it I was told that they were thinking about discontinuing it because it was taking up too much time, they were having to turn down too many requests and the requests were just getting out of hand. I was also told that you couldn't email that request, you had to call and leave a message on someone's voice mail and wait for them to call you back. That is how I arranged ours. So sorry they are not going to be doing this anymore,but I do understand their reasoning.

[LandFan]

We did this last Thanksgiving too (07) and I don't think it had anything to do with the Year of a Million dreams campaign. It was going on before that. I think that the end of the campaign just provided them with an easy way to end the service. It's a shame - it was really cool! DH was shocked : )

[TinkerbellT421]

We did this last Thanksgiving too (07) and I don't think it had anything to do with the Year of a Million dreams campaign. It was going on before that. I think that the end of the campaign just provided them with an easy way to end the service. It's a shame - it was really cool! DH was shocked : )

Year of a Million Dreams should have been called YEARS (plural) lol, they have had that "motto" or whatever its called in both 07 and 08. I personally didnt think it had anything to do with the Year of a Million Dreams either, but guess I was wrong. Hmm wierd. Dont know but it sounds like a few posters could be on to something, maybe it was too popular once word got out that that could be done.