I forgot that the welcome center never got addressed in all my stuff. - it’s really stupid.
Years ago, Disney allowed vendors to come on the ship while it was in port to put things in people’s rooms before they got to the ship. DUT got a lease nearby the ship so the baskets could be made and then quickly make it to the ship between check out and check in so the guest would arrive and their basket was waiting in their stateroom. Disney eventually eliminated this policy and DUT still had the lease, so they started mailing the baskets or you could pick them up in person.
Back then, the baskets were fairly helpful. It had a highlighter marking activities on the daily planner, it had a white board so you could write notes for your family on where to find you on the ship, a power strip so you had more wall plugs etc etc. but as times changed, the things in the basket weren’t relevant anymore.
Pete told me about the welcome center and said that he didn’t know what to do with it at that point and the lease was soon going to expire. I believe the rent was around $3000 a month but I’m not sure I remember that correctly. Pete said it worked well because they needed a place to make the baskets and anyone who booked with FLtours to be driven there got a free stop over at the Welcome Center.
I asked what was in the baskets and that the cost was roughly $25 per basket, I was told it was 2 full time employees and 1 part time employee. Teresa also could book someone on their next cruise after they got off the ship or if people called in she could book them (which actually did happen with people calling).
I gave my two cents. I said Teresa could easily answer the business phone from her house and then you don’t have to pay a salary. I also suggested the basket was outdated and irrelevant and that instead of paying 2.5 employee salaries to make them and $36k a year to house it all, plus the cost to make each one that they could just stop making them completely. This would save around $126,000 per year in company expenses. Not even taking shipping the baskets into account.
Instead of baskets, DUT already gave $25+ in Disney gift cards (depending on what you spend) to their clients) but DUT could also have a gift card and give the clients that and ‘match’ whatever the Disney amount was. This would ensure that the client would HAVE to use DUT in the future and if they didn’t then the company loses nothing because the money isn’t real, it’s just a deduction off a future trip which would’ve made DUT able to always beat the competition because everyone is the same price as Disney (outside like Costco and stuff) but DUT gift cards would allow you to book with them again at a slightly lower rate than even Disney could book the client. In addition, a gift card would allow them to have ‘giveaways’ on the show and at events and if the winner uses it, its new business, if they don’t then it’s no loss.
I had the gift card made (see attached) and it was simple, it allowed people to use their number on the back to have it linked with their profile so the balance would show there. It also listed most of the products we sold because so many people said they didn’t think we sold anything but Disney. It also featured Pete’s new ‘tv logo’ (fun fact, the plan there was that Pete wanted theDIS to become a round the clock television channel - like you could subscribe to with cable - which is also stupid).
I presented it to Pete first and explained to him that he needed to present it to John himself and claim that Craig made it because John didn’t like me and would kill the project simply because I presented it. Pete showed John and John liked it and then Pete told me that he then told John that I came up with it ‘so I got my credit’ and then John changed his tune and said it wouldn’t work and killed it. I told him I didn’t want credit, I was just trying to help and that he shouldn’t have done that and then Pete got made at me and flipped out that I’m stupid and a terrible employee and businessman anyway and he’d never defend me again cause I’m ungrateful and all that.
and now for the photo above of the street view of the welcome center. Pete proceeded to invest a bunch of money into the welcome center and bought all new furniture and couches. Dragged us down there to film travel agency content (these videos likely still exist because it was them interviewing me on the new couches about booking vacations - this should’ve been in 2019 I believe) - then he wanted me to start working out of the welcome center (which would’ve given me a 1+ hour commute every day, each way for a job I currently did from home) and he also proceeded to rent the unit on the far left (you can see it just has a white sign above it that’s blank). He moved the basket making into that other building and then made the welcome center, just be the welcome center, despite them being able to make baskets for years in the one rented unit.
In what was supposed to be a money saving plan, it ended up costing extra per year with no benefit, but I guess he proved his point to me. Hope it was worth it. And to think it all started with a gift card.
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