Originally Posted By Sara Tonin This is outrageous...I remember when ears were done by hand on a big black sewing machine...so there were cool swirlies and they were individual and cool. And then they computerized the process and that was okay. But charging for it? That's just stupid. Are they trying to decrease ear sales?
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I think things are tougher than we want to admit. I was just at the local zoo and I overheard a family deciding against the little train ride because of the fee for 4 people roundtrip! Today is Wild Wednesday at the zoo! $2 for entry, $2 for trainride and $2 for hot dogs and the place is packed! It looked like neighborhoods loaded up their mini vans! SO yes an extra fee for something as traditional as MM Ears at DL is just not nice! I am sorry I understand business costs but this just seems not fair. I hope Corporate Disney reads this.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Like iamsally, my family had to scrimp and save for our visits. And bless him - my dad is comfortable financially now and loves to treat his daughter to nice dinners out when we're together... but he can also be quite the vocal crumudgeon and definitely would have balked publicly at a ridiculous add-on charge back in the day.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Are they trying to decrease ear sales?>> I rather doubt they'll lose many if any sales just because they no longer embroider at no extra cost.
Originally Posted By Westsider This does seem like a tacky move. They should have just increased hat prices a bit and continued the "free" service, only for appearances and to keep up a sense of old-fashioned style about it. This way, charging 3 bucks for embroidery, it just seems colder and more calculated and less gracious and cute. Bad move Merchandise Department. You're just making Disneyland look tacky.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Yes it is DISheartening to see an original "Class Act" Disappear.
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 The sad part is, it probably costs them about 2 cents to embroider each hat.
Originally Posted By dizkid Being absurdly interested in the Mouse Ears (I am at 95 now.) I am neither here nor there about it. Me, myself, and I never wanted to get my ears embroidered, since I am a collector. But I do feel angry about the cost. THREE DOLLARS IS IMBECILIC. (sorry for shouting) Even if they have insanely advanced sewing machines (which they do), they have no doubt already payed off the cost to buy them. And trying to make seem (not seam) like they are paying 3$ for 25 inches of thread is a joke. At the most it is costing them 50 cents per person and with the most expensive cotton blend. So if I ever wanted my name sewed onto my ears I'll do it myself. Sincerely, The Kid of Diz PS: Sorry for the rant
Originally Posted By iamsally I am happy to hear your opinion dizkid. You expressed just what I feel. Once, when I wanted SugarBare on my hubby's Valentine's Day ears they would not do it because, "We don't do nic-names." So I went home and did it myself. It can be done. Let's show 'em.
Originally Posted By Doom Buggy Driver While I do not post much, this subject got me to thinking. If they are going to charge $3 for putting names on the hats, does that mean that we can now start putting company and nicknames on the hats that we pay for the printing on? Tasteful business and nicknames of course. I have always wanted to put a group name on ears and bring them back as souvenoirs (sorry for the spelling) but was told that business and nicknames are not allowed. So since we pay for the service does that change the rules? Just curious.
Originally Posted By MerryMouseWife >>"We don't do nic-names." << This is because all the personality has been taken out of the names by the fancy-schmancy embroidery machines. Nicknames are not in the database. As a previous poster mentioned, it used to be an art form to have your name done with swirls and curlicues. I remember my ears as a child and I was so proud of my name because the lady working the machine personalized it and made it beautiful just for me. I kept those ears for a very long time, into adulthood, until they literally just fell apart and I had to let them go. This is just bad form and emphasizes the depersonalization of the Disney experience. Bad mom am I, but I never got the traditional ears for my children and they never had their names on any item of clothing. Unfortunately, child predators use such items to gain trust in children. The child does not know that the predator has used the pretty barrettes in her hair to know her name. Sorry to get off on a tangent. As they grew, my girls did get tiaras and fuzzy Mouseear headbands, but no traditional ears, I'm sorry to say.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The picture I saw of the sign they had in the Mad Hatter on Main Street said that they are charging $3 for the standard embroidery and $7 for the 'fancy' embroidery with the other colors and fonts. Next to the standard embroidery, it says something along the lines of "Proper names only" (not sure of the exact wording, but basically use real names), but it says nothing next to the fancy (and more expensive) ones. I don't know if it is just a poorly made sign (it looked like someone made it in about 10 min and printed it off and stuck it in one of those cheap plastic stands), or if you really can use whatever name you want with the 'fancy' (translated: non-curly, so they can make it say anything) font. On a related note, does anybody know when they stopped being called "Mouse Ears" and started being "Ear Hats"? Mouse Ears just sounds a lot more fun and whimsical, while Ear Hats sounds very corporate and cold. They have the Ear Hat signs all over the stores, so I'm sure that's what people will be calling them now, but it just isn't an appealing name to me.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros This isn't the exact sign I saw a picture of earlier, but it has all the same information. For the 'standard' embroidery it says "Proper names only", while the 'custom' embroidery is $7 per line (which implies you can have several lines, which implies more than just a regular name), with a 16 character maximum. <a href="http://darkbeer.smugmug.com/gallery/9138480_xu5WF#609324444_xUkNk-A-LB" target="_blank">http://darkbeer.smugmug.com/ga...kNk-A-LB</a> Silly me, but I always thought that 'standard' meant the same thing as 'free when you buy the other part'...
Originally Posted By iamsally When I think about the cute little bows and flowers the ladies would stitch onto the names it makes me want to cry. The last ears we got done like this were our golden 50th ears. We got into a conversation with the lady and when I checked my receipt found she had given us her employee discount. Those personal touches are what have always made Disneyland unique.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice If this is how it's going to be, then I want "WonderingAlice" on mine and if they won't do it, I'll hold up the line to speak with a manager. If they don't want a riot on their hands (when I get all the other folks up in arms over the "new, nasty charge") they'll give me what I want. Payback's a bee-otch, ain't it?
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 You go, Alice! I guess Disney doesn't mind their growing reputation as a greedy company who will squeeze their fans dry. This sure isn't helping.
Originally Posted By LVBelle If you're sneaky you can get nicknames on. You just have to be careful about who you approach and swear you'll hide them afterwards. I went when I was about 14 weeks pregnant and I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl and the baby's nickname was Tummy Monkey. Most places I went to they refused to put Tummy Monkey on. I think I tried 4 or 5 different places before the sweet girls at the hat stand in DCA by Golden Dreams agreed!
Originally Posted By LVBelle Oh, and this is before the fancy-schmancy machines so it doesn't have anything to do with what's programmed into them, it's company policy not to do nicknames!
