A better, brighter DSF lineup idea

hopemax said:

Unless the DSF CMs told or hinted that there would be "special" surprise pins to a select few. And once those people showed up, it would be "game on." I already saw where people are speculating that this release has a surprise pin (Jessica calendar).

Click to expand...

The Jessica calenders aren't really 'surprise' pins anymore since they've already stated they are doing one for every month of the year, all of them Jessica... There will be one at the beginning of every month, just not announced in advance like most pins.
The only surprise is what it looks like and the exact date it's released... In this case, you may be right, it might be the surprise... They may even just announce/sell it tomorrow...

I like the registering online, if DsF was able to make it where you could not register more than once from the same IP address. Then showing your ID, that way people could still pick up for those not able to make it or those that live out of state.

Chilikitty said:

I like the registering online, if DsF was able to make it where you could not register more than once from the same IP address. Then showing your ID, that way people could still pick up for those not able to make it or those that live out of state.

Click to expand...

And what if you didn't get selected? Most people help out those that are out of state because they are able to buy 4 sets (as a couple or bring a third or fourth person to help out) with an online RSP. those out of state would be LESS likely to receive help on a regular basis because their supplier might not get selected to buy pins, or only one of a family gets selected, so a whole family can only buy two pins. Since a lot of people collect Rapunzel, I venture a safe bet that some of the very helpful kind hearted people could not buy 4 - 6 sets of pins, but only two. then not as many out of towners on this forum would be getting the help they so greatly appreciate. DSF does not sell online, the only way to buy is to go to the store and get them.

Chilikitty said:

I like the registering online, if DsF was able to make it where you could not register more than once from the same IP address. Then showing your ID, that way people could still pick up for those not able to make it or those that live out of state.

Click to expand...

+ 1 While this is a more-hectic-than-usual pin release, I'm in favor of an online registration/raffle option. It would reduce overnights (while fun, they take a toll on you) and would be easier to manage. Here's my idea. You enter into the online raffle for the pins. Two days before they are set to come out, they announce the lucky 150 people who are given the first chance to buy pins. The day of the release, you can come down anytime during the day to purchase your allotted pins. The next day, any left overs are sold on a first-come first-buy basis. Yeah it's a bit complicated, but I think it would make releases more relaxed. No process is without its flaws, but I think this could work out for some easier releases.

Problem is, you'd still get a bunch of people camping out for the anticipated left overs... Especially if they can spam the lottery with false entries...

They'd have to release the left over at some announced time at least several days later or something.

I still like the idea of them doing everything exactly the way it is, just changing the location where they hand out the wristbands. The location is announced a couple of hours before they start... If you don't know where it's going to be, you can't line up early for it...

ok... So, lets get back to what this is really about....

SAFETY.

I could honestly care less if there is an over night line. I see no problem with people brinign a friend or family member to buy extras to sell or trade to fellow collectors.

My concern is that when the say a specific time for line up, all the people hovering around the alley waiting for the real line then RUSH and might knock someone over.

Screw getting rid of campouts... lets just find a way to make the campouts safer, and preferrably not more that 12 hours?

So I had what I thought was a good idea, but I don't know how to deal with parties that don't want to split up. But maybe someone can think of improvements

If the problem is the mad dash, then the solution should be that "dashing" shouldn't help. Then I thought of how Christmas exchanges work, and how everyone draws a number. So if you said "no line can form before 9PM the night before." Then at 9PM, numbers are drawn for the purpose of determining the order of the line. Drawing first doesn't guarantee you the first spot in line. But like I said the problem is keeping parties together. It doesn't really work if Dad is 14 and child is 74. I did think about maybe number pairs, so groups of 2 could stay together, but I figure that wouldn't work for a lot of groups either, and how do you handle singles. Once the initial line order is determined, others just join the end of the line like normal.

The other problem would be if more than 150 people (or whatever the magic number is) showed up at the distribution time. How often would that happen? At first, I was thinking "store closing" would be the easiest time for DSF to handle it. But to prevent the whole crowd being there at once, maybe some time during the work/school day would work better.

EDIT: Thinking about a bit more...Draw letters, not numbers. One letter per group, with maybe a maximum number of people (so groups of 4 okay, groups of 10 are not). That way you could line up A, B, C...AA...AAA, etc) but parties get to stay together. And all members of your party have to be present at the time of the draw. No joining your friends group after you find out that they have a better letter than you.

Psycho Pixie said:

My concern is that when the say a specific time for line up, all the people hovering around the alley waiting for the real line then RUSH and might knock someone over.

Screw getting rid of campouts... lets just find a way to make the campouts safer, and preferrably not more that 12 hours?

Click to expand...

That's why I suggested not revealing _where_ the line will be. If you don't know where it is, you can't pre-line up or camp out for it at all... If people know where it is, they will always try to line up for it. Not matter that time is, someone will try to be there earlier... I don't think there's really a wy to prevent that if it's just first come, first served...

rik1138 said:

That's why I suggested not revealing _where_ the line will be. If you don't know where it is, you can't pre-line up or camp out for it at all... If people know where it is, they will always try to line up for it. Not matter that time is, someone will try to be there earlier... I don't think there's really a wy to prevent that if it's just first come, first served...

Click to expand...

I find this suggestion having very few suggestions to refuse it?



Dodgers stadium fixed this problem years ago. I mentioned this, I think, last year in a thread. Neighbors of the stadium were pissed each year when 1000's of cars and people walking up the streets lined the streets for opening day tickets. Police were involved so the streets were safe. And no vehicle codes were broken and the pedestrians were safe in the streets and crossways.

For the past several years, they hand out wristbands between the hours of 8-9am. There is NO ADVANTAGE in getting there first or rushing to get in line. Everyone walked into 6 different lines. Mind you there are at least 2000 people there if not more. Once everyone has their wristbands, numbered 1 threw, lets say, 2000 are distributed. (They are not in numerical order so you and the person who came with you may have wristbands hundreds of numbers apart.) they call the 1st number sets in blocks. For Dodgers Stadium, its blocks of 100's.

For the DSF example,

Lets say Theresa keeps her 7am and 7pm rules. She predetermined that wristband are to be released on a Thursday.

She announces from the DSF Facebook and in store flyers what this months pins are to be.

(This is my guess. That there should be 200 wristbands? Based on last night, before the cut off, that would or may have been the max amount of people? And the recent trade morning there initially was less than 200? Before the Surprise pin announcement.). There may even be 400 wristbands depending on the pins released and people bringing multiple people with them for better odds.

At 7am Thursday, she hands out 100 wristbands. The wristbands are mixed up so even if you are a CKC member arriving first, you may get wristband #172 or #35 or #106?

At 7pm Thursday, she hands out 100 wristbands.

On Friday morning, the day of the release let's say 9:30 am, Theresa gets on her soapbox and randomly calls out numbers 151, 76, 1, 26, 175, 51, 101, 126". Now everyone gets in line numerically within those sets of numbers. These numbers are in different random orders each time wristbands are used. So even if a cast member leaks the number order (although, Theresa is the only one that knows them and picks them the morning of) a CKC member does not even have an advantage and a group or family are not all in the same "groups".

But having 200 numbers possible to call, it is broken into 8 sets. The sets are

1-25
26-50
51-75
76-100
101-125
126-150
151-175
175-200

For more popular releases, she can hand out 300, 400 wristbands depending on what specific pins/themes are announced. (I know your reading this Theresa so you know from the threads we chat and post about that you have a rough estimate of how many of us will be there).

Everyone having a non numerical order has equal chances of being first. And the same odds of being last. Now to get better odds of getting a better number, there will be more people coming to the wristband releases. If I go alone, I have a maximum 25% chance if 200 are handed out of being in the first set in line. But if I take a friend, retired father and wife with me, I have up to 50% chance of being in the first called set of numbers. And that is not saying that myself and wife randomly get #127 and #143. This would mean that we are in the same set of the blocks of numbers and reduces the 50% chance.

Now in the numbers Theresa called out in the example above, blocks #101-125 and #126-150, on an LE 300 release may not get any pins and are in the standby line. If a Surprise Release is announced, the current rule is 1 per person and is an LE 300, then everyone in line has the option to buy.

This would still satisfy Theresa having us there for 2 days. The only reason were there for two days is for incremental sales of ice cream and some food and even merchandise.

This would put an end to over night and have everyone there at a specific time and getting Everyone out fast. I would even suggests bringing back the noon release so the a.m. one is less crowded since, again, its not an advantage to be first.


Find a flaw in this scenario and ill update it. If this suggestion is acceptable to the CKC and DPF members and eBay sellers and pin collectors/traders and bums walking the streets, we can tell Theresa to read this specific post. As if she's not already?

Feedback please.

Still just a low-tech lottery though, although maybe better thought out that most ideas.

It seems to come down to this:
_Something_ has to be unknown. Either:
1- The order of the line (i.e., lottery, random order drawing, etc)
2- Location of the line (what I posted above)
3- Time you can line up (You can't line before sometime on Thurs, that time is NOT announced, and no unofficial lines are allowed to form, PERIOD)
4- What the pins are (date & time announced, pins aren't actually shown until an hour before they go onsale)
5- Everything. Nothing announced (no dates, no pin flyers), pins just go onsale on some day and some time... (Or maybe just Up/Tangled announced as Surprise Pins... )


Sure, if it's #3 people will still be 'in the area', but the line time is never announced, they just quietly open the alley. If a line is not allowed to form in the immediate area, then even if 100 people are waiting, people could still get in line first if they happen to be there when the alley is opened...

I've always said the lottery idea was the most practical. Be it a computer system that people can sign up in, or something like your post, something that randomizes the line order. As long as everyone that _wants_ a chance can get one, the line problem should go away. If they are only going to give out 200 chances for 150 pins, and 300 people want them, there will still be camp outs...