This was recieved by the person who handles our general info inquiries from our website. Yes, this is real. The sender's name has been deleted...



"Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:28:32 -0500
To: info@rmne.org
Subject: [RMNE] Message from RMNE.ORG
From: xxxxxxxxx@sbcglobal.net

Hi
I was wondering if you could plan the \"All aboard for Thomas & friends\" event for July of 2008, not August, as it has been mentioned in your brochure. Why am I asking? Well, my grandkids will be here from Poland until July 15, 2008, and they would love to take a ride on the train right out of the story they love. They have all of the Thomas\' toy trains.

Sincerely,

Xxxxxx"


We've run a DOWT for five years; 2008 will be our sixth event. Planning starts in late September, just after recovering from the previous DOWT. But, with one e-mail, this correspondent wants us to move the whole thing around to suit her schedule. And, let's just forget about the 80,000+ brochures that have been printed.

Do you laugh or cry?? No wonder we all have gray hair.....

I thought many of you would appreciate this inquiry. Most New Englanders don't have quite this sense of entitlement.

Howard P.
Easily Amused, CT

Two things came across to me:

1. We are mising a market - foreigners on tour, which will become more popular with our dollar in a relatively weak condition.

2. Thomas is being marketed more widely than I realized - thought it was pretty much a US - UK thing.

dave

That's just like the people who call in mid-Decmber,complain that the Polar Express trains are sold out,and want you to put on an extra train for them!

Bill

Actually, Dave, we get people from almost a dozen different countries at our DOWTs, by actual count. We are rather close to New York City, which is quite an attraction for foreign visitors.

Howard P.

I just see this as proof people have no clue what planning is involved in anything these days. I am sure the lady thinks Thomas lives on site and can run by simply hitting the starter switch. That is how almost everybody thinks these days. What a sad state of affairs.

John Bohon

At Orange Empire on the west coast we have had visitors for DOWT from Japan on a couple of occasions. I understand that we've handled the ticketing directly for these people because TicketWeb does not do overseas ticketing.

Otherwise, it seems every year we get people from Las Vegas, the Phoenix area, up and down California, and even further afield.