By John C.

 

I’ll admit that I was skeptical at first before initially signing up for a Disney Movie Rewards account in late 2007.  But I shouldn’t have let the more childish themes and activities featured on the site fool me, as what I discovered is what I would consider one of the best loyalty programs that I’m currently involved with.

 

Registration is simple.  Once you sign up for an account on www.disneymovierewards.com, you can start collecting points by entering the ‘magic codes’ found on the inserts included in the majority of Disney DVDs.  You get 100 points for every DVD, and 25 extra for every Blu-ray.  Points can also be earned by mailing in the ticket stubs from when you see a Disney movie at the theatres.  As of now, I’ve yet to find a catch.

 

The points can be redeemed for rewards that range from toys and collectibles to CDs and DVDs.  I have redeemed several rewards over the years, all of them arriving free of shipping, promptly and undamaged.  I’ve wanted to write about Disney Movie Rewards or loyalty programs in general for a little while now, but what I really want to share with you in today’s article is a CD that I just received from the program last week.

 

I’ve always loved good jazz music, and was delighted to discover Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to be a Cat – a newly released album that is already being offered through Disney Movie Rewards for the very reasonable price of just 700 points.  It’s so popular, in fact, that it’s currently listed as being sold out.

 

The CD is a selection of 13 classic Disney songs, as covered by popular jazz artists like Dave Brubeck and Esperenza Spalding.  The excellent selection of songs should provide easy listening for those of all ages, but the collection will be most satisfying for adults who appreciate the mature and classy jazz sound given to the familiar tunes.  Certain songs are appropriately touched with a hint of melancholy, and even the more upbeat tracks get a unique and jazzy take.

 

Nikki Yanofsky’s appealing vocals on “It’s a Small World After All” make for a cute cover of the perpetual earworm, where’s certain tracks like “The Bare Neccessities” (Alfredo Rodriguez) and “Circle of Life” (Mark Rapp) are at times almost unrecognizable and allow us to gain further appreciation of the original songs.  One of my personal favourites from the CD has to be Regina Carter’s suprisingly effective instrumental cover of “Find Yourself” from Pixar’s Cars.

 

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’ve been really enjoying the jazz covers of these classic songs, but I think what makes me rank Disney Movie Rewards as one of the best loyalty programs that I’m involved with is that it is so straight forward.  At full risk of sounding like I work for their PR department, points are easy to get and easy to redeem and with rewards as good as this CD those of any age are guaranteed to get something out of having an account.