Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year! We can't believe it has been some-time since we have blogged. The year has certainly kept us busy. Between business going strong and Facebooking, we haven't had much time for anything else. Business has been great, but we feel that there is a something that seems to hold us back a bit. We call it Yelp. We can't help but to share a bit of information with you on what we have learned about Yelping over the last year. As we have voiced in the past, Jennifer and I are extremely disasstisfied with the Yelp review system. We have accumulated approximately 52 reviews, but 48 of them have been filtered out through their filtering system. Due to that happening, Jen and I have had several lengthy phone conversations with Yelp Reps about this. Please note that Yelp makes it extremely difficult to contact them. There is no phone number that you can call to speak to a live Rep. They do have an email, but it is difficult to find. The only way we got a hold of them is because they're constantly calling us to advertise with them. It is at that those times that I have taken the liberty to voice my concern!

According to their Yelp Reps, reviews will get automatically filtered out if the person writing the review has no Yelping history with them. Okay, I get it that makes sense, but it doesn't stop there. In order to have your reviews for any company stick, you must log into your account on a REGULAR basis. If this is not the case, then anything you write is in vain. The interesting thing though, is that many of us lead extremely busy lives and don't have the time to sit at a computer all day. I joined Yelp several years back and never left a review until last week. I was so upset about something that I felt the need to voice it. And that's when Jennifer and I realized that many people are not inclined to leave reviews unless they are really upset about a business or really blown away by the experience. Therefore, the public review system is seriously flawed because there are many companies out there who have many negative reviews that are filtered away as

well. Anyway, just thought we'd share this bit of information.

We strongly encourage you to look at all our filtered reviews which is located at the bottom of our Yelp page. Below is a link to our Yelp page. We also suggest you do the same for the other competing companies.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cinderella-company-walnut-creek

Today's Mail

This came in yesterday's mail. Since it was too long to put on facebook, I thought I would post it here. Thank you Meredith!

"Hi there. I just wanted to send along a huge THANK YOU! Rapunzel attended my daughter's 6th birthday party yesterday, and I cannot tell you how impressed again I was with your company! This is our second time using you and I have recommended you to other friends!!! Your service--the quality and the professionalism is top notch! My daughter told me that it was the most special birthday she had ever had. Her little friends were giving glowing comments today at school about what fun they had! Thank you again for making my princess have and amazing birthday!!!"


Meredith F, Santa Cruz

Disneyland 2011

This past week my family and I headed down to Disney for Spring break. With all of the years that I spent going as a child and now as an adult bringing my own children, I can honestely say that Disney has NEVER once disappointed me. It just amazes me that this company has the longevity that it does, and continues to deliver the magic and the product that it does regularly. Although this was a family vacation and I was suppose to be taking a break, I had to laugh because here I was catching myself focusing in on the daily operations of the parks and the hotel. I just couldn't help but watch as the park staff in their clean crisp theme uniforms, shined the trash cans and the lamp posts each morning while sweeping up the streets and changing out the trash cans that weren't even full. I couldn't help but notice the large crowds pouring into the parks and hotel hour after hour, and day after day, and the Disney staff never loosing their composure. Every staff member I saw remained calm and as gracious as ever with their guests--and there were a few stressed out people in the group. I also noticed that when a couple of the rides went down, their engineers were on site quickly and got those attractions up and running fast. As both a small business owner and consumer, I really appreciate and admire that they run a very tight ship. To think that they can close the parks down at 10:00 pm and 12 am and turn it around again to open up by 8 am is incredible! If there was one person that I wish I could have met, that would have been Walt Disney himself. Before going away, I read they are breaking ground in Shanghai. Go Disney!!!

Terri

The Waltz Melody Dress

This past Christmas, Jennifer and I decided that we wanted to add another ballet costume to our collection due to the numerous ballerina requests we've been receiving. So after putting forth several different designs to our performers, The Waltz Melody, a professionally made romantic style tutu won hands down! It just arrived yesterday, and I cannot wait to bring it to Frances. It is so beautifully made and every ballet enthusiast will fall in love with it. The exquisite applications create and intricate interlacing pattern and the dress is richly embroided with braiding, crystals, sequins and beads. This dress is suited perfectly for the Pas de Trois variations from Swan Lake or for the costume of the Queen or Cinderella roles . We hope that you like it too!

Yelp Leaves our Clients "Speechless" (Literally)

These days, our to do list is a mile long. And for our clients to take the time out of their busy schedule to write a review and share their experience with the public, but not be credited for it is upsetting to us. And equally so to the client. I mean, what is the point in writing out a review if it's just going to be hidden away.

We have approximately 35 *5 star reviews* that were left by our dear clients. Yet over the past week or so, those reviews are getting filtered out at an alarming rate. Today we woke up to find that we only have 11 Reviews left from 14 the day before, and 18 the day before that! Shocking and upsetting to say the least.

Yelp claims that their filtering system has been put in place to protect both consumers and businesses from people leaving false reviews. However, what is a small business to do when all of their reviews are legitimate and they are not being recognized for their accomplishment or failure?

At this point we are really not sure whether or not to continue to use Yelp or try to locate another public reviewing system. We wrote to Yelp last week just to ask why this is happening at such an alarming rate and have not received a response. Yelp has not only left our clients literally speechless, but us as well.

In the meantime, we just want to give credit where credit is due. To see our filtered reviews, click on this link: CINDERELLA FILTERED REVIEWS. You can also review our reviews by clicking on 24 Filtered at the bottom of our Yelp page.

Bippidty, Bobbidy, Boo!

I always gets so teary-eyed whenever I work with my performers because their performances always moves me so deeply. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with Nicole as Cinderella for one of my Just Imagine clients in Sonoma. Nicole's beautiful singing, violin playing and storytelling mesmerized everyone there!

It was so amazing to watch as she beautifully interacted with each of the little party guests and to see them respond to her as if they were at a theme park meeting their princess for the first time.

Well done Nicole! Thank you for once again making magic.

-by Terri Reynolds

Falling Uphill Film Shoot

Jennifer and I had an amazing day today. Last month we were offered the opportunity to participate in helping set up a scene for a small romantic comedy called, Falling Uphill starring our very own Jena Hunt. Our dear Jena works as Jenny, a young woman living and working in San Francisco. Jenny works part-time as a princess entertainer for a company called The Cinderella Company. We had a great time participating and it was such a pleasure to work with Director Rick Bosner and Producer Barret Hacia and their film crew.

35 Yelp Reviews and Proud!

Don't let the number fool you. We have 35 *5-STAR* reviews not 11!

As consumers, we all look to find people's reviews online about products and businesses that we might be interested in. A couple of months ago, we discovered that 24 of the reviews we received from clients were being filtered out by Yelp.

A Sales Rep informed us that they were taken off because Yelp has a filtering system that weeds out any negative or positive reviews that a person writes, who does not have an account history with them.

Although we can understand this, it is quite upsetting for the obvious reason because we think that they're eliminating many legitimate reviews both good and bad that people deserve to see.

So we encourage you to check out our filtered reviews, which can be found at the bottom of our Yelp page. We want to make sure these reviews are seen as we take pride in these and appreciate the time it took clients to write out.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cinderella-company-walnut-creek

Rapunzel's Raving Review

Our beautiful Jena recieved another glowing review as Rapunzel. We just received this in the mail yesterday morning and are excited to share it with you.

"Good Morning! I just wanted to let you know how wonderful Jena was at our daughter's 5th birthday party. She was amazing and so true to her character. She was truly awesome. Everyone was so impressed and really loved her. Her voice was described as being magical. I cannot say enough about her. I would like to send her a THANK YOU card that our daughter personally made for her. Where can we send this? Everyone was so impressed with her and she made the party the best ever. Thanks so much!! " ~ M. Dispo, Vallejo

Welcome Jenefer!

http://www.jenefertaylor.com/

We are pleased to welcome yet another addition to our family of performers, Jenefer. Jenefer comes to us from right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her inspiration of being a role model to children brought her to us. She attributes to her hardworking demeanor and unwavering dedication to theatre and music, which is her true passion. Her primary roles will be of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid and Cinderella. We are so happy to have her!