Anyone Used Ariel's for Dinner Reception?

[Simba22]

Just wondering a few things about this venue....

1) I'm assuming there is room for dancing, yes? Is it a hardwood surface or is the entire venue carpeted?

2) Anyone have any decent pics of the inside? I tried google and it's pretty unhelpful.

3) Magical Kingdoms shows a $100/person food/beverage minimum for events after 2pm, then states that the overall food/beverage minimum is $1000. However, according to Carrie's book (which I'm assuming is more up to date than the website), shows a $1500 overall minimum. When looking at the cost of a custom buffet, the price (again, according to the book) is $110/person.

I'm really terrible at math and I think I'm making this more complicated than it is, so I just want to clarify...

If we opt for the $110/person buffet...that covers the $100/person minimum, correct? And as long as we have more than say, 15 people, we'll meet the overall minimum. Is this correct?

 

[lurkyloo]

Hi! Ariel's is all carpeted except for the sunken area by the windows, which is hard flooring and used for dancing at weddings. You can see more photos of the room here: http://disneytravelbabble.com/disney-weddings/wdw-venue-photos/ariels/

There is no per-person food and beverage minimum associated with Ariel's, only the overall food and beverage minimum of $1,500. I think Magical Kingdoms is referring to the per-person food and beverage minimum required to have a DFTW, but it can be kind of confusing. Also, a lot of their info is out of date. But their menu section is a great place to get ideas for customizing your meal.

Under the old DFTW minimums, you could meet the $125/$150/$175 per person food and beverage minimums via any combination of food and drinks on your wedding day, including dessert parties, a bridal tea (if held that day), the pre-reception, etc. So the venue-specific minimum was designed to be sure that at least $1,500 of that was spent at your reception.

Beginning in 2014/2015, you must meet those per-person minimums entirely through reception and pre-reception food and drinks, which means you will have *no* problem hitting $1,500 at Ariel's.

Also, I should note that all menus are customizable. You don't have to take a $110/person one off the shelf. If you want to spend less or get different food, Disney will customize it for you (the trick now is that if you save money that way, you'll then have to spend more elsewhere at the reception to meet the per-person minimums).

Hope this helps!

 

[Simba22]

Hi! Ariel's is all carpeted except for the sunken area by the windows, which is hard flooring and used for dancing at weddings. You can see more photos of the room here: http://disneytravelbabble.com/disney-weddings/wdw-venue-photos/ariels/

There is no per-person food and beverage minimum associated with Ariel's, only the overall food and beverage minimum of $1,500. I think Magical Kingdoms is referring to the per-person food and beverage minimum required to have a DFTW, but it can be kind of confusing. Also, a lot of their info is out of date. But their menu section is a great place to get ideas for customizing your meal.

Under the old DFTW minimums, you could meet the $125/$150/$175 per person food and beverage minimums via any combination of food and drinks on your wedding day, including dessert parties, a bridal tea (if held that day), the pre-reception, etc. So the venue-specific minimum was designed to be sure that at least $1,500 of that was spent at your reception.

Beginning in 2014/2015, you must meet those per-person minimums entirely through reception and pre-reception food and drinks, which means you will have *no* problem hitting $1,500 at Ariel's.

Also, I should note that all menus are customizable. You don't have to take a $110/person one off the shelf. If you want to spend less or get different food, Disney will customize it for you (the trick now is that if you save money that way, you'll then have to spend more elsewhere at the reception to meet the per-person minimums).

Hope this helps!

You are so awesome!

OK so there is no per person minimum so if I customize a dinner buffet for $110 per person, and have more than 14 people, I've hit the overall minimum, right? Because that's $1540 right there.

So now, if I add in a BOC bar, and we calculate that to be, let's say $2000....

And now (and forgive me because I KNOW I read this and I'm overwhelming myself by reading so much!) the food/beverage counts towards the overall minimum expenditure right? So with the above numbers, $3540 is being applied towards my $15,000 (for a Friday wedding) is that right?

 

[lurkyloo]

OK, don't freak out, but the whole pricing structure changed back in October and there is no overall minimum expenditure anymore. Unless you were already working with a sales consultant at that time, you'll fall under the new one. I go over it in great detail in this show, but basically it works like this now:

Ceremony venue fee: $3,500 - $4,000

+

Per-Person food & beverage minimum: $125/$150/$175 x # of guests

+

Enhancement minimum expenditure: $8,000 on Thursday/Friday/Sunday

=

Your price for a DFTW.


So basically, don't worry about Ariel's food and beverage minimum. Because you're required to have 20 guests to do Wishes, and you'll be spending at least $125 each on food and beverage for the reception and pre-reception only, which puts you at $2,500 spent at Ariel's.

 

[Simba22]

OK, don't freak out, but the whole pricing structure changed back in October and there is no overall minimum expenditure anymore. Unless you were already working with a sales consultant at that time, you'll fall under the new one. I go over it in great detail in this show, but basically it works like this now:

Ceremony venue fee: $3,500 - $4,000

+

Per-Person food & beverage minimum: $125/$150/$175 x # of guests

+

Enhancement minimum expenditure: $8,000 on Thursday/Friday/Sunday

=

Your price for a DFTW.


So basically, don't worry about Ariel's food and beverage minimum. Because you're required to have 20 guests to do Wishes, and you'll be spending at least $125 each on food and beverage for the reception and pre-reception only, which puts you at $2,500 spent at Ariel's.

Ohhh! OK! That actually HELPS me to understand a little better because I kept reading about the $8000 minimum and wondered if that was PART of the $15,000... And then I was told earlier that there was a $175 minimum per person for dinner receptions but the menu prices in the book were throwing me off. So I was basically combining/confusing two different pricing structures.

This actually helps a lot! Thanks!

 

[OrlandoDJChuck]

You can see some pictures of wedding receptions at Ariel's here.

Hope this helps!

 

[Simba22]

Thank you!

 

[girli565]

We had our reception at Ariel's in June 2010. It's a lovely venue. Here's the pis from the reception.