Ariel's

[MrsRomance]

Hey everyone!

As you may or may not know DH (Mr Romance) and I are planning our 10 year VR already

We are going to be back at WDW in July/August and want to do our own site visit for the locations we think we want. Obviously Seabreeze pointe is outside, so we can go over and see it without too much of a problem.

My question is about Ariel's. Is it possible for us to go up and have a look or is it somewhere you would need to be taken into? I have seen loads of pictures of the venue, but I'd really like to see it for myself if it's possible.

Thanks!

 

[lpizzuro123]

You can definately visit Ariels by yourself. If you go to Cape May Cafe - Ariels is right around the corner from it - not far from the restrooms. Sometimes the gate to get into Ariels can be closed but it is an open gate so you can see through it. We went there on our site visit, but we had also stopped by prior to our site visit - when I was hoping for a Disney wedding.

When we went to our sitevisit - we visited Ariels, a conference room (can't remember which one) and ADH. We ended up with ADH but loved Ariels. Just to let you know a few things we did not like about Ariels - we went to visit it in the morning and there were alot of people waiting outside Cape May for their breakfast reservations - and I mean alot of people - that made it difficult to walk past. We were having a brunch reception - starting at 10:00am so this turned me off a little. Now if you are coming from Sea Breeze Point - I don't know if you need to walk past Cape May Cafe to get to Ariels. Our ceremony was in Epcot so our guests would get dropped off in front and would have to walk through the lobby and past Cape May to get to Ariels.

The other thing I was not crazy about was there are large windowed doors off the downstairs portion of Ariels (where most people have dancing). There are curtins on these doors. I really wanted our guests to be able to go outside during our reception - and the doors opened up to the pool area - so you could not really open the curtins or the doors because all the people at the pool would be right there.

I definately suggest you go and check out the place. It is beautiful and it is a great size, I just felt it would not work for what we wanted.

I know you said you have seen pictures, but here are a few that we took.

Doors on lower level that lead out to the pool.

This is the lounge next door to Ariels - can't remember the name - but we would have had our pre-reception there - although I don't think they use that any more.

Good luck with your decission. Please go see the site for yourself - you will definately get a better vision of your day.

Linda

 

[MrsRomance]

Wow thank you so much for such a detailed reply!! That was really helpful and gives us food for thought. I don't know what time we're looking at, but that could really impact whether or not we choose it -- it would be a pain to have hoardes of people gawking and getting in the way!!

We will definitely go and have a peek around though!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi sweetie
Is it confirmed that Ariel's will still be available in 2014? I know there has been on and off talk that it will change back into a regular restaurant (and not be available for receptions) at some point. This may have changed now, but I know that has been the rumour in the past, and, I think, there have been times in the past when DFTW were not guaranteeing brides that they would be able to use it. Might be worth asking. I would hate to see you have your heart set on it, only to find you can't use it!!

 

[Chilly]

That rumour has been going on for about 4 years now.

You can def get in there as I went in.

 

[MrsRomance]

Thanks Claire!

I don't have my heart set anywhere specific as of yet, but we felt it would be convenient for transport purposes if the ceremony venue was close to the reception. All that could change in the next 4 years, but as of now we really want a boardwalk area VR.