Mandy7581, congratulations on your engagement. It sounds like it was wonderful, ~sigh.~
I can only relay to you my experiences with hiring Disney characters. I have two of them. Here goes
I had a private party last year at the Grand Floridian's Summerhouse. At my party, I hired Mickey Mouse to show up and surprise my guests. I wrote about this in great detail in a trip report (
click here). I ~think~ 20 minutes with Mickey Mouse was approximately $750 (I don't know what the cost is this year). I also was charged for his arrival since he arrived in a most unique manner (I wrote about his arrival in my trip report).
Disney has lots of rules regarding the hiring of their characters. For the most part, the character's appearance should be at a private event where access to that character can be tightly controlled.
Let me explain what I mean. My event at the GF was private. Its location was roped off and access was allowed only to my guests. A slight problem arose during my event when Mickey Mouse posed on the beach with my daughter and my friend's two children:
click here. There was a large family nearby on the beach who saw Mickey Mouse and who wanted photos taken with him. Their asking for photos created a very sticky situation for Disney because I was the one who was paying for Mickey Mouse's time. If Mickey posed with the other people, that would take him away from my event. Like I said, it was a sticky situation. I quickly told Disney to allow Mickey Mouse to pose with the family. I know Disney was relieved when I did this. As soon as the photos were taken, Disney was able to quickly get Mickey Mouse back to my party without further incidence.
I should mention something that I ran into when I hired Mickey Mouse a second time last year. It was for my Fairy Tale Weddings vow renewal in October. Since my vow renewals dinner party was being held inside the Great Movie Ride at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, there were rules regarding where Mickey could and could not appear. I found that odd since my party was being held after-hours and no one was inside the theme park except for my guests. But, again, specific rules kicked in regarding a Disney characters appearance. I had to abide by those rules if I wanted Mickey Mouse at my party.
You have to remember that Disney characters are the lifeblood of The Walt Disney Company. Disney guards their trademarks religiously, as they should.
Since you are considering hiring a character, youre probably wondering how you go about doing so. That will be handled by your Event Manager. For my Summerhouse party, I had an Event Manager assigned to me by the Grand Floridians Convention Services folks. That Event Manager planned my dinner party and my surprise dessert party. He also was the one who arranged for Mickey Mouse and his most unusual arrival. My event came off flawlessly thanks to the hard work of my Event Manger and his staff. And Mickey Mouses surprise appearance at my dinner party was one of its highlights. The photos that I have of Mickey with my family and guests are truly priceless.
So, sit down and decide how much money you want to spend and where you want to hold your private event. Once youve done that, contact the resort and see how you go about planning a private event. They should be able to point you in the right direction. Since Im not sure what a Disney character costs this year, budget at least $1,000 for a character appearance (thats probably a safe ballpark figure). Have fun planning!
JK, jk.
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