Can you have a party inside the Haunted Mansion?

[SamRoc]

I know this might sound odd, but our 25th anniversary will be in 2 years and I was wondering if they allow dinner parties inside the Haunted Mansion. We got married in October and Halloween is our favorite holiday, so we thought it would be fun. thanks for any info!

 

[Coloradogrl]

I am a member on a yahoo board for for DL and there is a girl on there that is thinking about having her wedding recpetion at the mansion. I know that she has talked to DL and they have told her that there is a 35,000 mim, because it is a inpark wedding. She has a file uploaded on the website that they faxed her with alot of info. I know that there is a 30 person max and that you have to do it after park hours. Are you thinking about DL or WDW? I know that 25th is a HUGE thing so if you have the means to do it ...... go for it!

 

[Mommy Poppins]

You may want to PM Janet2k as well as I think that was one of the venues she had considered for her vow renewal.

 

[hmgolden]

The old DFTW site featured a couple who had their vow renewal in the Haunted Mansion, so it has been done. I don't know if you can do it currently, as they aren't scheduling any MK weddings at the moment. I dont know if that restriction would carry over to the Haunted Mansion as well.

 

[SamRoc]

Thanks everyone for all the info! Coloradogrl, we are thinking of DisneyWorld for this. Thought it would be a fun idea to have it in the Haunted Mansion if possible.

 

[Equidae]

I do know that is has been done, but currently WDW is being a bit cautious about castle weddings, so I don't know how likely a Haunted Mansion wedding would be. It would be so cool though! The area to have a reception or dinner party is right as you step inside the mansion -- the two stretching rooms and the room just before that with the changing portrait and fireplace. Your party would be a little spread out and cut off from each other and you couldn't have a large guest count.

 

[PrincessMo]

I would love to see pics of someone's reception at the Haunted Mansion.

 

[kmebee]

You may want to PM Janet2k as well as I think that was one of the venues she had considered for her vow renewal.

I believe it was too. She ended up having it in the Great Movie Ride instead. Do a search and read her trip reports. They are awesome! Could get some great ideas there!

 

[Janet2k]

Hmgolden spoke about the Dobo's. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a few years ago in Walt Disney World. They are my idols, and if I make it to my 50th wedding anniversary, I plan to celebrate just like they did, ~sigh.~

Click here to read how the Dobo's celebrated their anniversary.

 

[Janet2k]

I briefly considered having my FTW vow renewal's dinner party inside the Haunted Mansion ride last October. I chose not to do so since my 19th wedding anniversary (the year before) had been celebrated on the ballroom set of "The Haunted Mansion" movie (click here). I wrote about my “Haunted Mansion” Movie Set Dinner Party event in a trip report here on the Dis website: click here. (Note: I began describing the event several pages into my trip report. Also, I apologize in advance if any of my photo links are broken. Yahoo's photo system has changed a lot over the years.) I had a very memorable wedding anniversary thanks to Disney. They did a marvelous job with everything.

I do not know what this year's rules are for Fairy Tale Weddings celebrations inside the Magic Kingdom Theme Park. If Disney is still allowing the booking of the Haunted Mansion ride as a dinner venue, there are limitations that you’ll have to contend with regarding your party’s size. I don’t remember offhand what the maximum number of guests is, but it is probably in the range that the others have mentioned. Depending upon your party’s size, your guests may be split up amongst two or three rooms: Main Waiting Room (the one with the lenticular portrait over the fireplace), Stretching Room #1, and Stretching Room #2. I think all three rooms may be used, but don’t quote me on that (my memory is failing in my old age ).

I also need to note that October is a very popular month with vacationers, and the Magic Kingdom Theme Park’s hours can be quite long. This will limit what days an after-hours party may be held. The general rule of thumb is that an event cannot begin until 90-minutes after a theme park has closed. I have held two parties after-hours in a Walt Disney World theme park and that rule of thumb has held true. Disney needs to clean up the venue after the daily theme park guests have departed, and then Disney needs to prepare the venue for your after-hours dinner party. For example, if the Magic Kingdom closes at midnight, your party can’t begin until 1:30 AM (if at all). As you can see, the more popular the month, the less likelihood you will have of hosting an after-hours event.

I won’t go into pricing information because I promised my husband that I would always remain mum on the subject; however, I will share a few of the things that I have been charged for when hosting my private events in Walt Disney World:

Transportation Fee (hourly charges apply and there is a minimum charge)
Venue Fee
Host Fee (‘x’ number of Disney Hosts per ‘x’ number of guests)
Food & Beverage Fee (there are minimums that must be met)
Bartender Fee
Linen Fee
Floral Fee
Setup Fee
Entertainment Fee
Lighting Fee
Audio Fee
Photography/Videography Fee
Gratuity
Tax

That list is in no way complete (and a few of those items are optional). But I think you can see that the fees begin to add up very quickly. An after-hours party is not an inexpensive prospect on either your part or Disney’s part (believe me, Disney puts a lot of hard work into their special events).

I understand completely your love of Halloween (oh, boy, do I ever!). My husband and I met on Halloween and almost got married on Halloween (our plans were foiled by my sister and brother-in-law, drats). Halloween has always been my favorite day out of the whole year and will always be my favorite day (that says a lot about my personality). I almost chose to celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary on that day since that was the day that we had met and the day that my husband had first proposed to me (even though I didn’t take him seriously). But by the time I really got into planning my vow renewal (click here), too many things had been set in stone and were too difficult to change (I had already booked five resort rooms around the October 27th date, and most of my guests had already booked their airfare). But when my 25th or 50th anniversary rolls around, I have a funny feeling that we'll celebrate it on Halloween. I can’t think of a more fitting day for my husband and I.

No matter where you choose to celebrate your wedding anniversary, I hope it is all that you ever dreamed it would be. The Fairy Tale Weddings folks do an incredible job with making dreams come true.