Changes to Escapes? 25 people, receptions, etc?

[BlovesC]

I hope no one minds me asking possibly very redundant questions, but have there been recent changes made to the Escape backages? I've seen several references now to topics which were generally 'escape myths'. One, that you'll be allowed to slightly increase your guest limit by paying an extra $500 fee. And two, that private receptions CAN be arranged by DFTW? Are these actually possible now? I can't find any info about this but I swear I've read some folks in the planning stages acknowledge these so I'd assume they'd know!

We were planning on having dinner at Narcoossee's after our Escape ceremony but I'm wondering if a private reception could be held for not too much more money. I was never keen on the idea of a full-blown reception with dancing and speeches and the like, so I liked keeping things informal, but having privacy plus a bit more customization abilities would be nice.

I'm starting to get scared at how many additional expenses beyond the Escape package itself we'll have. We may wind up a grand shy of the old $10,000 wishes limit. If they hadn't increased the minimum to $12,000 I might try and start planning for that!

 

[lurkyloo]

I hope no one minds me asking possibly very redundant questions, but have there been recent changes made to the Escape backages? I've seen several references now to topics which were generally 'escape myths'. One, that you'll be allowed to slightly increase your guest limit by paying an extra $500 fee. And two, that private receptions CAN be arranged by DFTW? Are these actually possible now?

That is correct - at the moment both these things are possible. For $500 you can have up to five extra guests (venue guest limits still apply, so you can't, say, have 25 people at Sunset Pointe). Disney is also being more accommodating of Escape couples who want to have private events planned through DFTW - one of the few positive effects of the current economy!

 

[BlovesC]

Thanks so much for the info (and talk about expert help, I printed your ebook and DF and I love it! )! Amazing what wonders the economy can produce. Next they'll be saying we can choose in-park locations and DF and I can have the tiny Norway wedding of our dreams! Though I'm most likely barely even hitting the 18 guest limit for WP, it IS helpful to know that 25 is a possibility, should I suddenly find myself unable to avoid inviting additional folks.

I'll be interested to research the reception options. Again, it's not entirely something I intend to aim for (I dislike being the center of attention so a small wedding & dinner with no reception/dancing/toasts seemed ideal to me) but the more options the better when planning an event, right?

 

[lurkyloo]

Next they'll be saying we can choose in-park locations and DF and I can have the tiny Norway wedding of our dreams!

OK, I hope you're sitting down, cuz... they just started offering a Canada Pavilion ceremony for Escapes. Not quite Norway, but it's a start. No details are available yet, but how cool is that? (Also - I'm so glad you like the book!)

I'll be interested to research the reception options. Again, it's not entirely something I intend to aim for (I dislike being the center of attention so a small wedding & dinner with no reception/dancing/toasts seemed ideal to me) but the more options the better when planning an event, right?

Definitely. Happy planning!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Thanks so much for the info (and talk about expert help, I printed your ebook and DF and I love it! )! Amazing what wonders the economy can produce. Next they'll be saying we can choose in-park locations and DF and I can have the tiny Norway wedding of our dreams! Though I'm most likely barely even hitting the 18 guest limit for WP, it IS helpful to know that 25 is a possibility, should I suddenly find myself unable to avoid inviting additional folks.

I'll be interested to research the reception options. Again, it's not entirely something I intend to aim for (I dislike being the center of attention so a small wedding & dinner with no reception/dancing/toasts seemed ideal to me) but the more options the better when planning an event, right?

I had no idea there were limits for the WP!!! Is this so?

 

[BlovesC]

I had no idea there were limits for the WP!!! Is this so?

For Escape weddings! The max for Wishes ceremonies is some massive number like 200 IIRC, but for Escape weddings it's always had the standard 18-guest (+bride&groom=20) count along with all other Escape settings besides the ones at Poly and WL. So this new payable upgrade to 25 is a nice surprise, for however long it lasts!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Sorry I read it wrong and thought you meant that it was a minimum of 18 guests at the WP!!!

 

[CharacterFan]

For Escape weddings! The max for Wishes ceremonies is some massive number like 200 IIRC, but for Escape weddings it's always had the standard 18-guest (+bride&groom=20) count along with all other Escape settings besides the ones at Poly and WL. So this new payable upgrade to 25 is a nice surprise, for however long it lasts!

I just wanted to note that it's 25 with the bride and groom. So it would bring your guest count to 25.

Some have noticed that you aren't able to book a private reception until 6 months before their date and that is only 2 hours long. You just have to meet the food/beverage min and pay the venue fee (if there is one)

 

[dallastxcpa]

For Escape weddings! The max for Wishes ceremonies is some massive number like 200 IIRC, but for Escape weddings it's always had the standard 18-guest (+bride&groom=20) count along with all other Escape settings besides the ones at Poly and WL. So this new payable upgrade to 25 is a nice surprise, for however long it lasts!

I just wanted to say that the guest count hasn't always been 20. We were married in 2003 and the max guest count back then was 10 ( you could extend it to 12 or 13 plus the bride and groom for an additional fee). I know because I had several nieces who had to go to child care and didn't get to come to the ceremony only the reception. Their parents were forwarned but I still hear about it to this day. Of course back then we could choose our own photographer and outside photographers/videographers were allowed in the parks for weddings/receptions. So I guess it's all a trade off. I wish everyone could have been at the ceremony, but I wouldn't give up my Chapman pictures for it.

 

[Sarah84]

This is something i'd be interested to know about aswell, not really the extra guest but what reception options if any were avliable with Escape weddings. I may have just persauded my DFi to let us have my dream wedding in Florida but as we are from the UK we wouldn't have many guests probably between 10-15 but after reading on the Disney website about the Escape options I didn't see anything about receptions and hoped that it's an option to be able to add on. Obviously with only about max 17 of us we wouldn't want a huge room/party but something private for us all

 

[ZipADeeEm]

I'm an Escape bride and we have booked a reception to follow our 10am WP ceremony at Narcoossee's. We're having a brunch buffet for a total of probably 24 people, and we just have to meet the F&B minimum. It seems to be working out well for us, because we didn't want a big hoop-la, just a fun, quiet time with our closest family and friends!

Hope that helps!

 

[BlovesC]

I'm an Escape bride and we have booked a reception to follow our 10am WP ceremony at Narcoossee's. We're having a brunch buffet for a total of probably 24 people, and we just have to meet the F&B minimum. It seems to be working out well for us, because we didn't want a big hoop-la, just a fun, quiet time with our closest family and friends!

Hope that helps!

Oooh! This is great to hear! Did you have to buy out the restaurant? Would you mind me asking what your costs were? We've long planned on Narcoossee's for our escape dinner, but it seems the info we've been referring to (with a fixed price pp menu) is outdated and there have been some changes. Would love to hear your details if you could share them!

 

[ZipADeeEm]

It seems to be pretty rare for an Escape bride to have a mid-day reception at Narcoossee's (according to our WP--we're booking all this through DFTW), so I'm happy to share what we've learned so far!

The F&B min is $1500, and because we are having a brunch buffet, we will have the entire place to ourselves! The menus come from Disney catering, and they have allowed us to customize the menu. It's a per person price.

The first half hour there will actually include the cake/champagne ceremony, as we are getting married at the WP--it's a nice feature of having it all at the GF! I know you mentioned dinner, but I don't know how that might work--although I know I've read of other Escape brides going there for dinner with regular dining reservations, but I'm not sure of the size of their groups!

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask me more questions! It's nice to be able to add a little info to the DisBoard!

 

[aduck126]

wait so my 90 day limit is coming up for me to book Ohana for my reception dinner. Now my planner should do this for me? that would be amazing if she could so I could just stop stressing about it.

 

[ZipADeeEm]

Narcoossee's isn't open at lunch time, only for dinner--that's why we had to book our brunch through DFTW. Sorry for any confusion!

 

[Beep]

We have a private lunch booked at Sago Cay at the GF for 8 people. Our planner sent us some menus over to choose from, and the charge was more than listed due to our low numbers. I think the minimum guest number for the price on the menus was 25.

We went for a menu that was about $60 per head (for a 25 minimum guest count) on the menu and, with the drinks package added on, it worked out at about $120 per head for our party which included tax, gratuity etc.

They way we looked at it was we're not going to do this again (well, not until our 5 year vow renewal!) and we really wanted to treat the people who were coming to our wedding. Everyone is coming from the UK and in this current economic climate we think that is great.

We had originally got about 12 people attending, including us, so used the money we had budgeted to do something special for the people who are going.