Could anyone give a brief timeline of events?

[purplegirl1818]

Hi all -

DF and I want to do the Escape package for our wedding in April, 2014. Since we're still so far out, I have a million questions and Disney keeps saying I have to wait until the 9 month mark to get most of them answered. It's killing me!

My main request is for a brief timeline of events when you first can call in and get information. I'm told when I call in at 9 months, they take my information and a wedding coordinator gets back to me in a few days. How soon can you confirm a date? How does the lottery work/when does it occur?

I apologize if these questions have been answered a million times, I looked for an FAQ and didn't see one.

Thanks!

 

[jmelenbrink]

My DF and I just went through the process for an Escape wedding so I can tell you how it worked for us. We got engaged in February and already had a trip planned to Disney in September, 2013 so we knew we only had one weekend date to work with. I called the wedding line and was told the date and location (9/27/13, Seabreeze Point) was available and a wedding consultant would get back in touch with me within a week. I received an email with the name of my consultant and a note that she would call me the following week to take down all my details. Well, a week passed and nothing so I called back and left a message. Still didn't get a return call so the next time it went to voicemail I hit zero and was taken to a really nice gentleman who apologized for the lack of contact and my wedding consultant called the next day. She took down all my info, confirmed the date was available and said a letter of agreement would be prepared and mailed to us. I had to follow up on the contract (apparently the preparation took longer than they anticipated) but we finally received it after a couple weeks. We signed it, sent in the deposit and all was booked about a month and a half after we started the process. (I was surprised with how slow it moved to be honest but my wedding consultant assured me the date was "held" once we expressed our interest.)

About two weeks after the return letter of agreement had been received we got contacted by our wedding coordinator via email. She sent us some initial planning materials and our wedding kit. We actually just mailed the finalized kit with all of our choices back last week and got the email confirmation it was received today so all is a go!

Hope this helps and congratulations to you on your engagement!!!

 

[sambycat]

congrats!

this book will probably answer more questions then you can think of and that any one CM knows the answers to!!

 

[Chilly]

You can ring at 9 months and get confirmed at 8 months. If more than one person wants the same time/date/location they'll tell you and you can decide if you want to pick something different or not. If you decide to stick with it at 8 months they'll do the lottery and then let you know if you won or not. If you didn't win you'd have to pick something different.

 

[DisneyDudet]

At 9 months from the date you want, you can call and be in contact with DFTW. They will take your information and pass it on to a consultant. I was told I would be contacted in 2 days. On day 4, I called back. I was very anxious because our families needed a CRAZY amount of time to plan for this. The receptionist was very apologetic and physically went(or called, whatever) to find any consultant he could. The one that was still in the office (it was later in the day) was on the phone, but he said she would call me back once she was finished. And she did! She was WONDERFUL. She got all my information and our choices of dates. My first date was blocked out because it was a holiday (Columbus Day is a day off, I guess), so we just hopped to the next week. We wanted a Monday. I really wanted that Monday, so we put down 3 options and numbered them by the one I wanted most. For me, it was times as the options. Some people want a certain time of day, and they don't care which day it is, for others its location. Whatever is most important to you, they will have our first, second, and third choice.

After that, you will have to wait until 8 months out. During this month, anyone else can request the date/time/location you have requested. If, at 8 months, no one else has requested your 1st choice, you are locked in. If others have requested your choice, I guess your consultant will contact you to see if you want to go with your second choice or be placed in a lottery. In the lottery, they will draw names for the choice. Either way, once your choice is locked in, they will send out an email for you to fill out within a certain amount of time. They will then send you your Letter of Agreement. You have a certain amount of time to send this back, along with your deposit. During the time between being 'locked in' and sending back your LoA and deposit, no one else can sign up for your choice, so that helps the anxiety level. If you do not return everything in time, you will lose your selection and will have to start all over again, risking someone else snagging your choice.

Once you send in your LoA and deposit, everyone at DFTW will sign it and return a copy to you, along with your APs. You will eventually be assigned a planner and everything else is with him/her from then on. You will get a planning kit via email for you to review. If you start early enough, you have plenty of time to decide everything.

I hope this helps!!

 

[bigr3ddog]

Another great resource is passporter's guide to Disney weddings and honeymoons. You can order it at passporter.com. I think I downloaded the ebook for $8. There is a detailed timeline in it along with a bunch of other tips and prices.

 

[purplegirl1818]

I ended up purchasing the passporters book. Thanks everyone!