Dessert Party extended hour price?

[Janet2k]

I saw your pictures of your Halloween dessert party and they are excellent.

Shezfrombermuda, my Event Manager was creative to the Nth-degree. I take no credit at all for that party. It was all him! And it turned out darling. Simply beautiful, ~sigh.~

I don't know who's working with you, but if you have a "theme" for your dessert party, let your planner know. They'll work with you to incorporate it as best they can.

For my last party at the GF, the Event Manager who was assigned to me asked me what sort of party I wanted. I told her that I wanted a party where my guests would truly feel like they were vacationing in Disney World. I explained to her that these were friends of mine from the Dis and thus they were true Disney fans.

My Event Manager listened to what I wanted and then selected a Mickey Mouse linen package. She told me that it was something new to the Grand Floridian and she thought it would work out well. Boy, was she right. The party really had a very fun Disney feel to it:

Mickey Mouse Linen Pattern:

Main Buffet Table:

Again, if you have a theme in mind and have the budget for it, see what your planner suggests. Personalizing the event makes it more memorable for you and your guests.

 

[Janet2k]

I would be curious to see your timeline Janet.

Lisacope, I'll try to dig it up this evening. I know the BEO for my Welcome Party is on one of the external hard-drives that I use for backups & such. If I can track it down, I'll share it.

 

[Janet2k]

Our DP in December was from 9:00-11:00pm. We did not have to pay extra for the extension. We had the food removed at 10:00pm. If you want to keep the food, they have to reprice the regular menu for you.

Thanks for sharing your experience with an Illuminations dessert party, JaxTeach. And thanks for mentioning that they removed the food at 10 PM, but if you wanted it to be served longer, your menu (and budget) would have to be re-priced in order to incorporate this. That jibes completely with what I was told in regards to outdoor events that are held elsewhere on property. Disney really is a stickler when it comes to the health & safety of their guests (and their food!).

I haven't finished my TR yet, BUT 1 hour is way too short for the DP. We were extremely rushed. DH and I did not really get to enjoy the party or spend time with our guests (we had our bus leave at 10:00pm to get some older guests back "home"). We arrived a few minutes before showtime (due to transportation, getting in backstage takes a while for security reasons). We had to get setup for our pics at 9:20ish. Illuminations begins at 9:30 (during the holiday season anyway) and lasts until almost 9:50 with the holiday tag. We did not stay until 11:00pm because somehow Epcot was not informed that our BEO said our DP was from 9:00pm to 11:00pm. I recommend extending the DP or having it on a night before or after the wedding.

I am so sorry to hear of the mixup regarding your party's ending time. How sad. And I definitely agree that the dessert party should be longer than an hour.

I had a very small guest list. Perhaps somewhere around 25 - 30 people were at my Welcome Party. You would think that with such a small guest list, I would have had time to chitchat with all of my guests. WRONG! I only had enough time to spend with half of them, and, boy, did I feel guilty about that. When I mentioned it to my husband after the party, he told me not to worry; he had spent time with all of the folks who I had missed. That made me feel so much better. Boy, have I mentioned lately just how much I love my husband?!

So, I agree with you. The party should be extended in length -- if Disney will allow it and a couple's budget can handle it. And I like your idea of hosting it on another night. That is what I did. My Welcome Party was held on the night prior to my vow renewal. Even though I was forced to do it that way (since my vow renewal was scheduled to last until sometime after 2 AM), I was awfully glad it worked out that way. I got to spend some quality time with at least half of my guests (!!), and I got to enjoy the Florida moonlight. It doesn't get much better than that.

 

[Janet2k]

Our DP at the GF is supposed to start at 9:00pm and Wishes is scheduled to be at 10:00pm - this is making me think the party must be at least an hour and a half.

Lisacope, I can't find the BEO for my FTW Welcome Party. However, I did just check the time-stamps on my Disney photos of that event (gotta love those time-stamps!).

We had our rehearsal inside the Wedding Pavilion. It was an in-and-out kinda thing. Very short & sweet. Then my Officiant and the wedding party walked from the Wedding Pavilion to the Grand Floridian's marina. The time-stamp for my daughter setting foot inside the marina venue is 8:03 PM (she beat me to the venue -- but I had heels on and she didn't). The last photo is time-stamped 9:37 PM. So, it looks like my event ran from at least 8 PM to 9:30 PM. I hope that helps.

Your Event Manager should be able to tell you exactly how long your event will last. I'd say 90-minutes is a decent amount of time for munchies & beverages. But if you're anything like me, you won't drink much or eat much because you'll be too busy chitchatting with your loved ones.

 

[shezfrombermuda]

Shezfrombermuda, my Event Manager was creative to the Nth-degree. I take no credit at all for that party. It was all him! And it turned out darling. Simply beautiful, ~sigh.~

I don't know who's working with you, but if you have a "theme" for your dessert party, let your planner know. They'll work with you to incorporate it as best they can.

For my last party at the GF, the Event Manager who was assigned to me asked me what sort of party I wanted. I told her that I wanted a party where my guests would truly feel like they were vacationing in Disney World. I explained to her that these were friends of mine from the Dis and thus they were true Disney fans.

My Event Manager listened to what I wanted and then selected a Mickey Mouse linen package. She told me that it was something new to the Grand Floridian and she thought it would work out well. Boy, was she right. The party really had a very fun Disney feel to it:

Mickey Mouse Linen Pattern:

Main Buffet Table:

Again, if you have a theme in mind and have the budget for it, see what your planner suggests. Personalizing the event makes it more memorable for you and your guests.

Thanks for your suggestions Janet. My dessert party is going to be Halloween themed since we will be watching Hallow Wishes and Halloween is my birthday. I do not have a planner yet but when I do I will see what creative ideas they have.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

Wow, Lurkyloo, 60-minutes? That seems like it's cutting it close. How early can guests show up before the Illuminations show begins? I think the show lasts around 20-minutes or so, so the 90-minute timeframe always seemed to be okay. But if it is now 60-minutes, it sounds like an "eat and run" kinda situation to me. Yikes!

I remember reading that the earliest you can show up is 30minutes before the party is supposed to start and that they last 60 minutes. Lurkyloo is right

 

[topsy]

Hi All!

I was just wondering, do you HAVE to use a bus service if you have a DP at Epcot? ALL of my guests will have theme park tickets and so we were planning to ask them all to get into Epcot as normal guests and just to meet at the pavillion where we will have the DP. We then hope to walk to the exits like normal guests afterwards. Is this at all possible?!

We are not near to booking this yet though as our wedding is not until 2010, but I'm trying to get an idea of prices/options so that I know what I have to save for!!

 

[JaxTeach]

Hi All!

I was just wondering, do you HAVE to use a bus service if you have a DP at Epcot? ALL of my guests will have theme park tickets and so we were planning to ask them all to get into Epcot as normal guests and just to meet at the pavillion where we will have the DP. We then hope to walk to the exits like normal guests afterwards. Is this at all possible?!

We are not near to booking this yet though as our wedding is not until 2010, but I'm trying to get an idea of prices/options so that I know what I have to save for!!

What I was told is that if DH and I wanted to wear our "formal attire" we (as in DH and I) would have to enter Epcot through the backstage area. The reason for this is that they do not want to cause a huge commotion-- walking from Future World to WS in your wedding gown would certainly cause this because walking from backstage UK caused this for us. We were told by our Disney photographer that often guests from other countries don't know if you're a character and it causes confusion.

Your guests (especially those with park tickets or APs) can enter through the main entrance or the International Gateway between France & the U.K. They can then meet you at your DP (I'm not sure exactly how that would work, perhaps the escort would have a list of names?). We were originally going to do that, but decided to use a mini-bus to keep everyone together. While I hated spending $400+ on the bus, it was one of the best decisions we made because we weren't searching for our guests.

DH and I along with some friends did exit through the International Gateway at the end because we were staying at BWI. That was fun to walk back by SBP where we were married 10 hours earlier. Be prepared for LOTS of "Congratulations!"

 

[chipscinderelly]

We had a welcome party at illuminations in October 2006 and were able to extend the time (yes we paid for the extended time/food) by working with our Planner. We served more of a dinner (not full but not just apps) rather than only a desert party. One thing to note, our start time was earlier, not later end time. Also, it's up to Epcot, not DFTW.

Lurkyloo - you can read my recaps about it on the other board

 

[lurkyloo]

What I was told is that if DH and I wanted to wear our "formal attire" we (as in DH and I) would have to enter Epcot through the backstage area. The reason for this is that they do not want to cause a huge commotion-- walking from Future World to WS in your wedding gown would certainly cause this because walking from backstage UK caused this for us.

OK, see, this is the thing about DFTW: DF and I are walking in from the Int'l Gateway in full wedding getup, and nobody said boo about it. I know other brides have done it as well. Maybe they felt bad cuz I'm having such a short DP

 

[lurkyloo]

We had a welcome party at illuminations in October 2006 and were able to extend the time (yes we paid for the extended time/food) by working with our Planner. We served more of a dinner (not full but not just apps) rather than only a desert party. One thing to note, our start time was earlier, not later end time. Also, it's up to Epcot, not DFTW.

Lurkyloo - you can read my recaps about it on the other board

Thanks! I'll check them out. Still, there's no way I'm paying extra to extend the DP to its rightful length - I'm doing this thing on the cheap!