DTD suggestions, help?

[*Pixiedust1438*]

We would really love to do a welcome party to welcome all our guests to Disney (many of whom have never been) and thank them for coming. Unfortunately, it is not really in the budget, so the only way we could pull it off is if we just did a meet and greet come if you want somewhere, or something really cheap. We are actually considering doing a "eating/drinking around the world" as a sort of welcome event and inviting all guests who want to come. My worries on this are that we don't know how many people are going to get park tickets, and also we are doing a DP as our rehearsal, and I'm afraid seeing illuminations the night before the DP would make the DP muss less spectacular. So now I'm thinking I really want to try to do a real welcome party. As I said, we would really need to keep the costs cheap. I'm thinking somewhere at DTD would be great because we could do a casual dinning experience with our guests, and then we could go out to a few places (thinking Raglan Road and Paradiso) with our wedding party. We also wanted to do something with our wedding party, which is why we were thinking the drinking/eating around the world we would just do with them, but then were thinking of just inviting everyone. As you can see I'm very confused! So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions of what and where we could do something at DTD. We really don't want to do anything at Epcot, the GF area, or the Boardwalk area as other events for our wedding will be taking place at these locations, and we don't want them to lose their "wow" factor. Any advice or sugestions would be really appreciated.

 

[amyy]

Our guests loved TRex but I would lean more to Paradiso. Out of TRex, ESPN Club and the Crystal Palace, TRex was by far the best place to go with a group. They were the only place that sat us at one table.

We did a meet and greet at the ESPN club. I picked it because our wedding was at SBP and I wanted that guests that had their own cars to have a trail run getting there. I am very glad we did that. The ESPN club was a HUGE hit.

We also met some people at POR to see Piano Bob and this was another HUGE hit. It is in the bar so you can buy drinks but if you have kids in your party they will enjoy the show too. The adults enjoyed signing etc as much as the kids. As I am typing this I would pick POR over Paradiso because it was so much fun for our crowd. You could take the boat up from DTD. If you pick this location I would get there early to get tables together. You can sit and have a few drink while you wait.

 

[Nichole33]

We are doing a welcome reception at the GF Marina (you can also do one at the Contemporary resort) during the Wishes fireworks. We are not doing any food, just having a cash bar for the guests. So we only have to pay a flat fee for the bartender, which is waived if the bar receipts are over $500.

 

[minniebride]

Have you considered Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk? Dueling piano bar, dancing, no park fee, and you could probably catch a decent view of Illuminations Fireworks show from the Boardwalk

 

[pezaddict231]

We didn't do an official welcome party, I wanted to but it just didn't work out. We didn't have the budget for it and everyone was arriving on different days so I just made a bunch of group reservations and if people wanted to come they could. I think most people actually appreciated not having a ton of wedding events to attend. We did tell people where we planned to be each day and said they were free to join us if they wanted.

I think Raglan Road would be a good option, people could eat if they want or just have a few drinks. Jellyrolls is also a lot of fun and a lot of our guests really had fun there and even went back on their own later on. There are also lots of dining options in that area.