Fantasmic Dessert Party as reception - Wishes Collection - and other DHS locations

[marsh0013]

I'm trying to figure out if this is an option - have a Fantasmic Dessert Party as a reception for a Wishes wedding.

I am mostly daydreaming, but if we can make it work, I'd love to get married at Disneyworld. So right now, I'm trying to figure out numbers to present to my fiance. I have downloaded Carrie's book, and it mentions that food and beverage mins are less for a Dessert Party reception, but it doesn't mention what those mins are. Bummer that they changed it so DP no longer counts towards the overall mins.

I was originally looking at doing Escape, then doing a Fantasmic dessert party as an add on, with not only desserts, but dinner-type stuff (sliders, mac & cheese/mashed potato bar, stuff like that). Definitely including alcohol too. With how much I think this is going to cost, I was wondering if it might make sense to price it out as Wishes (Mon-Wed) with the DP as the reception as well.

One question would be, how early could we start the reception? The dessert party is usually 1 hour before Fantasmic starts? Could we do earlier than that to have more time to eat? Also, no characters allowed in theme park location? Could we have characters come to SBP? I'm guessing that's a no also.

Kinda unrelated, but are Darth Vader and Boba Fett even options as characters, if we were to do a reception elsewhere? I know we could do a brunch earlier in the day, at say the Attic, then a DP later.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I'm having a Fantasmic! Dessert Party after my Escape wedding at SBP. I've added an antipasto display, a slider bar, wine, grey goose lemon citron slushes and 5 or 6 desserts and its only $70/person plus the alcohol. If you do Escape you can have characters at SBP during your cake cutting though I don't believe that Star Wars characters will be available. HTH

 

[marsh0013]

Thanks, I've been reading through your PJ and meant to comment on it. I saw your menu which gave me the idea. I'm definitely leaning towards Escape at the moment, as we'd like to do it on a Friday. Unless I'm mistaken, no difference in price for a Friday Escape package, whereas it's $3000 extra to the enhancement minimum with Wishes on a Friday. And thanks for the info on characters! I know we entertained the idea of checking on some 501st members if we did the wedding at home, but I think if we do it in Disney, we won't need them to bring the Disney feeling! We own DVC at Boardwalk, and it's our home. So this just feels right. If it ends up working out, I'll definitely be starting a planning journal. And I'm keeping an eye on yours too.

 

[Tarynashley]

Thanks so much for posting this thread! I'm hoping to have a Fantasmic welcome party and was wondering whether they could do the grey goose slushies, since it's not in Epcot. Can't wait to see pictures of your party, Alli!

 

[elphie101]

It might be worth asking your planner about Star Wars, now that Disney owns the characters. In the past, Star Wars characters have appeared via the 501st Legion as a form of "outside entertainment", and as far as I'm aware they couldn't appear anywhere that was restricted to Disney-only entertainment (don't have first hand experience on that one). Now, of course that the rights have changed hands things might have changed, but I suspect it's only made things murkier about where and when the characters can appear.

 

[lurkyloo]

I have downloaded Carrie's book, and it mentions that food and beverage mins are less for a Dessert Party reception, but it doesn't mention what those mins are. Bummer that they changed it so DP no longer counts towards the overall mins.

All the food and beverage minimums for Fantasmic! dessert parties are in Chapter 5: Additional Events.

 

[marsh0013]

All the food and beverage minimums for Fantasmic! dessert parties are in Chapter 5: Additional Events.

Carrie, thanks, I did see them there, I wasn't sure how that fit in to a Wishes wedding without a separate reception. I thought that pricing was for an add-on to all the other minimums required for a Wishes wedding.

So if I do a Wishes wedding, but instead of a typical reception ($175pp min for dinner), I do a Fantasmic! dessert party instead (small patio), I can get around the higher food minimums? That's really what I'm trying to figure out. So I have $3500 for SBP, $5000 enhancement for Mon-Wed, then $250 venue fee and $400 total food/beverage min? So all in, you can get away with $9150 instead of $11,000 min if you have the same thing but a brunch in place of the dessert party ($3500 + $5000 + $125pp x 20)? Am I understanding that correctly?

 

[Tarynashley]

So I actually just heard from my consultant today, who let me know that Hollywood Studios has blocked both the small and large patios from any private events until further notice. Apparently the park will be undergoing some refurbishments in 2016 and DFTW can't guarantee any space for events. Shucks!!! I'd really like to have an in-park welcome party, and I loved the idea of Fantasmic since it's a show and since our wedding guests will be able to view illuminations from our reception at ADH. Back to the drawing board

 

[marsh0013]

So I actually just heard from my consultant today, who let me know that Hollywood Studios has blocked both the small and large patios from any private events until further notice. Apparently the park will be undergoing some refurbishments in 2016 and DFTW can't guarantee any space for events. Shucks!!! I'd really like to have an in-park welcome party, and I loved the idea of Fantasmic since it's a show and since our wedding guests will be able to view illuminations from our reception at ADH. Back to the drawing board

Oh no...this is really going to throw a wrench in my plans. We love love love Hollywood Studios. Safe to assume this is going to mess with in park photo shoots as well? I think I might cry. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned this to my fiance. He was really excited about the idea of the Fantasmic dessert party. Shoot. And we were planning on a Friday if Escape, so we can't just move over to Illuminations either (F&W). Grrrr.

 

[Tarynashley]

I'd check about the photo shoot, well really I'd check about all of it. I was specifically asking about a Fantasmic dessert party on 7/1/16 and was told at this time it's a no-go, but maybe your dates or circumstances are different!

 

[marsh0013]

I'd check about the photo shoot, well really I'd check about all of it. I was specifically asking about a Fantasmic dessert party on 7/1/16 and was told at this time it's a no-go, but maybe your dates or circumstances are different!

Thanks. I'll try to stay optimistic. If we go Escape, we can't book until February anyway, so there's a long time to go. I'm sorry it's not working out for you. Crossing my fingers for you that it could possibly change for you as well. I knew there was going to be construction at DHS, but it really never entered my mind that it would affect Fantasmic at all.

 

[marsh0013]

I need a backup plan if the Fantasmic dessert party doesn't work out, as it looks like it probably won't be an option for now. I'm afraid a lot of the DHS options are going to be limited next year with the construction. Other option is to do it on a Thursday instead of Friday and do Illuminations, but that really isn't as appealing to us. The fact that I can't even contact anyone at Disney to discuss options until 8-9 months out is rough. My brain isn't going to shut off.

Anybody have any info on the Star Tours Courtyard as a reception area? To do a "private party" after an Escape wedding. I see pictures of it on Carrie's website, but I don't see it listed on the page with the minimum requirements. We are big on Star Wars, so that sounds interesting. If it's not under construction of course.

I also see the Hollywood Hideaway as an option during park hours. Being so close to Star Tours appeals to me, and my fiance as well. Maybe we could do that and hope we could add a ride mix-in. Any chance they'd allow us to get some pics in that area of Star Tours?

Since they just announced the closing of the Animation building, I know that's out.

Sorry for getting off topic from the original topic I started, but I figured I may as well keep it all contained and not start a new thread.

 

[WillRunForDisney]

when I contacted disney for the Star Wars court yard she said no to everything in hollywood studios because they don't have times or places for construction and your party has to be after park hours which is when construction will be going on.

 

[marsh0013]

when I contacted disney for the Star Wars court yard she said no to everything in hollywood studios because they don't have times or places for construction and your party has to be after park hours which is when construction will be going on.

Thanks for the info. Should have figured. Guess we picked a bad time to get married. I really don't want to push it out to 2017 (and there's no way we could pull it in to this year), but if I can't find an option that excites both me and my fiance, I may not have a choice.

 

[Amanda132]

I wouldn't bank on being able to use any spaces in Hollywood Studios in 2017 either, if they really are going to be doing the rumored multi-billion dollar expansion of the park. A renovation that large would likely take several years.

The good thing is, if you are looking at trying to get details for a Wishes wedding, you can talk to someone at Disney 16 months in advance. So maybe they can give you more ideas/info? I hope you and fiance find something that you both love!

 

[marsh0013]

I wouldn't bank on being able to use any spaces in Hollywood Studios in 2017 either, if they really are going to be doing the rumored multi-billion dollar expansion of the park. A renovation that large would likely take several years.

The good thing is, if you are looking at trying to get details for a Wishes wedding, you can talk to someone at Disney 16 months in advance. So maybe they can give you more ideas/info? I hope you and fiance find something that you both love!

Amanda, thanks. Wishes wedding is a pipe dream, as we want to do it on a Friday (or Thurs if we have to in order to do an Epcot DP during F&W as a last resort), Mon-Wed logistically just doesn't work as well for us, and Friday Wishes enhancement is more than we are comfortable with. Would they talk to me in an information gathering type of conversation, so I can ask about reception areas that they know will be available? I don't feel right wasting their time since I'm 99% sure we wouldn't be able to do Wishes.