French Upper/Lower Question for Reception

[Raspberry Bubbles]

I have a question about the France Epcot terraces. As I've not been since I was a child (20 years ago!) I don't remember - are the upper and lower terrace linked - if hiring for a reception can you walk easily between the two? Also, I read that you need a 50 person minumum - is that to hire both, or one, and is that ACTUAL people, or is it that you just need to pay 50 times the $17.50 or so to hire it? Sorry if this sounds a little random and gabbled! Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Skylarr29]

If you have enough people then yes you can rent both and go between them pretty easily but they are two separate locations. DFTW is pretty strict about enforcing the minimum guest count. How many guests were you thinking of having? You need 50 people for one of the terraces.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

I was thinking we would have about 40 there, but I just read another thread and they were allowed to have the terrace with 40 guests also. Perhaps if you pay for the extra spaces then they're okay with it?

 

[JonetteA]

The upper and lower French are connected by a staircase. They are considered two seperate venues and you would have two different venue fees.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

I can live with the venue fees, I don't mind the cost - I was just hoping it would be a possibility to have both as it looks so beautiful.

 

[JonetteA]

Let your planner know ASAP so that they can book those venues. You should be able to book 1 year out b/c you have a park location.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

As soon as my one year mark comes up, I'll be on the telephone! What was the UK Rose Garden like? And what is CG? Sorry to be so nosey!!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I just read the upper and lower terraces each require a minimum of 50 guests. The venue rental fee is $325 for each. The French arm requires a minimum of 20 guests and a $325 rental fee. If you want all of it, the minimum is 350 guests (50 + 50 + 20 = 350?) and the rental fee is $575. It also says you must charter a bus for $88/hr for a five hour minimum.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I am actually having my reception there in 89 short days (WOW that's soon!) so I can probably help. Yes, the 3 parts of French Island are 3 separate locations. We only have about 35 guest coming and we have booked FI upper - no extra charges because we're under 50 guests - I think that minimum applies more to dessert parties than receptions. We are also waiting to reserve the lower FI. Right now it's open for another party to book. If at the 30 day mark no one has, we get it for just the $275 site fee. They'll set up tables and chairs for people to linger down there, but no decorations and the food will all be served in Upper. We will be doing this at 30 days to keep vacationers from going down there during Illuminations - YES, if you don't book it, DIsney lets whomever wants to wander down there go right ahead. As far as the arm, we were told that they will use that area to stage the food and for the staff, so that there was no need to reserve that area. There may be some vacationers way at the other end of it, but not right near us.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions - it's a great location! When we went down for our planning visit we saw another wedding being held there and it looked perfect!

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

I am actually having my reception there in 89 short days (WOW that's soon!) so I can probably help. Yes, the 3 parts of French Island are 3 separate locations. We only have about 35 guest coming and we have booked FI upper - no extra charges because we're under 50 guests - I think that minimum applies more to dessert parties than receptions. We are also waiting to reserve the lower FI. Right now it's open for another party to book. If at the 30 day mark no one has, we get it for just the $275 site fee. They'll set up tables and chairs for people to linger down there, but no decorations and the food will all be served in Upper. We will be doing this at 30 days to keep vacationers from going down there during Illuminations - YES, if you don't book it, DIsney lets whomever wants to wander down there go right ahead. As far as the arm, we were told that they will use that area to stage the food and for the staff, so that there was no need to reserve that area. There may be some vacationers way at the other end of it, but not right near us.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions - it's a great location! When we went down for our planning visit we saw another wedding being held there and it looked perfect!

Thank you! I have no idea how to PM people as I am quite a newbie here, sorry!

I'm thinking of August for my wedding so it would probably be too hot to be outside in the day (and risk it raining at around 3pm, I hear!) but I'm not sure. It just looks so magical from the pictures! Did you take any photos of it when you visited? What made it appear so special to you? Sorry to live so vicariously through you - it's so hard being miles away in England!!!

 

[JonetteA]

The UK Rose Garden was beautiful! It was decked out for flower and garden festival so it was amazing. The CG is California Grill. We had a brunch reception there.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

It sounds fantastic! I love the sound of that - but the photos are virtually non-existent of that area! Mmm..... brunch - that sounds good!

 

[disprincessatheart]

We're doing our wedding at 5, so the reception will start a bit after 6, so the sun will be going down and it won't be so hot. You could even do the 7:30 ceremony time and do your reception after that - they'll let you stay in EPCOT well after regular closing time. I do have pictures at home that I'll try to post on here for you of the site. We took a dozen or so when we were there for our site visit this fall.

We chose FI for a couple reasons. 1. My DF LOVES Illuminations. I prefer wishes, but since there isn't a way to do an inpark reception for Wishes, Illuminations was the next best thing. 2. I wanted an inpark reception because to me, if I'm bringing 40 ppl to Florida, I want the wedding to be 100% different than a wedding we could have done here. Any of the banquet halls weren't different enough. 3. It sounds really vain, but I like the idea of "showing off" my wedding to anyone that happens to be in WS that night. A lot of people have mentioned that one of the great parts of their day was all the good wishes and oohs and ahhs they got walking around resorts and such - why not have that all night long! 4. I like the idea that we'll be in the park after it's closed!!!!
Ok, I think I'm rambling now, but hope that helps. I'll try to remember to post pictures this weekend if I can figure out how to do it.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

We're doing our wedding at 5, so the reception will start a bit after 6, so the sun will be going down and it won't be so hot. You could even do the 7:30 ceremony time and do your reception after that - they'll let you stay in EPCOT well after regular closing time. I do have pictures at home that I'll try to post on here for you of the site. We took a dozen or so when we were there for our site visit this fall.

We chose FI for a couple reasons. 1. My DF LOVES Illuminations. I prefer wishes, but since there isn't a way to do an inpark reception for Wishes, Illuminations was the next best thing. 2. I wanted an inpark reception because to me, if I'm bringing 40 ppl to Florida, I want the wedding to be 100% different than a wedding we could have done here. Any of the banquet halls weren't different enough. 3. It sounds really vain, but I like the idea of "showing off" my wedding to anyone that happens to be in WS that night. A lot of people have mentioned that one of the great parts of their day was all the good wishes and oohs and ahhs they got walking around resorts and such - why not have that all night long! 4. I like the idea that we'll be in the park after it's closed!!!!
Ok, I think I'm rambling now, but hope that helps. I'll try to remember to post pictures this weekend if I can figure out how to do it.

Oh, thank you! I would LOVE pictures! I see what you mean about having a later reception - that would be fantastic as I too want to be "ooh"ed and "aah"ed at - and I agree completely with you about the banquet halls. What is the light like 5pm - is it still bright? I want my wedding to last for as long as possible with as much fun as possible for us all! Perhaps I could have a day ceremony, then a champagne and cake thing whilst it rains, and then go outside for the reception and illuminations after the rain!

Now I'M rambling - I get so carried away!!!

I am looking forward to the pictures, thank you again for your help!

P.S. What is the difference between Wishes and Illuminations?