Holding/Confirming date with Disney - help please!

[Beep]

Hi, can someone help me with this please? I have read the info and website but need to clarify a couple of things.

We are hoping for 9th December 2009 at SBP, followed by lunch at the GF Cafe and Dinner at Yachtsmans.

Am I right in thinking that you can hold a date with Disney at 12 months but it is not confirmed until 8 months? I've read that some people were able to hold a date at the 18 month mark.

If they hold a date at 12 months, do you have to check with them to make sure it is still available or will they tell you if it isn't?

When do you send the deposit? Is it at 12 months to hold the date?

When do you send contract?

How can you pay?

When do they need the advanced reservation number for the rooms?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to plan everything well ahead as our guests are from the UK. I would hate to tell tem the date at the wrong time, have them book travel arrangements and then have to change everything.

Thanks very much for your help

Alex x

 

[irisbud]

I would like to know the answers to these questions as well. Since we are having a June wedding, I want to at least be penciled in ASAP! Oops, sorry for the hijack!

 

[SarahInMN]

Beep -

I think I have the answers to a few of your questions.

As for when can you officially book, they say 8 months but we are planning on receiving and signing our contract in a few weeks (for 2 GF sites) which will be 11 months before the event. Up until that point, dates/sites are only under tentative holds for you.

You send the deposit back with your signed contract.

You can only pay by check or cash for the deposit.

My understanding of the rooms is that all guests on your list will get the save the date packets and can reserve rooms if they choose to do so as soon as they get the packet. Your final "head count" for catering purposes is 6 weeks before the date. So, we have 59 total who will be invited, and our final count for catering purposes and room minimums will be assessed at that 6 week point.

 

[autumnbride2B]

The final head count for catering is actually 72 hours before.

The room minimum depends on the number of guests, but also on how many rooms you put in your block. Our minumum was 75, but because we had lots of people coming early or staying after the wedding our minimum ended up at 102 room nights.

 

[Beep]

Thank you very much for the information.

We are having an Escape wedding so the minimum number of nights for us is 4. I take it that they send the save the date when the date is confirmed and the contract signed? We will then book our nights.

We also won't need to confirm numbers for catering - there will be a maximum of 13 of us so we are booking restaurants at the 6 month mark.

Thanks again

Alex

 

[autumnbride2B]

Alex - I'm sorry that I gave the info for a wishes wedding. For escapes I am pretty sure that you have to book your rooms before you sign the contract. Also DFTW only sends out save the dates for wishes weddings. A lot of girls on the board who are having escape weddings make their own STDs.

 

[OceanGdss]

Hi, can someone help me with this please? I have read the info and website but need to clarify a couple of things.

We are hoping for 9th December 2009 at SBP, followed by lunch at the GF Cafe and Dinner at Yachtsmans.

Am I right in thinking that you can hold a date with Disney at 12 months but it is not confirmed until 8 months? I've read that some people were able to hold a date at the 18 month mark.

If they hold a date at 12 months, do you have to check with them to make sure it is still available or will they tell you if it isn't?

When do you send the deposit? Is it at 12 months to hold the date?

When do you send contract?

How can you pay?

When do they need the advanced reservation number for the rooms?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to plan everything well ahead as our guests are from the UK. I would hate to tell tem the date at the wrong time, have them book travel arrangements and then have to change everything.

Thanks very much for your help

Alex x

Hi Alex I hope I can answer some questions for you.

You can call and be "pencilled in" at 18 months out from your wedding date. This puts your name in their system and they will alert you and anyone else that calls to be "pencilled in" that their is someone else interested in your time/date. At 12 months for some locations, and 8 months for others (depending on the use for conventions) you can be guaranteed your laction via a LOA. (Letter of agreement) For instance, the ceremony site of SBP is not used for conventions and thus can be booked at 12 months out. The reception locations are iffy. We were looking at several different reception locations and I remember going with Ariel's because it was one that could be guaranteed at 12 months out. At the 18 months point a coordinator will pencil you in and can tell you which locations have which time limits on them.

Depending on whether you are using a 12 or 8 month location, your LOA/contract would be drafted at that point (we just sent ours in last week because we just hit 12 months! ) and you will send in a deposit at this point. The deposit has to be paid with check, money order, or cashier's check. But no credit cards at this point. HOWEVER...the remaining balance of your wedding CAN be paid with a credit card. We made sure of that lol. The remaining balance will be due closer to the wedding (my memory is slipping at the moment, but I believe it is 30 days out you will be given a final balance and it is due)

As far as the rooms go, they will want to know how many you wish to have held when you send in the contract, but your guests have a while to book them. (30 or 60 days out from the wedding? i think? cant remember atm.. ) However, if they have already booked the rooms ahead of time they can simply give you the reservation #s and you can call those in to add to your total room nights.


Hope this helps!

 

[Beep]

Hi Alex I hope I can answer some questions for you.

You can call and be "pencilled in" at 18 months out from your wedding date. This puts your name in their system and they will alert you and anyone else that calls to be "pencilled in" that their is someone else interested in your time/date. At 12 months for some locations, and 8 months for others (depending on the use for conventions) you can be guaranteed your laction via a LOA. (Letter of agreement) For instance, the ceremony site of SBP is not used for conventions and thus can be booked at 12 months out. The reception locations are iffy. We were looking at several different reception locations and I remember going with Ariel's because it was one that could be guaranteed at 12 months out. At the 18 months point a coordinator will pencil you in and can tell you which locations have which time limits on them.

Depending on whether you are using a 12 or 8 month location, your LOA/contract would be drafted at that point (we just sent ours in last week because we just hit 12 months! ) and you will send in a deposit at this point. The deposit has to be paid with check, money order, or cashier's check. But no credit cards at this point. HOWEVER...the remaining balance of your wedding CAN be paid with a credit card. We made sure of that lol. The remaining balance will be due closer to the wedding (my memory is slipping at the moment, but I believe it is 30 days out you will be given a final balance and it is due)

As far as the rooms go, they will want to know how many you wish to have held when you send in the contract, but your guests have a while to book them. (30 or 60 days out from the wedding? i think? cant remember atm.. ) However, if they have already booked the rooms ahead of time they can simply give you the reservation #s and you can call those in to add to your total room nights.


Hope this helps!

That's brilliant, thank you so much for the information. We definitely want SBP so if we could book that at 12 months out it would give people plenty of time to book their travel arrangements.

We are hoping to get 4-5 nights on the Boardwalk of the wedding week, but will definitely be staying at POFQ for the 8 nights after the wedding. We have no idea if anyone else will be staying at Disney for our wedding or not, but probably only one other person will be staying.

Will we need to give Disney an idea of the number of rooms if it is for an Escape where the minimum is 4?

We will be booking restaurants rather than reception venues so we shouldn't hit the problem with that - hopefully!

Alex - I'm sorry that I gave the info for a wishes wedding. For escapes I am pretty sure that you have to book your rooms before you sign the contract. Also DFTW only sends out save the dates for wishes weddings. A lot of girls on the board who are having escape weddings make their own STDs.

Hi, no problem. I should have said it was an Escape wedding. I have STD cards ready and waiting, just need to put the date on!

We will have met the minimum of 4 nights if we book the 8 nights at POFQ, but won't know the exact dates to book until they can confirm the date for SBP. Any idea if we can we wait until they confirm the date at SBP, then book the 8 nights and return the contract with the reservation number?

I'm sure the Disney planners will be able to tell me when I speak to them but it is months before I hit the 18 month mark and I'm trying to get all the info I can.

I really appreciate everyone's help, thank you.

 

[Missy H]

We book our VR in September but after a few family issues we finally signed our LOA and sent our deposit via credit card late october.
When I spoke to Brie at DFTW I had 3 days after holding our date to book a room for 4 nights. This wasn't an issue as we had already booked!
I am also in the UK and I think they do things a little bit drifferent for us girls!
Hope this helps!

 

[Beep]

We book our VR in September but after a few family issues we finally signed our LOA and sent our deposit via credit card late october.
When I spoke to Brie at DFTW I had 3 days after holding our date to book a room for 4 nights. This wasn't an issue as we had already booked!
I am also in the UK and I think they do things a little bit drifferent for us girls!
Hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for the info. Was that 3 days after holding the date (12 month or 8 months) or confirming it?

Good to know about paying by credit card too

 

[Missy H]

We booked at 9 months and as we aready had a room booked I can't really say for sure as it wasn't a problem!
I can remember that they needed a resversation to confim the date!

 

[skiqt323]

i am booking a wishes wedding (wp and Gf), and I was told that I cannot be guaranteed until the 8th month mark. Its making it very stressful since we are having many people come from new york and pa and they want to make their travel arrangements. We were looking at feb 7, 2009, but just got told a convention came in and its not available so now we are looking at the week after easter that year and I just don't think I can take another disappointment. Should I try and talk to someone else about booking earlier?

 

[orangetiggs]

We were penciled in at 18 months out but then we couldnt not sign a contract till 12months as we have non convention centre locations. We then wanted to change our reception location at around 8 months and did that with no problems

we get married 2nd sep

 

[OceanGdss]

i am booking a wishes wedding (wp and Gf), and I was told that I cannot be guaranteed until the 8th month mark. Its making it very stressful since we are having many people come from new york and pa and they want to make their travel arrangements. We were looking at feb 7, 2009, but just got told a convention came in and its not available so now we are looking at the week after easter that year and I just don't think I can take another disappointment. Should I try and talk to someone else about booking earlier?

From what I was told by my coordinator, the GF and WP are both 8 month locations. Really the only way to book earlier is to change locations.