If you hire transportation to Epcot for a dessert party ...

[Racey]

so are these mears mini-vans directed through the same areas that the motor coach would go for a desert party?

What I want to know untimatey is: can i stil wear my dress to the dessert party if I have these?

 

[Brit_Jude]

so are these mears mini-vans directed through the same areas that the motor coach would go for a desert party?

What I want to know untimatey is: can i stil wear my dress to the dessert party if I have these?

Yes - I am wearing my dress. My planner booked them and mears provides all the transporation at Disney (mini-van, charter buses, motor coach, limo etc) Keep in mind they are nothing fancy just the standard mini-vans like the ones that shuttle you to Universal etc and I am planning to tip the drivers.

 

[Racey]

cool - I know its an odd thing to worry about, but i'd like to keep my dress on all day!

How much is tax in teh US and how much is the tip normally?

 

[lurkyloo]

Tax varies by county. At WDW, it's 6.5% for sales tax and either 12.5% or 13% for room tax (the All-Star Resorts are in a different county and incur 13% tax). However, for DFTWs, not every element is taxed.

Tipping varies. At restaurants, it's generally 15%-20%, but for many of the people who help out with the wedding day it's just a flat amount like $20 or even $50.

 

[Racey]

so I wasnt far off that $600 mark for the motor coach - with tax and tip (minimum) im only $60 out

hmmmmm, dont know what to do now - but as its a small group I see no point spending $600 when $100 maximum would be sufficient .... is a MExpress worth an extra $500??? will have to think about that!

 

[lurkyloo]

There is no tax and tip on motorcoaches.

How many people do you need to transport? A mini bus might be slightly cheaper but only holds 25 and still has a 5-hour minimum. Vans hold 11 but only have a 3-hour minimum.

 

[Racey]

OK - i'm confused at just the transportation now, plus i've just remembered something which I DO need to take into consideration ... our hire car. Im hiring my hubby a Challenger for the entire trip. And he WILL want to drive it on our wedding day .... and i'll DEFINTALEY want our pic's with it after the ceremony. (Im going to put up a new post regarding parking so as to go off topic)

So to summarise:

1. I will have no more than 20 guests for the day.
2. Just myself and my parents will go from AKL to GF (as I think they will be dotted around in different hotels, I will tell them to meet at GF - is this acceptable?)
3. Then i'll have all guests from GF beach ceremonytransported to, say, downtown disney for a meal (Im up for Portobello for the meal if i can)
4. Then we will need transportation to Epcot for the dessert party and back to wheerever cars are - or AKL.

I really need a wedding planner - but I also need to start

 

[CJinWonderland]

OK - i'm confused at just the transportation now, plus i've just remembered something which I DO need to take into consideration ... our hire car. Im hiring my hubby a Challenger for the entire trip. And he WILL want to drive it on our wedding day .... and i'll DEFINTALEY want our pic's with it after the ceremony. (Im going to put up a new post regarding parking so as to go off topic)

So to summarise:

1. I will have no more than 20 guests for the day.
2. Just myself and my parents will go from AKL to GF (as I think they will be dotted around in different hotels, I will tell them to meet at GF - is this acceptable?)
3. Then i'll have all guests from GF beach ceremonytransported to, say, downtown disney for a meal (Im up for Portobello for the meal if i can)
4. Then we will need transportation to Epcot for the dessert party and back to wheerever cars are - or AKL.

I really need a wedding planner - but I also need to start

Hi racey!

I was feeling very confused about transport too. BUt ive been speaking to a few brides that have asked their wedding planners to book it all for them. They have asked for mini vans with mires, which is $25 per journey.

so for my 18 guests i will need two vans for me and my guests pick ups, so $50.
and then two vans again to take us back to our hotels $50, so it would all come to $100.

one DB was kind enough to show me her reciepts for reference when im booking and it seems a really simple, easy, and cheap way to do things. So it looks like it will only cost me $100.

 

[CJinWonderland]

also racey, your right, if you get all your guests to meet at one hotel it would make things better.

Your guests should have no problems getting around in their wedding clothes on the disney transport. The only problems would be for you. So get everyone to come to you! It's your wedding day, keep things simple as you can for yourself

 

[aduck126]

THIS A WARNING!!!!!!

I had a small wedding of 34 guests. My planner didn't talk transportation with me at all. I learned everything from the dis boards. I figured it wont be that big of a deal to hire cabs to take everyone to EPCOT from the Poly, boy was I wrong. As you ladies know the dessert parties last about 2 hours. Our car was the only one that was allowed to go backstage and drop off us and a couple people riding with us through the back way. The cabs were apparently not allowed to do that (which I was not informed of). We gave one person in each cab a 20 and told the driver we are having a DP in Epcot, they all acted like they knew what they were doing. Well we realized they were wrong when only one cab of people arrived on time for the DP the rest were an hour late!!! Turns out the cabs took everyone to the wrong place. One cab driver charged 30.00 for a 10 minute cab ride!!! Alot of them "got lost" just to add money to the meter. The cab that my dad was in didn't because we have been to disney so much that he knew his way and told teh cab driver "You better turn around and go the right way and turn off your meter now or I'm not giving you a dime" He miraculously found his way around after that.

The biggest regret of my wedding day was not hiring the bus transportation. It ruined the dessert party. Do not try and save money by using cabs because Mears is a shady company and employs horrible corrupt people.

 

[Rebclay]

We are getting around the transportation issue by hiring a second event guide. We will have someone meeting guests at the front entrance and the international gateway, that way our guests can't get confused or lost about what entrance to come through or how to get there. We are just telling our guests what time they need to be at each entrance or to just meet us at the DP, that way, not transportation issues, lol. HTH

 

[erin.w]

Carrie -
what would it cost for the one motorcoach to take our guests roundtrip (stopping at two resorts), plus a 15 passenger van roundtrip?

Would that be cheaper than having to rent the motorcoach for the 5 hour min?