Illuminations During Reception

[jnale]

I plan to have my reception at the American Rotunda so my reception should still be going on during Illuminations.

Does anyone know if it's possible to have Disney rope off the area in front of the Rotunda so my guests can view Illuminations without fighting the Epcot crowd?

 

[mystiichell]

I would ask your WC

 

[snyderla]

I may be remembering wrong, but isn't the American Gardens Theater in front of the rotunda? That would block your view. Maybe they could rope off the area in front of Italy, up near the lagoon. I've seen that done before, and it's a great viewing location!

 

[Skylarr29]

If your reception is at AAR then your cocktail hour will probably fall during Illuminations (ours does anyway) and we are having an Illuminations party for our cocktail hour in the Italy Isola. You will have to pay a 12.50 viewing fee for all our your guests in the very least to have an area roped off and if you have an actual party at one of the locations the is a $20 food and bev minimum per person and a rental fee depending on the location you choose.

 

[jnale]

If your reception is at AAR then your cocktail hour will probably fall during Illuminations (ours does anyway) and we are having an Illuminations party for our cocktail hour in the Italy Isola. You will have to pay a 12.50 viewing fee for all our your guests in the very least to have an area roped off and if you have an actual party at one of the locations the is a $20 food and bev minimum per person and a rental fee depending on the location you choose.

Thanks - this is very helpful. How much is the Italy Isola rental fee? What time do they let you start your reception at the AAR?

 

[wendy46001]

If your reception is at AAR then your cocktail hour will probably fall during Illuminations (ours does anyway) and we are having an Illuminations party for our cocktail hour in the Italy Isola. You will have to pay a 12.50 viewing fee for all our your guests in the very least to have an area roped off and if you have an actual party at one of the locations the is a $20 food and bev minimum per person and a rental fee depending on the location you choose.

This is what we did as well....
our reception didn’t start till 9:30 after fireworks

I thought i heard that AA was going only late night receptions or am ceremonies (someone correct me if i'm wrong)...but disney will not block off an area for your guests unless you pay for it….

 

[jnale]

This is what we did as well....
our reception didn’t start till 9:30 after fireworks

I thought i heard that AA was going only late night receptions or am ceremonies (someone correct me if i'm wrong)...but disney will not block off an area for your guests unless you pay for it….

I don't know where I heard this (or read this) from but I was under the impression that a reception could start in the AA after 7:30 - is this right or am I totally off?

I haven't actually started real planning yet because I'm planning for October 2008 and I'm too far out to do anything, so I'm just taking notes for now.

I was hoping to start the reception (in the AA) before Illuminations and just rent maybe the Italy Isola area for just viewing. Then go back to the AA for the rest of the reception.

I'll have to work with Disney on this - I was just trying to get a rough idea of what I want beforehand and I was looking for some ideas.

 

[wendy46001]

I don't know where I heard this (or read this) from but I was under the impression that a reception could start in the AA after 7:30 - is this right or am I totally off?

I haven't actually started real planning yet because I'm planning for October 2008 and I'm too far out to do anything, so I'm just taking notes for now.

I was hoping to start the reception (in the AA) before Illuminations and just rent maybe the Italy Isola area for just viewing. Then go back to the AA for the rest of the reception.

I'll have to work with Disney on this - I was just trying to get a rough idea of what I want beforehand and I was looking for some ideas.

It sounds correct....i think they set that time because you'll have only a hour in AA before they will want to move you outside...at 8:30....

I know back in the day they would let you start at five and then do a dessert hour outside...but now they are trying to keep it a cocktail hour...
Happy planning

 

[jnale]

It sounds correct....i think they set that time because you'll have only a hour in AA before they will want to move you outside...at 8:30....

I know back in the day they would let you start at five and then do a dessert hour outside...but now they are trying to keep it a cocktail hour...
Happy planning

Ok - I think I got a better picture now - thanks.

About how far is the Italy Isola from the AA, do you know?

 

[Skylarr29]

So far I have been told that we need to have a 7:30pm ceremony and then an 8:30-9:30 cocktail hour at the Italy Isola and then 9:30-1:30 reception. The rental fee is 675.00 I believe (or somehwere around there) I don't know if you can start your reception any earlier but that is the timeline we were given and we are happy with it... we didn't want to disrupt our reception to go out in the middle.

 

[Skylarr29]

The Italy Isola isn't that far... I believe it is the next pavilion over if I am remembering corecctly???

 

[DVCGirl49]

We are having our receptiopn at American Adventure Rotunda next February. We asked the same question and were told that while there will be CM's out there directing park guests away from the AAR entrance and directing our guests in, that no they would not be able to rope off an area 'out front'. We were offered the option to have our Cocktail Hour at Italy Iosla....for the extra site fee and F&B requirements. We decided against that as most of our guests have seen Illuminations already, and it would just make the pricetag for the wedding even higher than it already is. We will be doing our Cocktail Hour on the second floor of the rotunda overlooking the dancefloor/reception area below.

As to the time you can get into the pavilion......While technically by the DFTW paperwork, you SHOULD be able to start a reception at 7:30 at the AAR, they generally try to discourage that. They prefer to book it for the 7:30pm WP slot and a 8:30pm Cocktail Hour start / 9:30pm Reception start. That reduces the amount of time that they have to shut down the pavilion / divert traffic flow for the attraction inside.

I have heard of maybe 1 or 2 brides who pressed the issue and in the end were able to get the 5:00pm WP slot and therefore an earlier start at AAR for their Cocktail Hour / Reception, but they have said that it was pretty tough to get DFTW to agree to the earlier time.

I would definitely reccommend discussing your plans with your SM/WP, if you are ok with renting II for the Cocktail Hour that's great. If not, then maybe they'll have some other creative ideas.

 

[hmgolden]

The Italy Isola isn't that far... I believe it is the next pavilion over if I am remembering corecctly???

Yup, Skylarr29 is right, Italy is next to the American Adventure.

 

[dznystar]

I just want to give a piece of advice to anyone planning an illuminations or any park reception. Please make sure that you find out FAR in advance if they are having Extra magic hours on your wedding night. For 10 months, we had plans of a reception at the french island. we had everything worked out and were ready to pay in full. Then we found out after our menu tasting that it was extra magic hours the night of our wedding. Which meant that the park was going to be open until midnight i think. Needless to say this caused a LOT of frustration on my part 2 months before the wedding, and we had to settle on the St. Augustine Rooms at the GF. Not that GF isn't beautiful, but I had my heart set on EPCOT. So please, disers, keep checking the calendar, and just know that with Disney, everything is subject to change.