Mickey & Minnie...wishbook increase...is it worth it?

[ForKeeps]

Hi everyone,

I was perusing my wishbook yesterday to see if I could find other floral 'add ons' that I might want to consider and noticed that the cost of having 2 characters attend has increased in price from 1,070 to 1,200. Initially when I filled out the planning pages we asked for 2 characters (Mickey & Minnie) at the price of 1,070.

I still haven't received my invoice yet so I think I may be charged at the increase rate. I realize that prices are subject to change and that's fine, but if it is 1,200 that's getting pretty steep for 30 mins of interaction. 1,200 US = 1,400 in Canadian dollars. I was skeptical that it was worth it at 1,070 US...but now ...I'm seriously thinking of cancelling. $1400 Canadian would pay for half a trip back to WDW for our 1 year anniversay.

Those people who have had Mickey & Minnie or other characters...was it really worth it???

p.s., I also noticed an increase in Cinderella's Coach to $2700...

 

[pooh98378]

I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that you will not be charged for the rate increase if the increase happens within six months of your wedding. Does anyone else know for sure?

 

[SRUAlmn]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!! I really wanted Mickey and Minnie and now it's going to be even harder to justify Even if there is a 6 month rule, our wedding isn't until July! I'm so bummed

 

[ForKeeps]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!! I really wanted Mickey and Minnie and now it's going to be even harder to justify Even if there is a 6 month rule, our wedding isn't until July! I'm so bummed

I hope it was actually some kind of glitch with the wish book. I was confused because the prices didn't seem right and when I looked at my planning pages sent in August they listed them at $1,070. I haven't been charged that price yet, I'm just trying to come to terms with this and make a decision now because I should get an invoice Monday or Tuesday.

I'll be sure to follow up with how much we're actually quoted. If it's 1200 I think we might pass... It's kind of a shame because I already passed on the MK photo shoot...and the thought of having the coach never entered my mind. I totally understand why people want the coach, I just don't think I would have enjoyed it knowing the price...

 

[Skylarr29]

That really sucks. It is making the coach and characters really hard to justify.... 2700 !!! OMG! I wonder if it is worth it for that price

 

[pixie08]

I belive it is true the prices have gone up. I have heard that if you are under 6 months you keep the old pricing....I think you would have to go over your contract to make sure that is true and if it is, and they charge you the higher price than you are entitled to the lower price.

Now this doesn't help me because i am just a few days over the 6 month point I was on the fence about mickey/minnie and this has made my decision for me...we are not doing it. I never planned on the coach so that was ok but that is awful for all of you girls who were planning it Just being in Disney was what i imagined and the mice were a nice add on but never a seal the deal kind of thing for us.

 

[StephSFL]

The increase on the characters hit a sour note for my family- they understood the price increase in food and such, but not the characters! We have our wedding in two months and when we received the budget proposal we were shocked to see some of the price increase without notification. I wanted the characters, but I am not sure now. When it was $1,070, I thought of it as $1,000- rounding down $70 made me feel better. $1200 is a solid number I can't round down from anymore. It just seems like a huge increase- partly my fault for rounding down in the first place!

 

[ForKeeps]

So I went over my contract with a fine tooth comb. Turns out studying law is useful for reading contracts...anyways...the contract I originally signed only includes the main elements of the Intimate wedding so it won't apply to the enhancements. Plus, there is no principle in contract law that aligns with a 6 month out principle....so if that's allowed it's just because the co-ordinators at DFTW are being nice.

Now I would have thought the general principles of offer and acceptance for contract law would apply. Essentially the planning pages were an offer for services at one price, and by filling those out and asking for the characters I accepted and formed a contract at that price. BUT....it's clearly marked that those prices are subject to change without notice...so that's not a help either.

Actually it seems that the contracts aren't necessarily followed conservatively at all because I didn't get a Banquet Event Order (including enhancements) 6 weeks out, like it said I would. I still don't have one at 31 days out.

I guess the bottom line is I'll just have to wait and see what price I'm charged and decide if it's worth it, because the contract doesn't help me out at all.

I just really wonder if it's worth it. I remember Maggimus writing in her trip report that the characters didn't seem to be worth it (and maybe it would once she saw the pictures)...did anyone have similar feelings???


Sorry for the legal analysis...I'm such a loser

 

[Luvndisney]

that does stink about ther increases. we ahd a few way back when we were planning and the initial shockit tough.

I had three characters at my wedding - Mickey, Minnie and Stitch. Now this is a personal decision and I do not think the characters are for everyone. And not to be mean but for those with smaller weddings I think the characters MAY not be such a hit (always exceptions) We had 80 guests and let me tell you. It was THE BEST MONEY we ever spent. I would never change it...never take any off. They made our wedding what it was...everyone loved them - we loved them. The smiles people had no their faces made it so worth it. I am not plugging for you spending more money here but if we had to pay 1k more we still would have lef them in...thats how much fun we had.

these pictures were just priceless to me

 

[StephSFL]

Love the picture- I can't help but get excited over the dancing ones. I have never seen any pictures of the characters interacting at a wedding. The fun it seems to add is making me lean again toward them! Soooo cute! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Kim10110]

Your pictures are so so cute i have never heard of anyone having stitch but it looks so cute

 

[Tammy32]

I am sorry to hear that they raised the price. I would pay the new price for them too. They were so worth it. Everyone loved them and how many people besides this board can say they had Disney Characters at their wedding. You will never get that kind of interaction with Disney Characters in the park. I thought it would be great for the kids but it was the adults that went nuts. They were pushing the kids out of the way to get their pictures taken with them. Ok it wasn't that bad but the adults did go crazy. It was so much fun and they danced with everyone. They even did the electric slide. My brother got a short video of my mom dancing to "Staying Alive" with Mickey.... it is so funny. I think just about everyone got pictures with Mickey and Minnie that I am sure they will treasure for years to come. We also have so many great pictures of them. We also did a private photo shoot in a seperate room just the 4 of us. We had a great time with that.

Randy Chapman took the following photos:

 

[Maggimus]

we had an intimate wedding- we paid for mickey and minnie- and they only stayed about 15 minutes. My opinion- it was only worth it for the photos (which i hope turn out okay)- for bigger weddings- Id say they are great!

 

[ForKeeps]

Wow, thanks everyone for posting comments and pictures. All of those pictures are amazing! It's such a tough call for me. If we were having a custom wedding I'd do it for sure. To see the interaction with the guests was fantastic... We're going to be 11 people total and there isn't any children attending. I feel like it's such a balancing game. We are splurging in other areas...staying at the GF for our wedding night, having the Grand 1 for wishes, and of course the Wedding Pavillion (I wanted Sunset Pointe until the WC talked me out of it because of the weather extremes).

I guess the toughest part of it is all the other things we could do with the money (keeping in mind it's $1400 CAD).

One of the things I was wondering about is how the character interaction works for intimate weddings. I read at one point that the champagne has to be away before the characters will come out. So do you toast first, put the champagne away, have the characters come out and then cut the cake? I'm not visualizing it very well I guess...I'm afraid it'll all seem so rushed given that the cake cutting is only like half an hour total right?

 

[rescuerangers]

That is so annoying that they raised the price!!! They really are getting cheap (and greedy!!!!!) They also raised the price for a ceremony location at Epcot - from $1200 to $1500. That's a 25% increase! I'm surprised they are still keeping the Monday - Thursday minimum at $10,000!

 

[SRUAlmn]

I'm surprised they are still keeping the Monday - Thursday minimum at $10,000!

Shhhhh...they might hear you!!

 

[Ember]

I have to agree with the greedy comment... I don't mind paying a premium for the luxury of having a Disney wedding, but they are getting stupid with the price increases...

 

[sajetto]

We are having an intimate wedding and are having Minnie and Mickey because we have two small children in the wedding and I really wanted those pictures. However, that price increase is ridiculous and I already thought that what they were charging for the coach was outrageous, $2,700 is insane and I really hope that brides quit using it because of the increase so that disney will take a close look at those prices. I was going to use the coach, but changed my mind because we could go on a cruise for that price! I was going to cancel the characters because of the cost, but my parents persuaded me against it since we will have little ones there.

 

[Maggimus]

forkeeps- Yes. We toasted first, and took photos. Then we put the champagne down, took a photo or two, then mickey and minnie came, we then cut the cake. After we cut the cake, we took a couple photos (it didnt seem like very many to be honest, and then we danced for a moment with them, for photo opportunities sake, and then they rode away on their golf cart. Cutting the cake didnt take 5 minutes, and the photos were just zoom, zoom, zoom. Randy shoots as fast as he can, poor thing, and I still am unsure of how many we ended up getting.

We booked the characters literally like a month or two before the wedding. I dont know if DFTW is giving you all a deadline (im sure before your budget gets its final siggy)- but we were last minute on them. And I think you can book the MK photo shoot up until your budget gets finished as well.

I booked them because i wanted something, in photos to somewhat scream that we really did get married at disney. I think the wedding pavilion is good because you will have the castle in the background, and heck- its the wedding pavilion (Real nice!).

Good Luck!

 

[Disney-For-Life]

Personally, I think that it is tacky for them to charge people to have characters in their wedding pictures. Think about the amount of advertising that Disney receives when people show their wedding pictures to their family and friends - plus, these are the pictures that we hold dear for the rest of our lives - people see them in our homes for years to come.

Not to mention the fact that the people who want to have characters in their wedding day photos are the biggest Disney fans anywhere - talk about taking advantage of your biggest supporters.

If anything, they should be offering up a "character of choice" as part of a wedding package.

We got lucky and ran into Mickey and he agreed to take a few pictures with us so it didn't cost us a cent.