Minimum Night Req. Question

[surface77]

Hello All!

My DF and I are hoping to get married at WDW in Feb 09...I say "hope" b/c my Mother is super stressing about the min. night requirement that you have to meet for however many guests you have at your wedding/reception.

Can anyone tell me if they had an issue with meeting their minimum night requirement at the WDW resorts???? If so, what happened? Or, is there something I can clue my Mom in on so that she stops mentioning it .

Please help! It is the one thing that she is paranoid about....uuugggh (if they had a smiley face pulling out it's hair, I would insert it here)

 

[PrincessBride010103]

its nothing to freak out about i promise! im having 50 guests...i told them i only wanted to guarantee 25 room nights and they said that was fine! disney is so accomodating..you will be fine on your room nights!

 

[surface77]

its nothing to freak out about i promise! im having 50 guests...i told them i only wanted to guarantee 25 room nights and they said that was fine! disney is so accomodating..you will be fine on your room nights!

I keep telling her it is negotiable...oooh Mothers....god love em'!

You are so helpful, PrincessBride! You've answered some of my other questions on here...Thanks for being so awesome!

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Also think about how many nights just you and your parents will stay. Bride & groom nights count too, and my parents are planning to stay on property too. So if we do 5 and then my parents do 5 that's 10 already down and then bridal party if you have them. It sounds scary but doable

 

[BayouPrincess]

Also think about how many nights just you and your parents will stay. Bride & groom nights count too, and my parents are planning to stay on property too. So if we do 5 and then my parents do 5 that's 10 already down and then bridal party if you have them. It sounds scary but doable

I agree. I was worried about the room night guarantee, but then I started thinking. We are staying 9 nights, we are also getting a seperate room for our kids DD20 & DS17 for 5 nights so that's 14 room nights right there!...I'm sure I'll be over my 25 room night guarantee! They go quickly.

Tell your mom, not too fret the small stuff. That will take care of itself.

OH..BTW, my coordinator also told me that if people don't use the discount rate to book a room in your block and book a package, that still counts towards your room night guarantee. I have several people who will be travelling and want to use the dining plan for their vacations...so I had to ask.

 

[PrincessBride010103]

I keep telling her it is negotiable...oooh Mothers....god love em'!

You are so helpful, PrincessBride! You've answered some of my other questions on here...Thanks for being so awesome!

no problem! youre making me blush

 

[surface77]

Yes, I thought about that even though I will be staying in a room with my parents till the wedding night and vice versa for my DF. I think that will count for 8 nights for both sets of parents.

There are 6 people on each side for our bridal party(12 total), four of which will share a room with each other, and they will all be there at "least" 2 nights. 8x2=16 nights. Now we are up to 24 nights. We are thinking around 75 maybe more might be attending so our min. nights bumps up to 75 nights.

My Mom is concerned that people will want to stay off grounds thinking it will be less expensive than the WDW resorts. I keep telling her we will have to send out a letter with our save the dates explaining to people how it is cost effective to stay on the grounds rather off b/c you don't have to worry about transportation on top of the room and airfare.

 

[DisBride2007]

I don't think they require you to book a minimum amount of rooms based on your guest count anymore. I think you're supposed to tell them how many rooms you want to book, and then they'll hold 20% more than that for you. For example, you want to have 30 rooms be your minimum, they will hold 36 rooms for you. Now you'll probably say, why not just make your minimum number low enough for just you and your immediate family? You run the risk of hotels being fully booked. This is how it was explained to me by my planner, so don't hold me to this.

That said, we had NO problem filling our room block, and even the cheapo relatives wanted to stay on property. It's a lot more fun atmosphere to have a lot of guests staying in the same hotel. The discount should seal the deal! GL!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

You can also ask people on the boards to help you out.

I once booked with a bride's room block for a last minute trip when Disney told me it was completely sold out! She contacted me after I posted my frustrations about not being able to get a room on the Resorts Board. The discount was an added bonus as I was prepared to pay full rack rate. I've also seen posts on the Wedding Board from people looking for specific dates and offering to help fill a block.

And, like the others have said, it adds up really quickly and you should be fine.

Congrats on your engagement! You two are a lovely couple!

 

[Keira1387]

I went through the same problem as you! When I first talked to Disney I was told that I needed 75 nights. I told them there was NO way, and that I could only guarantee 25 nights. They were fine with this. Also, I only live 1 hr away from Disney, but alot of the people that are coming are taking advantage of the rates and staying a long weekend. You will be surprised how quick the numbers add up! HTH!

 

[OceanGdss]

My story is kind of like Kendra's. I live 1 hr away as well (we're from the same town lol) and I was originally told 75 room nights. But in my LOA I'm only having to confirm 25. And like said on here previously, they REALLY add up! And even if you can't fill them, we'll all help you out. There's always someone travelling to the parks that could use a discounted room If the room block is your only concern, dont even think twice about it, have the DFTW!!! promise..the rooms will be the least of your worries lol


PS~~ You are such a cute couple!!!

 

[surface77]

I don't think they require you to book a minimum amount of rooms based on your guest count anymore. I think you're supposed to tell them how many rooms you want to book, and then they'll hold 20% more than that for you. For example, you want to have 30 rooms be your minimum, they will hold 36 rooms for you. Now you'll probably say, why not just make your minimum number low enough for just you and your immediate family? You run the risk of hotels being fully booked. This is how it was explained to me by my planner, so don't hold me to this.

That said, we had NO problem filling our room block, and even the cheapo relatives wanted to stay on property. It's a lot more fun atmosphere to have a lot of guests staying in the same hotel. The discount should seal the deal! GL!

Thank you su much for breaking it down! I agree about the cheapo relatives, I really think more people are going to attend than my mother is predicting. They DO have a year's notice to plan for it.

You can also ask people on the boards to help you out.

I once booked with a bride's room block for a last minute trip when Disney told me it was completely sold out! She contacted me after I posted my frustrations about not being able to get a room on the Resorts Board. The discount was an added bonus as I was prepared to pay full rack rate. I've also seen posts on the Wedding Board from people looking for specific dates and offering to help fill a block.

And, like the others have said, it adds up really quickly and you should be fine.

Congrats on your engagement! You two are a lovely couple!

Funny you mention that people post, I just saw a post on the board about someone looking to fill a room block if needed.

Thank you so much for the kind words!!!

I went through the same problem as you! When I first talked to Disney I was told that I needed 75 nights. I told them there was NO way, and that I could only guarantee 25 nights. They were fine with this. Also, I only live 1 hr away from Disney, but alot of the people that are coming are taking advantage of the rates and staying a long weekend. You will be surprised how quick the numbers add up! HTH!

Thanks for the info!!! I can't wait to share w/ my Mom!!

My story is kind of like Kendra's. I live 1 hr away as well (we're from the same town lol) and I was originally told 75 room nights. But in my LOA I'm only having to confirm 25. And like said on here previously, they REALLY add up! And even if you can't fill them, we'll all help you out. There's always someone travelling to the parks that could use a discounted room If the room block is your only concern, dont even think twice about it, have the DFTW!!! promise..the rooms will be the least of your worries lol


PS~~ You are such a cute couple!!!

Awww - You are making me blush Thank you, you are so sweet!

It is nice to hear that there is help on here if needed.

The people on here are the greatest!! I love how everyone lends a helping hand. There's not too many places anymore where you can find such hospitality. That is why I want to get married at WDW. If there is one place that knows how to treat its guests and in return makes all your problems melt away, it would be WDW!!!!

 

[Skylarr29]

I was worried about this too as we are in Florida and half our guest list is in Orlando. I negotiated or 75 minimum room block to 25. I don't know if that was only because we are in Florida or what. I think we will end up adding more because you can only hold 20% more rooms that you are guaranteeing at the discounted price, for example, I am guaranteeing 25 room nights so I can hold 30.

 

[SarahInMN]

We are almost ready to sign our contract, and the wish book "minimum nights" is way different than the "real" way. Basically, we got a fairly confusing spread sheet to pick our 3 resorts and to estimate room needs; they will then block 20% over what we estimate. So, we are saying we need 73 room nights and they will block 88 for us. Bill walked me through it, and he said it's flexible after signing, that we can shift up or down and shift rooms from one resort to another.

I had been stressing about it but stopped stressing once I realized how it really worked.

 

[lpizzuro123]

My concern with holding a mimimum of 25 rooms is that we are hoping to have around 50 people at our wedding and I want to make sure that everyone that wants to stay at one of the resorts in our room block gets the discount. We are using the Boardwalk, POFQ and All Star Movies. Originally we only put 3 rooms for 3 nights at each. As of now I know of at least 4 rooms at the Boardwalk that will be taken so I upped the rooms there. My DF's niece and her husband and 2 kids are coming for a week and staying at either POFQ or the All Star so I have upped rooms there also.

It's really hard - I don't want to overbook but I want to make sure there are enough rooms for people that want the discount. I would hate to tell people that they can get a discount on rooms only to have them call and find out that the room block is full and "based on availability" there are no other discounted rooms available.

Linda

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Funny you mention that people post, I just saw a post on the board about someone looking to fill a room block if needed.

Thank you so much for the kind words!!!


The people on here are the greatest!! I love how everyone lends a helping hand. There's not too many places anymore where you can find such hospitality. That is why I want to get married at WDW. If there is one place that knows how to treat its guests and in return makes all your problems melt away, it would be WDW!!!!

Lol! I saw the room block-wanted post right after I replied to you! So there you go-- the perfect example!

You are so right about the people on the boards! The Dis-brides (and grooms) and 'mooners are some of the most helpful, nice, sincere people you will ever find!

Good luck as you begin the process and keep us updated on your plans!