Needed: Low-Cost/FREE Welcome Party Ideas

[violentmesses]

Hi All,

In serious need of welcome party ideas on the cheap. I've completed a search and there are about 2 or so threads that gave me a few ideas, like:

1. Miniature Golf Party
2. Movies/Marshmellows @ BC or Ft.W
3. Utilizing a Public Room/Area @ the Boardwalk

But I'm wondering:

1. Is the MiniGolf experience worth it for 1st time WDW guests? Maybe this isn't a good option because they'll feel like they can mini-golf at home?
2. We'll have a cabin @ Ft.W - and were thinking we could BBQ before the Marshmellow/SingAlong/Movie starts. But the thing with this is, most of our guests will be staying at Pop Century. How much of a pain will it be for them to get to their own party?
3. The BoardWalk would be cute! But - same question regarding the Boardwalk - Is travel from Pops to Boardwalk a major pain to do 2 days in a row (once for Welcome Party and again the following day for the wedding)?

But then I think...

1. Maybe I should hold a welcome party at Downtown Disney since most of my guests are 1st timers? My thinking is that it'll give them an excuse to see DTD as they're already going to experience the Boardwalk on my wedding day anyway.
2. I'm also ordering a grooms cake from It's Tasty Too! and would like to have his cake at the Welcome Party as a surprise. At what venues can I do that?

So as you can see...I'm a mess and I'm not sure what to do about this. I know I want to welcome our guests properly -- I'm just now sure how!

P.S. We're also providing small welcome bags. We did this for DF's destination birthday and the guests appreciated it tons!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

I love the Mini Golf idea!!! Me and DF love going to the Disney minie gold course they are much more fun and themed then the regular ones.

 

[violentmesses]

I love the Mini Golf idea!!! Me and DF love going to the Disney minie gold course they are much more fun and themed then the regular ones.

Hmm - Really? I've never been. Which course is the best? Or how would you rate the following?

1. Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course - Garden Course
2. Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course - Fairways Course
3. Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course—Winter Course
4. Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course—Summer Course

Also - people get a mini golf voucher with their MYW package, riiiiigghhht??

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

These three are all fun good for adults and kids, with interative holes and such,

Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course - Garden Course
Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course—Winter Course
Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course—Summer Course

And the fairways course is more towards adults as it's a smaller version of a golf course with just fairway rocks and hills for the obstacles, nothing colorfu, or fun

Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course - Fairways Course


I'm not certain on if they get the voucher with a package like that or not.

 

[kirasaurus]

Just chiming in, mini golf sounds like a blast! It seems like something not many people would think to do at WDW.

 

[TBdisneyMC]

For our welcome event, we're planning on seeing the piano player Ye Haa Bob in the lounge at Port Orleans Riverside. We haven't seen him yet, but heard he's great. Plus, most of our guests (including us) are staying at Riverside, so it will be easy for most people to get there. Even for people not at Riverside, they just have to take a bus to DtD and then the boat or bus to Riverside. And it won't cost us or them anything (unless they order drinks...)

We're also doing mini golf as our farewell get-together at Fantasia Gardens. We always make sure to do all of the courses on each trip, so we knew we wanted to do it for the wedding. We chose Fantasia Gardens because it's our favorite course (especially the Fairways side), and since our group will have to be split into smaller groups anyway, those that want the more typical mini golf holes can do the Gardens side and those that want more of a challenge can do the Fairways side.

The only issue is if your guests (like most of ours) don't have a car. Fantasia Gardens can be a pain to get to (more so than getting to the Boardwalk), but I put instructions/directions on our website, so hopefully they'll find their way!

And just to add... Mini golf is definitely better at WDW than at home (especially the Fairways since I haven't seen a course like that at home), so I definitely think it's worth doing, even for 1st timers...but as I said, we do it every time.

 

[Jilian]

We were trying to figure out the same thing. We'll be staying @ the Carribean beach resort and they have a really big area by the cabana bar where I'll invite our guests to meet up, get their welcome bags and mingle. We'll buy them a welcome drink too. I was @ CBR this past weekend and spoke with a woman @ the concierge to ask if this was ok and she said yes. She said the cabana area is open to anyone and the only problem would be that she couldn't guarantee seats for everyone, but we're ok with that.

 

[violentmesses]

Thank you all ladies for the new ideas and input.

DF and I talked it over and we've settled on a Welcome Party at the Cabin. Might as well take advantage of the intimate setting, right? I've designated one of my bridesmaids to be on call as the "transportation expert" in case people need a helping hand getting from their resort to our cabin.

We'll serve hors d'oeuvres and champagne at 7pm, give out smores packets at 7:45pm and then walk everyone over to the ChipNDale Campfire/Movie.

Having the welcome dinner will also give my bridesmaids a chance to bring their wedding attire/stuff over so that we can all dress together the next day. I think we may even do a fun sleepover thing!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

oh I LOVE the idea of the movie night with smores!! I might have to do this one night, as I've always wanted to do it!!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

We've decided to have everyone meet at the GF (where we are staying) pool bar for a drink or two, and then we are all headed to dinner at California Grill. Guests will all pay for their own meals, and we told guests it was completely up to them whether they wanted to attend of do their own thing. We have 30 of the 44 guests in our party attending, so hopefully it will work out good!

 

[erin.w]

For our welcome event, we're planning on seeing the piano player Ye Haa Bob in the lounge at Port Orleans Riverside. We haven't seen him yet, but heard he's great. Plus, most of our guests (including us) are staying at Riverside, so it will be easy for most people to get there. Even for people not at Riverside, they just have to take a bus to DtD and then the boat or bus to Riverside. And it won't cost us or them anything (unless they order drinks...)

We only recently discovered Bob, but LOVED him so much we hired him for our welcome party and our wedding day! Your guests will love his show! Promise! We now can't go to wdw without going to visit him at POR!