PTR - Diary of an Aussie Disney Bride (Feb 2025)

[zanzibar138]

We're in!

Doing a little happy dance this morning... our 12-month window opened up overnight (our time), and I woke up to an email from our Disney coordinator confirming that all of our preferred venues and times have been put on hold. I've provided the information requested for the contract, now just have to get the room block in place.

Also looks like we may be slightly over our estimated numbers for the wedding. When you're only expecting around 10, and 1 of those people then decides to bring their wife and 2 children, it makes a big difference! We're now up to 10 adults + 2 children who seem pretty serious about going. We're kind of expecting 1 more adult (and potentially his son who is technically an adult but is tube-fed and won't sit at a table, so not sure how that works for minimums). So we're really up to 13 total so far. However, we've invited a total of 25, and only 2 have said they're definitely not going to go, so if we get a few more surprises we might have to revisit the budget!

 

[zanzibar138]

Doing the room block shuffle

Now that we have our wedding date locked in, it's time to put our room block in place. I'm trying to work with our room block specialist over email instead of having to do an international call in the middle of the night (literally, his working hours are 10pm-5am for me!), but it seems like it's going to be quite complex so I might need to make the effort to do a call.

I've got some basic information through including the discounted rates for our preferred resorts. As much as people have told me the discount isn't worth much, but after tax and conversion to AUD, it actually represents a 25% discount for us on a standard room at CBR, which I definitely think is reasonable. Yeah, we may be able to get better through another offer, but then again we may not. And we wouldn't get the freebie either.

Sadly the All Stars resorts aren't available for room blocks during that time due to a large sporting event (which hopefully won't impact crowds too much away from that specific area!), but the discounted price of Pop is actually the same as the rack rate for All Stars, so that helps. We think most of our group will probably choose to stay at CBR anyway, so we'll probably just stick with CBR and Pop.

 

[zanzibar138]

The problem with Vegas

B's friend who is VERY excited about the Vegas part of our trip has been doing lots of research on that and has made an unfortunate discovery. It appears that there is some major event happening and hotel rates (even this far out) have skyrocketed just for that week. Apparently the week before and the week after are fine. This is unfortunate timing now that we've started locking in flights and wedding events, we don't really have any flexibility to do Vegas a week earlier or later, and I'd rather not do Vegas on the way home - I want to finish on a Disney high! We may still consider stopping by for a night or 2 to appease B's friend, but hopefully he can manage without us.

We will have nearly 2 weeks from our arrival in LA to our preferred arrival in Orlando, so we're considering driving to Orlando instead! I looked at the map and am pretty excited about some of the places along the way... Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, New Orleans. Could be epic!

 

[starry_solo]

There are plenty of hotels near Ontario Airport. Hop onto interstate 15 and you’ll be in Vegas within three hours or so.

 

[zanzibar138]

There are plenty of hotels near Ontario Airport. Hop onto interstate 15 and you’ll be in Vegas within three hours or so.

We had actually already planned to drive to Vegas from LA. It's the highly inflated hotel rates and potential crowds of people that are putting us off.

 

[zanzibar138]

Vegas... back on the cards

We discovered what the problem was with Vegas. There is a large running event on Tuesday 21 January, which is the day we were planning to drive in from LA. B and his mate who are super keen for Vegas found that the Flamingo was relatively semi-reasonable, so we've gone ahead and booked it before it sells out. It's a fully refundable booking, so if we end up changing our mind we can still change our plans.

My caveat to considering Vegas under these circumstances is that I absolutely refuse to be there the day of the actual event, which will likely be chaos with roads closed and people everywhere. I'm already going to have to contend with driving on the wrong side of the road in an unfamiliar environment and vehicle... and the last time I tried to drive to Vegas (under completely normal circumstances) ended in tears. So we'll be hanging out in LA for an extra day, and driving to Vegas on the Wednesday instead. Due the cost of accommodation and the potentially chaotic environment, I've also said no more than 4 nights - I'd really prefer only 3!

While I'm disappointed that we can't take full advantage of our arrival into Ontario airport by driving straight from there, this new plan will allow us to spend a day at USH. We definitely hadn't been planning this since we'll be going to USO, but since we missed out on Super Nintendo World in Japan last year, and it won't be at USO yet, we decided it was worth adding to the trip.

 

[zanzibar138]

The first Shein haul

With my hair workshop coming up soon, I wanted to have my hair accessory ready to practice with (I'll be doing my own hair and makeup, so have booked the workshop for some professional guidance). I've been on the lookout for the perfect headband for the last few months, but to no avail, so obviously I thought I'd see what Shein had to offer. I came away with 3 headbands, 3 veils and a pair of shoes to try, all for less than AUD $100!

First I tried the shoes. I've been looking out for a pair of shoes with some sparkle, ideally a nice peep toe but fine with closed toe if not too pointy, a nice solid block heel that's not too high, ankle strap and a cute bow embellishment. I cannot explain how sparkly these shoes are. If anything, they might be TOO sparkly for me! And I would definitely have preferred a peep toe. They're surprisingly comfortable though with nice soft material. And although the toe box is slightly cramped (expected for Shein), I think it will come good with some wear. I'm going to keep wearing them in and ponder, perhaps try them with the dress when it's ready and decide from there. I think I'm ok with wearing them under a floor length skirt - will just be a little flash of sparkle now and then.



Next I tried the hair accessories. The first 2 were lovely but not wow, but will definitely become part of my everyday wardrobe! The last one was perfect! Exactly what I've been hoping to find. Just the right blend of 'tiara' and 'headband', with a lovely princessy scroll pattern that will go beautifully with the lace in my dress. Excuse the terrible photo of me!



Finally I tried the veils. I had been umming and aahing over whether to buy the sparkly veil, and was immediately disappointed when I saw it. It looks and feels cheap (as one may expect from Shein, but not always the case), is narrower than I expected and just doesn't have that lovely ethereal look. It IS very sparkly though, which doesn't come across in the picture. The one with the lace edging I wanted to love, and I do like it, but just wasn't as blown away as I'd hoped. I was also umming and aahing over whether to buy the plain one, because I really did want something embellished. But the plain one was really lovely, nice soft fabric with a lovely weight to it, and the beautiful ethereal look. It's definitely a contender. I intend to try them all with my dress when it's ready and make a decision.

 

[zanzibar138]

The final version

Over the weekend, B and I sat down for a full review of the plans for the wedding and the trip before we sign our lives away to Disney lol! We both realised we'd allowed ourselves to get a little carried away and were uncomfortable with how far over budget we'd allowed ourselves to get. Along the way, we've approached it with the thought that while we're already going all that way and spending all that money, we may as spend a bit extra to do x. All those little extra costs (plus some more material) had definitely added up. We've seriously re-evaluated our priorities and cut back significantly.

Wedding:

• We've decided to ditch the brunch reception with characters and go back to just having the dessert party.
• Without the reception, there's no longer a need for extra photography/videography coverage, which was going to be a significant extra cost.
• We're going to be less generous with our extras, and only pay for food for either a welcome dinner or a wedding day dinner. People can buy their own drinks. We'll still organise a welcome and farewell event, but will make it clear that people will be expected to pay for themselves.

Trip:

• We've decided to ditch Universal. It's just not a high enough priority for a large enough number of people to justify the cost.
• Without Universal, we'll get a hire car when we fly into Ontario airport and can drive straight to Vegas from there, which will mean we can break up the drive over 2 days and allow far more time to enjoy the journey.
• We've changed our Vegas accommodation to Horseshoe instead of Flamingo, which was slightly cheaper with better reviews, and in a similar location! We've also ditched 1 night there, so down to 3 nights in Vegas.
• We've decided to just fly as directly as we can from Vegas to Orlando instead of flying into Miami. The flights will be more expensive and may not be direct, but we'll save money on accommodation and car hire.
• When we first fly into Orlando, we'll just stay in a budget motel while we do Kennedy Space Center and another day for manatees and an airboat ride.
• B has convinced me to spend our first 6 Disney nights at Pop. We'll then transfer to CBR for the next 6 nights, then AKL for our final 2 nights (which will hopefully be freebies!).
• If we take the first morning flight out of Orlando to LA, we are comfortable with the amount of buffer before our flight to Singapore departs later that night. If we're somehow not on that first flight, there will be another 3 with the same airline that would still get us to LA in time. So we'll no longer need an overnight stay in LA.

With all the changes, we've managed to save 5 nights from our trip, which in itself will be a significant saving.

We're both feeling a lot more comfortable with the current plan, and I'm not expecting any significant changes from now on (unless there are significant changes on Disney's end, or one of us wins lotto or something lol!).

 

[zanzibar138]

Learning about makeup

I have decided to do my own hair and makeup for the wedding and associated events, so I organised a lesson. I'm quite capable of doing my own makeup on a day to day basis (not that I wear it often), but I know bridal makeup is a bit more involved. The lesson was 2.5 hours! We went through the basics of how to properly prime the skin, what products to use, how to contour using bronzer and highlight, what to do with my eyebrows, eyeshadow techniques and fake lashes (which I have never been able to master on my own!). The MUA would show me the technique on one side, then get me to do the other side to practice.

The look was of course far heavier than I'm used to, but I was expecting that. It still felt comfortable though, didn't feel cakey or anything, and I still felt like myself. I was definitely happy enough with it to use it as a base to practice and tweak as I go.



Still need to buy a few things. I'll get a good set of brushes and lash tweezers, and most of the prep/setting products the MUA used. Realistically I probably need to get most of the makeup she used as well but I might just use up what I've got to practice the techniques, then replace it with the good quality stuff so I've got it for the day.

Looking forward to next week's hair lesson!

 

[alohamom]

You look fabulous, I really like that lipstick colour on you!

 

[zanzibar138]

You look fabulous, I really like that lipstick colour on you!

Thank you so much! I struggle with lipsticks and have a VERY old go-to that desperately needs replacing, so it was good to get some advice. I like that this one is still a pretty neutral 'lip colour' but just a shade or two deeper than my usual.

 

[Ann-CA]

We've changed our Vegas accommodation to Horseshoe instead of Flamingo, which was slightly cheaper with better reviews, and in a similar location!

Been enjoying following along!

I read this and was confused about what Horseshoe hotel was. Looked it up and realized it is the new name for Bally’s. I’d say it’s a better location than Flamingo! Closer to Bellagio Fountains!

 

[zanzibar138]

Been enjoying following along!

I read this and was confused about what Horseshoe hotel was. Looked it up and realized it is the new name for Bally’s. I’d say it’s a better location than Flamingo! Closer to Bellagio Fountains!

Oh, lol! Obviously I'm not that familiar with Vegas. I've only ever been for 1 night back in 2011, and I just picked a mystery hotel through hotwire so didn't do any research. Good to know we've picked a decent location though!

 

[zanzibar138]

Long haul locked in

It's been an anxious wait for availability to open up for our flights from LAX to Singapore, but I am very relieved to say that I was able to book today! No stops on this one, just a straight nearly 18 hours of flight time from LAX to Singapore, departing around 10:30pm one night, and landing at about 8am 2 days later (with the time difference).

Singapore Airlines are pretty well known for being a great airline with a pretty amazing business class product, so pretty excited to have this one locked in and looking forward to experiencing it.



I booked these flights through KrisFlyer (Singapore Airline's FF program), because Velocity have appaling availability for redemptions. It set us back 214,000 KrisFlyer miles (converted from 300k+ Velocity points), with a ridiculously low cash payment of USD $11.20.

I now have no Velocity points left, but I do still have plenty of Qantas points which will hopefully cover some of our shorter flights. Next I will aim to book the flights between Australia and SE Asia.

 

[AZGurl]

Really loving your report so far.

 

[zanzibar138]

Really loving your report so far.

Glad to have you aboard!

 

[zanzibar138]

Adulting is hard

After careful analysis of the numbers, feedback from family and friends, and much deliberation, we have decided to get married in Perth instead of having the Disney wedding. Unfortunately under Disney's new pricing structure (that came in a couple of years ago now), there is no budget friendly option for an intimate wedding, and considering the weak AUD and the additional cost of the travel required, we have had to admit that we were never going to be able to get it down to an amount that we would feel comfortable spending. Hopefully we can still include a few Disney touches on our special day!

We also realised that we were putting a lot of pressure on our family and friends. A surprising amount of the 25 people we invited really wanted to be part of our special day, and were going to put in the effort to travel. However, for some of them, it was going to be a real struggle financially, and for others, it was going to mean they wouldn't be able to spend that money on something else that they really wanted. We'd always known our grandparents wouldn't be able to come either and really would like to give them the opportunity to be involved.

The good news is that we still intend to do our trip to the US as our honeymoon. Since we do have our main flights now locked in, we're just going to stick with those dates, but may tweak the middle a bit. We still plan to meet B's friend in Vegas for a few days, but will travel to WDW on our own (and selfishly are actually looking forward to not having any obligation to anyone else!). One of B's other friends has already planned a big trip of his own with his wife and kids, which they still intend to do, but may tweak their plans as well now that they don't need to include Orlando. If we both do end up in Orlando at the same time, we'll meet up for a meal or maybe a morning or afternoon together.

And so brings me to the end of this PTR. If you're interested in following along our journey, I do plan to start a new PTR for the honeymoon.

 

[alohamom]

I think you have made a very smart choice based on all the factors involved.
In a way, you have the best of both worlds in having your friends and family at the ceremony, no pressure worrying about the guests and travel etc plus an incredible Disney Honeymoon!
Looking forwardward to reading your new honeymoon PTR.