Rob and Scott's Big Fat Gay Disney Wedding-TR Pg 92; Photo Update pg 133

[acourtwdw]

I would pick Ohana just because I haven't been there. I do like WCC though. That would be lots of fun also. What type of food do you like more-poly or stick to your ribs American fare? What would your guests like more. If you timed it right would you be able to see the fireworks from the Poly? That would be very cool.

 

[Timrobb]

Also for "meet and greet" purposes, the WL has a lobby that might be more appropriate?!?

 

[ConcKahuna]

Also for "meet and greet" purposes, the WL has a lobby that might be more appropriate?!?

I dunno, the Tambu lounge is right next to Ohana

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

'Ohana hands down on this one.

 

[rpmdfw]

I would pick Ohana just because I haven't been there. I do like WCC though. That would be lots of fun also. What type of food do you like more-poly or stick to your ribs American fare? What would your guests like more. If you timed it right would you be able to see the fireworks from the Poly? That would be very cool.

You'd book a place you'd never been for your rehearsal dinner? You're braver than we are!

As I mentioned earlier, we've got plans for later in the evening and will be there early enough that it's still daylight outside. So fireworks or castle lighting will not affect things at all.

Also for "meet and greet" purposes, the WL has a lobby that might be more appropriate?!?

I dunno, the Tambu lounge is right next to Ohana

We've booked a hospitality suite for the meet and greet with out-of-town guests, so no need to find a place to do it. We'll head directly over there after the rehearsal dinner (which is just the wedding party and my parents)

'Ohana hands down on this one.

That's what we thought too, until we had such poor service last week. It just struck us as a better choice overall. Heck even the name of the place means "family", how perfect is that?

In the end, we think we'll stick with O'hana, and just request to be away from the fire-pit. I'll also mention it to our wedding planner to see if she can help us out.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Rob, your wedding planner should be able to help. THat's part of the job.

I can read the stress in your posts. I hope you find a few hours to get away from everything and relax. I think your wedding is going to be as perfect as it can be.

 

[gppnj]

I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this thread. It's awesome to hear about all the little details of what goes into a gay Disney wedding. I don't think I'll ever be having a wedding (Disney or otherwise), but someday I hope to at least attend a Disney wedding. It must be so cool. I hope you post again when it's all over to give us every detail about what happened.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Poor service at 'Ohana recently? Uh oh. Are you comfortable sharing what transpired? (Not being nosey, I have a reason for asking that I can't post right now).

 

[rpmdfw]

Poor service at 'Ohana recently? Uh oh. Are you comfortable sharing what transpired? (Not being nosey, I have a reason for asking that I can't post right now).

Go back to post #708 on this thread. I explained some of it there. This was July 3rd. Last seating of the night.

Overall, it was just poor service. They didn't bring our drinks out very quickly, then we couldn't get them refilled. We waited for quite a while for each item. We were done with appetizers before we got drinks. We got salad but then waited for quite a while after we were done eating it for the side dishes to come out. The sides were cold long before any of the skewers made it to our table. We practically had to beg to get them to bring us the shrimp at all and when they did it wasn't enough for all 10 of us to even have one piece each. After multiple requests for drink refills one of our friends got up, went to the server station and got pitchers of water and tea and brought them back to our table himself. The server's response to all of this was "Well, I'm BUSY trying to get these skewers out!". Management's response was "oh we know that can be a problem" but then did nothing to even help the guy get drinks. Granted, he did have three tables of 10 people each, but by that time the restaurant was over half empty. SOMEONE should have been able to help him. It really kind of said to us that "you're a table of more than 6 people, so we know you're getting and automatic tip, so we don't have to try as hard."

Of course, being there with a group of Adventurers Club fans, meant that our conversation about "how poor the Disney experience has become and how they don't care about the guest's expereince any more" got very loud.

 

[turkygurl]

We've found the automatic tip to be an issue as well. When we go anywhere at Disney, it's JaxPiper, me, our two kids, and my brother. That's an automatic 5. If anyone else meets us there or joins us for dinner, it's an automatic tip. Normally it's parties of 8 or more, but not at Disney. And generally the service is either stellar (from the server's who recognize that good service at a large table means an even bigger tip) or completely lackluster (from the ones who figure that they're getting the money anyway).

You might want to mention it to the wedding planner, and maybe have her call O'Hana and explain the situation and ask for the best server because of the nature of the event. It doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[rpmdfw]

We've found the automatic tip to be an issue as well. When we go anywhere at Disney, it's JaxPiper, me, our two kids, and my brother. That's an automatic 5. If anyone else meets us there or joins us for dinner, it's an automatic tip. Normally it's parties of 8 or more, but not at Disney. And generally the service is either stellar (from the server's who recognize that good service at a large table means an even bigger tip) or completely lackluster (from the ones who figure that they're getting the money anyway).

You might want to mention it to the wedding planner, and maybe have her call O'Hana and explain the situation and ask for the best server because of the nature of the event. It doesn't hurt to ask.

It gets even worse. We all have Disney Dining Experience cards. That adds the automatic tip to EVERY ticket regardless of party sized. So we deal with the autograt each time we eat at Disney. Our experience with dining has gone downhill overall since they started that policy. We do tip in addition to the 18% typically, and we NEVER tipped below 20% before this policy went into effect.

 

[turkygurl]

Thanks for telling me that. We had looked into getting a DDE card, but I don't think we will. I like being able to decide for myself how much the server deserves.

 

[rpmdfw]

Thanks for telling me that. We had looked into getting a DDE card, but I don't think we will. I like being able to decide for myself how much the server deserves.

Don't get me wrong. We LOVE the DDE. It's just the autograt that we don't like.

Honestly, before the autograt policy, we'd take the 20% savings and turn right back around and add it back as the tip. Now, we've got the 20% discount, and the 18% autograt. We only add anything now if the service is exceptional. (Like at SSR Turf Club for instance) It's still a great plan, but we've noticed that the service levels have dropped, but in most cases the servers don't know that we've got the DDE until we give it to them at the end, so I don't think that's why the service has gotten worse. I think it's just part of the overall downward trend at Disney. Sure there are some stand out restaurants and servers but in general, it's not as good as it used to be. Very sad.

 

[TinkerChelle]

Don't get me wrong. We LOVE the DDE. It's just the autograt that we don't like.

Honestly, before the autograt policy, we'd take the 20% savings and turn right back around and add it back as the tip. Now, we've got the 20% discount, and the 18% autograt. We only add anything now if the service is exceptional. (Like at SSR Turf Club for instance) It's still a great plan, but we've noticed that the service levels have dropped, but in most cases the servers don't know that we've got the DDE until we give it to them at the end, so I don't think that's why the service has gotten worse. I think it's just part of the overall downward trend at Disney. Sure there are some stand out restaurants and servers but in general, it's not as good as it used to be. Very sad.

I totally agree. During our trip last year I was extremely dissappointed in a couple of our waiters. I was bewildered-that had never happened before!
We are considering joining DDE but not sure how I feel about the 18% automatic gratuity-we are still debating.

 

[rpmdfw]

I totally agree. During our trip last year I was extremely dissappointed in a couple of our waiters. I was bewildered-that had never happened before!
We are considering joining DDE but not sure how I feel about the 18% automatic gratuity-we are still debating.

Bottom line is that it still saves a bunch of money.

 

[rpmdfw]

So, since I wouldn't let y'all vote on the chicken dance or on cake flavors, I thought I could at least ask you which style of sunglasses you like better.

This style:

Or this style:

So what do you think?

Quick update.

I ordered the neon sunglasses for the welcome bags today. Thanks, everyone who posted their thoughts. It was ALMOST unanimous. Everybody loves the neon.

 

[kingLouiethe1]

Quick update.

I ordered the neon sunglasses for the welcome bags today. Thanks, everyone who posted their thoughts. It was unanimous. Everybody loves the neon.

When can I expect that my bag will arrive?

 

[rosiep]

Great choice! I liked the neon ones too. Somehow I missed that vote....must have been thinking about myself that day

 

[rpmdfw]

When can I expect that my bag will arrive?

Rosie, when can you be there?

And you really shouldn't call, Rosie a bag! It's not nice!

 

[wallyb]

I ordered the neon sunglasses for the welcome bags today. Thanks, everyone who posted their thoughts. It was unanimous. Everybody loves the neon.

Not me. So it can't be unanimous.