Venue viewings?

[Sarah28]

Hi all

I have a question that I'm hoping one of you lovely ladies would help me with please? We are from the UK and are visiting WDW next August for a holiday. I have always dreamt of a DFTW, but we are yet to actually get the planning ball rolling as we are still saving up and trying to get our heads around the whole thing, so this would be the ideal chance for us to do a bit of research. I would really love to have a quick look round the venues before we start any kind of formal planning as we are out of the 2 year mark.

My question is, do you think someone at DFTW would be willing to show us the WP and possibly the WHR&P at the GF even if we aren't actually within the 2 year planning window / have a wedding co-ordinator as of yet, and how would we go about arranging this? Thanks in advance!

 

[sue]

My daughter was married at Disney in November of 2012. She had the wedding pavilion and GF ballroom. When we went down to Florida in August of 2012 for our planning session, we did get a very quick look inside the pavilion, but heard directly from our wedding planner that they have on average of 4-5 weddings per day in the pavilion, so it gets very busy. I would call ahead and ask if you could sneak a quick look on a particular day. They won't just let you go in and look without a wedding planner. If you explain you are from out of the country, they may make a exception for you. The building is beautiful! The GF is also absolutely beautiful when decorated.

Disney is very expensive and you have to meet certain financial quidelines depending on which type of Disney wedding you choose. You basically have to choose everything from Disney or is doesn't count towards your financial agreement. We ended up with a cost of $19,000.00 for 50 quests using the Wishes wedding. This did not include the photographer or videographer. They had a Saturday morning wedding at 11am.

 

[lurkyloo]

Disney usually won't give you the time of day if you're more than 16 months out from your wedding, but it never hurts to ask. Which venues are you interested in seeing? Most of the ones at the resorts are easy enough to wander into on your own, as are many of the theme park venues.

 

[insight blue]

I have wandered into the WP on my own, and I know my friends have also, multiple times. They got married there and like to go back to visit it just for a few moments. We always make sure to check that there is no wedding, or anything else going on though. Some cast members saw us over there and let us go right on in, no problem. Now, whether you are allowed to do this or not, I don't know. But it sure was easy to just wander in if there when nothing was happening.

 

[Emily11212]

WP isn't too hard to view, just depends if a wedding is happening there or not. Now, in terms of reception locales, that is harder and depends on where you want your reception... mine is the Living Seas Salon, and I didn't even get to see it when we went down for our planning session. Living Seas Salon is not something you can just walk in to. So that all kind of depends!

 

[DISNEYJADE89]

Hi Sarah

I've been reading some of your posts on here! I'm currently in the process of trying to book our disney wedding and came across some of your comments!

Congrats on the engagement! I got engaged in Disneyworld aswell so it seems only right to get married there!

We are visiting Disney next August as I'm a teacher and can only go during school holidays (such a pain)

Did you manage to find out about site visits and having a meeting with a wedding planner? We'd really like to view some venues before we book! There are so many to choose from!

 

[Sarah28]

Thanks for all your comments ladies, much appreciated

Disney usually won't give you the time of day if you're more than 16 months out from your wedding, but it never hurts to ask. Which venues are you interested in seeing? Most of the ones at the resorts are easy enough to wander into on your own, as are many of the theme park venues.

Thanks Carrie, was thinking this would probably be the case. I'm pretty sure we want the WP for ceremony and possibly the Whitehall Room and Patio for the reception - as others have said, could maybe go and have a look at WP while there isn't a wedding on?

In regards to the hotel reception locations (not really interested in the park locations), can you have a look round these on your own? Ideally we would like the reception in the GF to keep everything all sort of together

Hi Sarah

I've been reading some of your posts on here! I'm currently in the process of trying to book our disney wedding and came across some of your comments!

Congrats on the engagement! I got engaged in Disneyworld aswell so it seems only right to get married there!

We are visiting Disney next August as I'm a teacher and can only go during school holidays (such a pain)

Did you manage to find out about site visits and having a meeting with a wedding planner? We'd really like to view some venues before we book! There are so many to choose from!

Hi Jade, thanks for your lovely comments! I totally agree on it being right to get married at WDW. Congrats to you too!

Yeah can understand the whole thing about taking time off during school holidays as other half is college lecturer so feeling your pain!

We visit next August too! Haven't really found out much about having a site visit etc yet. As per other previous posts, DFTW are a bit reluctant to do anything unless you have started the official planning within your 16 months etc, and we are not there yet as we're still saving up. I'm sure if you phoned them and arranged your official planning session, they would be more than willing to show you round. Let us know how you get on!

 

[lurkyloo]

Could maybe go and have a look at WP while there isn't a wedding on?

In regards to the hotel reception locations (not really interested in the park locations), can you have a look round these on your own?

Yep! As long as there isn't a function going on inside, you can walk into any of the ballrooms to have a look. For the Wedding Pavilion, you might want to stop in at Franck's and just double check that it's empty and open before you go in.