Welcome party at Raglan Road

[gibsi53]

Hi all!

We're planning on an informal welcome party at Raglan Rd and wanted to have 1 hour of open bar to start it off but we're worried because it is kinda expensive per person and we were told we'd have a waitress serving us- and not be able to go to the bar... only waitress service... With a rowdy group of 25-30 boozers do you think it'll be worth it? (with tax and tip like 32.00 p/person= 1hr)

I'm not sure how much the drinks are individually- but we're thinking maybe put the money on the bar and when it's gone, it's gone? not a true open bar but open cash bar with a limit?

What do you think?
Has anyone been in this situation?

Also- We can't seem to find the cost of drinks online anywhere.. if anyone has that info?

Thanks for any insight!!

Kelli

 

[Skylarr29]

We hosted a welcome party/rehearsal dinner at Raglan Road (photos in my trip report). What we did is everyone could order what ever they wanted as far as food and non alcoholic drinks but they paid for alcohol themselves. The waitresses brought each table a bill at the end. Since it was the night before the wedding I didn't want everyone getting drunk and I figured this would discourage it, besides we had a full open bar at the wedding so I didn't see the point. We had about 25 people. Also, I never think the open bar package prices are that good. At our wedding we ended up getting more than 1k back for our bar total from what Disney estimated it would be (we did a billed on consumption bar)

 

[lpizzuro123]

We also did a billed on consumption bar ar our wedding and got alot of money back. I agree that it is enough for food and non alcoholic drinks to be covered and then have everyone pay for alcoholic drinks. If you only have one waitress serving everyone - how many drinks can she get in one hour? I am sure not too many.

If you want to serve alcholic drinks maybe make up drink tickets and give every person one. Work it out with RR that each ticket is for one drink. Then if anyone wants another drink they would have to pay for it.

Linda

 

[dallastxcpa]

As a wedding guest if you invite me to a dinner I feel the drinks should be covered. Maybe it's just my southern heritage but to me that is a big no no. Now I have been to weddings were the family are non-drinkers and alcohol is not served at all and I have no problem with that, but to expect a guest to pay for their drinks is not right.

 

[lpizzuro123]

As a wedding guest if you invite me to a dinner I feel the drinks should be covered. Maybe it's just my southern heritage but to me that is a big no no. Now I have been to weddings were the family are non-drinkers and alcohol is not served at all and I have no problem with that, but to expect a guest to pay for their drinks is not right.

I completely agree with you for the wedding reception. For a Welcome Party - that is a hard choice especially at a bar.

We were going to do a Welcome Party at 'Ohanas and part of what stopped us was the price of drinks at 'Ohanas - they will really get you with those umbrella drinks. This is one reason we did our Rehearsal Breakfast at Cape May Cafe - everything was included and we did not have to worry about alcohol.

Linda

 

[Donald'sGirl]

We are doing our rehearsal brunch at Raglan Road but we are not paying for alcholic drinks. The non alcholic are included in our menu but if they want something stronger at 11:30 in the morning they have to pay for it themselves. Actually now thinking about it because it is on a sunday they might not even sell it that early so I don't have to worry about it

 

[gibsi53]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

We're ready and willing to put out the cash for the alcoholic drinks- we just don't know if the better plan will be to go with the one hour unlimited for everyone or to do a bill on consumption up to our limit? Would it last longer drink by drink at a cash bar that we're paying?

With waitress service, is it going to be slowed down too much to get our moneys worth for only one hour?

BUT- if the drinks are super expensive- the money could be gone in one round!?!
So we don't know what to do....

 

[Donald'sGirl]

Have you contacted Wendy at Raglan Road? She coordinates all that stuff there and would be able to answer all your questions easily and she is super nice.

 

[gibsi53]

We have spoken with Wendy and have a space and time booked through contract but are still trying to plan as best as we can to maximize fun and and length of time having fun... without being wasteful on a tight budget!

 

[DVC_Princess]

Hi! I was just looking at the math perspective on this. If you say it's $32/pp with tax and tip, then it's prob about $25/pp for the actual drinks. At Raglan Road, a lot of people would have beer so if you say an average of $8 per drink, that's 3 drinks that every person would have to have in 1 hour. I would think that if drinking at a reasonable rate, the most people would have would be 2 drinks. It also seems unlikely that the waitress would efficiently get you 3 rounds of drinks for that many people within that time limit. I would prob go with the billed on consumption plan up to a certain limit - it seems to be the best deal. Hope u have a magical wedding day!

 

[gibsi53]

Thanks for thinking that out DVC Princess! We've been trying to go over the numbers without really knowing the drink costs and everytime is leans that way to bill on consumption. We really appreciate everyones help and I think that's what we're going to do...