Are you wondering if a Disney Cruise Line Wedding or Vow Renewal might be the right choice for you and your partner? Check out the positives and negatives of a Disney Cruise Line Wedding or Vow Renewal.
The holiday season is upon us once again, and a wonderful side effect of the holidays is often lots of proposals and newly engaged couples. I’m looking forward to hearing about all the new engagements as we head into the end of the year…but in the meantime, knowing that we will have some new brides and grooms entering in the mix got me thinking about wedding planning, and one of the questions I’m hearing more often these days:
Could a Disney Cruise Wedding be Right for Me?
In today’s fast past world of WAY TOO BUSY to breathe, let alone plan a wedding, a Disney Cruise Wedding may in fact be the perfect solution for many couples who are wanting a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, but aren’t really wanting to do much planning or coordinating.
I just added a pretty detailed article to the Disney Weddings & Proposals section of the site about Disney Cruise Weddings, you can check it out here if you are looking for details and pricing. I go into this topic in lots of depth there, but here are some brief highlights:
Potential Positives:
Picture courtesy of David and Vicky Arndt Photography, in my opinion, some of the BEST Orlando area photographers–and VERY experienced at working with Disney and Disney couples.
Disney Cruise Line is consistently rated one of the top large cruise lines in the world.
The Disney Cruise Line Wedding package is just that–a package, with most details pre-planned. There are a few categories where you make a few choices, and that’s all you need to do. Everything else is taken care of.
You are assigned an onboard wedding coordinator that you will meet with on Embarkation Day and they will work with you to ensure your wedding goes smoothly.
This is a great way to combine your wedding (or vow renewal) and your honeymoon and/or family vacation into one trip and one budget.
Of all the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, this is one of Disney’s most affordable Wedding packages, so if a “Disney” wedding is important to you, this might be an avenue worth exploring if budget is an issue. Of course, a cruise reservation is required.
A Disney Cruise Line wedding is classic, elegant, simple and a little glamorous–without breaking the bank or costing you your sanity as you try to plan lots of details.
There’s no real “reception” in a Cruise Line wedding. You have a cake and champagne celebration, and then everyone goes back to enjoying their cruise. No first dance, no uncomfortably standing around wishing you could get back to the beach.
You can get married on the beach or dock on Castaway Cay, or on the ship in a few different locations. (Getting married on Castaway Cay is more expensive than getting married on the ship).
You are a “Disney Fairy Tale Wedding” couple, and can book a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Bridal Portrait shoot in one (or more) of the parks within one year of your wedding (for an extra fee).
While photography packages are available for additional fees, the services themselves are not provided by Disney Fine Art Photography–they are provided by Cruise Line Photographers.
There is no real “reception” in a Cruise Line wedding. There is a cake and champagne celebration following the ceremony; however, it’s not a long event–time enough for toasts, cake cutting, some pictures and enjoying some cake and then it’s over. I have this as both a pro and a con—where it falls for you will be a matter of your personal preference and priorities.
Disney Cruise Line is a high end cruise line, and priced accordingly.
If you are someone who likes to plan every detail and be in constant contact with your planner, a cruise line wedding will not be a good fit for you.
Your onboard ceremony is not actually legal, so you are married in a civil ceremony in Port before the ship departs on your cruise.
Every guest you want to attend your wedding will need a cruise reservation and a passport.
I think Disney Cruise Weddings are actually perfect for a lot of couples, and even more perfect as a vow renewal. If you would like more information, please check out my more detailed article on Disney Cruise Weddings in the Disney Weddings and Proposals section of the site.
If you are in the midst of planning a trip or event for a large group of people at a place like Disney, for example a wedding, family reunion, vow renewal, or milestone birthday celebration, you are likely to discover some unique challenges. Disney travel with a group is really fun, but can also have dangerous potholes you will want to look out for.
Transportation & Logistics Challenges
For example, is everyone staying at the same resort? If not, transportation may be a challenge. When we were planning our wedding, we ended up with people staying at four different resorts. Planning transportation for wedding events ended up being one of our biggest challenges! Depending on the size of your group, your travel agent (or planner for your group) may be able to work with Disney to get discounted rates for your group. This tends to work for large groups, or groups who are also using Disney catered events, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, etc. But it’s always worth a try! Try to choose one or two resorts that will work for your group. The best scenario is one resort. However, depending on your group, you may want to offer resorts in different financial tiers to accommodate different budgets.
Of course, sometimes, people will just do their own thing, regardless of what you plan for your event. If that happens, you then have to decide if you’ll include their transportation needs in your planning, or if you’ll make it their responsibility to get to the planned events. But know there’s a good chance it will happen, and be prepared and decide early how you will handle this if it happens.
Group Composition Challenges
The composition of the group can also present some challenges. Is your group a mixture of families with kids and young singles or couples? Or perhaps a mix of adults and children of all ages and interests? Does everyone know each other already, or does anyone know each other at all?
SONY DSC
Depending on what you are planning, you may just have specific events to worry about, and outside of that, everyone will be on their own. For example, you can plan a wedding and wedding reception for your guests and then leave on your honeymoon. Or you can plan a Family Reunion that is all about one specific afternoon or evening event.
Alternatively, you may have a situation where you will have some “official” events, usually paid for by the planners, but you may want to spend more time with everyone outside of the “official” events. You may want to plan a “Get to Know You” casual event near the beginning of the trip, if your group involves a lot of people that don’t know each other.
For example, very large families, traveling to a reunion; corporate events with multiple branches coming together; even weddings often face the challenge of lots of invitees who don’t know each other. A casual ice breaking event is often a great way to get everyone to get to know each other and start talking before the more “official events” begin. Again, this will depend on your group, your budget, and the purpose of your gathering.
Do NOT Bring a Stick and a Pole or a Megaphone!
The first thing you have to accept is that in a place like Disney, it is going to be impossible to try and keep large groups together for any substantial period of time. In a daydream, it can be lovely to imagine your group of 40 people joyfully going from attraction to attraction, stopping for Mickey bars and Photopass pictures along the way. However, the reality? Doesn’t really work that way. We’ve all seen the tour groups following the guide with flag on a pole, marching gleefully through the park chanting first thing in the morning…but have you seen them later in the day? They usually look lost, miserable, and frustrated…and those chants? Not so cheery.
The reality: Trying to move even a small group of 5 -7 people all together is like herding cats. (For those of you who don’t have cats, it’s REALLY REALLY INSANE). Throw in another 10+ people and you will all lose your minds and end up hating each other. Honestly, I swear it’s true. So, please trust me on this. Let the idea of all staying together for long periods of time GO.
Playing in line (Photo: Brooke Hudson)
Instead, plan specific activities to try and do together, and tell everyone up front that you’ll meet for these specific activities, but the rest of the time is their own. Some of the group may naturally end up staying together for chunks of time, but I think you will find, for the most part, the large group will break up into much smaller groups of 2 – 5 people.
Something Important to Consider…
(Or: How to avoid having your group plot your murder…)
Is your group going on vacation to Disney and attending your event(s) while they’re there, or are they attending your event(s) and visiting Disney when there’s time after/around your event(s). It’s a good idea to know the basic perspective that the majority of your group will have. If everyone is viewing this as their vacation, and they’re fitting in your event(s), you will need to be super careful about how much time you try to “take” from their vacation—or you are likely to run into resistance and push back.
Even though your wedding or Grandma’s birthday may be the most important thing in the world to you (and probably Grandma), not everyone in your group will have that same perspective. It’s important to know your group, and what their goals and wishes for the trip are—this will help minimize disappointment and hurt feelings on all sides. And ideally, keep the death threats to a minimum.
[Note: the author assumes no liability, expressed or implied for any actual death threats, actual or implied that may or may not arise from any of the advice provided on this blog.]
Optional Get-Togethers
When we were planning our wedding weekend, we really wanted to try and spend as much time with all of our guests as possible. We had “official” events, of course—the welcome dinner, the wedding, the reception and the dessert party that we knew everyone would be attending, but we hoped to get more time with everyone than that.
So, we decided to plan some optional “extra” meet-ups, in hopes that everyone would come to at least one or two of these and we would get more time with everyone. For our group, we focused on meals. We booked large group Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) for one or two meals each day, depending on the day, at favorite restaurants we wanted to share with people we loved, and invited everyone to join us.
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
Chef Mickey’s Character Breakfast Photo: Brooke Hudson
SONY DSC
Sci Fi Dine In
Chef Mickey Character Breakfast at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
Via Napoli, Italy, Epcot
SONY DSC
Character greetings have been canceled. Character meals are most likely canceled, too. (Unconfirmed)
Logistically, this is a bit of a headache, as with Disney’s cancellation fees, you have to plan ahead for this, and get people to commit at least 36 hours ahead of the meal, so you have time to cancel…but we ended up with 10-20 people at several of our meals and it was AWESOME. In our case, everyone did separate checks, but there are lots of different ways to handle this. If everyone is on the dining plan, you can use table service credits.
Alternatively, to help everyone budget (and confirm those commitments!), you could have everyone prepay a fixed amount toward the meals they’re joining before the trip, and have one person responsible for paying the bill and collecting any overages. If you need help brainstorming ideas, reach out to me, I’m happy to help!
Attraction Meet-Ups
Another idea is to plan a particular attraction at a particular time, and all meet up and do that together. This can be challenging for more popular attractions that need Fastpasses. However, you can coordinate everyone’s Fastpass reservations to schedule them into the same range, or at least try and get them to overlap for at least a 30 minute window. Attractions that are “shows” are good for this, like Mickey’s Philharmagic, Muppets, Carousel of Progress, etc. You want to make sure you’ve picked something that everyone in your group can enjoy. If anyone is too little to ride, or won’t be comfortable or won’t enjoy it…maybe think about doing something else instead.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the rain Photo: Linda Harkness
Wedding Trip: Toy Story Mania (Photo: Brooke and Frank)
Super Patient Kids Waiting in Line (Photo: Brooke Hudson)
I’ve planned for some groups that had success meeting at slow moving rides with lots of other stuff going around it, so the group stayed together for a while. For example: One group I worked with had 17 people, including several small children, and a senior in a wheelchair. They met at Finding Nemo at the Living Seas in Epcot at 9:15 am, and then explored the Livings Seas Pavilion more or less as a group, attending Turtle Talk with Crush as a group, and then went to Lunch at Coral Reef as a group. After that, they split off into smaller groups or families until the next day. This worked for them, and they managed to get a big group PhotoPass picture by the fish near the entrance of the Finding Nemo attraction (all part of my plan, haha).
Photo Meet-Ups
Still another idea is just to meet for a Photopass picture periodically. For example, suggest everyone meet at the Partner’s statue at 1:15pm to check in. You take a big group picture, see how everyone is doing, and then everyone goes on about their day.
Epcot! (Photo: Disney PhotoPass)
SONY DSC
Your meetups don’t have to be in the parks, either. You can plan a group pizza party around the pool at your resort for everyone to unwind at the end of a busy park day. Or even just plan to meet at the resort at 2pm by the pool for everyone to go swimming or enjoy some relaxation time.
Ideas for Group Meet-Ups or “Extra” Events:
Hoop-de-do Revue
Photopass location meet-up for a group picture
Meet at an all-ages attraction. Some great choices include:
Walt Disney World Railroad
It’s a Small World
Carousel of Progress
Finding Nemo (the attraction)
Living with the Land
Muppet Vision 3D
Finding Nemo the Musical
Resort activities. For example:
An afternoon pool party
Participate in the Disney movie night at your resort
Plan a resort photo shoot, either with a Disney Fine Arts photographer, or your own photographer (I have recommendations, if you need help with this).
Parks/Resorts/Disney Springs or All of the above: Plan a game or activity for the whole group that people can help each other with, talk about, etc. I’ve had a lot of success with customized Photo Scavenger Hunts. They can be short: targeting one afternoon, and one park or resort. Alternatively, they can span several days, and include several sections and some scheduled meetups for pictures etc. One obvious benefit is that you, as the planner, will end up with a lot of great “extra” pictures from the Photo Scavenger Hunt that you might not have gotten otherwise. Your guests will have so much fun trying to complete the tasks, they won’t even notice they’re suddenly in a lot more pictures than they might have otherwise been in. It’s sneaky, but it works!!
Click HERE if you’d like to visit my Etsy store to contact me about designing something specific for your group.
Work together to “make a gift” or “create a basket” for the guest or guests of honor if your event revolves around a birthday party, anniversary party, wedding etc.
For example, for Aunt Edie’s 85th Birthday, you could have a scrapbooking party. You could set up tables with paper and photos and scissors and decorations, and have each table make a couple of pages for a scrapbook to be presented to Aunt Edie at her party.
For a wedding, you could have everyone contribute a recipe and make a recipe book with family pictures as a scrapbook type project, similar afternoon or evening gathering.
Ride Mix-In: One of the highlights for our guests for our wedding weekend was a ride mix-in we planned after our dessert party ended at Epcot. Our guests were treated to a surprise ride on Soarin’ right at the end of the night. They rode with other park guests (they were “mixed in”), but our group got their own row. It was a fairly economical option for us, and a big hit for our guests. Check with your event planner or travel agent if you think that’s something you may want to consider.
Soarin’ Post-Dessert Party Ride Mix In
There are lots of ways to get together, without trying to walk lockstep, 10 people across, through the Magic Kingdom for 8 hours straight. Everyone vacations differently. Some people like to GO GO GO, and basically run from attraction to attraction. Others like to meander, looking at all those special details, perhaps without any destination in mind at all. Many of us fall somewhere in between. The point is, you won’t be able to make ANYONE happy if you try to make EVERYONE happy.
Key Considerations for Planning Group “Extra” Events or Meetups:
How many? Decide how many group “meet ups” you want to plan.
A good general rule of thumb is 1 or 2 events per day, maximum.
Take into consideration your specific group and the reason for your trip.
Get Input: Talk to other members of the group to get their input before you finalize your plans.
Maybe the majority of your group has no interest in getting together very often.
Find out what expectations people have, and what they’d like to do.
Budget: Make sure you know what kind of budget you are working with. If you’re planning attraction or photo meet ups, budget isn’t an issue, as long as everyone has a park pass. However meals have budgetary impact. And don’t assume that everyone will have a park pass—find out.
Where: Decide whether your meet ups will be in the parks or at the resort, or a mixture.
For Whom: Try to consider what is important to MOST of the group. Remember this meet up isn’t about YOU, it’s about the group getting together. You want to be sure you aren’t just choosing something that YOU like without considering if everyone else would really like it. (Even if it’s an event around your wedding. Unless it’s actually a wedding event, try and make the other events more about the group and togetherness, rather than just about you and your fiancé).
Prioritize Guests of Honor: If you are celebrating someone’s birthday or anniversary, keep THAT person in mind. If it’s a family reunion, keep the most senior members of the family in mind. Reunions tend to be more for the grandparents and the great grandparents than for the kids—even at Disney!
Take Pictures: wherever you meet up, how often you meet up, whatever you end up doing…make sure there are a couple of different people in charge of taking pictures. After the trip is over, and everyone has returned home to their regular lives, perhaps in different parts of the country or even the globe, you will have these pictures. These pictures will be special memories that will instantly bring all of you back together. Try to make sure that you have some casual pictures of as many people in your group as possible. Even if you are waiting in line for an attraction, try to take pictures of people being together. Have a couple different people in charge of this, so that no one person ends up in NO pictures because they are always taking pictures of everyone else.
Outside the Voyage of the Little Mermaid theater. Photo: Brooke Hudson
Heading to Toy Story Mania (Photo: Brooke Hudson)
SONY DSC
It’s All About the Attitude!
DECIDE You are Going to Have a Great Time
Group events and Family reunions can sometimes be fraught with tension and drama. Even in happy places on vacations, there are sometimes hurt feelings or someone behaving badly or someone who missed their nap and is crabby, etc. You have to decide that no matter what, you are going to have a great time. Don’t let the little irritations get you down.
If there’s a Guest of Honor, try and help them have that same perspective if you can. So much of what happens to us in life is a direct result of our attitude and our expectations. If you EXPECT to have a great time, most of the time—you will. When you EXPECT to get in a fight with you father’s second cousin over Saturday’s football game…you probably will. DECIDE to have a good time, no matter what…and you WILL!
Disney travel with a large group can bring you magical memories that will last a lifetime. As long as you plan ahead, and have the right attitude, traveling to Disney with friends and family may be the best vacation of your lives. If you need any help planning your trip, or would like my advice on herding cats, please contact me at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com.
It’s official. I’ve become one of THOSE people. THOSE people that wear matching shirts on their family vacations to Disney. I admit, I didn’t used to be one of those people…but I must warn you…it can be fun and it’s addictive!
A couple of years ago, when I was planning our Disney wedding, a friend introduced me to the magical place that is Etsy. Wow! Talk about a rabbit hole!! I found so many amazing treasures that became part of our wedding trip on Etsy…bridesmaid gifts, groomsmen gifts, gifts for my husband and my mom…you name it, I searched for it and probably found it on Etsy. During my rabbit hole exploring, I discovered many adorable options for matching shirts–each one cuter than the last. I was HOOKED. I ended up doing matching shirts for Frank and I for almost every day of our wedding trip and it added an extra element of magic…and made it easier to figure out what to wear each day, haha. It ended up being a lot of fun, and we looked pretty cute in our pictures, too.
In planning our Anniversary trip, I knew I wanted to take at least one or two shirts that matched and celebrated our anniversary. So I started down the Etsy rabbit hole…which these days is supplemented by a dazzling array of Facebook shops.
I think it was kismet, because I made an amazing discovery. A fellow Disney Bride and friend had opened her own Etsy and Facebook shops and she just happened to be making Disney themed shirts and vinyls. So of course, I had to check out her shops: Emert’s Vinyl Graphics and StitchesNBows.
Jennine knew I was in the midst of planning a trip for our anniversary and she wanted to help us celebrate. She offered to make us some iron-on decals so I could make matching shirts for Frank and I. She knew I loved the kissing mice, and had used them in our wedding materials, so she designed a vinyl that used the kissing mice and added a “Mr. & Mrs.” along with the words “Celebrating 3 Magical Years”. Jennine uses a high-quality vinyl and her Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine and produces customizable items that can be ironed on shirts, magnetized or even attached to walls or windows.
Jennine designed and produced an absolutely adorable iron-on for us from white vinyl and I received them a few days ago. It took me a few days to decide which shirts I wanted to get to actually iron on the designs…Ultimately, I decided to go with long sleeved shirts, since it looks like the temperatures during the evenings on our trip will be in the fifties. The vinyls were very easy to position and iron-on. Jennine provided clear and simple instructions. Basically, I positioned the vinyl where I wanted it, and placed a piece of parchment paper on top. I ironed over the parchment for about 20 seconds in each area. I then let everything cool for a few seconds and then lifted the parchment and tried peeling off the plastic backing…which came off very easily. I did overheat one corner of the design on my first one…I got distracted and left the iron in one place for too long, but I don’t think it’s noticeable. I’m really pleased with how well the shirts came out, and I can’t wait to show them to my husband!
As an added bonus, Jennine stuck an extra little surprise in my package.
She knows I have a deep affection for the original Cinderella animated film, and a particular fondness for Gus and Jacques, two of Cinderella’s mice friends. Look at what now graces our wall??
How cute is that?? And SO easy to put up, and will not damage the wall at all.
If you get a chance, please check out Jennine’s Facebook store, Emert’s Vinyl Graphics, or the Etsy store she shares with her mom, StitchesNBows.
Jennine does the vinyls and her mom offers custom embroidery. I suspect you’ll find something you’ll like. I already have several things on my wishlist to add a little extra Disney magic to our home!
I have gotten a couple other things from other Etsy shops in preparation for our trip…I’ll be sharing those in my next post. How about you? Have you gone down the Etsy rabbit hole? Have you jumped on the matching shirts train?
It seems as if there has been a lot of Disney Parks news over the last couple of weeks that is getting a lot of conversation. Just in case you haven’t visited the forums and witnessed some of the crazy debates happening, I thought I’d post a quick “wrap-up” of the biggest recent announcements.
runDisney Cancels Disneyland Races
Rumors have been going around for the last several weeks about this, and yesterday, runDisney made it official. They have cancelled ALL scheduled Disneyland races in 2018 and will NOT be scheduling races in 2019 or 2020, at least at this time. They will be refunding all race fees already paid for the races scheduled (and nearly sold out) that had already had early registration. Normally, there are four race weekends at Disneyland each year, with an estimated 25,000+ people per weekend. The races are usually held during slower season, and bring in a ton of revenue, both for Disney and the Orange County local economy.
Officially, runDisney is stating that all the construction happening at Disneyland/California Adventure for the next few years (Star Wars Land, new Hotel at Downtown Disney and The Disneyland Eastern Gateway) are the reason the races have been cancelled. The races usually go right through the parks; that’s part of the attraction, and runDisney states they are concerned that the quality of the race experience would be negatively impacted by the construction.
Rumors abound that the root of the cancellations, however, are at least partially the result of pushback from the City of Anaheim. At Walt Disney World, all races occur completely on Disney property. A significant portion of each of the longer races is on roadways outside the parks, but they are Disney owned roadways. At Disneyland, the parks are smaller, and the amount of property that Disney actually owns is much smaller. For this reason, Disneyland has never hosted a full marathon; the longest races hosted by runDisney at Disneyland have been half marathons. The half marathon has a significant portion take place on the streets of Anaheim, and requires a lot more coordination with city and county services. There have been some complaints in the last couple of years about the runDisney race series at Disneyland by seasoned runDisney participants, and lots of rumors that Anaheim is not happy that they don’t get a bigger slice of the Disney revenue pie. All we know for sure is what runDisney says in their official statement, which bases the decision completely on the Disneyland expansion construction.
I’ve never been Disneyland nor competed in a race there, but completing a Coast to Coast challenge is on my bucket list, and I’d targeted 2020 for that. Very disappointing for the thousands of runners that planned to race at Disneyland over the next few years, myself included. Obviously, with runDisney events at Disneyland cancelled for the foreseeable future, the Coast to Coast challenges are also cancelled. Officially, runDisney is using the term “hiatus”, so perhaps we will see these races return at some point in the future. runDisney makes a LOT of money for Disney with these events, so it’s hard to believe they won’t return to Disneyland in some form eventually, but who knows?
runDisney has stated there are no plans to cancel or change the runDisney events at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Paris.
The final race scheduled for Disneyland will be the Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend taking place November 10-12, 2017.
How do you feel about this news? Are you affected? Will you plan a race at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Paris to replace a cancelled race at Disneyland?
Walt Disney World Will Welcome Dogs at Some Hotels
It was announced last Friday that some hotels at Walt Disney World are rolling out a pilot program this week that will allow guests to bring their dogs on vacation with them. There will be a limit of two dogs per room, and the dogs will be required to be leashed when outside the room and the dogs must have proper vaccinations (and, one would assume, proper documentation of those vaccinations).
Visitors who choose to book rooms for themselves and their dogs will pay an additional $50-$75 per night for the privilege, depending on the hotel. The fee is for extra cleaning, and additional amenities that Disney will be providing for those booking a “dog” room, including a mat, bowls for food and water, ID tag, puppy pads and plastic disposable bags and maps of green spaces for the dogs to exercise and presumably “do their business”. At this time, the hotels offering this option are: Art of Animation Resort, Port Orleans Riverside Resort, the cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort and the Yacht Club resort.
Most likely, this new option is in response to a growing trend in the travel industry to offer pet-friendly accommodations. Disney hasn’t released many specifics, but I’m assuming they have set aside specific areas at each of the participating resorts that will be “dog” rooms, and those rooms will be the only rooms that will allow guests with dogs, to help protect guests with allergies and phobias.
I was really surprised at the vehement response to the announcement, on BOTH sides. Many dog lovers are SUPER excited, and seem to have been waiting YEARS for this news. On the other side, many guests are worried that dogs will overrun the resorts, the resorts will be damaged and people won’t pick up after their dogs. They are worried about dogs barking and “ruining” the magic. They are worried that Disney will allow guests without dogs to unsuspectingly book a “dog” room and fall victim to allergies from residual dog dander. All manner of catastrophic worries have been put forth…While I understand the fears that people with extreme allergies and/or dog phobias have, I have a lot of faith in Disney. I believe the “dog” rooms will be kept separate and won’t be given to “unsuspecting” non-dog guest who might suddenly go into anaphylactic shock from traces of dog dander. For people with extreme allergies, the best-case scenario will be to avoid these four resorts. For the time being at least, these four resorts are the only ones allowing dogs. At least for now, I’m willing to withhold judgement and see how it goes.
For those guests who want to bring their dogs on vacation, but not share their room with their pets, “Best Friends Pet Care” has been a Disney property staple for years, and is a resort on Disney property for pets (NOT owned or operated by Disney). They offer discounts for Walt Disney World Resort guests.
NOTE: Service dogs have always been accommodated by Disney. Service dogs have always been allowed in the theme parks, on Disney transportation, and in Disney resort hotels.
What do you guys think? Are you excited to book a “dog” room at one of these resorts? Do you take vacations to get away from your pets or your neighbor’s dogs? I’d love to hear from you!
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings to be a Series on Freeform
I’m not sure how many of you saw the “Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings” special that ran in May on Freeform (owned by ABC, which is owned by Disney), but it was a BIG success for the network, receiving the highest rating for any unscripted TV special on that network so far. Hosted by Bachelor alum Ben Higgins and his then-fiancé, Lauren Bushnell (they have since split), the special featured events at Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Wedding Pavilion.
[Note from an actual former Disney bride: the events shown were pretty expensive, over the top events, and the special didn’t really provide accurate information about the way Disney prices events, or the actual limitations imposed by Disney Fairy Tale Weddings in the real world. It was lovely to look at, and for couples dreaming of a Disney Wedding, certainly provided inspiration and fantasy fodder. Just know that they dangled a lot of very pretty carrots that your average couple would NEVER be able to afford.]
Following up on the success of the special, Disney has moved forward with creating a series that will focus on weddings and engagements at Disney Destinations around the world. So far details have been limited, but it sounds as if Disney may work with Disney Fairy Tale Weddings couples and perhaps “enhance” or “add magic” to their existing plans. Regardless of exactly what they are doing, I’m sure it will be lovely and a weekly infomercial for Disney Fairy Tale Weddings. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it; I was a little frustrated with the special, even though it was gorgeous.
But, obviously, I’m a fan of Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, and love thinking about my own Disney wedding, so I will definitely give the show a chance and see how it goes. The show is set to premiere in the spring and will run for seven episodes.
How about you guys? Will you watch the show?
Increased Partnership and Presence with Orange County Sheriff’s Department
For the fiscal year that began October 1, 2017, the agency that provides governmental services to Walt Disney World’s property has approved a multi-million dollar spending increase to hire Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies. This is the second year to see significant increases in this budget. Last year, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which includes Disney cities Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, doubled its annual public safety budget from $7 million per year to $13.7 million, following the terrorist attack at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. This year, the budget increased again to $15.8 million. While Disney and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department do not disclose how many deputies patrol the resorts for security reasons, the impact on resort guests is that you WILL see more police presence in and around Disney theme parks and resorts.
Unfortunately, we live in scary times, and Disney hosts millions of guests from all over the world every year. Disney is a symbol of America to many people worldwide and as such, is a potential target. Disney has long been a world leader in the area of security, and I suspect there are many security measures in place that are unseen that we will most likely never know about. Orange County Sheriff’s Department Deputies in uniform are more visible certainly, than many measures Disney has in place, but sometimes, more visual measures are necessary and help serve as a deterrent. Many guests argue this police presence “ruins” the magic, and I certainly understand that perspective. However, I am more concerned with the safety of my family and our fellow park and resort guests and will happily comply with whatever security measures are necessary to protect us, within reason. The presence of more police doesn’t concern me, although personally, I’m a fan of the invisible shield technologies in Star Wars…can we maybe get that?
How do you feel about the security measures in place at Disney? Do they make you feel safer or more insecure about your safety?
That’s I have for today for news and updates. I’m working on a vacation planning update that I’ll post later this week. We are down to less than thirty days now!!
A few of you have asked to see our wedding video. This is the “Wedding Story Video”–it’s a five minute “highlights” of our day that Cinemedia (our videographer) put together for us. They did a really terrific job, and were great to work with.
