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HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-24-2007, 09:08 PM
I was just curious if you could "rent" out Disney characters to hang out with your group. It sounds silly, but last April I saw Peter Pan and Wendy hanging out EXCLUSIVELY with a family of 3 by the carrousel in Fantasyland. When I approached their area to try to get a picture of Peter, a castmember quickly came over and asked me what I was doing and I said I was trying to get a picture of Peter, to which she answered that he wasn't posing for pictures at the time and then she basically stood in front of me to block my view of him. Of course I walked away feeling a little dissed, but then I noticed that others were also asked to leave Peter, Wendy and the family alone. So now I'm wondering if that family had some kind of VIP situation going on or if they won a contest or something because I've never seen characters being exclusive to a particular group before. Does anyone know?

AVP
08-24-2007, 09:10 PM
So now I'm wondering if that family had some kind of VIP situation going on or if they won a contest or something because I've never seen characters being exclusive to a particular group before. Does anyone know? It sounds like they were doing the Discover the Magic tour, which includes a character interaction at the carrousel. The one time I did the tour the guides did divert guests who weren't on the tour from trying to approach the characters.

You can have the Disney characters attend selected private events at the Disneyland Resort, like if you rented a ballroom for a wedding or something, but you can't have them accompany your family around the park.

AVP

cstephens
08-25-2007, 03:12 AM
It sounds like they were doing the Discover the Magic tour, which includes a character interaction at the carrousel.

OK, when I first read this, I thought it said "character intervention"...

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-25-2007, 02:21 PM
It sounds like they were doing the Discover the Magic tour, which includes a character interaction at the carrousel. The one time I did the tour the guides did divert guests who weren't on the tour from trying to approach the characters.

You can have the Disney characters attend selected private events at the Disneyland Resort, like if you rented a ballroom for a wedding or something, but you can't have them accompany your family around the park.

AVP

Oh Wow. Thanks so much for clarifying. I wasn't aware of a tour like that (I've never done one) so I wasn't sure what was up with that. I'm going to look into that tour and see about the character interaction. The family and characters did dwell at the carousel for a while so I guess it makes sense now since they did pay for the experience. Who did you get on your tour? Could you pick or was it whoever was available? How long would you say the interaction lasted?

Malcon10t
08-25-2007, 03:00 PM
Oh Wow. Thanks so much for clarifying. I wasn't aware of a tour like that (I've never done one) so I wasn't sure what was up with that. I'm going to look into that tour and see about the character interaction. The family and characters did dwell at the carousel for a while so I guess it makes sense now since they did pay for the experience. Who did you get on your tour? Could you pick or was it whoever was available? How long would you say the interaction lasted?The tour is based on a story line. The story line is changed on occasion. The characters are preset based on the story line. Last year it was about finding a book and returning it to its owner. This year is about a treasure chest. The tour is 2 and a half hours. You have several interactions and several rides during it. Its a great tour for kids. $60 for the first 2 in a party and $50 for each additional person. There is a discount for AAA and APers.

dopey076
08-25-2007, 03:10 PM
When I got married 7yrs ago at the Disneyland Hotel we had Snow White and Dopey are our wedding reception. It was great they danced with my husband and I. They also interacted with all our guest.

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-26-2007, 02:07 PM
The tour is based on a story line. The story line is changed on occasion. The characters are preset based on the story line. Last year it was about finding a book and returning it to its owner. This year is about a treasure chest. The tour is 2 and a half hours. You have several interactions and several rides during it. Its a great tour for kids. $60 for the first 2 in a party and $50 for each additional person. There is a discount for AAA and APers.

Thank you Malcon for the information. It sounds like a fun tour. We don't have kids as we are just big kids ourselves, but it sounds like we'd like it anyway as we love to interact with the characters. I guess this is why we saw Wendy and Peter with that family last year. It all makes sense now. :D

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-26-2007, 02:09 PM
When I got married 7yrs ago at the Disneyland Hotel we had Snow White and Dopey are our wedding reception. It was great they danced with my husband and I. They also interacted with all our guest.

How awesome! I would LOVE a Disney wedding but alas it is quite expensive and they have a minimum 100 ppl ( we can't even think of 50 ppl between the both of us lol) but I guess a girl can still dream right?:)

Did you choose Snow White and Dopey for your wedding or did the coordinators choose for you?

dopey076
08-26-2007, 10:32 PM
We choose them. Dopey is one of my favorite characters... :-) and Snow White is one of my favorite movies.

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-27-2007, 02:43 PM
That is so nice. Aww I just got the warm and fuzzies!:) I'm sure it was memorable and extra magical because you got your 2 favorite characters there. Thank you for sharing:)

taybug517
08-27-2007, 06:05 PM
When I was at DL Aug 15th-17th I saw Mickey Mouse and Pluto getting off Splash Mountain! They were sitting in the back of the log! I thought it was the funniest thing. Is that part of the tour or is it a YOAMD thing?

Malcon10t
08-27-2007, 06:42 PM
When I was at DL Aug 15th-17th I saw Mickey Mouse and Pluto getting off Splash Mountain! They were sitting in the back of the log! I thought it was the funniest thing. Is that part of the tour or is it a YOAMD thing?On occasion, characters will ride or play with guests. I've seen Goofy on Autopia and the trains. I've seen the characters from Alice on the carousel.

angelbabie611
08-28-2007, 08:04 AM
I went in May with my niece for her birthday and we rode on the teacups. Alice and the Mad Hatter were riding in the teacup next to us. It was pretty funny after they got off we followed them for awhile. They were running around the park having a great time. They would stop briefly for autographs and pictures but kept moving. It was really funny because the Mad Hatter would walk by a person and pat them on the back, he was putting stickers on them. The person would just keep walking and not think anything of it. I wonder if they figured out what happened once they realized there was a sticker on there back. My niece thought it was hysterical. :D

WDW heart
08-28-2007, 04:07 PM
My sister & I rode with Alice in the tea cups when I was little. I don't remember how it happened, I think it was random. In 2002, we were among the first people in line for Pooh at the Magic Kingdom. When the cars came around Eeyore and Pooh were in them. The timing worked out perfectly and my 6 year old daughter got to ride with Eeyore. I have pictures of it. :)

rmarino74
08-29-2007, 06:18 AM
How awesome! I would LOVE a Disney wedding but alas it is quite expensive and they have a minimum 100 ppl ( we can't even think of 50 ppl between the both of us lol) but I guess a girl can still dream right?:)

Did you choose Snow White and Dopey for your wedding or did the coordinators choose for you?

Actually you can have weddings with as little as 8 people. When we had our wedding @ Disney in 2002 there were no minimums. Maybe for a certain ballroom, but not for at least having one there.

We had Mickey and Minnie come to ours. They helped to cut the cake and then spent the rest of the night dancing with everyone on the dance floor. They were both dressed up nicely in a tux and white gown.

Amazing and very memorable!

Malcon10t
08-29-2007, 12:42 PM
How awesome! I would LOVE a Disney wedding but alas it is quite expensive and they have a minimum 100 ppl ( we can't even think of 50 ppl between the both of us lol) but I guess a girl can still dream right?:)

Did you choose Snow White and Dopey for your wedding or did the coordinators choose for you?
They don't have a minimum, at least not when we were "dreaming" last year. I think for an in the park after hours wedding, there is a MAX of 100.

But we have the opposite problem as you. Just on my daughter's side of the family, before you include HER friends, we counted 150.

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-29-2007, 03:28 PM
Actually you can have weddings with as little as 8 people. When we had our wedding @ Disney in 2002 there were no minimums. Maybe for a certain ballroom, but not for at least having one there.

We had Mickey and Minnie come to ours. They helped to cut the cake and then spent the rest of the night dancing with everyone on the dance floor. They were both dressed up nicely in a tux and white gown.

Amazing and very memorable!
OMG are you serious? No minimums? *heart skips beat* maybe there's hope then! :) Ok the minimum thing I got from an informational packet that we received when we went to a wedding expo at the GCH 2 years ago. Based on the info there, I saw that they had to have 100 ppl minimum and the bride had to guarantee 10 rooms booked at any of the resort hotels. Given the minimum and the pricing for the food we were looking at like 10 grand just on food, not including the rentals of the Rose Garden or the ball room, flowers, entertainment, coach and characters.

So now you guys are saying that you can get married there with as little as 8 ppl? Did you also have a reception there? It sounds like it since you said Mickey and Minnie appeared.

Malcon- that's great that you can dig up over 150 ppl. I guess for us we just don't keep in touch very much which is why I said we'd have trouble filling it up with 50 ppl let alone 100. My boyfriend joked that we'd have to "recruit" people off of Downtown Disney to attend our wedding if it came to having 100 ppl lol

Malcon10t
08-29-2007, 03:41 PM
OMG are you serious? No minimums? *heart skips beat* maybe there's hope then! :) Ok the minimum thing I got from an informational packet that we received when we went to a wedding expo at the GCH 2 years ago. Based on the info there, I saw that they had to have 100 ppl minimum and the bride had to guarantee 10 rooms booked at any of the resort hotels. Given the minimum and the pricing for the food we were looking at like 10 grand just on food, not including the rentals of the Rose Garden or the ball room, flowers, entertainment, coach and characters.We had been looking at prices in the park. Minimum, not counting hotel rooms etc, start at $50,000. Last price we had is about 2 years old, so it may have gone up. The Castle is gorgeous in the pics...

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-29-2007, 07:17 PM
We had been looking at prices in the park. Minimum, not counting hotel rooms etc, start at $50,000. Last price we had is about 2 years old, so it may have gone up. The Castle is gorgeous in the pics...

Yes I believe I had seen that figure as well. The castle at night is gorgeous. That's why it's a "dream" wedding because it would only happen for us "once upon a dream" at that price!

The info I shared was to have the wedding at the resort (one of the hotel gardens and then reception in a ballroom) and that was really out there for us but sadly "bargain priced" compared to other places in Southern California and the wedding industry in general.

I'm still intrigued by the person who posted about having an 8 person wedding.

AVP
08-29-2007, 09:09 PM
I'm still intrigued by the person who posted about having an 8 person wedding.We had 23 people, including the Bride and Groom (not including the baby my very-pregnant bridesmaid was carrying at the time).

We got married at the wedding garden that became the ESPN Zone.

We had our formal portraits done in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

We had our reception at Stromboli's

A relative gifted us with a week in her timeshare in Colorado, and another gifted us with the airfare to get there. My parents paid for the reception dinner. Our out-of-pocket was under $4,000, and that includes dress, tux, cake, ceremony, flowers and photographer.

Exactly 9 years ago today - Happy Anniversary Tony!

(And it was the hottest day of that year in Anaheim, too....)

AVP

adriennek
08-29-2007, 09:49 PM
We had 23 people, including the Bride and Groom (not including the baby my very-pregnant bridesmaid was carrying at the time).

Did that include the crasher?


Exactly 9 years ago today - Happy Anniversary Tony!

I apparently have a 9th birthday party to plan...


(And it was the hottest day of that year in Anaheim, too....)

Yes. Yes it was.

I would like to make a suggestion, however to anyone planning even a very small wedding: Please don't assume that you won't need a microphone. Because even the bridesmaids standing RIGHT NEXT TO A BRIDE may not be able to hear the vows, let alone the people sitting behind the wedding party. And that's just very inconsiderate when everyone's gone to the trouble of getting gussied up on a hot day (And 11 months pregnant no less.)

Adrienne

HopeTrust N PixieDust
08-30-2007, 09:07 AM
We had 23 people, including the Bride and Groom (not including the baby my very-pregnant bridesmaid was carrying at the time).

We got married at the wedding garden that became the ESPN Zone.

We had our formal portraits done in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.




We had our reception at Stromboli's




A relative gifted us with a week in her timeshare in Colorado, and another gifted us with the airfare to get there. My parents paid for the reception dinner. Our out-of-pocket was under $4,000, and that includes dress, tux, cake, ceremony, flowers and photographer.



Exactly 9 years ago today - Happy Anniversary Tony!



(And it was the hottest day of that year in Anaheim, too....)

AVP


That is awesome! I hope we can do the same as from what I read that was near impossible unless we saved for the next 5 years for that ONE day lol How was it taking pics in front of the Castle with all the people milling around? Did they rope it off for you for some pictures or did you just have a bunch of tourists in the background?

So I'm assuming it was a dinner reception? No dancing? First dance/father-daughter? etc.?

If it's not too nosey, how much was the total 9 years ago? The out of pocket you paid is excellent. I hope we can do the same and that our relatives could be as generous. hehehe:)
Happy Anniversary you guys! How sweet! (and sweaty because today is sooooo hot!) Thanks for sharing the info. You don't know how much I appreciate knowing that there could be a chance for us with a little help from our friends.

Malcon10t
08-30-2007, 11:18 AM
And that's just very inconsiderate when everyone's gone to the trouble of getting gussied up on a hot day (And 11 months pregnant no less.)

AdrienneI know I wouldn't have wanted to do that when I was 11 months preggers with MickeyDogMom. (She is just as stubborn now as she was then...)

rmarino74
08-31-2007, 08:47 AM
OMG are you serious? No minimums? *heart skips beat* maybe there's hope then! :) Ok the minimum thing I got from an informational packet that we received when we went to a wedding expo at the GCH 2 years ago. Based on the info there, I saw that they had to have 100 ppl minimum and the bride had to guarantee 10 rooms booked at any of the resort hotels. Given the minimum and the pricing for the food we were looking at like 10 grand just on food, not including the rentals of the Rose Garden or the ball room, flowers, entertainment, coach and characters.

So now you guys are saying that you can get married there with as little as 8 ppl? Did you also have a reception there? It sounds like it since you said Mickey and Minnie appeared.

Malcon- that's great that you can dig up over 150 ppl. I guess for us we just don't keep in touch very much which is why I said we'd have trouble filling it up with 50 ppl let alone 100. My boyfriend joked that we'd have to "recruit" people off of Downtown Disney to attend our wedding if it came to having 100 ppl lol


Yes I believe I had seen that figure as well. The castle at night is gorgeous. That's why it's a "dream" wedding because it would only happen for us "once upon a dream" at that price!

The info I shared was to have the wedding at the resort (one of the hotel gardens and then reception in a ballroom) and that was really out there for us but sadly "bargain priced" compared to other places in Southern California and the wedding industry in general.

I'm still intrigued by the person who posted about having an 8 person wedding.


OK. So here's our story. When we started working with the wedding coordinator they said just go for your every wish list and they would work up a cost. After we know the cost of our dream wedding, we can add or subtract things to fit our budget.

So...Our dream wedding was to close the Disneyland Park early and have our wedding out in front of the castle and my bride would arrive coming down mainstreet in Cinderella's horse drawn glass coach, while me, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids all arrived in the other more traditional mainstreet vehicles like the fire engine or bus.

While taking our pictures the guests were to enjoy a cocktail reception on the Mark Twain with a band and buffet style hors d' oeuvres and full bar in the galley area of the Mark Twain. After the cocktail hour and pictures, we would all be led into the courtyard area of fantasyland where a full table service meal would be served all with overhead hanging lantern style lighting.

After the meal we would head back out in front of the castle to dance the night away with a full band and dance floor in the area directly in front of the castle. We could also choose to have fireworks and certain rides open each for a price. (rides were about $4,000 per ride)

The grand total for our dream wedding was around $110,000!

Soooo.....We cut back!

We ended up having the wedding in the Rose Gardens at the Disneyland hotel and my wife did arrive in Cinderella's horse drawn carriage. The ceremony was beautiful and we ended up leaving the ceremony together in Cinderella's coach and took a tour around the hotel grounds and parking areas.

While doing so and taking photos with the wedding party, we had a cocktail reception with tray passed Hors d' oeuvres and a buffet style fruit, vegetable, meats and cheese display for our guests out on the Sierra lawn (the large grassy area just outside the back of the rose gardens).

From there we went to what is now called the "Sleeping Beauty Pavillion" for the full reception. This is the octagonal glass room that pretty much overlooks the entire DLH hotel grounds. We had a wonderful dinner, full hosted bar, and dancing the night through. As I had mentioned, we also had Mickey and Minnie show up to cut the cake and finish the night off dancing!

All together we saved quite a bit of money and the total for everything was about $30,000, which is about what most of my friends weddings here in Vegas cost using a church and a reception at a nice golf club or wedding pavillion.

We also booked the Arcadia VP Suite at the GCH for a few nights following the actual wedding including our wedding night.

Honestly nothing can ever compare to a Disney wedding!

I mentioned 8 people because I distinctly remember having a conversation about a package inside DL in a grassy area near the castle and that is only about how many people can fit in that area. It was done during park hours and the cost without any reception was about $1,500 if I remember correctly.

If you are truly interested, I would encourage you to just call, set up an appointment with the wedding department and you will find out exactly what you can do. They are in the business of making your dreams come true, so I highly doubt it if they would turn any business away, no matter how intimate the wedding may be!

Malcon10t
08-31-2007, 08:52 AM
I mentioned 8 people because I distinctly remember having a conversation about a package inside DL in a grassy area near the castle and that is only about how many people can fit in that area. It was done during park hours and the cost without any reception was about $1,500 if I remember correctly.
This is going to sound weird, but if I remember correctly, and it may have changed, this is only available to citizens of Japan. Something about some agreement.