Too Cheap to do that at WDW

ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
I'd have to say... I've only been on one tour (Keys to the Kingdom) and it was really awesome. I think the first portion was really boring, at least for me simply because I've read the books on Walt and very little was stuff I hadn't known. My wife though learned a lot, I think she dozes off when I go on my Walt rants. But the rest of the tour was amazing, having the chance to get backstage and see some of the secrets of MK was worth the money. Plus, I'm a Disney Visa holder and we saved some money off from that... and lunch is included.

I think Disney does a great job of offering great experiences for all... a family can come stay at the POP and have a basic package and still really enjoy WDW. I think the best part of the gates is that they all offer exclusive and expensive experiences, but they don't advertise the crap out of them. I went years without knowing there were tours, so it becomes the type of thing you only know if you really reach out and do research. This way they don't really exclude people, people don't miss what they don't know about.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
Getting married at WDW. That is what I am too cheap for. (Plus neither my wife or I had any desire to)

I have been on or done many WDW extras - V&A, SeaRaycers, Hard ticketed event, golf, water parks, DisneyQuest, tours, Segway tours, etc. All of which, while maybe a bit pricey, were at least in range. Wedding prices, no way. Again, that is couples with the fact that a Disney wedding really held no appeal.

-dave
 
stlbobby

stlbobby

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
Getting married at WDW. That is what I am too cheap for. (Plus neither my wife or I had any desire to)

I have been on or done many WDW extras - V&A, SeaRaycers, Hard ticketed event, golf, water parks, DisneyQuest, tours, Segway tours, etc. All of which, while maybe a bit pricey, were at least in range. Wedding prices, no way. Again, that is couples with the fact that a Disney wedding really held no appeal.

-dave
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I got married at WDW and it was great. Now just like any other wedding you can go crazy and drive the price way up, or you can do the basic package and add a few extras and it is reasonable. Mine was six years ago and please don't ask for prices because I honestly don't remember. But I do know that when we looked into getting married in St. Louis the Disney prices were not out of line and often more affordable. Additionally everything is so much simpler. You have one planner that takes care of booking the venue, the musicians, the photographer, the flowers, and the cake. Logistically we didn't have to worry about moving people around since everything was contained on property.

My rehearsal dinner was at 'Ohanna's the night prior. I just made a large reservation and they took care of everything. They really went out of their way to make it special without me having to do anything extra.

My actual ceremony was done in the Gazebo at the end of the Boardwalk. With the basic package that included a musician, photographer, flowers, venue, cake, and coordinator. Afterward we walked over to the Yachtsman's Steakhouse where I had reserved their side room for the reception. They were great when I contacted them. They had a reception menu available with family style bread and appetizers and a everyone got a choice of entree and were able to order it right there. We didn't have to decide months in advance. I chose four bottles of wine to have open and ready, with four more on standby.

Just after we got in and seated the electricity went off and the restaurant filled with smoke--the exhaust system had shut down. The staff took us outside to a patio where they continued to bring appetizers, bread, and wine for almost an hour. Once the power returned we sat back down and new bottles of wine were opened, orders taken, toasts made, and dinner was served.

When I got the bill there was no wine or alcohol on it. I know they served at least eight bottles of wine and maybe more as I have no idea how much was poured while we waited. The bottles I picked out ranged from $90 to $120 and there were at least two each, but it was all comped.

Needless to say I left a nice tip.

In short I think I paid less for my Disney wedding than I would have for the same level at home, and definitely less than other premiere destination weddings. And when you add in the ease and exemplary service, I feel I got a bargain.
 
R W B

R W B

Well-Known Member
I can't say I'm too cheap for anything WDW has to offer. I simply save a little longer or a little more for the extras I want to do. My biggest issue is not with the price but finding time to do the extras I want to.
 
Britt

Britt

Well-Known Member
I would LOVE to do some of the spa treatments, but I'm to cheap to do them at home, let alone at Disney where they cost 3 times more...lol.

There's a neat raceway thing (so sorry, I can't think of the name) that my husband wants to do soooooooo bad, but we're both too cheap....haha
 
Fantasmic

Fantasmic

Well-Known Member
I'm not too cheap to do anything at WDW, if I've got the money I'll do it.

Things I would like to do in the future are some kind of spa 1/2 day package and the Backstage Magic tour.

Oh, tbh the only thing I refuse to do because I think it's way overpriced is the horse riding trail, when you can go have a proper trail ride (where you go faster than a walk) at "horse world"!
 
MagicMike

MagicMike

Well-Known Member
This will sound extremely cheap by comparison but, the carnival games.

I would much rather take the dollars spent trying to win cheap stuffed animals and go buy a real souvenir in the gift shop or a treat to enjoy while walking around the park. I understand why Disney keeps these things around, there is almost always a few families playing at any given time.

As for me, there are far too many details in the parks to enjoy. The last thing I need is something to keep me "busy".
 
ddrongowski

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
Sweet Melissa said:
The carriage rides at Riverside are another thing I'd like to do but just can't justify. It's $45 for a 25-minute ride. Maybe if we were a family of four or five, I could handle that, but for just the two of us? Yeah, I'm too cheap for that.
Click to expand...

My wife and I did it last year. Did it at nighttime, it was romantic.

Mine is the AK safari extra at AKL and AK.
 
psukardi

psukardi

Well-Known Member
Staying concierge. I just can't seem to find the value in it...They don't seem to go above and beyond to get you the thing you're asking. For instance, breakfast at the castle is booked solid 180 days out. I'd love for the concierge to be able to work some magic and put me on a waiting list instead of just saying "Well the website says it's full.....sorry....have a magical day"
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
stlbobby said:
I got married at WDW and it was great. Now just like any other wedding you can go crazy and drive the price way up, or you can do the basic package and add a few extras and it is reasonable. Mine was six years ago and please don't ask for prices because I honestly don't remember. But I do know that when we looked into getting married in St. Louis the Disney prices were not out of line and often more affordable. Additionally everything is so much simpler. You have one planner that takes care of booking the venue, the musicians, the photographer, the flowers, and the cake. Logistically we didn't have to worry about moving people around since everything was contained on property.

My rehearsal dinner was at 'Ohanna's the night prior. I just made a large reservation and they took care of everything. They really went out of their way to make it special without me having to do anything extra.

My actual ceremony was done in the Gazebo at the end of the Boardwalk. With the basic package that included a musician, photographer, flowers, venue, cake, and coordinator. Afterward we walked over to the Yachtsman's Steakhouse where I had reserved their side room for the reception. They were great when I contacted them. They had a reception menu available with family style bread and appetizers and a everyone got a choice of entree and were able to order it right there. We didn't have to decide months in advance. I chose four bottles of wine to have open and ready, with four more on standby.

Just after we got in and seated the electricity went off and the restaurant filled with smoke--the exhaust system had shut down. The staff took us outside to a patio where they continued to bring appetizers, bread, and wine for almost an hour. Once the power returned we sat back down and new bottles of wine were opened, orders taken, toasts made, and dinner was served.

When I got the bill there was no wine or alcohol on it. I know they served at least eight bottles of wine and maybe more as I have no idea how much was poured while we waited. The bottles I picked out ranged from $90 to $120 and there were at least two each, but it was all comped.

Needless to say I left a nice tip.

In short I think I paid less for my Disney wedding than I would have for the same level at home, and definitely less than other premiere destination weddings. And when you add in the ease and exemplary service, I feel I got a bargain.
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This was a second wedding for both of us, so we went smaller (as yours sounds). Both of our first wedding involved 125+ guests. It does not sound like yours was that large. Ours was 25 this time. If you have a smaller wedding, WDW can work. Many halls do not want to do anything below 50, and if you have less the prices not worth it. We did some digging, and worked some angles on time and date and were able to get a very good price on a very nice place. Maybe because it was a second wedding for both of us there was no real stress. we knew what to do, we knew how to avoid high costs and it really was not much of an effort.

Both of us though about WDW, but decided no quite quickly. Airfare and rooms need to be figured in for a WDW wedding. Either you pay, or your guests pay. We didn't want to force that on people.

Our event- venue, hall, cocktail hour (90 minutes),food, cake, and 5 hours of open bar was much cheaper than WDW had. We also worked some deals with music, photos, and flowers. We also had only one point of contact for everything.

For some it is worth it, but for us, the added price and quite frankly the idea of people taking time out of a vacation they paid for in order to come to our wedding made it a no go.

-dave
 
Sweet Melissa

Sweet Melissa

Well-Known Member
psukardi said:
Staying concierge. I just can't seem to find the value in it...They don't seem to go above and beyond to get you the thing you're asking. For instance, breakfast at the castle is booked solid 180 days out. I'd love for the concierge to be able to work some magic and put me on a waiting list instead of just saying "Well the website says it's full.....sorry....have a magical day"
Click to expand...
Further to that, you don't even have to stay concierge level to use that service. We've stayed at Pop and French Quarter and gone to the concierge desk to have them make dining reservations for us. It works just like any other hotel in the world. It seems the only real perk of the concierge level is the complimentary lounge and turn-down service (and I would never even use the latter).
 
stlbobby

stlbobby

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
This was a second wedding for both of us, so we went smaller (as yours sounds). Both of our first wedding involved 125+ guests. It does not sound like yours was that large. Ours was 25 this time. If you have a smaller wedding, WDW can work. Many halls do not want to do anything below 50, and if you have less the prices not worth it. We did some digging, and worked some angles on time and date and were able to get a very good price on a very nice place. Maybe because it was a second wedding for both of us there was no real stress. we knew what to do, we knew how to avoid high costs and it really was not much of an effort.

Both of us though about WDW, but decided no quite quickly. Airfare and rooms need to be figured in for a WDW wedding. Either you pay, or your guests pay. We didn't want to force that on people.

Our event- venue, hall, cocktail hour (90 minutes),food, cake, and 5 hours of open bar was much cheaper than WDW had. We also worked some deals with music, photos, and flowers. We also had only one point of contact for everything.

For some it is worth it, but for us, the added price and quite frankly the idea of people taking time out of a vacation they paid for in order to come to our wedding made it a no go.

-dave
Click to expand...

It's not for everyone. I totally get that. I just wanted to let others know the basic packages, and even some of the perks, were quite reasonable. It actually surprised me when I started the research.

I was able to house all my guests by lumping a few years of DVC points together. That meant people just had to get there and cover a couple of casual meals here and there. We also told everybody to not worry about gifts, but most people brought them anyway, or sent them once we were back home. I was actually surprised how many people who weren't invited, because we had to keep it small, still sent gifts.

Now if you start talking about getting married in the parks with carriage rides and massively decorated receptions for 100, you will be dropping some bucks, but even then you'd be surprised how those weddings stack up financially against top shelf arrangements in other cities. Disney may even beat out places like NYC, Miami, or San Francisco.

My real point, and I realize I got way off course, was that within the context of the wedding business, where everything is outrageously priced, Disney isn't as bad as most people assume.
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
dopeylover said:
I don't know if they still offer it, but you used to be able to go backstage at The Living Seas, and even scuba if you're certified. Always wanted to, but it's so expensive. And outside of WDW but the same theme, Discovery Cove. $500 for the full experience pp is a little too much for me.
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DiveQuest in the Living Seas @ Epcot is $175.00 and it lasts 3 hours. Park admission not required
 

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