~~Please read~~ Announcing a BIG idea! - NEW UPDATE p.8!

[stink]

This sounds like a great time. Wasn't planning on a june trip but with special events will make room in my calander. Please keep us posted on confirmed dates.

We are interested in adventurer's club, character dinner featuring villians, and the illuminations dessert party. Something after hours at the AK would be great.

We are not really interested in the Haunted Mansion Dinner.

This is a fantastic idea.

 

[perfectmatch300]

DH & I live about 45 min away & we'd definitely be interested! Our FL resident AP's are good all year! I'm not sure which events yet - depends on the costs, but they all sound great!

One question about the HM dinner - Does that include wines? DH & I never end up going to Disney's special events dinners because we don't drink, & don't want to pay a high price for a dinner because it includes wines. I've heard they're great though, & would love to go if we could get a lower price that did not include alcohol.

Please include us on your list & keep us informed.

 

[mickeyfanmom]

The HM dinner sounds awesome for older kids and adults, but may be a bit scary for some younger kids. (My five year old DD is a big scaredy cat!)

We would definitely be up for the Illuminations dessert, also for any kind of after hours "E" ride events.

You also mentioned the Indiana Jones themed dinner. It sounds like more people are interested in the HM theme, though, right?

Thanks for taking this on! Continue to keep us posted ASAP!

 

[CarolynK]

My family of four will be in WDW that week; we would be interested in some of the activities. Great idea!

 

[momof2OH]

Forgot to mention (for your count) it would be 4 of us (2 adults and a 14 and 16 year old)

 

[Virgo10]

Count me in too. Actually count me in 3. If all goes right, my son and his g/f would most likely be interested in attending one or more of these events.

BTW, this idea is so exciting, you got me to subscribe to my first ever thread!

Roberta

 

[fizz13]

Definately something I would fly from the UK for. It would be me solo as my family would have too many other commitments but all the ideas sound good. How to choose? Count me in and well done for coming up with this and all your hard work. Keep us posted....
Claire

 

[Janet2k]

WebmasterPenny, Wow! This sounds wonderful! I'm not sure if we'll be able to attend because we haven't decided when we'll be vacationing in WDW next, but you definitely have my curiosity piqued.

In case you need to pick someone's brain regarding unique experiences in WDW, here’s my WDW fun-loving resume:

November 2003: My family experienced the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park's "Haunted Mansion" Movie Set Dinner Event for my 19th wedding anniversary. We were the first ones to dine on the movie set. It was a wonderful evening and the food was scrumptious. I was in a wheelchair for that vacation due to a leg injury (my surgeon would not allow me to walk for several months). For those of you with disability issues, you might be interested in my trip report (just click on the link that I gave up above).

May 2004: My family hosted a private dinner party at the Grand Floridian’s Summerhouse. Mickey Mouse arrived via float boat. That was another first. Afterwards, we hosted a surprise dessert party at the marina. Our party ended with a viewing of Wishes from across Seven Seas Lagoon. It was a beautiful evening that was oh-so, relaxing. I adore the Grand Floridian.

October 2004: My family hosted a private dessert party at the Grand Floridian’s marina. Disney added a few unique touches to that evening. Our party ended with a viewing of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party fireworks from across Seven Seas Lagoon. It was another incredibly relaxing evening. (I’ll be writing about that event in the trip report whose link I will state below.)

October 2004: My husband & I celebrated 20 years of marriage with a Fairy Tale Weddings vow renewal inside Disney’s Wedding Pavilion. Our dinner party that night was held inside the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park’s “Great Movie Ride.” Our evening began with an outdoor handprint ceremony. A progressive dinner party ensued inside the attraction. After dessert in the Land of Oz, Mickey Mouse led everyone outside to our dance party underneath the Sorcerer’s Hat icon. To end the evening, we enjoyed a custom fireworks display that Disney created just for us. It was truly a “Kiss Goodnight” with a fireworks display that was beautifully choreographed to music that we had selected (and Disney’s pyrotechnics folks had blessed). Everything that evening was pure magic (including another scrumptious dinner that was prepared by the wonderful Disney Studios’ Chef de Cuisine and his staff).

Planning unique events at Walt Disney World is a lot of fun, but an awful lot of hard work. If you want to read about what I went through during the planning stages of my vow renewal, please click here. One of these days I hope to finish that trip report.

(By the way, I just noticed that Yahoo has once again broken many of my photo links -- here is the main link to my photo albums -- click here. Just look for the appropriate albums for my events. I'm sorry about that.)

I have gone into such detail in my trip reports because I hope to pass along a little bit of the knowledge that I have gained in the planning of my own unique events. Every single one of my events was magical, there’s no doubt about that. Disney really knows how to throw a party.

Again, if you need to pick someone's brain, just let me know. And the reverse also holds true -- if you need to vent, I've got two shoulders to cry on.

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hey everyone...thanks for all your comments, I've been blown away by the response so far, much better than I could have hoped for and we've most certainly hit my response target!!

Even taking in to account a number of people changing their mind and unable to attend after all we should comfortably be able to hit our targets for most things already, infact the Adventurer's Club only has a 200 person maximum capacity and if most people wish to go to it (which by the sounds of things could well be the case) I think we may have already maxed that event out - before we've even started - great news indeed and I'm a very happy bunny

The next step now is I will go away again and firm up some of the details for the Adventurers Club, the Illuminations Dessert Party and possibly the backstage tours as these are the two events I'm furthest down the line with so that I can give you all more information on them all asap. In the background I'll be looking further in to the Haunted Mansion dinner and start digging a bit deeper in to our park private party options now that I know we've a decent amount of interest to seriously pursue it.

As far as I'm concerned, Project X is alive and kicking now, so expect to hear from me again in the near future.

And Janet - thanks for sharing...all I can say is <b>WOW</b> You've been able to do some really neat things - and the proto-type no less for the HM dinner event, way cool!

For anyone looking for a short cut to the dinner it starts on page 9 of Janet's link and carries on to page 10 - well worth reading.

Thanks for the offer of help - I am just catching my breath after the last couple of days, but once things really get going then I'm sure I'll be in touch to pick your brains...hopefully won't need the shoulders but better not take them too far, just in case

Thank you ALL again for your responses and enthusiasm, time to start planning for next June with a vengeance!

 

[Rozzie]

I knew it! There was going to come a time when I would really regret buying the FL seasonal pass with black out dates. Of all the days to feel like saving a buck!

Count us in for 2006!

 

[KristinU]

Wow! We'll try to swing a trip down in June if at all possible - I'd love to take part in some special events!

Janet's description of a progressive dinner inside the Great Movie Ride sounds very cool! My DH would flip!!! Penny, since there seems to be so much interest in the HM dinner I would guess it will fill up - pehaps you could look into a GMR dinner as well??? Pretty pleeeeeease?

 

[shannon1219]

Me and my DD will be there for her 10th b-day so count us in.

 

[MrShiny]

Can we get this topic made "sticky" or perhaps get an off board mailing list or group site together to keep track of it?

We'll be there 6/19-20, so would love to join in.

Adventurers Club would be great, as would Illuminations. Can we get a tentative schedule of what might be heppening when? I'd love one of the AK private safaris too.

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Rozzie - most, if not all of the events won't require theme park admission or arrangements can be made for admission to the event for a small fee (like Illuminations) - just something to bear in mind

Kristen - I know! The progressive meal sounds fantastic, I remember reading about someone's wedding who had their reception there and remember thinking how neat it was. Let's just take things one step at a time, if the HM dinner gets off the ground and subsequently sells out and there is demand for something else then it's not a problem to look in to doing this as well. Obviously my concern is if I then went on to organize a GMR dinner and then everyone <i>changed</i> from the HM dinner to the GMR dinner instead - it would kinda defeat the purpose. Most people have limited budgets for such an occasion - so it's all about striking a balance

The only thing I will say at this point is that absolutely nothing can be ruled out - we just have to see how things play out once people have to start putting their money where there mouth is, LOL.

MrShiny - At this point, whilst I'm trying to actively catch people's eye I prefer not to have the post Stuck as this can so easily get overlooked by regular posters who automatically skip the top few posts on a board to get to the 'real' threads...I know I do so it stands to reason that so will others, hehehe.

Once we get things underway properly I will probably have a mailing list set up - not everyone visits certain boards or even the site every day so I think an email would be a good idea too, if for the only reason to say "Hey, check out this thread for an update".

In the meantime, I suggest you subscribe to this thread. The project will be spearheaded from Theme Parks, Attractions and Strategies and therefore this will always be the place that gets the information posted first. Obviously I'll have other threads on the topic but I'll make sure that each new thread is linked to on the previous old one....uhhh, if you know what I mean!

Now, since you asked...the tentative schedule so far is this:-

<b>Adventurers Club - Friday 17th June

Illuminations Dessert Party - Sunday 19th June</b>

I'm pencilling in the after park hours event for Saturday night.

HM dinner - probably Monday 20th - I have to get more details on this event and also check availability.

Character breakfast/brunch - possibly Monday morning...it depends on what time the night time events finish on the Saturday night on whether I'll do a breakfast on the Sunday (late nights followed by early mornings are bad in my book!)


Due to the Holiday weekend I've not even tried to contact my Disney rep, I know it would be pointless, but I hope to get some firm details out this week about the Adventurers Club and Dessert Party nonetheless - watch this space

 

[MrShiny]

Sounds great! Hhhm, maybe a sticky post pointing to this thread for those who've heard about it but have not yet subscribed? Just a thought.

We'll be arriving the 19th most probably. So pencil me in for Illuminations and the event on the 20th. We are 6, 4 adults, 2 kids.

 

[westjones]

Has anyone else gone around this time of year? I was just wondering if there are usually any discounts for resorts at this time.

I think we would like to try the FW Cabins. We are DVC members, but since this event is going to fall over the weekend (highest points) and since I heavily borrowed points from this year and don't have many left, I thought it would be a good chance to try something new.

If you think there may be discounts, when might they come out?

OR is there a possibilty of some sort of group discount for DIS members at the resorts. Would it be for just one resort then?

DJ

 

[mickeyfanmom]

It would be great if we could get a group rate for the resort too. We have done this as a member of a corporate trip before and got very good rates at the Y & B Club. Is this something you are also looking into Penny?

 

[spooers23]

Penny

Count in 2 ad and 1 1/2 yr old. Sounds like so much fun.

Becki

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hi Mickeyfan1

Yes, group room rates are something I am also looking in to, along with Convention tickets and Dining Vouchers

Regards room rates, if it's anything along the lines of what I've heard of previously they'll offer us 1 deluxe, 1 moderate and 1 Value resort at a discount - but of course I'm just speculating on that right now. The Thanksgiving Holiday really threw a spanner in to the works and slowed things down but I hope to start getting some more detailed info out by the weekend at the latest about the events at the very least. Once we are able to start firming things up a little I anticipate other things dropping in to place as we go along

 

[westjones]

Oh Penny, that would be wonderful! I can't believe all the work you are putting into this project. We had thought about trying the cabins, but if we can get a group rate at another resort, we would go with that instead.

Thanks you SO MUCH for all you are doing. My family is excited!

DJ