Disclaimer before any of my relatives freak out: I am not currently engaged or planning a wedding, but I like research.
A few months ago, the Disney Ever After blog announced the 2018 Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Showcase, a miniature expo designed to show off all the magical wedding options Disney has to offer. I read a few reviews of previous years and figured why not? It sounded fun. There were two ticket options- one that included just the Expo for $45, and one that included the Expo and a Happily Ever After dessert party for $90. I considered doing the dessert party, but we wound up deciding it made more sense to do the less expensive one, and buy a second ticket for Jay.
Somehow, I didn’t think Duffy would need one.
Before the Expo, they were having an Open House at the Wedding Pavillion at the Grand Floridian Resort. Neither of us were off work in time to make it, since we didn’t want to take the whole day off, but I really wasn’t concerned. I’ve wandered all over the Grand Floridian. If there’s nothing going on, you can literally walk right up to the Pavilion and stare in the glass doors.
I did manage to get out of work early enough to get to the Contemporary Resort around 2:30 p.m., and Jay was joining me when he got off work at 3:15 p.m. The night before we had put together last minute Disneybounds, and I was super excited. I had my Meg dress and Wonder Woman boots on and he was going to be Hercules. (I would like to state for the record that this was another case of Jay saying no one would get it, and me proving him wrong, as multiple people told us how great we looked.) I got checked in and sat down to wait for the doors to open. The name tag was already falling off my dress; it wouldn’t stick, so I put it on Duffy instead.
The doors opened about five minutes after three. The Expo was set up in the Fantasia ballroom with vendors up against the walls, and tables spread in the center. It was a really low lighting setup, which, from what I saw online, was different from previous years. I started to wander with no real plan in mind, after dropping off my raffle ticket. I didn’t want to talk to anyone until Jay arrived, so I focused on taking photos and somehow found myself in line for raw cookie dough. Pretty awesome line to accidentally wind up in!
The room was divided into four themed sections: Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Tangled, and Classic Fairy Tale. Basically, what this meant were there were four decor examples scattered about the room, in addition to the light projections on the walls and the Cinderella Coach.
I had read online about spa treatments so I wandered over to the Senses booth. They were doing mini facials and make-up as samples of what you could have done for your wedding. I figured I’d save that for last since I didn’t want to mess up the make-up I was already wearing before pictures.
The well has actual running water!
I wandered around a bit more before heading out to wait for Jay. I didn’t want to miss anything but being by myself just felt awkward, and trying to handle the backpack, camera, and Bear all at once was getting tricky. I had jumped in line for the bar but realized I didn’t have a hand to find my ID with. Thankfully, he wasn’t far away, and arrived about ten minutes later. We checked him in and grabbed his wrist band. I proposed starting with the alcohol and then working our way around the room in a circle, and he agreed.
There was the big open bar with the wine options, and a smaller table to one side with shot glass samples of mixed drinks. I grabbed the “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper”, which was a blue drink with vodka. Jay got the pink mai-tai since he prefers rum, and then we both jumped in the line for wine. One of the men pouring the drinks explained that all the drinks had ties to Disney. Some were from family wineries with Disney connections, including one owned by Lily’s family, and others were from Disney properties like Skywalker Ranch. My favorite was the Fairy Tale Cuvee Champagne, which is apparently created exclusively for Disney weddings. There were no limits on how much you could have, and I noticed they were filling Jay’s glasses higher than they were filling mine. To be fair, I was carrying a Duffy Bear. I had two glasses and he had three, the first time through the line, and we went back twice.
Rather than going to the next booth, we crossed the room to start our loop next to the stage at the cake displays. Not intentionally because we wanted cake or anything. They had about seven different pictures of cakes, and four or five on display. I don’t understand how anyone eats something so pretty! We waited our turn for samples. You got to choose what cake base you wanted, and then the icing. I got Marble with Cookies and Cream, while Jay opted for Chocolate with Churro icing.
I have long said the only things I care about with a wedding are the cake, the dress, and the photos, so I jumped in line to talk to cake artist. He explained that all the cakes are three tiers and they feed about fifty people.
“That’s great. Now can you make it look like him?”
I held up Duffy.
Apparently, they aren’t allowed to do actual Disney characters because they’d never get them 100% right and Disney wants them to always look perfect. I’m very curious about the chocolate Chip and Dale on the table then, but that’s fine. He suggested making the cake look like Duffy’s fur, and I asked if ears could go on it too. The answer was yes!
The next booth was a bunch of food samplings. They had chicken pot pie, Sheppard’s pie, mac and cheese, and something with fish. I grabbed the chicken pot pie and glared at Jay as he got the mac and cheese. Stupid dairy allergy. (For the record, I acknowledge chicken pot pie is likely not dairy free, but I can do it in small doses. Cheese is about the worst thing on the planet for a Chelsea.)
The next table had a painter who apparently can be on site for the ceremony or reception, and paints as the day goes on for a memorable keepsake. Sounds awesome, but we kept walking and trying to balance our food to eat it. The next booth was all food as well, but for some reason it was all cauliflower themed. While I understand they were trying to be different… cauliflower? Jay doesn’t eat vegetables in general, but even I won’t touch cauliflower. We moved on.
Next to the cauliflower food booth was the beautiful Tangled wedding display table, complete with Snuggly Duckling sign and chocolate frying pans. Out of all of the décor sections, Tangled was definitely my favorite. It looked the most like the movie.
The next table was actually more in the middle of the floor than on the sides like everyone else. They had a frame photo prop like you see in the parks with Photopass, and we stopped to see what the deal was. There were two different kinds of cameras on the table from HP Sprocket. Essentially, they’re modern versions of the Polaroid camera and you can have them out for guests to document the wedding day. They took our picture with the photo frame and it printed out as a sticker.
Apparently, this was the photo section because the next area was a display of different photo offerings. We skipped that. There’s not really anything Disney can tell me about photo printing other than prices, but there were some beautiful options.
We couldn’t figure out what the next booth was, so Jay jumped in the long line while I went to find out. It was a virtual photo booth, sort of like a second generation to a green screen. Instead of a traditional photo booth with a background, they had different options you could choose from. For the Expo, they had all four parks represented in about twenty options. Normally your guests would have four photos to choose from, that you picked out ahead of time. They promised me they could get the Jungle Cruise. I actually picked one that wasn’t from any of the parks but seemed the most fitting.
Now we were back at the doors and moved over to what was probably the first booth most people hit, the Honeymoon planning service. I talked to the girl for a minute. She herself had gotten married about a year ago, and now was getting to help other people.
The next booth was for Vero Beach, the resort about two hours south of Orlando that everyone forgets about. They also do weddings there, and had their actual wedding planner at the Expo. She explained both the indoor and outdoor venue options, and handed me what was probably the thickest packet of information I got all day.
We spent a long time talking to Alex at the Disney Cruise Line section. He was super informative and didn’t mind taking the time to answer all my questions. Disney Cruise Line weddings are surprisingly some of the most affordable Disney weddings, with the basic package starting right at $3,000 for up to eight guests. However, they are some of the most limited. Where the sky is the limit of what options you want at a Walt Disney World wedding, the Cruise Line weddings have a set number of options. I was told I could bring all my Duffys though, as my own decorations, so there’s that at least. (His eyes got a little wider when Jay mentioned there are fifty of them.)
Disney Springs had the next table, most importantly with chocolate samples from the Ganachery as examples of add-ons you could do for your guests.
The next booth was a display from Themes Come True, which is a service that provides anything printed you could possibly need for your wedding. I should have taken more pictures but the graphic designer in me was too busy geeking out. They had everything from Haunted Mansion Stretch Room invitations to programs that looked like park Times Guides.
We had made it back to where we started and jumped in line for our second pass at the bar before we headed past the spa booth to another food station.
This food station was slightly less strange than the cauliflower one, but I’m still surprised by the choice. Given I haven’t actually been to that many weddings, but soup just doesn’t seem like something you were serve, much less in little goblets. Jay got a sampling of one that I honestly don’t remember what it was, but it was frozen with nitrogen. They had four options and it all looked fancy- I’m just not a soup person.
We had reached another decor section, this time dedicated to Snow White. There was a wishing well with actual running water and a beautiful table of red roses and mirrors. Next to it was the Zales Jewelry table with samples of their Enchanted Jewelry collection. It was all super pretty, but none of it seemed wedding themed, unless maybe it’s for the bridesmaids or to go with the dress? One of the women asked who my inner princess was and I said, “Wonder Woman.” Somehow, I don’t think that was the answer they were looking for.
The final food station was the one I had hit first, the cookie dough. They had four flavors to try in a cup or a cone, and it was all oat based, whatever that means. (It did feel a lot thicker than the Wonderland Cookie Dough that I’m used to.) We went back for seconds, thirds in my case.
Around the cookie dough was the Beauty and the Beast section covered in red roses and gold accents, complete with Cogsworth.
Next to the stage was another cake display, this time modeling Disney’s famous projection technology. They took the magic they use to project pictures onto Cinderella Castle and scaled it down for a wedding cake. It’s gorgeous.
At some of the tables in the center of the room, they had Disney wedding consultants on hand to meet with couples to discuss their plans. Jay and I didn’t want to waste their time, but it had only taken us about an hour and twenty minutes to get all the way around the room. There were still raffles left, so I certainly wasn’t going anywhere. We took a few more passes at the food booths and found someone to take our picture together in front of the Cinderella Coach.
Jay told me to go see about the facial while he took pictures, so I headed back to the spa booth only to find out you had to sign up and the list was a mile long. I’d really like to know why I wasn’t told that the first time I came by, or I would have signed up then. So, no facial for Chelsea.
They announced the final raffle at 5:15 p.m., a two-night hotel stay for two. We hung around another half an hour or so hoping the spa would get to me, but no such luck.
This was the first time I’d been to the Disney Wedding Showcase. I did read a few reviews of previous years, so it seems like they cut some things for this year, including the two classes they offered in the past. I definitely feel like there wasn’t enough to do for three hours, but I also didn’t meet with one of the planners to see how much time that would eat up or go over to the Open House at the Grand Floridian, although it started at 2 p.m. instead of 3 p.m., like the Showcase. I got a good feel for how expensive a Disney wedding can be, but I never saw a price in writing for anything.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I never should have seen pricing. They didn’t have printed prices to hand out, but I found what I think is a Cast Member’s cheat sheet that they dropped with the exact pricing of the decor spreads. I’m not going to publish that information online, but feel free to email me at Chelsea@TwentySomethingInOlrando.com or message me on the Twenty Something in Orlando Facebook page and I’ll be happy to answer your questions as best I can.
Honestly, I didn’t learn a whole lot that I couldn’t have found out on Disney’s wedding website. Seeing the stuff in person was way more fun, however and we got lots of free samples. A photo sticker, a digital photo with the background, chocolate, cake, food, and more. Plus, I’m fairly confident we each drank more than $45 worth of alcohol, at least at Disney pricing. It was definitely a cool way to spend an afternoon.
Cost: $45 flat per person.
Duration: The Showcase lasted three hours, but we could have left in two. We did skip the Grand Floridian Open House that would have added more time.
Value: A lot of fun and pretty informative. I highly recommend it if you are planning a Disney Wedding, but I’m not sure I’ll need to do it again when the day comes.
Add Ons: They had a $90 ticket option that included a fireworks dessert party. Some friends of ours did it, and it looked really cool.
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