[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's interesting because I would actually argue that Disney Cruise line shouldn't charge extra for that, because you just brought them, you know, at least a $2,500 stateroom for each person.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Yeah, you just sell staterooms.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point, Brian.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: Yeah, but don't you know that an additional bottle of champagne cost $20 per extra person?
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast, brought to you by my path, unwinding travel. And, Sam, it is review time again. Mail call. Review time. You excited?
[00:00:43] Speaker B: You know, I always love it. I'm excited for that. But I'm actually more excited for our guests today. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna start singing, like going to the chapel or somebody's getting married.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: You took my thunder. That's. That's what I was gonna do, but no, no one wants to hear me sing. You're the acapella artist. But let's get the review out of the way so we can get to the guest. This review comes from Vegas mom Tutu, who writes great information. Thank you for all the great tips. Can't wait to use some on our next cruise. Well, short and to the point, which is great, because we want to get to our guests today. Thank you, Vegas mom Tutu, for leaving us that review. And reminded all listeners out there, those five star reviews over an Apple podcast really help us out. So you head over there and leave us a five star review. That's fabulous. If you put it a written review down, we will also read it on the air at the top of our show. But, Sam. Yeah, throwing it over to you. Get our guest. Get our guest intro here because we got a fun topic today.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: I am so excited. Nobody's actually getting married today, just an FYI. But it makes me sing in my head. Somebody's getting married anyway. But I would love to introduce our guest. She is the host of her own podcast. Her podcast has been in existence for much longer than our podcast. The host of the Disney Weddings podcast, she is also on Instagram as Disney Wedcast. But welcome. Welcome to the show, Carrie. Hi.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: Thanks so much for having me.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for joining us, Carrie. We're super excited to talk to you. We have had. We have covered a couple of Disney cruise line weddings in the past, but it's been one quite a while. And two, we are not the experts in the Disney wedding space at all, whatsoever. We did not ourselves get married at Disney world, Disneyland, or on Disney cruise line or anything like that.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Well, only because you didn't know. It was an option at the time.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: But, yes, that's to be fair, it was not something. Yeah, isn't something on our radar. Uh, we got married ourselves in a catering hall in Louisville, Kentucky. So very different than a Disney wedding. Um, but, Carrie, before we dive into talking about your podcast, you know what you cover, we've got to ask you your disney credentials. Meaning, where does your love of Disney come from? Have you yourself been on a Disney cruise? If so, how many? Which ships? And have you been on other cruise lines?
[00:02:54] Speaker C: I mean, like a lot of people, I went to disney a couple times when I was little, when I, I grew up in California. And so we went to Disneyland a couple times. But I had this weird thing happen to me after September 11 where I became obsessed with Walt Disney World as a californian who had only been there once when she was in high school.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Yeah.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: I think it was probably because I was at Disneyland on September 11. I'm not sure. It's very weird experience. And it just clicked something. The nostalgia switch in my brain flipped, and I became obsessed with getting back to Walt Disney World. And I did all this research and blah, blah, blah. And then finally when, I mean, years later, when I got engaged in Disneyland, I was thrilled. My husband proposed in the court of angels outside Blue Bayou.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: So we started researching Disneyland weddings and immediately became discouraged because they were so expensive. And, of course, this thing happened that happens to a lot of Disney couples, unfortunately, which is they call the hotline. And the person they get doesn't know very much about actual weddings and tells them that either what they want to do is impossible or it will cost so much money they can never possibly afford it. So then I discovered that you could actually do, at the time, very small package weddings at Walt Disney World that were actually way cheaper than Disneyland. And so we ended up getting married out at Walt Disney World. And, you know, it kind of works because even if you're not from Florida, most people are going to have to travel to a wedding anyway, right? So we, we had our wedding out there. It was amazing. And I was very frustrated during planning because there wasn't very much information about Disney weddings, and Disney would not even tell me how much my wedding was going to cost before I signed a contract.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Which was a big leap of faith. Yes.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: That's crazy. What year was this when you were planning your wedding?
[00:04:34] Speaker C: 2007. We got married in 2008, and they do this thing now where they kind of like, they'll give you an estimate, but it's their estimate. It's not like based on what you actually would do or options that you might pick that could be cheaper. So this spurred me on, and I don't know. Do you guys remember the passporter books that they had to Walt Disney World?
Yeah. So I wrote to them and I was like, you guys should do a passporter ebook on weddings. And they said, that sounds awesome, you should write it.
I was like, oh, okay. So I wrote the Passporters Guide to Disney Weddings, which is now my book, the Fairytale Weddings Guide. But that was 15 years ago, and I've been, you know, following Disney weddings ever since. And about twelve years ago, I started doing my podcast, the Disney Wedding podcast, as a way to highlight individual couples, interview vendors, cover things like how to save on the bar, how to plan your transportation, how to get started, planning things that were a little more nuanced than what was in my book. And so they kind of are a companion. The fairy tale weddings guide has, like, anything you could possibly want to know about a Disney wedding at Walt Disney World, you can look up in the book, but then you can listen to the podcast to get inspiration and hear what other couples did and how they customized things.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: So, Carrie, I'm curious really fast. Like, how many Disney weddings do you think you've covered since you started doing this?
[00:05:52] Speaker C: I can tell you an exact number because I number them in my podcast host, and I just did.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Well, let's see.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: I remember two weeks ago I did 626 because it reminded me of stitch.
I think my latest one is six to eight. So 628 podcasts, episodes.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. And most of them, as you mentioned, cover couples. A couple of them or some of them cover, you know, talking with a vendor who does, let's say, photography or something that is a part of that wedding, Disney wedding industry. Is that fair to say?
[00:06:25] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Now, have you yourself been on a Disney cruise?
[00:06:28] Speaker C: I have not had the chance to do that yet. And I gotta tell you, every time I interview a Disney cruise couple, I just, the whole time I'm just listening to it and I'm like, this sounds amazing. How would I do it? Where would we go?
[00:06:40] Speaker B: So I'm thinking you need to renew your wedding vows on a Disney cruise ship. I feel like that would be the perfect way to, like, come full circle with this whole thing.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. We did our five year vow renewal at Alani, and I do feel like a cruise would be the next lot. Oh, my God.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: I mean, listen, second to the cruise, Alani is our favorite place in the entire world, so I completely understand doing a renewal there.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: I didn't even know they did Disney weddings. Do they do Disney weddings at any of the Disney properties, or is it just like in the US properties? I'm so curious. I didn't know they did them at Alani.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a mixed bag. So Alani, they do them and it's under the aegis of Disney's fairy tale weddings. Same with Disneyland. Disneyland Paris has its own wedding department, and it's a little bit trickier. And they don't do as many weddings because to actually legally get married in France, there's this crazy residency requirement of like 40 days or something. So most people would do a vow renewal if they did it there. And then Tokyo Disney has its own department. I got to tour all of their locations a few years back when we were in Japan, and they're amazing. They do weddings in Hong Kong, and I'm pretty sure they're gonna. They must be already doing weddings in Shanghai. So. Yeah, it's just that they're all different companies. Only Disney's fairy tale weddings that you see on Instagram and the tv show and all that. That's all us based. But they do have options in the other countries.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Interesting. Is it the same department, then, that does the Disney cruise line weddings, or is that kind of just separate and under the umbrella of Disney cruise line?
[00:08:07] Speaker C: It is the same department. So there are three people in the Florida, Orlando based Disney's fairytale weddings department who handle the cruises on the different ships that, you know, are, what would you say? Berthed in Florida?
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Right, right, yeah, yeah. That regularly dock in Florida, I guess, as their sort of home port. Yeah, I will tell you, we actually covered a wedding on an Alaska cruise, so that was very different because obviously, most of the cruises that they do weddings on are the ones out of Florida, the Caribbean Bahamas cruises. It was very unique and unusual, I think, for Disney to do on the Disney wonder out of, you know, out of Vancouver, Vancouver to Alaska to do a wedding. That's, I think, just kind of an unusual circumstance. I'm curious for, you know, the folks that you interview who are planning a Disney cruise line wedding or have had a Disney cruise line wedding, do you see any sort of common themes of, like, what ship they like to book on, what itineraries they like to book on, that sort of a thing?
[00:09:06] Speaker C: Well, like, right now, everybody is all about the wish. Like, that seems to be the most popular place, and it's so perfect for a wedding because the theming is so fairy tale. So. But I'm sure that people, especially people who are regular cruisers and maybe they prefer the wonder or they like the magic or whatever, then, you know, it's not as important to them. But I think for a lot of people, it's like, oh, my gosh, I can get married there.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: That's a really good point. I actually think that the wish is, like the quintessential, even though I don't like the itinerary, because it's only a three, four night cruise, it is the most romantic and, like, so the decor really fits and the spaces, I think, will really have that sort of romance that fits with the wedding kind of feel well.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: And if you think about the ability to get guests on board. Right, like a three or four night sailing is probably more appealing than a week long sailing for people, especially people who haven't cruised before, might be skeptical about cruising for their wedding, that sort of thing.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Carrie, do you see a difference in sort of the types of couples that choose to have their weddings on board, a sailing versus choose to have a park space wedding or, you know, Disney world based wedding?
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Yes, for sure. Especially now that they don't have any package weddings at Walt Disney World, it feels like people who are looking for something more casual, something that's a one stop shop where you just pay a flat fee and then you get x, y and z in a package. Like the idea of a cruise, it's a lot less to plan. And people who are like me and they're a little more type a and they want to control every single aspect of the event, and they have a ton of ideas for customization, feel frustrated with what's offered on the cruise. So they usually do better at Walt Disney World.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Taking us off of Disney cruise line for a second, Carrie, I'm curious, uh, you know, what's the most lavish wedding that you've covered in your time covering Disney weddings, and that can be on the cruise or anywhere, but, like, what were some of those, like, unique experiences that people wanted or. Yeah, let me just ask that.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: So what I love about doing this show is that, and having done over 626 episodes is that I find out every single couple I interview has something unique about their event. And it doesn't have to be lavish or super expensive to be unique, which is something I love about Disney weddings. So I have interviewed some people who have spent a lot of money on their weddings, or they've had a very strong vision of floral and decor, for example, where they spend a lot of money on that. Some of the unusual, the most unusual elements I've seen. I interviewed a couple, a south asian couple who had a lot of traditional south asian elements in their wedding, including something called the bharat, which is where the groom rides a horse to the wedding pavilion.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
So it's not just the, it's not the bride. Just in Cinderella's carriage. The groom is actually on horseback. Yes.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: And there's this whole procession around him, and it's amazing. And it's so colorful and beautiful. And also, anytime you can involve a horse, I am all over it. So that was very exciting.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I love that. I think that's awesome. I listened to one of your episodes where some folks were having a Disney cruise line wedding, and they had a traditional chinese tea ceremony on board the cruise. I thought that was pretty unique, too. That's interesting.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: I would be interested to hear how they did that, because sometimes they do that at Walt Disney World, and it's a thing like, you get a special room for it. And so.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it was your episode. This was your episode. It was from, like, I think last year. You've probably forgotten it already.
I think they said they had the tea ceremony in D lounge. They had to bring a lot of their own stuff with them, but their reception was in the tube, which I thought was a really interesting venue for a reception, but I think it was all they were was available to them based on the number of people they had or something like that. Yeah, it's interesting. I wonder if you can tell us a little bit about the process that currently stands today when someone is looking to book a wedding on board. Disney cruise line specifically.
[00:12:54] Speaker C: Yeah. Package that you add on top of your cruise package. The way it works is as long as you have your cruise booked, the couple, you can book a ceremony package, add on, you don't have to have all your guests booked or anything. So I guess your timeline then would be whatever the timeline is for booking the cruise that you want.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah. And with Disney Cruise line, that varies a little bit, but it's about an 18 month in advance schedule for booking a cruise. It's. And I say it varies because sometimes it's a little bit less time, sometimes it's a little bit more. But, you know, uh, we talk about itinerary releases all the time, and they kind of unpredictable from Disney cruise line, unfortunately.
What kinds of things can someone, you mentioned their packages. What kinds of things can someone book or what the packages sort of typically include.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Yeah. So the price of the package is going to depend on the location you want for your ceremony. So they have kind of split it up. Now that they have the wish, they have a couple different prices on board. It used to be one price for onboard, one price for castaway key. So now if you do a shipboard wedding that's not in the atrium, it's $4,000. If you want to be in the atrium, it's $5,000. And then if you're on the magic or the wonder and you want Rapunzel's place or Tiana's place, it's also $5,000.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Yeah.
[00:14:12] Speaker C: So I guess what would the option would be? Outlook maybe would be $4,000 or the what, what's that deck at the back of the ship? That would be $4,000 and then Castaway Quay is $6,000. But if you want the arch that they show in literally every picture of a wedding at castaway key you've ever seen, that is 2000 more dollars. So that would be $8,000.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: So it actually ends up being like a lot more expensive for the castaway key wedding because of the. Well, obviously gonna want the arch. I mean, I don't know how anyone would get married at castaway and not have the arch. That seems crazy.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: Think about all the add ons you could do for $2,000, though, right?
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Right. So what does that actually include, though? I mean, it's a ceremony. So you've got like, I presume there's an officiant, but what's actually included? A setup, maybe set up of chairs and things like that. But like, do they include any kind of flowers, any cake? I know they don't really include. Well, they don't include a hosted reception, meaning a reception that includes alcohol, if I'm remembering correctly.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: So what you get is you get a ceremony coordinator on site and then you have a land based person you work with until you get to the ship. And then you get a choice of personal fresh floral. So if it's two grooms, it would be two boutonnieres. If it's two brides, two bouquets. Boutonniere and a bouquet. If you're a bride and groom, you get an officiant. You have to already be married, which is interesting because for many years they would marry you at the port. A notary would marry you while the ship was in port and they stopped that at COVID and they were like, you're not bringing that back.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Yeah. So you have to already be married and a lot of people will use the date of their ceremony as their anniversary or they'll celebrate both or whatever. So, or you just, you know, maybe you're doing this for a vow renewal and you don't even have to worry about that at all.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: So that's fascinating to me.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: I sort of feel like it's not actually your wedding. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: Well, but I sort of feel like the romantic nature of getting married on a cruise ship or any ship is like married at sea by like the captain or something like that, you know.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Or the cruise director or whatever, you know, some, yeah. Somebody who actually like, could sign the paperwork, but it sounds like that the person who does the ceremony doesn't actually, isn't actually signing the legal paperwork. I guess I understand from a, from a legal standpoint because castaway is in the Bahamas, so you'd have to be dealing with bahamian law or if you're at, if you're on the ship, you're dealing with like international maritime law and all that. So it could probably, it's probably quite complex. Are there, is there any cake included in that package?
[00:16:29] Speaker C: Yes, you get what they call a cake and champagne celebration. So there's a two tier wedding cake and then champagne. But you can also have cider if you don't drink. And then that lasts an hour. So it's not like a full reception, but there's time for you to do first dances and speeches and cut the cake. They include a pianist for the ceremony and for the cake and cake and champagne celebration.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Is that typically in the same place like the cake and champagne reception? Is that, is that in the same place the ceremony is or is that usually in a different space?
[00:16:58] Speaker C: Usually in a different space because they like to set it up while the ceremony is still happening. But I have seen people like use outlook where they get married at outlook and then everybody walks out and then they come back in or they've already got the cake set up or whatever. It's not hard for them to set it up, but often people want to be in two different locations so they can have a variety of photos. So and then. Yeah. So and then you get dinner for the couple at Palo on the night of the ceremony. Unfortunately, they can't help you make like a large group reservation. But I've interviewed plenty of people who made them one on their own and then they had everybody dining at Palo with them or they go with their guests to whatever restaurant they were going to go to and then they do Palo on a different night. What else? Oh, you get a commemorative ceremony certificate.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: There's your four grand right there. Wedding certificate.
I like that. That's cute.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: And then, let's see. Steaming for your ceremony attire, which is nice. A keepsake, engraved cake, knife, and server set, which. They don't do that for Disney weddings anymore. You have to pay extra for that. So that's kind of cool.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Oh, so that's nice.
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Yeah. And then a $100 onboard stateroom credit. And then if you're on castaway key, they give you round trip island transportation via golf cart.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: So you don't get all sweaty in your wedding attire. That makes perfect sense to me.
Well, that's really nice. Does it matter how many guests you like? Are there add ons? If it's, you know, you're over a certain number? Let's assume you just did this package. Right? Like, and, you know, does it have a sort of a cap of a number of attendees? Because obviously, they're setting up chairs and a space, and those spaces might vary based on the number of people. Yeah.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: So the package price includes 16 guests, and if you have more than 16 guests, they just charge you $20 each for anyone over age three or, sorry, age three and older.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: It's interesting. Cause I would actually argue that Disney cruise line shouldn't charge extra for that, because you just brought them, you know, at least a $2,500 stateroom for each person.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Yeah. You just sell staterooms.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point, Brian.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: But don't you know that an additional bottle of champagne costs $20 per extra person?
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Especially the prosecco that they're actually serving you, which, by the way, I have seen for, like, $10 a bottle at the regular liquor store.
[00:19:09] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Well, someone gifted it to us. The actual. The fairytale champagne. Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Not the fairy tale one, but the prosecco that they serve on board, that they give you as, like, the platinum gift in your stateroom is, I think it's LaMarca prosecco, and that you see it sort of everywhere on board. And that one, I saw it.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Or, like, one step above oste spamatti. Yes.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: It's like, you know, it's literally like a ten dollar box of prosecco. So that means not bad. There's nothing wrong with it, but just.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: Be glad it's not in a box.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
Well, I'm curious about what kinds of things you've heard of people adding on, in particular, on Disney cruise line. I know that there have been post pandemic. There were some limitations on characters. For example, but I'm assuming those are back. You can now probably pay for characters to come to your wedding or to come after your wedding, not necessarily your ceremony.
[00:20:05] Speaker C: From what I've heard, they still aren't doing it on the wish. I'm not sure if they are on the magic or the wonder. It does seem like something they would want to figure out soon. Although, I don't know. I think it's always been more complicated for them because even in the past when you could book characters, they weren't able to tell you whether or not you could actually have them until, like, four weeks before your sailing. So I think it's not as easy as at Walt Disney World for them.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it's probably because of just scheduling stuff. Right. They have a lot of character meet and greets that are going on across the ship. Right. During all hours, you know, and so.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: And those casts do other functions on the ship. Right. So, yeah.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Right. So, yeah, it's probably just a matter of scheduling and figuring out whether or not it works with whatever they're. Whatever else is going on at Disney.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: World, they just have to call the second person on the list or the third, you know, like they have got a staple of people who can. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Backup, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: As long as they're not in the same room at the same time, everything is fine and explained.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: There you go. Yeah. So, Carrie, what other kinds of things do people add on?
Talk to me a little bit about reception type deal. Yeah.
[00:21:06] Speaker C: So I have interviewed a few people who added on, they were able to add, like, appetizers and extend the time, pay extra to stay in the reception venue longer. And so then they just, you know, the musician kept playing and they did dances. I feel like I've interviewed people who had them play recorded music over the sound system. Cause they were in some place like a nightclub. On the magic or the wonder, I can't remember which episode that was. So it can be done. It's again, like, it's very modest what you can do to upgrade. Like, the cake upgrades are like, do you want this design or this design? And that's it. Do you want these flowers or these flowers that are slightly more expensive? So there isn't a ton you can do to upgrade, but it's always worth asking just to see what's available.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Well, the. The odd part about the wish, too, is that the reception, the couple of times we've seen a wedding on board the wish, the reception is in the bayou lounge, which is beautiful. It's beautiful, but it's completely open. Like, there's there.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: Well, they put up some like, kind of ropey things and a sign that says it's a private reception. So I agree with you, Brian. It's still very open and exposed. Like, anyone can walk by.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: No one can walk in and have a drink, but people walking by, there's no. There's no wall, there's no glass, there's nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't. They don't shut down the walkways because they're ways to get into other spaces. So. Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: It's a size thing. Someone was recently asking about that, and it turns out to use any of the enclosed spaces, you have to have a very small group, like ten people or fewer.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: And that makes sense on the wish in particular, because the spaces on the wish are just.
They're just smaller and more intimate. Right. They have more spaces, more different, you know, bars and meeting space is a bad way to put bars, restaurants, whatever you want to call them. Yeah. But they're all really small. There's a little bit more, I think, available on the dream and the fantasy because you've got that, like, sort of that club space. And same with the wonder and the magic, you have that sort of adult venue that is bigger that you could have a larger party or reception in, depending upon the time.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: I just think it'd be so cool. You could have a Star wars theme wedding that ended with a reception in hyperspace lounge. That'd be really cool. Yeah.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: I don't want to break your heart, but I have a very strong feeling that they would tell you you could not. Disney has this whole weird set of restrictions about not doing weddings, anything related to galaxy's edge. You can't even do a photo shoot in Galaxy's edge in your bridal attire. You have to change your clothes.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Really?
[00:23:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:23:26] Speaker C: This whole thing, you're not going to believe this.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Anybody can still do a photo shoot, though. You just can't be wearing, like, a formal wedding dress. Is that fair? Okay, so you'd have to do something Leia esque. Yes.
[00:23:37] Speaker C: And I have seen people Disney bound for their galaxy's edge photo shoots, and they look great. But I will just say it's ironic because they say that the reason they won't allow weddings in Star wars themed areas is that there are no weddings in Star wars. But hello, episode two has a wedding in it.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: There are definitely weddings. Yeah, I mean, what are they talking about? There's definitely weddings. Plus, like, if you. I mean, you could make a requirement that the people are dressed like, are dressed in character in the sense of like, they dress in like batuu style, right. Or something like that. I would understand that. Like, so you can still do wedding attire, but it needs to be in the, it needs to fit in the Star wars universe. And that would be great to do in hyperspace, lounge on the wish because that is the Star wars themed bar, as Brian was mentioning. It's fantastic. Carrie, I'm curious.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: It was short lived, but did anyone get married on the Star cruiser that you know about, or did you cover anyone getting married on the Star cruiser?
[00:24:30] Speaker C: They didn't offer weddings there.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, it would be hard. It would be tough. But yeah, I was just curious if they managed to pull one off on there. Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:38] Speaker C: It's the same ip thing.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: Yeah. I wonder, have you heard of anybody getting married on like an adventures by Disney excursion? That's interesting.
[00:24:48] Speaker C: I haven't. That seems like a really good idea. I wonder, though, if they would just tell you to book with some company at the spot.
But then how would you fit it in? Because aren't the itineraries pretty heavily scheduled?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: That's what I was gonna say, sam. I think it would be impossible to fit that. I mean, you'd have to forego part of the adventure, or at least a half day of the adventure to make that happen. I couldn't even imagine trying to fight guests on an adventures by, I mean, it's like, well, I wonder, $30,000 a person.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: I wonder if you could do it. But like, you do it before or after, right? Like you'd like, like a couple days before. I wonder if they would do any assistance with planning or anything like that. Probably not. You're probably right. We probably do it on your own.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: The ultimate wedding would be getting married on the around the world adventures by Disney private jet experience.
Hey, DCl duo fans, you know, we get the question all the time. Should I use a travel agent to book my next Disney cruise or should I just book with Disney directly? And I'm going to tell you, if you have that question in the back of your mind right now, you should stop what you're doing and head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo. The folks over at mypath unwinding provide an amazing service. They are so knowledgeable and so friendly. We rely on them ourselves to book our family vacations and they provide an amazing service. And the best part is you don't pay anything extra for it. Disney, other tour providers and other cruise lines have built the cost of their commission into their pricing. So if you're booking directly, you are just paying that money back to the provider when you could be spending it on the kind of service you would get. From my path unwinding travel. You've heard from their agents on our show. They are so knowledgeable, so giving of their time. They know so much about Disney Cruise line, sailing, concierge, other cruise lines, other all inclusive vacations and adventures by Disney that if you have a vacation in mind, they are the ones to book it for you. So again, again, head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo so they know we sent you their way. Thanks. My path unwinding for sponsoring the show. And with that, back to our episode.
Well, so, Carrie, I'm curious, like, what, as you talk to couples and, you know, done a lot of thinking about this on your own, like, what are the pros of doing a Disney wedding? Like, what do you see people coming back time and again saying, like, this is, we wanna do the wedding because of X? Is it just love of Disney that's the biggest pro? Is it the fact that you get that Disney experience and Disney level of service? Is it, you know, they sort of, you said they don't do it anymore w Walt Disney world. But on the cruise line, the idea of, like, a package price for your wedding, like, what are the big pros for doing a Disney wedding?
[00:27:16] Speaker C: I would say they are different between the cruise and the land based weddings. For the land based weddings, it's how, it's the fact that your wedding's gonna be unique. And if you love Disney, it's a great way to have your wedding at the place that you like to be the most. And time and again, people will tell me that they're guests, even guests who are very skeptical or who are like, oh, is Mickey gonna marry you? They come to wedding and they're blown away. They've, afterwards, they're raving about it. They've never been to a wedding that amazing. So a lot of it is that it's this unique experience. You're never going to get a world class fire. I mean, unless you have millions of dollars. You're not going to get a world class fireworks show at your wedding. Like, you can get in Epcot, right on the water, private area right in front of the fireworks, having the characters, the actual characters, not like, you know, somebody in a costume who does this on the weekends for fun. Like, you get the actual official characters coming to your wedding. Things like that make a Disney wedding unique and something that your guests will never have seen before the cruise. I would say definitely the package aspect. The fact that you get your whole family together on this really fun, relaxing vacation and the wedding is a package, so you barely have to think about it and it's everybody can be there with you and you can all celebrate together, but you didn't have to do a ton of work.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: What do you think? We talked off air a little bit and I said, I might ask this question. I'm going to pose it, which is, what do you think the biggest opportunity is for Disney fairy tale weddings? I mean, they've experienced, the whole company's experienced a lot of change. It sounds like Disney Fairytale weddings has experienced a lot of change over years. And certainly post COVID kind of all bets are off on what stayed, what came back, that sort of stuff. But what do you see as the opportunity that Disney fairy tale weddings has that they haven't sort of yet seized upon?
[00:28:47] Speaker C: So the one thing that I feel like they, I know a lot of people would like, and I feel like that would make them a lot of money and I'm not sure why they're not doing it anymore, is Disney offers these pre park opening portrait sessions in the theme parks at Walt Disney World. Over the years, who has been allowed to do them? Disney has flip flopped a lot on who can do them. So sometimes for a while it's been anybody can do them. If they pay the money, then it's been anybody can do them in any park except magic kingdom. But only couples who were married at Disney World or on the Disney cruise line can do magic kingdom. They've gone back and forth with availability. But for the last few years, since COVID they have locked it way down. And you can't do a portrait session in any of the parks unless you have had an official Disney's fairytale wedding. Now, it could be ten years ago, it could be a Disneyland, it could have been on the cruise line, that's fine. But often you'll see people who are like, you know, we're getting married at Shakespeare, shades of Green, because my mom is in the military and can we have a pre park opening shoot inside Magic Kingdom? And they say no. Now it could be that they just don't have the number of photographers they need to do that volume, but they keep doing these funny restrictive things like they're trying really hard to make people want to use Disney's official photography service for Disney weddings. And this is sort of their hard sell, is that if you use this for your wedding, you're going to save because the price of these photo shoots has increased astronomically since we got married. So they give you now a discount. If you use them for your wedding ceremony, you get a discount and you can do it in the park. But I just feel like they're leaving money on the table from people who can't afford a Disney wedding but would be happy to pay five grand to get their pictures taken in the magic kingdom.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: How do you find the. So, full disclosure, we've had a guest on a couple of times who is wedding photographer, and so she has given us kind of the outside experience of doing Disney cruise line weddings and a little bit of the parks wedding, but she gets hired separately to come in and do the photos and has a view on sort of whether to use an outside photographer versus using Disney's own photographers. I'm curious your thoughts? Cause we've heard different things and, you know, sometimes the photo, the photographers, the photopass photographers on the cruise lines as they've moved that direction. You know, I can get a little high school prom for your wedding photos or for, sorry, for your, just your regular photos. What's your experience been in feedback from couples that you've had around, you know, the photography aspect? Cause that's, frankly, you know, the memories last, sure. But the photos are the things that people actually look back at. SO.
[00:31:09] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. And for me, since I also think that photography is one of the most important aspects of the day, I too would recommend that you seriously consider bringing your own photographer if you're doing a vow renewal or a wedding on the cruise line.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: Because.
[00:31:22] Speaker C: Yeah, the contractor they use for photography on the cruises, you know, it's hit or miss. Maybe you'll get somebody who's an amateur hobby photographer who has this job and loves it and is really creative and you'll love your photos. But I have seen so many people be disappointed by the quality of their wedding photos. They're one and only wedding photos. Plus you have to, unless you're doing well, they do digital now. They let you pay so that you can get the digital images, but if you want anything printed, you have to pick it before you leave the ship. So sometimes couples are staying up late the night before, frantically trying to decide which ones they want prints of. And so I would just say it's a lot easier and you guarantee your quality if you pick the photographer whose style you like and you bring them on the cruise with you.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. The one thing is you do have to pay for their cruise and their services. So it can be a big price tag. Whereas I'm guessing that it's more economical to pay for the Disney cruise line photographer. I'm saying guessing because I don't know what that actually, that actual cost is for the Disney cruise line photographer, but you wouldn't be paying their cruise fare. So I imagine even if they are, have like a higher hourly rate because of that cruise fare difference, they're cheaper. But I'm with you, Carrie. I think, like, this is your one time to have photographs of your. Of your wedding ceremony and maybe your wedding reception. Yeah, it's worth every penny. I will say that when Brian and I got married, oh, my God, almost 16 years ago now, that was the thing that we probably spent the most money on after food, I mean, I think so. Your food and the location was a package for us. We chose a place that had their own, you know, food catering within house. So that was the biggest cost. And the next biggest cost was the photographer. And I love our pictures. I was very happy with them. So.
[00:33:05] Speaker C: Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, one thing to know is that there are some local photographers, Orlando based photographers, who will go and shoot your wedding for only the cost of their stateroom. So, you know, I would just ask around if you've seen a local Orlando wedding photographer, talk to them about what their cruise packages are. Some of them do charge extra, but there are people who, they just want the experience of getting to go on a cruise. So as long as you cover their stateroom, they do the wedding for free or for a very reduced cost.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: That's smart. That's very smart. In fact, I think I might take my camera and move to Florida and offer that as a service. That's amazing. Well, so, Carrie, I'm also curious, like, so we talk a lot, and cruising food is. That's just an inescapable thing. What's the feedback like from your interviews with couples around? Not just a cruise line, but the food offerings in general at Disney, we actually. Full disclosure, we went to a Disney wedding. Geez, like two years ago now, Sam. A year ago now.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: It's a year ago. It's a year ago.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: 2023.
I thought the food was really good. I know the couple sort of struggled in making menu choices and upcharges and all of that sort of stuff. But how have you found the feedback around kind of the food offering for these Disney weddings?
[00:34:12] Speaker C: Great. People almost always rave about their food on the show. I actually do have a whole show that's about how to pick your menu, because it can be really overwhelming, the choice. And sometimes I think people think that the sample menus they get from Disney are all they can pick from. But you could have them do anything. You could have them attempt to recreate things you had on the cruise ship that you liked. So, yeah, I would say that food gets very high marks, even from people I've interviewed. I interviewed one couple who, they literally run a catering hall or they do weddings or something. I just interviewed them a couple weeks ago, and they said it was some of the best wedding food they've ever had. So the only times I've heard about problems are maybe when something sits out too long and gets cold, but it's not a common refrain. I haven't heard that a lot.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: No, that makes sense. I mean, the food we had was fantastic. I think they had tried to recreate a chicken perm that from Trattoria Alfono Choria al forno. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was really good.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: It wasn't the, you know, it wasn't from. It wasn't the actual chicken parm from trattoria al forno, but it was. They were trying to emulate that. And it was. The wedding was actually at the boardwalk. Yeah.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: What's the most consistent kind of, you know, if folks are gonna spend a little more money, you know, I know in Walt Disney World, right. It's not a package deal, but, you know, if folks are going to spend a little bit more money, Carrie, on one of these weddings, like, where do they head? Is it food? Is it. I don't know how many people get a character to come? I know that's not inexpensive, but, like, where do you see people consistently kind of saying, I'm going to spend a little bit more because we really want this?
[00:35:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: I would say it's pretty evenly divided between people who say that food was one of their top priorities and people who want to splurge on Disney experiences. So, yeah, character appearances, dessert parties, which, when we call them dessert parties in the Disney bride community, what we mean is it's a private party in front the fireworks. So at Epcot, you have one of the reserved spaces. At the grand Floridian, you're in the marina, and. But you don't have to serve dessert. You can serve any kind of food you want. You could serve a full dinner if you want. That is another thing that it's entertainment. So the characters, the coach, Cinderella's glass coach, things that just scream Disney, those are the things people don't have trouble splurging on. Or they're okay to maybe have fewer flowers so that they can afford to have goofy show up.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: Well, I know there's the infamous story. There's something floating around social media not long ago where somebody had the character come in and didn't provide food for going back and forth over whether or not that was an acceptable thing to do at a wedding. I mean, it's your wedding. Do what you want to do. You're the one who has the memories. But, yeah, I know those character experiences can be very expensive depending on what you want. And our friend was actually telling us about all the restrictions around, like, you know, Sam will correct me, but it's like Mickey and Minnie can kind of show up and. And dance with you and things like that. But if you want, like Tinkerbell, then she has to be stationary and, like, a specific area because, you know, in.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Front of a backdrop.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: Yeah. In front of a backdrop. Yeah. So it's. It's fascinating. It's just fascinating. So, Sam, what other questions do you have about at Disney weddings? I'm sure you've got more.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Yeah. I want to know what the most unique or strangest character you've heard of people having at their wedding. Cause Mickey and Minnie are the standard, obviously. Yes.
[00:37:03] Speaker C: And Disney doesn't make it easy because they don't just have a list you can pick from. You have to come up with ideas and ask them, and then they'll come back to you after the entertainment department weighs in and let you know if you can have them. So, like, I interviewed this one couple that had 30 characters over the course of a two day event.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: Oh, my word.
[00:37:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it was amazing. Just search for Stephanie and Vincent on my Disney wedding podcast site. It'll come up, and it's crazy to see. They got some really good ones. A lot of them, like you said, have backdrops. But I think the one that that was most interesting to me recently was a woman. Had she. She had some traditional characters, but she also had the hyenas from the Lion King. Cause she just.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Hyenas.
That is pretty unique.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Her faces are so goofy. They're hilarious. The pictures are great.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Oh, my God. That would be awesome. That would be so fun.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: I'd want Grogu. I wonder if anyone's asked for Grogu yet.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Grogu and Mandalorian and Mando.
[00:37:57] Speaker C: Yeah, there's probably some Star wars restriction that says you can't have them. So.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's probably something that Lucasfilms, like, put in their contract with Disney when they got purchased by them. So that's so great, though. I love the hyenas. That's hilarious. I can't believe the 40 characters. Cause, I mean, I'm imagining each of these is a couple thousand dollars for like a 1 hour or something appearance. And so add that up. The math, the math. Math's really, really, really fast.
[00:38:26] Speaker A: Kerry, what's a consistent sort of mistake is the wrong word. But as you've talked to couples, I'm sure you write the book on this. I'm sure people are reaching out to you proactively, too, as you counsel people kind of getting into this process. What is the thing you tell them to pay the most attention to or the mistake that they should avoid that you've seen other couples make?
[00:38:46] Speaker C: Well, the thing they should pay the most attention to is something called a beo, which stands for banquet event order. And it is the document that Disney uses as a bible for your day, even on the cruise line. So that they know the people who are running the wedding, which usually is not your planner, they will know exactly what you want at every point. So I would say definitely go over that with a fine tooth comb. Make sure that your names are spelled right, that it has the right number of people, that anything that you've asked for that they've said you can have is in the beo. So that's one half of the equation. But then for the thing that I would say, maybe not a mistake, but my advice would be to ask, don't hesitate to ask for anything you want because the biggest regret I see people having is I didn't know I could do x, Y or z. One of the reasons I wrote my book was I didn't know I could have a dessert party. And I found that out on one of the Disney boards. But I didn't know also that when you have a dessert party, you can add something called a ride mix in, which is where after the fireworks end, they escort your party on the last ride of the night. You get straight on the ride and everybody gets to write it and it's amazing. And they never volunteered that. That was something I could add for my dessert party. That's another reason I like to do the show and interview a breadth of couples so that people can hear all the different experiences that everybody has had and they can know what to ask for. The worst that can happen is they can say no. But if you don't know what to ask or you end up having a cookie cutter wedding and then later on you find out about other weddings. And you say, how come I couldn't have that?
[00:40:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Wow. Now I'm curious about Disneyland weddings since obviously that's, that's the. We live in the Seattle area, so that's the park closest to us, the place we go the most. Are there some big differences between the Disneyland weddings versus the Disney world weddings? Obviously most. There are many, many more weddings at Disney World. It's much bigger property, many more different venues, and probably more options of what you can do. But, yeah. What are some of the biggest differences? Yeah.
[00:40:33] Speaker C: So you hit it on the head, and that's actually the reason we had a Walt Disney world wedding. Even though we lived in LA, Disneyland has fewer options and they are a lot more expensive. So even though technically Disneyland weddings start at the same price point that Disney World weddings start with, most weddings there, and the ones that are the most affordable are, they're basically hotel weddings. You're in one of, you're in a really cool Disney hotel. It's the same planning process, the same kinds of options that you would have, except for characters at your local town's boutique hotel. They do have park options, but the park options are astronomical. Like the starting prices compared to Walt Disney World are so much higher that even if you live in California, you will probably save tens of thousands of dollars by having your wedding in Florida.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: Right. And everybody even flying and all of that. Yeah. Wow. That seems really crazy. I love the idea of these dessert parties. What are some of the unique things that people have done with the dessert parties? I'm curious. Like, instead of having dessert, for example.
[00:41:31] Speaker C: You can do any kind of food you want. What I like to do is because usually because the dessert party's at night so that it's dark enough to have fireworks if you've had a morning ceremony followed by a brunch or a lunch, any kind of break in between. And don't let that scare you. I know a lot of people get scared when they hear that there's going to be a break. But having a break, and the bigger the better is actually great for your guests because it gives them time to go do what they want to do at Disney. And then you have something to look forward to. At the end of the night, everybody gets back together and you get escorted to, like, the marina at the grand Floridian or to one of the spots at Epcot or even to fantasmic. If you're into the that, then you can, you can serve whatever kind of food you want. A lot of people do. Just do desserts. My top tip is to do a mix, and the cheapest way to do it is to do a DIy kind of station. So what I recommend is the nacho bar, because it's a ton of food. Your guests can configure it however they want, and it's very inexpensive for what you get. And then for the dessert part, you can do, like, a million different fancy little profit de rolls and cake balls and all that stuff if you want. But the most economical thing to do is you have what they call an ice cream novelty cart, and it's basically one of the ice cream carts from the parks, and you just pay for the ice cream bars that your guests pick, and they have variety. And it's a lot cheaper than if you start getting into fancy schmancy desserts.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: And they taste better. Right. I personally think that those fancy schmancy desserts, because we've eaten at a couple of the dessert parties, you know, the ticketed dessert parties that they've had at Disney World, Disneyland. And honestly, I don't think the desserts are all that good.
[00:43:02] Speaker C: Agreed. Yeah, they aren't.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: They.
[00:43:04] Speaker C: They look great, but they look pretty. Had at our party were not great. So.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They look really pretty. They've got, like, some mickey faces on them and things like that, but, yeah, but they aren't. Yeah, I would rather have that strawberry fruit bar or the frozen lemonade in a cup or. Or, you know, one of the. Or a Mickey. Mickey ice cream bar, of course, you know, so. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Well, and it feels more park like, right? So.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: All right, well, Sam, do you have any more questions for Carrie, or is it time to shift over to your favorite part of the show?
[00:43:37] Speaker B: I think it's time to shift over to my favorite part of the show, but I'm gonna. So this is our round we like to call rapid fire Carrie. I'm gonna switch it up a little bit. I'm gonna ask you some of your Disney favorites, but then I'm gonna ask you some of your Disney wedding favorites, because I feel like that's. This is your. Your specialty. We don't, you know, we know very little about. About what it's like to attend a lot of weddings or Disney weddings, I should say, and. And what, you know, options there are. So I feel like this will be a great. A great way for people to learn more and find out your individual favorites. Okay, so we're going to start with what is your favorite Disney character? And when I say Disney, I mean anything that Disney owns. So if you want to pick grogu? He's fair game.
[00:44:24] Speaker C: Uh, the first thing that came to mind was, hey, hey, hey, hey.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: That's funny.
Oh, my gosh. Love that. Okay, what is your favorite Disney movie? And same rule on Disney.
[00:44:36] Speaker C: Oh, but now I have to figure out, like, okay, was it touchstone? Was it Miramax? Did Disney have her own mirror? Max, I'll stick with the traditional ones. I think my traditional. My favorite of the Disney animated films, I'm gonna say, would be tangled.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, favorite Disney song.
[00:44:52] Speaker C: I remember when they first released, they started releasing CDs back in the day of the park music.
I feel like haunted mansion. The theme, not the grim, grinning ghosts, but just the theme that they play. That since I was a kid, that has been my favorite.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. That's such a great answer, Carrie. I love that. My goodness. Okay, if you could pick a place to have a wedding, a Disney wedding, like, where would it be? And let's. Let's, like, pick. We'll do macro, and then we'll go micro. So when I say macro, like Walt Disney World. Disneyland. Disney cruise line. Shanghai. Disney, like, where would you pick. Where's the ideal Disney wedding for you?
[00:45:31] Speaker C: So what I've always thought would be really fun to do would be to have the ceremony in the chapel at the Tokyo Disneysea hotel Miracosta. Then they have this option where you can ride in a gondola through the park after your wedding in your wedding clothes and get your picture taken and everything.
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Oh, my God. That's amazing. Amazing. All right, well, if you had to pick a Walt Disney world wedding, where would you tell someone is the best place to get married on property?
[00:45:58] Speaker C: This is. Sorry to be this person, but this is tricky because it really depends on what their priorities are. Like, a lot of people love the wedding pavilion because it looks traditional and it's got air conditioning.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Yes, true.
[00:46:09] Speaker C: But I'm biased because we got married in Morocco at epcot, and it was so beautiful, and it's still my favorite. And then we had our reception at the attic, which is the former DVC lounge in the boardwalk Inn resort, over jelly rolls. And it's. I love it. It has this amazing view out over Crescent Lake, and you can see the Epcot ball in the background and the boardwalk. And it's indoor outdoor, so you have. You can go out on patio, but the inside is beautiful, too.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. Okay, favorite Disney food that you would want if you were gonna have an. If you were gonna do a do over of your wedding. What Disney park food or Disney food in general would you pick to have at that wedding?
[00:46:45] Speaker C: I feel like all of my favorite desserts over the years have been discontinued. Like the boardwalk bakery. They used to make this amazing chocolate peanut butter cake that had the peanut butter frosting was just perfect. It wasn't too peanut buttery. It was sweet and everything and had this great chocolate ganache on it. So, you know, but you can still get things like Mickey bars, you know?
[00:47:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:02] Speaker C: Nothing better than a classic Mickey buck.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: Both. We should plan this wedding, Carrie. And we should have both. We should make them. Make that. You said you can always ask, right? Like, there's a. I have a favorite drink on Disney cruise line that's no longer on the menu. I still make them. Make it for me. I ask them, they'll make it for me. I love it. Now, where would you tell? Or where would you tell a couple is, like, the best place to stay on property if they're having a Walt Disney world wedding? Like, does it matter if they, you know, or where they're having their wedding? Or is there, like, a best place to stay, in your opinion?
[00:47:33] Speaker C: It doesn't really matter because usually Disney talks you into getting transportation, but people love staying at the grand Floridian when they're getting married at the wedding pavilion because it's right there. You can walk over there and you're in that kind of victorian feel the whole time. So. But again, it depends on what you like. We love the beach club, so we stayed at the beach club for our epcot wedding.
[00:47:51] Speaker B: I love that. Awesome. All right, well, I'm going to ask you, you one more, actually, I'm going to ask you two more questions because I feel like this is important. If you're having a dessert party and you've got that last attraction ride you get to do when the park is closing down, give me your favorite classic attraction and then your favorite modern attraction. Like, which, what would be your sort of, I don't know, good night kiss to Walt Disney World? If at the end of a night, and you're going to do your last attraction, but we'll let you pick two. Like I said, one kind of classic and one modern, and you can sort of define what those mean to you.
[00:48:26] Speaker C: Okay, so now do I have to restrict myself to the ones that are actually available for ride mix ins? Because they aren't all available for ride mix ins.
[00:48:32] Speaker B: No, no. This is. This is a fantasy. So you can. This is like a bucket list. You can choose even ones that aren't available.
[00:48:39] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think for bucket list, it would be haunted mansion, even though there's no way they would ever let you do that. And that's a classic ride. And then new rides. I'm gonna say cosmic rewind. Cause I haven't been on it yet.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness, Carrie, you have to get on cosmic rewind. And, you know, you also have to have. Everybody wants to rule the world does the song. That's because that's the best. It's the best version.
[00:49:02] Speaker A: I don't know. September is pretty good.
[00:49:04] Speaker B: September is great.
Yeah, September is great. But no, I am declaring that tears for fears. Everybody wants to rule. Yeah, everybody wants to rule the world is the best of the songs on that. On that ride. I love that. All right, well, Carrie, no judgment. You passed this test with flying colors. Seriously. And I'm wanting to run now to Tokyo Disneysea to renew my wedding vows with Brian in that chapel because that sounds. Sounds really cool. And I want to ride a gondola there.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: If the DCl duo is going to renew its wedding vows, it's going to be on a Disney cruise.
Maybe we could go to the Disney adventure. Maybe we could do that. We could see about whether the Disney adventure offers weddings. Yeah, there you go. There you go.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Once she starts sailing in Singapore, we'll see.
[00:49:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Carrie, I just want to thank you so much for taking time to talk with us. I know we talked about the top of the show, but you want to let folks know where they can find you, connect with you and all the great resources that you have.
[00:50:00] Speaker C: Yeah. So the Disney Wedding podcast
[email protected] or wherever you get your favorite podcasts, like Apple or Spotify. And then Carrie Hayward's fairy tale weddings guide is available on my website, fairytaleweddingsguide.com dot. I recommend the ebook because it comes with free updates in perpetuity. So this, anytime Disney changes the prices and they change them about three times per year, I update the book and you can download, yes, a new update.
[00:50:24] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:50:25] Speaker C: I should note, I want to note for your listeners, it's only for Walt Disney World. I don't have a cruise chapter anymore because I didn't feel comfortable having when I hadn't done anything, you know, done any events on the cruise line. So it's only for Walt Disney World, unfortunately. But it does have stuff about dessert parties and anniversaries and honeymoons. So if you're going to be adding a land portion to your cruise, it might be.
[00:50:45] Speaker B: I love that. And your show definitely covers cruise line weddings as well as obviously land based weddings. So I would highly recommend people check out Carrie show. It's fantastic. She does a great job covering this whole space, which is actually a huge space. The Disney Bridal space is a huge industry in and of itself, so we really appreciate you coming on and chatting with us about it, Carrie and we are looking forward to getting back on board Disney cruise line and hopefully maybe planning a vow renewal at some point.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: Brian, list of many Disney experiences that you would like to have. Samba. But thank you Carrie for coming on. We appreciate it.
[00:51:20] Speaker C: Thanks for having me.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: Well, a big thank you to all of you out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate appreciate it. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from the DCL duo each week. We'd also love it if you'd head over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a five star review. If you hit those five stars, that's great. If you leave us a written review along with a five star review, we will be sure to read it on the air at the end of one of our main episodes. If you're hovering over anything less than five stars, we really want you to reach out to us so we can take your feedback. Best way to do that? Head to dclduo.com to find all the ways to connect with us. It links to our podcast, our vlog. Our blog has all the ways you can connect with us on social media, has our Etsy store where you can find our fun beach bags and magnets that we designed as enthusiasts of each of the Disney cruise line ships. Has a link off to our Patreon if you'd like to help support the show. We really, truly appreciate each and every one of our patreons for helping to support the show. Each and every month has a link off to our show sponsor, Mypath Unwinding, where you can get more information about booking a fabulous vacation, which also really helps to support our show. All the things are there, including a way you can sign up to be a guest on the show if you'd like to share your Disney Cruise line experience. Most importantly, you can always email
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