WebmasterPenny
<marquee behavior=alternate><img src=http://www.di
- Joined
- Dec 16, 1999
<b>Announcing Project X
<i>DIScover new magic</i>
June 17th - 20th 2005</b>
WDWinfo.com is the largest and most active Disney community on the net with many thousands of visitors - all with one common interest. Last winter it occured to me that with so many Disney fans, all focused in one place, it would be a great opportunity to combine our numbers and try and plan a unique and special event...an event that none of us 'regular' people would otherwise get to experience...an event that because of it's size are normally the exclusive domain of big, private corporations (or if you're lucky a big wedding). After toying with the idea for a while I then decided to contact Disney and the first cautious steps of what I endearingly referred to from then on as 'Project X' were taken.
8 months, and a lot of different ideas later, things are finally at the stage where I have a grasp of what is and isn't practical to attempt and the next step can be taken...to find out if anyone would actually be interested. We have some really fantastic options available, we can do just about anything you can think of, but remember exclusivity normally comes with a price tag so ultimately it's about striking a good balance between value and 'coolness'.
So....anticipating some major questions here I figured I'd pre-empt what I could and make a little FAQ.
<b>What is Project X?</b>
It's my crazy pet project to use the power of the DIS to arrange some very special events at WDW.
<b>When is it?</b>
It's pencilled in for June 17th-20th June 2005.
<b>Why then?</b>
I thought long and hard about when would be a good time for this because I wanted this to be open to as many people as possible - this meant biting the bullet and choosing a date when most kids were out of school. July and August which would guarantee all kids were out seemed both too busy and too hot so after much discussion I opted for mid-June when a good proportion of kids were out but temperatures and crowds weren't quite so bad.
<b>Is this an official DIS event?</b>
No. This is something that I am personally organising, mainly because I think it would be really neat to do something new and different that I couldn't experience on my own and I'm a sucker for a challenge. However Pete has very kindly has given me permission to use his boards to co-ordinate it.
<b>What events will be planned?</b>
I've been researching a number of the more practical events we can do and I have a pretty good idea of what kind of event will fly (and what won't), so suggestions are welcome and if something is do-able plus we have the numbers to support it then I can arrange it (though ultimately my decision will be the final one that decides what we can or can't do if need be).
Events so far that I have initially discussed with Disney to various degrees and hope to make a reality if we get the numbers are:-
An exclusive private event at The Adventurers Club. This would be an early evening event and the ideal opportunity for anyone who has not experienced the great fun to be had at the AC because they are not 'Pleasure Island people' and an especially good opportunity for families to try the club in a protected environment when they might otherwise be uncertain of this venue for kids.
An Illuminations Dessert Party. This event will include a number of lovely yummy sweet and savory goodies to eat, hot drinks and best of all a private, unobstructed viewing area to watch Illuminations from. Ask anyone who's done it before - it's a great view, a lot of fun and much better than an Illuminations cruise (in my opinion).
Private character meal(s). I am looking into various locations where we can hold one of these - a lot depends on the numbers interested as many of the park private locations have quite a low people capacity, however with low capacity comes a high cost per head. Also it goes without saying that as we are paying, we also get to choose our own characters (yes Restaurant Board people, that can mean Toy Story...or Villains...or most anyone else!)
An after park hours party. It doesn't get any more exclusive than this - when the gates close behind the general public, we get to stay! I will say right now though, this would NOT involve the Magic Kingdom park, the costs are just too prohibitive (we'd be looking at a minimum of 1,000+ people to attend before we could even think about it and I think that might be beyond our means - though I'm happy to be proved wrong
) however, I've investigated options at EPCOT, MGM, AK and Typhoon Lagoon which all have potential ranging from simply having dinner to hiring an attraction.
Organising a number of exclusive backstage tours that aren't generally on offer to the general public.
If there is demand, more events can also be made available - for example there is a very cool Haunted Mansion dinner on the movie set in MGM that I've seen which we can consider amongst other things.
<b>How much will these events cost?</b>
Ok, this is a real toughie to answer at this early stage as there are so many things that affect price. Whilst some of the per person costs (like food & beverage) are fixed from the start, there are others that are simply divided by the final number of people attending - therefore for some of the events, the more people who come - the better the price can potentially get!
<b>So what kind of 'guestimates' do you have so far?</b>
As a very early rough guide so far - <b>all prices would already include gratuity and tax...</b>
*Adventurers Club in the region of $45 pp
*Illuminations Dessert party in the region of $30 pp
*Character meal - depends on whether we do breakfast/brunch or dinner and how many attend - assuming attendance is good then for a character breakfast in a private room then we are probably looking in the region of $25+ pp.
*After hours park party - well this is the one that is the most difficult to predict as this has so many variables. How many people attend, which attractions, whether Disney enforce any food & beverage minimum on us (which really bumps the price up) and how many extra frills we might want to add to make it magical. It could run anywhere from $30 to $60 - beyond that I don't think there's much point in considering it as I'm not sure it's practical to ask a family of 4 to pay $200+ for a few hours of food & fun!
These are all adult prices - where possible there <b>will</b> be cost-breaks for kids
Backstage tours - these are special select tours offered by the Disney Institute usually to only Group sales and run in the region of $100 per person. Must be 16 or over.
Once I start to get some feedback from everyone then I can pin down the costs a bit better and generally provide more detail as things unfold.
<b>What if I don't want to go to all those events?</b>
Not a problem. In fact, it's not even my expectation for everyone to want to attend every single event. Each event will be individually priced. You only pay for what you want to attend, you know exactly how much each event costs and it gives us more flexibility.
<b>What happens if we don't hit the minimum amount of people required for an event?</b>
We will just modify or drop it from the picture entirely. This is something I'm organizing myself - I am not a business...or rich...or able to pay for these events in full upfront. In short, we all have to pay our share so if we don't get the numbers to commit then the event just won't happen.
It should also be obvious from what I've said already but I'll mention anyway to as to eliminate any doubt - this would be a totally <b><i>non-profit</i></b> venture, and every cent paid will go towards the project!
<b>So how can we plan our vacation if we don't know if events are going to happen or not?</b>
In the interim I'll be number crunching based on feed back I get. I have an idea in my head on how many people we need positive reactions from before I say "Ok, let's stop theorising and start making this a reality" - or not as the case may be. If there isn't enough interest then I think it will be evident pretty quickly and no harm done - hopefully that won't be the case though
If you have any questions, please head over to this thread to ask so that they are all in the same place - thanks!
<b>Edited to add: -
Details of our Adventurers Club event can now be found here
Details of our Illuminations Dessert Party can now be found here
Details of our Animal Kingdom Safari Dinner can now be found here
Details of our special Backstage Tours can now be found here
If interested in any of these, then <i>please</i> Pre-Register your interest here so I can get an idea of numbers</b>
<i>DIScover new magic</i>
June 17th - 20th 2005</b>
WDWinfo.com is the largest and most active Disney community on the net with many thousands of visitors - all with one common interest. Last winter it occured to me that with so many Disney fans, all focused in one place, it would be a great opportunity to combine our numbers and try and plan a unique and special event...an event that none of us 'regular' people would otherwise get to experience...an event that because of it's size are normally the exclusive domain of big, private corporations (or if you're lucky a big wedding). After toying with the idea for a while I then decided to contact Disney and the first cautious steps of what I endearingly referred to from then on as 'Project X' were taken.
8 months, and a lot of different ideas later, things are finally at the stage where I have a grasp of what is and isn't practical to attempt and the next step can be taken...to find out if anyone would actually be interested. We have some really fantastic options available, we can do just about anything you can think of, but remember exclusivity normally comes with a price tag so ultimately it's about striking a good balance between value and 'coolness'.
So....anticipating some major questions here I figured I'd pre-empt what I could and make a little FAQ.
<b>What is Project X?</b>
It's my crazy pet project to use the power of the DIS to arrange some very special events at WDW.
<b>When is it?</b>
It's pencilled in for June 17th-20th June 2005.
<b>Why then?</b>
I thought long and hard about when would be a good time for this because I wanted this to be open to as many people as possible - this meant biting the bullet and choosing a date when most kids were out of school. July and August which would guarantee all kids were out seemed both too busy and too hot so after much discussion I opted for mid-June when a good proportion of kids were out but temperatures and crowds weren't quite so bad.
<b>Is this an official DIS event?</b>
No. This is something that I am personally organising, mainly because I think it would be really neat to do something new and different that I couldn't experience on my own and I'm a sucker for a challenge. However Pete has very kindly has given me permission to use his boards to co-ordinate it.
<b>What events will be planned?</b>
I've been researching a number of the more practical events we can do and I have a pretty good idea of what kind of event will fly (and what won't), so suggestions are welcome and if something is do-able plus we have the numbers to support it then I can arrange it (though ultimately my decision will be the final one that decides what we can or can't do if need be).
Events so far that I have initially discussed with Disney to various degrees and hope to make a reality if we get the numbers are:-
An exclusive private event at The Adventurers Club. This would be an early evening event and the ideal opportunity for anyone who has not experienced the great fun to be had at the AC because they are not 'Pleasure Island people' and an especially good opportunity for families to try the club in a protected environment when they might otherwise be uncertain of this venue for kids.
An Illuminations Dessert Party. This event will include a number of lovely yummy sweet and savory goodies to eat, hot drinks and best of all a private, unobstructed viewing area to watch Illuminations from. Ask anyone who's done it before - it's a great view, a lot of fun and much better than an Illuminations cruise (in my opinion).
Private character meal(s). I am looking into various locations where we can hold one of these - a lot depends on the numbers interested as many of the park private locations have quite a low people capacity, however with low capacity comes a high cost per head. Also it goes without saying that as we are paying, we also get to choose our own characters (yes Restaurant Board people, that can mean Toy Story...or Villains...or most anyone else!)
An after park hours party. It doesn't get any more exclusive than this - when the gates close behind the general public, we get to stay! I will say right now though, this would NOT involve the Magic Kingdom park, the costs are just too prohibitive (we'd be looking at a minimum of 1,000+ people to attend before we could even think about it and I think that might be beyond our means - though I'm happy to be proved wrong
) however, I've investigated options at EPCOT, MGM, AK and Typhoon Lagoon which all have potential ranging from simply having dinner to hiring an attraction.Organising a number of exclusive backstage tours that aren't generally on offer to the general public.
If there is demand, more events can also be made available - for example there is a very cool Haunted Mansion dinner on the movie set in MGM that I've seen which we can consider amongst other things.
<b>How much will these events cost?</b>
Ok, this is a real toughie to answer at this early stage as there are so many things that affect price. Whilst some of the per person costs (like food & beverage) are fixed from the start, there are others that are simply divided by the final number of people attending - therefore for some of the events, the more people who come - the better the price can potentially get!
<b>So what kind of 'guestimates' do you have so far?</b>
As a very early rough guide so far - <b>all prices would already include gratuity and tax...</b>
*Adventurers Club in the region of $45 pp
*Illuminations Dessert party in the region of $30 pp
*Character meal - depends on whether we do breakfast/brunch or dinner and how many attend - assuming attendance is good then for a character breakfast in a private room then we are probably looking in the region of $25+ pp.
*After hours park party - well this is the one that is the most difficult to predict as this has so many variables. How many people attend, which attractions, whether Disney enforce any food & beverage minimum on us (which really bumps the price up) and how many extra frills we might want to add to make it magical. It could run anywhere from $30 to $60 - beyond that I don't think there's much point in considering it as I'm not sure it's practical to ask a family of 4 to pay $200+ for a few hours of food & fun!
These are all adult prices - where possible there <b>will</b> be cost-breaks for kids
Backstage tours - these are special select tours offered by the Disney Institute usually to only Group sales and run in the region of $100 per person. Must be 16 or over.
Once I start to get some feedback from everyone then I can pin down the costs a bit better and generally provide more detail as things unfold.
<b>What if I don't want to go to all those events?</b>
Not a problem. In fact, it's not even my expectation for everyone to want to attend every single event. Each event will be individually priced. You only pay for what you want to attend, you know exactly how much each event costs and it gives us more flexibility.
<b>What happens if we don't hit the minimum amount of people required for an event?</b>
We will just modify or drop it from the picture entirely. This is something I'm organizing myself - I am not a business...or rich...or able to pay for these events in full upfront. In short, we all have to pay our share so if we don't get the numbers to commit then the event just won't happen.
It should also be obvious from what I've said already but I'll mention anyway to as to eliminate any doubt - this would be a totally <b><i>non-profit</i></b> venture, and every cent paid will go towards the project!
<b>So how can we plan our vacation if we don't know if events are going to happen or not?</b>
In the interim I'll be number crunching based on feed back I get. I have an idea in my head on how many people we need positive reactions from before I say "Ok, let's stop theorising and start making this a reality" - or not as the case may be. If there isn't enough interest then I think it will be evident pretty quickly and no harm done - hopefully that won't be the case though
If you have any questions, please head over to this thread to ask so that they are all in the same place - thanks!
<b>Edited to add: -
Details of our Adventurers Club event can now be found here
Details of our Illuminations Dessert Party can now be found here
Details of our Animal Kingdom Safari Dinner can now be found here
Details of our special Backstage Tours can now be found here
If interested in any of these, then <i>please</i> Pre-Register your interest here so I can get an idea of numbers</b>
), I wish you much success in this. I hope it is a great success.
.
