The Gangs All Here - The PTR of A Grand Gathering Novice

[FigmentGal]

Hi there! :wave2:
After weeks of lurking through others PTRs here I figured I might as well give it a go myself. This is my first attempt so bear with me!

I have played the part of "WDW Planner" for quite a few trips. However, this is my first time planning for such a large group (11 of us total!)

Let me start with an introduction to the cast:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/mel.jpg

me (29) - Disney fanatic since my first family trip in 1987. Likes: Knitting, crocheting, camping, travel, and all things Disney but especially Figment (in case you hadn't already guessed!) ;) In between trips to the World I work in the development office of a local medical school/hospital.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/bri.jpg

DH (28) - I dragged him to Disney for the first time while we were dating and he liked it so much we decided to Honeymoon there too. He's not the fanatic I am but he lovingly supports me in my obsession. :love: Favorite reason for visiting WDW:' O'hana. He is the ultimate computer geek. :surfweb:

And the last member of our little family is Miss Moxie:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/Moxietongue.jpg

Our upcoming trip will be the first time we've left her anywhere for an extended period of time. But she is staying with one of her favorite people so I'm sure it will be a fun vacation for her as well!

The rest of the cast, in no particular order:
:jumping1:
DSIL, DBIL, and our 3 DN(ephews) ages 9, 9, and 5. Its there first trip to WDW. You might say they are the reason this trip got started in teh first place.
DBIL & DSIL - they're traveling all the way from Washington State for their first trip to the World as well
DMIL - another WDW Newbie
DSIL - has visited a time or two

And that's the whole gang! We're all arriving on various flights between April 15th and 16th and settling in at POP. Then on the 22nd they're all heading back home to the "Real World" and DH and I are going to celebrate our anniversary at POFQ(where we spent out honeymoon!) :lovestruc

Next I'll post our itinerary. I'd love some feedback! Trying to plan for 11 (especially with kids) is a lot harder than 4 adults!!

[stagemomx3]

I'm in. Cute dog.

[FigmentGal]

Tuesday, April 15 - After slaving away at the old day job for 1/2 a day we're piling into the car and heading to the airport. We're going to be the first to arrive in the land of the Mouse and kinda late in the evening. Do we have to let the hotel know we're going to be a late arrival? :confused3
Wednesday, April 16 - ADR at the Grand Floridian Cafe for 12:40 pm. The second flight arrives this afternoon and we're all meeting up in the Magic Kingdom. I know the park is closing early this evening for P&PP but DBIL and DSIL really want the kids to see the castle - a "we're really finally here at WDW" moment. :cool1: This is a good thing though since the kids will have been traveling all day. Adip in the pool and an early night will probably be a really good idea!!
Thursday, April 17 - A full day at the Magic Kingdom! Half of the group has ADRs at O'hana for 5:40 while the other half has decided they'd prefer to wing it. Ideally we will reconnect for Spectromagic and Wishes. I saw Spectromagic back in 1995 and loved it. The last few trips it hasn't worked out so I am so excited to try and see it this time!:woohoo:
Friday, April 18 - Our day at Epcot! Our group is splitting up again for dinner. We have ADRs at 6:15 for the San Angel Inn and Teppan Edo.
Saturday, April 19 - (My Birthday! :woohoo:) We're heading to the Animal Kingdom today in the morning. Hopefully a little R&R back at the hotel in the afternoon. ADR at Chef Mickeys at 5:35 for the whole gang. Chef Mickeys seemed like a fun place for a birthday dinner plus I'm sure the kids will love the time with the characters. We've done Chef Mickeys for breakfast a few times and loved it...I'm hoping dinner there is just as yummy! Then DMIL is taking the DN(ephews) and the older crowd is going to celebrate at PI.
Sunday, April 20 - We've set this day as an on-your-own-day. DBIL, DSIL, and DMIL and taking DNs to the Playhouse Disney Play N Dine at the Hollywood and Vine (ADRs at 9:00am). DH and I are gonna hit up the Shark Reek at TL for the day and have ADRs at WCC at 5:30. I am so excited to finally check out the WL!:yay:
Monday, April 21 - DHS is the park of the day. However for Christmas DH and I gave all three nephews a special pirate cruise for Monday morning (we figured this also gave DSIL and DBIL a little time for themselves!) pirate: So DH and I have ADRs for 1900 Park Fair for breakfast while the boys are out pillaging the Seven Seas! :rotfl: Then the whole gang is meeting up for dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe (ADrs at 5:30)
Tuesday, April 22 - DH and I see everyone off to the airport. Today is our anniversary so we have ADRs at Narcoossees at 8. :lovestruc I'm hoping this will be perfect timing for us to catch the electric water pageant and Wishes.
Wednesday, April 23 - Back to Epcot to take in more of the Garden and Flower show. We have ADRs at 5:30 for Chefs de France.
Thursday, April 24 - we check out of POP and into POFQ (ironically enough 2 years to the day from when we arrived for our honeymoon!) DH is taking me to the 5:00 HDDR to celebrate my birthday tonight.:cake:
Friday & Saturday, April 25 & 26 - we're going to wait and see what we haven't done yet and just take some time to relax.
Sunday, April 27 - ADR for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in DTD. Of course followed by some souvenir shopping!! ;)
Monday, April 28 - Check out and head home.

[acellison]

Sounds like a great trip:)

I am also the planner for a Grand Gathering of 11. Not an easy task.
Kudos to you :rotfl:

[FigmentGal]

I'm in. Cute dog.

:wave2: Welcome!

[FigmentGal]

Sounds like a great trip:)

I am also the planner for a Grand Gathering of 11. Not an easy task.
Kudos to you :rotfl:

Planning for 11 is a little tricky but the Disney nut in me is loving every minute! :)

[acellison]

Planning for 11 is a little tricky but the Disney nut in me is loving every minute! :)

Yes, I know what you mean!

[FigmentGal]

Officially paid off the entire Disney vacation tonite...Yahoo! :cool1:
S far the trickiest part has been getting everyone's flights squared away and getting everyone squared away with the Magical Express - different people in different rooms wiuth different flights to different sides of the country - whew! After 20 minutes on the phone with the folks at Disney I got that squared away too! :thumbsup2
So now that I've got all the big items taken care of (hotel, tickets, transportation) it's time to kick back, count down (50 days!), and finish all the little projects I started! :artist:
So far I've got T-shirts for the whole gang:
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/allhere.jpg
(front)
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/countdown.jpg
(back)
And I've made autograph books for the kids. I found pocket-sized scrapbooks with nice thick pages. I decorated the front and some inside pages with stickers and found nice thick barreled markers. This way the autographs won't bleed through the paper and it will make a nice keepsake for the boys. :)
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/FigmentGal/autograph.jpg
I still have to finish the special shirts I'm working on for DH and I for my birthday. I also ihave a few of those plastic fake credit cards you get in the mail with the credit card offers. I'm thinking of putting all the adults cell phone numbers on a label, applying it to one of these plastic cards, and laminate it using clear packing tape. Then the kids can store these in the pouch on the lanyards (they don't know they're getting these yet!) and just in case someone wanders off, they'll be able to contact one of the adults in the group. I haven't decided yet if this is a worthwhile idea, or if I am thinking too much. Thoughts? :confused3

[FigmentGal]

We're finally in the teens! :cool1:
Things aren't going as smoothly as I had hoped. Despite all my careful planning, DME has somehow gotten are reservations mixed up. My DSIL in CT got my DBIL in Washington states travel papers, and he got none. :confused3 A few phone calls cross country later (North to South and East to West!!) and I think everybody should be all set to at least get to the hotel relatively pain free.
Then our airline e-mails us to let us know they changed our flights (thank you very much!) by 8 HOURS!! :eek: So today's crisis has been re-arranging everything for our departure days. Hopefully that will all come together soon.
On the plus side, my parents gave DH and I an early anniversary gift over Easter weekend - They made reservations for us to go Jet Skiing during our trip! :cheer2: How cool as that! Both DH and I are quite excited since neither of us has Jet Skied before. Apparently they take you on a tour of Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake and then let you tool around for the last 20 minutes. We are very excited!! :banana:
Now all I have to do is start packing! :laundy:

[FigmentGal]

:cool1: :cool1: :banana: :banana: :dance3: :yay: :woohoo: :cheer2: :cheer2: We are officially in the single digits today!! Woohoo!!:cool1: :banana: :dance3: :yay: :woohoo: :cheer2: