Help with Family Reunion in January

[I Am Flynn Rider]

Hey y'all,
So after two trips in the last three years, my wife and I are now considered the Disney experts in our family. We have volunteered to try to help organize and plan a family reunion trip for 8 adults and my two nieces under two. Unfortunately, my questions outnumber my answers so far. I've tried searching some of these and figure a call for help is in order. Any help is appreciated! TIA!
1. Are there historically any discounts offered in January? (My wife and I have annual passes, if that is helpful.) And when is the value 1 season going to start in Jan 2014?

2. My parents-in-law have stayed at the cabins at Fort Wilderness and loved them. The rest of the family likes the perks of having a separate bedroom and splitting the cost. Is this really the best way to go to have separate sleeping quarters for four adults to split, or are the family suites at AoA a better deal? Or should we consider something else entirely? We definitely want to stay on site (love the magic!).

3. D-MIL would like to cook a few meals, maybe with a crockpot or electric skillet... Are those allowed anywhere other than the cabins?

4. Cost is a consideration for some of us, so I'm trying to price out and give as much information as I can to help everyone make the decision.

Mostly right now we are trying to gather pricing and basic planning information for our first "Disney 411" meeting coming up soon. We are so excited to get to share WDW with our extended family! Thanks again and we greatly appreciate any info or direction you can provide!

-Frying pans... Who knew?

 

[emilyindisney]

Sounds like you guys have a fun trip in store!

Have you considered renting DVC points? You can stay at a deluxe resort for the price of a moderate, and the whole family would be able to stay in one villa with multiple rooms. Because these villas contains kitchenettes, DMIL would be able to cook if she'd like to!

 

[disnut8]

Hey y'all,
So after two trips in the last three years, my wife and I are now considered the Disney experts in our family. We have volunteered to try to help organize and plan a family reunion trip for 8 adults and my two nieces under two. Unfortunately, my questions outnumber my answers so far. I've tried searching some of these and figure a call for help is in order. Any help is appreciated! TIA!
1. Are there historically any discounts offered in January? (My wife and I have annual passes, if that is helpful.) And when is the value 1 season going to start in Jan 2014?

2. My parents-in-law have stayed at the cabins at Fort Wilderness and loved them. The rest of the family likes the perks of having a separate bedroom and splitting the cost. Is this really the best way to go to have separate sleeping quarters for four adults to split, or are the family suites at AoA a better deal? Or should we consider something else entirely? We definitely want to stay on site (love the magic!).

3. D-MIL would like to cook a few meals, maybe with a crockpot or electric skillet... Are those allowed anywhere other than the cabins?

4. Cost is a consideration for some of us, so I'm trying to price out and give as much information as I can to help everyone make the decision.

Mostly right now we are trying to gather pricing and basic planning information for our first "Disney 411" meeting coming up soon. We are so excited to get to share WDW with our extended family! Thanks again and we greatly appreciate any info or direction you can provide!

-Frying pans... Who knew?

I did a family trip in January 2012 with ten people - eight adults, two kids (one 13, one 5). We did four rooms at Pop Century and it worked perfectly so each subset could close the doors at night and have their own routines in the morning. Each had their own bathroom too which was very helpful.

Also have done the cabins (two cabins side by side and a nearby campsite). That worked as well but we did have to utilize the kitchen sink on some mornings for putting in contacts and brushing teeth. With that setup, you have to choose who will stay with whom (we stayed with our son and his family and that was fine - would have been a disaster to stay with the in-laws since their habits are vastly different from ours).

I wouldn't recommend a crockpot because it would have to be on all day long unattended. Some will say the electric skillet is against fire codes and some will say it will stink up the adjoining rooms.

 

[jimandami]

I was also going to suggest DVC point rental. However, you need to be careful with a large group because I have heard of cases of people renting for large groups and then family members backing out for various reasons. With DVC rental, you typically cannot change your reservation or get a refund. Having said that, it's a fantastic way to save money but still have lots of room at a deluxe resort! At Bay Lake Towers and I think Animal Kingdom Kidani, a 2 bedroom villa has 3 bathrooms, which is awesome with that many adults!

 

[pittsburghmom]

Hey y'all,

1. Are there historically any discounts offered in January? (My wife and I have annual passes, if that is helpful.) And when is the value 1 season going to start in Jan 2014?

We went Jan 23-29th 2013 and stayed at Pop. Our family of 5 (2 adult/2 juniors/1 infant) got the "Stay/Play/Dine" package for ~$2,100 including room/7 day base tix/QSDP. Booking a group of rooms at a value resort would be my vote....can still be "together" but still have your own space!

 

[Pakey]

I have done several Grand Gatherings. Since I'm a DVC owner we have done it where we have stayed in a Grand Villas all the way down to every family having their own room. We've even done it where we didn't all stay at the same resort.

Renting DVC would require you to get a Grand Villa or 2 2 bedroom villas which is going to take a lot of $$ and you won't be able to cancel and get a refund. While a grand villa is nice, it's definitely not a budget vacation.

From our family's experience, I believe it would be unanimous that we all preferred having our own rooms. There's enough together time during the day. Even staying at different resorts didn't bother any of us; we had a meeting time set every morning for the preferred park of the day. We enjoy having our own space (and bathroom) at the end of a long day spent together.

Unless you are staying in some type of unit with a kitchen/kitchenette, I wouldn't recommend plugging in electrical cooking appliances. People in neighboring rooms aren't going to want to smell food odors and I'm not sure how safe it is since the rooms weren't set up to be used for that purpose.