Going to disney with all ages....

[autismgoesdisney]

We are going to Disney with a group of 13 people, ages ranging from 2 to 60! The adults, for the most part, just care about doing what the kids want to do so my main concern is how to get through the parks making sure we see everything that a younger child (2-6) and an older child (8 and 10) would want to see. I usually go for touring guides with another website, but I am not sure how to handle it for a family with all ages!

THanks!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Large groups in general are a chore.

But if the group insists on sticking it out together--I would have a FP snatcher in charge of going and getting "big ride" FP's when your window opens up to get a new pass...

And customarily--at least for MK, we hit the little kid rides first and then hit the other lands. In the other lands, more flexibility to alternate between attractions--or to double up on attractions for a baby swap. But Fantasyland is just too darn busy in the afternoons for me to want to even bother with it.

As an alternative--you can do some split touring--so if maybe the grandparents want to enjoy the park from the 2yo's POV, they can be in charge of those attractions while the taller members of the group head out onto the big rides that maybe teh grandparents or other family member doesn't want to fool with.

But as a general rule of thumb--the larger the group--the tougher it is for everyone to do things all together at the same time. FP makes it a bit easier. But it is often a logistical challenge just b/c of the varying interests and tastes of all the different people. (but if someone can step forward and lead the pack, that helps A LOT!)

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I agree with Lisa loves Pooh -- big groups are hard! I would really try to convince everyone to divide and conquer, then meet up for lunch, or meet up at a group ride like Pirates or Jungle or something to do together -- then split up again (maybe even in different groups if possible). Meet at the hotel pool afterward or something, too. You'll get plenty of together time, but won't run into some people feeling like they're just tagging along and not getting anything rewarding from their own vacation.

 

[TheDizMom]

We did this a few years ago with my husbands family. We had 11 people ranging in ages from 4-60+. My MIL put me in charge of planning out our trip and organizing things for us. Everyone in the family had been to WDW at one time or another over the years, so on weekend while we were all up at the cabin about 6 months before our trip, I made up a survey for everyone to fill out. I asked questions like what were 3 things you absolutely wanted to do and 3 things you absolutely didn't for each park. What restaurants do you absolutely want to go to etc. Then I pooled everyone's answers and was able to do things like planning ADR's and park days based on those. It worked great. It was just helpful to know in advance the kinds of things that we could just skip over and the things we just couldn't miss.

We also had our FP runners. My DH and BIL would run to stuff while we were in lines or eating to get those. Make sure to get those for the important harder to get into rides first and then move your way down the list. We mostly stuck together because the IL's paid for the trip and that is what they wanted, but we did split up some days. There was one day when they were going to Typhoon Lagoon and neither my DD or I wanted to go. We spent the day at the pool while the rest of them went to the water park. There was another day where my DH and I were able to go to DTD for a few hours by ourselves and everyone kind of spent that day doing their own thing.

The key to making it work for a large group like this is to sit down together, determine what everyone's expectations are, and decide how to make it work for you as a group. I will say I was scared to death about how it was going to work with all of us, but we had a fantastic time together and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[2Pinks]

We will be doing this! We will have a group of close to 20 with ages ranging from 18 months to 82 years old. This probably will become a divide-and-conquer group, the dads and older kiddos go off to ride the bigger rides while the moms, the little kiddos and the multiple grandparents do their own thing.

I really like the idea of the FP runners. Will keep checking this thread for more ideas from those who have BTDT!