HELP? I need ideas on how to give each other our own space

[Disneyhenry]

Our trip consists of 11 nights with 4 rooms at WL
Room 1 is a queen and bunk beds with DH, DD (24) DS (4) and myself
Room 2 is a queen bed and bunk beds with my sis her DH, DS(5) DS(1) and she was so nice to allow my DS(25) to stay with her, but he loves to help out with the little kids
Room 3 is Queen bed and bunk beds with my other sis, her DH, DS(13) and DD (4)
Room 4 is our mother and one of my sister MIL (2 queen beds)
I pretty much insisted that we all have our own rooms, we will eat probably 1 meal a day together and be in the same parks on the same days. I just want everyone to get along and have a great trip. Ideas on giving each other our space while spending time together??? BTW the sis in room 2 and I get along great, it is the 3rd room sis that loves drama lol

 

[jmasgat]

Sounds like you have the room space to make it happen. Not sure I would want them all on the same floor/wing, though!

If you want to do one meal a day,you will need to plan and reserve in advance. Used to be groups larger than 8 (I think is the number) were tougher to schedule, but now it seems the online dining reservation system will deal with that. The last thing you want is to have to wing it--and get in to the inevitable discussions of where to eat, who has any availability, etc.

Have at least one person in each group carry a cell phone and be responsible to handle communication/give the "group status". Meaning, if you are in the same park on the same day and decide to try and meet up for a ride, for example, you just call/text one person to see what's up.

Most importantly, don't try to "herd all the cats"--meaning, don't force group togetherness. Let people do their own thing.

Good luck!

 

[LONES]

It sounds like your room situation is pretty good. As far as the meals... I second the idea of making ADR's for your one "together" meal per day. That way, there are no surprises. Give every family a list of the trips ADR's, and that is a definite meet up for everyone. One of the hardest parts of traveling with a group is the standing around waiting for everyone to agree on a decision.

Also, the group will definitely need to break up.... and I would try to "mix it up" a little at different times. Maybe for a while, immediate families stay together. Then another time... break up by age group/interest. Your older kids are likely going to want some time for the thrill rides. I know you said it was "family #3" that has your drama prone sister, and she is the one with two kids that will likely have very different interests. How do your kids get a long with their 13 year old cousin? I bet he would love to go off for a while with your older son. I know at 13, I loved hanging out with my older cousins. Or, you could offer to take your sisters younger child... so mom and dad could spend time with the 13 year old.

When traveling with a group like that, it's important not to get sick of each other. On the other hand, if you don't make an effort to hang out... it kind of defeats the purpose of traveling with the group.

I have a co-worker that vacations at Disney yearly. His mother is a DVC owner, and all of his siblings, spouses and kids go. They have one day of the trip where all of the kids names get put in a hat at breakfast, and the adults draw a name. Whoever's name you draw, you spend the day with that kid. I don't know how that would work with your group, but it's a pretty cool idea.

 

[pigletto]

One together meal per day and absolutely ZERO expectations otherwise. When we went with my inlaws they didn't even stay at the same resort. I made them a copy of our park plans for the day and made it clear (in fact I printed it on the plans) that they were welcome to join us for anything, but nothing was expected or mandatory. They joined us for part of the day about half the time. We all had great stories and things to share when we met for dinner, and then we mostly spent the evening together. It was perfect and couldn't have gone better.
Generally I find most family squabbles boil down to unmet expectations, so if you establish the feel for the vacation at the outset I think it makes a big difference. Just say "Hey let's all meet for dinner every day, and here are our plans if you want to join us" .

 

[kirby428]

One together meal per day and absolutely ZERO expectations otherwise. When we went with my inlaws they didn't even stay at the same resort. I made them a copy of our park plans for the day and made it clear (in fact I printed it on the plans) that they were welcome to join us for anything, but nothing was expected or mandatory. They joined us for part of the day about half the time. We all had great stories and things to share when we met for dinner, and then we mostly spent the evening together. It was perfect and couldn't have gone better.
Generally I find most family squabbles boil down to unmet expectations, so if you establish the feel for the vacation at the outset I think it makes a big difference. Just say "Hey let's all meet for dinner every day, and here are our plans if you want to join us" .

Yes independent touring and one meal together, BUT everyone needs to know to allow 1 hour for any and all transports to the ADR. Disney, boats, buses and monorails can have delays, detours, and down times.

 

[v.t.]

One together meal per day and absolutely ZERO expectations otherwise. When we went with my inlaws they didn't even stay at the same resort. I made them a copy of our park plans for the day and made it clear (in fact I printed it on the plans) that they were welcome to join us for anything, but nothing was expected or mandatory. They joined us for part of the day about half the time. We all had great stories and things to share when we met for dinner, and then we mostly spent the evening together. It was perfect and couldn't have gone better.
Generally I find most family squabbles boil down to unmet expectations, so if you establish the feel for the vacation at the outset I think it makes a big difference. Just say "Hey let's all meet for dinner every day, and here are our plans if you want to join us" .

That's exactly what we did. We had one meal together every day. Sometimes a sit down, sometimes QS. We could discuss the day and would also switch the 'kid groups' if needed, younger ones with this parent, older with another, etc. But those who wanted to sleep in, did. Those who wanted to make RD did that. Our rooms were close together which we requested and that worked well for us.
When making the dining reservations, if any require a credit card make sure they understand if they do not show up they will be charged. That would be my only concern.

 

[DCDisney]

When we have traveled as a group the less structure the happier everyone was. I think it's nice to do a meal together BUT if there is anyone prone to being late, flake out, etc it screws things up for everyone else because they won't seat you until everyone is there. If everyone is not reliable maybe every other day for a sit down meal? Plus not sure if you are doing dining plan or if people may have different financial means. I made an itinerary for each day where I listed best and worst parks and what we were doing. Usually we would just text each other mid-morning because they liked to sleep in longer than we did. We usually did a CS meal per day together because they didn't want to do many TS. It worked out nicely since we tend to eat at off hours and know the quiet spots like upstairs at Columbia Harbor House. We also did a good bit of mixing up between groups so the extreme ride people had people to ride with and the tame ride people weren't stuck just sitting and waiting. Letting it be relaxed was much better than trying to force different ideas on everyone. You have a long enough trip that you won't need to go commando to get everything done anyway. Sounds like a wonderful trip is in store for you!

 

[Shaden]

We have done a couple multi party trips, one with 2 groups, one with 3 which increased to 4 for a few days.

I think the best approach to this is just to let people do their own thing, not pressure people into going together as a group. If people want to head over to the same attractions, awesome, if a few people want to head somewhere else, or do things in a different order, offer a compromise, but let them know if they want to go it alone, that's totally cool as well, and offer to meet up for Lunch or dinner.

Our trips went extraordinarily well, especially when we had the 4 groups of people. The groups split up here and there, but always came back together, and we could really enjoy our together time because we weren't forced to do anything as a group earlier, so when we were together, it was by choice

That's about all I can suggest, sounds like you have the rooms all figured out.

 

[Disneyhenry]

When we have traveled as a group the less structure the happier everyone was. I think it's nice to do a meal together BUT if there is anyone prone to being late, flake out, etc it screws things up for everyone else because they won't seat you until everyone is there. If everyone is not reliable maybe every other day for a sit down meal? Plus not sure if you are doing dining plan or if people may have different financial means. I made an itinerary for each day where I listed best and worst parks and what we were doing. Usually we would just text each other mid-morning because they liked to sleep in longer than we did. We usually did a CS meal per day together because they didn't want to do many TS. It worked out nicely since we tend to eat at off hours and know the quiet spots like upstairs at Columbia Harbor House. We also did a good bit of mixing up between groups so the extreme ride people had people to ride with and the tame ride people weren't stuck just sitting and waiting. Letting it be relaxed was much better than trying to force different ideas on everyone. You have a long enough trip that you won't need to go commando to get everything done anyway. Sounds like a wonderful trip is in store for you!

WOW thanks for this tip! I had no idea they didnt seat you until everyone is there, yes the same sister has a problem with being late, might have to make some changes to our reservations, again thank you

 

[Disneyhenry]

Thank you everyone for the great ideas!

 

[msp2mco]

It sounds like you will have a great trip. When we've gone with a family group, we put together an itinerary where everyone could plug in where they wanted to. We usually had one meal together too. Since no one else planned anything, we tried to make sure we captured at least 2 of everyone's top choice of things they wanted to do. We also were upfront that we were leaving the resort at 8:00 (or whatever) to make rope drop. If someone wasn't there, we left. It's hard to keep a big group together and takes more time to do anything, so breaking up into small groups works really well. We also had quick family meetings at night to hear about everyone's day and to quickly check in about the next day.