How many kids do you take?

[mrsgus06]

I am the mother of 6 kids (ages 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 18). My best friend (Laura) is the mother of 4 kids (ages 5, 10, 10 and 15). Laura and I started 3 summers ago taking 9 out of the 10 camping in a rented pop up. The oldest teenager had a job and could not go. We had such a great time that Laura bought her own pop up and we continued to take all 9 kids camping. We were such a sight, two conversion vans, one with the pop up and one towing the golf cart! Yes, with correct seating we could get 9 kids, 2 adults, stroller, cooler and two chairs on the cart. We would arrive, set up the camper, unload the golf cart while the older ones entertained the younger ones. This Saturday, we will be leaving for Ft Wilderness again!!! This time, I am excited to say, I have my own 32 foot tt and Laura has her own 32 foot tt, both with bathrooms!!! No more midnight runs to the bathhouse!!! Both tt have bunks so we are actually taking 2 other children with us that have never been to WDW. Together, we will be taking 10 kids, (her oldest and my oldest are not going) 2 husbands and a Gramps and Grandma, who have their own 40 motor home. Is this an awful lot of kids for only two families? It is an everyday thing around our house so I really don't think about it. How many kids go with you and do you bring any "extra's"?

 

[Carrie Ellis]

mrsgus06,

hi! I feel like it is all about attitude and endurance.

I have 2 sets of twins and I get the "I can't believe you can do it" thing daily from some stranger. I love my kids and love them around me. I would have more if I thought my body would not fall apart (all my babies weighed at least 7lbs at birth). In fact I am homeschooling next year and I get the you are nuts look for that too! he he!

The only thing I would wonder is if you will get a break from cooking or getting everyone fed somehow. It sounds like you will have help though. Making sure everyone is fed, healthy and accounted for is where the endurance kicks in!

I am taking my 4 and DH to FW for 11 days this Sept!

Good luck and have soooo much fun!

 

[parmtoo]

On our next trip this Aug. we will have 6 kids between the three families. They are, 16, 14, 11, 8, 8 and 3. We will have 2 grandmas with us, and us other 6 adults.

 

[blestmom]

Last February I took our 5 kids (5, 7, 10, 12, 14) , plus a friend (14) by myself to WDW. Hubby couldn't go. We had a blast! We're going again in December. I think you'll have a great time, but then again, I like being around a lot of kids. You probably do, too!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

The law requires us to feed and clothe the 2 we have... so that is all we take

 

[fam4jc]

Bigdisneydaddy

We've got two dd's but my SIL has just offered to PAY ME to take her kids along with us! She hates Disney (I think she is some type of strange hybrid human/alien). She is NOT the SIL that gave us our pop up camper.

So, our next trip we will hopefully have 6 kids. our, my sils, and the GOOD sil's. I think it will be a blast.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Of course I was just kidding
We took DW niece with us one year back in the mid 90's. She is a nice kid and probably would never have gotten the chance to go to WDW were it not for that trip.
My brothers son rode down with us a few years later, they werent able to leave the same day we were so the boys had someone new to terrorize in the truck on the way down.

 

[FireRescueMom]

WOW!!! And everyone pokes fun at ME for all the kids I cart around?????

Just kidding! I have four (16,15,13,4) and we are leaving for FW 7/31/04. We are also taking my nephew 4, and my 1/2 brother 17 (yes, really).

The best for me is watching the children share their fun and joys with EACH OTHER!!!! The 4yo boys are going to be great together, not to mention that my nephew would not otherwise have an opportunity to go. I am always bringing extra kids (friends, relatives, etc). The more the merrier!

So I say, if you can fit em, bring em!

Have a blast!!!! PS- we booked our cabin before we knew we were purchasing our new TT, and Im kind of sad not to be bringing it, but the cabin should be fun! Good luck with your new TT.

Peggy in CT

 

[SB in KY]

I would pay to watch you get 11 people plus stuff on a golf cart!! It's great!!

I only have 2 but we are leaving in 3 weeks for a trip with my dd's (14 and 16) and 5 of their friends and we are meeting my DS and her 4 ... of course the difference is ours are all teens now...they go to the parks together (of course they can also eat their weight in groceries every 12 hours or so...so I take really BIG pans!!)...people think we are nuts for taking so many...but it has always been the more the merrier at WDW for us

Your kids will ALWAYS remember the fun they had and that is worth a LOT!!

 

[travlnman1]

In March our 3 kids (DD11, DS15, DS17) each took a friend. (DS17 took his girlfriend! YIKES!) So, we had me and DH and 6 "kids". It was pure heaven. One day DH and I looked at each other and said., "Wow...we actually get to ride on the rides together!" (One of us usually ended riding with DD) EVeryone had a friend and a walkie talkie and everyone went their own way.
The best trip ever.
We had 2 WC next to each other and 2 golf carts.

 

[anditoo72]

I have four kids and I am bringing two extra's (my neice and nephew). My step-son is 13, my husband's nephew is 12, and my husband's neice is 10. My three are 6, 4, and 2. Even though there is 3 different mothers and three different fathers involved they all look the so much alike it's hysterical. I am only 32 and I parade around with this pack of kids (we have taken all of them many places, many times) You should see the looks and the sympathetic remarks I get from people. I love it, I only get the three older kids in the summer, so most of the year it's only my young ones. I tell you it is much easier when I have all six of them because the older ones help out so much. I would rather take all six of them than just my younger three. Especially since the my neice and nephew wouldn't be able to go if we didn't take them.

 

[Praise2Him]

I have a question for those of you who take nieces, nephews, friends, etc. How do you handle their park tickets? Do you pay for them, their parents, or what? I'd love to take my 2 nieces to FW with us and we've discussed it several times (DH and I), because we know they'll never get to go unless we take them, but we can't afford to get their park hoppers and unfortunately, their parents can't afford them either.

 

[blestmom]

In our case, we took my son's 14-year-old friend. He paid for his own airfare and his own park tickets. We covered his meals and the hotel (cabin).

 

[momxx5]

We are taking all 5 of our children....

2, 5, 7, 9, & 10 yr olds! No extras


We are staying in a cabin for the 2nd yr in a row. I love our big family and look forward to a great vacation.


Have fun!

 

[anditoo72]

Praise2him- When I take my neice and nephew's I will pay for everything including tickets. I see how and it does get difficult to do so here are some thing that you could do. You could ask the parents (and grandparents) to contribute some of the $$ that way you don't have to pay for the whole thing yourself. You could ask the parents or grandparents to buy the tickets for christmas or a birthday present.
What I plan on doing is buying the 7day hopper plus pass and use it for my neice this time and the remainder I will use for another neice on a later trip that is in the works (don't know when it will happen yet)-Shhhh don't tell!!!!!! The hopper plus passes in my oppinion are the way to go and the remaining days do not expire so can be utilized at later dates.

 

[PenskeSth1]

We take our 2 children only! Last year we took a friend of DDs and they ended up in a jealous fight, her friend just wanted to hang with DH and myself. UGG... So from now on we just go as a family NO extras.

 

[VAN]

Comment to the original poster - That many kids sounds like a piece of cake to me.

I'm one of 14 children. 10 are married and have 45 children between us. Also 2 of those children are married with a total of 4 between them.

Naw, doesn't sound like too many kids to me!!!

 

[camper]

Dh and I take our own five children and my oldest dd's boyfriend. The oldest dd and boyfriend fly down so they are not with us the whole time. The boyfriend pays his own way. Next year my dd will be 20, and I could save alot of money by leaving her home, but I want the whole family to go.

We all squeeze into a 22ft tt. We dream of getting a larger camper, but first we would need a bigger truck to pull it with.

 

[SouthernBoyBlue]

We take our 4 children DD-15, DS-12, DS-10 and DD-3. We pull our 31ft tt with my f250 and hooked to the back of the trailer we hook another 12ft lite weight trailer and put our 6 passenger golf cart in it. All together 67ft long moving down the highway. Here is a shot of just the truck and camper:

 

[tci1212]

This Trip we will have with us.