Once in a lifetime big family trip planning help.

[eargal]

Hello Disboard community! I need your help! Sorry for the length of this post.

The background:

I’m a planner with loads Disney experience but it is mostly Disneyland and 5 big trips to WDW. Last WDW trip was Sept. However my kids are old now (17 to 20) and it’s been FOREVER since I planned for small kids.

Our best friends adopted a crew of kids a couple of years ago and I’m helping her plan a one time trip for May 2022. They will have 2 6 year old girls, an 8 year old boy, a 10 year old girl and an 11 year old boy. (God help us all). There will be 6 adults.

Let the research begin!

Please help with any of the following topics I’m currently started on:

1. Rental houses. What should we look for in a good value? Are certain areas better than others? We need 4 bedrooms and a small pool but do not need it to be themed. Money matters!

2. Rental vehicles. We will need 2 large cars or one huge van. We will have one scooter so maybe an SUV and a full sized. Ideas on getting a good deal or where to look?

3. Wanting to do a fun restaurant that is not in the parks the first night. Suggestions for a place that will be exciting for the kids but not necessarily be too expensive? No character meal or Hoop dee doo type $$$.

4. I am wanting To make some tshirts for each kid. Is the Disigns board still where to go for help?

5. Ideas for souvenir items to pre purchase to save money please! Can you find light up spinning toys somewhere on clearance? I want to leave gifts from tinkerbell on their pillows. What type of things would you suggest?

Thank you to anyone who provides feedback. I’ll be here with questions about park planning later I’m sure!

 

[sponica]

My responses in bold:

Before they tackle ANYTHING, everybody on the trip needs to agree on what the bounds of the trip are...is this a Disney vacation with family? Or a family vacation that happens to be at Disney.

1. Rental houses. What should we look for in a good value? Are certain areas better than others? We need 4 bedrooms and a small pool but do not need it to be themed. Money matters! No experience in this department (sorry, I never leave the bubble)

2. Rental vehicles. We will need 2 large cars or one huge van. We will have one scooter so maybe an SUV and a full sized. Ideas on getting a good deal or where to look? What is the composition of the 6 adults? Are there any young adults/teens who might want to separate from the herd?

3. Wanting to do a fun restaurant that is not in the parks the first night. Suggestions for a place that will be exciting for the kids but not necessarily be too expensive? No character meal or Hoop dee doo type $$$. The Irish step dancers at Raglan Road are fun.

4. I am wanting To make some tshirts for each kid. Is the Disigns board still where to go for help? No experience here, sorry. But there are tons of shops on Etsy that do these sorts of thing.

5. Ideas for souvenir items to pre purchase to save money please! Can you find light up spinning toys somewhere on clearance? I want to leave gifts from tinkerbell on their pillows. What type of things would you suggest? Ear hats. You can order them from Shop Disney ahead of time. I'm not sure about the light up spinning toys but it's worth a shot.

Thank you to anyone who provides feedback. I’ll be here with questions about park planning later I’m sure!

 

[eargal]

My responses in bold:

Before they tackle ANYTHING, everybody on the trip needs to agree on what the bounds of the trip are...is this a Disney vacation with family? Or a family vacation that happens to be at Disney.

1. Rental houses. What should we look for in a good value? Are certain areas better than others? We need 4 bedrooms and a small pool but do not need it to be themed. Money matters! No experience in this department (sorry, I never leave the bubble)

2. Rental vehicles. We will need 2 large cars or one huge van. We will have one scooter so maybe an SUV and a full sized. Ideas on getting a good deal or where to look? What is the composition of the 6 adults? Are there any young adults/teens who might want to separate from the herd?

3. Wanting to do a fun restaurant that is not in the parks the first night. Suggestions for a place that will be exciting for the kids but not necessarily be too expensive? No character meal or Hoop dee doo type $$$. The Irish step dancers at Raglan Road are fun.

4. I am wanting To make some tshirts for each kid. Is the Disigns board still where to go for help? No experience here, sorry. But there are tons of shops on Etsy that do these sorts of thing.

5. Ideas for souvenir items to pre purchase to save money please! Can you find light up spinning toys somewhere on clearance? I want to leave gifts from tinkerbell on their pillows. What type of things would you suggest? Ear hats. You can order them from Shop Disney ahead of time. I'm not sure about the light up spinning toys but it's worth a shot.

Thank you to anyone who provides feedback. I’ll be here with questions about park planning later I’m sure!

Thank you for your input. To answer your questions, it is a Disney Vacation with family. The PRIMARY goal is to give the 5 kids a Disney experience. There will be one Grandma who will require a scooter, 4 adults in their late 40's and one 18 year old girl who is there to help and has been to various Disney parks numerous times so will not have issue understanding that this trip is to cater to the 5 kids ages 6-11.

 

[ShannyMcB]

For tshirts etsy was my go to. Do you have any friends that have circuts? A co-worker did a shirt for my FIL when I couldn't find one on etsy that I liked for him. Also, how crafty are the grownups? My kids are suddenly fascinated by tie-dye...maybe tie-dye shirts with a mickey stencil? Could be a fun craft afternoon.
Spinning/light up toys...or little items in general try someplace like party city or oriental trading company they have some fun stuff especially around Halloween...think those decorative flashlight things and even magic wands that might match a costume.
If you aren't picky on themes or colors check right after holidays
https://www.partycity.com/light-up-spinning-star-wand-871803.html?fromplp=truehttps://www.orientaltrading.com/fro...cters=Frozen&directSearch=false&filter=Frozenhttps://www.orientaltrading.com/toy...s/light-up-and-flashing-toys-a1-550269-1.fltrParty city is a great source for bubbles too--mickey, princesses, marvel you name it.

 

[NYCgrrl]

You also have Oriental Trading Company as a go to for fun trinkets. I used to order all DGD’s party supplies there and they also offer empty bottles and packs of wands for personalized goods at a lesser price. Easy to make bubble solution from in home goods.
www.baublebar.com now sells Disney jewelry at decent prices and has sales throughout the year if you’d like souvenirs.

 

[pjacobi]

Break up into groups of 2-4 and let each group do their own thing, even if it means not going to the park. Meet up for dinner and each group can share their experiences.

Attempting to keep everyone together all the time will result in disaster!


-Paul

 

[Carol_]

1. Regal Palms is awesome. Find a way to rent a townhome here, lots of bedrooms, kitchen, and access to the very cool pool with a lazy river and a bar. I think airbnb has some units, among other places. Also, Mystic Dunes has very large units with full kitchens and a pool.
2. Can't help you here.
3. T-rex in Disney Springs or Splitsville
4. Again, I'm useless here.
5. Walmart.com has light sabers and other toys equivalent to what you get in the parks

 

[Rory607]

We’ve never stayed offsite, so I don’t know about lodging. Etsy for shirts. My kids enjoy Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs for a fun restaurant. Party City, Five Below and Amazon for fun little toys and trinkets. They should have light up toys on Amazon. I also have brought boxes of glow sticks for nighttime that are fun. You can find them at Walmart, Target, etc.

Have fun! I hope the kids (and adults) have an awesome trip.

 

[Boopuff]

We had a family group of 10 we planned one meal a day for a meet up and then usually split up the rest of the day. I wasn’t going to attempt to tour with a group of 10. We did meet up a few times for pool day

 

[cedricandsophie]

Go on Homeaway Or VRBO to Check out houses. Or Airbnb. You will want to be within a few miles of the parks so you are not driving a lot. And for that many kids and adults, it seems like you would need at least 5 bedrooms or 6. The two couples want their own room each, the 18 year old should have her own space, and grandma should have a room. And unless you can find a house with bunk beds, the kids should be split up.

the best way to check out cars is to check availability and cost on a site like Expedia, which has all the brands. Then go directly to the web site of the brand that seems the best price to see if you can get ven better price. for that many people with a scooter, it’s hard to imagine a van big enough when you consider all the luggage you will have to fit in too. But instead of bringing a scooter you could rent one there and have it delivered to your place. But you will want two cars just so people can do their own thing. And two people will need to be designated the drivers with the spouse being also able to drive the same car usually for no extra fee. The 18 year old will not be able to drive a rental car.

not sure what your price point is for dinners. There is T Rex at Disney springs or the bowling alley there which offers food and bowling which could be fun, but neither are cheap. There are certainly lots of restaurants outside of the Disney bubble to choose from.

 

[smwisc]

We have stayed at Windsor Hills several times, most recently in a 4BR house (previous trips in a condo). There are tons of 4-6 BR houses with their own pool and game room. Great for a family, and 10-20 minutes drive from the parks. There is also a nice community pool and a splash area with a couple of waterslides.

There are lots of other communities with similar houses available, although I think WH is the closest or one of the closest. We used VRBO to rent.

 

[disneyfan123]

We stayed in a large 7 bedroom house with a private pool in Champions Gate a few years ago, and are booked again for our Feb. 22 trip. It’s a bit of a drive to Disney, but quite manageable (15 mins at most), but the houses are large and quite beautiful, so you would have lots of space, and not too expensive. In 2018 we paid $1500 for the house (for the week); this trip is more expensive ($1900) but still reasonable. You may want to check out that area; either way you should be looking at Airbnb and VRBO for vacation homes. There’s lots of options.

 

[DisOrBust]

As far as the scooter goes....If Grandma is less then 200lbs get the "smalller scooter" . Even though it can be broken down it's a PIA. 2 adults can lift it into a SUV or minivan. We have rented for years from walker and they have been great First make sure Grandma has the witts to deal with rude people who will jump infront of her. Honestly we switched to a wheelchair because it is very hard to deal with crowds and a scooter. We will use a scooter on a Epcot day but no way at MK.

Reastaurant for the kids definitely T-Rex.

As far as cars go I did rent a large van and it was expensive but you will have to add additional parking fee to having 2 cars plus additional rental cost. I don't remember how much "trunk" space is in the large vans for the scooter. Remeber they will need car seats as well for the 2 6yo.

I have taken 9 at a time ranging in age from 4 to 74 and we managed to stay together but it was seriously PLANNED and expectations were managed prior to going. I have read many family trip reports where it has gone down in flames. Mostly because not everyone was on the same page and had different agendas.

Be prepared the kids will only give a dam about the pool,lol. So pick the house with the best pool!

As far as the Etsy shirts, ordering 11 you may be better off buying a Criket and doing it yourself or find a friend with a cricket.

Consider costumes on shopdisney when they start cleaing them out for halloween. I have seen them start clearance before halloween, mid october. Another thought is "Disney bounding" instead of costumes.

 

[Elephantay]

1. Regal Palms is awesome. Find a way to rent a townhome here, lots of bedrooms, kitchen, and access to the very cool pool with a lazy river and a bar. I think airbnb has some units, among other places. Also, Mystic Dunes has very large units with full kitchens and a pool.
2. Can't help you here.
3. T-rex in Disney Springs or Splitsville
4. Again, I'm useless here.
5. Walmart.com has light sabers and other toys equivalent to what you get in the parks

How far is Regal Palms from WDW? Thanks!