2020 Family Reunion in the World for 28!

[2Jacks]

Hey There! Starting our planning for a 2020 family reunion for 28 folks. Any quick tips or war stories on, for starters, booking lodging or best places to stay to shoehorn in a lot of people across a property? All ideas welcome!

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[billsfan12345]

I'm very interested in the opinions since we are doing the same thing. We are taking 16 people (including us) in March of 2019, thinking a Grand Villa and a Studio. Still trying to work out the location we want, we own enough points at each BLT & SSR to book at 11 month window. Our struggle is where to stay for transportation, best location for meals etc.

Obviously you can't beat the walk to MK from BLT but you also have the walk to DS from SSR. The busses at SSR seem to come quicker and more often. The bus trip from BLT to AK & HS seems very long and we aren't big monorail fans.

As you can see we are still conflicted and we have been planning for over a year already!

 

[TXMemaw]

We've done this a few times and will be going again this Thanksgiving with 26 of us. For us, it's always been easiest to book at OKW. The first time (2009) was over Halloween and we had 12 of us in 3 rooms and they had our rooms in different places around the resort even though I had connected the reservations. In 2015, we had 27 of us in 6 different rooms for a week starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving, arriving and departing at various times during the week and they had all of us in one building which was perfect. OKW is not one of the resorts that we own at so I've always been on my computer, ready to go at 6 am (I live in the Mountain time zone) at the 7 month mark and have not had any issues in getting what we wanted. I do just put one name on each room initially to save time and then add each additional guest to the rooms by emailing Member Services. OKW is nice because it has two beds in the studios unlike all the other resorts that have one bed and a couch. The rooms are also a good size there.

This year, we're trying for AKL-Kidani, which we stayed at in 2013 for the Princess Half Marathon weekend with 16 of us in 4 rooms. On that trip, all our rooms were on one floor but not really close to each other. I've been watching the RAT and so far, the savanna view rooms are all available for our stay. Just hope it stays that way until next month when I can book. Group trips are fun and we enjoy them. We did learn early on to plan a meal together each day and we set a park for the day, but everyone is free to go where they want, when they want and we just meet up for our daily meal. I did coordinate our FP's for the 2015 trip but probably won't be doing that this time.

 

[billsfan12345]

Did you handle setting up everything on MDE yourself? I wonder if their is someone that DVC can help do everything for such a large number of people.

 

[Chuck S]

OKW is a great resort for large groups, the rooms a large and comfortable, and the points don't break the bank. I hosted a group of 16 a few years ago in two 2-bedroom unit and a one bedroom unit. Be sure you book enough units so that individual family groups have some privacy, don;lt try to plan to do everything together...some people are late sleepers, others are early risers, and not everyone likes the same rides and attractions. Plan a couple of nice meals together at restaurants, if the budget allows. Be sure and call dining so they can book a large table or several tables nearby. For park days, basically tell folks they are on their own, but that you can meet up for a specific ride or meal if they wish. Family togetherness is great, but there CAN be too much of it, every sub-group needs some time to themselves.

Also, if you are planning to use your points for everyone, be sure to give them firm cancellation dates, and a firm date to have their park tickets for booking fastpasses. One thing everyone enjoyed as a group was the Luau at the Polynesian, we got tier 1 seats, even though they were pricey, and it was great. Everyone paid their own, of course. We did a group phone call to book dining, since the Luau is pre-paid, and gave our own credit card numbers.