Summary – Part 1: Things that worked.
Doing a trip with a large family mix along with so many different personalities is not for the faint of heart. I went in knowing it was going to be difficult, especially with my DH along but it ended up being a bit more challenging than I anticipated.
Sometimes having the wheelchair got us on things a little faster and sometimes not. It all depending on where they wanted us to go and when/if the accessible vehicle was there. Everyone was very helpful to us and always told him to take whatever time he needed.
I don’t know if we will ever go as a big group again as it is very hard to coordinate everyone’s schedules to go at the same time. I do know my sister is talking about 2027 or 2029 to go back to Universal (my brother gets his timeshare on odd years and she could only go if he can get her a deal). I am planning on taking 2027 off as a break year so unless someone wants to pay my way, I don’t think I will be joining them.
Things that I thought helped/worked:
*If you are pushing someone in a manual wheelchair, get sports gloves. I definitely would have regretted not having those. I picked mine up at Wal-Mart in the sporting goods section.
*Get a standard size wheelchair!! If you need it outside the park, definitely rent. We never had to worry about getting one at the parks (although I highly doubt standard wheelchairs will run out like
ECV’s do).
*Sunscreen and hats are your friends! We definitely regretted not putting some on DH’s hands/arms day 1.
*If doing group pictures, pick out the spot ahead of time along with a tentative time (and be flexible on it).
*While waiting for everyone to gather, go ahead and do any individual family photos that people want taken and are already there and get those done. Wished we would have thought of this earlier in the trip!
*Matching t-shirts are fun and I am all for it but I also know my family & as you could see in the photos, we didn’t exactly get everyone in with coordinating the colors! We have done this a couple times and we *always* do the color coordinating so you can get whatever you are comfortable wearing but still know we are a group.
*Don’t stay together all day. It is fine to split up. Having cell phones is such a great help with this!
*AND staying together to do rides you all enjoy together is fun too!
*Staying on site but my brother/sister didn’t and they would say otherwise. I just find it easier for say splitting up like we did when DS went to Disney Springs/We went to the Halloween party & DH was at the cabin. If we weren’t staying on-site, there is no way all of that would have worked. I also like to park the car once I arrive and it never moves again until it’s time to leave.
*Asking for free ice water at the quick service places. That definitely helped us out.
*The dining plan. Cost wise – probably not but most definitely made for a much less stressful vacation when it came to this part for my family. I am exactly the type of customer Disney wants for this plan. LOL!
*Memory Maker but I always get that as pictures are very important to me.