Advice Please... trying to coordinate extended family trip

[Tinkerbelle99]

Ok, so what was going to be a family trip has blossomed into an extended family trip that now includes two of my sisters, with their husbands and children and possibly our parents. We three sisters have already booked (6 adults, 6 under 18); will be getting our parents booked soon.

Pop Oct 20-26, 2016. We are flying in, using Magic Express to/from airport.

What prompted our desire for another WDW vacation was our love of Disney (duh!) and celebrating our DD's 2 years of remission, that she'll hit in September and her 17th birthday in October, it's her senior year of HS, so her next birthday she'll be away from home.

Now that more family is on board, how would you best recommend scheduling ADR's and Fastpasses? We are well within our ADR window, so some of those 'must eat at' places will be booked, especially to a party of our size; but what other not-so-main-stream places would you recommend? Character meal is not necessarily a must, but I would like to have at least one on tap.

I get that we dont always have to be together, and we could all seperate and then meet up throught the day/week. but I know my family and since I am deemed 'the fun one' , they do look to me to show them a good time - and I honestly dont mind that. It amazes me that not everyone thinks WDW is the best (I dont know how that is possible - hahaha). So i know that some in our group my very well not go back to WDW after this trip.

Our Fastpass window is quickly approaching...would we need to call and book those for our group? or could we Fastpass everyone online using MDE?

Fall is our favorite time of the year, Halloween being another family favorite. Excited to be there during the time MK is decked out for the fall and the Food/Wine Festival in Epcot. Can we use dining plan snack credits for the Food/Wine Kiosks?

We all have the dining plan, it's not 'free' during these dates. Is it the most cost effective route?probably not, but our guys love to eat, and there is something to be said about not having to think about the cost at that particular time and just order what you like and its already been taken care of (besides tip, of course).

Since we are flying, we have limited baggage space. I am considering mailing stuff down ahead of time and/or having groceries delivered from a local market. Any tips with that?

Our daughter's bday is the 20th, a night that has a MNSSHP, I really want to do that with her & the kids, it would totally make her bday xtra special (not that just being in WDW isn't), while I can somewhat justify the excessive cost for my family, since I am the one who wants it...I'm having a hard time broaching the subject with my sisters, not that they woudn't love it too, but that its just so much more money to add to the vacation. If I could, I'd gift everyone a ticket for it, but that's just not in the cards.

I have ordered the memory maker, its my understanding I could link everyone's magic band to it and all pictures would be lumped together. is that correct?

Is October warm enough to make going to one of the waterparks worthwhile? Never did them before, and thought it might be something 'new' to try.

What other things are more-or-less special to this time of year that we should consider seeing, doing, etc.

Thank you so much!

 

[Enchanted]

I'm going to be there for almost the same dates! Woohoo! Congratulations on your daughter's remission! That's awesome!!!

For FastPasses, as long as the members of your party are connected to your MyDisneyExperience app, you should be able to book all of them at once. To my knowledge, there's not a limit of members who can be in your party. I know I've booked for 8 or 9 people at a time, and I didn't have any issues. For ADRs, I would check out Via Napoli in Epcot (Amazing pizza and a great restaurant for a large party...I've never had an issue booking an ADR there) or Liberty Tree Tavern at MK (also great food, usually not hard to get a reservation). I've found the character meals at the resorts are usually easier to get an ADR for than the character meals in the park. We love the breakfast at Ohana and 1900 Park Fare. These are easy because you can take a bus to MK and then take the monorail over to the resort.

In terms of travelling in a large group, we've done it several times, and each time, the plan is for everyone to stay together and by the end of the week, that's thrown out the window. What we've found works best is scheduling "group time" where all of the families are together and "alone time" where the different families/couples/etc. can go off and do their own thing. Because everyone WILL go off and do their own thing. One trip, my cousins came with us, and they preferred to spend their evenings relaxing at the pool while we went to the parks and watched the fireworks and rode rides until closing. At first, we were all trying to convince the others that our evening plan was better, but once we let it go and let everyone do what they wanted, everyone had a great time! We spent the mornings and afternoons together so we still had a great time together without too much togetherness making us nuts. Lol.

I would definitely do the Halloween Party for your daughter's birthday if you can swing it. It's my favorite party, the fireworks and parade alone are amazing. I would invite your sisters and make it clear they're welcome but that you can't financially carry the load of everyone. I think that's understandable. The Halloween Party is just plain awesome and since you said your family loves fall/Halloween, I think you'll LOVE it.

October is usually decently warm during the day (70s to 80s) and cools off a bit in the evenings. I would say it would likely be warm enough to do the water park at least one day on your trip unless it's unseasonably cold this year.

It's my favorite time to go to Disney, you're going to love it!!! Good luck on your trip, I hope you have a blast! And maybe we'll see you there!

 

[kreckl]

The last 2 times we've gone in October we have had perfect pool/waterpark weather. And yes, you can use snack credits at F and W for a lot of item- just look for the little logo on the signs to see what qualifies.

 

[MiniMom22]

I am the "you" in my family. I convinced my two sisters and their families to do Disneyland with us after they both declared they hated it.... that's because when they went they did not plan well or know the tricks of the trade. We had a group of 14 and I was the tour guide. We had 8 kids, ages 1 thru 14 at the time and we all stayed together the entire time. They had an amazing time and didn't think it was possible to do so much in one day. Now we are doing the same thing at Disney World, this time with our other sister and another kid born since that trip so we are a group of 18. We plan to stay together again, the way I plan it with coordinating rides makes it possible but I really think it comes down to your large group. Some do fine staying together, others don't and that is perfectly fine! The point is that everyone have a magical time and you all make some memories! You can book all of your FP together if you have everyone listed in your MDE account. You can still book everyone's, even if different rides/times since you are the expert! You can make the ADRs online but depending on how large your group is you may have to call.

I sat all of the kids (and adults) down before our trip and explained to them that everyone would get to enjoy what they like to do most, but since this is a family trip, we would also be doing things that you may not care about that much but that is FINE. The point is to try new stuff and make family memories. The point of Disney is the rides, the shows, the parades, the dining, the dance parties... Not just rides. Some kids only want to do rides but they all agreed to go with the flow and they did, no one whined or complained about not getting what they wanted to do, they eagerly just asked, what's next?!?! It's nice to plan some indoor shows for rest time during all the ride lines and they loved it. I once watched my son dance for over an hour with Chip, Dale and Stitch at the Tomorrowland Dance Party and he loved it. I always say, if you just want rides save yourself some money and go to Six Flags!

I agree you should give your sisters the option to join your for MNSSHP, but if they prefer not to go then it shouldn't prevent you from enjoying it. Maybe you can make that evening one of the split up into groups evenings.

I hope you have a wonderful time, sounds like you have some great things planned and I'm so happy to hear about your daughter!

 

[adisneyaunt]

Wonderful news about your daughter!!!
Looks like other people answered your questions. I've been the coordinator of several large trips, and they Can be successful when people know what to expect.
May your trip be magical, filled with Awesome memory making moments.