Any tips for touring with a large group (14 people)?

[kagmypts]

Our extended family is heading to Disney for Thanksgiving week. Does anyone have any tips for touring with a large group? I have been to Disney more times than I can count, but I have never been with a group this big. Does anyone have any suggestions to make the trip as smooth as possible?

 

[Cinderella94]

Accept the fact at the beginning (and encourage others to, too) that you will not stick together 100% of the time. And that's good! I'm not sure if your trip is designed to be this way anyway, but everyone will be much happier and relaxed if they feel free to branch off into smaller groups when interests differ.

 

[MissKIA]

I know it might seem cheesy, but getting matching shirts is a lifesaver trying to keep track of everyone, especially if you are attempting to stick together. We had them for our first day last trip (there was 16 of us) and the following days we really missed them when we weren't wearing them and noticed how much easier it was with them on. If you are against matching shirts, maybe everyone wearing at least the same colour would help out.

 

[kagmypts]

Accept the fact at the beginning (and encourage others to, too) that you will not stick together 100% of the time. And that's good! I'm not sure if your trip is designed to be this way anyway, but everyone will be much happier and relaxed if they feel free to branch off into smaller groups when interests differ.

We definitely plan to split up, but I am actually trying to figure out the "staying together" part. I wonder what trying to schedule FP+ will look like.

I know it might seem cheesy, but getting matching shirts is a lifesaver trying to keep track of everyone, especially if you are attempting to stick together. We had them for our first day last trip (there was 16 of us) and the following days we really missed them when we weren't wearing them and noticed how much easier it was with them on. If you are against matching shirts, maybe everyone wearing at least the same colour would help out.

We love matching shirts, and that is definitely part of the plan! I had to laugh because planning our matching shirts was one of the first things that we did. My confession is that is one of things to which I am most looking forward. Thank you.

As an aside, royal blue is a great color for the base shirt. It is different, and it really sticks out among the crowd. We got a ton of compliments!

 

[StacyStrong]

Split up!! Not always, but recognize that not everyone will want to do the same thing all the time and it will be miserable if everyone is forced together at all times.

 

[StacyStrong]

Figure out what rides EVERYONE wants to do and set up meeting times to hit those rides. Break up FPs into smaller groups for rides everyone wants to do and try to get overlapping time frames.

 

[g-dad66]

We had a group of 15 for one trip, and we generally started with one or two rope drop rides that (1) had no height requirement, so that everyone could do the ride together, and (2) would have long wait times if we waited till later in the day. Peter Pan, for example, would be an excellent choice for Magic Kingdom, and Navi River Ride would be an excellent choice for Animal Kingdom.

If you have family members less than 48" tall, a good starting point might be to check out all of the height requirements to see which rides could NOT be done by which family members.

Then, as PP suggested, get a list of the attractions each person wants to be sure to do, as well as any attractions they would refuse to do -- and then work on Fast Pass plans accordingly. We often were split into two groups with appropriate FPs at about the same time (for example, the older kids and thrill-seeking adults riding Space Mountain while the young kids and less adventurous adults were doing the Tomorrowland Speedway).

Then we would all meet up together for meal times.

 

[delux]

We are going this year as a group of 6 and for two days we will be 8. All adults. We had trouble booking dinners lol so I can't wait to see what happens with Fast passes. But we already said we are OK with splitting up. We'll probably start out together in the morning then split, then meet up (for the dinners we planned together) But I am interested in any tips others have too.

 

[karenh27]

We went as a group of 15 one year. Planning was a bit crazy, but doable, and the trip worked out very well. We planned to have at least one meal together each day, tried to get one fast pass together every day, and generally spent the days in the same parks. Other than that, we did our best to be together as much as we could, but didn't sweat it. We had a big planning day with everyone when they gave their preferences for restaurants, rides to FP, etc.; then we consolidated it and went from there. I also found managing expectations for people who were not as familiar with Disney was important. Just reminding people that we wouldn't be able to see and do everything, that things would be crowded, and to try to keep a good attitude about it all. In fact, managing expectations might be the most important part of planning a trip for a large group of people!

Good luck!

 

[Wild4Walt]

We did a trip for 11, mix of adults and young kids - not everyone was early risers so we decided early in the planning stages that the 1 thing we all wanted to make sure we did together was eat dinner. It made planning ADR's easy and it was a great time to get together and share stories of the day. We ended up also at least planning on being in the same park, but that was just luck as the planning process took over.

 

[hsmamato2]

Here's what I did(and learned) from our April trip with 16 family members... First, talk to your group,ask them how much input they want in the daily FP plans (we didn't plan dining much together) My group was good with me making FP plans for us all. SO I 'friended' all their MDE accts,so I had access to the tickets at 60 days. Then I booked FP from toughest to get (1st) to easiest to get (last) I also familiarized myself with rider swap,since we had 3 kids 5 and younger. Using FP+ and Rider Swap enabled me to plan at least one ride pp on our group plans, and frequently left 'extra' rides for whomever wanted to use them after our group time block. (my nephew rode Pandora 5 times that week) Originally I had planned a 'block' of 3 FP for us all,between rope drop and about noon. This turned out to be a little ambitious IRL, b/c I hadn't calculated the extra time we took with such a large group,and swapping out. So if our FP were about one each hour, it took us that FULL hour to get it all done.FP wise. This made for a problem I hadn't foreseen, one family in our group had 3 kiddos,and they packed a lunch daily.... between rides 2&3 daily,they'd kind of want to stop and relax with some lunch but b/c of the FP,we had to plow on and finish our times. Not terrible, but not as relaxing as it could have been. In retrospect, I would have made FP3 for 2 hours after FP2,so a plan of 9:30,10:30,and 12:30 (break for lunch at 11:30) would have been smarter than my 9:30,10:30,11:30 schedule.
AND after our initial 3 hours together, everyone was free to go and do what they wanted. At times this got a bit confusing,and we wasted a bit of time here and there 'figuring' out groups etc for afternoons.... but overall, we all packed our patience for such things,and it was fine. SOme afternoons some of our group stayed together,sometimes we all broke off separately,depending on our moods. I admit it was a challenge when I booked 2 HS days,and one family didn't want to return to HS that 2nd day (I don't blame them, it wasn;t much to see or do) but we all adapted plans to accomodate them. (so that fam went to AK instead,some in our group forefeited HS FP+ and went to Epcot on a whim,and the rest of us went to HS as planned.) It all worked fine. I enjoyed meeting daily each morning,and we all spent time together in the pools over our week also.
AND most in my group didn't understand fully FP+ OR rider swap. So for that 3 hours ,I 'took over' the ticket options,and told each sub group within our big group who was riding what,and with whom. (i.e,16 people, parents set 1 gets RS for baby,parents set 2 gets RS for baby, then group 1 within our 16 uses FP to ride,then when they're off, group 2 rides,and any who didn't ride before,or want another ride (we're talking a bunch of littles here!) can use RS to get on the ride. (this worked well b/c one fam member bought his ticket about 5 days before we traveled.
So to sum up, I got 'control' of FP+ plans. I planned a 3 hour block daily for together time,in which I held the tickets and called the groups. (whew) then after our 3rd ride,we all did whatever.(we needed it!) My DSIS planned a few meals with those in our group who wanted TS,and we planned those times/places around the FP+ plans.
It can be done, and we all had a great time in spite of sometimes needing to exercise patience with one another.... honestly, when things got touchy, that was a good time to go swimming!

 

[hsmamato2]

Oh to add..... everyone said afterward that this past trip together was their best Disney trip ever,so I guess it was a success! I didn't go into detail about the credit cards etc we all got for points to discount our joint vacations...that's for the big credit card thread. (so much to learn there) Suffice it to say we all saved a minimum of about $3000 per family,and it was great fun.

 

[murmer]

I just did a group of 18 in oct. 1) make sure everyone has the same touring ideas or realizes they may differ ie we had 10 who wanted to death march each park and 8 who want a leisurely go back to the room and nap thing. 2) determine what are family nonnegotiables ie we all wanted to do Mickey together so I fast passed that for everyone. After the all together things i let everyone else plan their other fast passes. 3) plan on everything taking 2x longer because bathrooms or food or rides with that large of a group takes longer than expected. So if you normally do fast passes 1 hr apart make them 1.5 or 2 hrs apart just to make it easier and less stressful. 4) designate one planner and then be flexible!