Anyone been with a big group 15+? Or a youth group trip?

[hurleysweety]

I've taken on the task, with enthusiasm, to plan a senior trip for our seniors in the youth group at my church. I'm one of the senior leaders and since I became a disney nut a few years back have always talked about taking my group. Well this year they will be seniors and now I gotta my promises a reality. I've been with a church group before, but everything was planned by them and we were a group of about 50 with a good 10 leaders. So acquiring a group rate for a hotel and tickets were all done with discounted rates.

Here's what I got so far:

Dates - Feb 10 - 13th
10th - Leave AZ around 2:00, DTD in the evening for fun
11th - Full day at DLR and DCA
12th - Morning at DLR/DCA, afternoon break, dinner all together, Evening at DLR/DCA
13th - Huntington Beach in the morning, leave for home early afternoon

Hotel - Somewhere that will sleep 6 to a room (2 beds with pull out sofa) Found Holiday Inn Express on Katalla for $120 that has this. Not wanting to be within walking distance since I do not want students freely roaming back to the rooms during the day - they are high school students after all and that is just too risky in my book! I estimate needing 4 rooms since we'll have both guys and girls in separate rooms.

Transportation - ??? No ideas on this one, its an easy 5.5 hr drive from where we are in AZ. (We always take buses...no need for a group of 20.) It'll probably be 16 students and 4 adults, give or take.

Food - Thinking we'll just tell students to bring money for food and then maybe do a dinner one night as a one big group. Any suggestions for a group of 20? I was just going to add the cost into their final cost and then we'll pay when we get there for the meal. I know Disney World does grand gathering things, does DLR do anything like that? Would a buffet work? Also wanting a hotel with breakfast to save on that cost.

Tickets - 2 day park hopper youth group tickets (discounted about $40is off gate price)

So...any red flags here? Any comments or suggestions? Anyone been crazy enough to take sixteen 17-year-olds to Disneyland? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[PinkBudgie]

We are taking our boys- 2 almost 17 year olds and that is enough for me, thank you.

I notice you think you will be taking an afternoon break. Just try to get teenagers to leave the park for a nap!

I can't think where you would all eat. I don't think they accept PS for that large a group, but not sure. You could look for a CS place that has lots of seating.

You might want to have a check in time during the day. I would suggest getting a list of their cell phone numbers and also have a plan in place that if any sort of emergency like an earthquake happens, meet in a particular spot since cell phones may be busy or not working for a while. This is what we now do with our boys ever since we were there during an earthquake.

 

[debdreamsofdis]

My DH is a high school choir director here in AZ, so he has taken several large youth groups to DL over the years. He chooses to stay at the Embassy Suites in Garden Grove. A big plus to that hotel is that you get a great free breakfast buffet included. The Hilton Homewood Suites is another good option. Again they have free breakfast, and they also offer a "manager's reception" (like a light supper) on most evenings.

Are you looking for a large group dinner at the parks or outside?? Buca di Beppo is right next to the Embassy Suites and could handle a large group. Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney is good for large groups as well. Of course, we already have those restaurants here in AZ, so I would go with the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ (all you can eat) in DL.

I'm not sure as far as transportation goes, maybe look into renting two 15 passenger vans. I assume you'd be covered with liability waivers, etc...through your church. You probably still want to check into the cost of a charter bus (it would really ease alot of pressure, although it might be a little more pricey)

I would suggest looking into a travel agent that specializes in group travel. My husband usually uses one that is approved by his school district and they can sometimes pull some strings on hotel rates, etc...



Suggestions: On beach day, you want to make sure you have some place to change before you leave to drive home (sand will get everywhere). So, don't check out your hotel before you go to the beach.
Enforce a buddy system rule (no one is allowed to go off on their own, even in DL). And of course enforce curfews. Once they are in their hotel room, they stay there for the night. My DH actually has the kids sign a contract with the set of rules and if they break them, they agree that parents will be called and the child sent home at the parents expense. And try not to take less than four volunteers/chaperones. If you only have 3, and a kid gets sick and a chaperone has to stay back at the hotel, your chaperone/student ratio just widened. So, plan for contingencies.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

Have you looked at the Disney Y.E.S. Program? We'll be going with a large group to WDW in Florida and are getting deeply discounted tickets along with a special class. They offer the program in California also, and the minimum number of kids is 15. You might want to take a look at it.

 

[hurleysweety]

Thank you to everyone for all this information! Its getting me so excited. One of my students is a super planner, like me, haha, and has already contacted a couple travel agents for rates (can you say future disney-nut?). I just found that out this evening - oh it cracked me up!

I love the idea for contracts - I think I'm gonna definitley want to do that one! I've known most of the girls that will be going since they were 11, so I do trust them, but I'm not taking any chances.

Didn't think about Big Thunder Ranch - might be a great idea, not sure if it'll be too cold for us though, not gonna lie, we're kinda wimps when it comes to the cold Also, we'll just be in sweatshirts and jeans on the beach since it'll be pretty cold. We were just gonna hang out, take pictures, and play some guitar.

Thanks so much for the tips ya'll. I'm getting ready to send out a letter to the parents this week so they can voice their many comments and concerns, I'm sure, well enough in advance.

 

[NMMickeymom]

I just returned from a trip coordinating 18 family members through the parks. My experience with the meal planning for a big group , for what it is worth .... We were able to get reservations at Goofy's Kitchen for 18 - they just had to have a manager call me back to confirm. We had 18 on the Patio at Ariel's Grotto for the World of Color Dining. For our Blue Bayou reservation we had to split tables of 8 and 8. Our final big meal together was at ESPN Zone and they told us to come by 5:30 and they were able to seat us on the patio. In general, if they could not accommodate one big table, we split into two parties. Of all the meals we did, I would think Goofy's would be tons of fun with teens and it is a buffet. Good luck in planning, I'm sure you will have some very happy teens!!