Anyone with a large family group stayed at seperate resorts?

[MnJsMom]

So unfortunately it looks as if we are going to postpone our Christmas '08 trip to Christmas '09. Well with one glance of the newly Christmas light covered castle my Dad decided that he & my Mom must go with us again. Then during discussion of this newly planned family trip, my brother & SIL decided that it would be a good time to go for the first time. Next my DH was talking about our trip to his sister and they determined that "oh that sounds like a great idea". So of course with DH & SIL comes along MIL & FIL! So now our family Christmas away from the stress of which house do we go to for Christmas that year has gone from a trip for 4, to one for 16! Possibly more once the word spreads across my FIL's family! I'm sure all of this will be fine and good in the long run, and may even be a blessing and be tons of fun. But now my concern is where do we stay!? I have been assigned the job of being the planner, since I spent so much time researching and planning our trip this past June. We will all be on different budgets, so would it be odd for us not to all be in the same place? My brother is military so they would most likely stay at SOG, my Mom wants to try GF, and I fell in love with WL. I have no idea about the ILs because I haven't spoken to them yet. Would being spread out make it more difficult on us or better because we don't have to be together 100% of the time? I know that I've got tons of time here, but it's the obsessive planner in me that is wondering about it now. Guess that's why I got the job in the first place

 

[ducklite]

I once went to WDW with a casual group over over 100 people! We were scattered all over the place. SoG, CBR, the old DI, FW, off-site, the CR, and I'm not even sure where else.

It worked out well, because different people organzied different events, and people chose to attend or not attend.

 

[spiceycat]

how about one of the first two weeks of Dec - cheaper. then only stay Sun-thur (leaving fri morning).

suggest for you VWL - studio will sleep 4, so will 1-bedroom
people on a budget Pop Century
other OKW - these have a much bigger 1-bedroom (2- also) - so the family could meet here to discuss plans and just see everyone.

or you could arrange to meet up once a day for a meal, fireworks or parade.

if you mother wants to stay at the GF and she can afford it - then she can - but she needs to understand that not everyone going can afford it.

just don't go expecting to spend every minute with everyone else. those generally don't work so well.

 

[1313WEBFOOTWALK]

Okay, I am a guru on this stuff because we ALWAYS go w/ a large group of family and friends but we keep it informal. In other words, we all go at the same TIME but we toally plan our own trips and make our own arrangements, hotel reservations etc. I've found that if you try to keep everyone in sync, you end up waiting too much. Six months before the trip, I send our family's intinerary to everyone via email and those of us who want to do the same parks on the same days do and those who don't, don't. It works out so well.

Last time, my family stayed at the VWL and some of us stayed at POR and BCV. And for one meal during our trip we all got together at each other's resort and ate. (We also enjoyed a quick swim at Stormalong Bay after our Cape May dinner but I won't go into that since it's against the Disney rules...heh heh).

My point is, the more independance everyone has, the more they WANT to be together and the better it seems to work out.

 

[disboo]

We went to WDW with a large group. We had people at SOG, POR and POFQ. It was great, and everybody was happy. We arranged to have certain times together (usually meals) and other than that we just ran into each other at the parks. It was great! Us old folks at SOG could get out and around in the AM as early as we liked, the others could get up when they wanted and be as spontaneous as they liked. Everyone loved it, and everyone could afford what they did.

 

[pepe of ohio]

I like the idea of everyone picking their own resort. That way they can add to trim theor budget, stay at a resort of their liking. Letting everyone pick their own itinery is great too, and combining at some point during the day or meeting up at a certain time is good too. I've know some folks who aren't early risers, others who like staying out way late, some who like afternoon breaks, hence the different strokes for different folks. Everyone can come and go, not wait on late comers, see and do as they please and enjoy everyone if the need arises, its just great for all to be in the happy place at one time.

 

[n2mm]

Staying at separate resorts works great in our family. My son and his SO need to stay as far away from the rest of the family. We tried it all together this summer and it was horrible, so back to keeping him elsewhere. We just meet for meals.

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I've done this a few times, once with a group of 16, once with 22, and coming this May, a group of 13. We range in age from 4 months to 72 yrs. old. We usually stay at different resorts based on preferences and budgets, but book through Grand Gatherings so that those of us who are at the same resort are put at least near each other. We don't try to stay together in the parks, we just book one table service meal per day and meet up there. It's just too hard to move a group that large through the parks and get anything done. Meeting up for meals lets everyone visit and talk about what they've done that day, then whoever wants to hang out together after the meal can do that. We usually do the Fantasmic Dinner Package as well, so we can all sit together for the show. Good luck, and happy planning!