Big family trip

[big clan]

So my husband and I are taking all of our adult children and grandchildren ages 8 to 16 to Disney world the first week of March 2016. A party of 17! I'm the chief planner and coordinator for the trip. I was just going to show up and have fun but the more I read in here, the more I think I need to do allot of pre planning! We're doing the quick service dining, staying at music, Any"must do's" for newbies, or any tips or tricks for having the best time, ill gladly take any advise.

 

[magicaldisney]

Welcome to the DIS.

You will need to do a good deal of research. You first order of business is to set up a My Disney Experience account. This account holds all of your information. You then need to link any resort reservations and park tickets. Fastpasses will need to be made at 60 days out. If you want color magic bands, they will need to be customized. Since you are doing such a big group, you probably have many rooms at the resort. I have only done grand villas so we all stay in one room. With many rooms, I'm not sure if you can link all of those reservations on just your MDE account or if it's best to have individual MDE accounts for the different families.

Since this is just a welcome forum, you will need to start visiting the other forums to do your research and ask individual questions. I'll see you over on the other forums!! Good Luck!!

 

[ParrotBill]

You'll find dedicated boards for theme parks (includes tickets), restaurants (includes dining plans), tips, transportation, and more. I have traveled with a large group and found the following:
- good idea to establish the daily norms - is everyone meeting every days for breakfast and dinner? or are there natural smaller groups?
- what is someone is late or wants to do something different - OK?
- Transportation can be difficult during "rush hours" - be ready to send some on one bus and some to wait for the next
- if you haven't make dining reservations yet you will find that to be quite challenging with a large group. You may need to break down into smaller groups and may need help, even calling a restaurant directly to find out if/how they can accommodate you. The restaurant manager can do much more than reservations can so I was told more than once to call directly if I need help (call during an off time, not at dinnertime!)
- planning FP+ for a large group may be impossible and breaking into groups necessary.

Good luck, you have a big job to do!

 

[Murphoid Mouse]

Make your dinner reservations now! Grab Ohana's kids have a blast there with stitch. Also grab be our guest. They both go wicked fast.