BIG GROUPS -- how did you coordinate everyone meeting up in the parks ?!

[pintradingwedding]

hopefully people are coming down the week before the wedding and staying the week after so we can all hang out together in the parks

but i'm wondering what YOUR experience was with a big group

did you map out an itinerary in advance? monday at the magic kingdom, tuesday in epcot?

or did you get the word out the night before -- tomorrow we're going to MGM

or the day of -- we're over at the magic kingdom. meet us at pirates of the caribbean at noon

also, how was it to move through the parks in a BIG GROUP and go on rides together? was it fun? a hassle?

impossible to stay together?

any advice, tips, experiences would be great!!!

thanks!

 

[TinkBride]

I went with a group of nine, we tried to coordinate our days together, and let me tell you, this was my immediate family, we were fighting by the end of the week. I would not plan on trying to keep everyone together at all times. I would say a good way of doing this is let everyone explore their own way, but arrange to meet for particular rides, or meals, or Wishes....whatever. Trying to keep a large group together and everyone happy will be almost impossible.....space it out, and keep it relaxed. Everyone has different tastes and favorites.

Before you leave for your trip talk with your group....if you all want to ride Space Mountain and it is a must for everyone, do it together. Try to do your "together" things in the morning, split for the afternoon, and then meet for Wishes, Illuminations, Fanatasmic, or whatever. That way people can explore as they would like.

Have Fun!!

 

[Malibelle]

What I had planned to do it insert an itinerary of the activites we are planning to do like the Hoop De Doo, golf, Tea, Meet in Pleasure Island, farwell breakfast..etc. I am listing the times we have reserved and phone# to make reservation and cost. Anyone interested can make thier own plans and meet up with us at the activity. This way no one is obligated to do things with us if they don't want and some people might do things they normally wouldn't do since they know we will be doing them too. I don't know about staying together in the parks as I it would be difficult because not everyone wants to go on the same rides, shopping, eat...etc.

 

[disneybridetobe]

This got me thinking--- How do I *LOSE* my family at Disney??!?!

We're doing our wedding/honeymoon all in one trip, and most of our families are staying for at least Saturday-Wednesday, or Sunday-Thursday. (Our trip total is Sat-Sat) So we planned everything just for *us* so we can have at least dinner in privacy!!

Otherwise, I can't imagine everyone being together in one group for anything other than the wedding day... a bloodbath would ensue!!

 

[Luvndisney]

if you can organize it without making yourself go crazy go for it. Its nice to hang out wiht family in Disney especially in celebration of your wedding. I would do either of your ideas as slong as you are a planner in advance. You may want to do the second option and let people know the night before because once you arrive plans change typically. Invite everyone to meet "if they want to" and see what happens. It was hard to organize a large group but smaller ones were great. Good Luck

 

[dsnyfan6/18]

big groups are tough, i only did one park. i went to epcot with my husband and two other couples, 6 of us in total. now, that was a good number, it was fun and we were able to stay together, and we pretty much wanted to do the same stuff. when the other couples wanted to go on mission space and my husband and i didn;t, we were fine with grabbing a snack and waiting outside the ride for them. it worked out perfectly!

 

[dannirose]

I am going to distribute itineraries in the welcome bags for our guests. We are planning on being there from the Saturday before the wedding (which is on Friday) until the Wednesday after. We were expecting most of our guests to arrive a day or two before the wedding, however, it seems a lot of them are planning on making a whole week out of it.

Many of them have already said how they are expecting to do this and that and go here and there as one large group (and some have already started complaining about the costs, too early/late in the day, have to do THIS first ,etc). DF and I had been thinking we'd have a few days before everyone arrived to do things like get the marriage license, take care of tux fittings, meeting with our EM, etc., but it looks like we won't be "alone" until the second part of the honeymoon.

Anyway, here's what we came up with: DF and I are hosting one event each day of the "official wedding weekend" (welcome/dessert party on Thursday night, wedding on Friday, not sure of Saturday's event yet, and farewell brunch on Sunday).

In addition, we are adding "bride and groom sightings" to the itinerary: we will indicate which park we'll be in during a specific time frame so if people want to meet up they can, if not they are free to do their own thing. It will also give us a chance to finalize whatever we need to with the wedding without (hopefully) offending anyone that we weren't around enough.

Btw, if you want a laugh check out the date of my wedding in my sig - can you imagine people are fighting from now about whether they are riding space mountain before splash mountain?!

 

[Laurafoster]

The way i have done it (and i havent had my wedding yet!) is that i have given out MY itinery with my newsletter. I have said to everybody - this is what im doing on whatever day - please let me know what if any days you would like to join us. So far most people are spending atleast 1 or 2 days with us!

 

[janine]

There were 17 of us, although 6 of decided to go their own way most of the time.
We just decided the night before where we were going the next day then met at such a time just inside the gates. It was a little hard to keep everyone together as occasionally people like to stop and go see something or nip in a shop, but it was so much fun going on the rides together that it was the best decision for us. We didnt get to do half as much as we would normally do, but there's always next time

 

[ItGirl753]

dannirose,
i love your "bride and groom sightings." that is so cute!

 

[dannirose]

dannirose,
i love your "bride and groom sightings." that is so cute!

Thanks!

 

[Codie]

We had 99 guests. The majority arrived a day or two before and left a day or two after. Our immediate families stayed longer. A lot of our guests did not want to go into the parks. We did itineraries that I put in everyone's welcome bags...it included an informal "welcome" party at Jelly Rolls on Tuesday night (wedding was Thursday), family was invited to rehearsal dinner on Wednesday...it was at 4:30 so people went to the parks during the day and then went back after if they weren't in the wedding )...obviously the wedding itinerary for Thursday and then Friday we offered to meet everyone/anyone at Cosmo Rays in the Magic Kingdom at 1:30p.m. I figured it wouldn't be very crowded there at that time as it was "off-peak." The whole thing backfired on me..it was super crowded and the family all seemed to be cantankerous. We met...but some had decided to come at 12:30 and then was upset when we didn't sit with them...others came right at 1:30 and there were not enough tables. It was cool that probably at least 40 people came to meet us there...but I was overtired from the wedding and the whole thing made me cranky. We were hoping for it to be a "bride and groom sighting" like Danni said, but it just turned into an experience where I felt torn in 40 directions. After lunch we tried to hang out with both sides of the family--immediate and extended simultaneously and it was pretty hard. We broke into smaller groups and dh went to try to find his law school friends that were in Epcot (a lot of guests that only bought one day passes had chosen Epcot--and I couldn't blame them). My group (my parents, couple aunts, cousins, an uncle and me) ended up making dinner reservations at Germany--where we ended up running into friends that I really would have preferred to have spent time with (but who thought they were being polite by "not bothering us") at the next table. Mannnnn, I was so cranky by the end of that night...I believe there is a picture of me, completely cranky, with a giant-huge Germany beer in front of me I think that made it all better!!

Okay...so long story short...I like the "sightings" idea. Beyond that, if you try to arrange hanging out with a large group of people you are bound to be 1) disappointed, 2) frustrated, and 3) ultimately unhappy!

Ultimately, I felt like we never had a honeymoon. My dear dh said it was okay because we were going to have 50 years of honeymoons (he's not usually that romantic so I loved it) but I still felt a little cheated!! We are on our way back in 22 days (not that I'm counting) for a 9 night trip by ourselves that I officially call our honeymoon and one year anniversary!! Can't wait!!