Brining more people to Disney or just sticking with your house?

[NicholeB630]

So I have a question for families. Do you all prefer to go to Disney with just your household whatever that may be. Parents and kid. Mom and Kids/kid. Dad and kid/kids ect or do you enjoy going and having more people go? Our first trip we went with friends stayed at different resorts and just met up at parks but I felt it was harder. They had two kids around our kids ages at the time we each had a baby and we each had 4 year olds. I found it to be hard and not as enjoyable as you have to kinda do what other want to and theres more standing around deciding things. This trip was kinda last minute and not really planned. Our last trip in Dec our kids were 5 and 3 and it was great just Myself, Husband and kids went and it was such a nice family vacation. I was able to plan everything for us to do and not dealing with other people. I plan on going again in like 2 years or so and I am not sure if we should ask like my mom and her boyfriend (who's like family) to go too. We are really close with them and they keep the kids a lot for us and I know they probably would love to go with the kids but I dont know how difficult it would be getting reservations and fast passes for 6 rather then 4. What are everyone's opinions on this?

 

[jiminykrikkit]

We've gone just our household family unit and we've gone with my parents. I can't say I prefer one over the other because they were all great trips, but you're right that it's a little more difficult to get everything planned when there are other families to consider. We also travel with another family every year (not to Disney) and that is always really fun overall, but there are challenges there as well. I think going with your mom and her boyfriend will be a much different experience than going with the other family. I wouldn't let the challenges you experienced on the trip with the other family color your opinion on going with your mom too much.

 

[robndani]

We just took our first "immediate family" only trip in Feb. Just me, husband and 5 year olds. We've gone a few times with us and our nanny, With my parents, with my brother and sister in law and their two kids, friends and their two kids, neighbors, and even a trip with neighbors and friends ... 13 people in all!

Planning for a big group is a pain, but it can be fun. Having other kids there is great for resort days and keeping them busy in restaurants and stuff but then you have to deal with everyone's meltdowns, not just your own kids LOL

On the other hand, when your kids are the only ones on a trip you can let them do what they want to do, which is really fun for them. You get to relax a little more when there are other adults to ride with kids and play with them and give them a bath!!!!

I've never really found making reservations for 5 or 6 people any harder than for 4 people!

 

[ElenaRN]

We have done both. Big trips with lots of people and just our immediate family. I like both but my hubby and I enjoy sharing our love of Disney with others. It is a little more difficult with a big group, but we always feel the more the merrier.

 

[rosedolph]

We've never been with just the immediate family, but I always make sure I take people that I can boss around. The largest group was 14, but we never toured together. We stayed in the same resort and would meet up once a day to eat a meal together, then we paired off how we liked. All our trips have been awesome, but we just make sure and let everyone know what our plans are (we like rope drops, mid-day breaks, and days off) and they tour with us if the want.

 

[ericstac]

I prefer family solo trip myself.. It's a headache dealing with other people's requests and junk.. Our first trip was about 20 people and was a big pain in the butt. Everyone fighting..blah.

We did one Xmas trip where we went for a week then others met up with us for a second week and it was pretty good that way.

This next trip is going to be a big one. Probably 40 people or more. It's for my youngest sons (6) "I Beat Cancer" celebration trip after he is done with chemo and radiation. Everyone is staying at CBR and the plan right now is everyone is doing their own thing for the most part.. We will see how that goes though lol

My biggest thing is it is too expensive to spend all that money and not do what you want to do just to accommodate other people.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We travelled with both of our parents and it's much easier to travel with parents than other families. Our parents were more than happy to just tag along and do exactly what we wanted to do. Sometimes they even watched our son while we went out at night, but that was not expected. I'm so glad we got to bring my MIL with us. She fell in love with Disney, and it was so fun to see. My parents have always loved Disney so they were the happy tag alongs. Fast passes shouldn't be a problem as long as you make them 60 days out. One thing though, see if you can add a day or two at the beginning or end of your vacation just for your family. We did that one trip and it was just the perfect amount of family time we needed.

 

[ToddyLu]

DH and I take my parents then his Mom and unmarried Brother in alternating years. Actually it is reversed for us a little. We tend to enjoy the resort and room where as they do not get to go as much and want to have a little bit of a plan through the parks. As they get older, all in 70s and BIL is 47, everyone takes a slower pace. DH and I are still both working full time and just tell them here is the park hours and ADRs, enjoy! We want to just relax on vacation. Sometimes we go together and other times that head out for a day alone. They have all now been several times and know their way around. I think you will have fun. It is all about being together and not if you got to ride this and that. Make a general plan and use your cellphones to meet up. We do get our guests their own DVC studio which gives everyone the privacy they need. We do not share rooms which helps.

 

[NicholeB630]

Thanks everyone for your input. I agree going with another family with kids would be a lot different then going with the grandparents. My mom is in pretty good shape and only 53 so she could def keep up and I think they would be willing to do what we wanted and let me plan and it probably would be a lot of fun. But a part of me just wants to keep these trips for us!!!

 

[Ladcassidy]

I was the "tour guide" for our extended family trip (12 people, ages 2 to 75, and one scooter) last week. DH, DD7 and I have been to Disney several times, but this was the first trip for my parents, and a once-every-few-years' trip for my sister's family, which includes 5 kids. The three groups each had separate rooms at the WL. We shared lots of meals and resort time, and also met up in the parks. But we did not try to do everything together. My family enjoys RD, while my sister's family closes the parks at night. My parents toured with my family most mornings. We had collective FP+ for many attractions, and ended up with a super picture of the whole clan riding 7DMT in our group t-shirts.

My immediate family will return to Disney in February. We will enjoy having more control over the schedule, but I'm sure that we will miss our touring partners, too.

 

[scrapquitler]

I don't really like other people enough to share my precious vacation time with them. I want to have my husband and my kids with me on vacation, relax and do what we want to do, when we want to do it.

 

[BLAZEY]

Sounds like from your post that there really wasn't much of a plan in place if you were "standing around and deciding things" . I think when travelling with a larger group more planning is needed. I think going with Grandparents is a different type of trip than with friends.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our last 5 or 6 trips have been with friends and family. Next year's trip is just our family of five, and, I have to say that I am so excited! While our trips with family and friends have been fun, it is exhausting planning for everyone and trying to make sure everyone is happy and gets to do what they want.

I am excited for a trip with just us for the first time in a long time.

 

[jessicar82]

We have gone with friends (before we had kids) but we stayed at different resorts and didn't have much of a plan so it wasn't too bad. Now that we have kids and I'm a super planner I don't think I would enjoy going with other people. In 2009 my inlaws booked a vacation for the same week were were going but stayed in a different resort. That wasn't so bad because we didn't really spend much time with them. In 2013 my husbands best friend booked a trip for the same dates/resort as us. To make things even better they arrived before we did and he asked for rooms next door to each other. Let me just say that I HATE his wife. Thankfully they were only there for 3 days because our rooms actually had the adjoining door. I like to travel with just my husband and two kids and MAYBE my best friend.

 

[Pesky]

I've been with ILs and without. I have to say I think I prefer just our family. More people = more considerations in planning. For the ILs, I knew FIL couldn't do certain rides so I'd have to slate those later when he would go back to the room. My sister is threatening to come with her family around the same time as we are going and if that happens, I've already told her that for the most part, she'll be on her own with her family and we'll just meet up for a couple meals or something.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

We're taking our first family trip (ie: kids first trip) next year, but I don't think we'd travel well with other family members. I am a bit of a control freak and trying to deal with certain cranky individuals would ruin our experience.

However, we just took a two-day trip to a waterpark resort with another family that we are friends with and had a BLAST!!! I think it just takes the right combination of personalities and expectations.

 

[svecchitto]

Our upcoming trip is split half of it is just our immediate household and then the other half my brother sister and dad are joining us. I haven't taken a trip With them in like ten years but everyone wants to go because having our little one has sparked their Disney fire again. So we will see how it goes. I'm excited to have them to watch our daughter so we can have a Disney night to ourselves as well (we will be down there for our wedding anniversary)

 

[Fiddysmum]

We are definitely in the "household" only. I haaaaaaaate waiting on other people's schedule/eating habits/kids/idiosyncrasies!

 

[North of Mouse]

So I have a question for families. Do you all prefer to go to Disney with just your household whatever that may be. Parents and kid. Mom and Kids/kid. Dad and kid/kids ect or do you enjoy going and having more people go? Our first trip we went with friends stayed at different resorts and just met up at parks but I felt it was harder. They had two kids around our kids ages at the time we each had a baby and we each had 4 year olds. I found it to be hard and not as enjoyable as you have to kinda do what other want to and theres more standing around deciding things. This trip was kinda last minute and not really planned. Our last trip in Dec our kids were 5 and 3 and it was great just Myself, Husband and kids went and it was such a nice family vacation. I was able to plan everything for us to do and not dealing with other people. I plan on going again in like 2 years or so and I am not sure if we should ask like my mom and her boyfriend (who's like family) to go too. We are really close with them and they keep the kids a lot for us and I know they probably would love to go with the kids but I dont know how difficult it would be getting reservations and fast passes for 6 rather then 4. What are everyone's opinions on this?

Nothing against family or friends, but when it comes to vacation time it's immediate family only - in years past before Mom died, we did take her and my youngest sis a few trips and that was fine - they were both so easy going.

 

[englishteacha]

We prefer just our family. We've done one trip with another couple and we ended up separating because they didn't want to do anything we wanted to do. We like only having to worry about our own family. I went to a local small amusement park with a friend and her child and her child didn't want to do anything my daughter wanted to do. (Both kids are 3. Mine is a daredevil and hers is not...she wouldn't even ride the train or antique cars!)

So for us, a big trip to Disney would be just family. We've traveled with others to other destinations like Acadia National Park and the beach, but those trips were short and inexpensive.