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

[Nancyg56]

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!!!

There is no "wrong" way to plan a vacation, but coming from a nana, there is a lot to be said for including grandparents once in a while. My DH and I feel blessed that my DD and DSIL wanted us along when they were planning to bring our DGD on her first visit. ( We did have one family member who will never be invited again) I think that when grands or extended family is included it is important that expectations are set right form the get go.
We planned a lot of time together in terms of dining and parks, but no one ever expected my DD and her family to forego their special family time together. Turns out they left our DGD with us and went out together, but that was a win win IMO! LOL!

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.

Yes. AS a family we arre used to each other and can be honest. I am not sure how adding friends would work for us, and am a little nervous because we included the little family on our street this trip. WE are very used to each other, but this is a lot ot together time!

 

[NicholeB630]

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.

Yea that first trip I hadn't done my research and it was a very short trip and having other people there added to the confusion. Our trip last Dec just my family it was great and we did everything we wanted to.

 

[Kristi391]

I am going in October with a much bigger group than I generally go with. Our group will be myself, two brothers, one sister in law, sister in law's sister, five year old nephew, cousin and cousin's daughter. I have been several times in the year and a half and really am only going again to see my nephew experience everything. The problem is that my brother (nephew's dad) doesn't want to plan anything in advance and only wants to go to 2 parks (for partial days) and hates heat, crowds and lines. I have tried to explain that a bit of planning now will make things so much easier when we are there, but he says he refuses to be tied to a schedule. I am trying to keep an open mind, but I am not so optimistic about this trip. I just want the five year old to have fun!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

We have gone with as many as 26 people. Touring wise there were only 12 together at a time at most. We loved that trip and every other trip we have been on. Going just our household which was myself, DH, DS (16 at time) and DD (13 at time) was definitely easier touring wise. This year we are going just DH and myself. DS is not a Disney fan and DD can't miss her college classes. I know it will be great, but again even with a lot of friends and extended family our trips are amazing.

 

[branv]

We only vacation every few years, so we would never vacation with other people. But even if our vacations were more frequent, I learned a long time ago that it requires a certain personality combination to make these kind of things work:

Don't bring along anyone you cannot be totally honest with and/or you can't assert yourself with.

Don't bring anyone who has a history of overt stubbornness, inflexibility, selfishness, childishness, flakiness or unreliability. Even if it's usually minor or manageable IRL, it will be magnified in this situation.

Set expectations. Set expectations. Set expectations.

And if you can't abide by the above, you need to be a very laid back, mellow, hold no grudges person yourself.

Edited to add: if you have kids and they have kids, it is really really hard if you don't have similar parenting styles. Just bc all the kids and parents get along well during brief outings or home socialization, doesn't mean your parenting philosophy differences won't collide in the close quarters, pressure cooker situation of travel.

 

[amygphillips]

I love our trips with our household plus grandmother. Bringing the grandmother / grandparents was such a neat experience... She had never been to Disney and it was so magical for her plus so nice to have another set of hands! It was nice to have an even number of people to for rides bc easier to split up by 2s when needed. We just all rotated who got to ride with who. My mom has now been twice with us and is going again next year. Planning for grandparents was super easy , but taking other families there is much more planning and time wasted figuring out what to do next. They were fun trips too, but a totally different experience!

 

[tabrizia]

We did a group trip our last trip. It didn't work because we tried to cater to everyone. We are doing a bigger group trip in January. I sent everyone our park day schedule what meals we were planning to do and let them know if make ADRs at those restaurants for those who wanted to go otherwise they were on thier own. I did add in 1 restaurant at my sisters request and I added in the Pirate cruise for the kids also at her request.

Otherwise our plan for the big trip is we will do the meals with those who asked for ADRs with us then we may or may not hang out or split up depending on what people want to do.

Fortunately for us we will also be doing an immediate family only trip 11ish months after the big trip so if we miss things we wanted to do we know we'll be back and can do things our way then.

 

[sunflowerfields]

My husband and I are treating our kids and grandkids to a Disney trip in May, 2016. There will be 16 people ages 6mos. to 63 yrs. I think and plan about this trip 24 hrs. a day because I know planning for that many people has to be done carefully! My hope is that with total communication ahead of time, we will have an awesome experience. Our plan is for the entire group to eat the evening meal together. Right now the kids are reading the restaurant choices and trying to make decisions where they want to eat. I want my two sons to ride one ride together, and beyond that, everyone is free to plan their time as they like. For the most part each family will have their own rooms. The adult girls and myself are having a great time laughing and planning the trip, and we all get along well. My husband and I (we are the grandparents) will keep the little ones one day and do just the resort and downtown Disney while our children go to universal. My husband and I have been once with the grandkids, and I have been once with my sister, last yr. Each trip was wonderful so I guess I don't have a real preference on size of group. My husband is excited just to see the little once experience all the magic.

As soon as I finished typing this, it occurred to me that really the treat is for myself and my husband! I am so glad everyone agreed to go, because a couple of our kids had to be convinced it will be fun! LOL

 

[merdie]

We prefer to do both ways! Some years DH and I take our girls alone and some years we take my parents. I like bringing my parents along because I know it makes my kids and them so happy! I like going alone because DH and I relax more when it's just us. So, we like to do both

Next trip, my mom and I are taking my girls on a "girls only" trip. That will be fun!

 

[AshleeH]

We've done a little bit of everything, except large groups. It's usually just our family, but our in-laws met up with us for three or four days on our second trip. They went with the flow and did what we did (it was a spur of the minute trip for us anyway - we planned it one month out) so we didn't have ADRs. Although my FIL took us out to eat twice and we never had trouble getting a table - I don't know if it wasn't as busy or if his no-nonsense attitude just makes people straighten up and seat us immediately. Whatever it was, it was nice having TS for two meals that week. They stayed in Fort Wilderness and we stayed at Wilderness Lodge.

The next year my parents met us for a few days. They stayed at Poly and we were at BLT. My mom had to have a wheelchair, so that was a different experience. Dad added the Dining Plan in the days before they got there, so our ADRs were different, but we ate at about the same time, so the schedule was similar. We did meet them for breakfast on their last day/our anniversary at Ohana and had one big meal together.

Our next trip, we're talking about staying with some of our friends (family of 4). We've vacationed with them before and have had overnights at our Lakehouse every summer for the 4th of July, so I'm not worried. Our husbands have been best friends since the cradle and she and I hit it off immediately 13 years ago and have been friends ever since. We love their kids, they love ours, and all the kids get along great so we can all stay in the same suite and be fine. Although we know going in that we are not "vacationing together". If our plans mesh, great. If we want ADRs together occasionally, no problem. If we want to split up and all the girls go to MK and the boys go to DHS, fun. But for the most part, this is two separate family vacations that might can meet up off and on throughout the week. Once everything is finalized, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[phillymummer]

Definitely just my household. We did a trip with my parents and my in-laws and it was horrible for reasons I won't go into here. But, it would take a lot to convince me to do it again.

 

[Accident]

We don't specifically plan a trip but everyone knows when we're going and we know when they are going. Occasionally things line up and some of us are there at the same time but in no way did we plan trips together and do things at the same time. If anything we'll meet up for part of a day or all do a meal together to say hi and catch up. Some family and friends that have children closer in age have spent more time together in the parks than the quick hi.

 

[poppinspal]

I'm not a parent but an aunt. We are going next month with my parents, my sister, her husband and their two daughters (3 and almost 2), my brother and his gf and myself. Our last trip was all of us minus one of the girls who wasn't born yet. My sis and bil love going with all of us because the planning overwhelms them so they let us know what they want to do with the girls and we plan it for them. We take turns doing things with the girls while the others are on rides they can't go on. There will be a few nights where we all go our separate ways but even then my sis and bil like to bring me along with them and the girls.

I think the main reason it works is that we all know this takes some flexibility to work and we only have one group of children.

 

[keepswimming76]

We've done both. We either go with my sister's family and my parents - our just our 'household.' I refuse to travel to WDW with anyone other than my sister because we are both planners, rope droppers and know how to work with each other. Also, she lives in another state so it's a good way to spend time together.

That being said, my favorite trips are the ones that are just "us." We've only done it once, but we will do it again in 2016 and I can't wait to have our own little family time. And much less of a hassle to organize things for 4 people vs. 10 people.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I enjoy just going with my immediate family. It's so much more relaxed. We know each other so well and if one of us doesn't feel like doing something, it's ok. There's no pressure to make sure everyone is having a good time, everyone is accommodated, etc.

We've traveled with extended family and the first trip was not fun. My DH and I did a "do-over" trip by ourselves 10 months after that trip. My DS7 and traveled with my sister in February and that was more fun as she's pretty laid back and we have similar interests - plus DS7 was spoiled by his aunt!

I think it just depends on the relationship you have with the people you are traveling with.

 

[jbcole82]

I think going with a big group is hard--it seems like going anywhere takes forever. However, last year, my parents came with us and our 1.5 year old, and it was wonderful. It was great to have their help with her and for them to get to experience Disney with her. We got adjoining rooms, which worked out great.

 

[Runnergal]

We travel with family all the time. But we don't do every single thing together. They don't always move at the same pace we do. And that's fine. Same with friends. We've taken trips with other families (Disney included), and while we didn't spend every day together, it was lots of fun hanging out at the pool and meeting up with them for dinner.