Coordinating your group at WDW????

[kristenrice]

I have been dubbed our family's "travel planner" because I am the most experienced Disney traveler in the bunch. So, I need assistance in figuring out the best plan to use in order to get the 15 of us to our ADR's on time.

The Cast
My parents (64 and 60)
My family (2 adults and kids ages 8 and 6)
My brother's family (2 adults and kids ages 10, 9 and 7)
My sister's family (2 adults and kids ages 3 and 7 months)

The Plan
On our MK day (which will be a Wednesday in mid-June), we are planning on dining at the Poly for dinner. The kids gifted my parents with the luau dinner show for their 40th anniversary dinner. They are going to the 5:15pm show. The rest of us (13 total) have a 5pm reservation for dinner at O'Hana.

The Questions
1) Would it be better to meet somewhere at the MK and then head over to the Poly together?

2) What would be the "preferred" route to the Poly? Monorail? Friendship boat? Or the ferry to the TTC and then walk? We will have 2 children (1 is an infant) in strollers which I assume have to be folded up on the boats.

3) Would it be better to just tell everyone they need to be at the entrance to O'Hana at 4:40pm?

My Thoughts...and Additional Questions...
1) If we meet at/outside the MK and head to the Poly as a group, then those of us who have been there before (me, DH and DSiL) can help direct everyone. I'm thinking that meeting at the resort monorail station would be the best option. What time? I'm thinking that since the monorail hits the CR and TTC before the Poly, we're looking at about 10 minutes on the monorail, barring any "maintenance issues". My thought would be to be AT the monorail station by 4:15pm. Sound about right?

2) The main reason I would choose the boats over the monorail is because that dog-gone monorail has always managed to have "maintenance issues" when I am trying to get to an ADR. I do not like the idea of being "captive" for even 5 minutes while trying to get to food! Barring a major catastrophe, I think the boats are not likely to have any delays. If we opted to take the boat, what is the better option? The ferry to the TTC or the other launches? (I can't remember what they are called) Do they run direct from MK to Poly or do they stop at the GF first? If we take a boat, what time should we plan on meeting at the launch?

3) The danger I see in option #3 is that most of our group is very inexperienced at WDW. In fact, outside of my family of 4, DSiL is the only other one in the group who has even been to the Poly. I'm worried that telling the group to meet at the resort will result in some serious tardiness because they may underestimate the amount of time needed to navigate the DTS.

On a similar note, we also have a group dinner for all 15 of us at Chef Mickey's on Friday at 5pm. That will also be difficult to coordinate because that is our last full day at WDW and each group will probably split up to do whatever they didn't get enough of already. We could be coming in from 4 different locations! I'm hoping by that point, each family will have gotten the hang of the DTS and they can plan accordingly.

Those are my thoughts....now let's hear yours....

 

[Donna M]

I'm liking your idea of everyone meeting in the MK and then heading to Poly together. That will be helpful for the newbies, plus you can chat about your day. You can decide at that time which boat to take since you'll be together anyway. Not sure which would be better, you can decide if you have enough time.

As far as Chef Mickey's, everyone should be able to meet there easily, just give them an idea of how much time to allocate.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I think I would be more inclined to pick a meeting spot at the park and then travel together to the POLY. After you exit the park you can then determine the best way to get to the POLY....boat/monorail. What we do is look to see if there is boat coming and if so, and time permitting, we take that. In general though, the monorail will be your best bet. I wouldn't even consider walking from the TTC.

As to CM's later in the week....just check in with the group the morning of to determine their plans and then give instructions regarding travel times etc. to each group as needed.