Extended family planning strategy

[laxfanmom]

We are a large (17ppl) extended family staying at Poly in June. One of my DS + DDIL and 3 grandchildren are arriving 1 day early for our 6 day trip. Their 60 day window is one day earlier than the rest of ours. Should my DDIL get on MDE and plan her entire trip and then, next day when our window opens, we try to approximate her FP times? Or, should she just do the first day and then we try for all of us on her second window day?

This trip is for my 60th birthday and we want to mostly try to stay together. I’m afraid that we’ll never get FP’s for the same rides at similar times? WWYD?

 

[sparkle78]

I would wait and do together. Also keeping 17 people together will be difficult. Some will want to rope drop and be there by 7:30 am, othersxmight not join you till 9 am. We have trouble with 8 people. We usually map out like this - magic kingdom on Tuesday meet in Adventureland. Make passes between 10-noon. Everyone eat lunch 1 pm at pecos bill. On own for a bit. Then fantasyland 2-5 pm. Explore on own but may bump in to one another and switch off people to ride with. Then 5 pm snack at popcorn stand by dumbo. Some head back to hotel or park hop.
Good luck with your plans.

 

[bopper]

For "mostly trying to stay together"....gosh that is going to be tough.
We went with about that many people...what we did was have dinner reservations together every day.
Then we went in smaller groups to the parks because some people had kids, some were older, etc.
Also, does everyone like to get up early? Are you willing to wait until the last person has gotten up and eaten breakfast to leave?

Ideas:
1) Try to keep everyone together at all times.
2) Have meet up times...like lunch and/or dinner where everyone gathers. Maybe have a "family of the day" that you stick with ...I assume you have children? Pick one family (A) that you do everything with. The next day go with Family B. Who ever wants to go with them is welcome.
3) Attempt to do everything with all...but if family B doesn't get moving, then just meet up with them later while you do thing with family A and C.
4) Pick 4 days (for each park) that you do everything together, but then have 2 days of "on your own".

So figure out how you can spend time with the most people, but not drive yourself crazy.

 

[laxfanmom]

Many of these ideas are great! I particularly like “make fast passes in Adventureland between 10-12”. We do have two (of 5) of my kids with little ones. And I think the little ones will want to all be together (4 girls between 2 1/2 and 5), but some of the childless folks will want to get a bit more sleep so they can meet us somewhere. But i’m just not sure if we can have the one DDIL schedule all her FP’s for the whole trip and then we have to try to repeat it the next day for the rest of us? We can give her a general sense of what we’re going for but can anyone say if this will be possible at all? Or should we have her schedule just her first day and then we’ll get everyone’s FP’s at the same time?

 

[Smrtalec33]

I think she should schedule all of hers and get everything the way she wants it if possible.

Then, the next day you guys can all match up as much as possible. I would imagine that you can have virtually identical schedules, except for possibly the most popular rides (SDD, FOP, SDMT).

She could always modify hers to agree with yours, if they don’t match up as much as you might like, but I definitely would not have her wait a full day.

 

[laxfanmom]

Once again, an idea that never occurred to me - modifying the FP’s if there is a problem! Thank you!

 

[senadler]

Are you all linked as planning together in MDE? If so, I think that you should be able to make FP+ reservations when the first window opens, even if you do not all have reservation for that first day.

It still may be difficult to schedule for that many people at one time, but I think you can do them all on day one.

 

[laxfanmom]

I have asked a Disney rep that very question and she says “no”. I have also had my travel agent ask and the answer was also no. I am new to this so I am taking them at their word and making other plans.

 

[Marionnette]

I have asked a Disney rep that very question and she says “no”. I have also had my travel agent ask and the answer was also no. I am new to this so I am taking them at their word and making other plans.

Then you’ll learn that if you call Disney 3 times, you will get 3 different answers. You should be able to book FPs for everyone in your party but it may take a couple of steps. First book for the people who are eligible and then modify to include the other family members you want to add. You will not be able to book separate attractions for them, only shared attractions.

 

[mrsap]

We went with 18 people in November. We had 4 groups of families making FP’s. Three groups all had the same fast pass day, but one did not. I went ahead and made my fast passes first, then emailed them to everyone else. Every group was able to get within 15 minutes (+/-) of my fast pass time frame, including the one Group who made them two days later! The only ride they were not able to get the same as us was Slinky dog. I don’t know if we just got lucky, but everything worked out! We were all together the entire week! Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[laxfanmom]

I didn’t know that we could modify the FP’s to include more people? Can we do that on DDIL’s 60 day out date? Or would we have to wait until the next day to try to modify them? It’s good to know that other large families are having good luck coordinating their FP’s! Thanks for all your suggestions - we will try our best!

 

[cmwade77]

Honestly, I would not even attempt to keep 17 people together, we had a hard enough time with 7. It will do nothing but add stress to the trip to keep trying. I would suggest maybe some do some key things together, i.e. an ADR each day and maybe one FP per day and let people split off into groups the rest of the day, it will help keep stress down and you will all still be civil with each other by the end of the trip. But be aware that with 17 people ADRs will take substantially longer (usually 2 to 3 times) than with smaller parties, especially if any have dietary issues.