Extended Family Trip...any tips?

[Nini]

Hi, I am new to this board and I have been the "point person" for planning a disney trip for myself, dh, dd and dh's extended family members (7 adults & 5 kids ages 3 to 9). We are staying at the All Star Movie Resort, have magic your way tickets w/park hopper, and the dining package (not the plus pkg). I believe we are going to do everything together!! Dh's family is VERY close ...I'm used to it though as we vacation in Cape Cod with them as well.

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone has any tips or ideas for our week of fun! His family is really a fun group and we all work together to watch the kids (we're planning on doing this at the parks so everyone can ride the adult rides!). We are renting a couple of refrigerators and splitting the cost. I will be renting a stroller for my daughter (3yrs) for just in case. Are any of the character dinners better than others? This is not our first time at disney, but it has been a number of years and more children later for all of us!!!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

Having done this about a year ago, I have to say for us it was quite stressful. Staying together all of the time was very hard because of the differing interests as well as mobility of my M-I-L. I would highly recommend a lot of planning ahead on what everyones expectations are, what they want to do, etc. and consider splitting up into groups of similar interests. Meet back up for meals, parades and fireworks. I wish our trip had gone better. I was the major planner, and although we got quite a bit done, it was very stressful on me. Good luck!

 

[BuckNaked]

We did this a few years ago, and I was the planner, so I know how you feel. What worked for us was making sure that everyone had info about all of the parks ahead of time, and we discussed the "not to missed" stuff for everyone. We also made sure that each of the individual families had some time each day to do their own thing as a unit. But overall, the trip was great.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

Don't try to do everything together, plan certain things over the trip, and allow smaller groups to go with the flow. I was the planner for a group of 14.

We had planned the trip for a year, had monthly Disney dinners/meetings, even used a Yahoo Group for communications!

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We did this last August with 16 of us. DH's family is in Nebraska, my family is here in Georgia, so it was a little complicated, and a lot stressful! I agree with the previous posts about not trying to stay together. We did on our first day, but only halfway through that day decided to split up. The varying ages and interests, plus just navigating a group that size through the crowds was too much. We had one ps per day, where we met up with everyone and talked about what we had done during the day so far. Then, when we left the restaraunt, you could split up again, or go off with another family or whatever. We also did the Fantasmic dinner package, so we all got to eat dinner together and then watch the show together as well, and since it was at the end of the night, all we had to do was get on the bus back to the resort. Good luck!

 

[sarahandhannahsmom]

I too am the planner for our upcoming trip. It's four of us (two kids, 7 and 4), brother in law,his wife, 2 year old son and mother in law. We are really looking forward to it. We to are at ASMo with the meal plan.

I'm obsessive about the planning. I talked with everyone about what specifically they were interested in. They are leaving it all in my hands. I am using the Unofficial Guide, these boards and Debs Allearsnet.com to help me.

We are doing a lot of character meals because it's important to the kids plus we are on the dining plan. We figured we might as well dine with the "stars".

I am making lots of PSes for meals and using touring plans. We will see Illuminations, Spectromagic and Fantasmic. We will see the afternoon parades and hit most major attractions. We are able to stay 8 nights and spending 7 days in the parks. We decided on 2 days at Epcot, 1 day at AK, 1 day at MGM Disney Studios and 3 days at MK. The kids are still young so MK is everyone's favorite park. We are not big on the water parks. Since we are spreading it out, we hope not to feel so rushed. We decided that if the other parties don't like the plan, we will simply split up and meet up for the meals, parades and shows.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll have a blast. Just being together is what its all about. Have fun with it. Don't feel overwhelmed. It's very nice of you to do the planning. I know from experience it's a large task.

 

[webray]

My first thing would have been to say..do not try to do everything together.

 

[Pig Pen]

My first thing would have been to say..do not try to do everything together.

AGREE completely! I planned a trip for 8 (3 couples and 2 singles). We stayed in a 2 br DVC villa and I would post MY daily itinerary on the fridge - if they wanted to join me, fine. If not they were on their own. We tried to do at least one sit-down meal together every day. The young crowd would head to DTD in the evenings while we old fogies would sit on the balcony or by the pool sipping liquid fortification....

Anyway, my advice is don't force anyone to do everything you think they should do. I was disappointed when some folks opted to NOT see Fantasmic (a must-do in my opinion), but I didn't let it spoil my fun! They thought I was an idiot for not going to Blizzard Beach!

 

[Leota]

The keys to a sucessful large group trip are space & flexibility....

Give everyone the space to do their own things - seperate time is VITAL. It's too hard to get a large group to agree on everything as everyone has different tastes & needs. Plan a few meals or shows to meet up at & that's it.Remember that is a vaction for each family & they deserve some special time of their own.

Be flexible enough to change plans on the spur of the moment if necessary. If you get rigidly locked into a schedule or plan, you will miss the Magic (actually, that is key for anyone visiting WDW as you know)

I was the planner for an extended family trip that included 21 people, ages ranging from 6 to 69. It went beautifully because of those 2 qualities. I would do another gathering in a heartbeat. We are taking my step-son, his wife & our grandchildren next Dec. & will follow those 2 key principles again.

 

[Nini]

It is really nice to receive advice from those of you who have or are planning a family trip!

I think that we would all stay together for approx. 1 day...then it would be splitsville . I like the suggestion of two groups and will be working with my sil's about arranging the ps for character meals and any other special event. We are going from 10/10 (arriving early) - 10/14 (leaving late). This just seemed like a good amount of time to the adults with all the kids. I know that at least one day some of our group wants to go to Universal. Don't know that I will with my dd as she's only 3yrs. and I'm not sure that they have that much there for the little ones. We have the park hopper option and I know that some family members want to take a break at the hotel and then go back in the afternoon. This would give the kids an opportunity to use the pool a bit. I also know that we all want to go to a water park...which one is better for the younger kids (5 yrs and 3 yrs)?

What about the weather? Will it be hot, warm/moderate, cool ...any insight?

You are all very helpful and I look forward to planning the trip now!!!