Extended family trip to Disney. Need lodging and attraction advice!!

[MichelleC]

Hi all!

I'm new here. My mom has VERY generously decided to use some inheritance money she received to take her whole family to Disney. I'm floored!

There will be 13 in all (8 adults, 5 kids, ages, 7, 5, 4, 2 and 1). While it would be nice to stay at a Disney Resort, we thought it might be more practical and cheaper to rent a house in the Orlando area. (I know this may be blasphemous to all of you Disney purists! LOL!!) In any case, have any of you done this or know of anyone who has? I've been to a couple of websites and talked to some home owners, so I do have some leads. Most are 10-15 min from Disney.

We're planning on going at Thanksgiving. Not a great time, from what I've heard. (Kind of busy there?) Any opinions on that?

And I don't want to overwhelm my kids (mine are 7, 5 and 2). What are the "must do" things? Of course MK (2 days?). But, Universal or MGM? A water park? (depends on what's open, I guess) I'm iffy on AK and Epcot, what do you all think?

THANK YOU, from a huge rookie!

M

 

[Barb D]

Hi, Michelle! Welcome to the DIS!

I can't answer your questions about houses, but I can point you to http://www.mousesavers.com, where you can find discount codes for the WDW resorts. I don't know if any of them will be valid for Thanksgiving time, though. I'm about to cancel 2 rooms at All Star Sports at a $55 code rate for earlier in November. (We got into Shades of Green/Contemporary after being on the waiting list.) One advantage of staying onsite is that you won't all need cars. The WDW transportation system will take you everywhere you need to go.

About which parks and attractions, it partly depends on how long you'll be staying. MK has the most for your kids, but MGM has some really fun stuff, too. EPCOT not so much, but there are a few not-to-miss things there, too. AK is the one we skip if we're not going to be there for long. We skipped it altogether when we did a 3 day trip, and did half a day on a 4-day trip. The animals are the same ones you'd see in a zoo at home, although in a much cooler setting, of course. There aren't many rides (although the ones they have are great). The shows are good.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I agree to check on the discount codes for an on site resort if possible. Perhaps a villa would be nice for your family. With 13 people of all ages it would make for a much more relaxed trip if each family had the option of going back to you resort as need be.Thanksgiving will be a very busy time and trafic getting into the parks will be heavy. On site, you can use WDW transportation.

As for the parks, I would try to stick to Disney parks only if this is most of your family members first trip. You will find more there than you can do and with small kids, more things geared toward them. I would also try to spend some time in all four parks if time and your passes allow. I think there is something for everyone in all four parks. My DS loves Epcot and I think it is terrific for all ages. We also love AK. My least favorite with small kids is MGM. There are a lot of shows, but not a lot of rides for the little one. A lot of time at MK is a given. If time allows, I think that all the kids would enjoy a water park too. It would give them some true play time together.

Don't forget to plan some time apart too.Each family needs some time and space alone. You will want to make some PS's to cut down on wait time at resturants.

Have fun planning and a great trip.

Jordan's mom

 

[mikesmom]

I would agree with the poster that said stick with WDW if this is your first trip. There is MORE than enough to do there. You don't say how long your trip will be, but we did 8 days our first trip and still didn't see it all. It's hard to explain to someone whose never been there. It's not all about rides. there's something to do or look at every inch of every park. It's not like a park where in between rides you have nothing but concrete walks.

MK is definitely your primary park with little ones, but don't discount the others. Epcot has ALWAYS been my son's favorite, and he's gone several times starting at age 7. Our grandson went for the 1st time this year. He's only 4, and his favorite was AK.

If you mean this Thanksgiving, you pretty much will need to look at a home offsite. I agree with the poster who said onsite lets parts of your party go back and rest if needed, but I believe there are other posts on this board that says WDW is completely sold out for Thanksgiving Week. You may find a room here or there from cancellations, but you are not likely to find rooms for your size group.

If you are planning on next Thanksgiving, you might want to try and rent a Villa from a DVC member. They hold 12 plus a child under 3, so you are the right size group. Check the Rent/Trade board and start early!

Good luck and have a great trip.

 

[crisi]

Are you all Disney newbies or have you been before?

I wouldn't recommend a large party of first timers go over Thanksgiving (or anytime the park is crowded). It can be hard enough to get your bearings (especially with a lot of people) in the off season. Also, during crowded times the park is open later in order for you to get enough in - which is not necessarily the best thing for younger kids. You'll spend ten hours a day in the park at Thanksgiving, and see half of what you'd see in eight hours two weeks before.

How many days are you planning on spending?

We have never been to Universal. I'd do AK over MGM any day (especially if your kids are "zoo kids" - mine are). Like Jordan's Mom, MGM ranks at the bottom of my list for small kids.

One of the big advantanges of staying on site will be the ability for your party to split up easily.

One of the lessons we have learned over the years traveling with family is that you should establish before you leave how much "togetherness" you are going to have. It doesn't need to be mapped out - but you do need to establish whether everyone expects to be together all the time, or if it will be acceptable to split up (within the same park so the two year old can ride Dumbo again, while the rest of you head over to the Haunted Mansion, someone likes to sleep in, split amongst different parks, Grandma and Grandpa go to Epcot while the rest of you go to the water park????)

 

[robinb]

Mousesavers is a great place to start. So is here: DIS Hotel Specials .

13 people is a lot! I did a trip in July with 7 adults and 4 children and we ended up in 3 rooms at the Contemporary. It sounds like that might be out of your price range, however. A 4 bedroom house would work for you, although you may be able to squeeze into a 3 bedroom if someone sleeps on the fold-out couch. You might also want to consider the Holiday Inn Family Suites. Many large families rave about the place. Or, you could rent 3-4 conventional hotel rooms.

Will you have cars? If not you will want to make sure that the hotel you end up at has frequent bus service to the parks. It also helps when the bus is dedicated to the hotel. It would be a huge pain to have a melting 2 year old when the bus won't pick you up for another hour and then makes multiple stops before you get back home. Then again, if you rent cars you'll have to factor the cost of the cars into the equation too.

Thanksgiving is busy, busy, busy. My best advise is to get to the park of your choice when the gates open and stay until it gets crowded. You can do more in the first hour the park is open than 2 or even 3 hours in the middle of the day.

Good luck!

 

[MichelleC]

We were planning on arriving the Saturday before Thanksgiving and staying a week. Do you all think it'll still be majorly crowded the whole week? Like, how about if we did MK early in the week? That's really my priority.

What do you think?

M

 

[LittleLady]

We rented a house last year, right off of US192 and loved it so much, we are going again this year and staying in the same house. There are
many rental properties in this area and they are
only about 3-5 miles away from Walt Disney World.
I have stayed on Disney property in the past and
love that as well but this is cheaper and gets you
away from all of the activity. It is also great for children, as they can sleep in their own room so if the adults want to stay up late they won't
disturb the little ones. We rented a 5 bedroom/4
bathroom house with a screened in pool and jacuzzi in the back yard. The house was spotless and very
pretty. Have a great trip!

 

[travelitis]

Nine of us are staying in 2, 2 bedroom timeshares just a few minutes from WDW over Thanksgiving because it offers us so much more comfort for the money. If I were you I'd be looking at homes with pools, too. However, with a group that large there is a lot to be said for the convenience of staying even at All Stars. That way splitting up and going on your own is much easier. There's no car-pooling, and the early risers aren't waiting on night owls to get going in the morning. That's assuming you aren't driving or renting separate vehicles.

While I expect Thanksgiving and the following weekend to be busy, the days preceeding it are historically low season. Also, Disney's attendance this summer was low, so I'm not sure we'll have a miserably packed park. You need to go when everyone is available, and what a special way to celebrate your Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

One of my favorite planning sites is www.wdwig.com. I would suggest getting a guide book like the Unofficial Guide.

 

[cinder1]

My Unofficial Guide says that "from after the Thanksgiving weekend until the week before Christmas" is the least busy time. So part of your visit may be very busy and the rest may be great. Try to plan accordingly. I agree that MGM is the lowest priority for us. Last yr my kids were 6, 4 and 18 mths and they all loved Epcot and AK (of course, MK was the best). During the busy days, I'd go to AK and do MK when the crowds die down.

 

[veraletta]

I think staying at a disney resort would be better, ever if you need about 3 or 4 rooms at all stars.
I dont know how you will feel about, being with each other, day after day, with you all being in one house.
Thats asking alot from everyone. and we all know how kids like to fight.. at least with you all having your own rooms, you will have some down time (time by your self), without hurting each other feelings..
Another good part about staying at the resort, if some one gets sick, they can go back to their resort on the buses.

I know if my three kids and their DH or DW where at disney in the same house, they would kill each other..first of all: its hot, long days, kids fighting, we all need that break from each other.. we did have Connecting rooms but it was nice to close the door every night. We had 4 rooms at CS with each two rooms connecting..