Family of 7 wanting to go to WDW

[BecsBunch]

Hello

I am looking for all information I can get regarding taking a family of 7 to WDW. We have been twice before but never with all five of the children. They are 12, 9, 8, 6, and 3.

We tent camp every year in July/August with no running water or electricity. We live in MI so we do have to deal with some humidity however not nearly as high as FL, I'm guessing.

Any suggestions from other large families? We would be packing and flying from MI rather than driving as we do not have a vehicle that we would want to drive that far and we don't have any credit cards so renting a vehicle is out of the picture as well.

So...any suggestions?


Thanks

 

[LONE-STAR]

There is a website called www.makecampingeasy.com He will rent you a pop up camper take it to the Fort and set it up for you. That's the way I would go because you would have A/C and in the south you need it.

 

[clkelley]

If you fly you need to go with Southwest so that you get two checked bags a piece for no charge.

At Ft. Wilderness, you will have electricity and water, so bring stuff to be comfortable. Bring the extension cords, power strips, fans, lights, etc.

Bring chairs, air mattresses.

Request Loop 2000. That Loop has larger sand areas to spread out a good large tent setup (or multiple tents and screen room)

Take a flight early in the day, so you have plenty of time to have DME deliver your stuff and get set up before it gets too late.

Bring a set of toiletries for each adult and the older kids, that way you don't have to wait on each other to take showers.

Bring some of the thin cheap painters plastic to lay down underneath your regular ground cloth. You then ditch that plastic at the end of your trip. It keeps the bottom of your tent cleaner.

If you are going to cook at your campsite and won't be renting a car, you'll need to use a grocery service like wegoshop.com or gardengrocer.com to order your groceries.

Make one of your checked items an Xtreme Cooler or a mini-fridge. Even with the Xtreme Cooler, you will go through lots of ice especially in the summer. Ice is $2.00 a bag.

Using a propane stove won't be possible as you can't take propane on the plane, so an electric griddle, crock pot, or electric frying pan will be what you need.

I'm sure other folks will chime in with other ideas.

 

[mamaloya]

Well, I have a large family as well. My last trip I actually brought 5 of mine, plus a niece and nephew, plus a friend and her 2 & 3 yo.

I do have to say that one plus of having a large family and staying at FW, is the comfort stations. Everyone can shower at the same time. LOL

Carol (clkelley) has the best advice. She has flown and capped a few times. I am used to loading up as much as I can and taking what I want.

If renting a popup is in your budget, go for it. I loved my popup and hope to own one again soon. For now I am tenting. The popup up would solve having to bring cooler, air mattresses, bed linens, paper plates, cooking stuff, etc.

You did not give too much info, so will need more info so that I can give more specific advice.

What type of tent do you have? How many tents?
Are you planning on cooking at camp?
When are you going?
How long will you be there?

When I had ones that could not bathe themselves, I would use the handicap shower stall. There is a fold down bench in there that I could stand my little one on. There is also a hand held shower that made showering him/her so much easier. The extra space also is great for a stroller to put him/her in while I took my shower.

Since you are used to camping, I am assuming your questions are specifically to flying and camping and camping at FW.

Ask away and I am sure everyone here will be able to get them answered.

Happy camping!

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

There is also someone around here renting a really nice 5th wheel camper at the fort. www.campatthefort.com I think Anyway, this might be a great alternative as you would all have AC, a refrigerator, cooking place, etc. As June can be a rain month, you'll also stay nice and dry. Plus you'll eliminate the need to haul all that stuff from MI.

Just a thought!

 

[disney4dan]

If you like to cook with propane, I think the trading posts carried the smaller Coleman propane disposable bottles when we were there in August 2008. You might even be able to get the local grocery delivery services to provide that, could call in advance to see.

If you go in August, it's so hot you could probably cook on the blacktop!

 

[ElementCamper]

If you like to cook with propane, I think the trading posts carried the smaller Coleman propane disposable bottles when we were there in August 2008. You might even be able to get the local grocery delivery services to provide that, could call in advance to see.

If you go in August, it's so hot you could probably cook on the blacktop!

Keep in mind you pay a premium for the one pound propane bottles at the Trading Post.

I ran out of propane on a visit to FW and decided to just go to the MTP instead of going offsite. The shelf was empty where the propane bottles were so the CM had to go get some out of the back and restock, including getting the price gun and put the stickers on them. He priced the bottle and gave it to me, if I remember correctly it was around $6!

I said 'wow, that's some pricey propane' to which the CM didn't bat an eye and said 'it's Disney propane, it's better!' We both got a good laugh out of that, and it bought the propane.

Flying in it will be really hard to camp, I recommend the popup or fifth wheel camper rental but also compare the price difference with several rooms at a value. My opinion you really can't fly and camp comfortably.

 

[BecsBunch]

I want to thank you for your wonderful advice! Each of you offered more for me to add to my list. I'll put my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with. Thank you again for the suggestions.

Becky