Family Planning Help?

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

I am looking for any suggestions concerning planning for a family gathering in 2009. There will be 2, possibly 3 groups. One group is my DC48 (cousin), her DIL, DGD5 and DGS22 months. My group is me, DS19, DN29 (niece), DGN4 (great-niece) and DGN16 months (great-nephew). My DB52, DM75 and DN7 (nephew/DB's son) is a possible part of the group. My cousin and I are thinking about WLR or POFQ but my DB would be more in line with POP. My biggest concern is that my brother will be a party pooper. This started out as a trip that my cousin and I planned for the little girls' first WDW trip. Everyone else has been there at once except for the children.

I am so looking forward to this and spending time with family, that's what is most important but I also know that I am almost militant about doing the parks and seeing everything!

 

[Aliceacc]

I have to laugh... this is SO not what I thought you were asking about when you mentioned "family planning"

I've never done it, but from what I've read, what seems to work is this:

Plan some meals together-- say one per day. If you're all at the same resort, also plan some pool time together "Anyone who is interested: family pool time is 1-3 pm each day. Stop by if you're interested."

Possibly let people know which parks you suggest on which day, based on crowd predicions.

BEyond that, though, I think it can get crazy. Your 19 year old son is not looking for the same things from WDW as that 7 year old boy.

As to resort: either agree to disagree and book separately, or go for the least common denominator. If your brother can't afford a Mod, it's probably not fair to expect him to book a vacation there in the name of family unity.

 

[Darcy03231]

We traveled as a larger group last summer. I found what worked for us was I made my plans for the day and let everyone know what I was doing. They were welcome to join me or do their own thing. We all ended up being in the same park each day. My family tends to be early risers while my sister and her husband tend to like to sleep in. My mom and I would get up early and take my kids (16 & 14) and her two older kids (12 & 9) into the parks with us. She and her husband would then join us later with their youngest (3.5). We would meet up when they got there. The three oldest went off on their own and we kept in touch by cellphone. We took turns taking the youngest around so the adults could all do the rides they wanted. The 9 y.o. (very tiny, she was just barely wearing a size 6) tends to be very timid about a lot of the rides so she was happy to stick with the youngest most of the time or go off with the adults and ride some medium sized rides. We had dinner together most nights (and the same with lunches as the teens would call us to meet up for meals). Everyone had a great time and got along for the entire 16 days we were there.

I think problems arise when everyone has different expectations of a vacation. Some people like to sleep in on their vacation and go at a relaxed pace while others like commando touring. There's nothing wrong with either style as long as everyone is on the same page. My sister and I have completely different expectations of a vacation so we found this worked for us. There were a couple of mornings that they got up early and we all went together, but most days they met us there. Most mornings they were just starting to get up when we were leaving so they weren't that far behind us.

 

[Elmo888]

I have to laugh... this is SO not what I thought you were asking about when you mentioned "family planning"

I had the exact same thought! LOL!

 

[catbertdave99]

I agree wholeheartedly with the PP's. We traveled with our neighbors and stayed at CBR (but in different sections). We actually hoped to be next to each other, but it worked out well to be several buildings apart. They got their space when they wanted it and we got ours. We met each morning at the food court for breakfast, talked about what parks we would go to, and we did our own thing sometimes and got together later, or other times we hung out together. Just depended. We did what was best for our family, and if it matched theirs, great -- if not, that was great too.

Another family was there the same time. They had expectations of spending lots of time together, and they got their feelings hurt. It was too bad for the son, because the mom pulled them out of Disney and they left a couple days earlier than planned!

Next year, we'll probably be there with our neighbors again, as well as a couple other families we're related to. We're telling them all where WE are staying -- if they want to stay at the same place, great, but if not that's ok too. We will do SOME things together, and some things apart, the more the better but it'll all be good! -- clear expectations, and a great time!

 

[Reagan&Co.]

Oh, I got on here to help you with birth control!!!

 

[Kenenitz]

With 12 people is it possible to get a villa together, although the price is more, there are three families splitting it, you can use the kitchen for meals, you have more time to hang as a group and yet can all take off on your own when you want to. Just a suggestion.

 

[tlbwriter]

Having taken family trips with both my family and my ILs, I think the absolute most important thing is to not insist on constant togetherness. Plan some activities together (dinner, fireworks, parades) and then let people split up into individual families or people with shared interests.

 

[Taja]

Check into a Grand Gathering with WDW. There should be a link to information on their website. I believe you need 8 or more people, with 80% staying on site. That may have changed--I haven't been involved with one since 2006.

Definitely agree with the PPs about developing your own itinerary and planning and agreeing to specific meeting times and places--some meals, some not. And just say, if you'd like to join us, meet us at this park at this location at xyz time. We'll wait five minutes, if you aren't there, we'll be moving on and will see you later.

Everyone has different expectations. You can plan your heart out, and many will totally ignore the plan and consequently complain that they didn't see or do anything. So plan for your immediate family, and invite the others to join you or not, as they choose.

 

[Nanu57v]

I have to laugh... this is SO not what I thought you were asking about when you mentioned "family planning"

Me too! I thought this was a thread on birth control!


We did a trip with DH, DD2 and myself, my brother, his friend, and my parents. It was a little frustrated because we all made our own plans and we didn't really get to do stuff together very much, except for meals. I decided next time we should block out days as well. Like Tuesday morning we are all going to meet at MGM for 2 hours and THursday evening we are all going to meet for Peter Pan and Wishes for 2 hours...that way, we can have quality family time other than meals, but still have individual family time the rest, and we can plan it all in advance.