First ever DW family trip-8 people! :o

[taythecray]

My mom officially confirmed our upcoming Disney trip! We will be going January 4-10 2016 so still a ways away, but this is a huge deal for us She also said that my stepbrothers will be joining us, bringing our total up to 8 people! Anyone else have a family this big? We are all considered Disney adults (6 of us are over 18) and I already know we will have to pay 18% gratuity at restaurants, but does anyone have any money saving tips? Looking for the best deals and most affordable way to take this vacation, but we also want to be sure to stay on-site. Resort recommendations? We won't be swimming, just using the rooms to sleep. I have no idea how I'm going to please everybody when everyone has so many different tastes 0_o. We already know we won't be adding park hoppers so overall this is going to be interesting. Has anybody gone with a group like this and split up? I'm looking at it that way but that makes planning FPs and ADRs so much more difficult.

 

[fluffykalie]

I think big group trips work best when everyone talks before the trip. It helps with managing everyone's expectaions and knowing what everyone wants to do. My family is going to plan most fast pass's together. Watch the parade and fireworks together at mk. Then see how the days at the parks are going to see if we want to all keep hanging out and doing stuff together. We are going to have touring plans that we will use as guides but not follow it exactly just see how the days go. We will be spending time together most days and have a beach day where we will be together all day. We will be traveling with 9 people 5 adults 4 children.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Since you are going with a large group of people who all have different tastes, I would try to schedule structured and unstructured time. Maybe plan a meal together each day or every other day, and then allow people time to roam and do what they want to do. For instance, say you're going to Animal Kingdom. What I would do is get everyone up for park opening, have everyone ride Dinosaur since that would be a cool ride photo, separate for the remainder of the day, and then meet back for dinner at wherever dinner is planned. You want to have a nice family vacation but you also want to avoid high tensions that come with travelling with a large group of people with varying tastes.

 

[chris31997]

A family meeting is a must. The first big hurdle will be the resort.

Make a list of the resorts and prices:full rate(rack) prices to see what the most everyone can afford

This will give everyone an idea. Then the group can decide to either have one person make the reservations or each group be responsible for their own.

Also get an idea what everyone's expectation is when it comes to parades, eating.....You can split up for rides and parades and then meet up for dinner. You will also want to know budget for this, quick serve, sit down, dining plan.

You can start looking for deals, specials for the dates you want to go after you know everyone's budget.

 

[EPCOTgrl1]

We did a big group for my sisters 21st. I think in total there were 11 of us. We stayed on property because everyone that went down had DVC so we all had our own places with a kitchen which made things a little easier.

As for hotels you want to do what you can afford. If you are able to drive down or rent a car it might be easier to stay off site because you can get a cheaper place to stay that includes a kitchen. I hear of a lot of people being able to rent a house for a party of that size. The down side is if you are staying off site you will have to pay about $20 for parking. So it has its ups and downs.

Also when traveling with a big group all I did was say this is what park we will be at and this is where we are planning to have dinner. People would let me know if they wanted to join us for dinner and from there I made the reservations. I want to say because you are a party of 8 you should not have to do anything special to make the reservations, just remember to make them 180 days in advance to get the times and location that you want. If you party reaches 10 or more you will have to contact the restaurant directly.

The biggest tip I have for saving money is to bring you own food. We always bring down what we will eat for breakfast and we also bring down snacks to have throughout the day. A big thing now is to take your lunch to the park with you. That alone will save you at least $15 a day per person. If you choose to do a quick service split the meal. It is always big enough for two.

 

[tink9702]

We went in November and had my family of 4, and 4 other adult family members so 8 total people. We decided to stay off-site because 2 people didn't want to hit the parks as often as the rest and it was cheaper with that many people to do a 4 bedroom house off-site even with cars and parking costs added in.

As far as how to plan for this many I'd start with deciding which parks and which restaurants you want to do for your direct family, then contact everyone else, tell them your plans and ask what they want to do with you. You may end up doing more work (reservations for 4 for one restaurant and 4 for another restaurant on the same night) but everyone will be much happier to get what they want. I basically had a spreadsheet showing the parks we were visiting, restaurant and FP and it was broken down by people, so my family of 4, group of 2, group of 2. One day we went to Animal Kingdom with my sister & her fiance one morning and then they park hopped to Epcot in the afternoon while we stayed at AK. We were also the only ones who wanted to do MK two days so one day everyone went together and the other day was just my family. We scheduled FP+ for the stuff everyone wanted to do (Space, Thunder, Splash) on the first day and then more "kid" rides for day 2. While we were in the parks we also split up sometimes because my DD wasn't tall enough for some rides. So DH took her to see Ariel while everyone else was on Space. When we split up we just designated a time&place to meet back up again. Easy! plus we did all have a cell phone in case we were delayed meeting up.

YOu have Plenty of time to pre-plan. Have fun deciding!

 

[DisneyCAL]

My mom officially confirmed our upcoming Disney trip! We will be going January 4-10 2016 so still a ways away, but this is a huge deal for us She also said that my stepbrothers will be joining us, bringing our total up to 8 people! Anyone else have a family this big? We are all considered Disney adults (6 of us are over 18) and I already know we will have to pay 18% gratuity at restaurants, but does anyone have any money saving tips? Looking for the best deals and most affordable way to take this vacation, but we also want to be sure to stay on-site. Resort recommendations? We won't be swimming, just using the rooms to sleep. I have no idea how I'm going to please everybody when everyone has so many different tastes 0_o. We already know we won't be adding park hoppers so overall this is going to be interesting. Has anybody gone with a group like this and split up? I'm looking at it that way but that makes planning FPs and ADRs so much more difficult.

I would suggest having each person in the party make a wish list. And as a group try to make as many of these wishes come true. This might mean for example, that everybody tries to do Splash Mountain together as a family but then split into smaller groups after that. It may mean splitting up all day so everybody can do what they want but return at night for dinner together as a family. Don't go into it expecting that you will all want to do the exact same rides at the same park on the same day. You may find that you want a morning alone with your mother so perhaps putting something like that on a wish list may help with making plans. If you have iPhones you can get the find a friend app so you can see where everybody is. Hope this helps. Our group has 6 and we've come to an agreement to do whatever during the day and meet up at night for table service dinners. My DH and I have 2 kids that can't do Space Mountain so we've put on our wish list that Mother in law be there at our FP time so we can ride together. My Mother in Law and Sister in Law want a night together so they will have dinner together one night while my family does epcot showcases which they aren't interested in. You probably should do wish lists and then have a disney planning night to go through it all day by day that you're on vacation. Hope this helps.