First time visiting with a large family + kids! Please Help!

[Baloo76]

I have been to WDW many times in the past, but with just 2 people, on-site, no kids and regular fastpasses.

This time will be quite a bit different. My traveling party includes:
Me, DW, DS (24 mos), DS (7 mos)
SIL, BIL, Nephew (7), Niece (5), Nephew (19 mos)
SIL, BIL
MIL, FIL
So in total - 8 adults, 2 kids, 3 babies
We are checking in Saturday Nov 28 and leaving Saturday Dec 4.

We are all staying at my In-Law's timeshare about 5-10 mins from WDW property. This is not going to be a true 'Disney' trip. The plan is to just visit MK + do MVMCP (we will be doing other stuff like Universal, pool days, etc during the rest of our time). Since i'm the resident disney 'expert' though, a lot of stuff will fall on my shoulders.

Here are my questions:

1. How many days do you think we should plan for MK? My SIL wants to do 2 because she wants to be sure the kids can do all the rides, but that increases the prices significantly especially if we are also getting MVMCP tix. We probably will not bother with the thrill rides such as Space, Slash, BTMRR.

2. If we want to see the 'shows' during MVMCP but maybe not the characters, do you think we'll be able to get some rides in between 4-7 before the party actually starts since we won't have normal park tickets to use FP+ during that time?

3. How should I tackle FP+? I know I have a lot of time to think about it since we can only book them 30 days early, but I'm very concerned about trying to coordinate this will everyone in my family. I don't even know where to start with FP+ with so many people.

4. What are the chances of getting reservations at restaurants such as 'Ohana and Chef Mickey's? CM is the most important as we want to see all of the 'fab 5' (so Cape May Cafe is out) I've done some 'tests' with 180 days out from now and seems impossible to get them for such large parties since they are so populate (plus onsite guests can book more than 180 days ahead).


Thanks for your help! Really feeling overwhelmed with this. MY SIL and her family are in the middle of a move, and no one else seems to be anxious to plan anything (which is probably why they barely saw anything the last time they visited).

 

[Mikie]

1) honestly, I've only done all-Disney trips, or all-beach/Florida, so take it with a grain of salt. . But with so many young 'ins I can't imagine spending less than 2 days at MK.
2) your party tickets will allow you to make FP+ selections during that 4-7 window!
3) find out whether your family has any preferences on whether you all stay together at all times and whether people have any "must do's". If touring all together, try first to get Fastpasses for all 10 of you at once (kids under 3 don't need FPs). If you're not seeing availability, try looking for 5 and 5, or 4, 4, 2 with times get are almost the same (I.e. One might be 11-12, while the other is 11:10-12:10 and you can all go on together during the overlapping part). I liked booking all FPs late morning/early afternoon in a row, so we were scheduled during that time and could split up or do whatever we wanted after ride reservations. If you use your FPs on family-friendly things like Peter Pan and MinE Train, adults who want to do bigger rides should ride those in the morning when lines are shorter.

3) O'hana is an excellent good choice for a big group, and Chef Mickey's good too. I'm not sure when you're looking at being there, but if you can be flexible about your meal times and/or days, I'm optimistic you can do it. When I traveled in a moderate crowd time with a group of 12, I called right at 7am Eastern when the ADR line opens and had good luck getting those same restaurants at very standard dinner times. I haven't used it, but I hear there's a dining finder that searches for ADRs for you (for a small fee) perhaps worth investigating if you don't initially get what you need

 

[Mikie]

To add - I've also never done the parties, but for the price, I wonder if they're worth it for your group? At those ages, my kids were far more energetic in the morning than at night. I could count on seeing and doing a lot more all day long than being awake and attentive from 7-12.

 

[tobikaye]

I have never been with more than 5 people. I am not one to plan too much in advance, but I do usually go through all the attractions and kind of make a list of which attractions everyone will do and the attractions that only part will do. Then you can see which are the attractions with the longest waits and try to make the FPs for those. Remember that with the babies, if they are under a height requirement, you can use rider swap. So, you could either have some of the party wait in line or use FP+ and then those that waited can enter with just a rider swap pass.

Since 3 of the 5 are babies, something to consider would be for only part of the group to do the second day at MK with the 2 older kids so they could do the attractions the others might be too small for. Maybe that day could be during a MVMCP day so that then the rest of the group could meet up at 4 pm. You should be able to make FP+ for the 4-7 pm time with just your party ticket. There will be a lot of people trying to get in right at 4 pm. Since a lot of people like to go to the parties for the characters, the 4-7 time frame will have a lot of people trying to get on some attractions.

As for the dining reservations, I am not sure as I have not tried for as large a group as you have. For smaller numbers, I can usually find something at some point. I would actually try to make these for days when you are not already going to be at MK as then you do not have to take time out of the parks to do them. If you are trying to see the fab 5, you could consider a something like 'Ohana for Mickey and Pluto and then Cape May for Minnie, Goofy and Donald.

 

[Jennytoon]

OK, this might be a bit out there as a suggestion and don't know what the finances are, but have you looked into the VIP tour? The tour is a minimum 6 hours and marked on Disney's site as ranging from $350 - $500 / hour for 10 people. At first, those prices might make you croak. BUT ... if you are in the $350 zone and you only do the minimum 6 hours, then you're looking at $210 pp on top of the ticket. Since MVMCP is a hard ticket, you could potentially do the tour one day -- which by all reports is EXTREMELY efficient, and then just the party on the second day. Then instead of 2 days MK tickets + MVMCP ticket, you would do a single day ticket + MVMCP ticket. So the cost differential per person once you take off that second day from your MK ticket (~$87) is between a third and a half the pp cost of the VIP tour right there. I know not everybody might want to do exactly the same things, but if your group mostly wants to stay together and you can afford the additional expense, the tour will get your entire group through the FP line (of as many rides as you want, as many times as you want on each ride) without you having to deal with the headache of trying to find FP slots for 10 that work with your park windows starting 30 days out.

 

[DisMommyTX]

This is a situation in which some might consider booking a "throwaway room". One night at the campground includes magic bands for up to 10 people, free parking and access to extra magic hours on checkin and checkout day, as well as the ability to book fp+ 60 days out-- all for about $100.

Search the boards for a thread with tons of info, as well as extensive commentary on the ethics of gaming the system.

 

[Kathryn777]

I am surprised the 7 year old won't want to do the bigger rides, mine (4 & 8) love the Disney coasters sooo much. I have never done a party with my kids either, I agree that it is very late for them. I would definitely do two days minimum at MK. I find MK soo much better than universal for little kid.

- never done a party can't answer #2

- I would be doing rope drop for sure, with kids that age, mine are all up anyway. We took a larger group. We used fp+, but I booked them in smaller groups to make it easier and just had the times overlap. I would make a list of your must rides, figure out what you can hit before it gets too crowded and then try to fp the rest, it is sometimes easier to fp the less popular ones and get to the others early, we did a fp for buzz, Winnie the pooh, for example and got to space and Peter pan really early

- I've never booked chef mickeys but we did Ohana for brunch on Easter and got it for 14. I booked it 180 days out, we stayed offsite.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

For number 3, we had everyone make a top 3 list. We choose what things we wanted to do together and other things we will split up on. I am making all the reservations so I can try to coordinate times (give my step-mom and DS something to do while we are all on a big ride). We like to do a lot of touring together, but you also need to consider how you will likely tour. By the way, there are 7 adults, 1 tween and 1 toddler in our crew. I have gone with big groups several times, but this is my first trip with FP+ so I will be curious to see how it plays out. Good luck.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

Number 4: we got reservations for Ohana for 9 at 180 days out (first day). We also got Chef Mickey's. I feel like it may be better to call a cast member to help with larger parties. The online system doesn't handle them very well in my experience.