Grand gatherings and ADRs

[Kerriann]

Hi there

First let me say that this is the first Disney trip I have ever planned, so I need a lot of help. We are a "grand gathering" of 11 (!) and we are approaching our ADR dates so I'm trying to get a handle on how to go about this. For the record, the group consists of:

6 adults
5 children - ages 7, 4, 3, 21mo and 10mo at the time of the trip

We are going from August 22nd to the 27th.

Okay. So when making ADRs would we be doing this for a party of 11? Or should we split the groups - but then we might not get the same times? We will probably not get to sit together right? Does anyone know what the largest sized groups that are typically sat together are?

I guess I'm wondering if it's realistic to plan dining for a party of 11, and if so, any tips?

We have the free dining so we'll be making ADRs for dinner most nights - still working out what character stuff we want to do. We are considering the grand gathering breakfast, so if anyone has an experiences with that I'd love to hear it!

 

[bumbershoot]

I could be wrong, but I believe that if you are an official grand gathering, then they can make your ADRs for you... So you might not have to worry about much beyond who wants to eat where and when.

 

[maleka23]

When I did a Grand Gathering a four years ago, I had to call and make the reservations by phone and didn't split the group up. We had a party between 11-13 people. For the most part, we were able to sit together with the exception at Coral Reef and Liberty Tree Tavern.

I'm planning another Grand Gathering in September of this year. It is now easier to do the reservations for dining online. You can make it for up to 14 people.

You can call Disney and ask for the Grand Gathering department. They will give you a Grand Gathering group number and you just need to provide all who is involved. If you're at the same resort, they will try and group you together.

I've only done the Illuminations Grand Gathering and loved it but have heard that Tony's Breakfast is great.

Let me know if there's anything else I could help with!

 

[MichiganMomto4]

You should not have any problems making your adrs for 11 online for your group. Of course, really popular restaurants may be difficult with a party that size, only because they fill up very fast.

You will have to call grand gatherings to make any grand gathering specific reservations for your party (meaning, the events that are only available to grand gatherings like the Illuminations dinner; tony's breakfast, safari breakfast, etc....)

And even though you didn't ask I highly recommend the Tony's breakfast - it was GREAT!! We also did the Illuminations Dinner. I can't give it quite the recommendation that I give Tony's but it was good. Lots of food choices, neat entertainment and a really, really good dessert buffet at another location for Illuminations. The only problem is, that location isn't the best viewing area and you have to try and eat standing up.

 

[Sherrkel]

I've made ADRs in past for our GG anywhere from 10 to 26 people at a time. The online system is definitely nice; when I made our ADRs last fall for our trip this month I had to split some of them up because at the time the system didn't handle more than 10 people per ADR. I also made some of my ADRs through the dining # as well.

During our 2007 trip we were pretty much all seated together. However during 2009 trip they split us up more (even though I made early seating ADRs like 4:30 or 5:30pm).

I've wondered if I try to call the restaurant directly the day of our meal and speak to someone at the podium about hoping to be seated together if it would help more . . . I'm not sure.

Good luck getting what you want.

 

[soccer_mom4]

We are also a grand gathering of 11! We are going in June. We split our ADR's among 3 of us in the group & all called at 7:00 a.m. We were able to get all the ressies we were hoping for - we were told that we'd have to be split at a couple of the restaurants, but for the most part they could accomodate us. Also great to hear the recommendation about Tony's - we did reserve that grand gathering event. So excited! Good luck!!!

 

[Kerriann]

Thanks so much for the feedback! So, the only thing that I really need to do differently is provide our grand gathering number if we want to do the breakfast at Tony's, correct? Otherwise we can just go ahead and make the reservations for a party of 11 and hope we get what we want?

I'm still trying to decide if we should do them ourselves or have our travel agent do them. I like the idea of having control over it myself but yet this is my first time so I feel like I'll mess it up somehow

 

[Sherrkel]

I can understand the delimma about having the TA do it, vs. doing it yourself. It's true you don't technically "own" the ADR (same as it goes when making resort reservations through an agent). I actually enjoy making the ADRs myself; I like talking to the CMs and feeling excited when I've been able to get what we want.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

I need advice. I have been voted (in my absence) to get up a grand gathering for 18 people for a 50th anniversary. Everyone in the group but one is 10 and over. Anyone who has done it can you tell me what is best a grand villa or a few of them or separate hotel rooms. I have vacationed over the years with each of these family members separately to WDW but one. Lost for ideashttp://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/surf.gif