Grand Gatherings - How Many People Did You Have? How Did It Go?

[wannabee princess]

Background - We have been to the World many times - that is myself, DH, two DS's. We have been to all four parks. I am a Disneyaholic.

DH's whole family is going to the World together this year. This includes my MIL, FIL, 2 SIL's, one of the SIL's dh and 5 DK's. None of them have been to all of the parks. Most of them have been 1 time - and it would have been in the hot summertime.

I am interested in hearing about other's experiences with large groups. What advice do you have? What was the best thing you did together? Did you spend all day everyday together? Did you all leave still liking each other? Let me know from your personal experience what to look out for and what to avoid.

 

[ironz]

Our family went before they even came up with this marketing for Grand Gatherings (we are convinced we were the role models! )

We had 19 people...our mother (age 69 at the time), me and my 5 siblings, 4 of them had spouses (all the adults were from mid-30s to about 50 years old), and 8 nieces and nephews, ranging from 5 to 14 years of age.

We stayed in 4 or 5 rooms at the Poly, because of the proximity to the TTC and monorail. The kids loved the pool, and that was even before the newer, cooler volcano pool they have now.

We pretty much stayed together...4 of us ran the half-marathon, and the rest were spectators near the TTC and met us at the finish. We went to the parks together 4 of 5 park days...the other day, most of the clan went to Cape Canaveral...but several of us stayed and park-hopped. We did use walkie-talkies for the times that groups split up...for instance...kids (and some parents) going to Dumbo while bigger kids (including my generation!) going to Space Mountain. Since the walkie-talkies tend to get lots of people on one channel, they can kindof be a pain...if you have cell phones, you might try that and just call, or better yet, text message each other.

Since we were there in January, the crowds were low, which was great for us. Weather was fine that year. (other Januarys since then have been colder.)

For meals, we did a lot of counter service, including at the Poly (though I really do not like Captain Cooks). We did the luau one night at the Poly, and we had a PS for the Biergarten in Germany one night.

Let me know if you have any other questions or need other specifics. It was a trip of a lifetime!! I've been a few times since...but it will never be quite like that big adventure. So, obviously, we were still all speaking by the end. Sure, there were a couple of flare-ups...one related to who was getting to "lead" the pack (between me, the Disney-phile somewhat control freak, and my brother the CM) and one related to a certain sub-group that was always running behind the rest of us. But overall, those were minor incidents.

Cheers!

 

[grammy3princesses]

We are going in July 12 of us, 4 kids 7 and under, 2 GGrandmas and 6 adults. It seems to be mind boggling. We have an agenda with a hope lots of "down time" and time to be "not so together".
We are only doiing 2 parks iin 5 days and I hope that will give us breathing time.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

jo
3 princesses and ta-da 1 prince.

 

[ryansmom]

There were 11 of us for our trip back in '99. Six adults, five kids. We stayed together all but one night when we split up for a dinner. We stayed at the Contemporary (3 rooms) because of the convenience of the monorail. (BIL was on chemo, we wanted things as convenient as possible). We did the HDDR and really enjoyed it. Overall the whole trip was wonderful. No arguments (kids or adults), just pure enjoyment!!

This Oct. there will be 11 of us again. Five adults, six kids. We are splitting our stay between Poly and AKL. We are planning on the Luau, the Magical Gatherings Fireworks cruise and MNSSHP. Everyone is really looking forward to it!

 

[mm lover in Ia]

We are going in a few weeks and there is 9 of us. We are doing the fireworks cruise and the goodmorning gathering. Plus Chef mickey's, Princess Breakfast (Norway), and Fantasmic dinner package (H & V). We have planned the parks we are all going to but plan on breaking up into groups. I will let you know how it goes when we get back.

 

[wannabee princess]

Thanks for responses so far! Looking forward to hearing more. Would love to hear more details on how you scheduled everything! How many days did you stay?

 

[ibleedblue]

Well, we're going June 12-20 and we're going to have....gulp....30 people!! All DW's family! Please, everyone, I'll need all the prayers and blessings I can get those days!! Ages range from grandparents down to 9 (except for my DS who will still be in DW's belly then!). We've gone many times as a family and usually camp for a week at Ft. Wilderness. This time we decided to rent homes off site. We're renting 3 four bedroom homes in Windsor Palms. This is the first time we've had this many want to go. DW and I haven't been since 12/01 and the rest of the family hasn't been since 6/00, so they are all very excited. We usually don't all stay together because it's just too much of a struggle. The big family usually breaks up into it's different families of 4-7 memebers and we go about our days like that. I don't think we ever get everything we want accomplished, but we know we'll be back eventually, so it's no major ordeal. We usually just pick a time to meet somewhere for parades and such, but this year since DW will be 7 months pregnant we're going to try the radios so she can get in touch with me while I'm in line if she needs to leave while waiting for me on the rides she can't ride.

The biggest thing to avoid is don't place control freaks with people who go with the flow! DW and I play it by ear and do most everything spur of the moment. We're on vacation and don't feel like we should stick to a schedule for anything. MIL likes to be in firm control and pitched an absolute fit when people didn't want to follow her schedule. It made for quite a scene a couple of times on the last trip. Also make sure everyone understands the benefits of FP. Last family trip, DW and I were the only members who 'got it' and we wound up having to convince the rest of the party that it was quicker to get a FP for Buzz, ride SpaM, then use the FP on Buzz than it was to wait in line for Buzz then wait in line for SpaM. It took a couple of days for everyone to realize that FP really did make sense.

 

[cmonroe]

Ages were 64 down to 1 year old.

My sister (who beyond me) is the planner of the family booked mostly character breakfasts' for us to be togther. The reason? Including children and grandparents, we were all ready to go in the morning.

She planned the breakfasts' about every other day and we went together to the corresponding park that day. Grandparents some time after lunch would take the transportation back to the hotel for an afternoon break (tough on their legs) and the rest would continue.

Then the ones with younger with children would also then break off a little later to go back to hotels for nap time. The family with older children would stay out longer.

Eventually, we'd all rendevous at the pool. If we had a dinner planned that night, we'd obviously go together. If not , each family would decide where they were going to go that night. Some times different families went together, sometimes not.

It worked out well for us, because everyone in a family has a control freak or someone who does not get along or want to do something "just because that other person is doing it".

We had many freedoms with this method and everyone was happy that they could go to the parks they wanted to when they wanted to, but also some "required" time everyother day for meals.