Grand Gatherings

[mom0299]

Has anyone done a Grand Gathering? My family of four, along with my parents, and my brother's family which includes two adults and four children are considering a trip next year. I was just wondering if doing a Grand Gathering was the better way to go. I know that there are special packages that you can purchase if you are part of a Grand Gathering, but if we don't do any of those should we even bother? Does it cost extra? I am a little worried about the logistics of getting rooms near each other and getting our dining reservations. How does it work when you have three families all paying seperately for their vacation, but doing everything together? Can someone help me out? What should we do?

 

[disneymom225]

Hi. I planned a grand gathering for about 9 of us. we are doing the pirates cruise. I think the price was about $40 per person-roughly. I didn't think it was any easier to plan and actually got a little runaround because we areDVC. so it became a hassle. we are going in a month so I can talk more about it in the beginning of march.

 

[mom0299]

Thanks disneymom. I look forward to hearing about your trip.

 

[airtime247]

Has anyone done a Grand Gathering? My family of four, along with my parents, and my brother's family which includes two adults and four children are considering a trip next year. I was just wondering if doing a Grand Gathering was the better way to go. I know that there are special packages that you can purchase if you are part of a Grand Gathering, but if we don't do any of those should we even bother? Does it cost extra? I am a little worried about the logistics of getting rooms near each other and getting our dining reservations. How does it work when you have three families all paying seperately for their vacation, but doing everything together? Can someone help me out? What should we do?

We just returned from a trip where we planned through Grand Gatherings. There were six separate parties in all. There is no extra cost to do a Grand Gathering. We actually regretted going through them since so many things got messed up in the process but we could have just had a bad experience. We also had some people who lived nearby so didn't get lodging. The other parties split their stays between resorts so I can see why things got mixed up so easily.

The nice part is you have one number to call for nearly everything and all your reservations will be linked by one Grand Gathering number.

It is still easy to do a trip without going through them if you decide not to. Once each party has a reservation number, you can call and asked to be near each other. Each group can pay separately. That part's not a problem.

I do recommend having as few people call to book things like dining reservations as possible so you don't run into confusion when checking in at the restaurants. You want to be sure they have the right name.

-steve