Great Vacations with Extended Family

[ajf1007]

I absolutely love this thread!!!

Well my story is really what brought us to DVC. So here goes! I had never been to WDW, ever, and I was 37. My BFF and her family, along with my DH and I (no kiddo's for us) decided to plan our vacation and when WDW was suggested, I was SO on board! Myself and my BFF's daughter were the only people on the trip who had not been to WDW so you can only imagine our excitement. Anyway, we got a travel agent, made our reservations at Animal Kingdom - Jambo House (savannah view), and off we went! WE had the best time! I obviously fell head over heels in love with WDW and Animal Kingdom. We had met quite a few DVCer's at the pool and I was fascinated by how the whole thing worked. But most of all, our trip was amazing. My DH and I are very laid back so we went with the flow but we had all of our meals together and did do the parks together (though most days we met them at the park instead of leaving right after breakfast with them). Luckily, we've vacationed together many times and my BFF and I have been friends since we were 2 or 3 so we're family. We did it all, dinner at the castle, Hoop Dee Doo, the luau (I'm so sure I didn't spell that one correctly) and dinner at the Coral Reef (to name a few). Anyway, when we left, all I could think about was WDW. The next year, my DH and I were looking at the different options for vacation homes and my boss said, why don't you look into that Disney thing! My DH and I talked about it, I made the call and had the paperwork signed off by the end of the week! The rest is history. But I guess the moral of my story is that not only was WDW magical, my trip with my BFF and her family was magical as well. There is even video of my BFF's daughter and I walking into the park, hand in hand, and seeing the castle for the first time! It brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it!

Jump ahead 3 years and we're planning a big trip in 2012 with my mom, my brother and his family and my BFF and her family. My BFF just laughs when I talk about WDW because she feels she helped to create this monster! I'm so happy that we get to give such gifts to our family and friends.

My DH suffered a moderate heart attack this past Tuesday (he's only 41!) and we spent the few days in the hospital passing time talking about WDW and planning WDW vacations (the next one will be some quality time for us) and looking at the DIS boards. It really helped his spirits to talk about our DVC and make plans for the future. Thank goodness!!

 

[mello]

We had a fantastic time in May 2008 with our family, my parents & their best friends, my brother & his family and my sister & her family - 17 of us in all. I have to admit that going into it I was skeptical that so many people with different vacationing styles could mesh, and I was sure there would be some personality clashes, issues, etc. But there were none! Everyone had a great time, and we're planning to do it again this coming December.

I think the key to the success was planning and flexibility. We had a series of meetings before the trip, where everyone told about their reasons for wanting to go, what they envisioned, what was most important to them, etc. We recognized that some are early risers and some night owls, some are laid-back and others like to go commando, some like to do thrill rides, some would rather watch shows or shop, some like sit-down meals and some prefer to eat on the run, some had more money to spend than others, etc. We talked about everyone's preferences and established right from the start that everyone had the right to do what he/she wanted to do on their vacation and nobody was to make anyone else feel bad for it or try to coerce them to do something they didn't want to do.

Since I'm the trip planner in the family, I did a basic itinerary of which park/which day with one table service ADR each day and gave everyone a copy at one of the early meetings. I told them, "this is what we're planning on doing. If anybody wants to join us at any of these meals or events, let me know by such and such a date and I'll go ahead and book yours when I do mine. Otherwise, you're free to do whatever you'd like".

For the most part, everyone wanted to eat with us for most meals. One other family wanted to do BBB with us. We did two Grand Gathering events where we were all together - the Pirate Wishes Cruise and the AK Safari Dinner. We also did one day where the guys did the Segway tour at Epcot and the girls had tea at the GF.

I booked everything for everyone and gave them all copies of the finished itineraries with booking #s and basically said, "see you there", so everyone was free to do what they wanted all day and we caught up with each other at the major events of the day. Most times we went around the parks in smaller groups and had fun running into each other here or there.

We had people coming and going as it suited their schedules. Some of us stayed the first couple nights at the Poly til everyone got in, then we all spent a week at BCV, and after a few people went home, the rest of us spent a more relaxing week at OKW. I was glad we had a couple days at the end with not much planned and only a few people there, less to keep track of helped me to have a relaxing time before going home.

I'm already excited for our next one!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Oh, I love this thread! I enjoy reading about people's positive experiences traveling to WDW with their family. If anyone is willing, please post pictures!

We had a great family trip in '07. It was me, my three sons, my sister who was pregnant at the time, her hubby, my SIL (my husband's sister), her hubby, and my niece. We spent 11 nights at the Polynesian and have wonderful memories of that trip! It was the last year Disney hosted Pirate and Princess parties at MK and we had a blast that evening, we dressed up and just acted silly. We also enjoyed spending a few late nights swimming in the quiet pool. We think about that trip often!

My sister now has a 13 month old baby boy and my niece who she was pregnant with on our last trip is now 3 1/2. I can't wait for our second family trip in September and this time my mom will be joining us for the first time.