Group of 12!

[ellie05]

I just found out our trip in february went from 7 of us to 12. Any tips how to make this easier ?

 

[rwdavis2]

Don't try to spend every minute together is one group. You all may have different ideas on what you want to do in each park and end up spending large amounts of time making a decision.

 

[pooh4evr]

What are the expectations of everyone? Do the additions want you to change your plans to include them? i would think it might be almost impossible to add them to anything. Set some ground rules now so people aren't upset during the vacation.

 

[rwdavis2]

What are the expectations of everyone? Do the additions want you to change your plans to include them? i would think it might be almost impossible to add them to anything. Set some ground rules now so people aren't upset during the vacation.

I had not even considered existing plans. To include them would require changing ADRs and FP+ reservations. I bolded the above to emphasize this.

 

[ellie05]

There are no existing plans. I was literally about to book lodging when I got the call. Basically no one cares and trust my touring abilities . For sure we are staying off site since we wanted to make sure we get a place big enough for all of us. I think my major concerns are navigating and FP+ with a group this big. Last year we all went in a cruise and for the most part everything work well except people showing up on time . We had to implement the if you are not here by this time we are leaving and you can go on your own. This time we will be in the same house, so I think it might be easier to hurry the ones that take too long.

 

[rwdavis2]

Multiple cars then? That way you can split up. Either way, I'd get peoples' input on what they want to do.

May I recommend lodging through All Star Vacation Homes (I'm just a satisfied customer)? They have places nearby in Windsor Hills of all sizes. Check out their web site (google it).

 

[JimmyV]

There are no existing plans. I was literally about to book lodging when I got the call. Basically no one cares and trust my touring abilities .

You laugh, (and include laughing smilies), but this isn't really a laughing matter. You could set yourself up as being an over-taxed touring planner only to find out that while people today say that they don't care, they actually will care when they get there. The road to Disney misery is paved with the good intentions of Dis'ers taking it upon themselves to plan the perfect vacation for an entire group only to learn that not everyone is so easily pleased. You don't say if this group is all family, or friends, or co-workers, or if anyone else has ever been before. But it really is a good idea to ask everyone to do a little bit of research so that they can get an idea of what they might like to do, and you can certainly offer suggestions. Teach them about MDE and suggest that they lock some things in themselves. It is hard for me to imagine a group of 12 all going to the same things at the same times all the time, and everyone being happy. (Assuming, of course, that you do not reside in Brazil). People need their space. You should be very, very confident that everyone shares the same interests before you use your "they trust me" powers to book them all into a FP for RnR at 10:00 a.m. followed by Tower of Terror at 11:00.

 

[glaserjm]

We are traveling with a group of 12 in March. We are driving, so we will have access to two minivans during the trip which is helpful. This was a trip that DH and I organized for his extended family so we are creating the "framework" for it and letting the individual families fill in their own details as they see fit.

Over the holidays, while they're all in town, I'm doing a FP+ tutorial for them so that they can each make their own FP when the time comes and taking them through the crowd calendars on Easy WDW. I'll be giving them our (me/DH) basic itinerary so that they know which park we will be in on which day if they want guidelines.

We are staying at OKW and have a 2 bedroom and an additional studio, so we have 3 planned in-room dinners that everybody will attend. We also have one group sit-down dinner that everybody will attend. Although the group does not know it, DH and I have made reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party on our arrival night. Those are the only group planned activities we have and I think that's as much as we could hope for.

I believe that most of the group will follow suit and do afternoon swim breaks like we do, but that will be up to them. DH and I have a much more relaxed touring style since we go so often, but I don't want to force that on anybody.

I think being flexible, keeping expectations of how much time you can actually spend doing everything together fairly low and just going with the flow is key. We've gone with as many as 20 family members before and you just can't control it all!!

Have a great time!

 

[Dr Gevil]

Don't try to spend every minute together is one group. You all may have different ideas on what you want to do in each park and end up spending large amounts of time making a decision.

This. Make a plan to meet up together for dinner or to do one or two things together as a group - a mountain ride or a character m&g, if you can swing it. Otherwise it will be a lot of grief and aggravation trying to get 12 people to come to a decision on what to do next all day long.

My wife and I did a trip with my parents and sisters and brother-in-laws (before we started having kids). First couple of days everyone wanted to do everything together, despite my objections, and it was an exercise in frustration - some wanted rope drop, others wanted to sleep in. Some wanted to do rides, others shop, etc.

Once we decided to meet up for dinner as a group, things went much better. If we planned and did a couple things in parks as the big group - great. If not, great too - you got do what you wanted to do without paralysis by analysis.

 

[rwdavis2]

We are traveling with a group of 12 in March. We are driving, so we will have access to two minivans during the trip which is helpful. This was a trip that DH and I organized for his extended family so we are creating the "framework" for it and letting the individual .......

It looks like you have an good understanding of how to avoid problems.

 

[ellie05]

You laugh, (and include laughing smilies), but this isn't really a laughing matter. You could set yourself up as being an over-taxed touring planner only to find out that while people today say that they don't care, they actually will care when they get there. The road to Disney misery is paved with the good intentions of Dis'ers taking it upon themselves to plan the perfect vacation for an entire group only to learn that not everyone is so easily pleased. You don't say if this group is all family, or friends, or co-workers, or if anyone else has ever been before. But it really is a good idea to ask everyone to do a little bit of research so that they can get an idea of what they might like to do, and you can certainly offer suggestions. Teach them about MDE and suggest that they lock some things in themselves. It is hard for me to imagine a group of 12 all going to the same things at the same times all the time, and everyone being happy. (Assuming, of course, that you do not reside in Brazil). People need their space. You should be very, very confident that everyone shares the same interests before you use your "they trust me" powers to book them all into a FP for RnR at 10:00 a.m. followed by Tower of Terror at 11:00.

I love all the suggestions. To answer your questions this is close family, so we know each other pretty well. Everyone has been to WDW at least twice so they know what they are getting themselves into. My family is not from Brazil, but they do live out of the country and we don't get to see each other much. So we will be going in everything together the point of the trip is to spend time together. I know we won't get to see everything just some quality family time.

 

[ellie05]

We will have 3 cars. Two vans and our cars fits 5. Our youngest member is 9, she is the only child of the group, 2 teenagers and the rest are adults. Oldest being 58.

 

[Mikie]

I traveled with extended family of 12 in October and it went great!! Prepare to have fun! We had people from 2 to 67 and mostly wanted to do things together (that was the point) but I really wanted to make sure we *could* split up if necessary and people would expect that to be a normal part of the trip, not a sign of problems.

In our case, people pretty much wanted to do all types of attractions (thrill riders still wanted to also do Small World, little guys wanted to ride some big rides too, etc) I used Mesaboy's FP+ thread here on DIS for priorities and strategies and asked everyone what their "must-do" attractions were in each park (asked them to give me 1-2)Disney IT recommended that I pick the top priority FP for the WHOLE group, then if a small sub-set wanted a different ride, just switch those few people. I.e. Book everyone for Space Mointain first and if 3 don't want to ride it, just edit those 3 FP to Buzz or something else they do want.

Many people recommend you make your own plans, tell the others, and let them try to match up. I don't know if I'm a control freak or I just knew the inexperienced WDW visitors would try not to do anything til last minute & get left out, but I basically made all the reservations & plans. I asked at each step whether anyone wanted to fully help, to give input, or just to be told what got picked. Mostly I had 1 helper, a couple people gave input, everyone else sat back.

We decided to do 1 table service a day for characters and/or an air-conditioned break. I liked grouping our FP choices near in location and time to those meals.like 11-12 FP for 7 dwarfs followed by noon lunch in the castle, then 1:30-2:30 Enchanted Tales FP and 2:30-3:30 Peter Pan. That way, if anyone wants to arrive at the park at a different time or split up for different attractions, we have one time to meet (first FP) do a ride, meal, 2 more rides, then we're free to split up again without checking watches all day. This would work with counter service too.

Finally - get Memory Maker! Your entire group can share it and you'll get all ride photos, group shots everywhere you ask a photographer to take your photo, and you don't even all have to be together. It was a great bargain for a group and really captured our trip.

Have a great time!! And as with any WDW trip - make plans, but be flexible enough to toss them all and still have fun if necessary!

 

[autumnpalm]

We are doing a big family group of 13 this June and I think our family sounds quite similar to yours. There will be a lot of first-timers and I'm getting a lot of "I don't care, whatever you think is best!" from everyone.

To help with the planning, this is how we've set up our trip:

1. I sent out emails right from the start with links to every kind of Disney planning website so that everyone could familiarize themselves with the parks, processes, attractions, etc. I did not want to put myself in the position of group tour guide, so I was very clear with family member that I was happy to do the following:

a) Make 1 ADR per day for the whole group
b) Apart from that ADR, I would send out my immediate family's itinerary and welcome anyone to join us for as much or as little as they like

We will all be staying at the same resort and hopefully all taking midday breaks at the pool together. Right now, everyone is saying they are all planning to stick together but my honest expectation is that once we are in the park, we will likely end up splitting up a fair bit and setting ADRs and FP+ reservations as meeting points.

Initially I'm planning to book all 13 of our FP+ together, and then allowing each family member to change theirs if they like. And hey, they can always change them when we get to the parks too! We do have some family planning to do Universal, some planning to do water parks, some planning to golf, but have should be able to work out the one TS dinner and fireworks all together most nights.

It's stressful planning for a large group! But try not to take on too much responsibility . Give them the tools to help participate in the planning and if they choose not to use them, don't feel it is all on you to give everyone their "perfect trip." It is a lot just to arrange all of the ADRS, resort reservations and FP+.

Things might get a little messy, uncoordinated sometimes-- but it is truly a blessing to be able to experience a family trip with such a large group. You will no doubt have beautiful memories of your family all together for years to come. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[JimmyV]

We are doing a big family group of 13 this June and I think our family sounds quite similar to yours. There will be a lot of first-timers and I'm getting a lot of "I don't care, whatever you think is best!" from everyone.

To help with the planning, this is how we've set up our trip:

1. I sent out emails right from the start with links to every kind of Disney planning website so that everyone could familiarize themselves with the parks, processes, attractions, etc. I did not want to put myself in the position of group tour guide, so I was very clear with family member that I was happy to do the following:

a) Make 1 ADR per day for the whole group
b) Apart from that ADR, I would send out my immediate family's itinerary and welcome anyone to join us for as much or as little as they like

We will all be staying at the same resort and hopefully all taking midday breaks at the pool together. Right now, everyone is saying they are all planning to stick together but my honest expectation is that once we are in the park, we will likely end up splitting up a fair bit and setting ADRs and FP+ reservations as meeting points.

Initially I'm planning to book all 13 of our FP+ together, and then allowing each family member to change theirs if they like. And hey, they can always change them when we get to the parks too! We do have some family planning to do Universal, some planning to do water parks, some planning to golf, but have should be able to work out the one TS dinner and fireworks all together most nights.

It's stressful planning for a large group! But try not to take on too much responsibility . Give them the tools to help participate in the planning and if they choose not to use them, don't feel it is all on you to give everyone their "perfect trip." It is a lot just to arrange all of the ADRS, resort reservations and FP+.

Things might get a little messy, uncoordinated sometimes-- but it is truly a blessing to be able to experience a family trip with such a large group. You will no doubt have beautiful memories of your family all together for years to come. Have a wonderful trip!

Sounds like you have it under control. I remember one trip that we took with extended family. They didn't have the same appreciation for Rope Drop as us, and we didn't have the same appreciation for a full, sit-down breakfast as them.

Me: "We'll meet in the hotel restaurant tomorrow at 7:00 so that we can get to the park before it opens."
Them: "Sounds good."

Flash forward to the next day.

Me: (Tapping my fingers on the table at 7:45...) "Where have you guys been?"
Them: "Oh. We're just running a little behind this morning."
Me: "Well, you can grab a pastry and some fruit and we can go catch the bus."
Them: "No. We want pancakes and waffles and eggs and bacon and...."
Wife to me, (in a whisper...) "Let's leave them and tell them to meet us later."
Me to her, (in a whisper): "We can't just leave them alone. They'll be overwhelmed."

So we waited. And missed Rope Drop. And got behind the curve on an Easter Week day at the MK. Neither of us was "wrong". We just didn't have the same priorities. These are the tales of caution that people should heed.

 

[Mikie]

Sounds like you have it under control. I remember one trip that we took with extended family. They didn't have the same appreciation for Rope Drop as us, and we didn't have the same appreciation for a full, sit-down breakfast as them.

Me: "We'll meet in the hotel restaurant tomorrow at 7:00 so that we can get to the park before it opens."
Them: "Sounds good."

Flash forward to the next day.

Me: (Tapping my fingers on the table at 7:45...) "Where have you guys been?"
Them: "Oh. We're just running a little behind this morning."
Me: "Well, you can grab a pastry and some fruit and we can go catch the bus."
Them: "No. We want pancakes and waffles and eggs and bacon and...."
Wife to me, (in a whisper...) "Let's leave them and tell them to meet us later."
Me to her, (in a whisper): "We can't just leave them alone. They'll be overwhelmed."

So we waited. And missed Rope Drop. And got behind the curve on an Easter Week day at the MK. Neither of us was "wrong". We just didn't have the same priorities. These are the tales of caution that people should heed.

Agree that putting the plan into action can be a trick. If everyone doesn't make their own plans completely, I recommend making a cheat sheet for each family/adult (I made mine a wallet-size card for each day) with the group plans on it - reservation numbers and times, FP times, hotel confirmation #, etc so that if we were split, they had all the info without phones as our only backup (what if we were in a show with no reception or battery died?)

For morning departures, I tried to always say " *I* am going to be in line for the buses at X time ready to go". If people were ready with me, we went together; if not, I'll catch up with them later. With the exception of 1 breakfast ADR, I never said "let,s meet at X time in the morning" because that leaves too much room for one person to mean "shoes on, purse in hand, breakfast finished, ready to leave" while the other means "wet hair, making breakfast, sipping coffee, ready to talk about what's on today's agenda before we leave"

 

[autumnpalm]

Sounds like you have it under control. I remember one trip that we took with extended family. They didn't have the same appreciation for Rope Drop as us, and we didn't have the same appreciation for a full, sit-down breakfast as them.

Me: "We'll meet in the hotel restaurant tomorrow at 7:00 so that we can get to the park before it opens."
Them: "Sounds good."

Flash forward to the next day.

Me: (Tapping my fingers on the table at 7:45...) "Where have you guys been?"
Them: "Oh. We're just running a little behind this morning."
Me: "Well, you can grab a pastry and some fruit and we can go catch the bus."
Them: "No. We want pancakes and waffles and eggs and bacon and...."
Wife to me, (in a whisper...) "Let's leave them and tell them to meet us later."
Me to her, (in a whisper): "We can't just leave them alone. They'll be overwhelmed."

So we waited. And missed Rope Drop. And got behind the curve on an Easter Week day at the MK. Neither of us was "wrong". We just didn't have the same priorities. These are the tales of caution that people should heed.

I can picture that so clearly!

I've tried to be very clear that while I am more than happy to provide information and coordinate, I just can't bring myself to be the leader of one of these:

 

[autumnpalm]

Agree that putting the plan into action can be a trick. If everyone doesn't make their own plans completely, I recommend making a cheat sheet for each family/adult (I made mine a wallet-size card for each day) with the group plans on it - reservation numbers and times, FP times, hotel confirmation #, etc so that if we were split, they had all the info without phones as our only backup (what if we were in a show with no reception or battery died?)

For morning departures, I tried to always say " *I* am going to be in line for the buses at X time ready to go". If people were ready with me, we went together; if not, I'll catch up with them later. With the exception of 1 breakfast ADR, I never said "let,s meet at X time in the morning" because that leaves too much room for one person to mean "shoes on, purse in hand, breakfast finished, ready to leave" while the other means "wet hair, making breakfast, sipping coffee, ready to talk about what's on today's agenda before we leave"

Brilliant!

 

[Mikie]

I think my last post sounded a little know-it-all. . . To be clear, the wonderful DIS folks gave me great tips and I'm pretty sure JimmyV was probably one whose sage advice helped me. I realized after posting that it looks like I quoted him and seemed to say I had some superior way of doing things. I didn't dream it up - it's the kind folks here who shared their successes and mistakes that made my trip work out!

 

[Grumpy92]

Dont try to do everything together. Break up, let everyone do their own thing and then meet up for dinner, cocktails or fireworks.

I did a many family reunion a few years ago. We stayed at FW. Took the kids in and those who wanted the thrill rides went with one group and the other less advernturous in another direction. When then regrouped at Dinner and back at the resort to share our days. It made it easier and less challenging.