Has anyone done an extended family trip?

[KristiKat]

We've traveled with my sister's family twice and all together there were 10 of us. We didn't stay at a Disney resort those times. We stayed at Shades of Green which is on Disney property right across from the Poly. Each time we had connecting rooms. We ate breakfast in our rooms and headed to rope drop. For the most part we stayed together. There were a few times we split but not much and it was due to my niece who was only about 18 months and she couldn't ride some rides. Since I don't like coasters and rides of that nature I took her and we did character meet and greets. She wasn't one of those little ones that's afraid of the characters. We headed back to the resort for lunch and naps for the younger ones or pool time. We ate dinner in whatever park we were in. Be sure that you make reservations when possible. It's hard to get large groups in sometimes if you don't plan ahead you could be waiting a while to eat. We had a great time and we have another trip planned in October with only 8 this time and we're staying at CSR. Hopefully things work out pretty much the same. I have heard it's nearly impossible to get connecting rooms at Disney resorts so I've requested if not possible to get connecting or an adjoining room that we are at least in the same building. With a group that large try not to over plan too much as you are dealing with too many different people and their likes and dislikes. It will stress you out. You can't make everyone happy all the time.

 

[Neotericisis]

I'll let you know my experience with this in the next two weeks. A group of 15 of us (our family of 4, my in-laws, my husband's 25 yr. old sister, 13, year old brother, and his two aunts and their families are all going). People are arriving on different days and staying at different places. To avoid any sort of craziness I booked our tickets separate from everyone else's (we got hopper tix with waterpark) and I did our own schedule and fast pass reservations. I emailed my MIL and his aunts to let them know where we will be when (copied and pasted my fast pass reservations in an email to them). We plan on doing Animal Kingdom, and the second day at Magic Kingdom with everyone. My in-laws just got the 4 tix for their family so I pulled them in on our FP reservations and they will be doing the waterpark with us. I set them up with a separate My Disney account (using my husband's email) so that they can have their own log-in and passcode to make fastpass changes if necessary (my in-laws won't care, but my 13 year old BIL might want to switch a few things around since I skipped Tower of Terror etc.)

My aunt did end up getting a Chef Mickey's reservation for all 15 of us on our last day (Second day at Magic Kingdom) so I am grateful that we have that.

All in all I am playing it by ear and pretty much just concentrating on my nuclear family. The group is just too big to do everything at once, but if we can squeeze in some meal times and a few rides then I will be happy. Chef Mickeys will make for some great photo ops and I am hearing talks that everyone else is planning on doing the waterpark with us so that is great since it is much more inclusive with no fastpasses and the wave pool/lazy river. I want to try to schedule some time to do Disney Springs but I am not sure how it will all work. It would be nice to go into all the shops with the entire group. I'm thinking maybe after Hollywood Studios since it closes at 9- we'll see!

 

[cyneswith]

First time I went, it was my dad's parents, my parents, my brother, and me, driving down from either North Dakota or Missouri in an RV. From how that trip went, I will never do an extended family visit. My brother was in the "we must all stay together" boat with no room for alteration. I... don't recommend it. (My brother, at 14, got us kicked out of EPCOT and almost temporarily banned because he wanted to go into a shop, I wanted a Mickey bar, and my grandpa didn't see how these conflicted.)