HELP!! Need advice on group planning

[DisMom829]

HELP!!! Working on plans for a group trip in June 2015. 5 Families, 21 people, 12 adults, 5 teens, 3 10-9 yr olds, 1 56 yr old Aunt with Downs Syndrome. It's a 14 day trip. With the hours I've found for 2015 so far, this is my proposal. I have never planned for more than a group of 6. I tried to do two park days and an "off" day at a waterpark with dinner show. We all have 10 day tix, with park hopper, water parks and more. Is this too much planning??

Day 1 – June 20 – Arrival Day
Check in, unpack, grocery store, liquor store, pool time (females will do shopping/males stay at resort with kiddos this could be before lunch or after)
Lunch – Intermission Food Court – exchange phone numbers and room numbers
Dinner – T-Rex – Downtown Disney – a little pre-park shopping to see what is available at World of Disney vs. theme parks
Day 2 – June 21 – Father’s Day – Epcot 9AM – 9PM
Breakfast – Akershus – (served platter style at table) princess dining
Lunch – La Cantina – Mexican – counter service
Dinner – Via Napoli – Pizza, Italian, sangria
We’ve never seen Illuminations, reflections on Earth 9 PM, want to stay at least 1 Epcot night for this
Day 3 – June 22 – K’s Bday 9 yrs old – Magic Kingdom 9AM – 10PM
Breakfast – Crystal Palace (buffet) – Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – A must do for K & M
Lunch – Be Our Guest – no Beast at lunch, but AC is nice. Could swap for Liberty Tree or Pecos Bills
Dinner – Cinderella’s Royal Table – menu – Cinderella
Day 4 – June 23 – Blizzard Beach – sleep in and relax morning
Breakfast – Food court or room
Lunch – Lottawatta Lodge or coolers in park
Snack 4 PM - Beaches and Cream for ice cream snack
Dinner – 8:00 PM - Spirit of Aloha – Cat 1 – Polynesian Lodge
MK is open until 10 PM that night as of 11/17/14
Day 5 – June 24 – Hollywood Studios - No hours posted as of 11/14/14
Breakfast – Hollywood & Vine – Character meal – Playhouse Disney (for littles, bigs can do otherwise if desired)
Lunch – Toy Story Pizza Planet & Arcade – inside, large and lots of AC
Dinner – 50’s Prime Time Café – Tastes like home cooked food
Day 6 – June 25 – Animal Kingdom 9AM – 7 PM
Breakfast – Tusker House – character meal (buffet) – Donald, Daisy, Minnie, Pluto
Lunch – Flame Tree BBQ – counter service – outside
Dinner – Rainforest Café or Yak & Yeti
Magic Kingdom is open until 10 PM
Day 7 – June 26 – Typhoon Lagoon – sleep in and relax morning
Breakfast – Chef Mickey’s – late after 9 AM, preferably 9:45 or 10
Lunch – Typhoon Tilly’s
Dinner – Hoop Dee doo Review – Western Dinner Show – or Trails End – same food, served buffet style, minus dinner show
Day 8 – June 27 – Animal Kingdom – 9AM – 7PM; Magic Kingdom 9AM – 12AM
If nobody wants to go back to AK, then it could be a water park morning and a MK afternoon/evening. If we don’t do water park, could do Downtown Disney. All depends on weather, tiredness level of kids/adults
Breakfast – Ohana – character meal – Lilo, Stitch
Lunch – TBD
Dinner – Be Our Guest – Beast is there for photos at dinner
On late nights, it is better to stay for the late parade and FW’s. Head to Tomorrowland afterwards and avoid the crowds. Or watch from Liberty Square and head to Frontier Land immediately afterwards. Ride as much as we can during first FW’s and parades.
Day 9 – June 28 – Epcot- 9AM – 9PM
Breakfast – Intermission Food Court
Lunch – Liberty Inn
Dinner – Via Napoli – it’s totally worth eating at twice
We have never seen Illuminations, Reflections on Earth, 9 PM want to stay at least 1 Epcot night for this
Day 10 – June 29 – Hollywood Studios - No hours posted as of 11/17/14
Easy morning
Breakfast – Intermission Food Court
Lunch – Sci-Fi Drive Inn
Early back to hotel/water park to chill and relax.
Dinner – Narcoossee’s – depends on time of FW’s at MK as of 11/17/14, closes at 10PM
Day 11 – June 30 - Day off – Water Park /Outlet mall Shopping
Breakfast – Intermission Food Court/Chick Fil A/Donuts/snacks in room
Lunch –
Dinner –
Day 12 – July 1 – Magic Kingdom – no hours as of 11/17/14
Breakfast – Whispering Canyon Café – Wilderness Lodge
Lunch – Tortuga Tavern or Pecos Bills
Dinner – Be Our Guest – late dinner
Day 13 – July 2 – Water Park – Magic Kingdom - Downtown Disney Shopping
Breakfast – 1900 Park Fare –
Lunch – Lottawatta Lodge
Dinner – Wolfgang Puck Express
Water park or pool morning, need to allow packing time
Day 14 – July 3 – Head Home
Breakfast – Trail’s End

Days 9 & 10 could be done however, it's going to be subjective to each families tastes. Epcot won't have much attraction to those of us with the younger kids and vice versa for HS and the older group.

We meet this afternoon around 3 for late Thanksgiving dinner and a trip planning evening. Since my family has been multiple times before and other's have never been, I was put in charge of planning. Can you say stressful??

We're all at the same resort, ASMusic. Some in family suites and some in preferred rooms and some in reg rooms. Fully realize we could be spread out. Which is fine. We'll all have cell phones/laptops/tablets, so keeping in touch should be ok.

I've taken into consideration that my Aunt that has Downs will be in a wheel chair. She is completely capable of walking, but just a trip to Wal-Mart will exhaust her. So we're making it more comfortable for her to have a "ride", and I've already purchased a clip on fan and a clip on chair umbrella, as she has a very fair complexion. Also, my sister tires easily due to heart conditions, so we're all understanding that not everyone can/will be at the same places at the same times.

My goal this afternoon is to let everyone know that this is all tentative, fully open to suggestions. I've taken into consideration each families suggestions for dining and incorporated that into the plans. Each family is responsible for making dining reservations. I realize some of us wake earlier than others. Some sleep till noon, my family and one sister's are early morning risers. Our goal is one complete family meal a day. Be it breakfast, lunch or supper.

I know what is best for my kids and have geared things to allow for an afternoon nap/swim break almost every day, with late suppers. My older sister with all teen kids, may/may not need this break, and this is their first trip. So I'm trying to make this work for all groups.

Please, please be brutally honest, am I freaking out or is this too much??

 

[Disnsyncey]

wow that is a lot!

I really don't have much to say except you say that each family will be responsible for their own dining reservations....if you want that 1 meal a day thing, I would not leave that up to anybody else.....y'all could pick as a group each day which meal and which type of restaurant (maybe a top 3?) you wanted to eat together and YOU be in charge of that one.....because many might not have your urgency.....

and on the urgency front.....I would make sure, if they are making their own dining otherwise, I would stress that urgency.......

and this is way in advance, but will you be in charge of FPs?

I guess I might just stress that the advance planning will help your fellow travelers, and offer tips

and they might not understand that its unreasonable to be together 24/7 and help people understand the benefits of being apart...

so I guess my advice is more ABOUT the planning, rather than the plan haha

 

[Gilrond]

Looks like a good start. A goal of one meal together each day sounds good and realistic. Getting the must do events in would come next. "Planning" for flexibility is hard!

I am planning for a smaller group 3 families - 5 adults, 5 yo , 17 month old - really different paced players. A meal together each day is my goal. BBB is on our list too.

 

[DisMom829]

wow that is a lot! I really don't have much to say except you say that each family will be responsible for their own dining reservations....if you want that 1 meal a day thing, I would not leave that up to anybody else.....y'all could pick as a group each day which meal and which type of restaurant (maybe a top 3?) you wanted to eat together and YOU be in charge of that one.....because many might not have your urgency..... and on the urgency front.....I would make sure, if they are making their own dining otherwise, I would stress that urgency....... and this is way in advance, but will you be in charge of FPs? I guess I might just stress that the advance planning will help your fellow travelers, and offer tips and they might not understand that its unreasonable to be together 24/7 and help people understand the benefits of being apart... so I guess my advice is more ABOUT the planning, rather than the plan haha

Yes, it is a lot! But so far tonight has gone great! Took your advice, They voted me to book the one meal a day, some days we chose breakfast, others supper. The teens & young 20 something's want their days to roam! Totally understandable. ADR date is Dec 22 and 2 of us are off and will be ready and together to make ADR's. After showing other sister (not a freak planner like me) some threads here on the Dis about the urgency for making ADR's on certain dates, she said she was on board to make her ADR's.

FP's we're going to attack at our New Year's Day luncheon. I figured one major topic a planning session was enough.

 

[DisMom829]

Looks like a good start. A goal of one meal together each day sounds good and realistic. Getting the must do events in would come next. "Planning" for flexibility is hard! I am planning for a smaller group 3 families - 5 adults, 5 yo , 17 month old - really different paced players. A meal together each day is my goal. BBB is on our list too.

The must do's are scheduled for the next meeting! Each family is to bring or send me a list so I can plug into a spreadsheet and see what things are duplicates, age appropriate, etc. BBB is a must do for the bday girl in our group, and it's her first trip. I'm thinking of afternoon tea at the GF would be fun to dress up and go with just the girls & guys could hit the arcade at DTD. It's on the list of things to discuss!

 

[elaine amj]

So glad the planning meeting went well! I think u have very realistc expectations of your very large and diverse group One major decision per evening is awesome and not too overwhelming.

 

[DisMom829]

So glad the planning meeting went well! I think u have very realistc expectations of your very large and diverse group One major decision per evening is awesome and not too overwhelming.

I'm ecstatic that the planning is going so well! Thanks to a smarty pants nephew that hooked my laptop to the TV in the family room, two went to get more wine & we're getting ready to do some WDW website exploring. The guys are watching FB in the cave. I thought this would be so very stressful, but we're all having fun!

 

[elaine amj]

Watch the Disney planning videos on Youtube. My kids got great ideas on what they would like from those - plus of course, they are interesting and well edited.

 

[lizard1]

One thing that would concern me a little is the number of meals you have planned....maybe you are the type that likes to have 3 meals a day, but I find that especially if I have a buffet for breakfast that I'm not hungry until at least dinner time (for instance, I had a 10 a.m. breakfast buffet and I was not hungry for our 5 p.m. dinner). I also find that the larger a party is, the longer it seems to take for them to eat (and talk), so while you may be accustomed to a 1 hour meal, you may find that it takes around 2 hours to finish the meal when you are with the big group....if that happens, you may find yourself running from reservation to reservation all day with only a little time to ride, shop, etc.

Another thing that your sister may want to consider is renting an ECV (you can rent offsite, as it would be cheaper than the daily Disney rentals). You say that she tires easily....will she be able to walk miles every day for the 2 weeks you are at Disney?

Glad that the planning is going well and that it is not too overwhelming yet!

 

[sookie]

A lot of people who plan for groups feel like it works better to have everyone do their own thing during the day and then "come together" for 1 meal per day.

I see that you have several - often 2 - sit down meals each day, some are two credit meals. Are you planning to pay out of pocket for these or are you planning on a dining plan? You would probably need to have everyone on the deluxe dining plan to meet your needs, even if you have 1 out of your three meals per day as a quick service.

Also - another thought is that if you decide to let everyone do their own thing and then come together for 1 meal - will everyone get park hoppers to allow them to do that?

 

[DisMom829]

One thing that would concern me a little is the number of meals you have planned....maybe you are the type that likes to have 3 meals a day, but I find that especially if I have a buffet for breakfast that I'm not hungry until at least dinner time (for instance, I had a 10 a.m. breakfast buffet and I was not hungry for our 5 p.m. dinner). I also find that the larger a party is, the longer it seems to take for them to eat (and talk), so while you may be accustomed to a 1 hour meal, you may find that it takes around 2 hours to finish the meal when you are with the big group....if that happens, you may find yourself running from reservation to reservation all day with only a little time to ride, shop, etc. Another thing that your sister may want to consider is renting an ECV (you can rent offsite, as it would be cheaper than the daily Disney rentals). You say that she tires easily....will she be able to walk miles every day for the 2 weeks you are at Disney? Glad that the planning is going well and that it is not too overwhelming yet!

My kids are three meals a day kids. DS is14 and will chew his arm off if he doesn't eat. We've booked with the Deluxe DP. But are seriously thinking of canceling and paying OOP. I personally can't eat 3 large meals a day. But I would be open to a break in the AC and sharing an appetizer or kids meal with DD 9. Plus we are water drinkers & pass on desserts most of the time. We also carry our Hydro Flasks and get the free water refills. You bring up another great point of the length of the meals, hence another reason we left rezzies up to each family except the one family meal a day.
Great idea on the ECV rental! I think I'll call her and make the suggestion.

 

[DisMom829]

A lot of people who plan for groups feel like it works better to have everyone do their own thing during the day and then "come together" for 1 meal per day. I see that you have several - often 2 - sit down meals each day, some are two credit meals. Are you planning to pay out of pocket for these or are you planning on a dining plan? You would probably need to have everyone on the deluxe dining plan to meet your needs, even if you have 1 out of your three meals per day as a quick service. Also - another thought is that if you decide to let everyone do their own thing and then come together for 1 meal - will everyone get park hoppers to allow them to do that?

Everyone is booked with 10 day park hopper water parks fun & more tix. It took some convincing, but everyone was finally onboard last night.
We are booked with the Deluxe Dining Plan right now. But are seriously considering canceling and paying OOP, upgrading my tix to Premium AP, getting TIW card and paying via my Disney Visa. I know I'll have to pay my full price at buffets, dinner shows, which is ok. But other meals I could easily share a plate with DD who eats like a bird. I know you aren't supposed to plate share on the DP. We are water drinkers and carry our Hydro Flasks in the parks. We also skip on desserts. So right now we are doubting the DP. When DH & I were there in Aug 2014 we left with credits

 

[emldrl]

Everyone is booked with 10 day park hopper water parks fun & more tix. It took some convincing, but everyone was finally onboard last night.
We are booked with the Deluxe Dining Plan right now. But are seriously considering canceling and paying OOP, upgrading my tix to Premium AP, getting TIW card and paying via my Disney Visa. I know I'll have to pay my full price at buffets, dinner shows, which is ok. But other meals I could easily share a plate with DD who eats like a bird. I know you aren't supposed to plate share on the DP. We are water drinkers and carry our Hydro Flasks in the parks. We also skip on desserts. So right now we are doubting the DP. When DH & I were there in Aug 2014 we left with credits �� available.

First, I think you are awesome to take all this on! Second, and this is just my opinion, but I think the deluxe DP is REALLY expensive, and it sounds like it doesn't really work for you anyway. I bet you could save by upgrading your tix (I don't know how much this is, just guessing), paying OOP for food, and doing the TIW thing. I also think this will give you more flexibility, which is very important with such a large group. Good luck with everything, and a trip report would be awesome!!

 

[DisMom829]

I need an opinion if this is a good order of importance for making ADR's.

BOG - have 4 dates to choose from
CRT - need a particular date for a bday girl
SOA
HDDR or Mickey's BBQ
Chef Mickey's
O'hana
Narcoossee's
Akershus
T-Rex - I know to call directly to the restaurant
Hollywood and Vine
Tusker House
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace
Beaches & Cream - Snack stop
50's Prime Time Café
RFC or Y & Y
Sci Fi Drive Inn
Via Napoli - want supper 2 different night love the Sangria there
Whispering Canyon Café
Trail's End

Please suggest any changes!

 

[Kristina4109]

The biggest group I ever traveled with was 14 people - you've got us beat! I agree with your decision to have the entire group together for one meal a day. We found it was much easier with our diverse group to have everyone split up and do what they want (we were in the same theme park) and then we'd meet for our dinner reservation.

Our 14 person group ate at three of the restaurants you're looking at - CRT, Akershus and Crystal Palace. At CRT we were all seated at one long table. Same at Askersus. At Crystal Palace, we were seated at three separate tables but they were close enough together that we could still carry on conversations.

 

[DisMom829]

The biggest group I ever traveled with was 14 people - you've got us beat! I agree with your decision to have the entire group together for one meal a day. We found it was much easier with our diverse group to have everyone split up and do what they want (we were in the same theme park) and then we'd meet for our dinner reservation. Our 14 person group ate at three of the restaurants you're looking at - CRT, Akershus and Crystal Palace. At CRT we were all seated at one long table. Same at Askersus. At Crystal Palace, we were seated at three separate tables but they were close enough together that we could still carry on conversations.

Thank you! That's good info I'm adding to my book! We have last ADR meeting after my sons bday party tomorrow night.

 

[GotLabradors]

I thought I was nuts for doing a group of 17! When you do the ADRs for the whole group, are you going to call or do online reservations? Since there are 4 families with kids ranging in age from 4-16, we figured we'd go the one big meal together a day route as well. I would love to know what your experience is with trying to get reservations for such a large party. Good luck!

 

[Mikie]

I traveled with 12 in 3 different families plus a single (4 different room reservations)

1) I'm glad it's going well so far and I hope everyone appreciates your efforts as emcee/concierge/super-planner!
2) I like the looks of your priorities on dining
3) I agree with some of your early posters who think that you may have too many sit-downs. Even though we're a 3 meal a day family, we easily did 1 TS, 1 CS (usually lunch) and generally used our snack credit as a pastry for breakfast with refillable drink mug for beverage. it was as much due to wanting to follow the structure of the dining plan as not wanting to spend so much time sitting and eating vs. being in the parks. Even though we LOVE one sit down for a rest and character meets.
4) Having the dining plan at booking is a great idea - without it, you'd have to pay in full for CRT and I think shows like Hoop de Doo - huge bill! However, once you settle on ADRs, definitely encourage everyone to use an online calculator to see if dining plan is right for their group. Eating as you described (drink water, share meals, skip desserts) will likely mean DDP is not a good financial choice. You can keep all the same ADRs, and even have some parties on the plan, some not, and still eat together (only all people in the SAME ROOM have to all be on the plan or not). You can go back and remove the dining plan later with no effect on your ADRs

5) I called to make my reservations because I assumed I needed to with a group and I get VERY frustrated at the least technical problem, so I didn't want to even try it online! I think online opens at 6am eastern, and phone is 7 eastern. You could start trying online if you want and be prepared to call if any problems
6) when it comes time to do fastpass picking, I liked grouping ride FPs near in location and timing to our planned meal - that way the group only has to check their watches once to meet for ride-ride-meal-ride, or meal-ride-ride, etc and then split up again as needed. I especially did this if it was a planned lunch, because late morning and afternoon are good times to use fastpass.
7) get one Memory Maker for your group!!! That's the best $150 I could have spent! (Just went up a little to $170 i think) every single person in your group can get photos taken on rides, at photographers, whether all together or touring individually and you can download them ALL for that one time price.

Continued good luck with your planning!!

P.S. Happy birthday to your son!

 

[DisMom829]

We obviously had tons of pixie dust, but we got EVERYTHING we wanted!! BOG, CRT, SOA, Mickeys BBQ. I'm beyond relieved! Blessed beyond belief right now!!!

 

[DisMom829]

Need more advice with group planning, and FP+ planning. We started out as a group of 21, now some are questioning their ability to go, firm count going is 17. One family is effected by the loss of her husband's job, not by his choice, company downsizing, completely understandable, their trip is almost paid for $500 remaining. They are holding out to see what/if any offers come out for the late summer to help them out a little.

I thought I was nuts for doing a group of 17! When you do the ADRs for the whole group, are you going to call or do online reservations? Since there are 4 families with kids ranging in age from 4-16, we figured we'd go the one big meal together a day route as well. I would love to know what your experience is with trying to get reservations for such a large party. Good luck!

All ADR's are made for all groups. We decided breakfast for some, suppers for the other meals. Some of the teens made faces when we mentioned dinner shows, so left it up to them (24-14 ages) to be responsible enough to fend for them selves and to keep watch on the younger teens that will be with them that evening. The rest of us will go to the dinner shows with the "littles" as we call them. 2 of us were up at the crack of dawn at my house with laptops and ipads ready to go. Other was at work with us on speaker phone. We booked separate tables, thinking that would be easier. If we're close together, great, if not great. When we check in, we'll ask if possible to be seated near each other, if that can't be done, we may divide up by boys/girls tables. That's all negotiable. The only ones we did book as a group were the dinner shows. I considered calling group dining for all, but we didn't want to overload one waitress with our troop. Not to mention, now that some of the teens have had a chance to read about some of the character meals we picked, they aren't very thrilled to go to them, so we will be modifying/cancelling some soon. My own DS wrinkled his nose and said "Akershus AGAIN??? NOOOOOOOO!!!" So I imagine that will be a QS breakfast for him and DH. Next planning meeting is Spring Break. I did cancel our DxDP. I'll upgrade to PAP upon arrival at DTD and purchase TIW card then.

FP+ planning - my opinion was to let each family pick their own FP+'s. It will be nearly impossible to get everyone on the same ride near the same time. And it would be like herding cattle. Not to mention the little guys have zero desire to stand in line or burn a FP for Princess Fairy Tale Hall, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and of course the oh so coveted A & E FP.