How to convince your family that planning is important.

[elle21]

Don’t ask them for input. They don’t know or seem to care. My guess is they are more concerned with spending time together than seeing all that Disney has to offer. You plan your days (keeping in mind what they can do and how much time they need to rest) and then just lead them along. You might have to say “we are getting a fastpass for this ride. Is that something you would like to do or would you rather sit and get a snack or people watch while we ride?” I would be sure to mix in lots of low key activities through the day so great grandma isn’t sitting on a bench alone for two or three hours straight.

 

[bumbershoot]

my son and I go often, like twice a year

And that’s why you’re ok with just going with the flow. It doesn’t usually work for big first time family trips.

IMO having more than one person planning things is not needed.

Agreed.

You plan your days (keeping in mind what they can do and how much time they need to rest) and then just lead them along.

Agreed.

 

[mjkacmom]

I planned everything when we went with my parents and 5 kids. Rope drop every morning (my parents woke early), all ADR’s, afternoons were for doing whatever you want (park, nap, swim...). It worked out great.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

As many have already said, if you have their must-do's, then you're going to need to use your experience to do the rest of the planning. Just make sure you build in time to rest, understand when it might be necessary to split up, and make sure DGG doesn't get left alone.

 

[Tara8595]

I think it's hard for anyone to really 'get' what Disney World even is, without seeing for themselves. If you are the planner, just plan according to your own opinions. This happens to me too when I take newbies to WDW, and they say, "whatever you want is fine". And I take that at face value. A few things that are essential is knowing if they can or can't make rope drop and late nights. Who will need to go back mid-day for a break? Are you willing to split up, and when would it make sense to do so? Make Fastpasses for everyone and if some go unused or you want to use the grandparents' FPs for one adult and a kid to go twice, then that's fine too. That's how I would approach it.

 

[mickey520]

You all are awesome! Great advice. Had a good phone call with grandma last night and I think we're leaning toward booking our fastpasses in the morning (the older bunch are all early risers) then splitting up after lunch for anyone who needs a nap or a break of some sort, then meet back up for dinner/fireworks whenever possible. Me and my wife will take the lead on planning, we plan to make good use of rider swap to ensure DGG is never alone!

 

[KayaWildfire]

Another thought too is sit down with everyone and discuss priorities for trip or stuff that is make or break for them and you. Our family took the grandparents on a Disney cruise and an important thing for my mom was having a photo of the grandchildren and grandparents with mickey. Grandpa thought it was ridiculous to stand in line to see a giant mouse, but he did it anyway because this expectation and desire had been discussed previously. This might help with planning a bit if everyone is clear on expectations of each other.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

Id do basic plans like which park on which day based on park hours and EMH [assuming you are staying onsite}...then dining reservations and FPS.....but i would not plan a ride by ride / minute by minute day with a big group.

Also consider planning time to do things separately. A Disney vacation is expensive so some people want to do and see it all. But some are tired and need rest. Establish that it is ok to go separate ways at times.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

So funny you say that... next march we are taking family that has never been to WDW. As i talked about the great resavations i got last week at the 180 mark they thought i was crazy. Its the only time in my life i know where i am going to eat 5 months away. Im going to follow this thread

 

[mickey520]

So funny you say that... next march we are taking family that has never been to WDW. As i talked about the great resavations i got last week at the 180 mark they thought i was crazy. Its the only time in my life i know where i am going to eat 5 months away. Im going to follow this thread

Haha, yes. Exactly this. "Hey mom and dad, do you want to eat next to a giant aquarium or some dinosaurs 4 months from now? We need to decide now, we're already 50 days behind schedule!" I can totally see how I'm the crazy one in this conversation!

 

[DirectGirl]

Our family took the grandparents on a Disney cruise and an important thing for my mom was having a photo of the grandchildren and grandparents with mickey. Grandpa thought it was ridiculous to stand in line to see a giant mouse, but he did it anyway because this expectation and desire had been discussed previously.

This could totally be my family. LOL!

We are doing a WDW/DCL trip soon with extended family, and agree with MANY of the suggestions here. One thing I observed is that my in-laws say they want to do whatever we do, they are signed up, BUT after I made ADRs they hinted that it looked like too much eating. They don't really have the appetite (or maybe budget) to eat BOG with us, etc. So, it will be easy to drop them. The fact that they told me now made me so happy! I don't care about them skipping the meals with us, because they told me in advance. Other plans I made, they were very happy with, and I got a Kudos. So maybe make the plans first, then describe them to everyone, to see if you get any immediate negative feedback.

 

[tinkerjo]

On our multigenerational trips (it is usually my parents (72) us 3 kids, our kids and grandkids (total of 20)if everyone can make it) we try to focus more quality family time rather than ride time. We do our own thing for a while but make sure we hit my parent’s favorites as a family. Of course the teens whine slightly because they don’t really like it’s a small world or CoP but some day they will take their kids to Disney and have great memories of grandma/grandpa’s favorite ride. We always eat dinner together and usually the night show in the parks. We save commando trips for when it’s just my kids( and even at that we are far from commandos) focus on the family time and seeing Disney through their eyes and know they will always cherish that magical trip

 

[Klayfish]

I'll go against the grain and say that planning absolutely isn't important...at all. Planning is a personal preference that many here like to do, and that's cool. But it absolutely 100% isn't required or important. We're non-planners. If I had a vacation "plan", I truly would refuse to go. My life is all about planning, why would I want to do that on vacation? I want a break from that, and I can easily do it at WDW. If they don't want to plan, don't force it. That could backfire big time.

No matter what anyone here says, planning isn't a requirement. It's a preference. If it's not important to someone, then that's not a "wrong" answer.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I guess I'm not understanding how much "planning" the OP wants his family members to do. He stated that several of them (I believe it was the grandparents and great-grandmother) have never been to WDW. If that's the case, they don't know what they don't know. Experienced visitors "get" that there's a lot of walking, you have to book fastpasses at the 60-day mark and decide on your meals months ahead of time. These are all not typical of a "regular" vacation. The poor older people are probably wondering why they have to decide today if they want to eat in the castle in 7 months. Or decide if they'll be up for Soarin' or Toy Story Mania or whatever when the trip is months off.

I would encourage the newbies to read a book if they're interested in preparing for the trip. They may not want to do that. If they're not interested, I would plan like this: All be in the same park on the same day. Plan one family meal per day--we always liked to have dinner be the big family meal, but lunch might be a better choice, given the great-grandmother. Plan other meals and fastpasses, with the understanding that the older family members may not be up to most of the rides or more than one large meal a day. It's much easier to drop the number of people on a reservation than to try to add last minute. Mostly, though, the OP has to recognize that not everyone "does" WDW in the same way--and that's okay. Some love the rides, some love the shows, some focus on trying new restaurants--it's all good.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Haha, yes. Exactly this. "Hey mom and dad, do you want to eat next to a giant aquarium or some dinosaurs 4 months from now? We need to decide now, we're already 50 days behind schedule!" I can totally see how I'm the crazy one in this conversation!

Its a good thing that i can make reservations for how ever many people i like. Its not like the FP
But still i hope i chose well. I tried to pick something for everyone.. my 9 year old got trex cafe, for the older crowd i picked Be our guest and for everyone a few buffets and 1900 fare.... cause i could not get storybook. Im sure someone will have something to say they always do. They can save the drama for fp day.

 

[Summer2018]

Hi All, I used disboards extensively for planning my family's first trip to WDW in 2017 but am just getting into posting for our next trip. We are going back in January on a multi-generational trip (me, my wife, DS7, DD4, grandma, grandpa and great-grandma - for her 93rd birthday).

I'm having a little bit of trouble convincing some of the party that planning is important. We've had them share their must-do attractions, but they haven't given much input beyond that. It's an 8-day trip with 7 park days, so we do have quite a bit of time, but grandma, grandpa and GG have never been to WDW before and they don't seem to have a sense of the scale and planning necessary to make sure we all have a good time!

Do any of you have a preferred method for getting your extended family involved in the planning? We've tried showing them videos, and a spreadsheet with all the attractions. We even took them shopping for new Disney gear. We subscribed to Touring Plans this time around and I showed them that...which I think actually hurt my case - their impression seemed to be "why does it have to be so complicated".

Any recommendations would be great!

We tried explaining, and honestly, people don't believe it until they experience the consequences of not planning.

We asked for restaurant and ride preferences from people. We tried to accommodate suggestions when doing ADR's and Fastpasses. The only complainer was the one who didn't listen to us.

 

[mickey520]

Totally get the last few comments. A plan isn't a necessity. My wife and I are absolutely planners. I guess the essence of my original question was more around how do you clearly communicate the reality of a WDW vacation to people who have never been. If they all were saying "I don't care I just want to spend time with family" then great - we plan what we want to do and the rest of the party joins for as much as they can/want. Schedule a few fastpasses together and a meal or two each day. But I was getting more the "blank face, why do we need to plan 4 months in advance" reactions.

My mom has been to DL a ton, mostly 10+ years ago. She is very much used to the "show up and enjoy yourself" mentality. But I also know that her and I share this "fear of missing out" gene. So while on one hand she seems indifferent to the planning, I know if we show up without a plan she'll be disappointed to miss out on something.

Mostly, though, the OP has to recognize that not everyone "does" WDW in the same way--and that's okay. Some love the rides, some love the shows, some focus on trying new restaurants--it's all good.

Maybe that's the exact question I should have asked - I initially asked the "can't miss" attractions, which obviously I can plan for. But I should have followed up with "how do you want to fill in the rest of the time?". Eventually we got there...based on all the great feedback here, we're going to plan a few mutual fastpasses, and at least one meal each day together. Beyond that - everyone can do WDW as they wish!