Info for family who aren't Disney-wise!

[gracelrm]

We are taking extended family members along with us to Disney in June '16. I will be contacting them by email to do most of the planning. I would like to send them Internet links to help them know what I know about resorts, MDE, fast pass selections, etc. can you give me some good links for the following:

Pictures of the DVC resorts including villas & resort amenities ( to help them envision where they might be staying)

An overview of MDE

Fast Passes ( ability to book 60 days out)

Magic Bands

Instead of me sending them what I know ( I tend to be too wordy) I'd just like to send them links.

TIA

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Love this book and resource. Buy it whenever we haven't been for a while lots of good info and ideas. http://touringplans.com/unofficial-guide

 

[Minniesgal]

A word of advice be very careful not to overwhelm them with the planning. Try and get just an overall feel for what restaurants/rides etc they like the look of and do your planning in quiet and just guide them to combined activities when there. A lot of families get overwhelmed by the obsessive planning and some end up backing out because of it.

 

[CMNJ]

Love this book and resource. Buy it whenever we haven't been for a while lots of good info and ideas. http://touringplans.com/unofficial-guide

I agree this is a great reference-I suggested it to my mother in law when we were planning a trip with them this past May) and she got the paper copy. That way they were able to read about rides/shows before we ever got to the parks to figure out what they'd be interested in/up for physically. It also helped me to make their fast passes since I knew what their priorities were.

 

[crisi]

We are taking extended family members along with us to Disney in June '16. I will be contacting them by email to do most of the planning. I would like to send them Internet links to help them know what I know about resorts, MDE, fast pass selections, etc. can you give me some good links for the following:

Pictures of the DVC resorts including villas & resort amenities ( to help them envision where they might be staying)

An overview of MDE

Fast Passes ( ability to book 60 days out)

Magic Bands

Instead of me sending them what I know ( I tend to be too wordy) I'd just like to send them links.

TIA

Are you booking their rooms? If so, I wouldn't give them a choice unless you let them choose from a subset of what you can afford and is likely to be available when you can book it. Since timeshares are different, their expectation is likely to be they can get anything, and then you'll have to disappoint them when you don't want to spend on Poly bungalows or can't book BCV at seven months.

Personally, I'd have them all spend $15 on a Birnbaums or $16 on a Passporter rather than sending them down the hole of the internet. Not the UoG, which is overwhelming, too wordy, and (IMHO) overly opinionated for non-Disney folks (Disney folks love the opinionedness and wordyness). Have them focus merely on what they need to make arrangements for ahead of time: Any ADRs they will make or you will make in which case have them nominate restaurants, FastpassPluses. I wouldn't worry about MDE (which is "put the tags they send you on your luggage before you leave, get off your plane and make it to the main terminal, follow the signs to MDE, get in a checkin line, check in, catch the bus" - if they can't handle that on the fly without a lot of preparation, they are sunk when it comes to Fastpass+ or Magic Bands - you can brief them on MDE a week before the trip - before that they just need to know not to throw out the luggage tags). I'd also recommend that about a week before the trip, you have them all look at park maps. They don't need to memorize them completely, but understanding that Fantasyland is at the back of the Magic Kingdom and you go through Frontierland to get to Adventureland will help a lot.

 

[Chuck S]

I just finished a trip with 16 people, many of them new to Disney. Don't over plan, things can change on the fly. Basically I gave them info on what the rooms were like with sleeping areas, laundry and kitchen facilities. I did not give them a choice of resort, it was OKW only. Getting an extended group to agree on anything is like herding cats. Everyone needs to do their own things, meet up for a meal in the parks once in a while. Don't plan FastPasses for every day of the trip, unless it is a very short trip. This allows your guests to make their own FastPasses on some days. Be sure to tell them the policies for dining reservations and cancellations. And as always, plan early if there is a "must do" character meal that the entire group wants to attend. Our one big group meal was the luau. But subgroups with kids did some character meals.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

When we brought extended family earlier this year I did all the planning. Even when I sent them links to the resort we were staying at, they got confused and thought we were staying in a tree house and not a three bedroom villa. It was only once we arrived that they told us they were so relieved that they didn't have to sleep on bunk beds. So even your links may confuse them.

I agree, as far as resorts, only send them choices that will be true options for them to look at, and make very clear what size room you are planning on getting. No sense in getting them all excited about the fancy whirlpool tubs and kitchens if you will be getting everyone studios.

 

[Dean]

A word of advice be very careful not to overwhelm them with the planning. Try and get just an overall feel for what restaurants/rides etc they like the look of and do your planning in quiet and just guide them to combined activities when there. A lot of families get overwhelmed by the obsessive planning and some end up backing out because of it.

I completely agree. I book family trips most years and have a few principles on the planning and reservation side. I may canvas people a year or 2 out but I select the area, resort and week and I book as I see fit for the group. I then invite people and if they want to come, great but since I'm paying for it, I can be that controlling. I do so in such a way that if someone cancels last minute or wants to bring 3 or 4 extra people, I've got it covered. I've learned that many people don't want their vacation planned and controlled by others so I plan ahead so that I can be hands off for the trip itself. I arrive early and get the rooms squared away. I insist on one group meal but after that they're on their own and can do as much or little as they want with others when they want. And while we don't have issues, I've learned from here and other experiences that anyone who tends to be difficult or bring drama will be WORSE at Disney and that those planning usually assume (often wrongly so) that a usually difficult person will be better because it's Disney and they are getting a free or cheap ride. Two other cautions. That some people are just not Disney people so everything you love they may hate. The other is for timeshares in general and that if you're charging anything at all, many will think you're overcharging them even if you're not. For example, if you charged someone $5 a point just for the room portion that were in, many would think you were overcharging them. I think this happens for 2 reasons, one is that many see a timeshare as free and the other that some people feel like others simply owe them. OP, you know the group and situation so you can decide how much of this is or isn't applicable in your situation. I must say our family trips have consistently been our best trips. We've had 34-40 people the last 6 or 7 trips.

 

[gracelrm]

Thanks for all the advice. We've taken this extended family with us twice already, but it's been quite a while since we've done it. I'd already chosen the resort, but just wanted to give them a visual so they'd know what to expect. Our home resort is VWL - but with the renovations there - I didn't really want to stay there this time. We're going to attempt to get AKL - Kidani because I think the kids will like it. We will not plan fast passes together and probably just do a couple of family meals. In the past, what we've done is figured out what parks we want to go to on what days and then told everyone and if they wanted to be in the same park with our immediate family, they could. If they didn't, that was fine. We hadn't had the option of the fast passes through MDE or the Magic Bands on our last trips, but do now and I wanted to give them an idea of why they might want to purchase their tickets ahead of time in order to make use of the 60 day window for fast passes. The last time we went as a group - it was the old fast pass ticket machines. I was just trying to let them know how that all works.

I learned on our first family trip in 2004 that everyone needs their own space and I don't need to feel responsible for everyone's fun. That trip I stressed out way too much wanting everything to be perfect for everyone. It was not a vacation for me at all! But I do appreciate all of the warnings of "what not to do"!

I do have one other question. Since there will be five family groups and we won't be doing all rides together - can each family group have their own MDE even though the resort reservations will all be through our DVC account? I sure don't want to have to manage their fast passes and tickets.

 

[spiceycat]

for resorts
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/resorts.htm

planning - does not include magic bands
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwplan.htm

 

[rocketriter]

It's hard to initiate folks into Disney planning. Sometimes it's hard to get them to believe it's even necessary. We have friends who were going for only one day. We tried to lay out for them a simple curriculum and how to make a couple of reservations. They wrote everything down and thanked us. A few weeks later we ran into them and they said, "When we got there it was raining. We stood around for a while but there was nothing much to do so we left. How can you keep going back there?" Turns out they made no plans, no reservations, no passes, walked into the Magic Kingdom on one of its busiest days during the afternoon sprinkle, then walked out again--poorer but no wiser.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I do have one other question. Since there will be five family groups and we won't be doing all rides together - can each family group have their own MDE even though the resort reservations will all be through our DVC account? I sure don't want to have to manage their fast passes and tickets.

Yes! Each family can manage their own fast passes. However, what worked really well for us on my last trip with my brother was that we actually met up for all our fast pass reservations, and then split up the rest of the time. It worked out great. So you might want to consider that option too. We each still made our own FP reservations, I just sent him screen shots of my plans, and he made matching plans. We didn't need to be friends or connected in any way.