This is such a wonderful offer to your BIL and SIL! I don't think newbies really have the appreciation for how much planning and organization is involved in a WDW trip until they go. We recently did 2 larger extended family trips in Aug 2023 and March 2024. One with my husband's side of the family, and the other with mine. I was nervous for both trips but they honestly went much much better than I expected, and I hope the same for you!
These were a few of my key takeaways:
- Everything will take you way longer than expected. Even just getting ready to go in the mornings and moving through the parks as a larger group if you are touring together. It was helpful to lower my expectations of what we could accomplish in a day.
- Plan for time apart. While we each love our family and the purpose of the trip was to spend time together, some breaks where each family unit could do their own thing was essential to us being able to get along for the whole trip! I found it helpful to plan "anchor points" in the day. Either dining reservations that we shared or Lightening Lanes booked at the same time. And then having some time for each family to do the rides/attractions that were priority for them in between. Or, if others wanted to follow along with our plan because they weren't sure what to do, then they were welcome to come along with me and my family.
- Depending on how long you're going for: WDW is a marathon and not a sprint. Pacing was really important for us, especially for the little ones in the group, so taking breaks when needed, or enjoying the amenities a
DVC resort has to offer is just as worthwhile as spending time in the parks. I think people get especially cranky when they are hot and tired, so we wanted to be sure to avoid that as much as possible.
For one trip, we had 3 nights in 3 studios at PVB and 6 nights in a 3 BR at RIV. For our second trip we had a 14 night split stay in 3 BR's at AKL, BWV and BLT. If you can all be in one space, I would highly encourage that. Even though I had put a note in our reservations that we were traveling together when we were in the 3 studios at PVB, our rooms were not next to each other. So the communication and coordination was just a little more challenging to get everyone together or out the door at the same time, or to change plans last minute if needed. We also didn't really have a joint "hang out" space for the kids or adults, which was missed! We also did a grocery order when we were in the 3 BR's so it was great to be able to cost share drinks and snacks to have in the room and everyone had access to it.
In terms of the planning, I had set up a 2 month "meeting" to review tentative plans/suggesting dining reservations and timing. It let others do some research on my suggestions, and let them know what I would be reserving. It gave them some time to decide whether or not they wanted to join in or opt out to do their own thing for a certain meal period or day. It was also close enough to the dates that they started to get excited and begin doing their own research on things, but also enough time for me to be flexible in incorporating any suggestions they might have. Then another planning meeting after 30 days to finalize things a bit more once reservations were solidified. There was also a group chat set up and I sent out reminders of when to buy tickets, make park reservations (back when that was still a thing) or when I saw discounts for gift cards and such. Or if there was fun Disney park news that was announced for the dates we were going, I would send that out too to get people excited.
It was definitely a lot of work on our part to wrangle everyone and make sure the trip more or less met everyone's expectations, but honestly, worth it in the end! We left the trip still speaking to each other at least! Actually, our problem now is that they expect us to take them again...
