Is my family crazy? Trying to feel out potential Nov/Dec 2021 family vacay

[Riss]

I know it's not for a long while but my family is current in discussion to perhaps go on a trip around November/December of 2021, with maybe a land and sea trip, and I was just wondering whether that seemed like a crazy time. I know that it's busy during the Christmas season, we've been there during that time before, but with it being the 50th anniversary of MK, I was just thinking that it might be even busier than what it was previously when we went and that it just might be too much?

So far, in talks to possibly go, is my family, the child we babysit, and my brother's girlfriend as well as my cousin with the potential for my grandparents and my uncle, his girlfriend, and her kids, maybe.

To break it all down with our ages at that time)
My family: 7 people (55, 53, 27, 26, 25, 23, 2 1/2)
My brother's girlfriend: 1 person (22) [Might be interested if we're going and they're still together since she's never been]
Child we babysit: 1 person (6)
My cousin: 2 people (36, 8)
My grandparents: 2 people (76, 76) [If they were to go, they'd only do the cruise portion]
My uncle: 4 people (52, 42?, 13?, 11?) [I'm not sure of his girlfriend's children's ages]

My family is looking at that time because my nephew would be around 2 1/2 years old by that point and my cousin would like for his son to experience Disney at some point. Also, seeing as our trip was just in September 2018, we're giving ourselves more time before the next one and since we have a 7 week old baby, we're not looking to go for quite some time but would like for him to experience going.

We might be looking at maybe a week to a week and a half trip, taking in 2 days in total for traveling, which would be by plane. Of course none of the specifics are worked out, we just all bring up conversation about the possibility of a trip once in a while when we get together.

I guess I'm just worrying myself about this a lot in advance since I'll probably be the primary planner for this trip like I was the last if we are going. We've never gone with this many people before, all 4 of us kids went with our school band but that's different haha, so it would be all new territory.

Do you think my family is crazy for trying to possibly attempt this?

 

[SamFaniam]

I think traveling with that many people would require quite a bit of preparation, so you’re absolutely not starting to early. The parks are really lovely between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because everything is decorated. That’s a relatively low attendance time. The Disney ships are also really pretty, and the cruises between Thanksgiving and Christmas have special holiday seeming.

 

[Malyficent]

Exactly what the PP said. We’re planning a big multi family, multi generational trip for Dec 2021 to Disneyland Paris. It takes that long to get everybody onboard with the plan and to commit to the $. Best of luck with tour planning!

 

[Riss]

I think traveling with that many people would require quite a bit of preparation, so you’re absolutely not starting to early. The parks are really lovely between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because everything is decorated. That’s a relatively low attendance time. The Disney ships are also really pretty, and the cruises between Thanksgiving and Christmas have special holiday seeming.

Yes, we love it around Christmastime and my sister would love for her son to be able to experience it, even if he will only be 2 1/2 years old at the time. Also, if everyone ends up being on board, it would be pretty much all of their first times, besides my family, to go during Christmas when all of the decorations are up. We just have to start talking about the details a little bit but so far my cousin does definitely seem on board.

Exactly what the PP said. We’re planning a big multi family, multi generational trip for Dec 2021 to Disneyland Paris. It takes that long to get everybody onboard with the plan and to commit to the $. Best of luck with tour planning!

We just randomly brought it up as a possibility one day and my mom just randomly asked my cousin who said he'd like to take his son to Disney one day and that he wouldn't be opposed. We're sure my grandparents would come along because their two great-grandsons are going along so they would at least probably join for the cruise portion, if we decided to go that way. They actually took my cousin and I on our first Disney cruise a little over 20 years ago! But my cousin did say that it would be enough time for him to start saving up money. I think he has been looking into some things because when he came over for 4th of July he started asking us questions about our past trips and what we did.

 

[Pappy Tom]

You can never start too early planning a vacation... there are definitely a lot of logistics you have to plan for here. One thing you need to look into are passports. Even if all of the adults in your party have the national Real ID cards, they are only good for domestic travel (if you're in the U.S.). And I think everyone would need one if you're sailing in international waters. Oh, and birth certificates, too. Just some things you have to consider. Also, you might need to obtain a notarized letter from the parents allowing you to take custody of the child you babysit, since you would be taking a non-related child with you while in the U.S. and into international waters.

When you plan a vacation of this magnitude, getting all your ducks in a row can be challenging... wishing you the best while planning your vacation!

 

[Greenfield1984]

"If life was easy it would be boring"

"The meaning/purpose of life is struggle"

Both quotes are by me, usually when trying something that other people tell me im crazy for.

So yes my dear you are crazy.

That big a trip with so many people amongst generations will be a challenge.

May actually end in aggravation and tears.

Especially as the primary planner there will be many pitfalls in store for you. And as the primary planner people will be pinning any and all negative experiences on you.

However....

The payoff if successful is huge. My fav disney trip was a huge multi generation trip.

Heck even if it turns into a trainwreck disaster still probably worth it. At least then youll have stories!

Good news is you are planning early so you can figure out some of the pitfalls ahead of time and gain knowledge for dealing with problems on the fly.

One major tip id give ya is this. Let people break off into groups.

That may be divided by famiky, or age or anything else. These groups can change during trip. Doesnt matter. The point of breaking off into groups is to allow for flexibility and varied touring approaches.

Have a itinerary planned for your group and just let everyone know what you are up to. They can follow or go their own way as they like.

Then have planned meetups. Maybe a particular ride everyone wants and can easily ride together like its a small world. Or lunch and dinner etc.

Disney is fun. Id never disuade somone from going on any kind of trip. Id just recomend doing some research which is exacrlt what you are doing. So good luck.

 

[CynBeth]

Exactly what the PP said. We’re planning a big multi family, multi generational trip for Dec 2021 to Disneyland Paris. It takes that long to get everybody onboard with the plan and to commit to the $. Best of luck with tour planning!

We just visited Disneyland Paris for the first time as part of a 2 week London and Paris trip and we loved it!

 

[Riss]

You can never start too early planning a vacation... there are definitely a lot of logistics you have to plan for here. One thing you need to look into are passports. Even if all of the adults in your party have the national Real ID cards, they are only good for domestic travel (if you're in the U.S.). And I think everyone would need one if you're sailing in international waters. Oh, and birth certificates, too. Just some things you have to consider. Also, you might need to obtain a notarized letter from the parents allowing you to take custody of the child you babysit, since you would be taking a non-related child with you while in the U.S. and into international waters.

When you plan a vacation of this magnitude, getting all your ducks in a row can be challenging... wishing you the best while planning your vacation!

Yes! Everyone in my family, the 6 of us, has a passport, we all got one for the last land and sea trip we took and the child we babysit does also have one because we did take him on that trip, actually haha. So thankfully we've been through it before about all of the letters and "permission slips" essentially that we need to have to take the boy on vacation with us. My grandparents also have a valid passport because they actually went on a vacation to Israel just a year or two ago. So the only other people would be my cousin and his son and my uncle and his girlfriend's family, who may or may not have one.

 

[Riss]

One major tip id give ya is this. Let people break off into groups.

That may be divided by famiky, or age or anything else. These groups can change during trip. Doesnt matter. The point of breaking off into groups is to allow for flexibility and varied touring approaches.

Have a itinerary planned for your group and just let everyone know what you are up to. They can follow or go their own way as they like.

Then have planned meetups. Maybe a particular ride everyone wants and can easily ride together like its a small world. Or lunch and dinner etc.

Disney is fun. Id never disuade somone from going on any kind of trip. Id just recomend doing some research which is exacrlt what you are doing. So good luck.

I was already definitely thinking about that! I mean I know that we'll want to spend as much time as a family together but there would definitely be some time that we would want to spend ourselves. We even did that during our trip as 7. My brother, who likes to sleep in, would sleep in and meet us somewhere, we'd typically tell him what time the first FP was for, or if everyone wanted to go back to the room, we weren't afraid to go do things by ourselves like shop or maybe see a show.

 

[indoshakespeare]

maybe have your uncle handle the preparation for his family and you handle your preparation for your family. just agree on the resort and the dates and meet up there. might be easier

 

[DJFan88]

I'm dealing with a trip at the end of next year with a smaller group than you but that involves more than usual crowd with newbies that may or may not go, as well. I'm also The Planner. The first thing I am assessing is rooming and Resort options to decide on that.