Large family reunion hotel options

[SharonZ]

I would have everyone agree on a hotel and let everyone choose their own accommodations. When I travel with my family, I usually stay at a different hotel, I need my "away" time.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Individual rooms for each group. Everyone makes their own reservation. Getting enough studios at Copper Creek will be very difficult unless you own tons of points there and can book them all at 11 months out. By the way, how far out is your trip? That will make a big difference. Plus if you get private messages from people offering to book all your rooms/villa for you, ignore them. Scams.

 

[tjmw2727]

We have done 3 "family trips" so far with different combinations of families, usually about 18 people.

We started with dates and narrowed it down to 5 with some families staying longer (before and or after) but all trips included those 5 days. Each family made their own travel arrangements.

Once the days were set one person / family picked their preferred resort, my mil for her 80th, another was my sil as she had dvc and spearheaded that trip etc. Then the other families booked their accommodations based on price and room occupancy as well as proximity to the "preferred resort". My sil had dvc at boardwalk so they booked that, another family also booked BWI, we booked at the dolphin as I had points, another family at POFQ, and one couple who wasn't into the parks as much booked AKL.

We then make park plans based on at least one meal per day. Since each family had kids of various ages and interests we all met at the park and spent some time together followed by time apart or with various combinations of kids and adults and then met for dinner followed by the nightly fireworks.

For us this works well, its really hard to make sure everyone gets the most out of the vacation if 20 people are together all day every day. We had some families with young children who napped and some with older teens who wanted to sleep in a bit and stay out later. One couple wasn't into the parks as much as the rest of us so they skipped a couple days when we had a resort or Disney springs dinner planned.

 

[Sunshine11]

The best large family trip we did was 8 rooms at Disney's French Quarter Resort. Our age group ranged from 2 years old to 75 years old and everyone loved it. The resort has a small footprint, one feature pool and bus stop and everyone was located int the same building. But honestly, you could never be too far away there. You have a boat to Disney Springs for those who want the additional amenities and everyone got their own room/space. It also fit our budget.

 

[Miffy]

Does anyone have experience booking a large family reunion at WDW with everyone staying on property? I somehow got stuck with the hotel arrangement job. Probably around 20 adults. No one wants to share a bedroom outside their own little family pod. (Which basically means anything with a double queen is only going to have two adults and MAYBE some kids in it). We’re really only juggling about 4 children at the moment. But everyone wants to be in close proximity to each other. Not sure if we should look at getting a couple of villas? Anyone have experience with this kind of thing and can offer advice/help. Biggest group I’ve traveled with before was 5 adults, never done anything like this before.

I’ve already been instructed by the older generation that Treehouses at Saratoga, Cabins/RV at Fort Wilderness, and off property are off the table. Was told to stick to mainly deluxe/DVC options. Any help is welcome!

Are you paying for all of this yourself? Or is each individual family paying for their accommodations? Or maybe you're paying upfront and getting reimbursed. These are important aspects of your planning.

With 20 people, odds are someone is going to end up cancelling, especially for something you're going to book nearly a year in advance. Things happen, circumstances change, etc., etc. For that reason alone, I would advise against renting DVC points. They're nonrefundable and you could be on the hook for thousands of dollars for rooms your party wouldn't be using.

If this were my responsibility to plan--and no way would I ever get involved with a vacation that included more than 1 or 2 other people! . . . but . . . if this were my responsibility to plan, I'd pin down a resort, then send emails or texts or however you communicate to everyone in the group and tell them: This is where we're staying. Here are the dates. I've checked to make sure there's availability. Now it's your responsibility to book your room.

That way they pay for their room and it's up to them if they have to cancel for any reason.

If you have to book all these rooms, maybe you could ask everyone to pay you for their rooms at the time you book. And explain to them any cancellation policies involved, whether it's DVC or resort rooms. That way it's their money on the line, not yours.

 

[mouschievous]

Individual rooms for each group. Everyone makes their own reservation.

Absolutely. There's 25 of us going in January. We need 10 rooms. Since we started the whole thing, I told everyone our dates and where we'd booked and let them decide from there. Everyone ended up booking at the same resort, so that will be nice, but we don't intend to all ask to be close to each other. We can make plans to meet up! We also don't intend to stick together while at the parks - everyone is doing their own thing and then we'll meet up occasionally.

 

[SteveH]

Contact Dreams Unlimited ask for somebody that has booked other groups like this and let them help you out. Dreams is the owned by the same owners behind this forum, been around a long time. I wouldn't do this on my own, you won't pay any more (no added fees) and they will probably save you money and for sure they will save you headache.

 

[ShannyMcB]

We just had a 3 family trip in August, we stayed at CBR and the other 2 families stayed at Riveria. I had requested a building closer to Riveria so we could walk but that didnt happen. But being able to just take the skyliner between the resorts was great. It worked for everyone's budget and increased our food options. If your crew wants to spend a lot of time together not a good plan...but if you aren't you can spread across the skyliner resorts and easily meet everyone's needs and budgets.

 

[crisi]

I agree - don't rent points because with a group that size your chances of holding the bag on a reservation are high - it will likely be non-refundable and that will cause hard feelings.
Families need space. You might love your siblings, but in any group like this there is friction - and expensive travel and packed days can surface it.

 

[rwdavis2]

Do some research, present the options. And see what the opinions are.. If there is significant disagreement then let everyone book their own. Someone will eventually be unhappt and blame you.

Added. What SteveH said above is great advice.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm figuratively dying at 50s being considered the older generation. I mean I know it is oldER than 20s and 30s, but... That's The Breakfast Club you're talking about. (and Judd Nelson is 61) Anyway, that's not your point.

Why are you looking at DVC?

I would just go with normal hotels, personally. Easier for people to book on their own, pay on their own, and not involve you in too much craziness. At Disney there is really no way to ensure you'll all be in proximity to each other. And with each "pod" being so small, they don't need the room of even a one bedroom villa.

We also are looking at Animal Kingdom Lodge because of the animals, and the grand villas look really big, but transportation options from there aren't the greatest.

Bus or car. Nothing un-great about those. There is no resort from which you can visit all parks without a bus or car at some point. And your group will take up most of a bus if traveling all together, so it's nearly private transportation.

ETA: Since everyone is married they don't want to share with their parents or siblings/cousins so it adds that extra layer of difficulty

They book on their own, and voila, no difficulty.


I do like the idea floated above that you use your points to get a villa for your own family and then let the other family members rent hotel rooms at the same resort. But don't get a grand villa unless you have cash in hand and no one expects a refund if they cancel.