Large group advise- FP++

[heathjh]

We have 26 of us going in Sept. My husbands parents are taking all their kids, spouses and grandkids. Age range on kids from new born- 15. I have our dining all done. We are doing all of the table service meals together. We know from past experience not to group together in the park cause it just takes too long. Trying to figure out how to schedule FP for everyone? I know the teenagers will want to break away from the parents at times. I also know each family will want to spend family time together. In the past it was easy to manage this type of thing. Not sure how to do this? Advise please!!! Thanks in advance )

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Can you have each individual family pick their own? Or at least have each set of parents provide a list of what they would like to have (which parks, which rides, etc). I think it would be easiest to have each little family group do their own FP+. Maybe let the teens coordinate together or something of the sort. Its way too big to try to keep together at all times. I do not envy the planner of this group

 

[Jack & Monica]

I am bringing down an extended-family group of 16 at the end of this month (and I thought our group was large!). What I found early on in the planning is that no matter the age -- the mom's controlled the agenda. With our group, the moms did not want to split up the group at all. They obviously would not want to miss out on the young ones' experiences, but they also fear that teens will not be able to navigate the parks and be able to meet up with the larger group for meals.
What I ended up doing was literally negotiating a compromise. All would go to the same park each day. Once at the park, there would be two distinct groups. The larger group would have the young children (elementary school and younger). This group is mainly made up of princesses. All of the moms would go with this group. Fast passes avoided things like roller coasters/tower of terror, etc.
Surprisingly though -- this was not a problem for the older elementary kids because -- there is just so much to do. We do have two toddlers along who will be in strollers. The moms have agreed to wait for the few rides that the toddlers could not go on.
The older group would have most of the dads along.
Both groups had fast passes that would link up mid-morning. Each group had at least two cell phones each. Both groups would link up for counter service meals during lunch. Groups would not necessarily leave the park together to go back to the resort (Kidani Village) at the same time; however, there was a no later than return time agreed upon.
The entire group would meet for dinner reservations at the same restaurant each late afternoon.
Most of the former larger group will stay at the resort for the evening. (there is a lot to do just at the resort -- pool -- campfire -- etc. A part of the older/teen group along with at least two dads will go to the parks in the early evening (on the three days we are going to the magic kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood studios),
We have one off day in the middle of the week -- one hybrid group will go to play miniature golf while the rest stay at the resort.
We have a one day where we will go to Blizzard Beach -- all are going to BB on that day.
On our last day, we always schedule a late flight, and we spend the day at Downtown Disney for shopping. We have reservations for lunch before we have to head back to the resort to catch the magic express to the airport.

 

[Aliceacc]

We're a group of 11, from 3 different households, all heading to WDW in 12 days It's my husband's brother, his wife and 2 adult kids, and his sister and her husband. And, just to make it interesting, we're at one resort and everyone else is at another.

Since for some reason my niece was the only one who could link all 11 of us, she actually booked the FPs that she and I worked on together.

Here's what I did: after speaking to everyone, I made a chart of FP: the ones for everyone, the ones for "most" and the ones for "a few."

Then I worked off the parks where we had our ADRs. Our first day together in, say, the MK, I chose 3 from the "all" list. By day 2, I had one "all" and filled in with the "somes". For example, my son HATES the drop on Splash Mountain. So he and I are doing Indy speedway while the others are on Splash. Both my sisters in law hate roller coasters, so they'll be on Jungle Cruise while the rest of us are on Big Thunder.

I know we'll be at rope drop, and I suspect the California family will be as well. The other family, probably not. So we timed the FPs for late afternoon. We'll do rope drop with anyone who shows up, tour until lunch. We always do the afternoon break back at our resort, not sure who will stay in the parks after us. But we'll meet up for those late afternoon FPs, for dinner, and for the evenings.

It took a bit of work, but we have a plan that everyone is happy with. There is one day-- our last-- when we're at the MK and everyone else is at DHS. That's OK; we have FPs in different parks and we'll meet up for dinner and Fantasmic.

I think our attitude was that we wanted to give everyone the vacation THEY wanted, while still meeting up and sharing dinners and evenings. No one family should have to sacrifice what they wanted-- the resort, a particular restaurant or park or ride-- for the sake of the group. So my kids will have plenty of time at Stormalong Bay, while their cousins have time to sleep in. The idea of all 11 of us going from one ride to the next for 8 days simply didn't appeal to us.

Here's my version of the FP breakdown. Keep in mind, our youngest daughter is 11. So lots of the Fantasyland stuff simply isn't on my list.

FP+ FOR EVERYONE
Peter Pan
Buzz Lightyear
Haunted Mansion
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of Caribbean
Philharmagic
Monster’s Laugh Floor

Soarin’
Maelstrom
Journey into Imagination
Spaceship Earth
Crush

Toy Story Mania
Great Movie Ride
Indy Jones
Lights Motor Action Stunts
Muppet 3D
Voyage of Little Mermaid

Kali
Safari
Lion King
Finding Nemo
Tough to be a Bug

FP+ FOR MOST
Big Thunder
Seven Dwarfs
Splash


Test Track
Mission Space
Turtle Talk

Star Tours

FP+ FOR A FEW
Space:
Barnstormer
Indy Speedway
Magic Carpets

Rock n Roller
Tower of Terror

Everest
Dinosaur

If you want, I can PM you what we ended up with.

 

[LaurenT]

we are going to be three families vacationing in August. The three moms all linked our accounts so we could see what each of us was doing. for the most part, we copied over the FP ressies so we all have the same ones, but there are things some of us are doing that others are not.
I would say to make your own plan and then let everyone link to it and make their own decisions/ressies...

 

[Montana Minnies]

We're a group of 11, from 3 different households, all heading to WDW in 12 days It's my husband's brother, his wife and 2 adult kids, and his sister and her husband. And, just to make it interesting, we're at one resort and everyone else is at another.

Since for some reason my niece was the only one who could link all 11 of us, she actually booked the FPs that she and I worked on together.

Here's what I did: after speaking to everyone, I made a chart of FP: the ones for everyone, the ones for "most" and the ones for "a few."

Then I worked off the parks where we had our ADRs. Our first day together in, say, the MK, I chose 3 from the "all" list. By day 2, I had one "all" and filled in with the "somes". For example, my son HATES the drop on Splash Mountain. So he and I are doing Indy speedway while the others are on Splash. Both my sisters in law hate roller coasters, so they'll be on Jungle Cruise while the rest of us are on Big Thunder.

I know we'll be at rope drop, and I suspect the California family will be as well. The other family, probably not. So we timed the FPs for late afternoon. We'll do rope drop with anyone who shows up, tour until lunch. We always do the afternoon break back at our resort, not sure who will stay in the parks after us. But we'll meet up for those late afternoon FPs, for dinner, and for the evenings.

It took a bit of work, but we have a plan that everyone is happy with. There is one day-- our last-- when we're at the MK and everyone else is at DHS. That's OK; we have FPs in different parks and we'll meet up for dinner and Fantasmic.

I think our attitude was that we wanted to give everyone the vacation THEY wanted, while still meeting up and sharing dinners and evenings. No one family should have to sacrifice what they wanted-- the resort, a particular restaurant or park or ride-- for the sake of the group. So my kids will have plenty of time at Stormalong Bay, while their cousins have time to sleep in. The idea of all 11 of us going from one ride to the next for 8 days simply didn't appeal to us.

Here's my version of the FP breakdown. Keep in mind, our youngest daughter is 11. So lots of the Fantasyland stuff simply isn't on my list.

FP+ FOR EVERYONE
Peter Pan
Buzz Lightyear
Haunted Mansion
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of Caribbean
Philharmagic
Monster’s Laugh Floor

Soarin’
Maelstrom
Journey into Imagination
Spaceship Earth
Crush

Toy Story Mania
Great Movie Ride
Indy Jones
Lights Motor Action Stunts
Muppet 3D
Voyage of Little Mermaid

Kali
Safari
Lion King
Finding Nemo
Tough to be a Bug

FP+ FOR MOST
Big Thunder
Seven Dwarfs
Splash


Test Track
Mission Space
Turtle Talk

Star Tours

FP+ FOR A FEW
Space:
Barnstormer
Indy Speedway
Magic Carpets

Rock n Roller
Tower of Terror

Everest
Dinosaur

If you want, I can PM you what we ended up with.

Just so you know I sent you a PM
We'll be going in December 9-20th, with just my sister, myself and 1 niece for the first 3 days the others arrive on the 13th.
Thanks,
Montana Minnies

 

[Aliceacc]

Got it and replied.

Happy planning!!!

 

[heathjh]

Thanks for all the input.

DIS admin........ It would be nice to have a sub forum for large groups.
Also I would LOVE to hear a podcast about large group do's and don'ts.