Large Group! Tips!

[mom2mek]

This is a great post! I love reading how others travel with a big group!

My family and I will be at WDW to celebrate Thanksgiving and stay for the week following as well. It is 10 of us! We are staying at a Grand Villa at Saratoga Springs. Our ages range from 3 months to 62 years old! We are all so excited to be spending time together.

This is the second time we have all traveled together to WDW and last time we ate every meal together and pretty much stayed together for the whole trip!

How we plan: Before we travel, we get together alot and talk about what places to eat, specific tours, parks and new attractions. We've already purchased our MVMCP tickets and are working on our ADR's for the trip. With that said, we are not "touring" folks. We typically pick a park and work our way around doing what everyone wants to do and we don't rush! We find it very relaxing to have sit-down meals and make that a priority in addition to touring the parks, resorts and spending ample time at the Pool. Since we'll be in WDW for 10 days - we have the luxury of time to explore the resort and do alot of park hopping.

You just need to bring your patience and remember that this is Disney World and you are on vacation!

Our groups sound very similar! When we went in Jan of 2006, it was 12 of us. This trip my brother and his family will be there, so it jumps to 16! Add in my brother's wife's parents (following this?) who might come down from Boston for a few days, and on some days we will have 18! The 12 of us from our first trip pretty much stayed together with the exception of my Dad, Hubby, and brother-in-law. They occasionally ran off to do some of the bigger thrill rides, but we weren't apart for very long even then. I have a feeling this trip will be a little different with the addition of my brother and his family. They tend to do their own thing anyway, so I'm sure a Disney trip will be no different.

I plan on just having a few strategic ADRs in place for the week (Character meals, Thanksgiving dinner, etc) and possibly a few special events (BBB, Dive Quest, Wishes cruise) and even those are still somewhat up in the air. We are not crazy about getting in there and seeing everything we can see - we like to take our time - but we like to have a plan at the beginning of the day! Of course, you know what they say, "a plan is only a point from which to deviate!"

You say that you will be there for Thanksgiving - have you decided where you are going to eat yet? We are thinking Liberty Tree Tavern, but wonder if it's going to be too crowded. We are also looking at Chef Mickey's and staying away from the parks that day. Any thoughts?

Have a great time! It's nice to hear some positive things about groups traveling together. Sometimes all you hear are the negative. My mom, sister, my kids, and her kids, all have so much fun together - it's hard to picture splitting up at all. The rest of the group will do what they want to do anyway, so I'm just including them in our # for ADRs and asking them to join us. They will probably start the day with us and then break apart somtime mid-day. Just a hunch, but that's what I think will happen.

 

[mom2mek]

If anyone in your party has been to Disney, be sure to get their opinions on things. One of our favorite things about traveling in a big group to Disney is that about 6 months before the trip, we all get together for a Disney meeting and discuss where people want to eat, what people definitely want to see, whether anyone wants to do water parks, does anyone want to go to Universal, etc. Then, 3 months out after I've planned out our agenda by looking at EMH's, we do the same thing, but try to be more exact - Monday, MK, dinner at LTT; Tuesday, Epcot in the am, Studios at night, dinner at H&V; Wednesday, free day, dinner at 'Ohana's; etc.
QUOTE]

Love the 6 month out and 3 month out planning meetings! Great idea! My problem is no one seems quite as obsessed with the planning end of it as I am. Total Disney Junkie, I am! My sister just goes with the flow - she has so much going on that I think she likes that I take the lead and my brother and his family seem very blah about the whole thing (comparatively speaking, of course). I don't think they quite grab the urgency or importance of having certain things scheduled ahead of time because they didn't come on our last trip! The last time they went, they didn't have any children. The "world" is a different place with kids! Better, mind you, but a bit more hectic. Different foods, different rides, potty breaks, who's riding with who issues, and then you have the whole issue of not wanting to wait for a table at a restaurant with a bunch of hungry, and not-so-patient children because you didn't see the importance of getting ADRs! LOL!

Anyways, it's going to be great! I can't wait to get back there!

 

[SC Mouse Fan]

We are going with a large group in November also. There will be 10 of us. I am the planner but mostly just for the meals. I will give them advice about the parks but they can do whatever they want. I will make it clear that we will be goin early to the parks and if they want to tag along they can but if not call us if you need anything. Hopefully we will be together some a apart some because we have an age difference from 6 to 73. We will get together each night for a meal so we don't have to stay together during the day. I think they will probably try to stay with us though. We have been several time in the last few years, so we don't feel compelled to do everything. I hope we have fun and they will want to do it again another time. Sunday, May 20 I get to call for our ADR's.

 

[dis2cruise]

I was reading this and thinking about my trip in aug/sept.
we were going as a family of 4.
then i had a thought maybe i should ask my newly divorced brother and
his 3 kids to join us (this will be their 1st vacation ever his ex wife never wanted to travel kids are 15 this is my db's step son, 8 , and 5 the 8 and 5 yr old are my brothers kids). he said yes.

now i had to change all my adr's we are doing the fdp because they were for four people and change everything for 8 and of course add some character meals for the little ones etc.

i do believe there should be some time where he has his kids all by himself if not a dinner (character) or pool time
to be a family since he only sees his kids normally on the weekends.

However, he doesn't want that Maybe he thinks we know dw better than him and i will be like his tour guide, or maybe he would be too overwelmed with them. I have been with these kids and they are very well behaved so i don't really think
he is afraid they would act out in public. how do i get around this nicely to tell him that WE need our own family time?

 

[dougsmom98]

I think disnut made a great point about knowing what the children are wearing each day at the park. I also want to mention that since there are so many adults going, it is actually easy to lose track of the kids. Be careful that you don't assume that little Johnie is with Uncle Joe on Peter Pan only to find out that Uncle Joe thought Johnie was with you on It's a Small World.

I also agree with having enough vehicles. There are ten of us going in February and we will have one vehicle per family which will be a total of 3 vehicles. A few years back we traveled with 12 of us and each family had their own vehicle too.

I noticed you were staying in a villa. We have done this a couple of times in Disney and for the last 8 years at the beach. Decide in advance who will be sleeping where. You don't want it to be awkward when you get there and all the couples had their heart set on the master suite with the jacuzzi tub or all of the kids want the Mickey Mouse room with the Game Cube. It will be hard to try to keep food and drinks separate for each family, so plan on making most things fair game for everyone's enjoyment. I also suggest that you don't purchase too much food. Plan to go back to the grocery store a couple more times. Even if you are sure that you will cook fried chicken one night you might find that no one feels like eating fried chicken or cooking it after you have purchased all the ingredients.
Good Luck.

 

[ReneeDisney]

You say that you will be there for Thanksgiving - have you decided where you are going to eat yet? We are thinking Liberty Tree Tavern, but wonder if it's going to be too crowded. We are also looking at Chef Mickey's and staying away from the parks that day. Any thoughts?

Hi! Our arrival day is Thanksgiving day and we have an early flight, so we are planning to have a later dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern as long as I can get an ADR and get into the parks. If not, our back-up plan is Ohana's!

Make sure to look for us that week. I'll have a lime green Mickey keychain on my bag and we'll be a big happy group of travelers!! ENJOY!!!

 

[scrapperjill]

I love this...What a great post. I'm currently planning a trip with a group of 13 We started planning last year...and our trip is this comming Sept. At first it started off with the group going on DCL but then we decided to 'add' a few days to WDW

So far I've found my group to be very layed back and easy to plan for. No ones really had many opnions (YET) as to what they'd rather do. I did start off by telling everyone that I was making plans for MY family...but anyone else in the group was welcome to join in on what we were doing (that's how everyone ended up booking a few days a WDW). I also stressed the fact right off that IF you were not intrested in learning about what there was to do at Disney or on the cruise that they were NOT to come to me during the trip and what to know everything I knew....I mainly did this because I let everyone know that I was willing to answer any questions they had reguarding the trip, WDW and DCL at any time before the trip...so to think of what they may want to know or learn and ask. I also gave them suggestion on guide books as well as web links (like the DIS). This plan did end up back fireing somewhat because our group started out even larger...but one family decided to not go for one reason or another.

Starting in January the group started getting together once a month to have a trip 'gathering'. We do a potluck dinner and enjoy mixed drinks....as we discuss various topic related to the trip....things like Airline limits, packing, packing lists, trip insurance, WDW daily plans, menus, DDP, Port of call, Passports, what's included in the cruise price. So far the gathering have gone well...although sometime I don't think we should start in with the mixed drinks so early....I've found that at some gathering we don't do much vacation talk after a few drinks Anywho...our thoughts on getting together once a month and have dinner was just to get a good idea of what everyone else had in mind or expected...and to get the kids all together to get to know one another even better. That of course backfired somewhat as well...because a few of them have now started dating (we have a good sized group of teens going along).

Anyways...I can't wait to gather some other ideas on how to deal/plan/manage a larger group.

 

[jonna30]

We have done Disney twice before with large groups. A simple suggestion is to make matching t-shirts for all in your party. It is so much easier to look through a crowd and find the "red" shirts. Even if the adults don't want to "match", they can wear the same general color. We ordered shirts from www.blankshirts.com for about $2 each. Then found designs on this web site, printed them on iron-on paper, ironed them on. Total cost is less than $4 per shirt. A bonus is that you can get creative on your wording. This also helps the CM's when you are in line, etc. Additionally, we seem to get extra attention from the characters.

Have fun!!

 

[mom2mek]

We have done Disney twice before with large groups. A simple suggestion is to make matching t-shirts for all in your party. It is so much easier to look through a crowd and find the "red" shirts. Even if the adults don't want to "match", they can wear the same general color. We ordered shirts from www.blankshirts.com for about $2 each. Then found designs on this web site, printed them on iron-on paper, ironed them on. Total cost is less than $4 per shirt. A bonus is that you can get creative on your wording. This also helps the CM's when you are in line, etc. Additionally, we seem to get extra attention from the characters.

Have fun!!

That's a great idea! A quick scan for a certain color could certainly alleviate a lot of worry, plus if you forget what someone is wearing you only have to look down at your own shirt to remember! LOL! Can you use Disney pictures on the design?

 

[jonna30]

There are alot of people on this board that have created "disney" designs that can be easily used. Sometimes they will personalize the design for you. Do a search on here for t-shirt designs. We also have just written with puffy paint before. For example, we had 10 kids and put a single letter on the back of their brightly colored shirt that spelled out Disneyland. Other times we have put their favorite character on the shirts.

 

[mom2mek]

There are alot of people on this board that have created "disney" designs that can be easily used. Sometimes they will personalize the design for you. Do a search on here for t-shirt designs. We also have just written with puffy paint before. For example, we had 10 kids and put a single letter on the back of their brightly colored shirt that spelled out Disneyland. Other times we have put their favorite character on the shirts.

Great ideas! Thanks.

 

[landryfam]

thinking of planning a trip for Feb 2010...with as many family members I can get to go

Hoping for a wonderful time