Looking for a special experience for family vacation

[Gregory Paolini]

Hey There! Hi There! Ho There!

I really need to pick your brains! In Dec 2019 Me (Grumpa) and Gramma started planning a once in a lifetime family vacation (8 adults and 2 children, 7&5) to WDW which is to occur in Late Jan 2022, and I’m quickly approaching the 60 day window for making reservations

In addition to a week staying at RR, 2 days of regular (no hopper) parks, and some dining, we had hoped to all do the Hoop Dee Doo Revue one evening, followed by Chip & Dale Campfire, and then Electric Water Pagent viewing. I may be reliving some of my youth here…. But the grandkids will would love it!

Anyway, I’m not sure if Hoop Dee Doo is even going to be an option, so I’m looking for a plan B, or even something Bigger to replace the agenda of that day

We first thought about treating the family to animal kingdom and a wild Africa trek, but the trek is closed down now as well.

We’ve considered the VIP tour, as there’s 10 of us, but we’re concerned that may be too much “go go go”
We’ve also nixed a private firework viewing on a launch

Our current plan B is to add a day to visit Epcot and try to score lunch at space 220 and dinner at Via Napoli;

So, in the spirit of “I don’t know what I don’t know”, I’m curious if there are other, perhaps not commonly known, special experiences we can surprise the family with?

We’d prefer to stay on property, but Its not a pre req - Would be fine venturing out for the right experience. And the options we’ve been entertaining run from $700 - $5K, and we’re comfortable within that range for the surprise. It’s more about the experience than the price.

So, like I said, I need to pick your brains - Any unique experiences y’all can share?

 

[Calee]

Have all these folks been to WDW several times before? If not, before planning any big experiences, I would add park days. 2 park days is not nearly enough to see even CLOSE to everything. What 2 parks are you going to? IMO, going to the parks and experiencing what they have to offer is a special experience all on its own!

 

[Disney Fool]

I'm not sure when it is opening but I know it's soon, but you might consider the new Cirque du Soleil show at Disney Springs. and i agree with previous poster--more days in the park!!!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Definitely add more park days!

What about booking a photo session since you're all there together? We have done some with area photographers + one through Disney Fine Arts many years ago. Not sure that's too exciting for the kids but as an adult, professional family photos are priceless to me (esp if taken at my favorite place!).

 

[smwisc]

Hey There! Hi There! Ho There!

I really need to pick your brains! In Dec 2019 Me (Grumpa) and Gramma started planning a once in a lifetime family vacation (8 adults and 2 children, 7&5) to WDW which is to occur in Late Jan 2022, and I’m quickly approaching the 60 day window for making reservations

In addition to a week staying at RR, 2 days of regular (no hopper) parks, and some dining, we had hoped to all do the Hoop Dee Doo Revue one evening, followed by Chip & Dale Campfire, and then Electric Water Pagent viewing. I may be reliving some of my youth here…. But the grandkids will would love it!

Anyway, I’m not sure if Hoop Dee Doo is even going to be an option, so I’m looking for a plan B, or even something Bigger to replace the agenda of that day

We first thought about treating the family to animal kingdom and a wild Africa trek, but the trek is closed down now as well.

We’ve considered the VIP tour, as there’s 10 of us, but we’re concerned that may be too much “go go go”
We’ve also nixed a private firework viewing on a launch

Our current plan B is to add a day to visit Epcot and try to score lunch at space 220 and dinner at Via Napoli;

So, in the spirit of “I don’t know what I don’t know”, I’m curious if there are other, perhaps not commonly known, special experiences we can surprise the family with?

We’d prefer to stay on property, but Its not a pre req - Would be fine venturing out for the right experience. And the options we’ve been entertaining run from $700 - $5K, and we’re comfortable within that range for the surprise. It’s more about the experience than the price.

So, like I said, I need to pick your brains - Any unique experiences y’all can share?

Agree with everyone else - I would add more park days before anything else.

 

[ShannyMcB]

Def another park day! I was going to suggest a fireworks cruise but since you nixed it
Character dining maybe? Topilinos was wonderful. If the kids like star wars droid building is cool and doesn't take very long.
If you are up for venturing off property maybe city walk? Or some bowling at disney springa?

 

[Gregory Paolini]

Thanks everyone! Y’all reminded me of just how special the parks are to folks who have never been

This probably won’t come out right, but as a DVC owner, sometimes the parks don’t seem as special to me now as they once did - I guess what I mean is, my wife and I look forward to Sanaa more than a park - but for folks who have never been to WDW, they’ll want to ride and experience every they can, just like I did my first time.
While this will likely be the only chance to get the entire family there together, we fully intend to bring each individual family to one of the DVC resorts every year, so I suspect that in the future w can sprinkle some xtra pixie dust on those trips.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[pjacobi]

8 adults and 2 children is too large of a group to tour the park together. You need to break up into 2-3 groups. You need to decide on a small set of activities to do all together, then each smaller group can do their own thing for awhile. Perhaps meet again a dinner time and each small group can share their experiences with the larger group.


-Paul

 

[Disneyfan754321]

You plan b is amazing, Epcot is awesome and really fun for muliple generations. Festival of art will be going on in Jan/Feb.
My kids want to do space220 so bad.

Everyone to there own but we love hoppers especially on days the park is busier than we thought we move.


Look into getting a dvc rental we had a 3 bedroom for our 9 people but I'm not sure of your age breakdown and who share and doesn't so you may need 2 rooms. We use Dave's rental but there are a lot of companies out there. The think the link us not allowed so just google dvc point rental or check out the thread on here.

 

[tinkerhon]

I'm not sure when it is opening but I know it's soon, but you might consider the new Cirque du Soleil show at Disney Springs. and i agree with previous poster--more days in the park!!!

Another vote for Cirque

 

[Tri-Delta4Life]

With a group of 10, I'd definitely do a VIP tour! It doesn't have to be "go go go"! The guide will go at whatever pace you want. I'd start the tour in the early afternoon in HS then hop over to MK and end with the guide dropping you off at the VIP fireworks viewing area

 

[ShellyKP]

Definitely more park days! Have you considered doing a fireworks dessert party? There is also the Fantasia mini golf.

A group of ten will be hard to keep together and keep everyone happy. We traveled with a group of 8 (5 adults, 3 kids) in 2016 and we ended up splitting up most of the time and meeting for meals and certain rides that the kids wanted to do together. We stayed all together in a two bedroom at BWV and that was plenty of family time because we spent every morning and evening together in the room.

We purchased the Memory Maker photo pass so everyone's pictures were linked which was a fun way to share experiences without trying to keep everyone together. My mother-in-law was traveling with us, solo, so she enjoyed getting to hop between families based on whatever we were all doing that day.

 

[starry_solo]

There is a fireworks party cruise that I think you can do that has a max capacity of 10? 12? And it's a private one...oops, you nixed that.

 

[tjmw2727]

I will go in another direction and say more park days - the longer the ticket the less expensive each day is.

With 4 parks and so much to do you could take it slower over say 4 / 5 days out of 7 instead of cramming it into 2? This way you could hit a park early and enjoy evenings at the resort - or take a mid day break from the parks. I would at least do 4 park days and visit all 4 parks.

eta - just saw the pp who suggested more park days!