multi-family Disney vacation

[bigbadbevo]

I'm new to the forum so I hope I am posting in the right section... My son and I have been to WDW once before (2 yrs ago) and had a great time but it was just the two of us and it seemed at times it would have been more fun with other friends/family present. FFWD to today- a few close friends are planning their family summer vacations- WDW in June and asked if I would be interested.

I was wondering if anyone has undertaken a "multi-family" WDW trip. In my situation it's the families of 3-4 close friends- totalling around 20 or so people, ages from 6 mos to 30-something adults and everything in between.

To further complicate matters, the prevailing preference is to stay at the Nickelodeon. Is it a hassle to get to and around WDW as well as some of the other nearby attractions (Universal, Sea World, etc...) with such a large party?

Any advice? Is this a mistake?!? I'd really like to hear from others who have done something similar. Good, bad, ugly???

Thanks in advance.

 

[lclark0621]

I never went with that many people.

But we have traveled with friends to Disney before.

Personally, we try to always stay at a Disney resort & take advantage of the Disney transportation. It is just so easy for us. So I cant comment on staying off site.

I can say, even if you all enjoy being together, make sure to factor in some alone time (just you & your family) at least every other day, if not every day. Even the best of friends can get testy when spending to much time together. Everyone likes to do vacations their own way & spending all day every day with a bunch of others, can cause unwanted & unneeded stress.

We enjoy traveling with friends, but not every minute of every day.

We are going to WDW next month with our friends & their 2 DDs for the second time. We plan to spend dinner time & evenings with them. But day time is just for the 3 of us (DH, DS & myself). That way we can do Disney they way we want to, and then we can all enjoy the evenings together having dinner, seeing fireworks/parades, going on a few rides, etc.

 

[mom2meiko]

we travel with others more often than not. we leave in 9 days for wdw with 2 other families. our number one rule - which we make clear well in advance - is that we are all spending a lot of money to go on vacation so we all need to enjoy it. we are firm believers (and practicers) in the freedom of going off and doing your own thing - either planned or last minute - without feeling guilty. it's great to meet up for meals or whatever - but if you want some alone time or quiet family time you have the right to that as well. (and by the same token, you can't be upset or offended if someone else wants the alone time.)

that policy has made our vacations go great - as long as everyone understands it up front and abides by it.

 

[disneynewbee]

Our last trip was with 2 other families a total of 12 people. I think it sounds fun but I would definately make sure not to plan everything together with 20 people you would not get much done at all. Also I would try to convince them to stay disney if most of your time will be at Disney parks because of the transportation benefits.

 

[bigbadbevo]

Thanks for all the feedback. It'll definitely be an interesting "social experiment" if nothing else.

 

[Tink9206]

We do a large family vacation every year of over 20 people. This year there are 26 of us going to disney. We all decided that we would do 1-2 meals together as a group and other than that everyone is on their own. It always works out great because we have everyone from 8 months to 60 yrs going and everyone wants to do something different.