Need Planning Advice! LONG POST. Parades, Rope Drop, Budgeting, Tips/Tricks, DAS, Genie+, Etc.

[danceintherain]

If you insist on having a car, I would plan to have at least 2 cars. As nice as the space in a passenger van sounds, the idea that every single person will want to head back to the rental house at the same time every time is inconceivable.

OR stay within "walking" distance. By walking, I mean ECV distance. I would probably split between renting some ECVs through Disney and some to be delivered to your hotel. I would contact the hotel to ask your question about charging space. There were several parked in the lobby of the Fairfield, during my last trip to DLR.
Keep in mind that bringing a vehicle doesn't preclude you from walking. In fact, you could end up walking more in the process of driving the car, and taking a bus from the parking lot to the front of the park. If not walking, you'll spend more time standing still, which can be more problematic depending on a person's particular mobility challenge.

Ultimately, when planning for large groups of adults, flexibility tends to be more important than any particular plan. IME, adults are a lot more set in their ways, and complain a lot louder when they're not pleased with a particular situation. For example, my Mom just got back from a trip to WDW with her sister. They qualified for DAS and rented ECVs. Her sister's complaint was that she didn't understand why the DAS was considered helpful, since they still had to wait to ride the ride.
Also, my Mom had been planning on taking breaks from the parks every day, but her sister refused to leave, because she knew that if she left the park, she wouldn't make it back that day. So they arrived around 10AM every day, and left at about 6PM. If they had been at Disneyland, in a hotel right across the street, my Mom could have stuck to her own preferences. Instead, they were at WDW, and very reliant on a single vehicle for 4 people, so my Mom stuck to her sister's schedule, and they did fine, but it was exhausting. Yes, she had options to go back on her own, but she didn't use them.

What is your budget?

 

[danceintherain]

Another option to consider is to find a hotel that has both regular rooms and suites. This was our original plan for our WDW trip next year. One 2-bedroom villa and 3+ regular rooms in the same complex. That way we would have a full kitchen....mostly for breakfast, but not pay the premium to have it in every single room.
Another possibility could be getting a smaller AirBnB nearby, but a room or two super close to the parks, so there's a place for people to go if/when they need a truly isolated place to recover. I've always heard about people relaxing in the parks, but I've always found it nearly impossible to do so. Once I leave, I can recoup a lot more quickly.

The exact distance from DLR doesn't matter as much as the walking path. If your AirBnB is only 1.5 miles away, then it may be completely walkable, or it may not be. I would definitely look at all the reviews, and hone in on the ones that talk about walking there.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Hi @LadyRozalin
What a wonderful trip you are planning! We did a similar family trip in November 2018. Our family of 10 (grandparents, 4 kids/ILs and 4 grandkids) went to DL for 3 days for the first time. I was the only one of the 10 of us who had been, and it had been close to 20 years since my last trip.

We also chose to stay in a rental home on Walnut, right across from the Holiday Inn. We chose a rental house for many of the reasons you mention. The home we stayed in is a 1.2 mile walk to the main gates of DL, and we did this daily. The home we stayed in was 4 bed, 3 bath, 2200 sq ft with a pool and hot tub. The bedrooms included 2 ensuite rooms, one with king bed and one with queen, a room with 1 queen bed and 1 double bed, and a room with 4 bunk beds. If you're interested, I would be happy to share the information with you.

For our trip, we arrived late Wednesday night and were in the parks Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We left Sunday morning. I had set up an Amazon Prime delivery for our arrival day, and it was on the porch when we got there. We made breakfasts at the house. One morning we made scrambled eggs, another morning we all did bagels and cream cheese, so it was a mix of cooking and grab and go.

Our first day, we grabbed lunch to go in the parks (turkey legs!) and went back to the house for a rest midday. We went back to the parks for the evening. We split up for dinner, with some of us staying in the park and some going to the Denny's right outside the park. This day we all stayed together the entire time except when we split up for dinner.

Day 2 we packed lunches with us and closed down the park (DCA). I honestly have no idea what we did for dinner that night - did we even eat?! It must have been quick service. This day we split up a lot more.

Day 3 we were back in DL and we split up for most of the day. H and I went back to the house for a midday rest, and we were leaving as most of the family was coming back for a dinnertime rest. We had dinner in the park at Blue Bayou.

Anyway, of all that detail to say I totally understand your thoughts BUT I think you need to plan for midday rests outside the park. We are generally healthy people who don't need ECVs, though I do have anxiety and my SIL gets migraines. On day 2, SIL developed a migraine and left for a few hours. She took a cold shower, got some caffeine and had a nap and was able to rejoin us for the evening.

On Day 3, I was getting very overstimulated, so we left midday so I could stave off the anxiety I felt coming on. It worked and we were able to have a great evening. All that to say, plan for those breaks; I think they will make for a nicer trip.

I don't know enough about ECVs, but if you can drive them to/from the park, I think that might be your better option. Stay at the rental house, get ECVs from an off sight source, use the ECVs to go back and forth (the able bodied can walk, or drive, or whatever), and then you all can come and go as you please and not have to worry about Disney running out of ECVs.

I also think some midday break (or calling it a day early and having the evening together) would be great since this is a family reunion as well. The best advice we got was to plan for some time together and some time apart, and it was great advice. When we split up, we'd make a plan to meet up again, and when we did meet up we were able to share what we'd been doing, which made it that much more special. The home we rented was great for this - we all had our own space to retreat to if we didn't feel like being all together, but the living room/dining room/kitchen was all open to each other, so we were all able to be together when we wanted. That was much more pleasant than staying in a hotel room, and like you, we chose the house so we had more space at a lower cost.

Anyway, if you want to talk about planning trips for a big family event, I'm happy to help you think through things or offer advice. And as I said, if you want a link to the place we booked I'd be happy to share it!

This is great! From your rental would they be able to roll into the parks efficiently?

Good to have a known rental to share with op.

 

[mouschievous]

This is great! From your rental would they be able to roll into the parks efficiently?

Good to have a known rental to share with op.

I think so? Like I said, I'm not sure how ECVs work, but we walked it so I assume one could roll instead!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Another issue is whether the rental is accessible/has a spot for the ECVs to park and charge each night. One issue we had one year when doing a group trip was that I couldn't find an accessible rental my brother could navigate with his power chair, so we ended up doing hotel that trip instead because it was much easier to guarantee accessibility.

 

[mouschievous]

Another issue is whether the rental is accessible/has a spot for the ECVs to park and charge each night. One issue we had one year when doing a group trip was that I couldn't find an accessible rental my brother could navigate with his power chair, so we ended up doing hotel that trip instead because it was much easier to guarantee accessibility.

I meant to mention that. The place we rented is 1 level and is billed as accessible. I think the biggest question would be if there are enough places to charge ECVs, and I think there are since there is a garage also.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I emailed Tropicana and it was $600/night for the 2 bed room with kitchen. Same cost as 3 rooms at the newer, hotel home2suites.

 

[CeCe0906]

I think you're doing a wonderful thing here. I planned a trip for my whole family, my sister, her husband and 3 kids plus my mom on oxygen, as well as my family. It was hard and loads of work.
For the Visa GCs, be aware there is a fee for each card and most are not reloadable. The Disney GCs are reloadable or you can transfer amounts on the Disneygiftcard.com site
If you are open to credit cards, you can increase your budget with a cashback card. You can use it for purchases you pay every month, and pay off every month so no interest accrues. My 2 favorites are Chase Freedom Flex and Amex Blue Cash Preferred. The Amex card gives 6% back on groceries and I currently have almost $500 to use for Disney Gift cards I can buy at the grocery store (earning another 6% cashback) and use my cash back to 'erase.' Feel free to PM me or join this thread https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...r-addl-details.3865061/page-219#post-63952045

If you don't have a red card, but do have a Discover Card, it's 5% cash back right now at Target if you use your Discover Card. I bought several $25 Disney gift cards for my grandkids to use on our upcoming trip. It's easier to have each of them have a gift card so that they can decided how to spend. Cuts way down on the buy me this granny!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

If you don't have a red card, but do have a Discover Card, it's 5% cash back right now at Target if you use your Discover Card. I bought several $25 Disney gift cards for my grandkids to use on our upcoming trip. It's easier to have each of them have a gift card so that they can decided how to spend. Cuts way down on the buy me this granny!

Yes but the Amex card is even better at 6% at grocery stores. Discover and Chase Freedom have rotating categories at 5% which are great if you're in the right quarter

 

[starry_solo]

If you insist on having a car, I would plan to have at least 2 cars. As nice as the space in a passenger van sounds, the idea that every single person will want to head back to the rental house at the same time every time is inconceivable.

OR stay within "walking" distance. By walking, I mean ECV distance. I would probably split between renting some ECVs through Disney and some to be delivered to your hotel. I would contact the hotel to ask your question about charging space. There were several parked in the lobby of the Fairfield, during my last trip to DLR.
Keep in mind that bringing a vehicle doesn't preclude you from walking. In fact, you could end up walking more in the process of driving the car, and taking a bus from the parking lot to the front of the park. If not walking, you'll spend more time standing still, which can be more problematic depending on a person's particular mobility challenge.

Ultimately, when planning for large groups of adults, flexibility tends to be more important than any particular plan. IME, adults are a lot more set in their ways, and complain a lot louder when they're not pleased with a particular situation. For example, my Mom just got back from a trip to WDW with her sister. They qualified for DAS and rented ECVs. Her sister's complaint was that she didn't understand why the DAS was considered helpful, since they still had to wait to ride the ride.
Also, my Mom had been planning on taking breaks from the parks every day, but her sister refused to leave, because she knew that if she left the park, she wouldn't make it back that day. So they arrived around 10AM every day, and left at about 6PM. If they had been at Disneyland, in a hotel right across the street, my Mom could have stuck to her own preferences. Instead, they were at WDW, and very reliant on a single vehicle for 4 people, so my Mom stuck to her sister's schedule, and they did fine, but it was exhausting. Yes, she had options to go back on her own, but she didn't use them.

What is your budget?

I would actually be surprised if a 12 passenger van could fit 8 people + 4 ECVs when the people are Pooh sized. I feel like those vans are designed for skinny people!

 

[LadyRozalin]

Hi @LadyRozalin
What a wonderful trip you are planning! We did a similar family trip in November 2018. Our family of 10 (grandparents, 4 kids/ILs and 4 grandkids) went to DL for 3 days for the first time. I was the only one of the 10 of us who had been, and it had been close to 20 years since my last trip.

We also chose to stay in a rental home on Walnut, right across from the Holiday Inn. We chose a rental house for many of the reasons you mention. The home we stayed in is a 1.2 mile walk to the main gates of DL, and we did this daily. The home we stayed in was 4 bed, 3 bath, 2200 sq ft with a pool and hot tub. The bedrooms included 2 ensuite rooms, one with king bed and one with queen, a room with 1 queen bed and 1 double bed, and a room with 4 bunk beds. If you're interested, I would be happy to share the information with you.

For our trip, we arrived late Wednesday night and were in the parks Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We left Sunday morning. I had set up an Amazon Prime delivery for our arrival day, and it was on the porch when we got there. We made breakfasts at the house. One morning we made scrambled eggs, another morning we all did bagels and cream cheese, so it was a mix of cooking and grab and go.

Our first day, we grabbed lunch to go in the parks (turkey legs!) and went back to the house for a rest midday. We went back to the parks for the evening. We split up for dinner, with some of us staying in the park and some going to the Denny's right outside the park. This day we all stayed together the entire time except when we split up for dinner.

Day 2 we packed lunches with us and closed down the park (DCA). I honestly have no idea what we did for dinner that night - did we even eat?! It must have been quick service. This day we split up a lot more.

Day 3 we were back in DL and we split up for most of the day. H and I went back to the house for a midday rest, and we were leaving as most of the family was coming back for a dinnertime rest. We had dinner in the park at Blue Bayou.

Anyway, of all that detail to say I totally understand your thoughts BUT I think you need to plan for midday rests outside the park. We are generally healthy people who don't need ECVs, though I do have anxiety and my SIL gets migraines. On day 2, SIL developed a migraine and left for a few hours. She took a cold shower, got some caffeine and had a nap and was able to rejoin us for the evening.

On Day 3, I was getting very overstimulated, so we left midday so I could stave off the anxiety I felt coming on. It worked and we were able to have a great evening. All that to say, plan for those breaks; I think they will make for a nicer trip.

I don't know enough about ECVs, but if you can drive them to/from the park, I think that might be your better option. Stay at the rental house, get ECVs from an off sight source, use the ECVs to go back and forth (the able bodied can walk, or drive, or whatever), and then you all can come and go as you please and not have to worry about Disney running out of ECVs.

I also think some midday break (or calling it a day early and having the evening together) would be great since this is a family reunion as well. The best advice we got was to plan for some time together and some time apart, and it was great advice. When we split up, we'd make a plan to meet up again, and when we did meet up we were able to share what we'd been doing, which made it that much more special. The home we rented was great for this - we all had our own space to retreat to if we didn't feel like being all together, but the living room/dining room/kitchen was all open to each other, so we were all able to be together when we wanted. That was much more pleasant than staying in a hotel room, and like you, we chose the house so we had more space at a lower cost.

Anyway, if you want to talk about planning trips for a big family event, I'm happy to help you think through things or offer advice. And as I said, if you want a link to the place we booked I'd be happy to share it!

I think I might actually have been looking at another property owned by the same person, Roger? I have my eye on his other property on Ricky, but when I asked him a few questions, he also mentioned to check out his property on Walnut, and I think the description matches! I looked over both carefully, and both were lovely properties, fully stocked, at an excellent price. I think we prefer the overall "feel" of the Ricky property, but honestly either one is a great spot.

I've been waffling a bit between the house and the hotel options, but honestly, nothing is going to be as nice as the house rental, and I believe that it is close enough. I scoured the reviews, and reviewed the property, and I'm really pleased with the listing. My partner admitted that they were almost more excited about staying there than they were about visiting the park! So after MUCH consideration and debate, that's where we're choosing.

After speaking with Roger, reading the reviews on the property, and looking at Maps, I've determined that the ECV trip from the house to Disney and back again should be doable, provided I can get an ECV with sufficient battery capacity. Select Mobility says they do. I'm also looking into Deckert. I posted a thread about this in the disABILITY board, for advice and help.

Of course that means nixing the Van, which I got my Partner's (reluctant) approval on. They're still worried that we'll get stuck, relying on Lyft and ECVs to get everywhere, but willing to try.

The next thing I'm going to be seriously looking at is midday break vs rest spots, I'll post again once I get that information together.

Your offer of chatting about large group planning and advice was very kind and generous! I wouldn't mind at all.

 

[LadyRozalin]

If you decide to do DIsley GCs instead of Visa to avoid the fee, while you can’t put the person’s name on the Disney GCs, you can pick out a design that is special to each person (and makes it easy to see whose card is whose):

https://www.shopdisney.com/buy-a-disney-gift-card/

They have so many fun designs! We used to do this for our DDs so that they had a preset budget for whatever they wanted to buy in the parks. Once it was out, it was out! But it let me say “yes” to the “can I get…” question, even though it was yes, if you have money on your card!

Very nice! Thanks for the link! I am considering the DL GCs.

I can't remember if it was addressed or not (getting a lot of comments!) but I have two main concerns.

1) If the card has money remaining after the trip, that it will be stuck on the card, unusable. This is probably our one and only trip, and I don't want to end up wasting money.

2) That the card won't be usable at all of the shops in Downtown Disney, which is honestly probably where most of the group is planning to do most of their souvenir shopping. I've seen posted that not all Downtown Disney shops are actually Disney run, and I'd hate for someone to get excited and then be declined.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Very nice! Thanks for the link! I am considering the DL GCs.

I can't remember if it was addressed or not (getting a lot of comments!) but I have two main concerns.

1) If the card has money remaining after the trip, that it will be stuck on the card, unusable. This is probably our one and only trip, and I don't want to end up wasting money.

2) That the card won't be usable at all of the shops in Downtown Disney, which is honestly probably where most of the group is planning to do most of their souvenir shopping. I've seen posted that not all Downtown Disney shops are actually Disney run, and I'd hate for someone to get excited and then be declined.

1. Any remaining funds on the Disney Gift Cards can be used for online shopping at ShopDisney.com. Not all park merchandise is online, but if someone forgot to buy something in the parks, they might find it at ShopDisney -- and could use their gift card for the purchase. Just a thought...

2. You are correct that Disney Gift Cards can only be used at Disney owned locations in DTD. This incudes World of Disney, Marceline's candy shop, Pin Traders, Disney Dress Shop, Wonderground Gallery, Disney Home Store, and (I think) the on site hotel gift shops, etc. That's a lot of shopping!

 

[LadyRozalin]

1. Any remaining funds on the Disney Gift Cards can be used for online shopping at ShopDisney.com. Not all park merchandise is online, but if someone forgot to buy something in the parks, they might find it at ShopDisney -- and could use their gift card for the purchase. Just a thought...

2. You are correct that Disney Gift Cards can only be used at Disney owned locations in DTD. This incudes World of Disney, Marceline's candy shop, Pin Traders, Disney Dress Shop, Wonderground Gallery, Disney Home Store, and (I think) the on site hotel gift shops, etc. That's a lot of shopping!

Thank you for the clarifications!

True, they could shop online with the balance, but I'd rather they could put it towards whatever they like, in or out of Disney.

I think I'll stick with the Visa GCs, the Disney ones are nice but I don't think they fit into my plans quite as nicely.

 

[katyringo]

Hello,

So I have been thinking about your post and your group. I might get banned for this comment here on the disneyland side of things but...

Has your group considered DisneyWorld instead? Wait! I'm not crazy, I Promise.

I think many of your transportation issues would be solved at DisneyWorld. Now I'll be honest I haven't looked at cost, etc. but if you stayed on site at DisneyWorld you could use Disney bus transportation- which are all EVC friendly to go anywhere and to any park. It would be very easy for just 1 of your group to go back to your resort with out impacting the whole group.

The value resorts have on site dinning that is very affordable . I wonder what cost comparison would be for your group splitting up between 3 value rooms I think all star music even has a suite with a kitchenette. So you could still cook and pack lunch.
a good DisneyWorld TA would help you.

You wouldn't need the van rental at all. You could book the mears bus from the airport. You could have EVC delivered to your resort.

You may not be interested in this at all, but thought I would throw it out there. I LOVE disneyland, but DisneyWorld might have a better infrastructure for a group like yours.

 

[tsumgirl]

Pushing the Trip Out

That being said, my group has some members who have serious heat control issues.
Certain medications they are on make them more susceptible to heat stroke.
Alternatively, one of our group has trouble regulating body heat and can't do cold.

Try looking into cooling towels and UV umbrellas. Having a couple of these should help your group manage the heat, just in case there's a heat wave.

ECVs

I did not know that you could leave the park and come back and still get the ECVs
I think this idea is that we would park them somewhere and leave them?
Is that going to be safe? I know we're leaving them for rides at some point, but just leaving a bunch of ECVs at the front of the park, is that going to be an issue?
I will keep those parking spots in mind, thank you.
My Mom still insists she will be sharing an ECV with my Step-Dad.
I think for myself, I will get my own and have my Partner get their own.
I will budget for everyone who needs one to have their own, and just figure it out day to day.
Luckily, two of us should not need one. These two are young adults and don't have the health problems the rest of us do!
I am still concerned about the logistics of trying to deal with 4-6 ECVs in one group, but we need them, so it'll have to work itself out.
I did check the Disney ECV weight limit, and we're all under it, so no problems there.
On a lighter note, I can't remember where I saw it, here or on an article I read elsewhere, but there was a suggestion regarding ECVs.
You could tie a scarf to your ECV to be able to spot it easily (especially if CMs had to move it while you were on a ride).
I am asking everyone to bring a scarf (or similar) that is cheap and non sentimental (in case it gets lost/stolen) to do this with.

For the most part, ECVs are usually ok parked for longer periods of time. Just be aware that kids will occasionally play with the knobs, so check that the speed knob is turned down before starting up the ECV again.

In most areas, you can park the ECV with the strollers. Some areas, such as Fantasyland have areas where ECVs are allowed to park but strollers are not. When in doubt, just ask a CM where it's best to park the ECV so it doesn't get moved later on.

Lol, I'm too cheap to tie a scarf on my ECV. I just use scrap ribbons or any cloth tied to the handles, so I can find it easily and it gives others a pause before they accidentally drive off with my ECV.

I'm glad you're considering renting off-site now, since that will give you more flexibility and hopefully prevent your group from tiring out before the trip is over.