Newb here, BIG family, overwhelmed by it all!

[skat]

Hello all!

Im in the middle of (trying to!) scheduling our first vacation for our whole family. To say that this has been overwhelming is an understatement!! The date is already set for March 19-23, 2012 (which Ive read is a crowded week, but its the only week that our BIG family has available, so it will have to do!


So far, this is what I already have:

1. Family (kind of essential! ) - 18 members (9 adults, 2 teens, 6 children and 1 infant. Told you it was big!

2. Accomodations - found myself a 4-room house 5 miles from Disney at an unbelievable price, that couldnt pass up.

3. Plane tickets - in the process of buying them, flying from PR to Ft Lauderdale, so we can have a short road trip of sorts.

4. Car rental - planning to rent 3 mini vans, so we can all be comfortable.

What Im missing:

1. Tickets!!! I went to undercovertourist, which seems to be the cheapest and safest option available (checked my employee discount and most websites with tickets already). 5 day tickets for the whole family cost a whopping $4100, which I think its a fair price for such a large group.

2. Food and dining - we were originally planning to have breakfast at the house, then hop to Disney and eat light during the day and cook home at night, but I think that we would be missing a great deal of what makes a Disney vacation great (dining at the parks!). Am I too late for reservations, and how will I go about doing those??

3. The actual Disney park schedule - which park should we hit first? Considering the size of the group, long lines might be a problem. Attractions that we should NOT miss?? Confusing stuff!


As you can see, I have a TON of stuff to do and not so much time left to do it, so I better finalize some plans pronto! Any tips would be REALLY appreciated by my family and me. Thanks in advance! Gracias!

P.S. Mods, feel free to move this thread to where it belongs (and where it can get the most views/replies! ).

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Hello all!

Im in the middle of (trying to!) scheduling our first vacation for our whole family. To say that this has been overwhelming is an understatement!! The date is already set for March 19-23, 2012 (which Ive read is a crowded week, but its the only week that our BIG family has available, so it will have to do!


So far, this is what I already have:

1. Family (kind of essential! ) - 18 members (9 adults, 2 teens, 6 children and 1 infant. Told you it was big!

2. Accomodations - found myself a 4-room house 5 miles from Disney at an unbelievable price, that couldnt pass up.

3. Plane tickets - in the process of buying them, flying from PR to Ft Lauderdale, so we can have a short road trip of sorts.

4. Car rental - planning to rent 3 mini vans, so we can all be comfortable.

What Im missing:

1. Tickets!!! I went to undercovertourist, which seems to be the cheapest and safest option available (checked my employee discount and most websites with tickets already). 5 day tickets for the whole family cost a whopping $4100, which I think its a fair price for such a large group.

2. Food and dining - we were originally planning to have breakfast at the house, then hop to Disney and eat light during the day and cook home at night, but I think that we would be missing a great deal of what makes a Disney vacation great (dining at the parks!). Am I too late for reservations, and how will I go about doing those??

3. The actual Disney park schedule - which park should we hit first? Considering the size of the group, long lines might be a problem. Attractions that we should NOT miss?? Confusing stuff!


As you can see, I have a TON of stuff to do and not so much time left to do it, so I better finalize some plans pronto! Any tips would be REALLY appreciated by my family and me. Thanks in advance! Gracias!

P.S. Mods, feel free to move this thread to where it belongs (and where it can get the most views/replies! ).

It's not to late to make ADRs (dining ressies) but I would do them ASAP. Since it's your first time and you're only there for 5 days- I would only make 1 or 2. They can take a lot of time away from the parks especially with a huge group. I would try to do a character meal for the kids- they are fun! Chef Mickey's is a good one for your 1st time.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

If it was my first visit & I had 5 days I do Magic on the first & last days.

I looked at the dining site & right now there is lots of restaurants available for groups of 14...so I think you can call & get most any place you wish to dine for a group of 18. With that size group I think Crystal Palace at Magic, Coral Reef at Epcot, Tusker House Safari Breakfast at AK & Ohana supper at the Poly resort would be some good choices.

I would plan on rope drop if it looks like a crowded time to go. Is so much easier to get alot done in those first few hours while the crowds are lighter.

Have fun planning!

 

[skat]

Thanks for the quick reply! I am definitely planning for rope drops every single day (our whole family are early birds, so we should up and there by rope drop for sure!), and I am really debating which park we should visit twice (Epcot vs Magic, choices, choices!!). As for food options, I will definitely plan for the second day when we visit our selected park twice (most likely Friday, a park a day and Friday go back to a park again). Is Friday a good day to make a ADR or is it more crowded than usual? I really wouldnt mind doing it any day of the week.

 

[shells4]

You might want to think about scheduling your ADR at an "off" time if the restarants are booked. We have found that on days that the parks are busy sometimes we have great luck getting an unusual time, ie. 3:30-4:00pm or 8:00-8:30. Although I would try to get the earlier times so you are less likely to miss the amazing shows at night. You can always get a snack before park closes if you get hungry.

 

[lovetoscrap]

The best thing to do is to post individual questions on the appropriate boards. You can find out about dining and ADR's on our Disney Restaurants board, attractions on our Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies and you might want to check out the Disney for Families board.

For general planning our www.wdwinfo.com site has great information to help you.

Is there anything in particular that you want to see on your road trip from Ft. Lauderdale? That seems like an long trip and extra expense unless there is a specific reason you are doing it that way? Your trip is only 5 days including your travel days (unless you are actually going March 18-24?) so by the time you fly in, get the luggage and rental car and get to WDW and into the house you will probably have used a whole day and then reverse the process for the way back and you really will only have 3 days in Disney so 5 day tickets would be a waste of money. With that many kids the 3.5-4 hour drive (assuming no traffic!) doesn't sound very appealing.

 

[Metro West]

 

[jesswindsor]

Welcome

 

[It'sOffToDisneyWeGo]

Hello and Welcome!

 

[skat]

@lovetoscrap: There is a big reason and its called $1000 more for a family of 5 for airplane tickets from PR (for a total of $3000+ more). Our vacation is actually from March 17-24 but we will be on Disney from March 19-23. We figured that landing in Ft Lauderdale and renting the vehicle will save us $600 per family that we would have to spend in Disney, so its all good. Today I had a talk with the family, and they want to include Sea World on the trip, so any tips for that would be most welcome also!

 

[lovetoscrap]

@lovetoscrap: There is a big reason and its called $1000 more for a family of 5 for airplane tickets from PR (for a total of $3000+ more). Our vacation is actually from March 17-24 but we will be on Disney from March 19-23. We figured that landing in Ft Lauderdale and renting the vehicle will save us $600 per family that we would have to spend in Disney, so its all good. Today I had a talk with the family, and they want to include Sea World on the trip, so any tips for that would be most welcome also!

I wondered if that was the reason. In that case I would probably do it that way also! Glad that your trip dates are long enough to accommodate that.

We have a board for Sea World also so make sure you take a look over there. We did it a few years ago and it isn't nearly as overwhelming as the Disney Parks. The biggest problem we had was seeing all the shows the way they schedule them. The sea lion show is the best!

 

[skat]

Lets bump this to the top and give a quick update!

The group shrunk a bit to a total of 14 people now, so now we only needed 2 minivans instead of 3 (already rented). I was able to find a New Year special on airplane tickets and now we will fly directly to Orlando (saving us a 4 hr road trip)! The only thing Im missing is the Disney tickets themselves, I guess we still have time (~6 weeks) to decide where we will buy them (undercover seems the way to go, havent found them cheaper anywhere else.....). Last but not least, am I too late to order the custom maps from the Disney website?

It is so freaking exciting to think that 6 weeks from now my whole family will be on Disney World at last! Cant wait!