Offsite accommodation for 22??

[scrapquitler]

My mom is thinking of taking us all to Disney over the Christmas break. She wants to rent a house for us all...the problem is that there are four families in addition to my parents...for a total of 22 people (10 adults and 12 kids).

I looked on VRBO but even the 7 bedroom houses state the can accommodate 14 or possibly 16 people.

My sister thinks the kids can just crash on air mattresses...but I'm not cool with that.

Are there any legit options to finding a place for us all or do we need to look at splitting up into two houses?

We always stay on site so this is a first for me but...

Is there a way to find a good deal?

Can we somehow find a place where we are quite near to one another (in two condos or houses or some such) not necessarily right next door but perhaps the same complex or neighbourhood?

Any tricks and/or tips to renting houses/condos in the Orlando area?

Feeling like a complete newbie here and desperate for any advice!

I would try to get two condos that are close by, maybe in the same building if not next to each other. Even in a big house, 22 people is a LOT of commotion and I imagine it would be pretty crazy and hard to get any peace. No way I would go that much over occupancy limits, I might if I had 5 people and the condo was for 4, but not by that much.

 

[stayhomemom77]

1. Cars

Won't be a problem...each family will have their own vehicle as we will be driving down. Except my parents who will likely ride in the van with Vacation Girl and her family. They are inseparable on vacation.

2. Schedule

Once we have accommodations booked...we'd look into discussing who is doing what. I can say for certain that no one else is going to be buying six day passes like we will. This would be Vacation Girl's third family trip in 2016 which means funds will likely be tight for them. She did say one or two days in the parks would be plenty for her. The Tightwad and the Workaholic don't generally spend much on vacation...The Tightwad has four kids so that adds up quick...and the Workaholic spends a lot on convenience stuff throughout the year and isn't the greatest saver, so she usually has to make do with whatever she's pulled together a few months out. It's hard to predict just what they will have in terms of entertainment budget but I wouldn't guess more than a day or two at Disney...if that! Basically, I expect to leave most of them behind.

3. Dining

DH and I prefer not to cook much (read: at all) on vacation. We ensure that we have the funds necessary to cover food (whether QS or TS) for lunches and dinners and do simple breakfasts (cereal, toast, bagels, fruit, granola bars etc) in the room/house. We would not change this save for the meals on our park free day. The others would have to make their own decisions about how much dining out they would do. Regardless...unless they all insist on clubbing together (either as a whole or in smaller groups), most meals would be the responsibility of individual families. In the interest of saving money...most of them would likely end up eating largely at the house. But we will be out and about most of the time...so we'll only need kitchen access for breakfasts and the park free day.

4. Date nights

The Workaholic's first comment (after spewing out all the reasons why they COULD'T go) was that we could each have a date night. Presumably she thinks we'll all take turns watching one another's kids. This leads me to believe she has no plans to spend much time in the parks. No one responded to her suggestion but I don't think we'll avail ourselves of this option. We'll be closing the parks!!

5. Parenting each other's kids

We do that all the time...won't be an issue. DH jokes/complains that he and I are the only two parents that actually ever do any parenting at my folks' house. Which is an exaggeration...my mom says it better: we all co-parent so seamlessly that it's hard to tell which kids belong to which parents.

 

[stayhomemom77]

NO...I have absolutely NO intention of going over the occupancy limit allowed.

 

[KristinU]

I'm sure the Christmas week rates are out of the question, but this would be so cool for a huge group: http://www.sweetescapehouse.com/

 

[kathy884]

If you are interested in condo timeshare resorts (We love renting these), you could take a look at TUG2.net and Redweek.com to see if there are multiple units at the same place you could grab for the group. Good ones with lots of rentals usually available are Cypress Point, and the Sheraton Vistana Resort. We've picked up two units at each of these plenty of Christmas weeks for some pretty reasonable prices $800 - $1100 a unit.

Those big houses in reunion where you could all stay together look amazing and I've heard rave reviews, but they are expensive.

We've done about six extended family week long stays in Orlando -- usually two condos, but we have a little family and are just talking 10 people. My brother and I have partnered in conjunction with my mom on the planning. We set up a itinerary ahead of time for six days -- usually a big theme park every other day and a mini attraction on off days. For theme park days if it's Disney, we do a customized touring plan that will appeal to the majority of the group. We publish the itinerary ahead of time and indicate that everyone can do whatever they want, but here is what a core group will be doing and they are welcome to join us. We also tell everyone that they can do whatever they want at the Disney park, but this is the touring plan the core group will be following. We publish times we will be leaving for rope drop, and breakfast on those days, indicate that one car will be leaving sharp at such and such a time and that we won't be waiting for anyone and that's a fact - we don't. We say that late people can get their own car or transportation. It works like a charm, as chronically late relatives know we are serious and don't want to miss out on a minute of fun. We for ten usually have two or three vehicles.

SeaWorld is typically the park that everyone decides to go to. We usually get about 70 percent participation at Disney parks.