Oh my gosh! I need advice!

[Summer2018]

I am a seasoned Disney veteran who owns points in DVC. However I am now in charge of planning a trip for a bunch of people with multiple generations and entangled relationships! I have no idea how to begin. All the trips I have planned before have been for at most 3 people! This trip is going to be very different.

This trip will be with my DH,66, me at 72, ( I use a scooter) and my DGD, 13, both of whom have travelled often with me to WDW. Joining us will be my DS,43, his new wife DDIL, 37, her DS, 8, and her parents, both mid 60s and pretty active. I adore my new DDIL and new step grandson. I went to DL last New Years at my DS and his fiance's invitation, staying in the same room for 3 days with them and DSGS and had a blast.

This time each couple will be staying in their own AK studio - renting points, my DSGS with his parents and my DGD with my husband and myself.

HELP! I don't know where to begin to plan to make this an easy fun trip where everyone gets along and gets to enjoy the best of the world without being overwhelmed or stressed outl. I don't think we all have to stay together in the parks and my DGD is all excited about taking her new cousin around. My DS and DsGS both love coasters, the bigger and badder the better. Neither child is interested in characters. But how do I get things planned to have the easiest time when DDIL's parents don't have any familiarity with the parks and won't know why certain things work better than other things? BTW I am a total planner who plans each detail, but then goes with the flow once in a park - up to leaving that park if it is too busy or crazy.... Please help with suggestions! I know there are a bunch of you who have done this before and can point out what to watch out for and what to include to make this a great trip for everyone! Thanks to you in advance...

Will you be responsible for all of the Fast Passes?
When I had to plan our recent trip, we had family meetings to gather peoples' favorite rides, priorities, second choices, etc. I asked what restaurants they wanted to go to again, and which new ones to try. DD's friend was away at college, so we face timed her. We discussed how we normally tour as a family and asked if her friend would be comfortable with early mornings, midday breaks, and busy evenings. She was thrilled about it.

I had to look over the least crowded parks calendars (which apparently aren't accurate anymore) in order to figure out where we were going on which days. I created a spreadsheet with the dates and began to fill it in.

I consulted with everyone before I made ADR's. I even printed up all of the menus because DD's friend has allergies. Then I checked with everyone again before Fast Passes.

Everyone was happy before we left. Once we were there, DD's friend had a hard time getting up early enough for rope drop even though we had warned her ahead of time, and she told us that her family tours the same way. She suddenly wanted to change some Fast Passes that I had gotten up at the crack of dawn 60 days prior to secure. By then, it was impossible to get what she wanted, and she was frustrated that we didn't want to stand in four hour lines for rides.

I tried really hard to include everyone in decisions and constantly double-checked with everyone before making arrangements. In spite of my careful planning and constant checking in, her friend still wasn't satisfied.

Lesson: You can't please all of the people all of the time. I tried. I worked hard at it. That's all I could do.

That's all that you can do. Best of luck.

 

[dachsie]

I think you have some great ideas to get started. Another suggestion is to find out what kinds of foods they like to eat so you can group restaurants they may like then let them look at menus to make sure they would be happy with them. Also remember that Food & Wine would be going on so you may plan some eating around the food booths.

And I wouldn't necessarily not include at least one character meal for the 8 year old. He may say he isn't into characters, but if he's never been to Disney to experience it, he may just not know. I think they all would enjoy at least one to get that Disney feeling