Party of 24 has returned

[JudithM]

What a wonderful, positive report about a large family gathering! I am glad to read you had a good time.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

What wonderful generosity on your part! Sharing with your family. I commend you. That's what this type of vacationing is all about. Making unforgettable memories that might not have been possible without DVC.
Life is short, live it up, you'll only go around once in this lifetime!

Tom

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Glad things went so well for your family of 24! Thanks for filling us in.

This is how it's suppose to be in the most magical place on earth! So glad you got to share that magic with family!

Waiting to hear more...

 

[jnrrt]

It's so nice to see such a positive report, especially in regard to family. Thanks! I'll look forward to the details as we're planning a big (but not as big as yours!) trip in September.

 

[loribell]

Okay I am back top give some details on the trip.

The trip consisted of my Great Aunt & Uncle, both in their late 60's, their sons Mike - 42, his wife and their son - 17 & daughter - 14, Rick - 38, his wife - 30 something and their two boys 9 & 7. It also included my dad - 66, mom - 62, my sister - 43, her daughter - 23 and grandaughter - 3, my daughter - 22, SIL - 22 and granddaughter - 18 months, my son - 20 and his girlfriend - 18, my son - 13, my daughter - 6, DH - 41 and myself - 40.

My great Aunt was the next to youngest in a very large family and my dad's mother was next to odlest. So great Aunt & dad are real close in age. We grew up in the country and our farms connected. With all of being so close in age we were very close. We travled together when we were younger and made a lot of great memories way back then.

I was thrilled when I asked them to join us and they were all so excited. Because I have been so many times and non of the rest of the group had really been they just let me plan everything. I planned what days my family would go in to each of the parks and volunteered to give them anay information they wanted to plan on their own or told them they were free to go off of my plans. I only asked that we do one meal together and that was at Chef Mickey's. I had to have a picture of dad & my uncle with the big guy himself!

Everyone thought it would be best to just go off of my plans. Every morning we were at the bus stop in time to make it to the parks for opening. From that point with the age groups being so different we would split up. The first two days I was with the younger kids, the next two days I was with the older folks. The day we went to MGM I took them all to the parks, rode TOT & RNRC then headed back out of the park with my 6 yo, she has never really liked MGM & wanted to swim so everyone went off on their own. Our last day each group oicked their favorite park and spent the day there before meeting back at OKW for our Magical Express transportation back to the airport. My cousin with the teenagers took my 13 yo with him and loved having his own personal tour guide.

Each group decided on its own how long they wanted to stay in the parks and loved having the bus transportation so that they could come and go as they pleased.

Our first night my mother, aunt & I went for a grocery run and we had plenty of drinks, breakfast foods & lunch meat in each of the rooms. WE also bought stuff for burgers and all ate dinner in the room one evening.

Amazingly most of us never really ventured back into the parks in the evenings. We enjoyed sitting around and visiting with each other tremendously. We did take the kids swimming some and the big kids even got together for some volleyball and games of pool.

As we waited at the resort for our departure time we spent a lot of time talking about how much fun we had all had and how we would love to do it again soon. We also agreed that 7 days just isn't enough time to be. We would have loved to have had more time to visit with each other. It just amazed me that my dad & uncle had so much fun. Also my cousin Mike & I were talking and he said he could stay for a month! They all now see why I just keep going back.

Rick has asked me a lot of questions about DVC & I wouldn't be surprised if at some point soon he doesn't join us as owners.

I got a thank you card from my aunt & cousins. They were so appreciative for the opportunity to enjoy such a fabulous vacation. My aunt's cards said "thanks for making our dream come true". I had no idea they had wanted to take the boys and their kids, I just wanted them there with me.

I must say though that my dad & aunt, as well as us kids, were raised in the most wonderful family in the world. My great grandparents were amazing people. While I was growing up we were together for ALL holidays and had a yearly reunion. Now of course most of that has stopped as the family grew so much but they instilled in all of us the meaning of family. The credit all gets to go to them for raising such a great family.

Hope I didn't bore you with to many details,
Lori

 

[loribell]

Just saw some answers I didn't give.

I let my aunt give me $300. $100 each for her and the boys, other than that I covered it all with points and a little out of pocket because I wanted us to have two 2 bed units.

I am one of those DVC members that makes plans ahead of time then worry that I haven't made the right decision so I changed plans a few times. I think I finally made our final room ressies at OKW in March. Even with the changes MS had no problems at all with any of it. I even emailed them with who was in each room instead of keeping them on the phone forever doing it. When that worked so well I emailed them with all the flight info to arrange the Magical Express.

I also wanted to add that my Aunt's family arrived at about noon and were able to check in and get into the rooms right away. I was really worried about it because my kids, sisters family, mom & I were spending the day at Universal and then picked dad up at the airport at 4. Things could not have gone smoother for them. I was so pleased with how well everything turned out.

My parents & Aunt & Uncle paid for everyones tickets except mine, DH's & our two youngest because we have AP's. They also paid for everyones airfare except ours. Other than the Chef Mickeys dinner we really didn't do anything except the parks. We just had a lot of great times together visiting in the rooms. I wanted them there so I covered the rooms.

To all of you OKW owners what a wonderful resort you have!

Lori

 

[WithDisneySpirit]

Wow!! Thanks for posting more details. I loved reading your trip report What a wonderful family memory to share

 

[travelbug]

I'm so impressed by how beautifully your trip went with such a large group! You will surely have wonderful memories for many years to come. Thanks so much for posting all the details on what made it go so smoothly. I really enjoyed reading your report(s).