Planning a big family trip in 2024

[Deltarn2222]

Hi Disney family! I am currently in my obsessive planning phase for a dream Disney vacation to celebrate my 50th birthday in April 2024. I told my family that rather than a big party, I’d like for our immediate family to go to Disney together. We are DVC owners, so I told our family that we would cover lodging, but that everyone was on their own for travel, food & park tickets. If everyone is able to go (which would probably be a miracle and won’t be the case), there will be 20 of us. So I’ve been doing my best Tetris efforts with locations and room choices to stretch the points, while making people as comfortable as possible. We own at Boardwalk but really love the vibe (and points value) at OKW.
If everyone can attend, there will be 4 children under 5 and 1 under 12. The rest are adults. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Do you think bussing to the parks will be that big of deal for the little kids? I think I’d rather have more space for everyone with transportation inconvenience.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Dawn

 

[disneydreamer1980]

It’s a pain dealing with strollers on the busses but it’s not that horrible imo. I have 5 kids and we’re also DVC owners and we go every year, and have stayed at OKW many many times. Sometimes we drive to the park, sometimes we bus, and they both have their pros and cons. It’s a big resort, so there’s more bussing involved than at the more compact ones. We tend to drive when we stay at OKW because of this but busses are fine too. I’d say more room is more important than transportation inconvenience. And OKW is beautiful.

 

[Deltarn2222]

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

 

[aronny]

To be honest, I really, really value convenience of location as someone traveling with a 4 yr old. We loved our Boardwalk stay and being able to walk back from EPCOT and HS whenever our daughter needed a break. I did find the buses to AK and MK to be a pain because they took so long and were so crazy crowded. All of that said, if I were going for a family member’s birthday and dream trip, I would suck it up and happily defer to that person’s preferences.

 

[Deltarn2222]

To be honest, I really, really value convenience of location as someone traveling with a 4 yr old. We loved our Boardwalk stay and being able to walk back from EPCOT and HS whenever our daughter needed a break. I did find the buses to AK and MK to be a pain because they took so long and were so crazy crowded. All of that said, if I were going for a family member’s birthday and dream trip, I would suck it up and happily defer to that person’s preferences.

Thanks for your thoughts. I really appreciate everyone’s perspectives. At the present, I have secured a grand villa and a 2 BR boardwalk view at the Boardwalk. I’m pretty excited about it. I told everyone they have until the second week of September to confirm for sure and then I can move the reservations if need be. I want it to be special, comfortable and magical for everyone.

 

[Counting Stars]

I really hope you get your birthday wish and your dream trip. I admire your willingness to take this on. And I really love this idea! Your post leaves me with a lot of questions though.... Disney trips are expensive even when lodging is covered. Are the other adults able/willing to purchase tickets, meals, travel and incidentals for their families? Have the other families been to Disney previously? You are generously providing wonderful accommodations. Wow! Grand villa and Boardwalk view!!! But non- Disney people might not get the significance of this at all..... Lots of variables in this trip and seven months is still a lot of time for things to change even for those who commit in September. Smaller units, one and 2 bedroom, give you the option to cancel as needed if changes occur. If your family regularly does big gatherings you are probably good. If not, this is might be a stretch as a first time event. How many people do you believe will actually go?

 

[Deltarn2222]

I really hope you get your birthday wish and your dream trip. I admire your willingness to take this on. And I really love this idea! Your post leaves me with a lot of questions though.... Disney trips are expensive even when lodging is covered. Are the other adults able/willing to purchase tickets, meals, travel and incidentals for their families? Have the other families been to Disney previously? You are generously providing wonderful accommodations. Wow! Grand villa and Boardwalk view!!! But non- Disney people might not get the significance of this at all..... Lots of variables in this trip and seven months is still a lot of time for things to change even for those who commit in September. Smaller units, one and 2 bedroom, give you the option to cancel as needed if changes occur. If your family regularly does big gatherings you are probably good. If not, this is might be a stretch as a first time event. How many people do you believe will actually go?

Great questions. Yes, we have talked about it and the expense. Most feel they can make it work with enough notice to save up. Plus, they’ve come to the realization that the little ones are not going to last long at the parks and that swimming is likely going to be their toddler tunnel vision- lol. So that said, even if it’s one Magical day at the Magic Kingdom and a character breakfast (that we’ll probably pay for), it will all be worth it. We talked about not expecting everyone to be connected at the hip every day and know that people will do their own thing. But at the end of the day, we can stay together and play games at night (we’re all big nerds- lol). I have a feeling there will be about 10 of us for sure. I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised with the others.