Planning a Big Family trip

[itzmehkristine]

Hello everyone! How are you doing? I had a couple of questions, but first, here are the details:

I am going to be turning 21 next year in August 2012, and I really want to plan a family trip down to Disney World, and Universal to see Harry Potter World. Of course my immediate family is coming, which consist of 7 of us, but I also want my cousins to come with. In total, it would be about 25 people. Most of them being within the age range of 16-25. I set the dates to visit down there, 8/20/2012-8/29/2012. 4 days at the World, and 3 days at Universal. And I obviously cannot afford this for everyone, so they have a year to save up. I want to plan this trip so they don't spend so much. So, my questions are:

How can we make this easy on all our pockets?
Which would be a better choice between hotels? Staying on site or off site?
Renting a car is a must for us, since we are going to Universal, how much would that cost?

I'm kind of a newbie at this, so if you guys would help me out, giving me some wonderful advice and tips, that would be awesome!

P.S. I almost forgot, we are from California, so we are going to be flying down there.

 

[AZminnie]

We are also planning a big family trip for Christmas. We found it was much cheaper to rent a large house off site. We are renting a 6 bedroom with its own pool, spa, pool table, full kitchen, etc. There are many communities near WDW but I believe Windsor Hills is best known for all their vacation homes and amenities. Hope this helps.

 

[brightonpratts]

You might want to also look at the DVC rent \ trade board. The DVC points are a great value for you to get a large place for 12 of you, or a couple two bedroom units. It would be fun to all be together - but with your own beds and plenty of baths!

You might find it cheaper to get a bus or cab to get to universal - and not have a car. If you stay on property and use the buses for the Disney days - you will have more freedom to come and go in small groups - having a car with that many people is a bit difficult.

Happy planning!