Planning a small Family reunion in Orlando and they only want ONE day at disney! Advice?

[Happyinwonerland]

Like the title says, we are planning a small reunion of my immediate family in Orlando in April. We are renting a large house to share. The following will be there;

My mom and Dad who will be driving in from AL
My older Brother, his SO who I have never met, along with dear niece who will be a month shy of 9. They are flying in from San Francisco. Brother's SO is of Thai descent and they eat a lot of Thai food, so if anyone knows of a good off property Thai restaurant, that would be awesome!
Dh, Me and DD(3) Driving in from KY.

Little bro, age 27, who will be riding in with my parents from AL.

I am renting the house for 7 or 8 days, as that is how Dh and I vacation. The rest of the gang are only planning 4 days in Orlando. They want 1 of Universal, 1 of Disney, 1 of the beach, and 1 day in Winter Haven to see my dad's brothers and go fishing (and maybe take the kids to Legoland).

Anyone ever pull anything like this off successfully? I plan to gift everyone their park tickets for Christmas. I will need to plan everyone's FP's for them, and I have no idea where to begin with that. With only 1 park day, we will probably just to CS for meals, and we will likely go RF to close. I'm going to try and book a campsite for the MK day so we can book FPs early and also take advantage of any evening EMHs.

So there you have it. Hit me with your best tips, tricks, and strategies for such a large family group!

 

[bianca]

Last January we did this with our party of 10. We did 3 parks in one day (no MK). We picked a day when AK had early EMH and EPCOT had late EMH. We started with AK and accomplished the following: Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of Lion King, Dinosaur, Everest and Primeval Whirl. We then did HS and accomplished the following: TOT, RNR, Muppet 3-D, LIghts/motors, Star Wars, Disney Playhouse, Fantasmic and a sit-down lunch at Prime Time. We then headed to EPCOT and did Test Track ,Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Nemo's Under Sea, Mission Space and then headed back to World Showcase for Counter service. We were done by 9 pm and we had no fast passes for anything. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Jon84]

Last January we did this with our party of 10. We did 3 parks in one day (no MK). We picked a day when AK had early EMH and EPCOT had late EMH. We started with AK and accomplished the following: Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of Lion King, Dinosaur, Everest and Primeval Whirl. We then did HS and accomplished the following: TOT, RNR, Muppet 3-D, LIghts/motors, Star Wars, Disney Playhouse, Fantasmic and a sit-down lunch at Prime Time. We then headed to EPCOT and did Test Track ,Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Nemo's Under Sea, Mission Space and then headed back to World Showcase for Counter service. We were done by 9 pm and we had no fast passes for anything. Your mileage may vary.

Keyword - January! But impressive all the same!


Will April be Spring Break? If so, I think you are best to choose 1 or 2 parks and hit the first, doing the second if there is time.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I doubt we will park hop. Probably just do all day at MK for the kids.

 

[Thing 1]

The only thing that I can think to add is to remember that a extra long full day might be really hard for some members of that group. Of course you want to get your money's worth but 9- 10 or 11 is a very long day. One thought is instead of a camp site, book a value room so that maybe your parents could take at least the three year old back to the room and have a mid day rest. You would of course have to check in but maybe book it in their names so they could do that.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

The only thing that I can think to add is to remember that a extra long full day might be really hard for some members of that group. Of course you want to get your money's worth but 9- 10 or 11 is a very long day. One thought is instead of a camp site, book a value room so that maybe your parents could take at least the three year old back to the room and have a mid day rest. You would of course have to check in but maybe book it in their names so they could do that.

Windsor hills is so close, that going back to the room shouldn't be a problem. But DD does great on our disney trips. She just naps in stroller when tired. We likely won't make rope drop, even though I would like to. More than likely we get there 10-11 ish, and stay til close. That's how DH and I usually do it anyway. I always intend to hit RD, but we just ca't make it happen. My parents will probably join us later in the day, as they are not huge fans of crowds, so a full day is not their cup of tea.