Planning Big Family Vacation

[DisneyAunt]

Since I am a new DVC owner I need opinions from "veteran" owners.

My WHOLE family will be in the Orlando area for a family wedding in January 2006. And since we all get along very well (who knows maybe not so much after this trip ) We are all very laid back and have lots of fun together. And yes I have been designated "head travel agent" along with my cousin and another cousins wife.

I wanted to get everyone to stay together at my DVC. There will be 15 to 20 of us. I was thinking of getting a GV and a 2 Bedroom. I wonder if they can be joining? I was going to go to OKW since it has the lower point usage.

Ok...here come the real hard question

How do I arrange for dinner at certain restaurants for such a large group?
Can we get a group discount for tickets?
How do I keep such a large group together?
Any suggestions for transportation?

Any advice, suggestions, or ideas will be greatly appreciated!

I'm sure we will leave our mark on Disney!

Thanks

 

[bobbiwoz]

The most people that I ever made PS for was 14 and the Magical Gatherings person would transfer me over to Group Dining for those. Our group fluctuated between 8 and 14 and sometimes the MG people made the PS and sometimes Group Dining.

We were at WDW for 5 nights, we did parks for 3 days, resort/DTD other days. We were there in December so there was lots of interest in going to the different resorts. We did not stick together, but I gave every one a sheet with the "together" events and times. I scheduled at most 2 "together" events a day, and often when we left the parks at night, those who wanted to, came to our villa and chatted and visited.

We were an adult group, ages 13 through 85.

It was a great event, but I did spend lots of time on the phone, and the most frustrating times were when I was on hold for Disney, 10 - 15 minutes and more.

We did use our DVC discounts, dining, mini-golf, we used whatever we could.

We were at BWV, so much of what we did was centered there. We squeezed into a car and a van for Breakfast at the Poly one morning. We had a 2 bedroom and 4 studios. We had asked that they be close to each other and they were.

Have fun planning and then enjoy your great event!

Bobbi

 

[Muushka]

I notice that you just bought at SSR (welcome home! )

You might want to book there (SSR) first at 11 months (now!) and then book at OKW at the 7 month window, just in case you can't get that GV at OKW.

Good luck!

 

[WOW]

Hope you have a great time. WDW loves family groups. There is a service called "Magical Gatherings" that will help you plan for everything. We did this back in 2002, but Magical Gatherings was just getting started. You will need to book your own accomodations if you use DVC, they don't book that. We also did an illuminations cruise...it was great! Call WDW-PLAY. We were also able to get T-Shirts with our names!!!! That was really neat!! Good Luck!!! Have Fun!!!