Planning for a large group... help, it’s been a while!

[starry_solo]

@3smithboys : how many family units are there in this group of 16 family members? It sounds like 3 or 4 family units based upon your breaking up of the ages of the children?

 

[3smithboys]

@3smithboys : how many family units are there in this group of 16 family members? It sounds like 3 or 4 family units based upon your breaking up of the ages of the children?

There will be 4 family units... (my in-laws, my family, my brother in-laws family, my sister in laws family.)

 

[MainMom]

I have a feeling you were booking 60 days ahead for your entire window, not 30 days rolling which is what the OP is worried about.

I was replying to someone else, not the OP, and they did not specify 60 or 30.

 

[elaine amj]

Are you staying for just 1 week too? Any chance you and your family can stay an extra 1-3 days before/after? Then you guys can stay onsite and hit the parks hard on those days.

If not, I suggest you get hoppers for your family. Leave early every morning and hit the parks hard for rope drop for a few hours. Thos who want to join you can. Then join up with your family in the late morning and tour in a relaxed way the rest of the time.

If u do rope drop (i.e. arrive 1 hr before parks open and walk with a purpose), you can cover a ton of ground in the first two hours and then you can just chill with slow moving family the rest of the time.

 

[3smithboys]

Are you staying for just 1 week too? Any chance you and your family can stay an extra 1-3 days before/after? Then you guys can stay onsite and hit the parks hard on those days.

If not, I suggest you get hoppers for your family. Leave early every morning and hit the parks hard for rope drop for a few hours. Thos who want to join you can. Then join up with your family in the late morning and tour in a relaxed way the rest of the time.

If u do rope drop (i.e. arrive 1 hr before parks open and walk with a purpose), you can cover a ton of ground in the first two hours and then you can just chill with slow moving family the rest of the time.

As of right now, our plan is to just stay for the week too. Since it’s so far away, things could possibly change. Since my kids are older, they all have jobs they will need to take time off from and the other plan for my twins was to visit a few FL colleges while we were down there after our trip.

We are definitely RD people. We will be at every park at RD and hit it hard; then stay until about noon when it gets too hot to stay, go back for a swim/rest, then head back in the evening. That plan has always worked well in the past. Just not sure how it’s going to work with FP’s at 30 days!

 

[lostprincess_danie]

I'm currently planning a trip for my family (DH and a toddler), in-laws (FIL, MIL, 2 BIL, SIL) and my mother. For our family I set up a private group on facebook and invited them to join me in discussing plans. That way everyone gets to be involved as much as they like and we all get the same information at the same time. As far as coordinating everything, I'm making a detailed trip plan for my immediate family. We've been many times and know what we like to do and where we want to eat. Then letting our extended family members know are welcome to join us OR if it's not something they want to participate in I will suggest other rides/dining/activities that they might like but it's up to them to figure out when they want to go and if they need reservations/fast passes. I'm happy to guide them on how to do it.

 

[aggiedog]

I've done something similar with my family. I completely agree that just setting one park/one meal per day is best. Of my two sisters, one can't schedule her way out of a paper bag and the other is so regimented with her kids that our touring plans just don't work with her. So, we hit the parks in our own ways and meet for dinner. We would end up spontaneously meeting up at some point usually anyways.

The key really is being up front with how you're going to do it. It's a lack of communication that causes more problems than someone wanting to sleep in. I also agree you might really enjoy a couple "family-free" days before or after the park. It might be worth really trying to work that in.

 

[3smithboys]

So, I happened to mention to my sister that we were headed to Disney next summer and staying offsite. She said, “good luck getting any decent FP’s.You can forget Pandora and Star Wars Land.”

She also went on to say that Disney has turned into nothing but a money grab, and we should just go to Universal! I know we’ve been away from Disney for a few years but am I missing something? Have things changed that much over the past 4 years? Yikes!

 

[elaine amj]

It's changed and planning is even more necessary than ever. But it is still awesome...its Disney after all!

No, you won't get FPs for the 3-4 hot ticket rides....but for everything else, even same day FPs are completely doable. People change plans all the time.

For the hot tickets, plan to do them standby either at rope drop or at the end of the night. If u want to do them at rope drop, get to the parks at least an hour early and walk with a purpose. If you are running behind and arrive only 5-10 mins before park open, it's a lost cause and you are better off doing other rides and leaving the hot tickets to the afternoon or even better, the end of the day.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

So, one thing to think of is the cost of parking at the parks. It's $25/car per day. If you go 14 days, that's $350. Add that to the cost of the 14 or 21 day ultimate hopper from the UK and you've pretty much got the price of the annual pass...so you might want to consider getting one or two annual passes for your group. The platinum pass is $894+tax, the platinum plus is $994+tax.

Both passes include memory maker as well, but the photos are good to download for the year that the pass is valid so no having to hurry up to download the pictures.

You get up to 20% off select dining (not sure which dining you are considering but here's a list):
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/passholder-benefits-and-discounts/

Since you're going during the summer, you might want to do the water parks so I would suggest the platinum plus pass. The others in the group (not sure how many "family" units there are) but one AP per family unit might be a good idea since I would think you would need at least 2 or 3 vehicles.

Then make sure you create MDE profiles and link to the non-AP holders (if you decide to go that route).

Hi I know this probably sounds like a stupid question but when I'm looking online (I'm from the uk) it's showing the cheapest annual pass at over $1,000 - is this correct?

Also if I decide to upgrade my 14 day magic your way tickets on our first night, will it automatically link to my booking so that I don't get charged by my resort for parking or should I let them know when I get back to the resort?

 

[starry_solo]

Hi I know this probably sounds like a stupid question but when I'm looking online (I'm from the uk) it's showing the cheapest annual pass at over $1,000 - is this correct?

Also if I decide to upgrade my 14 day magic your way tickets on our first night, will it automatically link to my booking so that I don't get charged by my resort for parking or should I let them know when I get back to the resort?

If you are staying on-site, you are charged a parking fee based upon the resort you are staying at (value, moderate or deluxe). With that, theme park parking is free when staying on-site.

Also, prices raised between the time I originally posted and now. I think they went up within the past month (annual passes).

 

[tinkerbell1991]

If you are staying on-site, you are charged a parking fee based upon the resort you are staying at (value, moderate or deluxe). With that, theme park parking is free when staying on-site.

Also, prices raised between the time I originally posted and now. I think they went up within the past month (annual passes).

Thank you. So just to clarify, even if I became an AP, I would still need to pay for parking at the resort?

 

[starry_solo]

Thank you. So just to clarify, even if I became an AP, I would still need to pay for parking at the resort?

Correct. AP provides free theme park parking.

 

[petunia]

I just made FP last week for 12. It was easier than expected. I got everything including FOP (3rd day), SDD (4th & 5th day) & 7DMT (2nd & 6th day.) Everything else was no worry. I didn’t have to split up the group at all for any FP’s.

Can you walk me thru how you booked everyones fps? It will be my ressie plus 2 other rooms..do I make them 3 separate and just try for the same rides/times, or will they link? Thx

 

[DisMommyTX]

You need to make sure everyone is on your friends and family list. Then you should be able to select them all for booking FP at the same time.