Planning for a large group...

[maine_jennifer]

My family, 13 to 17 of us, want to take a vacation together during the ' 06 / ' 07 school year.

*I* know that means we should start some prelminary planning now, but no one seems to want to talk about it when we're all together. Some are thinking DCL 7-night, some are thinking WDW.

So, where do you start planning for a large group? Any tips or suggestions?

I'm have a feeling I'm going to the be the planner extraordinaire and just don't know where to start. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

 

[pinkdiamonds1007]

Congradulations on your big family vacation..wow! Thats alot of people. If I were you..I like to hear someone telling me ideas first, so what about calling WDW reservation line..and getting some info there about Grand Gatherings. If you go to their website as well, you can order both a cruise, and a WDW planning DVD, and see which one suits your family. On the video's there is a chapter just for Grand Gatherings.
Also, maybe google "Large Family Vacation to WDW" and see what you come up with. I am the planner in our family as well..only 5 of us going this vacation, but as your bunch, none of them want to talk about it until we are on top of the day. I kind of decided to just take over, i booked everything for everyone..and am making the PS only consulting my hubby and daughter. They all seemed really greatful that they didn't have to deal with it. I have done this as well for larger family trips, and they all seemed glad to have someone else do it as well..granted, they are tottally taking advantage of the fact that I will do it for them, while they just enjoy the vacation..but i don't mind planning, and it makes me feel better to know that everything is set and ready to roll.
Good Luck!
Hope that helps!
Nicole

 

[cocacolamom]

I am the "coordinator" for our family trip in Nov. of this year. We have 29 confirmed, with 12 people who haven't booked their room yet. My husbands the youngest of 9!

First of all let me save you some time. If you need more than 10 rooms for your trip, you will need to call Group Reservations at 407-828-3200 or 1-800-327-2989. I had Mona and she was WONDERFUL! She will ask for specific dates and how many rooms. If you need less than 10 rooms, you can book it through the Magical Gatherings people. After you have that set up the main reservation, then everyone can call in with their CC or send in their deposits for one nights stay. At this time you can give her any special requests that you have for the group as a whole. They have been great in accomodating one of the rooms that needs to be wheel chair accessible.

We have been told that they can help us book character meals, tours, etc through the person that we are assigned to now that we have a rooms booked. Which is great when your calling to book a character breakfast for 40 people! We are still able to take advantage of the Magical Gatherings tour & meal specials, but just through Group Reservations.

I would suggest that you contact them as soon as you know about how many, and Group Reservation will let you know when you can book the 2006/2007 reservations.

I hope this helps and I'll be glad to share any other information that I get throughout this "experience"! Ha!

Michelle

 

[leira1989]

Cocacolamom,
Did Disney give you any discounted price due to the large number of rooms or park tickets you were going to purchase? Just wondering, as we have a group of 10 adults and 9 children going in October and DF really wants to rent two houses while I really want to stay on site.

 

[Mom949499]

My family of 15 is leaving this Sunday for a Disney Land/Sea vacation! We have 4 days in Disney and then 3 days on the cruise. We figured we'd run around and do our separate things while on land and then have some "together" time at sea.

To book it we had a get together at my brother's house and surfed the Disney web site, to find out what everyone wanted to do. We ended up booking it online as separate reservations. The only problem was by the time we went to book my immediate family, all cat 6's were gone, so we had to bump up to cat 5.

This trip is a "gift" from my brother who passed away very suddenly a year and a half ago. He was not married, so his estate went to my mother who never expected to inherit her son's estate. She decided to use it to bring the whole family on vacation. I love my family dearly, and can't wait to spend some magical moments with them!