Planning for a very large family

[SEA333]

Hi All, My husband was talking to his dad and sister this past weekend about our November trip and they all decided that they would like to plan a WDW trip for ALL of us to go in about a year-18 months. All planning would fall to me, with DH's dad not wanting anyone to tell him what to do LOL, and his sister being semi-flakey (sorry, I do love her very much, but it's very true). So, I need some help getting started!

Details:

Family 1 (at the time of the trip):
Me39, DH40, DS15, DD11, DS9

Family 2:
FIL - 60-ish and having a very hard time with his diabetes/circulation
Strp MIL - 55ish

Family 3:
SIL 35-ish
Neice 12
Nephew 2
possible SIL husband late 40's
step nephews 13 and 11

Family 4:
BIL 39
SIL 38
neices 12 and 7
nephew 9

Family 5:
BIL 30's
SIL 30's
no kids

Family 6:
BIL late 40's
SIL 36
neices 14 and 5
nephew 12

So, unless anyone else steps up and says they want to come, that is who is on the list. I am trying not to look at this as an impossible mission! In case you lost count, it is 12 "real" adults, 3 teens, 5 preteens, and 4 kids ranging in age from 2-9. 24 people in all. Yikes!!!! Some have been to WDW before and some have not, but none of them have planned the trip...they just went with FIL and whatever he planned. This was also at least 7 years ago for their most recent trip.

SO, when planning for a large group, where does one start? I don't think anyone thinks that they want to be together 24/7, but we would all like to get free dining and good airfare, so it is kind of up to me to watch out for these two items and let everyone know when/if the promos come out.

I was thinking that I should tell everyone that we need to decide when it's a good time for everyone and any dates that are no-go times. Once we have that narrowed down, I would tell them to make sure they have their accounts in order so that when I get a good airfare, they will be ready to book...same with packages. I will plan to have everyone book through Disney Destinations so that they only have to do the downpayment because I don't know, and don't care, what and how anyone else is paying for their trip. I do not think I want us to all stay in the same house or anything, so seperate rooms at the resort is fine with me!

Lastly, how would I work FP+ and dining reservations?

Thanks!

 

[ancestry]

Well this far out I would start with a family meeting to determine budget, dates, and to decide where (which resort) everyone wants to stay.

In my opinion budget is the biggest issue. Can everyone afford the same type of vacation or are some going to want a value resort where others want deluxe due to financial differences?

 

[Sugardimples]

Hi All, My husband was talking to his dad and sister this past weekend about our November trip and they all decided that they would like to plan a WDW trip for ALL of us to go in about a year-18 months. All planning would fall to me, with DH's dad not wanting anyone to tell him what to do LOL, and his sister being semi-flakey (sorry, I do love her very much, but it's very true). So, I need some help getting started! Details: Family 1 (at the time of the trip): Me39, DH40, DS15, DD11, DS9 Family 2: FIL - 60-ish and having a very hard time with his diabetes/circulation Strp MIL - 55ish Family 3: SIL 35-ish Neice 12 Nephew 2 possible SIL husband late 40's step nephews 13 and 11 Family 4: BIL 39 SIL 38 neices 12 and 7 nephew 9 Family 5: BIL 30's SIL 30's no kids Family 6: BIL late 40's SIL 36 neices 14 and 5 nephew 12 So, unless anyone else steps up and says they want to come, that is who is on the list. I am trying not to look at this as an impossible mission! In case you lost count, it is 12 "real" adults, 3 teens, 5 preteens, and 4 kids ranging in age from 2-9. 24 people in all. Yikes!!!! Some have been to WDW before and some have not, but none of them have planned the trip...they just went with FIL and whatever he planned. This was also at least 7 years ago for their most recent trip. SO, when planning for a large group, where does one start? I don't think anyone thinks that they want to be together 24/7, but we would all like to get free dining and good airfare, so it is kind of up to me to watch out for these two items and let everyone know when/if the promos come out. I was thinking that I should tell everyone that we need to decide when it's a good time for everyone and any dates that are no-go times. Once we have that narrowed down, I would tell them to make sure they have their accounts in order so that when I get a good airfare, they will be ready to book...same with packages. I will plan to have everyone book through Disney Destinations so that they only have to do the downpayment because I don't know, and don't care, what and how anyone else is paying for their trip. I do not think I want us to all stay in the same house or anything, so seperate rooms at the resort is fine with me! Lastly, how would I work FP+ and dining reservations? Thanks!

Run now.

 

[nugov2]

I would say setting a budget. I woud imagine with that many it might be all over the place so seeing where everyone would be comfortable staying. I am guessing the airfare and park tickets are the easiest since that is a set rate for the most part, unless you have some that won't fly certain airlines and those each person can purchase themselves. Dinning I am guessing you cannot book for that many at once(don't know what the limit is, we were able to do 13 with just one person booking so maybe you can do that many too) so I'd decide what places you want to do together and have two callers for the day reservations open so you can get enough tables. I'd probably do a tentative schedule with when/where you want to all be together and then let everyone else be responsible for their own planning for those times. I did 90% of our trip planning for our 4 families when we went. I made all the dinner reservations and made the schedule. Everyone who went was fine with that so it made it easy. We were all on board with lots of character meals and nice TS restaurants. My family did a few extras the rest didn't want to do, so they made other plans during that time. We all had similar budgets so that helped too. I am also probably the pickiest so nobody difficult to deal with. It will all work out and it won't be as bad as you think.

I honestly just planned what I thought would be crowd pleasers, plus what we really wanted to do and offered up those plans to everyone. Then they could decide if they wanted to be part of it or not. If not, they have their own free time to plan. We went to Uni/IOA but nobody else did(my dad did tag along with us while my mom went to another park with the rest of the group). The only issue we had was the VIP tour we planned. my brother's inlaws didn't want to spend the money and thought their feelings might be hurt if we ditched them for a day in the park. My brother just decided to pay their share and gift it to them. Everything else was planned pretty smoothly. Enjoy your trip and remember it supposed to be fun

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

We took a family trip with 14 where I was the sole planner. I wish you well.

The advice to start with a meeting is good. Pick a hotel but know if they are willing to switch if/when free dining becomes available, we had to switch resorts to make free dining work for everyone.

I linked all of our Disney accounts after a three hour phone call to tech support and waiting a week for one amazing cast member who stayed with it to fix it I was able to make fastpass+ for all 14. We didnt always have same passes (3yr old and grandparents did B&B show while we rode R&Rc.

The kids had fun but my dh family all followed me like sheep for the week. They wanted to stay together the whole time...I escaped to playhouse Disney for 2 hrs the trade off I missed my dd 8 and ds 10 fighting darth maul...but I needed a break.

We drank more with dinners on that trip then we ever had before.

I recommend dinner at Ohana and a pineapple drink almost nightly to survive.

That reminds me if you are planning on eating together reservations will be hard to find and at early times at least all of our were.

Good luck!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Run now.

LOL

I planned an 8 night WDW/DCL trip for 30 people a few years back. All in all, it went very well.

The most important thing right now is to settle on a date. Once you have that you can start to plan. In fact, you really can't plan without it.

The group agreed to put their trust in me, so to speak. They know we have lots of great trips and that I am skilled at finding the best deal. They agreed to not nitpick everything to death, either. At any point in time, they were free to choose to stay somewhere else if they wanted to for the WDW portion of the trip, etc. (But nobody did.) We got a great deal at the Dolphin and everyone loved it there, with maybe one or two minor complaints. (And at $129 a night, it was a fantastic deal. Originally, it was $149, but a convention cancelled and costs fell. I was able to get word out to everyone and individually, we all called and got our rates lowered. For us, a group email was essential for communication.)

We also decided as a group to do just a 4 night cruise instead of a 7, for a few reasons. Cost was a big factor, but some in the group had never cruised before and weren't sure they'd like it, and some were worried about sea sickness, especially with the kids, etc. So four it was.

Most booked their own airfare, although when I found mine I put out a note and some booked with us. One family came down a day or two after the rest, so met us there. Others had miles they had to use, etc. The important thing was that we all arrived the same day, with that one exception. I was also able to book a private bus for the three way transportation (airport>hotel>cruise>airport) at a significantly lower cost than we would have paid individually with DCL. (I priced it out per person, per leg of the journey, so if, say, one didn't use it on one leg, they didn't have to pay for that leg. Obviously not an issue if you're just using ME.)

We'd planned long enough ahead that the day cruise dates and rates came out for our time frame, we booked that day. We got the best rates available and great room choices. We were all near eachother except for those who booked a different category. (And almost all loved the cruise and even rebooked while onboard.)

As for "togetherness", we all agreed beforehand that everyone should do what they wanted to do individually. (Many of us had traveled together before, though not a trip of this magnitude.) Some families did some things together. Some went off on their own. The cruise was great because we ate dinner together and saw eachother around the ship, but otherwise were free to do our own things if we preferred. (Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't.) This works out great - whether in the parks or on the ship - when you have varying ages, genders and interests. Kids had a ball in the pools at the resort and on the ship with such a large group of friends.

I guess it can't be overstated that people should be encouraged to do what they themselves want to do, and when they want to do it, most of the time. I was adamant about this because I'd had trips previously where it was not that way and basically it became unpleasant at times, and resentments built, etc.

Good luck in your planning!