Planning for kids ages 3,5,8,9,12, and 13, tips?

[cwnhokie]

Yeah! It's time to start planning our next trip. We went in May for the first time with DS2 and DS4. Now we are planning a trip in May 2006 with the grandparents, aunt, uncle and 4 cousins, 2 girls will be 8 and 12 and two boys will be 9 and 13. I've got a pretty good idea of what to do with my young guys, but any tips on what the older kids would enjoy would be much appreciated. The 13 year old is at the "I think I'm too cool/old for Disney age" He's never been though, and I'm sure he will love it. Also any tips for traveling with such a large group, there will be 12 of us. Thanks!

 

[estherhead]

We've done similar trips before. My advice is to not try to stay together every moment of every day. Carry cell phones with reliable signal and call each other throughout the day to cut down on meeting up arrangements. Some people are early risers, 13 year olds generally aren't. He'll be crabby if you insist on too many 7 am mornings in a row, but don't let that stop you and your little tykes from enjoying Fantasyland first thing. This year we are all getting 5 day hoppers that expire and we are just going to all do our own thing, spliting up in age approproate groups and them getting together for parades, fireworks, and half our meals.

 

[Jenn]

We have done several family trips like this with 7 kids (my 2 and my SIL's 5). We spend alot of time together but we do split up to hit the big rides. We do a "thrill seeking group" (me, my hubby, the older kids) and a "not so thrill seeking group" (my SIL, the younger kids, Nanny, etc.). We split up for a couple of hours and hit the big rides while the others hit the rides for younger kids (Dumbo, Pooh, etc). Then we regroup to do the ones everyone likes.

 

[cwnhokie]

I already told everyone that we would probably not plan on staying together. Go to the same parks on the same days, but split up and then meet up for a meal or parade or something like that. Does anyone have tips on what the older kids would like?