Starting to Plan for larger group - Need Resort Help!

[BandBob]

Hey everyone!
We have a big family trip coming up in a couple of years. (I know, it a ways off, but all of us are going to have to save up for the trip!) Because I'm trying to give everyone an idea of the cost of the trip, I want to get some ideas of where to stay! Here is some background on our situation:
My Family - Me, DW, DD will be 18, DS will be 14, DS will be 11.
Brother's Family - Brother, his DW, his DD will be 8, his DD will be 4.
Our Mom and Dad
There will be 11 of us.

Really don't know what to do. Do we just go with a Value or Moderate with 3 rooms and put one of our children in with Grandma and Grandpa? Do we look at an All-Star Suite and 2 connecting rooms? Do we look at a Deluxe for more room with 3 rooms or look at maybe 2 suites? Or do we look at a DVC property with 2 two-bedroom units?? As you can see, depending our decision, there could be a huge price difference.

Really looking forward to your thoughts!! All of your great wisdom will be greatly appreciated!

 

[iluveeyore]

The DVC also has a grand villa at most of their resorts, which sleeps twelve so you could all be together - it's a huge two storey place with full kitchen and dining room, formal living room and enough bathrooms for all - check out the layouts on dvcfriends.com - not sure of prices to quote you for renting DVC points (which would be much cheaper for you) as I don't know what time of year you're going. Check out the DVC threads for more info as well. Disney will also help you plan as a 'Grand Gathering' since there's more than 8 of you.
These boards are 'priceless' to help you with your planning, so use them often and happy planning!!!

 

[robinb]

I planned a Grand Gathering last year with 4 families and 12 people. We ended up at Pop Century in 5 rooms and it worked perfectly .

You can look into renting points at one of the DVC resorts as you have plenty of time to make your reservations. If you're interested in one of the Grand Villas you will probably need to book it 11 months in advance. Another cheaper option would be to book a 2 BR (sleeps 8) and a studio (sleeps 4). When we have done that in the past, the 2BR becomes the family hang-out and we gave the family in the studio a key to the GV so they can let themselves in. DVC points rent for about $11 - $12 per point and you can find out more about renting here: http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29.

Another even cheaper option is to rent a pool home off-site. You can book a home with enough bedrooms so each adult couple has their own room and the kids can divvy up by gender for less than $2000 per week. I found a 5 bedroom pool home last year within minutes of Disney World for only $1200! As an example, here is one of the places I found: http://www.romancingthemouse.com/ ... it's a little more expensive. You will have to factor in additional costs of rental cars for each family, though.

Good luck and have fun! My biggest piece of advise is to NOT plan too much with everyone. You do not have to be attached at the hip!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We've gone in large groups quite a few times. The first big family trip we took was back in 1998 and we booked 5 wilderness cabins. Not a bad set-up. Then in 2001 we did a block of rooms at All Star Music. That was OK but the following year we did 4 two-bedroom villas at OKW and it was so much better! OKW was great about getting us all near each other, and at night we could pile the kids in one villa for grandma to babysit them while the adults went to DTD. I think the DVC resorts are perfect for large groups, especially with kids. Good luck planning!

 

[Destination Disney]

I would definatly look into DVC. The Grand Villa sleeps 12 and gives you a living room, bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a dinning room, a full kitchen so you do not have to eat out all the time and it is a two story set up. This way everyone will not be on top of one another. Maybe someone can post a few pcitures if you are not able to find one yourself. I would suggest a Grand villa at the Boardwalk or Beach Club. There is always a lot going on in that area and you have direct access to Epcot through the word showcase and can walk to MGM or take a boat to either. If you go to the points calculator in the rent ?trade board you can figure out just how many point you would need. It may be more cost effective since you will not have to tack on that glorious tourist tax of 11%! Just an idea!

Good Luck planning!

 

[WDW Lover]

I am a DVC member and have done quite a few different variations to accommodate our large family gatherings that we have had over the years. If you do a Grand Villa the only "cost effective" one is OKW. IF you can actually get a OKW DVC member to do a reservation for you - this can turn out to be a "cheap" way to have the whole family stay. If you go through Disney, though, it costs a fortune. You would have to do this 11 months away from your check-in date, though, because those go fast.

Another "cheap" alternative would be to do a 2 BR at a DVC resort and a studio. The family of 4 would be in the studio. The grandparents would go with the other family of 5 in the 2 BR. You can do a few variations... Grandparents in room with king bed, parents and 2 kids in the other bedroom and 1 kid on pullout sofa in LR... or grandparents in same place, parents on pullout sofa, kids in the other BR. Or parents in king bed, grandparents on pullout, kids in other room... whatever you think. But the great thing is that everyone can hang out in the LR (including those from studio) and be all together at the same time.

I would not do All-Stars or anything like that for a family gathering. Too noisy, not big enough, etc. You can rent a DVC studio from a DVC member for about the same price as an All-Star anyway - especially if you book far enough ahead and can get a DVC member to book standard view/value rooms at either BW or AKL. We've done family gatherings with everyone in their own studios, and that works too, but not a great plan as far as getting everyone together in the mornings or evenings to hang out.

 

[BandBob]

Hey everyone!
This is great info! Thanks for sharing your expertise! I'm starting to see a pattern! But as always, you can never have too much information! Keep the great info coming!

 

[michvin]

Do you all want to be in the same area the whole time? Just a question....
some families/friends think it would be great to be together the whole time then get frustrated that they don't have any private space. I've heard of "issues" people have had with too much togetherness.

BUT...renting points from a DVC member is the way to go for a party that big and the grand villas are really, very nice. Just something to think about.

If you wanted seperate rooms, i would get 3 moderates, with at least two of them connected. CSR and POFQ are really great. Good Luck and have a great time!

 

[disnut8]

I'm planning a trip for a large group as well (Thanksgiving of 2008). We will be:

Us (40s and Disney experts)
In-laws (70s but very active)
Brother-in-law (40s and would like to be anywhere except Disney World)
Niece and boy toy (early 20s and never really been to Disney World)
My son and his family (late 20s, two kids - 10 and 2 at the time)
My dad and his wfie (70s but very active)
Son's friend (mid 20s)
My son's mother-in-law (50 and the only smoker in the group)

I've thought about a lot of possibilities including staying offsite in a rental home and DVC. But I'm not going to do that because the thought of all of us being in one house or accommodations for a week is NOT going to work. We'd survive but it wouldn't be fun.

I'm going with multiple rooms at Pop Century or All Stars. Each party would have their own room and their own privacy so they can plan their own vacation on their own. I am only asking for one connecting room and that would be for my son's family and his mother-in-law since they all live together right now and she can help out with the kids. But if my daughter-in-law doesn't want her mother that close, then I won't even do that. I am going to ask that the rooms be in the same building but that's about it.

I think this way is going to make a relatively low stress vacation for everyone since at night, we can each shut our doors and not have to socialize 24/7.