Struggling to plan my thanksgiving trip. help (and a little venting)

[dez1978]

It's literally later this month, and I am stuck. HELP! There are 8 of us. My family (dh, and 2 boys 10&13) and my sister in laws family (her, her husband, 2 boys). We check in on 11/24 and fly home 11/30. So we have 5 day park hoppers, plus tickets to Jollywood on 11/25. My vent is I have sent texts asking for ideas or preferences on dining, and sent links to different places. The only response I got from any one is "it all looks good" No "lets do this" Just "whatever you do will be fine". So fine, I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn here a few weeks ago and booked some reservations that sounded good to me, and that I thought everyone would find something they like. I brought up the new LLPP a couple weeks ago because, yes, it's expensive, but I'm the one going to be getting up, making all the LLMP selections in a couple weeks, and I'll be the one trying to book all the things once we are there. Because if it were up to them, we'd just wake up every day and head to the park when we felt like it. So to me, I'd be fine paying for a couple of days of that, just to avoid the planning and stress for myself. But no, thats too expensive. Cool, I get that. It is expensive. But dang it, no one else is going to do this stuff, and if I don't do it, then well, I'm sure you can all imagine what would happen if we just showed up Thanksgiving week with nothing planned. I was thinking it might not be too bad with G+ (before it got changed again) and I could just stack stuff for the afternoon. Well, now I can't do that either. So now I'm stuck in my brain and I need help. Like having hoppers just gives my ADHD brain overload and there are too many choices. Here is what I'm thinking and I'd appreciate any input please:
Sun 11/24- checking out from Universal that morning and moving to Disney. Room won't be ready (DVC) so I was thinking MK since it's a party day, then we have dinner reservations at Epcot at 540. So maybe LLMP for MK and buy GoTG for that evening.
Mon- We have Jollywood tickets that night. So maybe sleep in a bit in the morning, eat at the resort and head to HS around noon-1? Idk if the same rules apply at HS as at MK on party days. Will it be slower since it closes early?
Tues-We have LTT at noon and Steakhouse 71 at 545. We may cancel one, but it's also a party day at MK. Maybe we could hit TotW lounge at BLT after dinner and watch the party fireworks.
Wed- Ext evening hours at AK. Maybe I could just book mid day LLMP at AK and go a bit later in the day vs rope drop.
Thurs (thanksgiving) we have Garden Grill at 540, because my brain froze and everything I wanted for thanksgiving day was already gone. Do we just hang at Epcot during the day? Should we start off somewhere else and finish at Epcot?
Friday- I have Steakhouse 71 for breakfast (9) and Boma for dinner at 6. Idk what parks we should go to that day.

Having older kids, while I love MK, the kids don't care for a lot of the rides there. We pretty much just do Tron, BTMR, Space, 7DMT, HM and whatever might have a shortish line. My inlaws are huge Star Wars fans, so I'm sure they will want to spend more time at HS. I just can't decide how I'd break up park days. I know we don't have to hop every day, and we really would prefer not to rope drop every morning. Help me not panic. My type A planning self needs to have a plan, but I seem to have decision paralysis here

 

[Boopuff]

I think you're an awesome planner. When we travel with our entire family (10) we never try to do everything together. You'll find it to be a much better trip. We would usually have breakfast in the villa, then go our own ways, meeting up for a pre-planned lunch/dinner later in the day. My DD is very big on making sure we get certain rides, and she'd book those for the group. Other than that we went our own ways. Good luck.

 

[Skippyboo]

With that big a group could you try to do a VIP tour instead of buying the new pass thing? Maybe see what your family wants to do and let sister in law do what they want to do and then meet up for dining. Is there extra evening hours at Epcot on Monday? You could get VQ spot at 6 ppm for that.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

What I've found when going with not just my immediate group is DON'T OVERPLAN with the other group in mind.
Plan your own days out and book an ADR or two for everyone.
Tell them they can tour the parks however THEY want and they can buy LLMP/SP/PP if THEY want to.
DO NOT SPEND ALL DAY WITH EACH OTHER.
You need to have fun on YOUR trip and let them do what they want. If that's not getting up early/not getting much done/complaining about long lines then that's what their trip looks like but yours doesn't have to.

 

[dez1978]

With that big a group could you try to do a VIP tour instead of buying the new pass thing? Maybe see what your family wants to do and let sister in law do what they want to do and then meet up for dining. Is there extra evening hours at Epcot on Monday? You could get VQ spot at 6 ppm for that.

The VIP tour is 900/hr that week lol. It actually would be cheaper to buy the pass for 3 parks (not MK) than it would be to do the tour. We are doing Jollywood on Monday so no evening hrs at Epcot. We will have the Wed at AK tho which is cool.

 

[nherbert]

As a fellow planner, I share your frustration. I occasionally seek input but get very little back until we are actually there.
A few thoughts:
1) at those ages might the kids want to hang out by themselves in the park, if so, if you get LLMP, book early ones so they have flexibility later.
2) I do all the pre-booking for us, but once in the park any phone work I always leave to my DS, his phone never leaves his hand anyway, or my DH. They know I don’t like using phones. They get a kick out of VQ and trying to get last minute FP.
3) if they are Star Wars fans and given the age of kids, I would do HS on that last day, I think you need more HS time
4) we don’t need more than 1 sit down meal a day, maybe you have too many meals consuming time - given the age of kids
5) we really like ropedrop and early entry to get lots done, and take breaks in arvo before evening park, maybe you want more early starts in parks

But omg, it looks to me like you are a great planner and have everything under control, so breathe

 

[dez1978]

As a fellow planner, I share your frustration. I occasionally seek input but get very little back until we are actually there.
A few thoughts:
1) at those ages might the kids want to hang out by themselves in the park, if so, if you get LLMP, book early ones so they have flexibility later.
2) I do all the pre-booking for us, but once in the park any phone work I always leave to my DS, his phone never leaves his hand anyway, or my DH. They know I don’t like using phones. They get a kick out of VQ and trying to get last minute FP.
3) if they are Star Wars fans and given the age of kids, I would do HS on that last day, I think you need more HS time
4) we don’t need more than 1 sit down meal a day, maybe you have too many meals consuming time - given the age of kids
5) we really like ropedrop and early entry to get lots done, and take breaks in arvo before evening park, maybe you want more early starts in parks

But omg, it looks to me like you are a great planner and have everything under control, so breathe

I am sure I will cancel something along the way. The one thing they did do is decide on the dining plan so we have a certain amt of meals to eat anyway lol. They did that without me, bc I'd have said we could save more with the DVC discount and gift cards lol.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I am sure I will cancel something along the way. The one thing they did do is decide on the dining plan so we have a certain amt of meals to eat anyway lol. They did that without me, bc I'd have said we could save more with the DVC discount and gift cards lol.

Seriously they got the dining plan but then just expect you to take care of what they are eating?
Again I say just tell them that you'd prefer if they just decided and did things for themselves at this point.

 

[Travel60]

This is why I don't do the parks anymore.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I likely wouldn’t plans and just see this as a ‘go with the flow’ trip and different from your other trips. We did this once and had a great time. Went with the feeling we’d just do what we could do. You’re going to stress yourself out and it does not sound like that will be appreciated by the others.

 

[sponica]

Is this a Disney trip with family or a family trip at Disney?

I think you're having problems because you're stuck between the two but I could be wrong.

Usually what I do is go "here are the plans I've made, I've included you but feel free to do your own thing"

 

[Dave006]

So now I'm stuck in my brain and I need help. Like having hoppers just gives my ADHD brain overload and there are too many choices. Here is what I'm thinking and I'd appreciate any input please:

OK I broke up your days' so I could share specific views.

Sun 11/24- checking out from Universal that morning and moving to Disney. Room won't be ready (DVC) so I was thinking MK since it's a party day, then we have dinner reservations at Epcot at 540. So maybe LLMP for MK and buy GoTG for that evening.

Sunday morning may be light at MK or very busy since many guests start their visit at MK. LLMP and/or LLSP should help your with your MK day.

Mon- We have Jollywood tickets that night. So maybe sleep in a bit in the morning, eat at the resort and head to HS around noon-1? Idk if the same rules apply at HS as at MK on party days. Will it be slower since it closes early?

Normally on Party days the attendance is lower but this is Thanksgiving week so crowds will build every day as the weekend approaches.

Tues-We have LTT at noon and Steakhouse 71 at 545. We may cancel one, but it's also a party day at MK. Maybe we could hit TotW lounge at BLT after dinner and watch the party fireworks

That would be a heavy food day for our group. I would just pick one and maybe Steakhouse 71 since you are planning to try for ToTW for Fireworks viewing. Do you have a DVC Member card to access TotW?

Wed- Ext evening hours at AK. Maybe I could just book mid day LLMP at AK and go a bit later in the day vs rope drop.
Thurs (thanksgiving) we have Garden Grill at 540, because my brain froze and everything I wanted for thanksgiving day was already gone. Do we just hang at Epcot during the day? Should we start off somewhere else and finish at Epcot?

Wednesday is going to be your last chance before the Crowds really increase for the rest of the week. I am not sure you should be on quite a relaxed schedule. Garden Grill should have a nice Thanksgiving dinner offering. You might want to have a relaxed start on Thursday and see if you have anything you might want to do at MK or HS before hopping to Epcot.

Friday- I have Steakhouse 71 for breakfast (9) and Boma for dinner at 6. Idk what parks we should go to that day.

MK will be mobbed and HS is usually a close second so maybe start at Epcot and see how the crowds are during the day.

This is just my input and I am sure that you will get varied input from other members. That's where you get to apply your Type A planning skills sorting and prioritizing all the input.

Dave

 

[gottalovepluto]

Split. Meet for lunch or something, catch a show together but split for the rest of the park day. It is not fair of your SIL’s family to expect you to plan everything and then gripe when they don’t like waiting in lines. This will allow you to buy the LLPP you want for your fam and they can buy LLMP* they want for their fam. You are paying for your vacation too, let yourself be on vacation. If you are already losing it this early, you’re setting yourself up for the trip from hell.

*LLMP is on the surface quite user friendly. SIL will go in and get 3 rides per day, maybe as her day goes on she picks up more, maybe she doesn’t. Don’t worry about teaching them the Disney Nerd tips and tricks- not everybody wants them! 3 guaranteed rides will be pretty nice during holiday insanity when they don’t want to rope drop.

How do you tell them? Be honest. You’re overwhelmed with planning rides for 2 families and that’s that.

 

[liamthompson]

Hey there, I feel your stress. Just added my in-laws to our trip and it feels like all the booking/planning is on me.

Repeat after me: it is NOT your responsibility to ensure everyone has a good Disney experience.

So...give yourself permission to inform your SIL's family via text that you will not be managing their ADRs or LL. Let them know that you have plans on X date and time and they are welcome to join you.

My first thought is to drop to 1 ADR a day so that your boys have some flexibility with their cousins and use that to guide which parks you do on what days. If you have evening ADR, then buy evening LL and if everyone gets up that morning and wants to go to a different park, then go and just deal with the crowds, knowing that you might have a rough morning but the evening is planned out. And vice versa if you have a lunch/morning ADR.

Even though you have hopper, try not to let the urge to "maximize" it cause you more stress.

On your Sunday check-in day, I would decide if you're going to MK or not based on when you arrive at disney and would not bother with LLMP but would buy for Epcot since you already have ADR there. Since you're coming from universal, I imagine you will already have done some strenuous park days and could use some downtime.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I am sure I will cancel something along the way. The one thing they did do is decide on the dining plan so we have a certain amt of meals to eat anyway lol. They did that without me, bc I'd have said we could save more with the DVC discount and gift cards lol.

Oh geez. Why in the world buy it for your fam if you don’t want it? You can still dine with SIL’s fam if you don’t have it. Also, when booking LLMP it won’t let you overlap for like 90 mins when you have ADRs on initial booking, can only overlap day of so that’s fun…

 

[dez1978]

OK I broke up your days' so I could share specific views.


Sunday morning may be light at MK or very busy since many guests start their visit at MK. LLMP and/or LLSP should help your with your MK day.


Normally on Party days the attendance is lower but this is Thanksgiving week so crowds will build every day as the weekend approaches.


That would be a heavy food day for our group. I would just pick one and maybe Steakhouse 71 since you are planning to try for ToTW for Fireworks viewing. Do you have a DVC Member card to access TotW?


Wednesday is going to be your last chance before the Crowds really increase for the rest of the week. I am not sure you should be on quite a relaxed schedule. Garden Grill should have a nice Thanksgiving dinner offering. You might want to have a relaxed start on Thursday and see if you have anything you might want to do at MK or HS before hopping to Epcot.


MK will be mobbed and HS is usually a close second so maybe start at Epcot and see how the crowds are during the day.

This is just my input and I am sure that you will get varied input from other members. That's where you get to apply your Type A planning skills sorting and prioritizing all the input.

Dave

Thank you! this is the sort of thinking I needed lol. My brain just couldn't work this out on my own. Yes, We do have a blue DVC card. I'm really a fireworks gal, so that is one thing I really want to do. I'd like to see the normal fireworks one night but if I can see the party fireworks from BLT, that would be cool too. I appreciate the breakdown. I've never been during thanksgiving, and have no idea what to expect and I think thats what is throwing me this time. The thought that if I think about just winging it, or taking a more laid back approach, we won't get anything done.

 

[Dave006]

We do have a blue DVC card. I'm really a fireworks gal, so that is one thing I really want to do. I'd like to see the normal fireworks one night but if I can see the party fireworks from BL

Just a friendly reminder that you will not be able to see the Castle Projections from BLT TotW or any other location outside of the park that are part of the normal nightly Fireworks presentation.

Dave

 

[dez1978]

Just a friendly reminder that you will not be able to see the Castle Projections from BLT TotW or any other location outside of the park that are part of the normal nightly Fireworks presentation.

Dave

Thats ok. I usually watch them from the Tomorrowland bridge anyway so I don't see most of them

 

[Skippyboo]

MK will be mobbed and HS is usually a close second so maybe start at Epcot and see how the crowds are during the day.

Friday is first day of Festival of the Holidays and Candlelight Procession. The crowds are going to build in the evening at Epcot. My guess in AK will be least crowded.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Split. Meet for lunch or something, catch a show together but split for the rest of the park day. It is not fair of your SIL’s family to expect you to plan everything and then gripe when they don’t like waiting in lines. This will allow you to buy the LLPP you want for your fam and they can buy LLMP* they want for their fam. You are paying for your vacation too, let yourself be on vacation. If you are already losing it this early, you’re setting yourself up for the trip from hell.

*LLMP is on the surface quite user friendly. SIL will go in and get 3 rides per day, maybe as her day goes on she picks up more, maybe she doesn’t. Don’t worry about teaching them the Disney Nerd tips and tricks- not everybody wants them! 3 guaranteed rides will be pretty nice during holiday insanity when they don’t want to rope drop.

How do you tell them? Be honest. You’re overwhelmed with planning rides for 2 families and that’s that.

Having taken a few extended family vacations, I strongly second this. I've had Disney trips where I planned everything (in the paper FP days, where planning was just having a schedule in my head and keeping everyone on schedule), with no appreciation, and the last time I kind of lost it when other members of the group decided we were all leaving just when I put us in the perfect fireworks spot, the most important thing to ME.

After that, any extended family trips anywhere involved doing our own thing most of the day with our own transportation -- even when traveling with a family member who also is a planner.