suggestions for a large group

[puddleduck]

We will be in WDW in Nov. w/ a group of 15. There are 9 adults and 6 kids. The kids ages will be: 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 and 14. All the kids are boys expect the 2 yo (my niece). The group is: me, dh and 3 boys (3,4 and 6 yo); my mom and dad; my brother, his wife and 2 yo dd; my sister and her two ds; my dh's mom and dad. My questions are:

1. What restaurants would be good for the whole group? Some of us are daring (my 5 yo loves sushi) and some others not so (my brother can be very picky).

2. If the guys wanted to take the older boys off to eat where would you go? They are not so into characters but love girls and sports and can still be a little kiddie at times.

3. The women of the group are thinking of taking my niece to a character breakfast, where would you reccomend 5 grown women and a 2 yo go?

4. Where would be a good place for all the younger kids to eat? We really enjoyed breakfast at Chef Mickey's in Dec. if that helps.

5. This will be a first trip for my parents, my brother's family and my sister and her boys. My in-laws have never eaten at Disney restaurants and have not been to WDW in 15 yrs. Where are some must eat places for first timers?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[lynninpa]

We will be a party of nine on our next trip (ages 2 to 50+)
I spent quite a lot of time reading reviews, reading menus and so on.
It wasn't the easiest task to choose the restaurants with such a "varied" group. Tried to please everyone with everything from entree choices to making memories.
Here is the link to my post. Hope it may help! Good luck and make sure to post when you make your choices!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1054913

 

[tjmouse]

Best for large group = Biergarten (lunch is cheaper!)

Best for just the guys = ESPN Club or Concourse Steakhouse

Best for the women and the princess = Princess Storybook or CRT

Best for younger kids = still Chef Mickey's

Best for first-timers = Prime Time, Boma, 'Ohana

 

[jonimce]

We were 14 and loved California Grill, Ohana, Hoop de doo and the Garden Grill.

 

[puddleduck]

Thanks for the input. For anyone who went with large groups, did you do a lot together or split up for most of the trip? As we planned more people decided to come and I am not even sure at this point how we are going to work all this out. I love to plan, but this might prove to be a challenge.

 

[jonimce]

We split up many diffrent ways. My 17 yo DS went off on his own and sometimes let his nephue 16, and nices 16 and 14 tag along. Oldest DD, her DH and 6 yoDS, youngest DD, her DH and 6yo DS sometimes were together but mostly family went alone. My inlaws also were with us most of the time . Most lunches were 4 or 2 for us, but we did try to meet up for dinner alot. One day the moms took the two 6 yo's on the pirate cruise and the guys hung out. Some of us took tours that the little ones couldn't go on. Please don't try to stay together all day. It will never work. I love my grown children, but can only take so much of the large group.

You'll have a great time.

 

[missminniemouse]

A few years ago we were at WDW with a group of 24. We only did 1 meal with all of us together and that was at Whispering Canyon. I talked to the manager ahead of time and we were given the area to the back that is somewhat secluded...just for our group. It worked out great!

We also did several meals where a couple families made ressies in the same restaurant for about the same time. We did this at Coral Reef and ended up in totally different areas of the restaurant. We had not requested tables close to each other, so this was fine with us.

As for touring the parks, we divided up in different ways each day. Sometimes we had my mother and grandmother with us, while other times we had my brother and his family with us. Other times we went out on our own. Sometimes we split up for part of the day. The remainder of the group was some of our aunts, uncles, and cousins, so they pretty much did their own thing. I guess I wouldn't plan to keep the whole bunch together...be flexible and allow different people to do different things. Sometimes it's hard to get the 4 of us to make a decision on what to do next. It would be impossible to get 15 clocks to chime at the same time and all agree on what to do next.