Surviving with large family group

[TheDizMom]

We are going to Disney over spring break which we are excited about.
This trip however we are going with my husbands entire family, so there will be 11 of us. How do I stay sane in a situation like this, especially when 2 of my nieces are not very well behaved a good portion of the time and their parents don't believe in disciplining them in public? I want this trip to be fun, but am concerned about coping with 11 people for 8 days, when there is a good possibility I may want to strangulate a few family members on a fairly regular basis. Any body have any good suggestions about keeping the peace with such a large group ? Thank goodness we have our own room for night time seperation and a break from family togetherness .

 

[mericletwins]

We are going to Disney over spring break which we are excited about.
This trip however we are going with my husbands entire family, so there will be 11 of us. How do I stay sane in a situation like this, especially when 2 of my nieces are not very well behaved a good portion of the time and their parents don't believe in disciplining them in public? I want this trip to be fun, but am concerned about coping with 11 people for 8 days, when there is a good possibility I may want to strangulate a few family members on a fairly regular basis. Any body have any good suggestions about keeping the peace with such a large group ? Thank goodness we have our own room for night time seperation and a break from family togetherness .

We usually go as a family of between 7 and 11 people. We agree on what park we are all going to and as each family gets up and ready they head out. Since each family has a cell phone as they get to the park they call and find out where the others are and then join up if they are going to an area that all want to see. If not, they go on their own and meet up later. By all means, do not agree to all leave for the parks together. That is a volcano waiting to erupt! Do you have ADR's already scheduled?

 

[dana1003]

i think whats gonna happen once you get there is that everyone will have a different taste for rides, foods, shows, etc. i would try and book some character meals so that you could do that all toghether and spend time and then maybe pick some rides that you can each go on seperately. it will happen. not everyone will want to go on tower of terror.and the fact is someone will probably get on your nerves and vise versa. just pick and choose you battles and have a great time.

 

[Ksquared]

Try to schedule at least one day to spend without the rest of the family.

I went a few years ago with my husband's entire family. MY SIL wanted to plan everything we did and we all had to do everything together.....we were there for 10 days. I had one request for a breakfast which she honored and the rest I just "went with the flow" but we did take a day and go to Epcot by ourselves. We met the rest of the family for breakfast and off we went. My SIL was not happy at the time but oh well. It kept me somewhat sane. I told myself before we left to just be as flexible as I could be and I knew ahead of time how she would be ....but man was it a loooong trip.

 

[jtopp]

separate! You are not joined at the hip, and the diversity of WDW means everyone can move where they want at thier own pace. We tried the "multi family vacation" a few years ago. After the first two days my kids could not wait for the rest of the family to leave. We had one or two good days, but our best time came when the rest of the family was elsewhere or gone(personal opinion- some families live for this type of vacation). If the group thing is not working out, try a different park with just your family. As I said, our greatedt time came when we were alone. Good luck!

 

[PrincessGail]

We are planning a family Thanksgiving trip. If commitments are gotton from everyone it will be a total of 15 of us. I also agree that this could be a nightmare instead of a dream come true

I think splitting up some is the key. I will be the planner and we all plan to use the disney dining plan. Dinner reservations may be a problem.

 

[TheDizMom]

O.K. here's the thing. My in-laws are footing the bill for the entire trip, so we are flying together, staying at the same hotel and eating every meal together. I have been assigned the job of planning and making all reservations (yes we have our dining reservations made, which was hard because some restaurants don't have tables big enough for us all). I put together a survey for everyone to fill out about their wants, likes, and dislikes. It was helpful so we won't be going to a park every day and to some for only a half day because there weren't a lot of things we wanted to do at some. I made a basic schedule for every day so there wasn't a discussion every day about what we would do. We went over it together as a family and agreed to the basic plan. This will enable a little quiet pool time and room time I hope. My problem is my husband feels that if we try to seperate to much my MIL will have a fit and believe me no one wants that ! /so if seperation timeis more difficult what next?

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

If your worried about people getting offended, Id try to do a family meeting about the trip and get everyone together and have a big pow wow to go over the trip & present your schedule then & see what everyone thinks

This way any gripes can get sorted out ahead of time.....

See...Im a planner, so I like to plan & prep things before they happen & have a back up plan ready...so Id set up a little get together with lunch/dinner & maybe get everyone a little notebook/calendar from the dollar store & theme the get together Disney...so it seems fun & exciting..gets everyone pumped

It might seem a little silly, but its worth a shot & it could help you avoid chaos

Good luck