Tell me about Grand Gatherings please

[ScrappinGran]

Where can I find info on Grand Gatherings? What are the benefits, etc.? We may be adding 2 family members to our trip and would then have enough for a Grand Gathering. If you have done one, please tell me about it! What you liked, didn't like, etc.

 

[blana]

No info, but I'd love to know as well. We have 7 adult, 1 child over 3 & 2 under 3 going, which I believe puts us high enough to be in the GG side of things. (And my SIL who took over the planning from me, sigh, may already have us booked as such.)

 

[Peg In The Pound]

We have been looking for Grand Gatherings info, too.
It looks like this thread has a lot of info!
www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1071958&referrerid=&highlight=grand+gatherings
The info from Disney is available here:
http://http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/magicalgatherings/ggLandingPage?id=GrandGatheringsLandingPage&bhcp=1
Good luck with your planning!

 

[Mickeys_n_me]

I looked into Grand Gatherings for our trip we are going on in 2 weeks. What I did not like about it, is that there really are no outstanding benefits to doing one. We found it cheaper to stay off site and rent a home (and more spacious), rather then jam 9 people into a resort hotel for the 10 days we are going.
All the grand gathering benefits like the cruise with Hook and Smee or desert tent etc you still need to pay for. We decided to book our own Illuminations cruise (without Hook and Smee) and we still in the long run will be saving money - the Illuminations cruise was about $10 cheaper pp then a grand gathering cruise).
You can look into it further here:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...ngs/ggServices?id=GrandGatheringsServicesPage

 

[Baltazar]

We just came back from a grand gathering (Magical Gathering) at Pop Century in August. We had 15 people in 5 rooms. (2 families of 4, 3 couples and a single)

The biggest benefit was that all our rooms were in a row. Four of the rooms had connecting doors.

For dinner reservations we were either at the same table or right next to each other.

One thing I would suggest is do not try to stay as a huge group in the parks because it took so long to do anything.

We spent a lot of time waiting for people.

The photopass folks are glad to take a huge group shot and any cast member would be glad to take group photos with your camera, but that's true with any size party.

 

[Baltazar]

I looked into Grand Gatherings for our trip we are going on in 2 weeks. What I did not like about it, is that there really are no outstanding benefits to doing one. We found it cheaper to stay off site and rent a home (and more spacious), rather then jam 9 people into a resort hotel for the 10 days we are going.
All the grand gathering benefits like the cruise with Hook and Smee or desert tent etc you still need to pay for. We decided to book our own Illuminations cruise (without Hook and Smee) and we still in the long run will be saving money - the Illuminations cruise was about $10 cheaper pp then a grand gathering cruise).
You can look into it further here:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...ngs/ggServices?id=GrandGatheringsServicesPage

You could probably gotten away with three rooms at a Value resort for $100 a night per room or 3 (maybe even 2) rooms at a Moderate for $165 a night per room.

I feel the resort benefits outweigh any money savings.

 

[blana]

I looked into Grand Gatherings for our trip we are going on in 2 weeks. What I did not like about it, is that there really are no outstanding benefits to doing one. We found it cheaper to stay off site and rent a home (and more spacious), rather then jam 9 people into a resort hotel for the 10 days we are going.
All the grand gathering benefits like the cruise with Hook and Smee or desert tent etc you still need to pay for. We decided to book our own Illuminations cruise (without Hook and Smee) and we still in the long run will be saving money - the Illuminations cruise was about $10 cheaper pp then a grand gathering cruise).

*sigh* This was kind of what I thought from looking at it. I was hoping there was more that I had missed.

 

[Baltazar]

*sigh* This was kind of what I thought from looking at it. I was hoping there was more that I had missed.

Basically what it is, any reservations you make, they will put you all together.

 

[Mickeys_n_me]

You could probably gotten away with three rooms at a Value resort for $100 a night per room or 3 (maybe even 2) rooms at a Moderate for $165 a night per room.

I feel the resort benefits outweigh any money savings.

It worked out to be $88 a night per couple to rent a 6 bedroom home. Add in $200 for a rental car and the savings are still significantly less. Not to mention the full kitchen and pool and SPACE - those to me far outway a moderate hotel room with 4 people sharing a tiny room.

I can understand some people thinking the resorts offer great benefits, but I avoid EMH like the plague and hate WDW transportation. So those "benefits" are not beneficial to us as a family. It is all a trade off, we don't feel as though we miss anything by staying offsite.

As far as dining reservations, we also are garaunteed to sit at one table or two together if they do not have large dining tables available. SO you do not need a "grand gathering" for those privalages.

 

[ScrappinGran]

Thanks to all who have answered so far. I still want to know more! I am disappointed that everything seems to have an additional fee, as the 2 that may join us will be on a very tight budget. This may be their only chance to ever go to WDW. If you could only do ONE of the Grand Gathering special events...which would it be? Would you do a Grand Gathering again?

 

[Baltazar]

Would you do a Grand Gathering again?

No, don't get me wrong, it was great, but we spent way too much time waiting for this person or that couple. Stopping to look at this, browsing in stores, getting 15 people to do anything fast was impossible. I had more fun when it was just us 4.

We probably should have broken off into smaller groups.

 

[HannaBelle]

Thanks to all who have answered so far. I still want to know more! I am disappointed that everything seems to have an additional fee, as the 2 that may join us will be on a very tight budget. This may be their only chance to ever go to WDW. If you could only do ONE of the Grand Gathering special events...which would it be? Would you do a Grand Gathering again?

We did a GG in 2006 with 12 people. It was my parents, my bro and his family (DH/DW, DS4 DS2), my family (DH/DW DS12, DD8), my younger bro and his wife (no kids). We did not all stay together, but we did meet for one table service meal a day.

We did all 4 of the GG Experiences. We loved the Safari, it was great! (My dad was not impressed with the food...he is a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy and the food was out of his comfort zone. The rest of us loved it!)

The most economical GG experience is the Fireworks Cruise. It was cute and campy, but not great. It was a dessert buffet and then a cruise around the lake with corny jokes and good fun.

We are doing a GG again this year with 14.5 people...same crew plus 10 month old twins (younger brother's new babies!) and older bother has one on the way!

We wanted to sign-up for the Safari and the breakfast, but we have not been able to get reservations for those events...that is a WHOLE other story!

We have some "ground rules" when traveling together...

- No griping if you did not take the time to help plan.
- If you are late, we are not waiting on you and you do not get to be mad about it!
- If someone stops to go the bathroom, then everyone has to go...even the grown-ups! (Otherwise you are waiting in the bathroom line all day!)
- Don't expect to spend all day together in the parks and no one is allowed to have their feelings hurt if your family needs some alone/down time.

We do stay on property. We also make a point to request connecting rooms so that when the couples with young kids go back to the resort, they can use the other families' rooms to move around/watch TV without disturbing the napping babies/kiddos.

It has worked well for us. We are going back and doing it again!!!

Out of everything, taking account trying to be economical...I would recommend the breakfast at Tony's. They will give you a fast pass for Phillharmagic and that is lots of fun for a big group! If money is not a factor...I would go for the Safari!

Of course, the Hoop Dee Do Review was a lot of fun for our group too!