Tips for planning with a large group

[megs1313]

My FP+ day is rapidly approaching and I've never planned for a group this size before. We have 16 in our party total:

5 adults
11 kids: 13, 12, 12, 9, 9, 6, 6, 5, 4, 2, 10 months

We'll basically be touring in 2 groups and trying to come together at shows and mealtimes.

Group 1 is the thrill seeker group. 2 adults, 5 kids

Group 2 is the preschoolers + moms/chickens. 3 adults, 6 kids

Any tips for planning that I may be overlooking? I'm worried especially about making sure my FP+ day is manageable. Has anyone else planned for a group like this? TIA!

 

[rwdavis2]

Have a general touring plan for park days and let all the adults comment before you go. This is so you avoid standing around asking each other what you want to do next. Be prepared for changes on the fly.

All meal times? This may be difficult with juggling fastpasses. Maybe just one meal per day.

 

[TinkerPan]

With so few adults to kids ratio this is going to be challenging. Not exactly sure how the kids ages will translate to which group. I'm assuming the younger aged children will be in the "chicken" group. An adult will always need to be with the 10 month old. So, the other two adults for the chicken group will have 5 children split between them. Keep in mind, who will partner with who, on a ride. You can't have 2 six year olds or younger sitting next to each other on a two-seater ride. Someone has to be at least 7 years old to ride by themselves. Will the young kids be okay sitting with adults who are strangers? Familiarize yourself with child swap and seating of the various rides.

 

[tchris4]

I literally just did this, except I made all of ours together. I was in charge of fastpasses and meals. I picked which park to go to on which day by using kenny the pirate and touringplans (didn't give anyone else any choice). I asked for their wishes for meals, and made those happen, same with fastpasses. I'm planning on utilizing rider swap. For the first 4 days of our trip, we have 11, including 2 toddlers. For the 5th day, we have 16. For days 6-8, we have 14. If anyone wants to do anything different, I told them by all means do. We expect to go to the room for naptimes with our two toddlers, and don't think anyone else will want to. All I can say is it has taken a lot of deep breaths, a few nightmares, and telling myself that it will work out fine. it turns out I have a slight control problem when it comes to planning disney trips.