Traveling with 10 children to Disney for the FIRST TIME

[DH-2-mamaduck]

>My husband and I, our ten children and my sister (who is vying for sainthood) is coming with us

The ages of the children traveling are 12/11/10/9/9/7/6/4/3/2 - we plan to stay in 3 rooms (more than likely at Pop Century as the person I called at Disney said they'd be able to get us on the same floor- cant promise connecting rooms but probably). Idea being 1 adult and 3 kids per room. (and the baby in a playpen)

There are 13 of you in your group - Will POP let you put (5) in one room? You would need to be 1 Adult + 4 kids in one room - If you enter 1 Adult and 4 kids (6, 4, 3, 2) it says you can't do it. Or is your Sister on her own (which I don't think you can get 3 rooms w/ only 2 adults)?

 

[aaarcher86]

There are 13 of you in your group - Will POP let you put (5) in one room? You would need to be 1 Adult + 4 kids in one room - If you enter 1 Adult and 4 kids (6, 4, 3, 2) it says you can't do it. Or is your Sister on her own?

The 2 year old doesn't count as an occupant, but it doesn't let you do it online.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

The 2 year old doesn't count as an occupant, but it doesn't let you do it online.

Thanks

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

So to stay on Pop, no discounts, 10/6-10/15 you are $1397.28/room 10/6-10/15 so $4191.84 (-$303.51 for All Star Sports)
The difference from 7-day to 10 day tickets is $383.40. So if you did 10 day tickets, add in $4,553.73. If you want Hopper add in $817.92. So not including food, your range is: $8362.17 - $9,563.49.

I am a family of 7 and other than our 2009 trip, we have not found the dining plans to be economical for us. Didn't it get restructured or change in 2013ish?
For your group:
+$3256.75 for Quick Service
+$4471.20 for Dining Plan
+$7791.66 for Deluxe Dining

I guess the big question is your budget? With the QS and DP, there are other food/snacks you will add in on top of that. What's the chances for any discounts on the resort? I don't think there is Free dining in Oct (Isn't it usually Aug-Sept?). If you can get it in Sept, that is big saving on the dining, but don't they jack up the rates for everything else? Plus the weather is still 90+ degrees outside, right?

We are driving down this year for June and will bring food for breakfast and snacks to save $$. Refill water bottle...but sill splurge on a Dole Whips and other snacks - Epcot is snack nightmare (or heaven) - don't want to be too cheap on my kids. For our 2014 trip, I did the math of what we would eat at each restaurant if we did the plan + the food we would have to add on top that it didn't cover. We opted not to do it and spent less - I kept every receipt and added it up when we got home. We still did (6) TS and (1) Character dining. I think I was $700 or $800 under what it would of cost using the dining plan.

In 2009, there was 12 of us on that Trip and I had no issues making dining reservations. We couldn't get in to everywhere and usually always had 2 tables - not was all good. We did the dining plan then as that is when WDW was discounting heavily to get people there.

I like staying on-site for WDW trips - have not stayed off site yet for WDW so can't really speak to what it is like. It is just nice to use the transportation and EMH. If this was me, I would skip the hopper if I did 10 days. I would be tempted to scale back to 8 day tix.... Enjoy the resort and Disney Springs. Walk the board-walk, maybe other events (mini golf - pry get free vouchers for a round?).

Hey, don't forget about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! Did that in our Oct 2006 trip. - added expense but was a lot of fun!

Pop is nice as it does not share a bus with the other resorts (so straight from Resort to Park and vice versa). Pop is also very nice to stroll around and look at everything. When my little ones couldn't sleep - in the stroller and away we go. Very nice at night to take an hour walk.

Best of luck on your trip!

 

[brockash]

Greetings from Ohio!

Our large family is finally headed to Disney for their first big family vacation to Disney! We've been saving for months and months on end now, and have some ways to go. We are now using the Disney vacation club to help us save. (I just set that up when I saw we could earn gift cards, prior, I had been using a bank account.)

My husband and I, our ten children and my sister (who is vying for sainthood) is coming with us so can we can stay on property versus having to rent a house. We are planning for about 9/10 days nights.

I have been binge watching/listening to the DisUnplugged podcasts for a couple months now and now with Christmas out of the way, it's time to get serious about Disney!

I hope some angel heart out there will read this and take me under their wing and help me out here. I have bought the official guide, the unofficial guide, the secrets book. I have watch vloggers for months now over on Youtube and followed various social media accounts to get as many tips and ideas as possible and now I'm ready to jump into discussion boards in hopes that Disney veteran(s) may have just the information I need in making some of the more tough decisions.


So- I'm at an impasse here where I need expert advice.
Dining plan- no dining plan? - This may actually decide when we travel as my potential travel dates fall in line with historical free dining plan. The ages of the children traveling are 12/11/10/9/9/7/6/4/3/2 - we plan to stay in 3 rooms (more than likely at Pop Century as the person I called at Disney said they'd be able to get us on the same floor- cant promise connecting rooms but probably). Idea being 1 adult and 3 kids per room. (and the baby in a playpen)

Potential stay dates being Sept 23-Oct 2, or Oct 30- Oct 9th, or, Oct 6- Oct 15th
I have a medical convention at the Hyatt on Oct 6/7 which I plan to attend (8 hours each day) so if we are there during that time, I'll break away from husband/sister and the kids for- if we travel in earlier in September, I'll just fly back down for the next weekend.

So... jumping right in... and hoping someone can can feel out the situation a bit and give me your best advice. I dont want to spend a fortune, although we surely will, but the smaller the fortune the better lol. Right now with just plugging numbers into the online system and multiplying packages by 3 I am getting a rough estimate of about $9,500 ish- that is with park hopper 9 day ticket for 12 people / 3 rooms.

Heather

If it were me, we definitely wouldn't do park hopper - you'll be able to save a decent amount and it's just not needed, especially with kids. - for us once we're in a park that's where we stay for the day. - It's more exhausting than anything else to take the time to pack everything and everyone up just to get to different park.

Next, if it were us there would be no need for 9 days worth of tix. For a 9 day trip, I'd say 6 is good. For your group I'd do 2 at MK, 1 at Epcot, 1 at DHS, 1 at AK and then leave the last one for whichever you guys like best (for us it's usually a 3rd day of MK). No point to waste money on a park day on your arrival/departure day. You all will be excited to just be there and can spend time exploring the resort, unpacking, riding the monorail, maybe doing a character meal or explore DTD (Disney Springs). Kids always like a pool day or 2 as well, and it's nice to build 1 or 2 of those into your week for some rest/down time.

If you can do it, I'd pick dates for free dining if you can, it just makes things easier.

You didn't ask, but I'd also bring 2 double strollers for your crew. If you don't have them to bring, you can rent them from a place like Orlando or Kingdom strollers for a little over $100/ each for the week.