Trip planning for 13, 2 families + grandparents

[TiffanyK]

I need tips for planning a trip that will include:

Family 1: 2 adults, 4 dc ages 4-14 (4th trip to WDW)
Family 2: 2 adults, 3 dc ages 2-10 (1st trip)
Grandparents (2nd trip)

Should we try to stay together to tour? Should we just plan places to meet up and go off by families or groups? I'm thinking of staying at the Pop. Are there other places we should consider? Cost is a definite issue.

We just went in sept with my family and the grands. That was pretty easy to plan. Adding in my sister's family makes me nervous though. What should I be considering as we plan this? Stories, anyone?

TIA

 

[christianweecare]

We are going with our extended family in Feb. DH & I, two great-grandmothers, DD, DSIL, DGD, aunt, uncles, and cousins! 13 in all! We will be staying at the Pop Century in six rooms. We all have AAA packages with dining. After alot of calculation I found this to be the most budget friendly option for our large group. We have all traveled together before and do not always tour together since ages run from a toddler, teenagers, to 70 year olds. I have, however, made ADR's for all of us to meet for dinner each night.

 

[danny1649]

Plan to start the day together and tour together until lunch.After lunch each family do some touring on their own.Your suggestions to help them on what they would like to do and see in afternoon would be great.Then get together somewhere you agree on for dinner.At dinner discuss what you would like to do the rest of the evening.With your WDW experience I think you could best decide a basic plan for what parks on what days and the dining options that might work best for that park.Have a magical and safe vacation.

 

[ainmama2001]

We did a party of 10 on our last trip...grandparents, great grandma, us, bil and sil and our dd4. We started with a group meal, then headed to a park, where we usually split up and did our own thing. We met up for lunch and then headed back to the room for a rest. We did a group dinner and usually did a show or fireworks together in the evening. This allowed everyone to go at their own pace.

 

[disnut8]

You definitely need to split up during the day. Have done a few trips with ages ranging from 5-76. Even within the subsets of families, they split up. For example, my mother-in-law begged us to take her with us and leave my father-in-law and brother-in-law behind. She wanted to go, go, go. They wanted to stop and smell the roses. The mother-in-law ended up staying with our son and his wife and daughter while my husband and I took off by ourselves. With only eight people that time, we still had three different groups doing different things.

Invest in walkie talkies or have enough cell phones for coverage. Even with just my son and his family, the five of us split up so many times for different reasons.

Getting rooms at Pop Century makes sense. Make all the reservations at one time and request adjoining rooms. Connecting rooms cannot be guaranteed and you might not even want them.

My advice is to let everyone in your party know that there will be times when it'll just make sense to split up. It took the in-laws a while to understand that but now it's a breeze to tour with them.

 

[mbb]

I need tips for planning a trip that will include:

Family 1: 2 adults, 4 dc ages 4-14 (4th trip to WDW)
Family 2: 2 adults, 3 dc ages 2-10 (1st trip)
Grandparents (2nd trip)

Should we try to stay together to tour? Should we just plan places to meet up and go off by families or groups? I'm thinking of staying at the Pop. Are there other places we should consider? Cost is a definite issue.

We just went in sept with my family and the grands. That was pretty easy to plan. Adding in my sister's family makes me nervous though. What should I be considering as we plan this? Stories, anyone?

TIA

Oh, the fun you will have!

We did this last Jan/Feb...
Family 1 - Us..DH, 2 boys, both age 7, and me - 3rd trip
Family 2 - DB, DSIL, Dnephew, 4, and niece, 9 months
Grandparents - my mom and dad
14 year old nephew cousin


We rented a 5 bed, 5.5bath house, 15 min from WDW for 2 weeks. Yes, we would have liked to stay onsite...but the costs split 3 ways just made it an unbeatable deal...less than $40/night/family group...all rented our own vehicles.

As far as touring...we spent some mornings together, especially the first few days..once my DB and DSIL got the "feel" of WDW and area, they did more on their own.

We planned 3 big "everyone" meals..and the rest of the time, families were free to cook at the house, or whatever.

Best piece of advice...overplan less, and talk more..make sure that it's a vacation for everyone by talking about what everyone's expectations are.

HTH!

 

[Goofy4]

We just got by from our Grand Gathering tour with 13. I'm not sure what to add as family groups differ so much in likes and dislikes and I agree with what's been said.

We rented DVC points and enjoyed outstanding accomodations at the Boardwalk. 2 2-bedroom suites gave us the space we needed while still enjoying our time together.

We did 2 of the GG events and the Illuminations cruise. Those planned must-do events made it easier for everyone to map out the rest of their day. Mostly I think it just narrowed the choices of what made sense to do. Other than working around Wilma, we knew what park we were going to every day. Some stayed together all day, others would hit the pool or shop for a while. HTH.

 

[janette]

I've gone with larger groups and I think the worst day was when we tried to stay together. Only groups that want to do exactly the same thing should stay together, really groups of no more than 6 work well. Split into groups that want to do the same type of rides and touring plan.

Only meet for sit-down dinners or parades / shows. It is really hard to be in a set place at a specific time, there is a ride or character or something that can always delay one group. I'd plan for a few nice meals with everyone and a general seating area for shows / parades. Other than that stay in groups of people with the same touring plan. You'll spend too much time waiting on someone otherwise.

 

[tlbwriter]

We did something similar last year - two grandparents, six kids/spouses, and two grandchildren. The most important thing, IMHO, is to *not* insist on staying together. Sometimes the grandparents took the grandkids, sometimes we broke up into family units, etc. Staying together is pretty much guaranteed to make somebody miserable.