Itinerary for our first trip of 14 people

[bcd88]

we are going with 2 other families, total of 14 people, including: 6 adults, 3 of age 2 (1 boy & 2 girls) , 2 boys of age 4, 2 girls of age 8 and one 11 year old girl.
here's my itinerary:

Arrival day: we will be arrive in the afternoon, ADR at 7pm at Chef Mickey.

Day 1: day at MK
ADR of 8:20am at CRT
nap in the resort in the afternoon,
ADR of 4:30pm at LTT
stay for Wishing

Day 2: day at Epcot
ADR 7:50pm at Garden Grill,
hopefully to catch Illumination at 9pm

day 3: MGM (morning extra magic hour)
after nap break, then have ADR 8:30pm at LeCellier

Day 4: Animal kingdom (morning extra magic hour),after break, plan to watch Fantasmic at MGM at 8:30pm

day 5: Little Ones magic hour

day 6: DTD

day 7: rest in the morning
then have ADR 7:15pm at Ohana

my DH said I am over planning, please comment. :confused:

[kakn7294]

Having been there, done that several times, I don't think that you are overplanning! WDW with a large group can be difficult. Let me make a couple of suggestions to you:

Take breaks from each other and DO NOT try to stay together your entire trip. It's so much more difficult and less enjoyable when you try to navigate large numbers of people through the parks together.

Definately have an itinerary. Having an itinerary makes it MUCH easier - everyone knows where they are going and what they are doing in advance. You don't have to have every minute of every day planned out, but it's much better for everyone to know what's going on in advance. I made pocket cards (credit card sized printed on computer and laminated) with our ADR's for our last trip - all the adults had one so no one could say they didn't know what the plans were.

Be flexible! Especially traveling with kids - plans can easily change. Go with the flow and don't worry if you don't follow your plan exactly. Be prepared to re-create a new plan on the fly.

Have a great trip!

[bcd88]

the card is really a good idea, I will start doing it. thanks for the info.
BCD88

[BD]

Do you have a buy-in from the other families? Will they all want to be moving that early in the day? What are you going to do if one of the adults (yes, adult) gets cranky and doesn't want to do something? I would assume you all get along pretty well.
If not, I would also suggest breaking up the group and possibly meeting at specific times of the day. Cell phones are invaluable for this type of thing.
Bob

[meldan98]

If you have some brave adults in your group, maybe you can plan a little alone time for each set of the adults, you know, maybe 30min to an hour. So they can do some suprise shopping for the kids, or just a few minutes of alone time in the parks.

[bcd88]

never think about alone time with each pair of parents, but it's a good idea:thumbsup:
I will print the cards with each day's activities and ADR to each family. Since most of the children are about the same age, we plan to stay together. but I already told the other 2 families they can break up anytime. They all agreed at the time, but who know what will happen when we get there. thanks again.

-Bcd88