Traveling to WDW With a Large Group

[KAT1811]

Can anyone give me tips or advice on how to travel to Walt Disney World with a large group? There will be 26 of us!!! 10 children ages 14-2 and 16 adults ages 62-20. I have never been to Disney with a group this large and am welcoming all the advice I can get.

We are staying at three different resorts, All Star Music (11), Port Orleans Riverside (5), and Old Key West (10). We have most of our meals planned together at this point with a couple on our own days. We travel to the World every year but 12 of the group haven not been in about 7 years (this will be some of the children's first trip).


:thanks:

[KAT1811]

I forgot to mention that my family (6) and my parents (2) will be arriving 4 days before everyone else. In case that makes a difference.

[NJGIRL]

The simplest advice I can give you is to Split Up. Agree to meet up twice a day, maybe for a meal and something like fireworks. Keep in touch by cell phones and if you are crossing paths go on some attractions together.

IMO so many people mean different likes and dislikes. This way you can keep everyone happy. So many people and too much togetherness could cause problems.

[Fangorn]

I agree that the best advice is to not try to program the trip beyond a few special events. Let people ebb and flow as they desire. We've gone with 3 of our 4 kids and their families (significantly fewer people than you're talking about) and the best thing we did was say "Ok, we have ADRs for everyone at 'Ohana on Tuesday, and tickets to La Nouba on Friday. other than that, there are no set plans, and everyone can fend for themselves." The result was a lot of interaction between everyone, and also a lot of "alone time". Everyone had a wonderful time.

Steve

[NH Disneyfan]

I absolutely suggest you plan everything group related WAY ahead of time and then stick to it. I guess you can make changes each day but those decisions need to be made before the fun starts. This really, honestly goes from which park to which dining to which rides when. If rides are too detailed then at least which land/area of each park when. I say this because with so many people, if you try to decide in the parks you will go no where, some people will get upset, the older people will have trouble moving so that will slow the kids down, and it just won't be any fun. No matter how well people think it could go ahead, it will be terrible when there. My $.02.

Let the early birds go on their way in the morning and let the late sleepers sleep. Meet up a couple times a day as others suggest. I highly suggest you DO NOT try to change who people are during their vacation, people need to enjoy themselves and when they get to be together, it should just be another part of the trip where paths cross.

Once you have the plans and know where you're going each day and who's leading, I think a trip with that many people will be amazing.

[Ilovemesomedisneymom]

My family did a big reunion in 2002 and there were 21 of us. We all stayed at All Stars movies which was nice. We all went to the same park but did our own thing. Except my mom plan one meal each day that we would have together.

We took turns on staying with the kids that way the adults could have fun too.

Have fun and take plenty of pictures.

[faline]

I would suggest a general plan. Pick the park of the day but, at the park, let folks split up into their own groups based on interests, ages, whatever - meeting up for meals or other pre-assigned activities. Don't try to tour the parks as one large group - everyone will end up unhappy!

[Janmac]

The best advice is to be extremely flexible. While you may suggest that folks are welcome to tour on their own, be prepared for that not to happen much. Especially with folks who have not been there recently.

If you do find youself with a large group, the easiest thing to do is this sort of plan, using MK as an example: arrive before rope drop; enter Fantasyland and before you begin to tour, agree to meet at the Tea Cups at 10:30 (assuming rope drop was 9 am). Suggest that restroom breaks and ATM trips be completed before 10:30. At that time move on to Tomorrowland; before you begin to tour, agree to meet somewhere at noon, at which time perhaps you have a meal planned. And then move onto somewhere else for 90 minutes. What everyone does during that 90 minutes is up to them. Hopefully this will encourage some to break out on their own.

Obviously you use whatever time segments work, but this seems to give people a sense of being on their own but still having a guide handy.

Be sure that necessary people have cell phones - like adults and older teens. The 2 way radios don't work very well. With cell phones it's much easier to keep in contact and to pass on info about dining, and other deadlines approaching. Especially with your family being spread out among 3 resorts. Texting is marvelous, because cell phones seldom work while inside attractions.

Regarding meals, do you have reservations already? Generally speaking everyone in your group needs to be at the restaurant where your reservation is for you to check in. Maybe this is not so true for groups this large but we had this situation with our 8 to 11 groups we have gone with. We have occasionally said no, we're only 7 this morning, instead of 8, and been okay for our ADR.

Breakfasts might be more problematical than lunches or suppers, for large groups. As was mentioned by another poster, some folks are early risers and some like to sleep late. Hopefully you can get good feedback as to who is interested in breakfasts. We have had lots of fun with little kids at character breakfasts. They are usually buffets, which work best for kids, and the character interaction is often more relaxed and less intimidating. And it frees up park time for attractions.

As you normally travel with at least 6, you will be a bit more prepared for touring with a large group. A group of 2 or even 4 can cover a lot more ground than can 6 as we've discovered on past trips. And newbies slow things down more.

Good luck and hopefully you'll have enough energy left for a trip report.

Jan

[lovinmesomedisney]

My advice is, RUN!!!! :D We have done big groups on a couple of occasions, and it is rough! As others said, have meeting times occasionally, but if you try to all stay together, you will get nothing accomplished! Also, beware of the ones who are afraid to venture off on their own. UGH!! If you are the "Disney Expert" they will be like ducklings following you around. I wouldn't mind that if you didn't have to stop for the bathroom every other restroom, or ditch in and out of shops constantly, or have your kid have a tantrum/tantrums every 10 minutes. Get the drift? All I can say is, don't let them ruin your trip!

[joonyer]

I think one thing everyone needs to understand is that there is no way that everyone in a group that large is going to want to do every attraction or show or meals, or bathroom breaks, together all the time on the same schedule. When I have traveled to WDW or other theme parks as a chaperone with school or church groups we split up in to small groups of no more than 6-8 people, with a pre-arranged meeting place & time for meals or other whole-group activities. It's much easier for a small group to agree on what attractions they want to do & in what order and when to take a break, etc. The larger the group, the more time wasted spent standing around arguing/debating/deciding what to do next. Then there is always some of the group that is upset or pouting because they didn't want what the majority decided to do. Splitting into small groups will make it much more enjoyable.

[ginger19]

I used a spreadsheet for my large trip although it wasn't nearly as large of a group.

On it was the park hours for each park on each day. I included the reservation number, time and restaurant name for all of our dinners together. Any special notes on a day went at the bottom. While my in-laws gave me a hard time about planning, they ended up loving that they could just pull out a spreadsheet to see where our dinner was and what time.

I would certainly allow flexibility for everyone to go off on their own but the spreadsheet is easily carried by everyone to know pre-planned meet ups like dinners.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) For nine years we took 14-17 people.
2) And, Grandpa paid. (Yes, I am grandpa.)
3) My advice for such large groups.

. . . plan one meal per day together to yak & kibitz
. . . start at the same park each day, but allow hopping *
. . . have two times/places to meet during the day *
. . . give kids preset spending money daily for snacks/souvenirs
. . . unspent money rolls over to the next day
. . . let kids split from the group/family for independence *
. . . give ONLY ONE talk to kids about good/bad snack choices
. . . don't try to rule the group with an iron hand or rigid rules


* Although sounding good as independence, one would be surprised how often these items DO NOT happen, and groups wander and stay together.

.

[Ramblingman]

All of the replies are great advice, and I can only echo them. Break into smaller groups. Some will want to rush here to there, while others will want to slow down and enjoy the pace. Some will want to ride this, others will want to ride that.

Set up meeting times, as has been suggested. Maybe a character breakfast such as Chef Mickey's. That is always a great way to meet with a large group. When I chaparoned a high school band last year, we ate dinner twice at Downtown Disney and breakfast once. You can do it with your group at one of the parks.

Most importantly, be flexible. Things will come up. Make sure everyone has everyone else's cell phone numbers, and make sure all the kids have an adult assigned to stay with.

Lastly, have fun and enjoy!