A disney trip with a lot of people??

[Disneymom90]

So I am still set on my girls first trip to diney being just our 4 people family, but I looked at some posts and really like the idea of planning a big group, a lot of my friends and family love disney, and have wanted to do our family reunion there but just havent had anyone to plan it, so I have started and called a few people and we agree and we think next june would be june would be great... kids are out of school and all.. so it would be somwhat like this

8- girls 2-10
7 boys 2-10
8 teens 13-19
15 adults 20 -59

so its a lot of people but we have done it with friends and it was a few more and worked out fine.. it would be a full week it's better then when we went with our highschool band there were over 200 of us then..

so we would have dinner together everynight and breakfast the first and last day, and meet up at the end of everyday.

we would most likely stay at the contemporary or animal kingdom lodge.( we all are disney people who love deluxe:)

and we would definitly eat at 50s prime time, coral reef tonys and rose and crown

so I need advice on planning on a big group, how to do it and the best way to do it, I have never personally planned a big group before

thanks:):mickey:

[Cinderelley]

I have done a lot of trips with my whole family to various places. My first recommendation is to pick which park on which day and make an ADR for one TS meal that everyone meets up for. There rest of the day should be left up to each individual family. Everyone will get up and ready and different times and will go to bed at different times. Although people typically do tend to get together at the end of the day, I wouldn't make it an expectation, especially with the large variation in ages.

My second recommendation is to use a travel agent to book the rooms. Debbie with Magical Journeys has ALWAYS done an excellent job for us. It takes the "money" stress and awkwardness out of the situation.

Disney used to have special activities for large groups. I don't know if they still have them or not.

Just for fun and excitement, we used to do things like watch Disney movies together every once in a while, give the kids disney dollars as gifts, used the intercot countdown timer, browse the menus together, etc. I always order a planning cd for each family too. :thumbsup:

[faline]

Yes, definitely let your large group break up within the park amongst age/interest lines. The teens will not be particularly interested in the same rides the toddlers will adore. Getting together once or twice per day for meals would work well.

I agree with working with Magical Journeys. They're terrific!

[Sam&Alex&Josh'sMOM]

definately have the understanding that families WILL separate. When we go with our cousins, they have 2 boys in highschool. Our kids are 2, 5 and 7. and they all love each other, but they have different interests. We meet up a few times for dinner, and other than that, we go on our own. That being said. There are times the boys LOVE to take my daughters on the Haunted Mansion, but we in no way expect it of them. They are also older and do the water parks, where just pool time is fine with my kids. Heck even when we go with my mother, she makes it clear "Nana is NOT here to baby sit... Nana is here to visit the resorts and shop!" she wants to meet up with us at dinners and spend maybe half a day at a park here an there, but other than that, she wants to go from resort to resort and look at the decor of all the ones we dont stay at... and then meet up with us to share about our days. Which is great for us... (She is our daycare normally since my husband and I both work full time, so we want to be with our kids all day every day on vaca, and Nana deserves the time off from babysitting to just enjoy herself!)

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I agree with the above posts 100%! We've been once with extended family, and the day we all tried to do the same thing was just crazy ... we felt like we spent too long waiting for everyone, and they (since they didn't have kids) weren't interested in some of the things we wanted to do with DD.

So, I wouldn't even insist on everyone staying at the same resort, unless everyone is comfortable with the same price range (you don't want to start off with someone already frustrated due to the cost).

I love the idea of a big dinner each night, where everyone can share and catch-up on the day, and smaller groups will form and make plans, which people can be free to join or not join.

It could also be neat to plan a couple of special events, like seeing Cirque, for those who are interested.

[Cinderelley]

And the groups will change. We were constantly running into each other (as unbelievable as that sounds, it happened ALL the time), and people would switch groups depending on who wanted to do what.

[Janmac]

We're looking at a possibly bigger group than usual for our 2014 WDW trip. We've been doing about 8 or 9 folks. We usually have the supper together thing. We're all early risers.

On our last trip, we had a late riser with us which resulted in some interesting meal changes. The late riser got up and went with us, but wasn't really ready to eat when we were eating. He'd pick at breakfast, eat some lunch, a big afternoon snack and not be hungry at supper.

This got me to thinking about some of the potential folks joining us in 2014 who are also late risers. And got me to wondering if we want to do our "big" meal of the day at lunch.

Also have been thinking of having reservations for a max of about 6, with multiple reservations. Our 2014 trip is sort of a 20th anniversary trip; 1994 was when DH's adult kids and their kids all went with us to WDW together for the first time. Those kids are now parents themselves, making for a large group, possibly. There's something about having kids to bring to Disney.

Anyway, I've been wondering at the logistics of a HUGE group at a sit down meal, compared to 3 or 4 or 5 tables of 4 or 6. I'm not talking about all those reservations being under one name, of course. Different names and for times as close as possible. If some folks are late arrivals, or no shows even, the rest of the group can go ahead and be seated.

This might be something you'd want to address with your large group. Are there early risers (like 6 am or earlier). Folks who'd rather sleep til noon. Or who work evenings. A table service lunch, instead of supper, can be a way to cut costs, too, if some folks have smaller budgets.

While we haven't ever gone with the size group you're contemplating, we have, since 1994, visited WDW every second or third year with at least 6 and often more. It kinda seems the norm now.

Jan