FP+ headache for 8 people

[Pocahontas]

My daughter and I used FP+ last October and absolutely loved the new system. We made our FP choices about 40 days out and then changed a number of them the day of or day before as we changed our minds what park we wanted to go to.

That said, I'm heading back again this October with my immediate family (3 adults) and my brother's family (2 adults, 14, 11, and 4 y/o). I'm booking everything including them wanting me to take care of all FP picks, since our family has been many times and they're basically beginners (they've been once before, about 6 years ago). I'm getting a headache just thinking about where to start. I have no idea what rides people would like best and what rides the youngest will be tall enough for or tolerate. The older two kids will ride anything.

Main question: Should I pick 8 FP+ for the big popular rides, even if the youngest can't ride it? If I get 7 FP+ tickets, it won't do him any good to get a FP on a kiddy ride for only 1 and I don't want to leave an adult out of a FP E ride just so they can have a FP on a kiddy ride.

Any advise. I want everyone to be happy, but afraid I may disappoint - even though I know they wouldn't complain to me if not pleased with my choices. I really don't like having this responsibility. :confused:

Help please!

[VWL Mom]

I would check with your brother or SIL but would probably book 6 and 2, that way one of the parents could go on the more popular rides with the little one like Peter Pan and Pooh at MK while the others are on the thrill rides.

[FantasmicJ]

Our last trip in December last year, I ended up taking the reigns for FP+ for a group of 10 of us. This included my wife and 2 boys (age 5 and 2), my father and mother-in law, my sister-in-law and my other sister-in law and her husband and 2yr old daughter.

My first piece of advice is to not put too much pressure on yourself. I found in our trip that the system was flexible enough for individuals or groups to make changes day-to-day or hour-to-hour without affecting the group as a whole.

Our approach was to schedule all fastpasses with the entire group initially. When choosing selections, I tried to choose a wide range of attractions and shows to make sure we did at least one or two things each day that would appeal to every person in the group. For example, at MK I may choose Space Mountain, Enchanted tales with Belle, and Jungle Cruise. Not everyone may want or be able to go on all, but it gives people a chance to be together if they choose. Then, if people are unable or would prefer to not ride something they can split out and choose a different FP+.

Either before or after making these choices (ideally both), my recommendation would be to meet with the group as a whole to explain your choices (or your thoughts if you are meeting before making choices), discuss what the attractions are about, and to let them know of their flexibility to change the options. Based on your explanation of your brother's family, it sounds like this could be beneficial to determine if the choices that you've made are going to work or if you need to modify things for the group. Ultimately, you can still make changes in the park if something in your plans changes.

Good luck and have fun with it! I really enjoyed planning our fastpasses. When we took time to talk through the choices prior to our trip, it really got everyone excited about what we were about to experience.:mickey:

[TwinniesNMeLoveWDW]

I am going through this right now. We are heading down in 4 weeks, and there will be 9 of us: my husband and me, 21 yo daughters, my parents, and my brother, sis-in-law, and 6 yo niece. I am the designated trip planner, which I really don't mind (I think planning is half the fun), but with this many people I get stressed out because I want everyone to be happy. My parents don't want thrill rides, my brother and sis-in-law want to ride the thrill rides above everything else, and my niece wants to see princesses. I found that it was easiest to plan out the day in a general way and decide what was most important to me, and what I thought everyone would like to do most. I did discuss the plan with everyone ahead of time, then I selected FP+ for all of us as a group based on what the majority wanted to do. I then changed the selections for my parents and niece to something else while the rest of us would be on a ride they couldn't/didn't want to do. For example, at AK I selected the Safari, FOTLF, and EE for all of us, then I changed the EE FP+s for my parents and niece to the character M&G at the same time. From this point on, anyone who decides to do their own thing can just change their selections to whatever they want.

[Pocahontas]

Thanks so much. The advise given really makes me feel much better. I'm not (hopefully :blush:) going to stress over it. I'll make FP selections for all of us together and then just change them once there if needed. I was dreading the process, but now feel it is definitely doable.

Thanks again!