Tips for Large Family Trip

[Mr_Increddieble]

Usually we are only 4 people. We are nimble and quick. This May we'll be 10 people with some newbies. As a planner I want to be sure that everyone feels included and not sped up or slowed down by the group.
It's hard for me not to be selfish.
Any specific tips for helping everyone to have a magical week would be appreciated.

[faline]

Don't try to do everything together as a large group - you'll end up frustrated.

I'd plan a general park for the day as well as meals together and then let folks split up as needs and interests dictate.

Involve everyone in the planning and, especially dining selections - you want to be sure everyone gets something they picked!

[Gregandmel]

I would start the day getting to the park before opening, and have a plan for the first part of the day until lunchtime (I would let everyone know what the course of events would be - what rides you are going to hit and everyone needs to keep up! LOL ). This will allow a chance to have lower crowds and hit the big rides first with a plan.

Have lunch together, then let everyone have a 2-3 hour window where they "do their own thing" without anyone else dictating the schedule and letting them go at their own pace.

Determine if you all want to meet back up late in the afternoon and continue with the parks, or go back to the resort and rest for a while. They may not know what they want to do, but I have found that this sort of agenda works (for my family anyways).

And they need to know that it's ok to not do what everyone else is doing. If they want to chill out back at the resort while everyone else goes back to the park, that's perfectly ok. I guess just having a "block of time" in the morning until early afternoon is something that would probably work for everyone. Good luck!!

[BugeyedMuggy]

I agree with previous post. Do not try to do everything together. We had 10 people a few times and not everyone will be ready at the same time. If you make a time and set a place those who are ready can set off. The others can catch up or even do their own thing. Meeting back at the resort for an afternoon swim or for dinner at nite at times are more easily arranged.

[mouseketeer mom]

Lots of luck!!! Just kidding. I have not done this, nor do I want to!!! I would plan lots of time as individual families, not just whole group activities. I think that would be necessary to keep everyones sanity!

[Janmac]

We have toured with a large group such as you mention several times. And every time I tried to get the others to take off on their own. It wasn't until maybe the 4th or 5th trip that folks started feeling comfortable enough to split off. We only had one true newbie but many of the others had not been to WDW in nearly 20 years.

So we all did the same thing every day, except for the afternoon break, where some folks would swim, some would nap, some would shop. All within our resort, of course.

But our morning and evening routines were all done together. It does slow down the touring. You won't get as much done.

A strategy that helped getting folks used to doing their own thing was to set a limit as to when we were moving on. I know this sounds horrible - and so not spontaneous - but it actually worked well.

An example would be Magic Kingdom, where we might have eaten breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park opened. At rope drop we'd head for Fantasyland with the idea that at 10:30 we'd meet at the Tea Cups and move on to Tomorrowland. There we'd agree to meet at Cosmic Ray's at noon.

During the 90 minutes at Fantasyland and the 90 minutes at Tomorrowland we actually split up. Having a specific place and time to meet back up helped folks feel as tho they could do their own thing for a little while anyway.

One thing about going with an extended family is that we often did not split up along family lines but more along age groups. Grandparents often went off with toddlers, while 20 somethings and teens hung out together.

This can really work to advantage during some suppers, as parents get to eat with other adults, if grandparents want some time with grandkids.

The first trip it was important to make sure that the older kids and adults knew what attractions were available to see. Birnbaum's, with lots of photos, was great for this. The Unofficial Guide has ratings accroding to age groups which generally holds true, altho we had a very timid 11 year old and a daredevil 7 year old. So their reactions to the dark rides were somewhat reversed. I think that first trip everyone picked two or three attractions they most wanted to see. This actually worked well, because most of our group wanted to see the same things.

And we wound up making traditions, such as two of our group (adult women) who always had their photos taken at the stocks at MK. The one during the rain storm is funny.

We again toured with newbies January 2010. I had to stop and think what was it that actually makes WDW magical to us. Sometimes it's not the attractions in the parks, but it's the special things, like the Barbershop Quartet performance we happened on when leaving MK one day. Or simply the boat ride one evening from MK to GF for supper at 1900 Park Fare. One of our newbies thought we had engineered that special. She was amazed that the boat ride was always there, for anybody.

And the one thing that amazed her the most was the way our stroller was always waiting for us when we came out of a restaurant or exited an attraction (i.e., it hadn't been stolen). This made WDW a truly magical place for her.

Jan

[awaggett]

We were 13 during Thanksgiving. It was my first time in such a large group and I didn't know what to expect. We typically all went to the same park on the same day and had one planned ADR together/day. Otherwise, we split a lot and met at "events"--Wishes, Illuminations, etc. Different folks would meet back up at different times--it was kind of nice--no pressure. I found it was better than I thought--not waiting around a lot of folks, etc.

[Mr_Increddieble]

Thanks for taking the time to post such instructive comments. I feel I can make a plan now that allows everyone some free time and together time. By age groups is very smart. All better plans than my original one of saying, "OK, let's go, try to keep up."

[magicalmom]

We used to communicate with walkie talkies when we split up - now cell phones make it very easy to find each other. That may provide some security for your newbies -

You can also circle meeting spots and write times on the park maps, so there's no confusion.

It will be a different kind of trip, but will be special, nevertheless.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

This was pretty helpful to me too.

In November, we are going down with a whopping 22 ( a good half of them newbies). I am hoping to have split off time too ~ but in the past, with smaller groups ( ya know - 5 or 7) THEY WON"T GO AWAY ON THEIR OWN!! I kept hoping for some quiet time and they would just keep following us! So I'm kinda resigned to that for this trip but we're trying to keep it fairly basic by saying " we'll meet at 9am at the bus stop for MK, if you aren't there, you are on your own" and having a TS ressies each day that everyone knows about that they can catch up if they want.

I do like the plan until lunch thing ~ I might try that.

They are talking about matching T Shirts . . . . I think not!! If i'm trying that hard to loose then I ain't going to be in no stinkin fluorescent shirt!

Don't know how that is going to go and I'm sure this is going to be like herding cats!! It will definitely be an adventure!!!

[Ilovemesomedisneymom]

My mom planned a family reunion back in 2002 and there were 21 of us. We had grandkids from 8 months to 15. So my brothers and sisters and I took turns hang out with the younger grandkids. That way it free up others to branch off and do things without having to always worry about whether or not the grandkids would be able to ride or not. It worked out great. My mom planned a meal once a day where we would meet up, switch kids around and then meet up at the end of the day to all go back to the resort together. We were there for 7 days and had no problems.

[azcavalier]

We did this just last year. We're a family a five, and last year my wife's entire family joined us (which bumped the numbers up to 14). We were there from Saturday to the next Sunday in early October. One family of 6 had never been before, and my DW was in charge of the whole trip. We had a grandma in a motorized scooter, grandpa, two sets of parents with 7 kids total, and a single adult. Here's what we did:

1. We had ADRs for one breakfast (Chef Mickey's), and most dinners. Since we had been to WDW many times both with our kids and by ourselves, one evening we took *all* the kids to Garden Grill to allow all the other adults a chance at a nice dinner out without kids. We mostly chose to go to restaurants that served family style or buffet to avoid having that many people choose from a menu. So, restaurants like O'Hana, Garden Grill, Liberty Tree, Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Hoop De Doo, etc. We did do a Princess Dinner at Akershus, and grandpa wanted to do the Sci Fi Diner.

2. We definitely took advantage of the morning EMH. And, with seven kids between 14 and 4, we went back to the resort every day after lunch for down time, laundry, and swimming.

3. Since most of us drove, we didn't use the Disney Bus System. It was much faster to and from the parks. We did still hit the bus, monorail, and boat for a couple of trips around so everyone could get that experience, but we didn't rely on it.

4. We were going to plan to allow everyone to go their own way, but the newbies wanted to stick with us, the grandparents wanted to stick with the kids, and the single adult did do her own thing (she had worked there on the college program) about half the time.

It was definitely harder to get a larger group moving, but we got almost everything done that we wanted to. Only once did we have problems in the parks, when most kids wanted one kind of snack, and another wanted something completely different. Her mother humored her, went to find it, and we all stood waiting for about 45 minutes. Besides that hiccup, it went smoothly

[McLiberal8]

FYI, there is a few apps available on smartphones that allow group texting. This would be helpful when reminding groups of dinner reservations, scheduled meetups, etc.

[Bluesky481]

We went with a group of 8 last year, and what worked best for us was to have a group lunch/dinner together each day and then choose 1 or 2 rides/attractions to experience as a group following our meal. This allowed everyone to do as they chose during other parts of the day, but still allowed us to have the big group experience.

Hope you have a fabulous time, going with a group is a blast!