Large family during Christmas

[goofy78]

Hello all,

Christmas 2012 is going to be great! We are planning on a large family trip (10 adults and 4 kids). While I have been to WDW many times, I have never been during Christmas. I understand that this time of year can be chaotic and hard to fathom from a planning standpoint with a large group. I am comfortable with making lodging and ADR's, however, what advice is out there for taking a large group and especially taking one at this time of year?

[BelleBeauty]

What are the exact dates that you are going? Different times during the holiday season vary drastically in chaos.

[iloveokw]

1. Stay onsite and use the buses.
2. Don't expect everyone to do everything together....people have different ideas about what is important, how to spend money, how to eat meals and getting up early/staying up late.
3. I wouldn't have ADRs for everyone for every meal.
4. Realize that your group might shrink (because of many reasons) or expand as one of our trips did after friends tagged along (already had 11 people going).

Relax and have fun.

The best thing you can do at Christmas time is to get up early for touring and take advantage of EMH's. Also don't miss The Candlelight Processional in EPCOT.

[faline]

Yes, it would be helpful to know your dates. It's very different if you're going to be there between Christmas and New Year's (or for the actual holiday) versus the week after Thanksgiving and be home again for the actual holiday.

Large groups should know up front that travel to all the parks en masse is not required. Let groups break away and do their own thing - meeting up for meals or other common activities.

[disney obsessed]

I just did this this past new years weekend. we did fairly well with the seven of us except for eating lunch. we could not find seats at cosmic rays and shared a table with a few of us stading and a few of us taking turns sitting. lines were crazy long, even for ketchup and no one was following any of the rules for saving seats. I did not let my husband save seats and this is what we ended up with.
Otherwise it was easier then I thought it would be.

[goofy78]

We will be there from the 19th to the 26th. The family wants to stay together for dinners so we are good there. I just need to make those ADR's. We have a mix of on and off property. My wife and I are DVC members and will be able to have a room for us and our three little ones but don't have enough points to house anyone else. Fortunately they have a timeshare that puts them in a condo a mile from the gates. We will also be driving so transportation won't be an issue outside of WDW transportation.

We are going to be flexible on plans other than our ADR times but we don't have any idea what crowds will dictate.

What are some ideas that have worked for y'all out there who have traveled in large groups? (separation, meeting times and locations, group activities, dining, etc.)