Big Family Trip July 2018

[osucbsb]

My wife's parents are wanting to plan a trip for a group of 12 to Disney World the last week of July 2018 (arriving on Sunday and leaving on Saturday). Since my family is the only part of the family that has ever been to Disney (WDW 4 times and DL 2 times), I have been asked to be in charge of the planning. We have been to the parks as a big group with my side of the family, but we have always stayed off site thru my brother's timeshares. For this trip, my wife's family wants to stay on site so they can experience everything Disney. An estimated budget would be to do it in less than $20,000.

We have talked about doing a 2 bedroom villa and a 1 bedroom villa at Old Key West to accommodate us all. We have also talked about just getting 3 rooms at either a value or moderate resort. We are planning on 4 days of tickets and the middle of the road dinning plan.

There will be 6 adults and 6 kids (ages 15, 15, 12, 10, 9, 1). My first question is where and when do I start?

 

[Figgy1]

Get a couple copies of the Unofficial Guide to Disney and have all the adults read it. That way everybody will have a clue about what they want to do and having a bit of input will help you plan a better trip. BTW plan on splitting up for some things because not everybody will want to do all the same things.

 

[TDGMedley]

Be ok with splitting up sometime. We did a group of 15 in december and you can not make everyone happy. What we did was everyone came together for dinner. I would do the math. We have looked into sharing rooms before but sometimes its cheaper to get your own rooms.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I think the very first step is to try and gauge everybody's expectations. Do they expect to be able to have a nice table service meal or a character buffet at the hotel or Mickey to hug them in the lobby since they're staying onsite?

For a hotel, I'd try to find a resort and/or category that's pretty small, since Disney can't guarantee you rooms next to each other. Since I never get my room request, I'd try to book a room category that gives me the best chance of getting what I want. For example, Touring Plans shows that there are only 32 pool view rooms total at POFQ spread out over four floors in two buildings. Worst case scenario... you guys would all still be relatively close to each other.

This is a rough budget I estimated:
Flight - $6,000

Hotel (2017 rack rates)
Mod - $5,400
2 AoA suites - $5,300
Pop preffered - $3,300

6 day park hoppers -$5,000

Food - ????? It can vary wildly, from bringing PB&J into the park with you, to the deluxe dining plan. There's a good chance you guys might come out ahead if you just pay for what you want out of pocket.

What would I do and when? Decide what kind of hotel you want now, and try to crunch some numbers on dining. If you find something you like, you might as well book it as a room-only reservation... that way you'll be in and the deposit is refundable until very close to the trip. Keep your ear to the ground on ticket price increases, probably in the fall and/or early next year. I think there has always been a couple days' warning on this site. You'll have to decide if the money you'll save on tickets is worth hoping for a possible package discount in the future. Watch out for expiration dates on tickets, if you buy them in 2017.

 

[osucbsb]

Get a couple copies of the Unofficial Guide to Disney and have all the adults read it. That way everybody will have a clue about what they want to do and having a bit of input will help you plan a better trip. BTW plan on splitting up for some things because not everybody will want to do all the same things.

Be ok with splitting up sometime. We did a group of 15 in december and you can not make everyone happy. What we did was everyone came together for dinner. I would do the math. We have looked into sharing rooms before but sometimes its cheaper to get your own rooms.

Trying to make everyone happy with the plans is my biggest worry. Like I said we have been there, so it will all be new to them.

 

[osucbsb]

I think the very first step is to try and gauge everybody's expectations. Do they expect to be able to have a nice table service meal or a character buffet at the hotel or Mickey to hug them in the lobby since they're staying onsite?

For a hotel, I'd try to find a resort and/or category that's pretty small, since Disney can't guarantee you rooms next to each other. Since I never get my room request, I'd try to book a room category that gives me the best chance of getting what I want. For example, Touring Plans shows that there are only 32 pool view rooms total at POFQ spread out over four floors in two buildings. Worst case scenario... you guys would all still be relatively close to each other.

This is a rough budget I estimated:
Flight - $6,000

Hotel (2017 rack rates)
Mod - $5,400
2 AoA suites - $5,300
Pop preffered - $3,300

6 day park hoppers -$5,000

Food - ????? It can vary wildly, from bringing PB&J into the park with you, to the deluxe dining plan. There's a good chance you guys might come out ahead if you just pay for what you want out of pocket.

What would I do and when? Decide what kind of hotel you want now, and try to crunch some numbers on dining. If you find something you like, you might as well book it as a room-only reservation... that way you'll be in and the deposit is refundable until very close to the trip. Keep your ear to the ground on ticket price increases, probably in the fall and/or early next year. I think there has always been a couple days' warning on this site. You'll have to decide if the money you'll save on tickets is worth hoping for a possible package discount in the future. Watch out for expiration dates on tickets, if you buy them in 2017.

Thanks for the great breakdown. We will be driving, so we won't have to worry about flights. I think we are getting together one night this week to watch the 2017 Disney Planning Video. This always gets us excited, so we thought the rest of the group would enjoy watching it. Hopefully, we can hammer out a few preliminary details like what type of room we want and hopefully get an idea of which resort everyone likes. In 2015, we spent a couple of nights at POFQ and loved it.

I think we are leaning toward the Disney Dining Plan right now just for ease of pay with such a big group and probably different tastes for quick service meals in the parks. My wife's parents are planning on funding the trip, so I think it would be easier with the dining plan.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

Do you think that you guys will be doing many sit down/buffet meals? I just did some quick math and if you were to do the regular DDP its around $3,394.00. You might want to do the math and see if it will work out in your favor. If you arent planning on doing many character meals then you might just be better off getting some gift cards loaded so everyone still can choose what they want to eat, but at a much cheaper cost. We love the DDP because of the convenience of being able to pay ahead, but we also do a character meal or buffet every day we are there which helps with the cost.

 

[osucbsb]

Do you think that you guys will be doing many sit down/buffet meals? I just did some quick math and if you were to do the regular DDP its around $3,394.00. You might want to do the math and see if it will work out in your favor. If you arent planning on doing many character meals then you might just be better off getting some gift cards loaded so everyone still can choose what they want to eat, but at a much cheaper cost. We love the DDP because of the convenience of being able to pay ahead, but we also do a character meal or buffet every day we are there which helps with the cost.

I am thinking we would do at least one sit down meal every day we are there. I am pretty sure my wife's parents want as much of the Disney experience as possible. They have talked about this trip for many years and want that experience with their grandkids. It is definitely something we are going to have to look at. Thanks for help.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

I am thinking we would do at least one sit down meal every day we are there. I am pretty sure my wife's parents want as much of the Disney experience as possible. They have talked about this trip for many years and want that experience with their grandkids. It is definitely something we are going to have to look at. Thanks for help.

I definitely think that if you are planning on sit-downs, especially buffets, the DDP is worth it (some may disagree but sometimes convenience is worth spending a little extra money).For example, if all 12 of you were to have dinner at Crystal Palace it would cost around $460 w/o tip. If you did one character meal or buffet a day for all 6 days you are looking at $2,760.00, which in my opinion would make the DDP worth it. Plus, since grandparents are paying there is the convenience of being able to tap the magic band to pay.

 

[osucbsb]

I definitely think that if you are planning on sit-downs, especially buffets, the DDP is worth it (some may disagree but sometimes convenience is worth spending a little extra money).For example, if all 12 of you were to have dinner at Crystal Palace it would cost around $460 w/o tip. If you did one character meal or buffet a day for all 6 days you are looking at $2,760.00, which in my opinion would make the DDP worth it. Plus, since grandparents are paying there is the convenience of being able to tap the magic band to pay.

This is what I am thinking.

 

[MickeyMomV]

There are so many things to think about..... Parents with a 15 year old are going to have different plans and must do's that the parents of the 1 year old. The 1 year old will need naps where the older kids may not. Because of this and other reasons I would say the more rooms/space you can have the better.
When it comes to meal plans they may be ok if everybody is on a separate reservation. 12 people on 1 reservation with a mixture of adult and child credits makes me really nervous. The other thing to think about is tips and extras. If parents "want to pay for everything" then gift cards may be the way to go so that all dining expenses can be charged to the gift cards. Or have everything charged to the room with the parents card as method of payment.
When it comes to MDE make sure each family has their own account. Putting them all on one can be a disaster if they need to be split up or adjusted in the future. I would offer to set them up for everybody and then email them their username and password. You can link them to your account so you can include them on changes if needed.

Before you leave make sure everybody is clear on expectations. We did a family of 11 trip a couple of years back and by the end we said we would never go with family again. As we were the Disney veterans there was a level of expectation that we would "hold their hand" from checking in at the airport through the end of their trip (we stayed 3 extra days). We had connecting rooms and by the end of 4th or 5th day we would quietly get ready and just go. We are all about helping family have a great time but in the end it was our vacation too.

 

[yensid67]

You have 6/6 guests. That means for 2 Children there are 2 adults! 2-15 yr olds can explore on their own. 10,9 and 1 should be with an adult! Let the older ones go on their own and meet up for dinner! The 3 younger ones TRADE OFF between the 6 adults so that each 2 adults can have some time for themselves for some adult fun! For accommodations check out renting a house with a pool, I have seen them for $100per night. Tickets...I would just get 3 day tickets, staying away from DHS(construction zone) Check out International Drive area for some out of the park fun. Cocoa Cola Eye, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Aquarium are newest attractions. Sea Life would be an alternative to Sea World and much cheaper! Check out Dinner shows, they are inexpensive and fun for the whole family! What is your mode of transportation and where are you traveling from? We are traveling from PA to Kissimmee on Amtrak. and its much cheaper than flying! Just an idea! We are getting the train Hotel and Rental car for 1200 per person for 10 days!!!! Kids would love the train!

 

[osucbsb]

You have 6/6 guests. That means for 2 Children there are 2 adults! 2-15 yr olds can explore on their own. 10,9 and 1 should be with an adult! Let the older ones go on their own and meet up for dinner! The 3 younger ones TRADE OFF between the 6 adults so that each 2 adults can have some time for themselves for some adult fun! For accommodations check out renting a house with a pool, I have seen them for $100per night. Tickets...I would just get 3 day tickets, staying away from DHS(construction zone) Check out International Drive area for some out of the park fun. Cocoa Cola Eye, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Aquarium are newest attractions. Sea Life would be an alternative to Sea World and much cheaper! Check out Dinner shows, they are inexpensive and fun for the whole family! What is your mode of transportation and where are you traveling from? We are traveling from PA to Kissimmee on Amtrak. and its much cheaper than flying! Just an idea! We are getting the train Hotel and Rental car for 1200 per person for 10 days!!!! Kids would love the train!

Thanks for the input. I never thought of the Amtrak. I just looked into it and that won't work for us. We live in Oklahoma. I looked into the house rental, but my wife's parents really want to stay on property. One of the perks they liked was hoping a bus back to the resort during the day. My wife and I have the 15 year old and 12 year old..so the little ones are my brother in law's problem.

 

[Rumrunner]

We went with 3 families and a group of 11. We agreed before the trip that each family would have some autonomy with the exception of the first day. That day we rode the resort bus together, had all the same fast passes, rode the same rides, and had our meals together (no meal plan-that in our opinion was not worth the price). At the end of a long day we went to the resort and all congregated in our room (we are the grandparents) and while tired had many laughs just sitting around and visiting and enjoying the kids.
We tried to stay together as much as possible the remainder of the trip esp. on the park and fast pass schedules but each family decided their leaving time for the parks and their return time. It worked well for our crew.
We are also going back in June of 2018-with one additional new baby.

 

[osucbsb]

They have now released the packages for booking in 2018. Should we book this trip now or wait until some discounts start coming out? It is pretty high right now for July 2018.

 

[JillC LI]

They have now released the packages for booking in 2018. Should we book this trip now or wait until some discounts start coming out? It is pretty high right now for July 2018.

Don't wait for discounts. Book what you want, and if a discount comes out that applies to you, you can add it later on. If you want to see what discounts have historically been available at that time, you can check on mousesavers.com and you can try to book a resort that may have had a discount, but there is no guarantee that the same discount will be available in 2018.

 

[osucbsb]

Don't wait for discounts. Book what you want, and if a discount comes out that applies to you, you can add it later on. If you want to see what discounts have historically been available at that time, you can check on mousesavers.com and you can try to book a resort that may have had a discount, but there is no guarantee that the same discount will be available in 2018.

Thanks. I will check out mousesavers.com!

 

[osucbsb]

And we are booked at Pop Century!!

 

[Ali Mouse]

Great Choice!!!!! I would have chose the same! Actually I did! We will be staying at Pop Century next June as well!
We went last year in June with a family of 13 and we were very thankful that we got our own rooms!!! My personal family of 5 did a moderate at Caribbean beach ...while the other 8 stayed at All Star Music in 2 rooms. We went to the same parks everyday and ate together but at the end of the day when everyone was tired we were able to have a break from each other. Loved the themeing of Pop Century. I have stayed at 5 different resorts and I would have to say it is a favorite of mine. Now that my oldest is in college and out of the house I can go back to Pop!

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

The pop is a great choice! We went April 2017 with my extended family of 12 (actually ended up being 14 for some of the trip because my sister-in-law's parents joined us). The Pop worked perfectly for us. We typically did our own thing in the mornings but often would end up meeting at the breakfast table. I do all the planning for our family but everyone is a Disney nerd so they know what to expect. I booked big meals that we wanted to do and fast passes for everyone based on what I thought they might want. Then people went on to MDE and made their own changes. We planned on having some separate days and some together days. One night my parents took the grandkids to Chef Mickeys and my siblings and I and our spouses went to MK and did a late dinner at Cali Grill. It was the best date night ever!! We are a super close family so in the end we stayed together for most things. We didn't all do the same rides but we typically spent the days at the same parks. Good luck on planning! It's a lot of fun to plan for a big family but stressful too!