Disney Difficulty- Muliple Families

[Fox&Hound]

Just returned from The World, and even though we had an amazing time, one fact stood out: it is extremely difficult for a large family (parents, grown siblings all with families of their own) to enjoy the trip TOGETHER. Does anyone else find this to be true? You try to book and plan together but at every turn there is a chance to divide and separate. You all decide to go during the same time frame but then you can all go to different parks on different days. Even when you plan to say all go to MK on Monday sometimes dining reservations change where you go based on availability. Then, even if you all go to the same park on the same day, fastpass plans end up changing how you tackle the park. It becomes so difficult to catch up when you are all pulled in different directions. On this last trip we kept trying to catch up but then finally gave up since it was a near impossilbe task. I know some will say you should all plan it out together- same park, same dining, same fastpasses but for my family and I am sure others too this is just not realisitc. Does anyone else find this to be true? How do you deal?

 

[DisneyAndADoleWhip]

We did a trip back in April with three different families, all unrelated. One passholder family, one Disney-savvy family, and one new-ish to Disney family. The new-ish family did not know about the FastPass system, so that made it interesting, since the other two families had theirs in advance. We ended up doing a couple rides all together, but realized quickly it was going to be nearly impossible to do the whole day and we split up. I can handle two families at once, but trying to plan for all three is something I will never do again. My advice: Pick the same Park, but let each family do their own thing. Choose to meet up for lunch, a couple rides (Like POTC, Journey of the Little Mermaid, Jungle Cruise, IASW, easy things to ride together.) Plan to watch fireworks together to end the evening, and you might keep everyone happy.

 

[PUSH]

You see, we have similar problems. Although ours is that the family we go with doesn't do anything by themselves. They like to be attached at the hip 24/7. While we have fun with them, we also like to have time to ourselves. It becomes a burden to cater to a family who doesn't always enjoy the same things we do. My family likes to take it slower. We don't need to run from attraction to attraction. We like to walk around and look at the little details, finding things we haven't seen before. The family we go with likes to hit the parks at rope drop and power through all the headlining attractions, leaving us all exhausted by the afternoon. It also is super hard to plan FPs with more than one family, even if you link your accounts because everyone wants to do different things at different times.

So yes, I'm with you... but in a different sense.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

My daughter got married at disney in Oct 2014 so we had lots of family in town which turned into a group of about 20 deciding it was a good idea for me to not just do all the wedding things but to be the ring leader for a week together afterwards...the week after was more stressful than all the wedding planning. My brother who hasn't been to wdw with his family as an adult was the know it all who drove us all crazy with lots of last minute demands then proceeded to take off with his core family leaving us constantly waiting for them. They just couldn't get the concept that if they wanted to go off on their own just say so instead of leaving us standing around waiting. We did half as much and it took us twice as long. Fun but would I do it again with that many people...probably not. My step mom and sisters and I travel fine together and my family and one sisters family do one or more trips together each year no problem but that kind of multi family group...sigh...it was hard and while I'm glad it's off my bucket list it took more patience than I like to have to exert on vacation.

 

[flynnibus]

Just returned from The World, and even though we had an amazing time, one fact stood out: it is extremely difficult for a large family (parents, grown siblings all with families of their own) to enjoy the trip TOGETHER. Does anyone else find this to be true? You try to book and plan together but at every turn there is a chance to divide and separate. You all decide to go during the same time frame but then you can all go to different parks on different days.

Its like this everywhere... going around with a group of 12 or whatever is always a battle where there will always be some losers.

This is why we loved doing the cruise.. It allowed everyone to do their own thing when they wanted, we did key events together, we did some things with part of the group, others with the other half, etc.. and all along the place is small enough you can float in and out of activities with the rest of the group without having to make huge commitments on schedule/travel.

When you have large groups.. you have to accept that you can't do EVERYTHING together.. we try to do the 'you are free to tag along' but don't get upset if some people split off to their own from time to time. If you get wound up over someone not wanting to do the SAME thing as everyone.. then its a downward spiral.

 

[tigger1968]

I di d a large family trip several years ago with my then wife's extended family, 14 people in all. My mother in law had the notion that this would be some sort of amazing family get together and it would be a bonding experience for everyone. My wife and I were the only ones with any WDW experience (we were AP holders at the time - 2 trips a year on average) so we were expected to plan the whole thing for 3 separate families. We were worried about trying to cat-herd that many people but the mother in law had her heart set on this trip, so we reluctantly agreed to plan it. One family member decided to push back on any suggestion we made in the planning stage (the resident troublemaker, she would continue this for the whole trip.) while most everyone took our guidance. Annnnnnd then we got to the parks. We stayed on property (Pop Century) and it quickly devolved into every family for themselves. Everyone had kids of differing ages, so there were conflicts about what park to visit and what ride to ride, and meal choices were a nightmare. I think we abandoned whatever plans we had by day 2 and it was literally agreeing on a park for the day and meeting for meals. At night each family was free to do what they wanted. There were disagreements galore and tension throughout. Worst. Trip. Ever.

 

[Fox&Hound]

Haha I am glad it's not just me. Like I said, WDW is my favorite place to be, and I have come to acccept the "evert family for themselves" mantra but it seems so weird to me that at the end of the week I usually see very little of the rest of my family or that we never end our trips with a single group photo. Then again, I would not want to spend every waking minute together. It just seems like there should be a healthy middle between 24/7 togetherness and never seeing each other....

 

[Nemo14]

A lot depends on the people involved. For several years we traveled with my brother and his extended family. I won't say that we never had issues, but we learned how to vacation together without getting on each other's nerves. It helped that our kids and his are similar ages, and as they grew up we were able to give them more and more independence within the parks. There was one year that we added another family, and it was just awful. The mother was a total control freak and would throw tantrums if we didn't do exactly what she wanted all the time. That was the last time we ever vacationed with them.

 

[TARDIS]

We always plan for one park and meet for meals/fireworks/parades. Trust me, being together for all rides and shows can be too trying. Everyone has their own likes,interest and pace so that makes it difficult.

 

[Yelloweaver]

Pass. We went with another family (our best friends) and while it was really fun we have different touring styles. I was constantly trying to keep up with them who wanted to go ride to ride to ride to ride while we like to look at things, take pictures and just take our time. I would go with them again, but, we would schedule in time for each family to do as they pleased.

 

[zurgandfriend]

Two words… Never again. We did a family gathering a few years ago with 4 families staying in 4 different resorts. Trying to get everyone together for touring or meals was like herding cats. One brother in law and family was staying at Pop Century, we were at the contemporary our niece she decided she like our resort better and moved in with us for a week.

 

[Roakor]

This is true for anything. the more people you throw in the mix the more issues you will have. the amount of time it takes to do anything goes up with each additional person. No matter what you decide to do the chance someone or several someones will not be happy about it goes up with each additional person. Throw in a very busy, very crowded place like Disney world and its just pure chaos. for the amount of money and time you already spend going to Disney, trying to do it with a large group is not something I'd ever recommend. You might be able to have everyone meet for a show or a dinner but thats about as far as I'd go.

 

[wendysue]

You are all much braver than I. Just my husband and I. If anyone else wants to go, your on your own, but we will meet up a few times if it works out that way.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I think its always difficult... whether youre with a large group or even just one other couple. Everyone has different likes/dislikes, desires, expectations, styles of vacationing. Trying to make a trip pleasurable for everyone else usually gets you nowhere and you end up sacrificing your happiness. My plan from now, if a trip involves others, is to spend at most the first hour together in the parks, then go our separate ways and meet up for dinner or have arranged evening gatherings back at the resort. I'm done spending money on a trip I wont be happy with.

 

[TXDisney]

Yup it's very hard to maximize your trip the more people you are with. Staying onsite helps though. Transportation wise not everybody has to leave at the same time bc your splitting rental cars and such. Also allows people freedom to do different things, while it's nice to all stay together you aren't forced to do things you don't want to with Disney transportation. My parents have a timeshare they use like every other year offsite. Close but still where we get rental suvs. Our last trip with all of us (8 adults and 4 kids) we did 2 rental card but everybody getting to the park early didn't happen bc of waiting on people. And there weee a couple nights a couple people wanted to head back before firework shows and that complicated things. This actually is being solved by my family by my brother purchasing a 500pt DVC resale at BCV. We plan on boooking 2 Villas the same week each year and then everyone has there freedom.

 

[The Tuna]

Had a group of 48 people last year. we basically did our own thing and met up for dinner or breakfast as a large group. not all 48 wanted to eat at the same places but it was fun as we broke off into smaller family groups and then some days a bunch of you would be together, other days not. if you all stick together it can take you hours to do one ride. one person has to pee, one person has to shop, another person then has to pee, etc. if everyone realizes you cant stay together its great. if everyone in a group of 12 or more wants to stay connected all day than it can get a bit tough. but its vacation, you have to enjoy it or it isnt worth doing.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

It just seems like there should be a healthy middle between 24/7 togetherness and never seeing each other....

Yes, somewhere in the middle makes sense.

The cruise comparison is a good one, where everyone will be together for dinner and it's easy to schedule some group activities that may include all or part of the group. I'd follow a similar model at WDW. List 5 things you're going to do in a day, and let people choose which activities to join in on. Don't get upset if not everyone wants to do certain things.

You said you didn't even get a group photo. Was it even a group trip in that case? I don't think it would be unreasonable to have at least one "mandatory" group activity every day. A meal, a character visit, an attraction, whatever.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

My biggest "are you kidding me" moment for me of our big trip was when we'd had a couple days where we did theme clothes...like one day we all wore something red with the thought of taking a fairly cohesive looking group pic (it's rare for all of us to be in the same state at the same time). My one sister's family and my brothers family...the two biggest problem makers of the trip were of course not present for any of the group pics and actually had the nerve to throw a hissy fit when my step mom put up one of the pics of all of us at her house that they weren't in...all I could think of was all the time we stood around waiting for them so the word "REALLY" just kept screaming in my head lol. My youngest sister and her family along with my granddaughter and I travel all the time and have a great time tho but it's only 5 of us total.

 

[Minthorne]

1. All stay at the same resort so you see each other there.
2. Try to plan one thing together as the group every day. Dinner one day. park together another.
3. Find some sucker relatives to take your kids all the days.
4. check out and go to universal alone

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I like the idea of something in the middle between spending the whole vacation together and doing things separately.