Grand Gatherings...Who has booked it and what did you think?

[wdwforus]

My extended family of my 5(wife, 10yr old,8 yr old, toddler), my parents, my brother and his wife and 2 sons( 9,3) and my sister and her husband are planning a trip for Christmas 2005. We have always gone in the spring, cant wait to get away from Maine winters, and thought we try something different seeings so we are all going. We are also going because my father has asbestosis and we dont know how long its gonna be until it turns to cancer. My parents raised us as Disney fanatics. We know we are going to stay 10 nights at Pop Century. We will arrive the 22nd of Dec 05 and leave Jan 1 06. I have already talked to Disney about a Grand Gathering and was wondering how peoples experiences with it have gone. Did you get any perks out of it? Did you get adequate room locations? How was it compared to other vacations you have taken at WDW? Anything would be helpful. I know I can only book 3 rooms under one name but my sister will probably be staying at a more expensive resort, no kids, she can afford it :hammer:

 

[Dwarful]

Well, our group of 12 just got back from a 12 day Grand Gatherings at Pop Century. We reserved 3 rooms at PC using the AP discount. We did not buy any of the other perks, we were busy enough doing the other things we wanted to do. We had a great time and good locations. The ONLY probably we had was with the room reservations. When booking the rooms, I was listed as the "Leader" of the Grand Gatherings...upon check-in, we discovered that the only way we could all use our room keys to charge at WDW was if I used 3 different credit cards, all, with MY name. So we didn't opt for that. The other thing was that all 12 room keys (4 for each room) had ONLY my name on them. We had to borrow a permanent marker and make little symbols on the different rooms (star for Rm. 1, Heart for Rm. 2, Blue Note for Rm. 3) in a little spot on the cards to keep things easy. If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me. One other thing, if you are going to rent a stroller at the parks, ask about the multi-day rental discount, you save 5 or 10% don't remember exactly. But you get little coupons to redeem for each day so you dont have to stand in line every morning to rent a stroller. saves a little money and a little time!

 

[cm1988]

Safari Celebration

Our group did the Safari Celebration. I can't claim to be an unbiased source of information, but honestly, it was one of the best dinners I've ever had at WDW. Great variety, quality and quantity of food served family style and with continuous entertainment. The special safari tour was outstanding as well.

 

[celestia]

Our group of 15 LOVED it.
We wanted a whole animal kingdom edge to our trip, so we stayed at animal kingdom lodge (the best hotel on property in my opinion) and also booked the safari celebration dinner. The safari celebration was by far one of the most memorable experiences i have ever had at WDW. There were characters (turk and rafiki), animals (snakes and some other critters kids could go look at during dinner), live entertainment (african music and singing, safari guides chatting with guests, and the amazing host.) The dinner was fantastic, the food just kept coming with everything you could possibly imagine, and for dessert we had my personal favorite, the baclava from the morocco pavilion at epcot. There were several little surprises along the way, and the evening safari was wonderful, and different than usual, including some birds that are not usually out i believe, though i could be wrong.

and the best part about the safari celebration?
you can take photos of your family infront of the tree of life when its all lit up at nighttime on your way out to the busses, beautiful!

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[TheDisneyQueen]

Do you get any special discounts or perks because your in a grand gathering?

 

[DisneyPhD]

Really old post, but I am bringing it back to life because I have the same questions. I am not as interested in the "special event's" as much as the trip planning perks.

Has anyone used it to help plan a group (P.S) what days to go where etc..

We are going with a group of 10 (only 8 are above 3 years old) and it really is just our family and my niece and my friends family and her sister. We did almost the same group last year, but now the PS need to be for group of 10.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We did a Grand Gathering last May, and were disappointed that virtually NONE of the Priority Seatings we made could accomodate our party of 12 (w/2 wheelchairs). I think part of the problem was that the CM said that we were booked under a GG, but we found out less than a week before our trip that we weren't!!! Quite frustrating, to say the least. The concept is good, but I think there may be a few kinks yet to be worked out.

 

[DisneyPhD]

So it sounds like I would be best just calling myself for PS and not messing with the GG stuff. Do they have calander and trip planning tools on line?