Rules for a Harmonious Holiday

[Fankle]

I posted this within my pre-trip report but I'm posting it separately too because I'm curious as to what ground rules others would like to set for large group/family trips. This IS tongue-in-cheek and I know, at times it’s contradictory. For those of you who’ve been on holiday with larger groups (especially larger, family groups) it really helps when everyone is on the same page.

Sometimes it’s easy because everyone is attuned and nothing needs to be stated explicitly. So here, in no particular order, are my suggestions for a harmonious trip. What else would you add?

1. Let’s make the most of our park tickets. I know the villa / hotel / pool is fun, but if we wanted a chillaxed beach holiday we’d have booked one. This isn’t it. Which means……

2. Get up on time – short lines and FPs wait for no one. If you want a lie-in, that’s cool, you can catch us up but we won’t twiddle our thumbs waiting for you. That said…..

3. Chillin’ time is essential! - if we go full-on, all day, dawn to dusk for the whole trip, we’ll crash. Take the opportunity to relax when it’s available.

4. Eating at Disney is expensive. We’ve budgeted for this but please don’t waste food. Portions are large. If in doubt, order less or share – the next meal is only hours away! However…

5. Please don’t let this stop you trying something new!

6. The Plan is the Plan and the Plan is good……BUT…… the Plan won’t work if everyone keeps making exceptions. Perhaps ‘It’s a small world’ isn’t YOUR favourite ride but there won’t be time for you to ride Space Mountain then re-join us. If everyone keeps doing this we’ll all just end up waiting around for each other. So, unless a ride makes you physically nauseous (hmmm, perhaps Small World was a bad example) then please just ride it with us... Alternatively….

7. Time apart is fine - we don’t normally live in each other’s pockets. Why should Disney be different? BUT….

8. Please don’t wander off without telling us. The rest of us don’t want to waste our time on our holiday worrying about or hunting for you.

9. Stuff will go wrong. Stuff happens - Flight delays, illness, bad weather. Whatever happens let’s make the best of things and not let it spoil the trip. That includes dealing with others……

10. We may meet grumpy Cast Members. We will encounter obnoxious guests. Whatever - we won’t let others spoil our trip. Let it Go!

11. Over the course of two weeks everyone is going to get tired / grumpy/ hangry or simply not feel at their best at some point. It’s ok to slow down, split-up or bail out for a while. BUT, please don’t inflict your bad mood on anyone else because they might be full-of-beans happy just then. It’s not fair to bring others down.

12. Sharing is good but, please keep your germs to yourself! Let’s do what we can to stay healthy so WASH YOUR HANDS whenever you can and NO SHARING WATER BOTTLES. We’ll be living in closer proximity than at home so if one person gets sick it’s easier to infect one-another.

13. Whilst the Plan is the Plan and the Plan is good……the world won’t end if we don’t follow it to-the-letter. We may need to adjust and adapt. (One for me!)

14. And lastly, going home at the end of a trip is rotten. Smile - we’ve done this before. It may be a year or two (or four) but we’ve always come back.

 

[Minnie Mum]

After a few large group trips we've concluded that the best way to ruin a relationship is to insist that everyone adhere to one set of rules/ itnerary. Being joined hip to hip to hip...for days on end will have people sniping at each other (if not at each other's throats). After group consultations regarding trip planning/itinerary/park touring plans, I give everyone a copy of the plan. Everyone is free to join in as much or as little as they wish. I'll do the initial FP+ reservations but each person is free to change their own after that. Only one ADR per day is made for the whole group. Time and location for the other 2 ( CS) meals are suggested, but it's up to them if they join or not. The courtesy of a text or phone call is expected if someone's plans change. Keeping things casual within a framework that isn't rigid has worked well for us.

 

[J_Krafty24]

The plan is the plan and the plan is good . . . If you didn't speak up during the planning phase don't be upset when something you wanted to do is not included in the plan.

 

[nickys]

What would I add?

1. I am making my plans. It will include the things I want to do, plus anything you have told me that you want to do. You are welcome to join me, or do your own thing.

2. Let’s try and meet once a day for a meal somewhere (TS or QS, it doesn’t matter).

3. We are all adults. That means no need for tantrums. No one should feel obliged to hang with everyone else, nor should you throw a wobbly because someone chooses to do their own thing.

Seriously, since my boys were 14 or so, they sometimes go off on their own, younger one even stayed at the resort and hoped in and out of MK whilst the rest of us went to WWOHP for the day last time (he was 16). They had the MDE schedule for ADRs and FPs, they had access to the rough plans I had, they knew how to use MDE to move their FPs around. And most of the time, we were all with at least one other person. But we all do our own thing, in that when anyone is tired they are free to return to the resort, sit and rest, whatever.

 

[HwdStudio]

I posted this within my pre-trip report but I'm posting it separately too because I'm curious as to what ground rules others would like to set for large group/family trips. This IS tongue-in-cheek and I know, at times it’s contradictory. For those of you who’ve been on holiday with larger groups (especially larger, family groups) it really helps when everyone is on the same page.

Sometimes it’s easy because everyone is attuned and nothing needs to be stated explicitly. So here, in no particular order, are my suggestions for a harmonious trip. What else would you add?

1. Let’s make the most of our park tickets. I know the villa / hotel / pool is fun, but if we wanted a chillaxed beach holiday we’d have booked one. This isn’t it. Which means……

2. Get up on time – short lines and FPs wait for no one. If you want a lie-in, that’s cool, you can catch us up but we won’t twiddle our thumbs waiting for you. That said…..

3. Chillin’ time is essential! - if we go full-on, all day, dawn to dusk for the whole trip, we’ll crash. Take the opportunity to relax when it’s available.

4. Eating at Disney is expensive. We’ve budgeted for this but please don’t waste food. Portions are large. If in doubt, order less or share – the next meal is only hours away! However…

5. Please don’t let this stop you trying something new!

6. The Plan is the Plan and the Plan is good……BUT…… the Plan won’t work if everyone keeps making exceptions. Perhaps ‘It’s a small world’ isn’t YOUR favourite ride but there won’t be time for you to ride Space Mountain then re-join us. If everyone keeps doing this we’ll all just end up waiting around for each other. So, unless a ride makes you physically nauseous (hmmm, perhaps Small World was a bad example) then please just ride it with us... Alternatively….

7. Time apart is fine - we don’t normally live in each other’s pockets. Why should Disney be different? BUT….

8. Please don’t wander off without telling us. The rest of us don’t want to waste our time on our holiday worrying about or hunting for you.

9. Stuff will go wrong. Sh*!t happens - Flight delays, illness, bad weather. Whatever happens let’s make the best of things and not let it spoil the trip. That includes dealing with others……

10. We may meet grumpy Cast Members. We will encounter obnoxious guests. Whatever - we won’t let others spoil our trip. Let it Go!

11. Over the course of two weeks everyone is going to get tired / grumpy/ hangry or simply not feel at their best at some point. It’s ok to slow down, split-up or bail out for a while. BUT, please don’t inflict your bad mood on anyone else because they might be full-of-beans happy just then. It’s not fair to bring others down.

12. Sharing is good but, please keep your germs to yourself! Let’s do what we can to stay healthy so WASH YOUR HANDS whenever you can and NO SHARING WATER BOTTLES. We’ll be living in closer proximity than at home so if one person gets sick it’s easier to infect one-another.

13. Whilst the Plan is the Plan and the Plan is good……the world won’t end if we don’t follow it to-the-letter. We may need to adjust and adapt. (One for me!)

14. And lastly, going home at the end of a trip is rotten. Smile - we’ve done this before. It may be a year or two (or four) but we’ve always come back.

Please read the rules about profanity before posting. Replacing letters with special characters is not allowed. In other words don’t use profanity here in any form. This is a family friendly forum.

 

[Patcheslee]

If I asked for your input for what FP you want since I'm doing the legwork don't say "whatever you want" then complain at what the FP is.
If you DO decide to do this please know that:
-I will call you out for it
-You also have the same app and can reschedule whatever you want for yourself if it is that important.
-No one said you HAVE to use the FP, and...
-I CAN delete your FP

 

[Lensman]

What about the golden rule of WDW trips? "Treat others as if they will decide whether you'll be invited back next year?"

 

[Fankle]

Please read the rules about profanity before posting. Replacing letters with special characters is not allowed. In other words don’t use profanity here in any form. This is a family friendly forum.

My apologies. I’ve amended the post. Don’t think it counted as profanity but appreciate that’s subjective. Simpler to change it.

 

[DarthVader]

1. Let’s make the most of our park tickets. I know the villa / hotel / pool is fun, but if we wanted a chillaxed beach holiday we’d have booked one. This isn’t it. Which means……

But by the same token, but the enjoyment of the vacation is to spend time at the resort and pool. There's something to be said about having non-park days and/or breaks during the day.

 

[Nemo14]

We've done many large-group trips with our kids, their cousins, and various family members and what has always worked for us is to pretty much split up for the day then meet back together for dinner and evening activities. With cell phones now it's pretty easy to just shoot a text when you need to get in touch with each other,

I will say that the worst Disney trip we ever did was with friends of ours whose kids were friends with our kids. They insisted that we do everything together, so what resulted was a group of 8 very grouchy people by the end of the first day. Lesson learned!

 

[Fankle]

But by the same token, but the enjoyment of the vacation is to spend time at the resort and pool. There's something to be said about having non-park days and/or breaks during the day.

Absolutely. It’s a balance that I haven’t mastered yet. I want more resort time but struggle to know what to drop to make time for it. The solution must be retirement so I can take longer holidays or to visit more often.

 

[Fankle]

I will say that the worst Disney trip we ever did was with friends of ours whose kids were friends with our kids. They insisted that we do everything together, so what resulted was a group of 8 very grouchy people by the end of the first day. Lesson learned!

That’s tough. Travelling together really highlights the differences between families. This trip the youngest of our party will be my 12 year old niece. Splitting into smaller groups for a time is something we need to discuss before we go (and maybe encourage) to give everyone a little breathing space.

 

[Nemo14]

That’s tough. Travelling together really highlights the differences between families. This trip the youngest of our party will be my 12 year old niece. Splitting into smaller groups for a time is something we need to discuss before we go (and maybe encourage) to give everyone a little breathing space.

I highly recommend it!

 

[Minnie Mum]

I highly recommend it!

Me too!

 

[DarthVader]

I'm more laid back, while we have a very detailed itinerary, I go by don't sweat the small stuff and have fun. If the kids want to spend more time at the resort swimming, so be it. If they don't want to spend an entire day at AK, why force them.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The rules make me anxious. LOL

Seriously though, we don't go with rules. We've decided that there are too many different wants involved when you travel in a large group to tour together in any kind of structured manner and keep everyone happy. So, in order to get some quality times together, we try and align our meal plans so we're all coming together at least once a day. It doesn't work out like that every day or for every meal...but the bulk of the days, we're able to get in a meal as a full group. Beyond that...we all do our own thing...and if our plans match up, we do it together. We usually put our preferred touring plan and FP wants out there ahead of time just to get an idea of where we might be able to match up beyond meal times, but with texting, we can also meet up at a resort or such if our break times also align.So instead of telling someone you're wandering off...you tell someone where you are in case you can meet up. This way, I can take a midday break at the pool or ride all of the more intense attractions without infringing on anyone else's fun in the group. It also enables the families that don't do well with early mornings or late nights to get time with us, but have fun with what works for them.

In the end, it's all of our vacation $, and we all deserve a trip we'll enjoy. So, while I know some may want to look at what's for the good of the group, we find more happiness with a divide and conquer approach for a chunk of the time.