Thoughts for a large group?

[MGMBoy]

Hey all! Curious to get your input on the plans I am working on. Little background, I have been to the parks innumerable times, was a CM there for years, but this time there are 24 of us going so I'm wanting to see what your thoughts are. Everyone will be in Orlando by 1/1/20 and we are all going to Cocoa Beach/Kennedy Space Center on the 2nd. My family (10 of the 24) will be staying the night of the 2nd @ the Riviera but the rest will be off site and dropping their bags off at Pop Century on the morning of the 3rd. Most (if not all) of the families are going to have a car with them for at least the first day or two. Aside from my family, the rest have either never been or only once 10+ years ago. Here is the e-mail I sent to all of them with my logic about park recommendations (which will obviously change when/if they revise hours as we get closer).

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Hey everyone. Wanted to give you an update on planning. I have 2 of the 5 reservations booked but have collected all the park hours for our time there and wanted to let you know my thoughts on the best way to tackle everything. Attached is a PDF with the park hours listed as well as any fireworks, parades, dining reservations & EMH (Extra Magic Hours). Extra Magic Hours are a benefit of staying at the Disney resorts. park either opens an hour early or stays open 2 hours later just for resort guests. I color-coded each park and shaded the parks/shows I'm outlining below in their respective colors.

1/3 - Since most of us will be checking out of their off property hotels and bringing their bags and stuff over to their Disney resort in the morning, I was thinking that EPCOT would be our best bet since there are only a couple big ticket attractions there that draw bigger lines and we will be coming back for dining reservations on other days so we can get a chance to see everything. I booked Boma for that night (2 tables of 12) because it is the most remote of the dining locations and can be inconvenient to get to without a vehicle. My thoughts are, everyone can just keep their car through Friday night and return it after that if they are interested (although it CAN be very useful to keep the whole time). After that I was thinking we could head over to Animal Kingdom for a couple hours (since we will be nearby already) before they close because that park is AMAZING at night.

1/4 - Animal Kingdom opens early (8 am) for resort guests so we can try to get in and hit any of the big ticket attractions that we may have missed the previous night. We have dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's that evening which is within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom so we can head over there after dinner and try to catch a few rides before the fireworks at 8 pm.

1/5 - Studios opens early so we can head over there and NEVER LEAVE THE STAR WARS AREA... I mean, hit as much stuff as possible. After dinner at Teppan Edo (or the Space restaurant), we can hang around EPCOT until their fireworks at 9 pm.

1/6 - We could spend the majority of the day at the Magic Kingdom to try and hit as much as possible before heading over to Cape May Cafe (at the Beach Club Resort). After dinner we could head back over to Studios to catch Fantasmic (a show that starts at 8 pm but you pretty much need to be there by 7:30 at the latest to get a seat).

1/7 - This one will be our opportunity to go back and re-ride favorites or catch things we may have missed (most likely at Magic Kingdom & Studios). The manager at the Coral Reef restaurant said that, to get the best seating and get seated as close together (both proximity and time), we would need to book in the first hour of their dining (so by noon). I figured this would then allow parents to go back to the hotel and pack in the afternoon for Wednesday flights and let us catch anything else we may have missed.

I apologize if any of the dining seatings are earlier than ideal but, with a group this size, first seatings are often our only options.

With the opening of Galaxy's Edge (Star Wars land at Studios), the traffic patterns at the parks are likely to change dramatically but here are the big ticket attractions at each park to consider:

Magic Kingdom -
Classic Attractions - Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room (Tropical Serenade), Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion, Small World & Carousel of Progress
Popular Attractions (longest waits) - Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight & Space Mountain

EPCOT -
Soarin, Mission: Space, Test Track & Frozen Ever After (I feel like this one can be skipped but others might not agree)

Studios -
Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom -
Avatar: Flight of Wonder, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Finding Nemo: The Musical & Dinosaur

One of the biggest keys to getting to catch the more popular attractions is to get to the parks early (ideally at least 20-30 minutes before they open). It is WAY better to get to a park before it opens, stay for 3-4 hours, go back to the hotel and take a nap then to sleep in and get to a park 2 hours after opening. This is years of observation both as a guest and a cast member speaking. We can get quite a few of these attractions covered utilizing the Fastpass+ system but there will inevitably be some waiting in line which can be kept to a minimum by arriving early.

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What do you guys think? Sound like a good plan of attack? I THINK I have all the bases covered.

P.S. Thanks for taking the time to read this LOOOOOONG post.

 

[Nemo14]

My advice with a group that big is to figure it will take you at least twice as long as it would with a smaller group, so plan to be flexible . very flexible. Also don't try to do everything as a group or you will end up hating each other by the end of day 1. Break up into smaller groups then meet together later in the day for lunch or dinner perhaps.

 

[larryz]

Split into two groups of 5 (your family) and two groups of 7. Designate a lead in each group, and have the leads coordinate group plans.

Trying to herd 24 people through a week at WDW will kill the joy... unless you plan to sing and chant as you move through the parks.

 

[Tiggger1966]

My advice is don't do it! We had 3 families of 4 and almost quit being friends over the trip. No one could agree on anything even though we agreed before we left on the trip.

 

[epcotisbest]

Hey all! Curious to get your input on the plans I am working on. Little background, I have been to the parks innumerable times, was a CM there for years, but this time there are 24 of us going so I'm wanting to see what your thoughts are. Everyone will be in Orlando by 1/1/20 and we are all going to Cocoa Beach/Kennedy Space Center on the 2nd. My family (10 of the 24) will be staying the night of the 2nd @ the Riviera but the rest will be off site and dropping their bags off at Pop Century on the morning of the 3rd. Most (if not all) of the families are going to have a car with them for at least the first day or two. Aside from my family, the rest have either never been or only once 10+ years ago. Here is the e-mail I sent to all of them with my logic about park recommendations (which will obviously change when/if they revise hours as we get closer).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone. Wanted to give you an update on planning. I have 2 of the 5 reservations booked but have collected all the park hours for our time there and wanted to let you know my thoughts on the best way to tackle everything. Attached is a PDF with the park hours listed as well as any fireworks, parades, dining reservations & EMH (Extra Magic Hours). Extra Magic Hours are a benefit of staying at the Disney resorts. park either opens an hour early or stays open 2 hours later just for resort guests. I color-coded each park and shaded the parks/shows I'm outlining below in their respective colors.

1/3 - Since most of us will be checking out of their off property hotels and bringing their bags and stuff over to their Disney resort in the morning, I was thinking that EPCOT would be our best bet since there are only a couple big ticket attractions there that draw bigger lines and we will be coming back for dining reservations on other days so we can get a chance to see everything. I booked Boma for that night (2 tables of 12) because it is the most remote of the dining locations and can be inconvenient to get to without a vehicle. My thoughts are, everyone can just keep their car through Friday night and return it after that if they are interested (although it CAN be very useful to keep the whole time). After that I was thinking we could head over to Animal Kingdom for a couple hours (since we will be nearby already) before they close because that park is AMAZING at night.

1/4 - Animal Kingdom opens early (8 am) for resort guests so we can try to get in and hit any of the big ticket attractions that we may have missed the previous night. We have dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's that evening which is within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom so we can head over there after dinner and try to catch a few rides before the fireworks at 8 pm.

1/5 - Studios opens early so we can head over there and NEVER LEAVE THE STAR WARS AREA... I mean, hit as much stuff as possible. After dinner at Teppan Edo (or the Space restaurant), we can hang around EPCOT until their fireworks at 9 pm.

1/6 - We could spend the majority of the day at the Magic Kingdom to try and hit as much as possible before heading over to Cape May Cafe (at the Beach Club Resort). After dinner we could head back over to Studios to catch Fantasmic (a show that starts at 8 pm but you pretty much need to be there by 7:30 at the latest to get a seat).

1/7 - This one will be our opportunity to go back and re-ride favorites or catch things we may have missed (most likely at Magic Kingdom & Studios). The manager at the Coral Reef restaurant said that, to get the best seating and get seated as close together (both proximity and time), we would need to book in the first hour of their dining (so by noon). I figured this would then allow parents to go back to the hotel and pack in the afternoon for Wednesday flights and let us catch anything else we may have missed.

I apologize if any of the dining seatings are earlier than ideal but, with a group this size, first seatings are often our only options.

With the opening of Galaxy's Edge (Star Wars land at Studios), the traffic patterns at the parks are likely to change dramatically but here are the big ticket attractions at each park to consider:

Magic Kingdom -
Classic Attractions - Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room (Tropical Serenade), Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion, Small World & Carousel of Progress
Popular Attractions (longest waits) - Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight & Space Mountain

EPCOT -
Soarin, Mission: Space, Test Track & Frozen Ever After (I feel like this one can be skipped but others might not agree)

Studios -
Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom -
Avatar: Flight of Wonder, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Finding Nemo: The Musical & Dinosaur

One of the biggest keys to getting to catch the more popular attractions is to get to the parks early (ideally at least 20-30 minutes before they open). It is WAY better to get to a park before it opens, stay for 3-4 hours, go back to the hotel and take a nap then to sleep in and get to a park 2 hours after opening. This is years of observation both as a guest and a cast member speaking. We can get quite a few of these attractions covered utilizing the Fastpass+ system but there will inevitably be some waiting in line which can be kept to a minimum by arriving early.

View attachment 393439

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do you guys think? Sound like a good plan of attack? I THINK I have all the bases covered.

P.S. Thanks for taking the time to read this LOOOOOONG post.

The very first thing I would do after reading this email would be to quietly bow out and wish everyone else a fun, safe trip.
Way too structured, too much park hopping and too much togetherness for a small group, much less 24. But, that is just my opinion. Your group may enjoy the togetherness and structure.

 

[zurgandfriend]

I attempted to organize a family "grand gathering" about 12 years ago. It was like herding cats. Some people wanted to sleep in some wanted sit by the pool. No one agreed on meals. By day 3 I told everyone what I was doing that day you can join me or go your own way. I would never attempt anything like that again.

 

[RememberWhen]

It looks great. Be flexible and if you drink alcohol, a couple of drinks should keep you from losing it. I would also make sure that some sub-sets of your group have control over their own MDE accounts so that when people want to break off they don’t need you to help them figure out how.
Enjoy!

 

[lorreejean]

We did a grand gathering some years ago. We purchased the quick service dining plan for everyone so they wouldn't be afraid of the food prices. Outside of that we did all the Grand Gathering meals together but otherwise everyone pretty much went their own way. Had a few other plans, like the two grandmothers took the 2 granddaughters to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. And one evening we kept the kids and let the young adults have a night out. But we did not try to plan for everyone to be together all of the time. Everyone had plenty of time to research what they wanted to do outside of a few things. Managed to get through the trip without any major arguments. And still visit together occasionally, altho not all at once, at least until Christmas this year, doing it again.

 

[MGMBoy]

Yeah. I should have clarified in the the OP, the e-mail is really meant to be a framework for everyone. Our main plan is to start out together each day by hitting a few of the bigger attractions (especially ones that do PhotoPass), maybe get a PhotoPass photo of the group in each park and then split up for the rest of the day. Let the 5 kids (10-14 years) run around together (likely with my son, my cousin and me in tow), those of the adults that want to go back to the hotel to relax can, etc. then we will meet back up for dinner and fireworks. That was the setup we used in DL a couple years back and it seemed to work out pretty well.

 

[MGMBoy]

It looks great. Be flexible and if you drink alcohol, a couple of drinks should keep you from losing it. I would also make sure that some sub-sets of your group have control over their own MDE accounts so that when people want to break off they don’t need you to help them figure out how.
Enjoy!

Yeah. My dad and I have EVERYONE on our MDE accounts (my dad is an AP so this way we can get everyone's PhotoPass pictures). Then each parent has their spouse and kids and I'm gonna set up the two oldest kids with accounts that have them and the rest of the kids so they can setup their own Fastpasses. I suggested to the parents that the two oldest each have an old phone that they can connect to the Disney wifi. Odds are I will be running around with them most of the time since I am a big kid myself and I already got a couple of 20k+ backup batteries to take with us to prevent outages. I'm planning to make sure that everyone knows how to use MDE before we go.

 

[Hula Baloo]

With a group that big I would plan to split up most of the day into smaller groups and then meet up for lunch and/or dinner reservations. I also highly suggest having every meal planned where to eat. My family trips run much smoother when we have meals planned out. It's a huge time saver as well. Otherwise everyone is arguing over where to eat, what to eat and how expensive the options are.