5 Villas, 22 people...looks like it might actally happen

[Inkmahm]

Thanks for all the suggestions and support! I'm definitely gonna try to stay there an extra night or 2 after the extended family departs. If not BWV, maybe Vero.

This is DH's side of the family, btw. So, if that man doesn't want to pay dearly, he's gonna have to help!

I'm sure this won't be the last you hear of this trip and its drama, if any. So, don't keep the suggestions to yourselves.

I'm a little ahead of you- doing the same thing as you with my DH's family for early December this year. More than 2 years of points for BWV (I transferred some in, too.) We have two Boardwalk view two bedroom villas for 12 people. My inlaws, their D and SIL with their DD and DS in one of the two bedrooms. Me and DH in the studio part of the other two bedroom villa with his brother/wife and sister/husband sharing the rest of it. I like the people we're "rooming" with but I'm also looking forward to having the studio part so that we can just be by ourselves and have our own bathroom, too.

I've started preliminary planning but have already decided that we will invite the whole family to several meals/activities that we're willing to pay for. If they want to come with us on the schedule I set, great. If not, they're on their own. We will plan one or two of the grand gathering events open for a group our size but will also try a reservation for dinner at Jiko's and maybe California Grill, too. I'll give them the park schedule that DH and I plan to do and they can come with or go on their own. We are renting a car and the relatives are planning to use Disney transportation. I've already warned them about the distance involved and the time necessary to get from one resort to another for dinner using Disney transportation. If we have an ADR and they don't make it on time, won't be my fault. We'll be driving there to get there on time and eating without them.

We probably should have put our down time AFTER the time with the relatives but we're doing a day at AKL first and then the 4 night Disney cruise before the relatives join us for the 5 nights at BWV.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

WOW! Good luck and have fun!

We have a big trip coming up in April, with friends and family. 34 people total.

Let's see, at OKW, we have a GV and 6 studios booked. Thank goodness 4 of them are only 2 years old.

 

[loribell]

One thing I wanted to let anyone know that is planning a big family trip but has not done it previously; when you make reservations for a big party they will want to book either the earliest seating times or very late ones. At least that is what they did with us. Their reasoning was that it is the easiest way to get tables together for big groups without wasting lots of time waiting for enough to clear up for the whole group.

We went with the 5:00 seating for our dinner at Chef Mickey's. Everything went very smoothly and we had one of the upper sections almost entirely to ourselves. One funny thing that happened, out or the two other tables seated up their with us, one of them was a family that my cousin had graduated with from our small town high school. We thought that was amazing to run in to him so far away while we were having dinner.

 

[MinnieGi]

Your trip sounds fun!! We enjoy traveling with groups of family and friends. We are doing a big group trip this Thanksgiving. So far we have a total of 16 confirmed and 7 more possibly coming. However everyone is providing their own accomadations. We will be spread out over BWV and CBR. Since everyone is paying their own way I won't have to deal with someone cancelling out.

I'm trying to plan some special group activities and lots of free time for everyone. And of course the big decision is where we will ALL be eating Thanksgiving dinner together!!!????

 

[Cruelladeville]

You are a better woman than I am! After our group trip, my mother was lucky she was still alive! with her along, it was the trip from H*** NEVER again!! She actually thought things went well! We would have dinner reservations at Canada, and she would just call and schedule us somewhere else, but forget to tell 1/2 of us!!!

 

[ACDSNY]

Wishing you the best of luck and happy planning. Keep us posted on how it goes.

I've arranged a trip for 25 family members for Disneyland and I think our next one will be in Oct 2009 at Disney World with maybe a 3 night cruise in the middle.

For Disneyland I tried to keep it simple. We scheduled one dinner for the group, one group picture in front of the Castle and the Fantasmic Premium Seating. Otherwise everyone was on their own. Great trip!

 

[patsfan]

Kelley, keep planning away and know that you have many happy memories to look forward to with your family. We've always taken family with us on our Disney trips. My children have never been on a trip to Disney without at least one family of cousins along for the trip. So far, we've taken a cruise with 24 family members, DVC trips with 16 several times, and one trip with "just" 8 in our party. We wouldn't do it any other way. We are now planning our next trip with possibly 19 for the summer of 08. Go for it!