Family of 8 with an age range of 7 to 84 (4 generations) with 2 on scooters, need a strategy.

[Bete]

I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed trying to plan a trip with such an age range. Then, there's an issue of some liking the thrill rides and others not. So, I'm starting to think we will need to split up the group at times.

We will be offsite with the 30 day advance fastpass option. Will it be too tough to get 8 FPs at the same time for the major rides like Toy Story Mania? Should we do 2 times like 10 minutes apart in groups of 4 instead of everyone at one time for a major ride with FP? What has worked for your bigger group?

The 7 year old boys may need a stroller.

I'm thinking we may need an afternoon break. What worked best for your larger group?

Looking for some hints from those who have done bigger groups.

 

[Elephantay]

When is your trip and how far away is your hotel?

 

[Bete]

The trip is actually two years away; we will be there in Nov. 2021.

We will in a resort in Lake Buena Vista. I would say with regular traffic it's about 20-30 minutes away from the parks one way.

 

[sponica]

Whenever I've done "large" group touring it's been with a closer age range and on site.

My upcoming trip (july 2020) is currently 3 generations ranging from almost 4 to 63. Here is what we've decided:
1) We're staying where each component group wants to stay. Sister's family is at FT Wilderness, my family on site somewhere, my mom and step dad are starting on site then moving to marriott time shares. My other sister is a free agent. She might stay with my mom, she might stay at all stars.

2) we're doing one experience together a day, whether that is a meal or something else remains to be seen

Also a lot is going to change in 2 years, but I think the biggest things you need to figure out between now and then are whether this is a "tour as one big group" trip or a "do a couple things a day then split up" trip.

 

[KenHutch]

I have to plan our trips with a group of 8 and 2 are in those riders. I have learned that they will ride almost nothing so when booking certain rides I do nothing for them. We are park opening and park close people usually. For a break we do not leave the parks. I schedule a lunch for the afternoons. I pick a sit down with air conditioning and let everyone take their time. I wish I could help you on the stroller issue but from the time my daughter was 5 she refused to go near them. A lot of the newer rides will be open by the time yo go so for Toy Story Mania you should be OK. This past June we got TSM as a 4th fast pass with no issues.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I would plan on breaking up for the bulk of the day. When we've traveled with large groups, we've planned same park/same day, but split up. We typically would have one meal together each day (we did dinner, others might prefer lunch). You're going to have a wide range of interest in rides/shows. You don't have to split the same way each day, although we typically did it by family.

I don't know how well the afternoon break will work with either your group size, or the distance to your room/vacation home. Certainly, you can try and see how it goes. If you'll have multiple vehicles, perhaps some people can go back, while others stay--this is a good time for those thrill-seekers to get their scream on.

I would strongly encourage NOT having strollers for the 7yos. Yeah, I know, some people use them, but it's that much more stuff that you have to deal with, logistically. Obviously, if they're special needs, that's a different story, but your average 7yo should be able to walk just fine. While strollers ca be handy for carrying stuff, they also encourage people to bring lots of stuff to carry. Plus, you have to park them, then they get moved, you need to find them again, etc.--all while having to do the same thing, at times, with your ECVs.

The other thing I will mention is--your trip is 2 years out. How much confidence do you have that your older family members will actually be in good enough shape to take this trip? Obviously, hope for the best, but you should have a game plan for if they have to back out.

I wish you luck in your planning. This is a big undertaking. For our travels, I use a "Notebook of Phenomenal Cosmic Power" to keep track of everything. The other thing I will say is--you're not responsible for everyone's happiness. If some people want to be theme-park commandos--let them. If others are content to stroll around and smell the flowers--let them.

 

[YesterDark]

I'd practice praying.

In all seriousness, with large groups and different capabilities, my only suggestion would be to set your expectations early and make sure everyone understands them. Will you split up? If yes, is everyone ok with that? If they are, make sure the times people are on their own, they KNOW they are on their own.

If you have people with accessibility issues, make sure everyone understands that things will be slower than 2 people sprinting ahead and running around.

Communication is the biggest thing you will have to tackle.

 

[Bete]

Fortunately, the age range stated is based on 2021.

I like the idea of getting together for a few rides and then splitting up. I think I'm going to try to get agreement on the three fastpass rides and then we will split up.

We will only have one, large vehicle to transport everyone.

We just got back from Dollywood and our 5 year old great grandsons had strollers and they still felt tired with going on and off the rides and playing in the water section of Wildwood for a half hour. We actually only did two out of three days going to the parks. They skipped the water park.

 

[sponica]

The one vehicle to transport might be the part that concerns me, if someone REALLY wants to see the fireworks but the driver doesn't want to stay that late, what are the contingencies?

But again, this is so far away....you don't really need a final decision on FPs until October 2021. And who knows if FP will still work the same by then?

If you can try going stroller free that's what I would do. The reality is we're all tired at the end of a park day....honestly I'm tempted to go stroller free with my 4 year old next year...

 

[msp2mco]

When we've traveled with multi generational groups, we've found the splitting up works best. Well before the trip, we asked each person to rank the things they most want to do. Everyone gets 3 "must do's" for each park. Of course, there was a lot of overlap, but this helped with grouping people together to get fast passes and make a general schedule. Trying to have your entire group agree on 3 fast passes may be tricky; it may not be the best way to get your value out of the fast passes. For instance, if some people don't want to do a thrill ride and you are keeping all your FP+'s to do together, you will miss the opportunity for the thrill seekers to avoid long lines.

You may also want to consider, or budget for, different folks to take Uber or Lyft back to the resort if they don't want to stay all day and night.

Managing expectations is important. Good luck!

 

[rg35]

In 2014 I planned a WDW vacation for 16 people. Ages 3 to ~55.
Lodging was easy b/c we booked using DVC points.

I was in charge of FP+ booking. I generally used them to select slow throughput experiences that I thought we would all mostly do together (Peter Pan's Flight, Soarin', etc.). We took advantage of child swap for some experiences. My dad isn't big into thrill rides, so he generally waited with the kids or others who didn't want to do those experiences.

Some meals we did together (for ex., Hoop De Do Revue) but others we did not. There were various times that we split up and rejoined throughout the day. Some members of our party went to Typhoon Lagoon but my wife, kids and I didn't because we knew our kids wouldn't do most of the slides and thought it would be a waste of money.

If you go expecting to stay together the entire time, or trying to force that issue, then you might run into difficulties. Your group is much smaller than mine, but the age ranges might present a challenge. Staying together could work out as long as some in the party don't mind waiting while others are doing an experience.

I don't think your 7 year olds should need strollers. Our triplets were doing all day park days without at that age. I know all kids are different, but if they are generally active at home, WDW shouldn't be a big deal as long as they're keeping hydrated.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think your biggest issue is transportation. We did a trip with my parents (60’s) and our 5 kids ages 4 - 11. We broke up into groups a few times a day, with some staying in parks, some needing an afternoon break, others not, some going back to the parks at night, some not... My parents saw my kids every day of their lives, helped raise them, watched them all of the time, and they said the best decision I made was us to have our own places to stay (BCV, we had a 2 bedroom, they had a studio on a different floor).

 

[seb65]

I am going soon with a party of 8 ranging from ages 76 to 11, one with a scooter. We requested adjoining rooms and we stay together the whole time. We work around the wants of the kids and go at the pace of the elder person.
We went as a party of 8 two years ago, and it worked well. Three decided to do another park one day, so they went off and did that. Otherwise, we toured together and had meals together. It was a great time. If someone did not like a ride, they'd sit out or go to a close by attraction. Honestly, it was one of the best trips we've had. We enjoyed breaks together to have a snack and just be together. We felt it would have been too much to go back for breaks with the scooter.

One year, it was a group of 11 in our party, but all adults. That trip we divided up based on wants and would meet up in the afternoons and dinner.
I guess it depends on the group and the wants.

 

[Bete]

Thanks for your the replies.

I'm listening. I'm glad we have time to plan.

 

[daisy2013]

I’ve done groups of 16-17. Multi-generational. I would highly recommend trying to stay onsite. It allows the different units to have independence in coming and going. Relying on one car sounds ok until day two when someone doesn’t feel well, or needs to sleep in, or go back early. Also you have the 60 day fp and 180+10 dining reservation windows. We do one meal a day (sometimes skip it but generally one meal a day) together. We sometimes will ride a ride together but usually every group does it’s thing combining and breaking apart as needed. Our only rule is there is no rule. It’s everyones vacation so do what makes you happy and see you at dinner (or breakfast).
I just think trying to tour as a large group like that will be frustrating and difficult.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We usually have 8-12 people (3 generations.)
We plan TS meals and most FP together. Someone here or there may have a different FP, since we have kids who haven’t hit some height requirements yet. Some also may modify their FP while we’re there.

I can’t help on 30 day FP availability because we stay onsite and book at 60, but there’s a chance the current FP structure and process may not even exist in 2021. I wouldn’t worry about that until it gets closer.

As someone else mentioned, my biggest concern would be the one vehicle. Our large group splits up when some want to take a break or stop for the day and some want to keep going. Some of us rope drop while others take a slower morning at the resort. If everyone was pressured to stay on the same exact schedule, I think our trips would be more stressful. The key for us is flexibility - we enjoy the time we all spend together, but also want everyone to do what they want to do.

For example ... some of us love seeing the parade, others would prefer to skip it and ride something. We don’t want anyone to feel like they HAVE to do something and just knowing that really helps everyone feel more relaxed and like it is their vacation. My kids sometimes want to ride IASW 2-3 times in a row (I love that they love that ride so much.) Some of the others will move on to something else after the first round of IASW Even with people breaking off here and there, we do naturally end up spending a large amount of time all together.

 

[Bete]

Our offsite resort does offer a bus shuttle as a backup for transportation. Times are limited; so, I'm not sure how well that will work.

I'm not opposed to renting a small car if necessary.

 

[Rory607]

We did an extended family trip with a group of 11, ranging in ages 3-70. We stayed onsite, which helped tremendously with transportation. We booked one TS meal each day, which we all did together. I booked FP together, but most of the group were not interested in thrill rides. The ones who wanted to do thrill rides were usually able to get those FP after we used our first three of the day. It seemed to work out okay.

What “family groups” do you have within the large group? Are there people who are willing to go slowly with the older or younger members of the group? I think that’s what worked well in our group. Individual families or couples could split off, then meet back up for dinner or whatever. Once we did a trip with just our family (myself, H, our two kids) and my mom. It was a little tougher because my mom was sort of inflexible and would not go anywhere without myself or my H. Like, she would barely even sit on a bench by herself. Our kids were little at the time and it just made some days really difficult.

 

[Christine]

I'm planning a similar trip for the fall. I will have ages 2-80. Three of the older people are 75, 78, and 80. The 78 and 80 have mobility issues.

I'm going to to tell you that the 84 y/o is not going to be able or want to do morning till night park going (this is what I usually do). My parents can do it (75 and 80) but most can't.

Agree with others that your biggest issue is transportation which sort of makes everyone tour to the least able person's ability, unless someone goes back with the car and others stay. Hard to say what to do.

One thing we do with mobility issues is stay onsite. This gives anyone in the party the ability to easily get back to the hotel. As you can see by my signature, I'm not stranger to off-site vacation homes. They are a deal and extremely comfortable, but the transportation with a large/varied group is a nightmare.

Also, if you aren't transporting the ECVs, you are then at the mercy of hoping the park you visit doesn't run out of them by the time you get there.

 

[Bete]

We will have one offsite and one onsite scooter. The ones on the scooters have been to Disney World many times and are mentally very alert. They can do a show while some do the roller coasters, for example.

Without a good deal like free dining I'm thinking financially we will need to be offsite. I don't see the 50th anniversary year at Disney World having too many deals like free dining. It is what is.

If it turns ugly with the transportation we will rent a smaller car when we get there. I'll compare the car rental cost with staying offsite or not.

We did Pigeon Forge and Dollywood this year just a few weeks ago with the same group and using one, larger vehicle worked out okay for that trip. Our group doesn't seem to want to do all day and all night with parks.