Thank you to this board, but our upcoming group trip will be one and done!

[katherine52478]

I understand completely! While I do love the planning involved in a Disney World trip, being the “Magic Coordinator” for a group trip is really stressful! Especially if the rest of the group hasn’t been before.

I am generally ok if my husband and son want to switch things up on trips where it is just us (although letting go of that SDMT FP the day of was certainly painful), but I am planning a trip with my husband’s brother and his family and I feel like I am responsible for making sure they see everything and have a great time! And they don’t understand why I am asking them about restaurants 6 months in advance or how tall they think my niece will be in 4 months and whether she is scared of yetis (). And what is going to happen when we rope drop and I want to get to Jungle Cruise and they decide they want to ride the Magic Carpets or climb the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse?

I’m trying to tell myself to go in with our plan but be prepared for things to change. And that I don’t need to worry if they are having fun or think I did a horrible job planning. It’s hard and I definitely said that after this, I am never planning to go with another group again!

 

[katherine52478]

double post. Sorry!

 

[Minnesota!]

I would say the only thing working against you is the size of your group. If you are all ok with splitting up, no ADR's or FP are needed "this soon". We have gone over Easter week and still booked ADR's same day/day before.

We still get to see and do almost everything.

Go into it with the notion that you are going to have FUN and not that it is a chore.

 

[Deanna404]

I completely understand and agree with what you said. I've been planning our trip for 8 months now, and I am about wiped out. I need a vacation before I go on vacation to WDW. At first, it was exciting, all the planning and podcasts and DISboards and what-have-you; now it has become a chore. I'm trying not to do anything this last week before our trip - everything is already done - but I'm also having a hard time disengaging from all the hype I've been attached at the hip to for the past 8 months. However, I WILL "let it go"! And I will hope that the magic becomes real again when I get to the airport.

Best wishes for wonderful trip to you!

 

[JakeAZ]

If you are all ok with splitting up, no ADR's or FP are needed "this soon".

We are OK with splitting up for parks / rides, but we want one meal per day with the whole group. We are also trying to maximize our dining credits by using these meals for character meals and / or dining packages (fantasmic, rivers of light, festival of fantasy) and early entry into MK (BOG breakfast). Due to this, we have specific places we want to eat and we need to coordinate them around parks. On two of those options, the times we got / wanted are not available anymore. Could they come back if someone cancels, sure, but I'd have to spend my time constantly looking for that cancelation in the app. I don't want to do that.

 

[JakeAZ]

although letting go of that SDMT FP the day of was certainly painful

Ouch!

If my family goes that route, I will just take their magic bands and ride 4 times in a row! haha

 

[Christine]

OP, I completely sympathize. I'm in the midst of planning at trip for a group of 16. We are going in 2 weeks. We were within the 180 day dining window so are sort of screwed there, even breaking up. So my meal plans kind of stink right now. I do pretty well with the FP situation, although not going near Easter!

I agree that I am hating the planning. We have two young children in our part (3&4) and they are the wildcards. I just don't know how they will be and I'm thinking that a table service every night is NOT going to work. I was under a LOT of pressure, like you, to try to maximize dining credits for us and, in the end, we've decided to forgo the dining plan. I think it was just causing too much pressure. Now I can just wing it for dining and if the kids are too tired then they and their parents can have a QS resort meal while the others go out. It *really* took off a lot of the planning pressure and I honestly know that even with booze and desserts, we are going to spend less and not worry about losing credits because one of the kids is melting down the night we had Chef Mickey's planned or something.

Good luck and, I noticed all the comments that you were setting yourself up to have a miserable trip. I don't know why people feel that way. This is strictly about the ridiculous amount of pre-planning. I especially agree on the ADRs. I think those should be the LAST things anyone does.

 

[JakeAZ]

Good luck and, I noticed all the comments that you were setting yourself up to have a miserable trip. I don't know why people feel that way. This is strictly about the ridiculous amount of pre-planning. I especially agree on the ADRs

Exactly! Just because I think the planning process is a joke, doesn't mean I can't still enjoy the product.

 

[JakeAZ]

I will say though, that while I really love "The Process" and micro-managing every detail for 180+ days, we did use a TA for that first trip (and other multi-family trips since) and that really helped take a lot of stress out of it. Our TA was an expert at getting those ADRs and FPs and really set up some nice daily itineraries that helped us have the perfect vacation for that moment in our lives.

Thanks for the info!

I did look into a TA at the beginning, but I'm actually glad I didn't go that route for two reasons (The few I talked to were very professional and really knew their stuff, so it was nothing against them).

1. I ended up renting DVC points for my room to get a 1BR at BLT. I couldn't have done that via the TA
2. The planning still would have been just as intensive, if not more, with a "middleman" involved. Even though it's stressful, I don't know if I would like relaying all the info I get from the other families to another person and then waiting to hear back on if the changes were done. I've also already made a few adjustments to our ADR times to "clean things up". Being able to just open the app and make the change is comforting.

I guess what I'm saying is even though I don't like the process, I don't think a TA would have made it less stressful for me, so I'd rather maintain the control. But of course I know many people have had very positive experiences with TAs.

 

[Kaleidodad]

Thanks for the info!

I did look into a TA at the beginning, but I'm actually glad I didn't go that route for two reasons (The few I talked to were very professional and really knew their stuff, so it was nothing against them).

1. I ended up renting DVC points for my room to get a 1BR at BLT. I couldn't have done that via the TA
2. The planning still would have been just as intensive, if not more, with a "middleman" involved. Even though it's stressful, I don't know if I would like relaying all the info I get from the other families to another person and then waiting to hear back on if the changes were done. I've also already made a few adjustments to our ADR times to "clean things up". Being able to just open the app and make the change is comforting.

I guess what I'm saying is even though I don't like the process, I don't think a TA would have made it less stressful for me, so I'd rather maintain the control. But of course I know many people have had very positive experiences with TAs.

FYI, you can still make adjustments to ADRs and FPs that a TA has set up for you: they just use your MDE credentials to book them. I'm not sure about the mechanics of renting DVC points as I haven't done that, but there are still a lot of ways that a good TA would absolutely make your planning process less stressful.

 

[Pumbaa_]

A travel agent could do all that for you. They are worth their weight in Mickey bars

 

[JakeAZ]

A travel agent could do all that for you. They are worth their weight in Mickey bars

I didn’t think they could do DVC rental. They get their commission from Disney, from what I’ve read, and one of the biggest expenses they would get paid on is the room.

 

[PeacefullyContent]

Thanks for the response

I've read posts about this too. I'm sorry but "CM discretion" shouldn't be involved at any point. The policy needs to be clear. Requiring group 2 to have the fastpasses seems counterintuitive, but if that's the policy, I'll follow it. I will not be calling over a team lead to plead my case. I'm not that guy. I'll voice my concerns here, but I'm not going to confront a front of the line CM who is just trying to do their job (even if it's doing a job that involves a confusing policy).

I totally agree with you regarding CM discretion. But part of me feels like Disney does this on purpose... Disney has NEVER had a problem rolling out new rules/updated policies/etc yet nothing is written in stone on this one despite millions of questions and reports in the beginning of the year that an official policy is coming... I can't help but to wonder why that is... Could be because both sides of the coin feel very passionate about the fairness/unfairness of the process so it may be in disney's best interest (it's a business so always from a financial standpoint) to remain 'mum' & leave it up to CM discretion vs releasing an official policy.

And by suggesting you ask for a lead, i was in no way or form suggesting you make a scene or do something you are not comfortable with i just wanted to let you know there was a way for you to get what is rightfully due to you. As you stated requiring both groups to have FP's is counterintuitive, and it is not policy... as discussed there is no official policy to the best of our knowledge. It's not fair for you to have to miss out on your adult rides because you are using your FP's to ride with your youngins because they're too young to ride by themselves; rider-swap gives you the option to enjoy as well without waiting forever. Besides, most parents could not justify paying thousands, upon thousands of dollars for for a disney trip if not everyone could enjoy.

I also read that it's easier to tell the CM what you want versus asking for permission - more your style . So approach the CM stating you want to user rider swap and tell her/him group 1 will be riding fastpass and this is group 2 - less of a chance of hiccups vs you going up and asking 'hey, does group 2 need a presheduled fastpass, as well?'

 

[YesterDark]

I love planning. I love all of it.

I'd never plan a multi family vacation. Congrats to you for embarking on that endeavor. God speed and good luck.

 

[YesterDark]

Also, I'd like to add that I think you're stressing out too much. Planning out which days you go to which parks should be a question of the tempo and cadence of your trip. Like how many park days in a row max, how many resort days, how many half days, which order to do parks. Thinking about that is much more important that which parks open early and stay open late and then shoe horning your vacation around extra magic hours.

If you want to change your mind, then change your mind. ADRs can be had easily enough with the exception of some harder to get ones. A lot are available the day before anyway. Just use a number of reservation finders like the one Touring Plans has.

Whenever I plan a vacation I always know I'm going to begin and end the vacation at MK. I'm never going to do more than two full days in a row at parks. I'm never going to do more than 4 days in a row with late nights at a park (unless it's without kids, I have three under 6 yo). Then I plan which days are resort days which days are half days which days are full days. Everyone is different in how they like to vacation, so make your own rules.

My last vacation in August (you can read the trip report if you like) was great. We changed around a few ADRs that I carefully planned out 180 days prior. We changed fastpasses a few days prior. We decided to not rope drop some days. We dropped a park day for a adult only night with the kids due too weather.

I think my point is that, don't look at the 180 day mark as setting your vacation planning in stone. You have to look at things as fluid from the 180 day mark until the day is over and it should relieve the pressure. You can never plan the perfect vacation 180 days out on your first time. You have to be flexible.

I did my 180 day ADRs a month ago for March. I think I rearranged them twice already. I stick Touring Plans reservation finder on the time I want and just wait. Stressing out about these things is just going to end up making things unfun.

 

[chainkid]

I find planning any trip the highlight for me. I find it has been more challenging every few years with changes Disney has made. I usually plan for a min of 19 people and I'm about as expert as you come knowing ins and outs of planning so I completely understand how overwhelming this would be for people who seldom vacation here. I try to not stress over a rigid schedule. I find out in advance what are the most important things you want to do and then try and work them in . If I don't have fast passes then I either rope drop or check online to see when waits are low. There is so much too do and appreciate that I often change schedule . One year I had the dining plan and I couldn't get a single reservation I wanted because I was away when window opened. I tried some new places like The Boat House, Art Smith's Homecoming, The Wave and found some new favorites like Jiko.

As for rides, I have done them all and usually don't wait in a line over 60 minutes. Rope drop for people who must see and do it all is a must. I often ride what I want before noon and save fast passes for later in day or at another park, If you are going with a toddler then I would not plan a hectic schedule of rides as they do not want to move that fast. They smell the roses. Plan character breakfasts or dinners if they are not scared of that. My grandson at 18 months was afraid of all the rides but Dumbo but would spend hours with the characters over and over. He found joy in places we never noticed when rushing around.

Best advice I can give is to go with the attitude that Disney is an immersive experience where missing a ride here and there is not the end of the world. Fireworks are wonderful, lots of new restaurants to try, the new skyliner is my new thing to experience . Don't get regimented or you will be very frustrated.

 

[maxiesmom]

Not with a 17 mos old.

Kids that age are much easier than 3 or 4 year olds.

 

[maxiesmom]

I also think it is a huge mistake to try and an ever little detail. That is just asking for things to go wrong. You can choose to plan every detail or have a more relaxed vacation. Both are possible.

 

[LSUmiss]

Kids that age are much easier than 3 or 4 year olds.

Yeah I was afraid of that!

 

[JakeAZ]

I also think it is a huge mistake to try and an ever little detail. That is just asking for things to go wrong. You can choose to plan every detail or have a more relaxed vacation. Both are possible.

Definitely not trying to plan every single detail. My post is about having to coordinate everything in advance, but inside different time windows. And then if you want to deviate from the preplanned things, once in the park, it will be hard to do so since we’re going at a busy time and alternatives may not be readily available.