Family Trip to Disney

Well when we go with my husband's family there can be up to 20 of us. And when the kids were little, there was still a big spread in ages.
We always stay on property at Old Key West because they are like little condo's and have full kitchens. So someone always had rented a car and we went to a local grocery store and stocked up on PB&J, milk, cereal, cheese sticks etc so we did not have to always eat at the parks.
When the families had younger kids, they could always catch a bus back to the condo for nap time or down time.
There are "family pass" things (sorry my kids were always old enough) but look into them. Basically it allowed one parent to sit in a special area with a baby/toddler while the other one got to ride. Then when parent #1 got off parent #2 could get on.
Take advantage, if you can of one of the character meals. It is when you get to be up close and personal with some of the Disney Characters.
But have fun, don't sweat the small stuff and roll with the flow!

Oh, and NOT to put a damper on things. . . Disney parks are VERY safe. We knew some of the execs at one time. But I'll never forget someone telling me to remember what SHOES the kids were wearing. GOD FORBID, someone tried to kidnap they kids. . . the savvy ones will have clothes and/or cut their hair etc. But rarely will they have shoes that fit.

We are taking a trip there in June. Just one more month. My kids are super excited! We are staying on site at one of the deluxe resorts with the meal plan.

Most of the character meals / dinner events are either already booked or are not part of our meal plan, there are several, and would cost $400+ for the 7 of us for 1 meal and our 3 kids would end up eating nuggets, mac n cheese.

Google 'disney world 2010 menus'. All of the restarants are listed with their menus. Thank God for this. There were several character meals that sounded amazing, but then I looked at the menu and realized that all my kids would eat were nuggets and macarroni.

Read all of the reviews of a certain meal or show that you can. I learned that not all of the character shows are interactive. Your kids just stand there and wave, they can't touch them or take pics with them.

As for reserving meals, we have reserved Breakfast times at cafes in or within walking distance of our resort, but are leaving lunch and dinner open. I know where I'll be at 8a, but I don't want to HAVE to leave one part of the park just so that I can be at a different part of the park by noon or 6p. So if you are going to make meal reservations, plan your day and activities around them so that you will be close by and won't have alot of walking downtime.

For character meals, we've planned the 'Supercalifragilistic Breakfast' with Mary Poppins in the Grand Floridian. There are 6 characters involved. The others I feel with be roaming the park on and off and we'll just have to hope to run into them, or plan to go to the afternoon parade at 3 and see them all then.
M.

There's a book -- The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger (there's one for Disneyland, too.) It is researched by the author and his team making trips to Disney and also a compilation of reader's reviews and tips. There is a survey at the back of the book to send in after your trip, if you choose. It's updated yearly. There is advice for every aspect of your trip. I would buy it now - it will help you figure out where to stay as well as plan budget. It will tell you how to avoid crowds for any particular time of year, the scary factor for each ride, the best food, what not to miss, where to sit/stand for parades and shows to get the best view, etc. It will help you with an itinerary base on time of year and your group. It will also tell you a bit about the other parks in the area too (Universal, Sea World, etc.) but there are "Unofficial Guides" to those parks as well. I can't say enough good things about it. It is a really great resource for planning a trip. I took mine to the park with me and referenced it often.

Hope you have a fabulous trip! I do so love Disney!

I agree about the post with "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World." But don't buy it. Check it out for FREE at your local library! It has a ton of info.

We just went in Jan. 2010, and used the 2009 guide. VERY helpful. We followed the "ride plan" for Magic Kingdom the first day and it was pretty helpful.

If you are planning on doing a character meal you will need to book 90 days EXACTLY from the day of the meal. Most of them book up fast! We did breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table and it was GREAT!

We bought 7 (3 day) park hopper tickets off ebay from a seller who was able to get them NEW at a discount. (Don't know how he did it.) BUT we were able to save like $700 or $800 total JUST on the park tickets alone by doing that! And the tickets worked perfectly! No problems.

We stayed at a "time share" type condo with a full kitchen and dining room. That way we were able to eat a home cooked big breakfast every morning (with the exception of our character breakfast) and supper every night. We just packed our lunches and snacks and brought them with into the park. We saved a TON of money that way. Walmart was about 3 minutes from our "home" so we just stopped in any time we needed something.

You may just want to have it set that once you get to the parks, that your group MAY want to split up if each family wants to see different things. Or stay together for HALF of the day and then split. Our group would do that. After lunch, we'd split in two groups and let everyone do what they wanted.

We spent 1 1/2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1/2 day at Animal Kingdom, and a day at Hollywood Studios. Half of our group went to Epcot and LOVED it but our kids were 4 and 2 and we didn't think they'd enjoy that one. YOUR group is old enough that they would! (We thought Animal Kingdom was pretty dull with the exception of the Safari ride. We can go to a "zoo" in our home state so we just weren't that impressed with that one.)

The biggest piece of advice I have to give you is be prepared to work on the youngest one's schedule. With six adults you can "divide and conquer" but if you can't keep the four-year-old happy (and rested) no one will have a good time. You don't say if you are going to Disney World or Disneyland, but if you are going to the world I would have to recommend staying on property. It just makes popping in and out of the park or even going from park to park much easier.
I was just in Disney World last month, and I've been there several times with more planning than the Normandy Invasion, so if you want more specific information on the parks and how to schedule things, you can contact me directly at ____@____.com

Every 3 years my family and I plan a similar trip! There are 13 of us. My parents, both my sisters and their families (5 kids, 8 adults). We have Disney planning parties which are sooo much fun :-) Everyone gives their opinions on which restaurants they are interested in trying. We probably reserve maybe 4 nice dinner nights w/reservations. It makes sense to plan your park for that day by what reservations you've made. And then one night my sisters and our husbands go for a nice dinner w/my parents watching all the kids. We also usually do one event like the Pirates Cruise w/Fireworks. Go to Disneyworld.com and find all of the events happening at the time of your trip! I also sometimes plan the day depending on which park with have extra magic hours. I personally came up with an itinerary on Excel that I gave to each family so we all know who's where and when (but some may say that's a bit too much). It's such a great experience and we have wonderful memories from each time we've been. My son is now 8, he's the youngest and this year we're going it just the 3 of us and my parents tagging along! Can't wait, what a great time:-)
Don't hesitate to email me with any other questions I can answer. This will be at least my 10th trip.

Another OP resident weighing in on Disney...

My standard advice is to get the autograph books right away. There is a gift stand as you enter the park. Get the ones with the page for a signature on one side and a slip for the picture on the other. Don't forget a pen...

I agree with Lori, do the character breakfast, but it was our experience that they book up quickly. Get on line and book it NOW. We ended up doing ours at 7am on the last day of our trip and the kids were soooo tired and not happy about being up early!!

Do a search of this website for Disney. There have been so many good posts about Disney. Have a fabulous trip!!

I've only been to Disney once, so I'm certainly not an expert, but the best advice I got was to get a book and research the rides before you get to the park. All of the parks are huge, especially Magic Kingdom. If you know what rides are absolute must rides, you can organize your day according to where they are in the park, and not spend half your time trying to find them when you get there. There are some awesome guides that you can get at any bookstore that will give you all of the info you'll need. Also utilize the Fastpass system. The books will explain that too. Have a great time!

One other tip our family used was to go directly to the back of the park and work your way forward. The lines are longest at the first attractions in the morning. If you go to the back, you'll wait less time. By the time you get tired and want to go back, you'll be near the exit. There's nothing worse than hauling tired kids across a mile of park to get to the hotel!

If you want to do the autograph books, you might try buying them ahead of time. See if you can buy them on line or at a Disney store. The park stores and stands can be crowded.

We stayed at the Polynesian resort and it was great - there was a boat that went from the hotel to the Floridian (next door) and the Magic Kingdom just for people at those hotels. One of us would bring our little one back for a nap while the other took the older kids to other rides. At the edge of the hotel property was the monorail for easy access to Epcot. If you can get in one of the condos, it sure makes breakfast easy instead of being in a crowd at the park restaurants (not to mention getting everyone up and out the door on time).

Overall I would say Disney handles transportation really really well so most accommodations are within easy reach of the parks. I think the Disney people should be in charge of urban bus and subway systems, frankly! Things would run more more smoothly.

I'm currently planning a similar trip with a similar amount of people (less one adult) - and I have to say that you'll find that www.allears.net is such a wonderful site! It's an "unofficial" Disney info site written and managed by a former cast member and Disney enthusiast. Also, join all ears.net on Facebook if you already belong to facebook and you'll find even MORE info! I have gotten so many tips already. Also, make sure you make Advanced Dinner Reservations (referred to as "ADR" on the sites) as early as 180 days in advance from your trip. I hear they are must for character dinners / breakfasts, or even just regular sit down meals these days. Dining plans are a deal according to people - and do your best to "over plan" rather than "under plan" - better to be too prepared than not be prepared at all. Remember that you'll never see everything in one trip, and to take time to soak it all in and enjoy yourself rather than just trying to get here to there and everywhere in a rush rush rush! Oh the other big thing I'm finding is that when you get a fast pass for rides, etc it might say to return between 11:30 and 12:30... well you can return ANYTIME after 11:30 until the park closes and still have a valid "fast pass", so don't panic to get back there before 12:30. Lots of great tips on those websites. Have a great time!

Hi. I don't know if you have already made reservations on where you'd like to stay, but I have a travel website that competes with Expedia, Travelocity, etc. and our website has access to condos and other places where you can stay inexpensively.

If you go to www.BrackTravel.com and look under villas and condos, you'll see some really good deals in the Orlando area, as low as $115/night with a full kitchen.

Oh, and sign up to be a preferred customer and you get neat extras like 30 free minutes of concierge service on your cell phone. You can use it to get driving directions, reservations, find the closest Starbucks, etc.

Have a great time!!
Barb

http://michaelsvips.com/
For like 30 dollars or something (which is nothing compared to what you will spend once down there, and probably the best 30 dollars you will spend) you can get their insiders list. They guide you through the entire thing - you tell them what you like, what you want to do, the age of the kids, etc. and you get a complete customized, personalized guide to the way to do it right. My advice - follow it EXACTLY. Especially the part about getting there early. We are not early risers at all, but when we went we dragged ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn and I swear we made it to half the park before most people had opened their eyes. Good luck and have fun!