Planning a trip for 10 people...tips appreciated

[Alpineslide]

My family of 4 has been to WDW each of the past two years. Next June we are planning to go with family. There will be a group of 10 and I'll likely be the primary trip planner. Typically we would stay in either Coronado Springs or The Cabins of Ft. Wilderness and eat several table service meals. This trip will include a single mother and her three children so I'm thinking we may try to be more budget minded this trip.

Any advice on how to do things in a budget minded manor for a group of 10 would be appreciated.

 

[Surgie2]

Any advice on how to do things in a budget minded manor for a group of 10 would be appreciated.

DIS has a forum specifically for budget ideas called the Budget Board - lots of great ideas there.
https://www.disboards.com/forums/budget-board.22/

We also have a family of 10 going (4 kids from 1-5) and we are doing very few TS meals. Not sure how old the kids in your group are but we feel TS meals take a lot of park time and it's just not something the kids enjoy...which means the parents don't either Plus they tend to be more expensive than QS meals. We are planning to be back at the resort most days for dinner and do something simple like order pizza. Much more relaxing for all and will save money over TS meals. It is also helpful to have simple things on hand in the room for breakfast.

 

[oufpat]

This July will be our 4th group trip, they have ranged from 10-13 people per trip with10 going this time. 5 kids, ages 11 and under this time. We are also doing less TS meals, only dinner at Whispering Canyon, my birthday, my choice. Also doing breakfast at Ohanas, kids choice. Try to avoid buffets (which we didn't) , way too expensive. You can also have kids split meals and adults can order off children menus at TS. The kids have 1 mission this trip, as many rides as possible and some pool time. Enjoy your trip and try to go with the flow

 

[TraceyPoppins]

I was the trip planner for our family of 9 in March, most of whom had never been to WDW. Our family of 4 has been many times. We stayed offsite and saved a LOT of money. A 5 br, 4 bath house with private pool cost about $1200/wk. we divided by 3 families and it was a steal. Plus we had laundry and a full kitchen so we saved a ton on food/ meals. I know it's blasphemy for some to stay off properly, but we loved it. For a large group, it's nice to have a central meeting place too. Good luck with planning!

 

[unrequited23]

Booze.

But seriously, we did a trip with 8 in May and the main stressor was not everyone was staying onsite, but they all wanted the same FPs. I would get everyone onboard to not split between onsite and offsite.

Plan on time for the families to all be together, than also plan on free time when everyone can do their own thing. You can always decide to meet up at the spur of the moment. We did RD together, but were on our own from 3pm on. This could be when you do TS meals and other family could do QS.

Break days were a lifesaver for us. If you can, plan at least one. We did two days parks, one day off, two days parks, one day off, one park day.

Budget minded tips-I'd suggest breakfast in room. Splitting meals or ordering kids meals. I read that the portions were huge but was still surprised when we got there.

Teach everyone how to use the MDE app before hand.

 

[rwdavis2]

I was the trip planner for our family of 9 in March, most of whom had never been to WDW. Our family of 4 has been many times. We stayed offsite and saved a LOT of money. A 5 br, 4 bath house with private pool cost about $1200/wk. we divided by 3 families and it was a steal. Plus we had laundry and a full kitchen so we saved a ton on food/ meals. I know it's blasphemy for some to stay off properly, but we loved it. For a large group, it's nice to have a central meeting place too. Good luck with planning!

This is probably the biggest single money saving tip there is. Rent a large house over in Windsow Hills. But you will need 2 cars to do it. You really don't really want to rely on an outside hotel's transportation.

 

[Lights]

I was the "planner" last year for our group of 10, since I was the one that travelled more frequently to the parks and knew more about it. I only had 5 months to get it all working, so in that aspect you're more ahead than me.

Since you have enough time, I would write down all of the things you think you can show your family (hotel accommodations, tickets, food, prices, etc.) Get them all together at least once and let them know you want to get their opinion and get things going. That's what I did, we knew we were staying onsite, but I presented all of the possibilities, prices, number of days and we would discuss what would be better for all of us. After we all decided on the hotel and number of days, they sort of let me plan the rest at my discretion, but I would do the same thing as the start for fastpasses and restaurants you're planning on going, or just give them a list for them to give you their input. If you have the time, I would present them all the possibilities (even dessert parties and such, some of our family didn't do it, but we planned accordingly for them too) and just at least a few times get them all together to see what they think, if some of you want something and the others don't, plan what you can so that everyone is happy but taking in consideration that each person/family paid for their part too, so that you're all satisfied.

My biggest tip would also be plan on getting park hoppers. With being a few of you, sometimes at the end of the "park day" someone might want to catch a few hours in another park or even dine in a different restaurant once or twice, but still do the rest together. Also, take a lot of breaths and remember to enjoy it all! My biggest regret with my trip was that since everything was "on me" I stressed a lot about making everyone's trip perfect and forgot to take a breath and enjoy it myself!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Not specifically about budget but we did do a trip with 10 people (some family and some friends) and if I had to do it over again I would have planned for less things for us to do all together. It is just hard to get everyone ready at the same time and to the same place, etc. - it sometimes felt like we were spending time just waiting at a spot for everyone to meet up, etc.

So I would suggest planning a few things to do as a large group (maybe a meal or two or a show or a meet & greet or something) - but don't try to plan for everyone to do everything together ... allow some time for smaller groups to break apart, etc.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Just give up now.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I have planned several group trips for my family and our friends as well as with extended family. There will be 11 of us going in September.

I will be the voice of dissent here and tell you that staying on-site is essential with a large group due to the transportation. At Disney, people can break up into smaller groups and do their own thing. Being joined at the hip is a surefire way to have a less than magical trip. And you will be forced to stay mostly together if you have only one or two vehicles to get to and from the parks.

The rooms at Pop will be brand new next spring. I'd stay there in a heartbeat for a budget trip, but I would keep my eyes peeled for a deal at the moderates.

I would plan 2 or 3 table service meals at fun places for a group--Chef Mickey, Ohana, Whispering Canyon, 1900 Park Fare for examples. I keep reading great reviews about Trail's End and plan to try it and combine it with pony rides for the toddlers in my group.

For my trips, I make a plan for my smaller group (i.e., my immediate family) and share it with everyone else. I tell them they are welcome to join us for any and all plans, but if they want to branch off and do their own thing, no problem.

 

[flortlebap]

I've done a trip with 10 and a trip with 13. Both were stressful and if I'm honest, my least favourite trips.

I'm a planner but the others I was with were more winging it types and hated being tied to a schedule. We ended up going separate ways, which alleviated the pressures that come with touring together (i.e. Dragging people along). One family just wanted to swim every day and didn't care for the parks so we left them to it.

So the only tip I have is to manage people's personalities! Being together 24/7 is unrealistic and you may end up wanting to kill each other... factor in some downtime and time away from each other and it works much better.

 

[Grmnshplvr]

in 2015 we did a trip with 12 people. I planned everything, 8 of us were at the same hotel, same arrival and departure date. My sister in law and my nephews came a few days after us and stayed at a different resort. i planned all the fast passes and dining. I planned one dinner for my family to have alone though. For the rest of the trip we did have some conflicts, some didn't want to get up early for the breakfasts I had booked so they stayed behind, that was fine, we just met up later in the day. Most of our group did everything together, some spent more time at the hotel due to medical conditions, and not dealing with the heat well. Overall, we had a fantastic time, everyone that went just went with the flow. We had a great group with good attitudes and that made a world of difference for us. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[AngiTN]

Is it too late to say RUN!

Sorry, no help. I had a friend ask me to help her plan a trip with 10 and I wasn't even brave enough to do that. I sent her to a TA friend. I haven't the patience to do it so an extended family trip is never in my future. Any I have would be one that happened because we all happened to end up there at the same time by coincidence

 

[YawningDodo]

I was the trip planner for our family of 9 in March, most of whom had never been to WDW. Our family of 4 has been many times. We stayed offsite and saved a LOT of money. A 5 br, 4 bath house with private pool cost about $1200/wk. we divided by 3 families and it was a steal. Plus we had laundry and a full kitchen so we saved a ton on food/ meals. I know it's blasphemy for some to stay off properly, but we loved it. For a large group, it's nice to have a central meeting place too. Good luck with planning!

This is just about the only circumstance in which I'd agree that the savings would be high enough to justify staying off-site (ymmv, I just find that the onsite amenities are worth the cost when traveling solo or in a small group). With the kind of savings you can get on a rental vacation house versus enough resort rooms for a group that size...yeah, I can really see the argument.

On the other hand, a previous poster made a good point about transportation. You're all going to have a better trip if you're willing and able to split up for significant chunks of time, so keep that in mind when you're figuring out your mode of transportation to/from the parks. Definitely plan times to meet up and do things together (meals, shows, certain attractions...) but don't insist on spending the entire vacation as a group of ten. Different people are going to want to do different things with their time, and that's super okay as long as you build in the expectation that not everyone has to go do those things with them.

 

[JennyDrake]

ABSOLUTELY this FIRST this you need is a budget that works for EVERYONE--this will set the stage for most other decisions. If you have teens going, you may want to weight staying on site to allow them some freedom to come and go with access to WDW transportation. It also allows anyone feeling sub par to go back and rest. Also, staying on WDW property means that not everyone has to be at the same place at the same time. I would plan ONE activity (i.e. a meal sit down or CS) for everyone to do each day as a group and from there, let other people plan--or not-- as much as they do or do not wish.

 

[Belle5]

I have traveled with parties of 9 several times and 11 and 12 other times. If you plan on riding attractions together, you either all need to be on-site or all need to be off-site. Those staying on-site have priority on FP+ and by the time your off-site relatives are allowed to book there the same time-slots are not going to be available on headliner rides and attractions. Often, there is no availability left for those headliners. BUT, if you only plan on meals together (not attractions) then one group can stay onsite and the other offsite.

I would put each day's plan "out there" for all in the party to see and be determined that YOUR family will be where you said, when you said...even if others in the party are not! You might be traveling with a family who just doesn't "get" Walt Disney World and how necessary it is to do certain things at a certain time. They might want to sleep in... The way we have managed our trips is to tell everyone that our goal is to have the evening's table service meal together and ride two or three headliner attractions together. After that, people need to be able to have THEIR vacation (whatever that means to them). They might like to browse through shops, meander and lose themselves in the theming, etc...

You can say things like, "Our family is going back to the resort to swim and rest between 2-6. Your family is welcome to join us or do your own thing."

You don't want to be perceived to be "controlling" the vacation, especially if you are not paying for the other family's portion. If they are sacrificing in order to make the trip, they need to feel like it's theirs! I will go further and say that I once paid for everyone's packages (3 rooms) for my mom's 70th birthday celebration (free dining, hooray) and I still didn't want to control everything. I made dining reservations for all of us to dine together each night and allowed everyone to make themselves happy the rest of the time!

You will all come home refreshed and still friends if you allow everyone to have a say in their day and everyone to have their own time to vacation their own way. Do NOT try to stay together every minute! If the other family likes to sleep in and they miss their FP+ times, they will hear at dinner how much you enjoyed the attractions and perhaps be motivated the next day to keep up with the schedule (assuming you all decided to do attractions together).

 

[Belle's Librarian]

I was the trip planner for our family of 9 in March, most of whom had never been to WDW. Our family of 4 has been many times. We stayed offsite and saved a LOT of money. A 5 br, 4 bath house with private pool cost about $1200/wk. we divided by 3 families and it was a steal. Plus we had laundry and a full kitchen so we saved a ton on food/ meals. I know it's blasphemy for some to stay off properly, but we loved it. For a large group, it's nice to have a central meeting place too. Good luck with planning!

I could have written this post! We did the same thing in November, and I booked a throwaway campsite the first night so we all got 60 day fastpasses and 2 days of free parking.

Multiple cars are a must, but check how much parking space your rental has. A modest budget for taxis/uber can also be a big help when the group needs to split up. I was surprised how cheap it was to get from Windsor Hills to the parks.

I ended up booking the fastpasses, and we did a few things together and others separately, which was good because of the wide age ranges. Took a lot of time to plan, but it was a fantastic trip!