Planning trip with grands: 3yo, 7yo boys and boy girl twins 10yo.

[La_brer_bear]

2br Saratoga springs. Which parks, when. Stay together or divide and conquer. Daughter and SIL also on trip. PawPaw 2 months removed from Open heart surgery. Minimal rides but lots of walking.

 

[sponica]

I'd do all the parks (but I always do all the parks).

I'd make a list of the things that are important for everyone to experience together and then let the adults go off with the kids if you need a break.

 

[kwdw]

Which parks and when depends on how long you are staying which you didn’t mention. I think you should plan that you all go to same park each day, but it sounds like a group of 8 and you may want to divide at times. Maybe book a few TS meals in parks to reconnect if you did divide up for part of the day, for example. It’s likely, for example, that PawPaw, mom, and 3 yo take things slower at times, for example, as the youngest and oldest are going to be more limited on ride choices. When I travel with family, there’s always some together time and some separate time in the parks. We’d drive each other crazy if we spent the whole time together each day. By dividing part of the time in the parks, we get the best of both worlds.

I find the goal of everyone leaving at the same time in the morning works well because it means there is breakfast eating and getting ready time that you are all working through at the same time.

 

[cubed]

We travel with my ILs to Disney all the time and we have 3 boys, now 10, 6, and 3. We always give the grandparents the option to meet us later but I typically have a plan on which route we take throughout the park. I also plan all dining for our crew of 7 since it's easier. If you need breaks, definitely take it! I agree with posters above and plan to head to the parks at the same time. You guys can always separate and regroup later.

 

[Thing 1]

I would plan together with permission for anyone to take breaks as they want or need. If most everyone wants to ride the bigger rides…..maybe papaw and the little one can hang out together and grab an ice cream or ride something else together.

 

[Anna131517]

Go to the same park each day and plan on doing TS meals (lunch and dinner) and some no height restriction rides together. One adult will have to volunteer to take the older kids on the height restricted rides. Don’t plan on staying too late because the kids who are walking will get exhausted and cranky. If you and your husband don’t like to wake up early you can meet everyone later in the morning at the parks. Also don’t be afraid to go back early if your husband is getting tired. Is he going to rent an ECV? If Disney transportation is exhausting then look into calling an Uber or Lyft to make it easier on you and your husband. A collapsible ECV will make taking Uber or Lyft more feasible.

 

[apdismom]

When I travel with a large group I ask everyone 2 go online, YouTube, the Disney website, and find 3 things that they want to do whether its a ride, a show, a certain meal, a lot of times there is overlap... Then I sit down and organize by park what people want to do....this way I'm not trying to make it the best trip and find things people want do, they are telling me. This works even with people who haven't been there as there is so much information out there. I have had my kids and other children we have gone with videos on YouTube, this seems to help a lot especially the 7-15 yr old range. The littles are easier. I also have adults do the same thing. Then depending on the number of days and number of people we travel with we do 1-2 of the list things a day...so if someone wanted to ride the safari at AK and someone else wanted to ride pandora and that was their top 3. We would go to AK do those things...we would do other things but I always say "everything else is gravy.." This allows us to have a minimal plan and also leaves us free to do other things without being strapped to a minute by minute itinerary.