happymommy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
We are going with 24 people in October (my husband's family, 13 adults/11 kids). We do not have Park Hoppers, so we've planned to be in the same park each day. We also have two meals planned for the entire group, plus a few more meals for "sub-sets" of the group. We are all staying at the same All Star resort.
My husband and I purchased Memory Maker for the entire group. My understanding is that as long as we're linked properly in MDE, we'll all be able to see each other's pictures, then after the trip, I'll upload them to a shared Shutterfly site so people can order prints at will. If anyone has any advice in this area, please share!
I am a little concerned about how it's all going to work out, though. My husband's philosophy is, "my parents are paying for half of this trip, so we should do everything their way" and my philosophy is, "WE are paying for the other half so we shouldn't neglect our nuclear family's wants." So we'll see how it plays out, I guess. We definitely have more Disney knowledge than anyone else so we're trying to be helpful but not overbearing. I think my biggest worry is that I can picture all 24 of us planning to be at Magic Kingdom, for example, at rope drop. But then a few people are late for the bus so we wait for the next bus. So we miss the welcome show. Then we get into the park and people want to use the bathroom, look in shops, wander around . . . while I'm thinking we need to hit the rides! Then we all have a Fastpass for the same time, but we wait for everyone to get there, so the "Fast" pass actually involves 30 minutes of waiting.
There are a lot of layers involved in an extended family trip! I do think it's helpful to think through them.
Been there, done that. Trust me, your concerns are why I won't ever do another vacation (anywhere) with extended family again.