Family Reunion in Disney World

JoAnn that's awesome! Have you considered using Disney's Group Travel to help you organize? When we go in October, we're part of a larger group (but only for the discount purpose - we're not hanging with them). Booking with my friend's group rate saved me $700, and the agent I worked with was really helpful and fun! Can't wait to hear more about it as you start planning!!!

How awesome! You know we'll have ideas, feel free to reach out!

I can give you the horror part of it? LOL

When we did that with my Mom's side of the family, it was literally hell. I mean it... it was the worst trip possible. The only day we enjoyed was when my Dad, Jess (She was my fiancee at the time), Evan, and I decided we had enough, and left them and did what we wanted. We hit MK, Epcot, and HS. We rocked it and had so much fun.

The problem we ran into was no one was allowed to split up. We couldn't get anything done. Riding a ride a second time... oh no... can't do that. We also didn't stay on site, which to me made it worse as well... we would be waiting on everyone to get ready and we wouldn't get to Disney till around noon. Drove us nuts! If one person didn't want to ride something... we didn't do it. It was just a horrible trip.

So that was our trip... lol

OH! And they didn't want to eat on site either!

Is it abominable?

Thats perfect. Trying to do everything with a group of 10 or more is just chaotic... having the freedom to do what ya want makes for a much better trip.

Kristen, that was a great one!

JoAnn - sounds like fun!! And a great idea to set up that Facebook page for everyone.

Mase - that really stinks. I give you alot of credit for hanging in there as long as you did!

I've never been with a huge group before but going as 8 adults (4 couples) in October of this year, we have agreed beforehand what things we want to do and planned accordingly, if we are in a park and some of us want to do one thing, we will split up, it's already been agreed. I think that's the main thing, you have to really talk about things before and make sure you are all on the same page

Good luck

In 2008 we did a grand gathering trip with 17 people. My parents, in laws, two siblings, niece, nephews and some of our wedding party. We had a great time. We had groups coming from CA and OH. We had 3 kids under. Age 10 and the rest were 18-60. Of the 14 adults only 4 had been to WDW before, only 1 of the kids was a newbie.
I planned our trip and made sure we had at least one main meal together each day and they were awesome. Everyone had the DxDP however we stayed at different resorts. Nightmare!
We had about 18 months to plan and pay. That was no problem because everyone had their own confirmation number and could pay Disney on their own..worked out great!
We had meetings, emails, Skype, you name it, they asked it and I was ready. For Xmas 2007 I bought every family Birnbaum 2008 guide books, teeshirts, and pins and lanyards for the kids. It was a very Disney Xmas
During our meetings and in EVERY email I told the adults that "I would play host for the first 4 of 9 days. On day 5 you all should be familiar with how to get around and how to use your meal plans." I printed out charts of meal times/places. Suggested interests for each family/friend etc...I made a survey and asked each family to write down 3 rides/shows they'd like to see, what kind of food they liked and which character( they wanted to see for each park. that was due early so I could make a master list.
We get there without a hitch. First 4 days were good. Day 5 my inlaws god bless them you would've thought I dropped them off in the middle of China, they were lost and didn't want to do anything alone. I of course wanted to sleep in because I had taken the younger crew over to pleasure island to the dance clubs. At 0700 we get a knock on our door...it's day 5 do what you like, we have dinner at 1930....at 0930 we get a call "wake up and lets go we're waiting for you" I had to have DW explain to her parents that we weren't getting up anytime soon.
Lets just say By day 7 they were good my parents pretty much ditched us except for the main meal. I think the only reason my dad went to each park was because we threatened bodily harm if he didn't leave the golf course and meet us for the family meal.
It will be a bit stressful but you'll have a great time. Just let everyone know upfront that after xxxdays they should be self sufficient. Plan time away from everyone and tell them it's ok to do your own thing. If not you are in for one heckuva headache
Good luck

This is such a great idea! If you think you're going to have at least 8 rooms, consider setting up a group - it will save you a lot of money on rooms.

If you're going to be the 'group leader' consider emailing out info on hotels, ticket options, and meal plan options. Then let everyone book on their own. Give them all a deadline to book by. Remember, 2014 pricing won't be out until next summer, so you're not going to know exact pricing until then.

You can also set up a 'welcome dinner' at a restaurant, and once there, hand out schedules of what you want the group to do. Whether that means meeting up for a counter service lunch on days 2 and 5, watching a movie at one of the resorts one night, or whatever. That way, people can go off and do their own thing but still have times to get together if they feel like it.