Have you visited WDW with your family?

My mom has that one framed. I will have to grab it and scan it when I go over. I think I have the splash mountain one in my place somewhere!

My parents decided that for their 40th anniversary, they wanted to take their kids and grandkids to WDW. There were 10 of us, 6 adults age 64-32 and 4 kids age 9 yrs to 7 months. We were supposed to stay at Shades of Green, but they were in the middle of a huge remodel, so they moved us to 3 garden view rooms at the Contemporary . However... no one did any sort of planning . Everyone wanted to get up late, then decide on breakfast, then figure out what park we wanted to go to. My sister had specific things she wanted to do while she was there, so everyone else kind of had to fall in line with her wishes. First day was completely wasted since no one coordinated the arrival of flights from 3 different airports. Ugh, it was just horrible! And that was my first trip with my kids (age 4 and 7 months at the time). So, as soon as we got back, DH and I started planning OUR trip. We went in Oct '04 and it was the best trip ever! That's what got us hooked . I've gone on other trips with close friends and everything was great. I think it has more to do with how well everyone gets along, and how much planning is done, rather than if you take family, or friends, or just you. If I had to do the whole family again, I think I'd take on the responsibility of all the planning, and split the family up as necessary for different ages and interests. It can be done, it just wasn't for my trip.

Kathy

That's a great story. So many people try to just sort of "coordinate when you get there" and I've never really heard of it working out well. It's so cool that it didn't make you dislike the parks though. Probably helped that your first time was in the Contemporary!

Sorry to hear that your trip was a bit jumbled. What a great idea though to trvale there together for your parent's 40th! I'm glad you went back and had a better experience though! Did you do anything special there for the anniversary?

Brad, yes the Contemporary makes everything better, especially since I wasn't paying for it! However, it wasn't my first trip there, just my first trip with them. Yes, sad but true, my parents never took me to WDW as a child . I did go with friends about 7 or 8 times prior to that trip though! ChipnDaleFan, no we didn't do anything out of the ordinary for their anniversary. I didn't know enough then to do something, and for them, just the fact that we were all together was special enough. My sister and her 2 kids live in upstate NY, my brother is in NYC, and I'm in CT, so it's rare, even on holidays, for us all to be together. They got the picture package from Chef Mickey's with all of us in it, and we had a Christmas ornament personalized for them at DTD. That was more than enough for them.

Wow Kathy, that sounds....horrible! I'm sorry the family trip didn't work out, but glad it spurred your husband and you to plan the perfect Disney trip. Where did you end up staying on your first "nuclear family only" trip?

We went moderate on that next trip and stayed at CBR. Even though we had to deal with the buses to get anywhere, it was still more relaxing, really the perfect trip (up to that point!). I researched and planned and arranged everything, and it went off without a hitch. That's the one that got DH hooked on staying on-site . Now, not only will he not stay off-property, he only wants to stay deluxe. I let him pick the resort for our Dec trip, and he chose the Poly. Can't wait!

Have you stayed there before?

We visited the resort a few times, eaten there, had a photo session, but still haven't stayed there. I'm looking forward to the convenience and the extra space. With 2 kids and an ECV (DH has bad knees), we can use all the room we can get! I was worried it wouldn't be "Christmassy" enough, but I'm sure we'll see plenty of decorations at the parks and other resorts.

You can ride the monorail one stop to the Grand Floridian and get a great Christmas experience. I think the Poly is a great choice if you have mobility constraints, since the MK is probably the biggest hassle to get in and out of. I can't remember if I've ever gone and checked out the Poly's Christmas tree though. I'm not even sure where they put it.

We just did our first family trip with the boys and their wives. We were a group of 6 plus baby princess. To my surprise I really did enjoy the trip and would do it again (in several years). I do have to say that going with your family makes it an entirely different vacation than when we just go by ourselves.
Even with just 3 families, picking a week that was good for everyone was not easy. MrHub and I did not really want to do a summer trip. However, our youngest son is a teacher so summer it had to be. Our oldest son is the manager of a sporting goods store so he also has some limits as to when he can go on vacation.
I did all of the planning except for their travel arrangements. I also gave them the choice of having all of our meals together or booking for each family. They all wanted to have the meals together. We had reservations for all breakfast and dinner meals. We just did counter service lunches.
Although MrHub and I were expecting to do a lot of babysitting back at our resort, that really did not happen. They just let her take her naps in the stroller. Our babysitting consisted of watching her while they went on rides that she could not go on. One good part of that though was getting the pass that then allowed MrHub and I to get into the fastpass line once the kids were finished riding.
We did not get nearly as much done as a group as MrHub and I do when we are alone. Yet, it felt like we were always running to do something. The kids do not go nearly as often as we do so they were running back and forth across the parks to do whatever they felt like doing at the time. MrHub and I just walk into a park, go to the left or the right and work our way around the park doing everything in one section before we leave it.
All in all though, we did have a good time.

Sounds great. It's neat to hear that it was completely different, but still just as magical.

We used to go with all our kids and grand kids. It was never a problem because everyone did their own thing. Even the grand kids.
Joe

Picture is all of us at All Star Music.
Joe

That's a great pic Joe. Who took it?

Our grandson's girl friend. She was the only one of our party that was not a family member.
Joe

Is she a family member now, or was that a casualty? Great pic by the way!