Yup, I am pretty sure I have lost my mind.

[Dimples1973ca]

Somehow in the family excitement of the Canada Day long weekend, I may have convinced my DSil, that they should join us for our Disney vacation next year. My DB and family have never been and my DSil keeps texting me with questions, costs, plans etc... There will be eleven people in total. DB, DSil, their 4 daughters, his grandson and son in law. My little family of three makes 11!

One of their daughters is the same age as my DD so that is bonus. My DB and one of his girls have flown before but not his remaining brood. My DSil is a bit of a nervous nelly.

I want to share my Disney love with everyone but am I insane for taking this one on.

 

[canadakath]

I want to share my Disney love with everyone but am I insane for taking this one on.

Yes! But it will be fun. I "guided" a group of 13 last November - my parents, DB, DSil and their 2 DD, DS and her DD, and my nephew. My sister and I do NOT have the same personality for many things - and travel is certainly one of them! It was very stressful, and afterwards I vowed I needed a break from Disney. Well, here I am a few months later planning on returning in November! But with just "my boys"!

I booked one group meal each day, and outside of that left everyone to their own devices. WE usually started the day in a park together, and drifted apart after an hour or so. One thing I found very hard was making the whole group get to the ADR on time. If your whole group isn't there, they won't seat you. And sometimes others in the group didn't realize how much I had gone through 6 months earlier to make some of these ADRs. It was frustrating, but I decided to let it go and make sure my family had a great time.

Make sure you sign up as a Great Gathering, and try to do at least one of the special events. We did breakfast at Tony's, and being able to walk into MK with no crowds around and get fantastic family shots in front of the castle was a real highlight.

Give what advice you can to the newbies, but do not take on the responsibility of keeping the whole group happy. NOT your job! Hope it all turns out wonderfully!

 

[iluveeyore]

Have fun planning! (no, really!). We went for Christmas two years ago with my family of 5 plus my dad, then my DSIS, her family of 6 plus her in-laws. We got smart though, because we really didn't want to fly all together (two reasons - my Dad didn't want his ENTIRE family on one airplane, and I didn't want the stress of keeping us all together), so we went down a few days before them to extend our trip a bit, and then they joined us for a week a few days later. We each had our own two bedroom villa at OKW, but near each other, so it was nice. We met up to do a few things, but not everything. I helped her with all her planning, but I was lucky she had been before with a couple of her older boys, so she knew what to do with her in-laws and the rest of her gang without me. It can be a lot of fun - your DB and DSIL might have to realize it's very hard to keep such a large group together and still all have fun at the same time - it's nice maybe to go together to a park, and then split up to do different things and meet up later back at the resort or for a meal. It was nice to get pics of us all together though, since we really don't get together all at once too often anymore.

 

[Candid]

I want to share my Disney love with everyone but am I insane for taking this one on.

Nah, just someone who loves to spend time with family......and well, maybe a "little" bit

 

[Dimples1973ca]

Dave wants an us only trip but you know me...... Are you planning your trip soon?

 

[Candid]

Dave wants an us only trip but you know me...... Are you planning your trip soon?

If it was up to me we'd go this year but Scott wants to wait until Maya is 6 so she can swim with the dolphins at DC I wish it was based on swimming ability instead of age cause she can swim now