Best way to book for family group of 11?

[jtw3549]

Hi all, Disney parks vet looking for the best way to book a family group of 11. 6 adults, 5 kids, ages 12,11,11,13, and 16 at time of travel. Looking at 11/10/24 - 11/18/24. Disney not booking that far out yet, i know. Of the 6 adults, 2 will be seniors, 1 of which will certainly be in a scooter and have a DAS pass.

In the past for my immediate family of 3 I've booked everything myself. Never done a group this size. Seems like we would need 3 reservations (# of families), and link them all together in the app once booked? Also not sure with a group this size if onsite or off site will be best. I know the pros and cons and personally prefer staying onsite, but again, with a group this big...

Any and all suggestions, direction, advice is most welcome! I'm really thinking of letting Dreams take the reins and run with it, but looking for overall feedback as well.

Thank you!

 

[lanejudy]

I recommend each family unit have their own room reservation.

1 of which will certainly be in a scooter and have a DAS pass.

DAS isn't granted for scooter/wheelchair use. The person should be prepared to explain their needs in a standard queue environment that cannot be resolved by the scooter.

if staying offsite with a scooter, be sure you have planned for transportation with the scooter. Some offsite hotels offer shuttles, but accessible shuttles may be limited.

 

[TinkerPan]

A lot depends on your make up of your group, and the purpose that you are all getting together. I think your biggest decision is whether to stay on or off-site. We are also a group of 11. (4 families), that incluses two sets of grandparents. Eight adults total with 3 toddlers. Our goal is to spend time together with the grandchildren and each other. We live in 3 different states and want to spend vacation time with each other. We are renting a house that has its own pool and hot tub, playroom, six bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Part of that decision was dictated by having 3 toddlers: 12 mo. 2 yr. and 4 yr. olds with us. This way the parents can enjoy the pool and be only steps away from sleeping kids. In our case we will have 3 cars, so transportation to the park is not a problem.

If you think your 3 families will do a lot on their own, then staying on property might be a good solution for you. Your group has older kids so they might better enjoy the Disney pools. If that's the case then I'd definitely reach out to a travel agent.

That said, if your group gets along, shares living space without issue, has cars available to get you to WDW, and you would enjoy having more time to visit and hang out together, renting a house would be a lot more economical and would offer more living space. (All in with taxes, fees etc. it was less expensive than two moderate rooms at Disney, Actually I think it was even less expense then two value rooms, depending on room type and locale.) Most rental houses come with full kitchens, and laundry facilities. Ours also has access to a community recreation area that includes a lazy river, and other recreation options and was 25 minutes from WDW.

 

[RoseGold]

You start with the scooter. Accessible transportation is a big limitation. If this person is permanently disabled and has an accessible van already within driving distance, that's a different scenario than relying on Disney for transport. There are other options, like Mears accessible taxi. But that adds up and can be slow.

 

[jtw3549]

DAS isn't granted for scooter/wheelchair use. The person should be prepared to explain their needs in a standard queue environment that cannot be resolved by the scooter.

Yes, aware of this. Thank you.

 

[HopperFan]

Does every group have the same lodging budget?

We have had trips where we were in the same hotel and some where we were in different hotels and would meet up.

I think it's important everyone is on the same page with that first.

 

[mmouse50]

I took the reins on my "family" trip of 14 (4 families, 6 adults which included grandparents, rest were teens) we all stayed onsite at the same resort. We started out the morning together and by the afternoons grandparents went back to room, some adults split off from the teens but then we all had a sit down dinner and planned our evenings. Being onsite at the same resort made it easier to get together and let people come and go like they wanted.

We had enough space to be together but "not be together" even though you are family and everyone gets along, having your own space to go back to sometimes is nice.

 

[Anna131517]

Given the scooter you might want to focus on staying on property either on the monorail line or on the skyliner line. Look at a few resorts (maybe one deluxe, one value, and one moderate) and see where people would prefer to stay.

 

[sponica]

I did a family trip with a group of 12 in February.
I didn't want to be the Disney travel agent (and it was my husband's family).

My MIL, FIL and my family unit decided to split a 2 BR at Riviera (it was my FIL's 65th bday). Another couple stayed at boardwalk and another were at caribbean beach as were the adult kids who came.

Everyone was responsible for their own planning and ADRs and genie+. We got overlapping times when we could. The only thing I did was do the VQ for GOTG for everyone.

 

[Rory607]

We’ve used a travel agent in this situation and linked our accounts for using Genie and dining reservations. I did most of the communicating with the agent. We stayed onsite and each family group had their own room. As someone else said, we would start the day together and then sometimes split up, depending on what everyone wanted to do. Then we would usually have a dinner reservation that everyone would do together. Disney transportation made this very easy. I would think staying off-site would present some logistical challenges with a large group, but I’m sure would be less expensive.

 

[jtw3549]

Thank you everyone for the guidance. We’re narrowing down travel dates at this point.

With that said, opinions on September ‘24 vs November ‘24?

 

[sponica]

Thank you everyone for the guidance. We’re narrowing down travel dates at this point.

With that said, opinions on September ‘24 vs November ‘24?

Depends when in September. The weeks before/after Labor Day are generally some of the lowest crowds....but also hotter than the surface of the sun.

Weather will be better in November but crowds are all over the place.

 

[kwdw]

With a scooter user, you will need to decide if you can handle transportation if off-site. If this person always uses a scooter and they are driving, it's probably normal for them to have a system of loading/unloading a scooter from a vehicle. If this is just someone who needs to rent a scooter for WDW only, for me, that would dictate an on-site stay. WDW is very friendly for scooter users - including those who don't normally deal with one in their daily lives.

For on-site - I personally think the three families should book their own rooms at the same resort. And pick a resort that all three can afford. When traveling with a larger family unit - I like the ability to do things like meet up for breakfast - or have a pizza party at the pool - resort hang-out time. You can't do that at different resort.

 

[DisneyOma]

I would stay onsite with the group you describe. That way you have easy transportation for all, and people can come and go at will. I'd pick a Skyliner resort for ease of getting the scooter user to EPCOT and HS, unless your main park is going to be MK, and you can afford deluxe.

A reminder that DAS is only for a group of 6 immediate family members, so plan accordingly for that as well.

 

[jtw3549]

This has all been so helpful. Thank you all. We’ve narrowed it down to on-site at POP more than likely.