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If you are in the midst of planning a trip or event for a large group of people at a place like Disney, for example a wedding, family reunion, vow renewal, or milestone birthday celebration, you are likely to discover some unique challenges.  Disney travel with a group is really fun, but can also have dangerous potholes you will want to look out for.

Transportation & Logistics Challenges

For example, is everyone staying at the same resort?  If not, transportation may be a challenge.  When we were planning our wedding, we ended up with people staying at four different resorts.  Planning transportation for wedding events ended up being one of our biggest challenges!  Depending on the size of your group, your travel agent (or planner for your group) may be able to work with Disney to get discounted rates for your group.  This tends to work for large groups, or groups who are also using Disney catered events, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, etc.  But it’s always worth a try!  Try to choose one or two resorts that will work for your group. The best scenario is one resort.  However, depending on your group, you may want to offer resorts in different financial tiers to accommodate different budgets.

Of course, sometimes, people will just do their own thing, regardless of what you plan for your event.  If that happens, you then have to decide if you’ll include their transportation needs in your planning, or if you’ll make it their responsibility to get to the planned events.   But know there’s a good chance it will happen, and be prepared and decide early how you will handle this if it happens.

Group Composition Challenges

The composition of the group can also present some challenges.  Is your group a mixture of families with kids and young singles or couples?  Or perhaps a mix of adults and children of all ages and interests?  Does everyone know each other already, or does anyone know each other at all?

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Depending on what you are planning, you may just have specific events to worry about, and outside of that, everyone will be on their own.  For example, you can plan a wedding and wedding reception for your guests and then leave on your honeymoon.  Or you can plan a Family Reunion that is all about one specific afternoon or evening event.

Alternatively, you may have a situation where you will have some “official” events, usually paid for by the planners, but you may want to spend more time with everyone outside of the “official” events.   You may want to plan a “Get to Know You” casual event near the beginning of the trip, if your group involves a lot of people that don’t know each other.

For example, very large families, traveling to a reunion; corporate events with multiple branches coming together; even weddings often face the challenge of lots of invitees who don’t know each other.  A casual ice breaking event is often a great way to get everyone to get to know each other and start talking before the more “official events” begin.  Again, this will depend on your group, your budget, and the purpose of your gathering.

Do NOT Bring a Stick and a Pole or a Megaphone!

The first thing you have to accept is that in a place like Disney, it is going to be impossible to try and keep large groups together for any substantial period of time.  In a daydream, it can be lovely to imagine your group of 40 people joyfully going from attraction to attraction, stopping for Mickey bars and Photopass pictures along the way.  However, the reality? Doesn’t really work that way.  We’ve all seen the tour groups following the guide with flag on a pole, marching gleefully through the park chanting first thing in the morning…but have you seen them later in the day?  They usually look lost, miserable, and frustrated…and those chants?  Not so cheery.

The reality: Trying to move even a small group of 5 -7 people all together is like herding cats.  (For those of you who don’t have cats, it’s REALLY REALLY INSANE).  Throw in another 10+ people and you will all lose your minds and end up hating each other.  Honestly, I swear it’s true.  So, please trust me on this.  Let the idea of all staying together for long periods of time GO.

Playing in line (Photo: Brooke Hudson)

Instead, plan specific activities to try and do together, and tell everyone up front that you’ll meet for these specific activities, but the rest of the time is their own.   Some of the group may naturally end up staying together for chunks of time, but I think you will find, for the most part, the large group will break up into much smaller groups of 2 – 5 people.

Something Important to Consider… 

(Or: How to avoid having your group plot your murder…)

Is your group going on vacation to Disney and attending your event(s) while they’re there, or are they attending your event(s) and visiting Disney when there’s time after/around your event(s).  It’s a good idea to know the basic perspective that the majority of your group will have.  If everyone is viewing this as their vacation, and they’re fitting in your event(s), you will need to be super careful about how much time you try to “take” from their vacation—or you are likely to run into resistance and push back.

Even though your wedding or Grandma’s birthday may be the most important thing in the world to you (and probably Grandma), not everyone in your group will have that same perspective.  It’s important to know your group, and what their goals and wishes for the trip are—this will help minimize disappointment and hurt feelings on all sides.  And ideally, keep the death threats to a minimum. 

[Note: the author assumes no liability, expressed or implied for any actual death threats, actual or implied that may or may not arise from any of the advice provided on this blog.]

Optional Get-Togethers

When we were planning our wedding weekend, we really wanted to try and spend as much time with all of our guests as possible.  We had “official” events, of course—the welcome dinner, the wedding, the reception and the dessert party that we knew everyone would be attending, but we hoped to get more time with everyone than that.

So, we decided to plan some optional “extra” meet-ups, in hopes that everyone would come to at least one or two of these and we would get more time with everyone.  For our group, we focused on meals.  We booked large group Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) for one or two meals each day, depending on the day, at favorite restaurants we wanted to share with people we loved, and invited everyone to join us.

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Character greetings have been canceled. Character meals are most likely canceled, too. (Unconfirmed)

Sci Fi Dine In

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Via Napoli, Italy, Epcot

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Chef Mickey’s Character Breakfast Photo: Brooke Hudson

Chef Mickey Character Breakfast at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

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Logistically, this is a bit of a headache, as with Disney’s cancellation fees, you have to plan ahead for this, and get people to commit at least 36 hours ahead of the meal, so you have time to cancel…but we ended up with 10-20 people at several of our meals and it was AWESOME.  In our case, everyone did separate checks, but there are lots of different ways to handle this.  If everyone is on the dining plan, you can use table service credits.

Alternatively, to help everyone budget (and confirm those commitments!), you could have everyone prepay a fixed amount toward the meals they’re joining before the trip, and have one person responsible for paying the bill and collecting any overages.  If you need help brainstorming ideas, reach out to me, I’m happy to help!

Attraction Meet-Ups

Another idea is to plan a particular attraction at a particular time, and all meet up and do that together.  This can be challenging for more popular attractions that need Fastpasses.  However, you can coordinate everyone’s Fastpass reservations to schedule them into the same range, or at least try and get them to overlap for at least a 30 minute window.  Attractions that are “shows” are good for this, like Mickey’s Philharmagic, Muppets, Carousel of Progress, etc.  You want to make sure you’ve picked something that everyone in your group can enjoy.  If anyone is too little to ride, or won’t be comfortable or won’t enjoy it…maybe think about doing something else instead.

Super Patient Kids Waiting in Line (Photo: Brooke Hudson)

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the rain Photo: Linda Harkness

Wedding Trip: Toy Story Mania (Photo: Brooke and Frank)

I’ve planned for some groups that had success meeting at slow moving rides with lots of other stuff going around it, so the group stayed together for a while.  For example: One group I worked with had 17 people, including several small children, and a senior in a wheelchair.  They met at Finding Nemo at the Living Seas in Epcot at 9:15 am, and then explored the Livings Seas Pavilion more or less as a group, attending Turtle Talk with Crush as a group, and then went to Lunch at Coral Reef as a group.  After that, they split off into smaller groups or families until the next day.  This worked for them, and they managed to get a big group PhotoPass picture by the fish near the entrance of the Finding Nemo attraction (all part of my plan, haha).

Photo Meet-Ups

Still another idea is just to meet for a Photopass picture periodically.  For example, suggest everyone meet at the Partner’s statue at 1:15pm to check in.  You take a big group picture, see how everyone is doing, and then everyone goes on about their day.

Epcot! (Photo: Disney PhotoPass)

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Your meetups don’t have to be in the parks, either.  You can plan a group pizza party around the pool at your resort for everyone to unwind at the end of a busy park day.  Or even just plan to meet at the resort at 2pm by the pool for everyone to go swimming or enjoy some relaxation time.

Ideas for Group Meet-Ups or “Extra” Events:

• Hoop-de-do Revue
• Photopass location meet-up for a group picture
• Meet at an all-ages attraction. Some great choices include:
  • Walt Disney World Railroad
  • It’s a Small World
  • Carousel of Progress
  • Finding Nemo (the attraction)
  • Living with the Land
  • Muppet Vision 3D
  • Finding Nemo the Musical
• Resort activities. For example:
  • An afternoon pool party
  • Participate in the Disney movie night at your resort
  • Plan a resort photo shoot, either with a Disney Fine Arts photographer, or your own photographer (I have recommendations, if you need help with this).
• Parks/Resorts/Disney Springs or All of the above: Plan a game or activity for the whole group that people can help each other with, talk about, etc.  I’ve had a lot of success with customized Photo Scavenger Hunts.  They can be short: targeting one afternoon, and one park or resort.  Alternatively, they can span several days, and include several sections and some scheduled meetups for pictures etc.  One obvious benefit is that you, as the planner, will end up with a lot of great “extra” pictures from the Photo Scavenger Hunt that you might not have gotten otherwise.  Your guests will have so much fun trying to complete the tasks, they won’t even notice they’re suddenly in a lot more pictures than they might have otherwise been in.  It’s sneaky, but it works!!
  • Click HERE if you’d like to visit my Etsy store to contact me about designing something specific for your group.
• Work together to “make a gift” or “create a basket” for the guest or guests of honor if your event revolves around a birthday party, anniversary party, wedding etc.
  • For example, for Aunt Edie’s 85^th Birthday, you could have a scrapbooking party.  You could set up tables with paper and photos and scissors and decorations, and have each table make a couple of pages for a scrapbook to be presented to Aunt Edie at her party.
  • For a wedding, you could have everyone contribute a recipe and make a recipe book with family pictures as a scrapbook type project, similar afternoon or evening gathering.
• Ride Mix-In: One of the highlights for our guests for our wedding weekend was a ride mix-in we planned after our dessert party ended at Epcot.  Our guests were treated to a surprise ride on Soarin’ right at the end of the night.  They rode with other park guests (they were “mixed in”), but our group got their own row.  It was a fairly economical option for us, and a big hit for our guests.  Check with your event planner or travel agent if you think that’s something you may want to consider.

There are lots of ways to get together, without trying to walk lockstep, 10 people across, through the Magic Kingdom for 8 hours straight.  Everyone vacations differently.  Some people like to GO GO GO, and basically run from attraction to attraction.  Others like to meander, looking at all those special details, perhaps without any destination in mind at all.  Many of us fall somewhere in between.  The point is, you won’t be able to make ANYONE happy if you try to make EVERYONE happy.

Key Considerations for Planning Group “Extra” Events or Meetups:

• How many? Decide how many group “meet ups” you want to plan.
  • A good general rule of thumb is 1 or 2 events per day, maximum.
  • Take into consideration your specific group and the reason for your trip.
• Get Input: Talk to other members of the group to get their input before you finalize your plans.
  • Maybe the majority of your group has no interest in getting together very often.
  • Find out what expectations people have, and what they’d like to do.
• Budget: Make sure you know what kind of budget you are working with. If you’re planning attraction or photo meet ups, budget isn’t an issue, as long as everyone has a park pass.  However meals have budgetary impact.  And don’t assume that everyone will have a park pass—find out.
• Where: Decide whether your meet ups will be in the parks or at the resort, or a mixture.
• For Whom: Try to consider what is important to MOST of the group.  Remember this meet up isn’t about YOU, it’s about the group getting together.  You want to be sure you aren’t just choosing something that YOU like without considering if everyone else would really like it. (Even if it’s an event around your wedding.  Unless it’s actually a wedding event, try and make the other events more about the group and togetherness, rather than just about you and your fiancé).
• Prioritize Guests of Honor: If you are celebrating someone’s birthday or anniversary, keep THAT person in mind. If it’s a family reunion, keep the most senior members of the family in mind.  Reunions tend to be more for the grandparents and the great grandparents than for the kids—even at Disney!
• Take Pictures: wherever you meet up, how often you meet up, whatever you end up doing…make sure there are a couple of different people in charge of taking pictures. After the trip is over, and everyone has returned home to their regular lives, perhaps in different parts of the country or even the globe, you will have these pictures.  These pictures will be special memories that will instantly bring all of you back together.  Try to make sure that you have some casual pictures of as many people in your group as possible.  Even if you are waiting in line for an attraction, try to take pictures of people being together.  Have a couple different people in charge of this, so that no one person ends up in NO pictures because they are always taking pictures of everyone else.

Heading to Toy Story Mania (Photo: Brooke Hudson)

Outside the Voyage of the Little Mermaid theater. Photo: Brooke Hudson

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It’s All About the Attitude!

DECIDE You are Going to Have a Great Time

Group events and Family reunions can sometimes be fraught with tension and drama. Even in happy places on vacations, there are sometimes hurt feelings or someone behaving badly or someone who missed their nap and is crabby, etc.  You have to decide that no matter what, you are going to have a great time.  Don’t let the little irritations get you down.

If there’s a Guest of Honor, try and help them have that same perspective if you can.  So much of what happens to us in life is a direct result of our attitude and our expectations.  If you EXPECT to have a great time, most of the time—you will.  When you EXPECT to get in a fight with you father’s second cousin over Saturday’s football game…you probably will.  DECIDE to have a good time, no matter what…and you WILL!

Disney travel with a large group can bring you magical memories that will last a lifetime.  As long as you plan ahead, and have the right attitude, traveling to Disney with friends and family may be the best vacation of your lives.  If you need any help planning your trip, or would like my advice on herding cats, please contact me at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com.

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

P.S. If you’d like to read more about Advance Dining Reservations, please check out this post: Planning Ahead: Advance Dining Reservations or this post: Making your Disney Vacation More Enjoyable: Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs).