Looking for suggestions [travel with "newbie" friends, kids of different ages, etc.] About This Page:

[twins4me]

Hi all, I'm back on the boards after an extended hiatus. Our last trip was in May of 2014 and we have finally settled on the dates of our next trip. 😀 Although we've been to WDW and DL in the past and have done the parks with family, this trip will be unique for us. We are currently planning a trip with our close family friends who are looking to us as the experts. They have zero to very limited knowledge of WDW.

I'm struggling with my planning a bit. Even though our families are very close, we are very different and I'm wanting to make sure we all have a good time. I'm looking for thoughts on traveling with kids who have significant age differences. Here are our players: me, single mom to b/g twins who will be 16 1/2, and my mom. The other family is a mom and dad, their child who will just have turned 4, and the grandpa. We will be going 11/30 to 12/6.

We will each have our own rooms. Currently, I'm looking at POR, purely for the location. Anyone have any other thoughts or considerations for me?

[GingerJ]

I'm sure you'll get lots of very detailed help...in fact you should break down specific questions later on into separate posts...but for now I just have a couple of suggestions:

1) Get the 2016 PassPorter! You can download the electronic version immediately while waiting for the hard copy version to arrive.

2) Be sure to leave time for the families to be apart--that's a lot of togetherness! Plus the extreme age differences will make it harder to stay together a lot, as your different priorities lead you different places. I've noticed that the more people you have in a group, the more compromising/negotiating you do to decide where to go next, so bigger groups will have less happiness (IMHO & IME).

3) Find out what level of planning they're comfortable with; if your family is made up of park commandos who charge from one attraction to the other, while they're more smell-the-roses types (likely with a 4yo), or vice versa, it could be hard to reconcile the differences! Of course you'll need your FP+s and some ADRs, but how much other planning is done will depend on everyone's choices.

We stayed at POR for the first time, back in November, and it was beautiful!

and have fun planning!

[revral]

I've gone with my mom (3 times) & my mom & step dad (1 time) who consider me the Disney expert. What I've done for all four trips is give them a current version of the Passporter. I then ask them to email (they're in Texas & I'm in Washington state) their must do's/see's in each park, where they would like to eat both quick service & table service & anything else they'd like to do/see/experience that they haven't already listed. I then use that information in conjunction with a crowd calendar ( I use the easyWDW one) to plan out days. Although really the plan isn't anything other than which park on which day & a must do checklist for each park. I do try to plan our first few things just to get us moving. Now with Fastpass+ I tend to book those for the morning so that afternoons are left free for whim filling. Make sure you leave plenty of time for looking at everything & including all the gift shops. We also sit in the room at night & answer questions about our such as favorite ride? favorite show? most magical moment? least favorite ride? least favorite show? etc. We also note the weather for the day

[Huntermom]

My suggestion would be to make sure to include letting your twins go off on their own together. They are old enough and I am certain it will help avoid conflict, boredom and possibly whining. I can imagine that their interests are quite divergent from a 4 year old. MY kids did school trips at 14 and separated from the family at 15. It is much more enjoyable for all.

I agree with Ginger to plan to be apart a part of the day. I have vacationed with family many times and having time apart is essential. And it doesn't have to be us and them. It can be girls only, adults only (161/2 year olds can babysit), etc.

[ferrazalves]

We've done a large party vacation, including 5 adults and 4 children. What worked for us is that we stayed onsite, so we could come and go as we pleased. Also we had a booked ADR per day (late lunch or early dinner) that if we get separated everyone new where and when to meet again for the meal. I've booked fast pass for everyone considering the ADR at parks.
During the week we usually get together in the park and for our first FP, after that we split and enjoy the day, meeting later for the meal. In the afternoon those who wanted to go back to the hotel were free to go, and those who wants to stay there too.

[Sue M.]

I'd get them a guide book, both Passporter and WDW The Unofficial Guide are great.
After giving them time to study book(s), have some planning meetings. This way they'll have an idea of what is there to do for their family age group.

The prob I see is the age gap, traveling with 4yr olds because of the limited rides they will be able to go on. And perhaps the children are more interested in character meets then going on attractions.
Maybe they can book their own FPs or you can book for them. There are some rides you can do together, and some you will have to do apart.

Example, you can start the day together over breakfast, and ride to the park together, then seperate. I'd plan to get to the park 30 min before opening and seperate to do your own must dos. You can get a lot done the first hour. At MK you could prob get Space, Big Thunder and Splash Mtns done without FPs. Plan to start FPs around 10:30ish and get 2out of the 3 FPs together with other family. You'll want to do 7 Dwarves, and will need a FP for that, but not sure of height req. for little ones. Passporter will have that info.

Break for lunch together, finish up whatever FPs you have left undone, then either make 4th FP together or maybe you'll want to do different things.
4 yr olds may be needing a nap/rest break back at the resort. I've seen too many melt downs at the parks with early mornings, later then usual nights, and not enough breaks.
Plan on dinner together.

The great thing about staying on property is everyone can come and go as they wish. Maybe with 4 yr olds they won't want to get to the parks at opening. Cell phones make it easy to meet up.

With advance planning and discussing expectations ahead of time it should be a great trip!