I’m fresh off a group trip from Disney World with 10 adults. If you’ve tried to plan a group trip with even 4-5 adults, you know it takes a lot of planning and research.
This trip was for my 35th birthday celebration and I had already been telling all my friends about it for years. Five years to be exact.
On my 30th birthday, I told everyone the plan for my 35th was to go to Disney World and every birthday after that I reminded everyone.
Finally, after years of talking about the big trip, I sent out invitations.
This blog post is all about tips for planning a group trip to Disney World.
About 8 months before the trip I sent out my invitations, with a date included. It was already a lot easier to get people to respond because a date was already selected and there was no back and forth on that.
I asked everyone to RSVP within 2 months of the invitation being sent (6 months before the event) because I know it’s tough to plan and people get invitations to weddings and other parties – plus budgeting.
The invitations were sent out to about 30 people, mostly couples.
Most of my friends aren’t Disney adults but they all do love a good Disney day, so I was hopeful.
And to my surprise and delight, we had a group of 10 secured for the trip!
There were a lot of steps I went through to organize the trip and make all expenses clear and make it as manageable as possible.
Let’s dive in!
How To Do Disney World as A Big Group?
The first thing I did for this trip was select a date. Once my husband and I had picked a good time, with good weather and low crowds we took off on the rest of the details.
I made sure to include a rough overview of our schedule for the trip and estimates for expenses on the invitation.
That way no one was shocked at prices when it came time to book things.
Once we had a final headcount for the trip I was able to start looking into hotels, restaurants and group activities.
About 5 months before the trip I sent out an itinerary for the days we would be there along with prices for theme parks and accommodations.
Let’s just get into the tips to make it a bit easier.
Related Post: Coronado Springs Resort Disney World Review
Where to Stay at Disney World with a Large Group
Since I already knew I wanted to go to Disney World for my birthday I went and visited the Margaritaville Cottages about a year and a half before when we visited Disney World for our RunDisney race.
The Resort is about 10 minutes from Disney Property but about 20 minutes from Disney Springs. It wasn’t an issue for us at all though.
The Sales staff there actually threw me off a bit because they seemed very unorganized. The Cottages were beautiful but after meeting with the sales team I went into full Disney Hotel mode.
I checked hotel prices for every hotel on Disney World property and off the property. Nothing would be under $150/night even at the affordable hotels.
That was a bit steep for everyone to pay, especially when we were staying 5-6 nights.
After days and weeks of freaking out over the price of Disney Hotels, I went back to Margaritaville and started to compare pricing.
We booked an 8-bedroom Cottage (House) with 10 bathrooms and a private pool for $85/night/person.
(Originally we had 14 people and that was the cost breakdown, we had a few people who weren’t able to attend at the minute, so we covered the difference.)
The house slept 16 adults. That price is insane!!!
Once I did the math I booked that house so fast! And everyone was so relieved they wouldn’t be shelling out tons and tons of money to sleep.
Plus we had so much space!!
My biggest tip would be, don’t be afraid to book off property and don’t be afraid to book a house.
Because it was part of the Margaritaville Resort we had access to all the same amenities as the hotel guests PLUS our own space.
I can’t stress enough how affordable and comfortable this was for us. It made the trip special for us all to be in one house but still have our own space.
Related Post: What to Pack for Disney Hotel Stay
How Far in Advance to Plan for a Group Trip to Disney World
We chose our date around 8 months in advance. We wanted enough time to plan and pay for everything.
A tip for picking a good date, especially for a group trip is to check if there are any holidays, early closures for special events or RunDisney events.
I wouldn’t book on any big holiday weekends or RunDisney weekends.
Create a Group Chat
To help keep everyone updated and to stay in touch before and during the trip, make a group chat.
I definitely sent one too many Disney TikToks to the group too…I can’t help myself.
We also created a shared album to add photos to during and after the trip.
Set deadlines
When you’re booking hotel/house accommodations, dining reservations, private tours, etc. you need to set deadlines for everyone in the group.
A lot of extras at Disney World and hotels require payment upfront. Plus reservations can and should be made 60 days prior to arrival.
To keep everyone on track create a checklist with deadlines.
I also sent a few pricing updates for theme park tickets, restaurants and flights as we were prepping for the trip.
It helps when one person takes charge of the planning. It keeps everything in order.
Related Post: What to Pack for Hot Days at Disney World
Use SplitWise
While most things like hotel and groceries were settled easily, things like big meals and ride shares were a bit more difficult.
We were two days into our trip before we realized we should use SplitWise to help keep track of how much people owe each other.
SplitWise is an app to split bills. You can add in your entire party and then each person can add in what they purchased and who used it or was there and then it splits it evenly. It keeps track over multiple days, so you can get the real total at the end of the trip.
It eliminates sending money back and forth for each thing and it can give you one total at the end.
Transportation for Large Groups at Disney World
If we had stayed on property it would have been easy for us to use the free Disney World buses. But since we stayed off property we used Uber and Lyft to get around.
Margaritaville does offer a bus to the Parks but it is only once a day – not very flexible.
Next time I think we would all split the cost of renting a large van. It would have been easier at the end of the night to just drive ourselves home instead of waiting forever to call a ride-share.
Calling the cars in the morning was a breeze but I think it’s helpful to have a car, especially if you want to run some errands like go to Walmart or Target or just check out the surrounding area.
Plan Food and Snacks Ahead of Time
One of the funnest and best purchases I made for our trip was the Disney Food Blog food guides.
This ebook bundle listed (with photos) every single snack at each Disney World park. Everything that isn’t sold at a sit-down, full-service restaurant is in this ebook….it’s insane.
I purchased this and shared it with our group and we all went through and picked out our snacks and quick-service meals ahead of time.
This helped us to plan ahead based on where we were in the park. So if we new we had TRON reservations in Tomorrowland, we would schedule our snacks in that land for the same time as our ride reservations.
Plus we now know all the best snacks in each park 👏
Make A List of Priorities
In addition to picking our snacks and meals ahead of time (we also used the Disney App to see what was available ‘now’) we chatted about our top ride, show, and character priorities.
We aren’t really into meeting characters, so that one was easy to move to the bottom of the list but one of our friends really wanted to catch a specific show, so we made it a point to go see it.
We worked in the top rides and shows for everyone so that we all enjoyed the day.
The only way this is possible is to Rope Drop and use Genie Plus. Without these two things, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to do as much as we did.
Making dining reservations is also key. We planned one big brunch on our 3rd day and I booked that 60 days in advance since we had a big group.
Even at quick-serve restaurants, it was difficult to find seating together, so we had to sit at different tables a few times.
Plan ahead, make reservations, and start early to work in everything you want to do.
Be Flexible
The last tip for planning a group trip to Disney World is to be flexible.
People are going to split up at some point, it’s inevitable. Shows might conflict with people wanting to go on another ride, some people may want snacks and others may want to head back to the room.
Our group split up a few times but each time we all stayed in contact and made a meeting point that worked for everyone. It was usually at our next Genie Plus ride reservation.
At the end of the day when the parks were packed and it started to get dark, we shared our location on our phones so that we could find each other. This was especially helpful in EPCOT when we were at the World Showcase.
Also, make sure several people in your group have a room key so that if they go back to rest they can enter the room.
This happened to us and half the group went back to the house early and none of them had a key.
In the end, communicating with your group is the biggest thing to focus on. It’s important to discuss costs for events, dining and extra park experiences like building a lightsaber or a going to a character breakfast.
I’ve never gone on a big group trip to Disney World before and it was amazing. Probably one of my favorite trips ever. It also helps that everyone was flexible and patient with long lines and we took breaks when someone was tired.
To avoid meltdowns (even adult meltdowns) you need to communicate.
I hope this post can help you plan your group trip to Disney World. If you have any questions about our trip or reservations or Margaritaville, leave it below in the comments.
See you at the Parks!
XOXO,
Julia
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