3 Weeks in August 2020 with 13 people! (UPDATE 12.04.19)
 

Everything is going around my head and is now driving me mad!

Thought it would be easier to get everything down on paper (or screen) to make sense of the mammoth task in front of me. This is not going to be a typical pre-trip report where I sound like I know exactly what I am doing... as you will soon find out, I clearly don't. I am kind of hoping that a few DIBB experts will be able to give me tips and advice during this journey I am about to embark on which is going to be seeing me arrange a 3 week trip for 13 people in August in 2020 but where everyone is not doing the same thing.

Argh! I've confused myself already!

What I know so far...

The 13 people in my party are currently have different plans which is dividing the group into two distinctive sets...

Set 1
Me (Gabi)
DH (Steve)
DD (Lizzie (12)
DS (William (9)


Set 2
Sister in Law (Nikki)
Husband (Tony (who will turn 50 whilst we are there on 22nd Aug))
Their eldest daughter and partner (Emily and Bradley)
Their three younger children (Tom (18), James (12), Oliver (8))
My Parent in Laws (David and Elaine)


The plan so far is

5th August - all fly out and stay at a large villa which will hold all 13 of us for 5 nights. We will also need to hire two cars during this period.
10th August - Set 1 (my lot) to leave villa and check into a Disney Hotel and drop off hire car
10th August - Set 2 (others) to leave villa and keep the car and go on a 5 night road trip around florida.
14th August - Set 1 to go on a 3 night cruise with Disney
15th August - Set 2 to return from road trip and check into the same Disney hotel Set 1 were staying in before cruise
17th August - Set 1 to return from cruise and check back into Disney hotel
22nd August (brother in laws 50th) - all to check out of Disney hotel and check into Universal hotel for the last 4 nights of the holiday.
26th August - all fly home together


Would love to know what people think of this plan and if there are any flaws which I have not thought about...sure there are!

Also... I don't know where to start trying to get all of this arranged and to try to do it as cheap as possible, which everyone is hoping for!

What to do first and when to do it?!

More dilemmas to follow soon...

Wow that’s a lot to organise. Good luck. I can barely organise 4 of us let alone 13!

Dreading booking the fast passes for everyone!

I can imagine. I’m offsite so only get 30days so really hoping I’ll get mine. Do not wanna be standing in long queues with 3&4 yr olds

And I thought I liked to complicate things :pgig:

The first thing I would be doing is getting a shortlist of villas. At this stage I would probably wait until Disney release prices etc around March/April. I'd then throw the problem at 2-3 different agents, see what they come with and then seat about doing it myself with the best of their options.

Good luck. I'll be following along..

Wow that is a lot of planning. I think it sounds good that you are doing some things together and some separately as it can become difficult when there is a large group of people who have different ideas. I think I am going to enjoy your report.

Only problem I can foresee is getting your disney tickets if you need them for the villa bit.
If they are linked to your Disney hotel booking you usually can’t get them x

I’d book your villa first with provisional dates - as most good owners are usually flexible if you need to change them slightly further down the line, then start looking at flights for prices.

The car hire and tickets are easily sorted. Although are you going to get the Disney bus to the cruise terminal and back? May be cheaper to keep the car. Even building in the cost to park (or drop it off at the terminal and pick up another for way back).

Would you not consider doing your cruise straight after the villa then just have a longer Disney stay?

IF free dining comes out then set 1 would only Qualify for it for the second part of your stay. Just something to think about if you wanted it due to ticket commitments too etc.

If you weren’t bothered about that then you could just book with whoever you like, or even rent points.

For set 2 I can really recommend Naples and Sarasota - they are beautiful. Clearwater too and much closer.

Miami is fun but not somewhere I’d spend a great deal of time w a family. Key West a really long drive (would split it up w Miami one way and Naples or Sarasota the other if so) but really quirky and fun.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I did also post a thread on the "Planning" forum to get some advice on when I should start looking at getting things booked. See..
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1111939
The most common piece of advice I received was "don't do it" as it is going to be a nightmare! But as I need to know we have got the best deals as a group I would rather be the main organiser. I also do enjoy the planning part!

Things have changed somewhat from my initial plans. This is mainly due to most people in the party wanting to wait until the end of the holiday to stay in a villa, as most of the outlet/Walmart etc shopping is going to be done whilst we are in a villa and have access to a car. We didn't want to have to worry about lugging cases full of shopping from resort to resort etc.

I have also managed to book a lovely Villa which is at Formosa Gardens which has helped confirm our holiday dates.
https://www.villabellagio.co.uk/

We have stayed at Emerald Island and Indian Creek before, so know the area well and we love how close it is to the parks and also the 192 and all of the shops and restaurants located there.
My main criteria for a villa was:
- large enough to house 13 people, so minimum of 7 bedrooms
- clean and modern looking
- no one directly behind us so we have privacy
- south (ish) facing pool - to confirm this, I always find any villa I am considering on google maps. This can take some time as a lot of the villas look the same but it can be done when looking at the photos of the villa closely and noting the shape of the pool, where the hot tub is located, what side of the villa the drive is on, any large trees etc.
- added bonus for this villa was that the owner was UK based, which means the villa can be paid for in GBP and we don't have to worry about the price increasing if the exchange rate weakens.

The dates I have secured for the villa is Saturday 22nd Aug - 27th Aug - so 5 nights at £1589. We will then have a car and will be able to drive straight to the airport without the need to get transport.

Soooooo...our plans are now-

Thurs 6th Aug - fly out and all check into a Disney Hotel
Wed 12th Aug - Set 2 check out of Disney and go on road trip
Fri 14th Aug - Set 1 go on the 3 night cruise Disney Cruise
Mon 17th Aug - Set 1 come back from Cruise and check into Universal hotel
Tues 18th Aug - Set 2 come back from road trip and check into Universal hotel
Sat 22nd Aug - All check out of Universal and into Villa
Thurs 27th aug - All check out of villa and fly home

Now Disney free dining plan has been confirmed to be released for booking on 25th April, I think this will be my next job.