Hi Billie,
Welcome to planDisney!
Let me be the first to say how awesome you are to start planning a trip to the Walt Disney World® Resort for a larger group! Having traveled with groups in the past, I can say that your planning ahead is wonderful. You will need this time to coordinate everyone!
First things first, consider the budget and then that will help determine the type of
Disney Resorts Collection hotels you may consider. My family prefers deluxe and deluxe villa resort hotels. Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa are a few of our favorites. Disney's Contemporary and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort are within walking distance to Magic Kingdom. We also have enjoyed moderate resort hotels like Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside and value resort hotels like Disney's Art of Animation and Disney's Pop Century Resorts.
Second, decide if you want to stay four or five people to a standard room (depending on room capacity) or if you want to put folks in two suites or villas (which typically have a full kitchen). If you want to do villas or suites, also consider Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort, Disney's Old Key West Resort, and Disney's Riviera Resort. If you go this route, getting a vacation package (i.e. room and theme park tickets), would mean that everyone on the room reservation has to have the same vacation package. This also means that if you add one of the
Disney Dining Plans, everyone in the room, suite, or villa would have to have a dining plan.
Third, decide how many days of theme park tickets you prefer and consider if you want
Standard 1 Park Per Day Tickets or Tickets with the
Park Hopper® Option. I recommend getting at least 4 Day Tickets so that you can visit each theme park at least once. When our girls were younger, we did not purchase tickets with the Park Hopper® Option because we preferred to spend quality time in one park at a time.
Once you have some decisions, check pricing for your dates. Keep an eye on the
Special Offers and if an offer is released for the dates of your visit, compare the Special Offer pricing to the standard pricing. Then, make a decision and make those reservations! One final note, my family loves the Disney Dining Plan, but I always suggest to guests that they do some comparison pricing based on the dining locations you might prefer to determine if a dining plan is a good value for your family. Identify a few restaurants you would like to enjoy and then check the menus to get pricing. Just go to a restaurant's home page, like Chef Mickey's, click on
View Menu, and click on the appropriate meal period. Remember that, at this time, a dining plan also includes beverages with each meal and a resort refillable mug.
Billie, you may need a family meeting to determine the best course of action, but you have some time. Once you all book your vacation package(s), you can get more into the details of planning which will include deciding where you will make
advanced dining reservations. Be sure to review information about the
dining reservation booking window. May the Force be with you as you plan!
Magic and memories,
Donyell