Traveling with a Large Group at Disney and Beyond - Episode 204

This week Danielle and Hayley are spilling all their secrets about traveling with a large group at Disney and also just in general. 

Want help with all of these kinds of logistics?? Reach out to Danielle today at daniellegriggs@fantasticalvacations.com. 

Mickey with Minis podcast outro music

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello. Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:05

I am good. We are muddling through the end of the school year.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

So close, Taylor.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

We're we're we're riding fumes to the end of the school year, I have to say. It's not a great look.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

We have our last day of school for the big kids. Gloria has been off for a week now. We because kindergarten gets out early here. Um, but the big kids last day is Monday morning and it's a half day. And the thing that I I did in the past when I signed up for the camp, they provide some bonus days. So if you need coverage the week that school gets out, they don't have after school on Monday. It's the same program that runs their after school. They don't do after school on Monday, they don't do it on Tuesday, but you can sign up for three bonus days and go Wednesday through Friday prorated, which I did thinking that I was doing myself a favor because I don't have the time to take off work. Right. What that actually means is I have to be ready for the last day of school and camp in the same week. And then now that I got from camp is like if you print it would be a sh a sheaf, it would be a sheaf of paper. Oh tremendous amount of paper. My goodness. So much and so much more paperwork. And I thought I already did all the paperwork because there's new paperwork. Now I gotta fit that in.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Oh boy. It's so much you think like, oh, the school year's over, things are gonna be so easy now, and then camp is like way harder than the school year. Yeah, to get what's out of the board.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

All of that stuff we need to sort out.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

So a whole new schedule.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, Hayley, what did what did we do for the first time last week?

SPEAKER_02 1:42

What did we do? I don't know. What did we do? Wait, I'm brought the kids to hockey. We brought the kids to hockey. Oh my goodness. All our girls to their first hockey office. Yes. So we brought Danielle's youngest to his six, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

She's still Yeah, I had never been on the ice before.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

And then my um middle middle two, my two daughters, um, who are almost six and almost four. And it was hilarious. And also all three of them are obsessed, they absolutely loved it. Which is really funny due to how bad they were at it.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

So I know basically none of them had ever skated before. And it on the flyer it said learn to skate and play. So I sort of thought there'd be some skating instruction from the for the kids that didn't know how to skate. What it seems like is there's a lot of hockey dads whose children have been skating since they could walk. Since birth, yeah, those children are starting hockey for the first time. Yes, but they already have the necessary skating skills, and our children do not know and were down more than they were up. But yes, I mean running ear to ear the entire time.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah, I was worried. My girls were real hesitant to get on the ice at first, and Grace was a little teary, and I was like, Oh goodness, this is not gonna go well. And then, but once they got out there, there were a bunch of like high school or college age women um who were helping them out and just helping them get back up when they fell, and they had an absolute blast. It was so funny. There were probably what 50 girls on the ice, and our three kids were the only ones that didn't know how to skate, literally at all, which is very funny, but um that did not stop them one bit. They absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

So I definitely felt like Gloria improved even in that one hour. So I think what I'm gonna do is sign her up for a learn to skate program. Yes, we are on a different night of the week, and then yeah, maybe we'll like progress a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, we're gonna wait just because we're traveling a little bit um in the next couple weeks. But once that's done, we're gonna also try to get in a learn to skate. Hooper also wants to do it. He he was like, Oh man, I wish I was doing it. So we're gonna let him learn to skate too and see what he thinks. So nice, yeah. But it was great. I mean, the whole vibe was very fun. Like all the other parents were super friendly and helpful. Like, yeah, really. There's a lot of equipment involved in hockey, and people were like jumping right in to help you, you know, figure out the helmets, the padding and all that, which was great.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Yeah, because you had a tricky helmet, a very tricky helmet.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

I actually might go get a different helmet and try to resell that one this week because I could not figure it out. Um, but yeah, it was wonderful. It was it was fun, yeah, very good.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Good times.

unknown 4:30

Yay.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Um, if you're hearing some interesting background music, there's a very lively World Cup watch party slash gender reveal party happening at one of my Brazilian neighbors' house. The live band seems to be taking a break, which is good uh due to pitch problems that it's literally making my eye twitch. Um, but uh yeah, I don't know how much that's gonna get filtered out of this recording. So you might just get a little cute little Brazilian soundtrack in the back.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

A little background noise.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

A little background noise. I kind of love it. It reminds me of where our Nana lived.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I don't mind the background music, but no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

What are we going to talk about today?

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Well, today we are going to talk about traveling with large groups, which is something we have kind of a lot of experience with.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yes, and then as I was sort of thinking about it today, I was kind of like, wait, my immediate family is now a large group. You're now a large group. There's six of us. We are by ourselves a large group, which is very funny. But yeah, we have traveled with our family up to 15 people, right? In in adulthood. Like when we were younger, we were younger, we took some trips with um mom and her siblings, and I don't even know how many people were on those trips. A lot of people for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

One of seven, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

But that was a much different time at Disney. Like you didn't the dining reservations were not so, you know, far in the world.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

There was like mostly just chef Mickeys, you know what I mean? Yeah. You kind of only did that and chicken tendies the rest of the trip, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Yeah, and there there was no lightning lane or anything, so it was much a much simpler um situation. But yeah, in our in adulthood, we have now traveled with um up to 15 people.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Um, and I'm going in a couple weeks with uh 11 people, and even not just Disney, like we're going to the Cape with Um, our room will have what 10 people in it?

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Uh, let's see, your you and your three girls, so that's four, mom is five, and then me and my girls, and possibly Luke. I think I'm gonna bring him.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Okay, so like eight plus a baby, basically.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

And then there's another room that's also full of people.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Um, and that's down the Cape. We went down the Cape last summer. Um, we went on ski trips with our dad with a big group. Um and I'm I'd go going camping with my uh in-laws and camping with friends last year that was a larger group.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

So we just thought we'd talk about it with a little Disney focus and some other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah, so um pre-trip logistics, you want to make sure first that everyone is connected in the My Disney experience app, which sometimes or always requires getting IT involved. We had way too many people who had multiple MDE accounts somehow, and we had to like clean them all out before our last trip and get everybody on the same page. So you want to make sure everyone's connected there first, um, because that will make things much easier for booking lightning lanes.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I also, for what it's worth, I like to disconnect from the people who are not out on that trip actively. Oh, okay. Because it's easier when you're trying to book things and it's like competitive. You don't have to when you it's select your party, you don't have to think through like, oh no, those four people were a different trip. I'm skipping those and I'm going with these guys. I like to be connected to the people that are just the people on the trip at the time myself.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Right. I think the biggest way to set yourself up for success with a large group trip is just expectation settings. Yes, like making sure, okay, is everybody planning to stick together a hundred percent of the time? Is there spoiler alert, you shouldn't do that. You shouldn't do that. Um, but if you're going to split up, what does everyone really care about doing together? So, like, what are our touch points going to be during the day? Are we all eating a meal together? Does someone not want to miss a certain ride with the whole group? Um, things like that, just sort of setting everyone's expectations so that you know you don't have anyone who thought you'd stick together all day and then is disappointed that you're splitting up. Yeah. Um, what we found really helpful for our first big family trip, and I kind of wish we had done this for our most recent big group trip. We went through all of the rides and shows and did like uh red means we don't care about it at all, yellow means you know, would like to do it, but our day won't be ruined if we don't, and then green is an absolute must-do for somebody. And that was really helpful.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I think we had each person on the trip go through that basically. Yeah, um, yeah, no, I think that was good. Yeah, this this past trip was a little weird because we only overlapped as a full group for like two days, and like like we weren't really sure what mom's um abilities were gonna be like that week and what her you know energy level was gonna be like, and so it's just hard to plan around. And and our father is a chaos demon and doesn't plan in advance or commit to anything, so it's uh I don't think we could have done more successful prioritizing beforehand, given the characters involved.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Yeah, I just did this yesterday um with my sister-in-law for the trip that we're going on, and it's good, it kind of lets you see like where what all the things are, kind of lets you plan out what okay, what do we all want to do? What's green for everybody that we will all do that together and maybe we'll split up for other things. The key to me is your green list, your must do's should be very small. Very small. I think of I think of the green ones as like, what will I be really disappointed if I don't get to do? Um, so that you're really if you hit everybody's green things and you don't get to anything on the yellow list, you can call it a win. You did everything everybody really cared about. Um, so it should be a pretty small list, in my opinion. Totally. Yes. Um, we don't really need to do this for our trips with our family because you and I do most of the planning and everyone follows along. But for other trips, I think it can be really helpful to do like a pre-trip meeting. So I we're having a Zoom tomorrow with Nick's um family to go over like lightning lane strategy and stuff that I think will be really helpful. We don't really need to do that because we're already pretty much on the like we know what we're doing and we're the only two people planning. We don't need to do a zoom with ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

No, no, we have a podcast we can do that on and stuff. Yes, exactly. Everybody listen. Yeah. I actually I want to do this for the the trip with my in-laws um because we're going, we have a different trip than everybody else has. We're going over to Monhegan afterwards. Um, other people are staying an extra day in Acadia, and we have like a huge group camping site. But I think like the last time we camped with folks, like everyone brought enough food for everyone, and like Nate rolled up with like a pallet of frozen burgers. And like I had brought chili, and like we just hadn't coordinated at all in a sense about what who was bringing what, or did we have any like do we have any interest in coordinating, or is each family just gonna provide for their own family and just kind of shift and whatever? And like I know there's um big interest in like mountain biking, um, or at least trail biking. Um, that we don't we do not have that capacity ourselves. So I just want to like the moment yeah. Who who's interested in what kind of kind of like our red, green, yellow spreadsheet for the location that we're going to.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah, when we did our camping trip um with dad, it was a three-night trip and each group took one night of dinner, which I think worked out really well. Dad did one night, you guys did one night, and we did one night. Yeah. Um, so if you are planning to cook or do meals, that might be a good way to do it. So nobody's on the hook for everything. Yep. But if you are making dining reservations, this can be um a little bit of a hassle with a larger group. Um, so most restaurants, different restaurants will max out at different capacities. Like some will only let you book a party of six, some will go up to eight, some will go up to I think the biggest one we booked on our last trip was maybe a party of 10.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

And probably the the biggest.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Um but a lot of places they'll stay like up to 10, but you're never gonna see availability. You're never gonna find it. Um, which makes a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Yes. Um, so a thing to keep in mind, you can break up your group. Um, we had, you know, three parties of four sometimes, or three parties of five, um, depending on what we were doing that day. The thing to remember is you can't have reservations too close together in my Disney experience. So you can't be the only person booking for the whole group if you're doing that. You need to have a buddy. So what I did was I just got um, you booked some, and then for the ones I was booking, I got mom's login and Nick's login. So I could use theirs to book the other reservations because I I couldn't personally have made three reservations um within you know a 15-minute time frame. I needed to do one, one from each account.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah. And if you also if you're gonna do that, um, so you want to make them as close together as you can, timing-wise. Um, and the biggest thing is to not check in online. You want to go up to the desk when you get there because if you check in online, it's like out of the hostess' hands or the host's hands, basically. Yeah. You get what you get. If you go up and you talk to the hostess and just say, or a host and just say, like, hey, we have like three separate smaller reservations. Is there any way to be seated near each other or to combine? Um, they'll they can't always accommodate you, like um think of our um Treacheria L4N. We could not have been further apart in this restaurant. No, it's crazy. Um but it was slanned, they were you know, it was hopping in there, so you know, you totally get it. So never have the expectation that they're gonna be able to do exactly what you want, but they do try to accommodate as much as they're possible as much as possible. Yeah, you just can't check in online, so go speak to a human.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

And if you're doing that, maybe think ahead of like, okay, if we can't combine all the tables, how are we gonna break everybody down? Because for Trataria Alfredo, we didn't do that, and Nick wound up at a table with three kids while John and I had a lovely dinner with Audrey and no children to take care of, who was like maybe ordering off the adults menu.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

She's incredible. So she is the one who identified that there was a gender reveal party going on. She's like, Oh, that's a gender reveal. Like, how do you know what that is?

SPEAKER_02 15:35

That's so funny. Oh yes. Um, so that's yeah, that's that's what to know for the dining reservations that can be a little bit tricky. Um, and then the lightning lanes, I think, were surprisingly easy. It didn't seem to matter how many people you were booking, like it didn't seem harder to book for 10 people versus three. The only thing to keep in mind is that each transaction has to include everybody. So you can't be like, okay, for my party of 10, I want to book multi-pass for all 10 of us and then a single pass for three of us. That doesn't work. You have to do it separately, separate transactions.

unknown 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Um, which is fine. Just we didn't realize that when we were doing it. And so it took a little figuring out. Yeah. Um, and then figure out how also how you're going to like exchange money for that too. Because or or and remember that too for pre-booked dining as well. And you're required to payment in advance, like Cinderella's Royal Table. If you're booking for like 10 people, that is a hefty bill. Um, so you want to keep that in mind when you're booking too. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, we had a lot of math to do, which you mostly did because I'm bad at math.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Um, no, I like my notes app. I'm also really bad at math, but I like my notes app, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

That's true. I'm terrified of Haley's notes app.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Um, yeah. Um, but we had to do a lot of back and forth and sort of figure out like, okay, who paid for which ones and how does that add up? And is it vaguely even or is somebody way over or under? And yes. Um there's definitely some mathing to be done.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Now, as far as accommodations for a big group, we do have a whole separate episode on the best accommodations for large groups. So if you guys are all trying to stay together or maybe get, you know, two very large rooms or something like that, you should definitely listen to that episode.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So I I would say um that is something to think about is whether you want to be all in one place or whether a little distance is good. So, like I thought it worked out really well on our last trip where we were nearby each other, but I think having the separate spaces with this many kids, I can't imagine even like a three-bedroom villa with that many children in it. No, it would just be chaos at all times. And every family kind of has their own rhythm, and the kids have different needs, and so I feel like that's and they they need a break from each other at some point, like they they they're like siblings. And Grace are ready to throw down when they get they get along so well until they don't until they very much don't. They very much don't, and then it's like it's like housewives, like we don't know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Oh my goodness. But one thing I would keep in mind when you're choosing a hotel. So, so first of all, it can get complicated if you're not all at the same resort because you can't pool hop. And a lot of resorts really enforce that. Yacht and Beach Club in particular, you are not getting into that pool without a wristband. Um, and a lot of other pools, especially at you know, peak times when it's busier, they do verify that you're staying there to get into the pool area. So if you're not staying all at the same place, that's just something you want to keep in mind. If you're having separate a rest day or if you're having a midday break, you are not gonna be able to hang out at the pool together if you're not staying at the same resort. So that's something to keep in mind.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

It's also just not super easy to get from resort to resort unless you're willing to pay and also fit into a minivan or something like that. Um so you know, that is one thing. We have had trips where like you guys, we were at Oakie West, I think, and you guys were maybe at Port Orleans.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, and we came over to you guys. Um, but it, you know, it's just it adds a layer of complications.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

But I would say, even if you decide that doing like a three-bedroom villa is not the best fit for your family and everyone's in a separate room, you might want to think about booking a hotel that has a really great like hangout space. So for us, some of my best memories from our last trip are just hanging out at the tables outside of Geyser Point. Yeah, totally. Um, it was just like an area the kids could run around, the grown-ups could just sit and relax. We could walk up to the bar and grab drinks, we got takeout food from Roaring Fork and just ate outside. Um, we did that a couple nights in a row, and it was just so lovely. And then everyone retreated to their separate hotel rooms. Yeah, and belted down separately. Yeah. Yes, exactly. Um, so you might want to keep that in mind when you're picking a resort, choose somewhere like that. Um, that's a nice space that you can all kind of convene in if that's something, something that you want to do. Our girls found an area with like a spotlight on it, and they decided that was their stage. And they danced there all night long in their princess dresses.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Like all night long.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

So funny.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

So I guess kind of a similar similar approach that we like is sort of you know, similar to like having rooms in the same hotel, but everyone has kind of their own space. Um, I kind of feel the same way about the plans themselves. So like I think it's really helpful. We travel very well together, our families travel very well together. So we we did most of the things together for the most part, not everything, but for the most part. Um but like you know, camping with friends last summer, like different people have different things they want to do. I know there's stuff that's not gonna work for one of my kids, and so like having like an anchor, like we know we're gonna get together at dinner, and we know we're gonna do this ride together or something like that. But then everyone goes, everyone can go do their own thing. Like, one ex I guess one example is like we, you know, you were traveling with a nursing slash pumping babe, the babies were pumping, you were pumping. So you don't pump babies, that's not recommended. Um but like you getting you guys out the door was significantly a bigger lift, and then our dad, especially at the beginning of the trip, was like just didn't lack a sense of urgency. See about stuff, so it would just kind of wander off. And then our mom, we're always kind of she's kind of a day-to-day, she has some conditions that sometimes she's better and sometimes she has a harder day, and you don't know if the morning's gonna be tough or if you know whatever. So whereas my family, I'm kind of terrifying, and I was like, Everybody help it out! I'm like, We are going, we are going right now. You should have heard me getting out to the dance recital last night. Oh my gosh. She was like trying to put her shoes on, and I'm like, I said 5'10, it is 5'10. We are getting in the van, we are going right now. Like, oh my gosh. That's kind of what they're used to.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

So and then at the end of the day, my kids are like, Oh, it's 10 p.m. What ride are we doing? Whereas your kids are like, I was done three hours ago.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

I'm yes, so it worked out really well for us to just like text and be like, hey, we're ready. My kids are going nuts. Like, we're just gonna head out and like someone get there. Yes, and and vice versa, for us to be like, all right, we gotta, we gotta call it, and you gotta just keep doing your thing.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Um, yeah, that worked out really well.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

I think the number one thing on our first big family trip that surprised me that you should be prepared for is just everything takes approximately three times as long as you think it will. Like getting through, moving, just moving through the park as a huge group just takes time. It takes time because people are walking slowly. It takes time because someone's kid sees a bubble wand and they need to stop at the stand and get the bubble wand. Somebody needs a snack, somebody didn't go to the bathroom at the last bathroom break, and now they're gonna be able to do it. Somebody somebody needs sunscreen, like yeah, it just it's just inevitable that you're going to move very, very slowly as a large group. Um luckily we kind of picked up on that like day one of our first family trip, and I think kind of like adjusted expectations accordingly. But we definitely had like more ambitious plans of how much we could do in a day that when you're rolling with 12 to 15 people, it is just especially with little kids, it's just not possible.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

It's just not possible. I also like I think one thing we thought about that trip was that we would do a lot more um park hopping and we would do a lot more midday breaks and then come back to the park. Back, yeah. Whereas what we tended to do was get to the park, push through until late afternoon, and bail early. And I think that was just because of those the timing and the logistics, like getting everyone back out of a park and onto a transportation and then to the pool, and then like the kids don't want to get out of the pool, and then you gotta go all the way back through like that the legit the amount of time that that took, the fast trip. I actually feel like we were much better about that this time. Yeah. Um, but yeah, the amount of time that that took last that the last big family trip was like mind. Oh boy, oh boy, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

I remember one day we were just trying to ride or swap Soren, and it took like two and a half hours to get through. That was the bad Epcot day. Yes, we had a we had one bad Epcot day, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

It was the Epcot day right before it was two days before the hurricane, and I think what happened was everybody who was there panicked, and so that that their trip was gonna be ruined, and so everyone was like in no one was in a no one in that park was in a good mood. Everyone in that park felt like they had a guillotine like over their Disney vacation.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

And everyone was on their phones, like what's the latest? What's the forecast? What's happening? Is our hotel gonna be open?

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Like we had a wheelchair, and we also had, and I actually I actually feel like mom's mobility was better on our more recent trip than it was on that trip. Yes, and so like this trip, we might have been able to say, or we we were able to say, you know, okay, we know there's one elevator, and it takes forever to get to the line to go on the elevator, so we're gonna drop the wheelchair with stroller parking. Yeah. She was able to go in and do the escalator, and it was fine. We A didn't really know that in the first trip, and also like she was just not there, so yeah, um, we lucked out with that this trip. But that was part of the problem was we were rider swapping, the lightning lane was backed up, the park was slammed with people. Yeah, and she had some logistics where we had to use the elevator and there's only one, so it it just took it took forever. Yeah, and there's a little bit of a drink desert over there, by the way. My big ask for Epcot is to have more full bars of it, just like available. Like they do it. Um I almost said MGM, like they do at Hollywood Studios. There's like carts and they have a full bar, and you don't have to get a signature cocktail or like the sugary, like blood-orange margarita that you might want one of, but not all the time. I would have more of those. You can get a GNT, just enjoy a GNT in the shade. That that might have that might have enhanced the experience, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Do you remember on our most our most recent trip? I took Mo and Donna to Sunshine Seasons and got them sorted, and then I was coming back to meet you guys to do a ride. And we were already struggling a little bit this day, like you know, just getting we it was our checkout day from our first hotel after doing a split stay. So we're already like sweaty, and it had been a really big morning before we even got to the park. And I got all the alcoholic beverages for us at Sunshine Seasons and came to meet you guys with like drinks in your pocket, two drinks in my pocket, which spilled all over me because they open them when they give them to you. So they I had like like blood orange margarita like running down my leg and I was carrying two beverages, and it was just like, here you go, guys, took one for the team.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

And I went to drinks the night before. Do you remember? I got really artist points, unfortunately. And yeah, but I actually think I was feeling a little weird at dinner anyway. So like I I don't I don't blame Artist Point. I think I maybe just got something. Got a little thing, a little thing, and I had been extremely ill the night before, and so I hadn't had any food, and you were like, here, chug this crepe we have for Watson before we get on cooking.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

I got you this 16-ounce beer. Can you finish it in the next 30 seconds in the 90 degree? Did she do it?

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Yes, she did.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Oh my goodness, very funny. Um I would prioritize making sure you have a time to get photos of the whole group because the trip goes by fast. You can easily miss it. You know, you travel with a group of 15, but how often are all 15 in one place? So kind of plan when you're gonna get your big group photos. Um, we did a couple at Artist Point with all 15 of us, and then we did a castle photo um with like all 12 of us, and I really love, love, love those photos.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Yeah, and it's also just a nice moment where everyone can be in the photo. Like there it's not like at your family cookout where you're like single or the aunt who never wants a photo taken of her, or like have to step out and take the picture. It's nice that like it's a professionally taken photo that everybody is in, and they take enough of them that there's always a good one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

And memory maker is an amazing value when you're doing a big group trip.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

So I highly recommend every time, every time, every time everyone, basically. I just I think it's just so worthwhile to have those. And so now that you have them, like you're not like, oh, I don't know, let's stop and take them, but I don't know if I'm gonna want it. You know what I mean? It's just it's just done and you don't think about it. And yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

I can't wait to look back um when my AP expires because I added it to my annual pass, which I think was $99 for the year. Wow. And see how many memory maker photos I have from that whole period of time. It's a lot, it's a lot of photos. Yeah, yeah, totally worth it. I did. Uh Disney did not make any money off me this year. That's not true. That's not true. That's a lie. That's a big lie. Maybe not off my tickets, but they made plenty of money off of me. And my 15 traveling companions. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Well, those are all my tips. Can you think of anything else that we have learned from traveling with a large group?

SPEAKER_00 30:29

No, I mean, I think the breakout moments is really the biggest takeaway. And also, yeah, different groups can break off, you know, not just like your unit, you know what I mean? Right, like I really valued the our grown-up nights. I mean, it's like a lot wrangling that many, and for you and I, I mean, we're wrangling that many people. We're the bosses of this trip.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Of all the people, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Always. And hey, that's why if you don't want to do that all the time, you should use a travel agent, and I will be the boss of your trip for you. I will do all that legwork and figure out how to make what you want happen. Um, Danielle Griggs at fantasticalvacation.com. I would love to help you. But like we we take that on, right? And so it's a it's just a lot of it's a lot of management of people and things. And then with that many kids, it's like they're you know, it's vacation, it's wonderful. Yeah, it's fun. I'm not complaining about it at all, but like kids on vacation is still kids, yeah. So having like some time when we could split off and just go do the growing up thing for a little bit, um, was really yeah appreciated.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

And we talked about, I think on our husband's debrief episode, we talked about like how this was the first trip where our kids weren't all little kids. Like before it felt like we just had a ton of little kids, even though they were up to age. Like, what was Ella on our first trip? Eight. On our first trip, she was four. What about our first big group trip? Oh, yeah, I think she was like eight. Like, even then, it felt like okay, we have a bunch of little kids. Whereas this trip, it was like, okay, we have a true preteen, two almost preteens, and then like a bunch of little kids. And so it was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Right. Audrey is a small adult. Ella is a creature from another planet who has come here to experience life.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Um, but yeah, it was great, like the night Nick stayed at the park later to do Tiana's again with Audrey and Cooper and Ella, you know, while the rest of us were like, we are tapped, we are tapped out. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

But you absolutely take this child with you and go things. Um, I feel like there was another good example of this, but I want to say was it the Pirate Tavern? Mom and Donna didn't come to the I don't know. There was something we were doing today.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

Were we doing it wasn't the Pirate Tavern. Donna and Mary went to do, I think, the DVC sent DVC um Oh, and we did Bibity Bobity. And we did Bibity Bobity, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

And the boys or the Cooper did something else with like it was just like everyone, yeah. Yeah, everyone just kind of went and did their own thing. And I feel like that's happened too with mom and Donna on our last trip with them.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Where we we were still going and going, and they were kind of like, we just want to get an ice cream and sit down. So they went to Casey's corner and they got a hot dog and an ice cream, and then they went to the pool, you know?

SPEAKER_02 33:28

And then hilariously, on the last day of our last trip, you and me and the husbands and kids did Animal Kingdom until like what noon or what like not late in the day. And then we came back, and mom, Donna, and Mary like stayed at Hollywood Studios till like six o'clock at night, which is hilarious. I know they were living their absolute best lives, and then we all reconvened at the pool later. It was very funny. Yeah, so yeah, breaking off and then everyone regrouping is I think the way to go for sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

It's just it's kind of like I feel like I always say, like, your kids are still your kids, like your need the needs of your group are still the needs of your group, and like just plan to meet those, even if that means breaking off or yeah, you know, whatever that is. Um being flexible.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Yes, but it is hilarious chaos to go with that many people, absolutely hilarious, yes, but so many great memories.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

So much counting, so much counting, so much counting, yes, one, two, three, and then I kept getting confused because I was like, in my head, we got seven kids, right? Seven kids. One's a baby, and he's usually physically attached to you. Yes, and so I'd be looking, and and also Ella's the size of a grown-up, so I'd be trying to count and I'd be coming out too short. And it was like, no, that grown-up sized person is a child, and this baby is just part of Haley still, so like it's just that's you don't have to worry about him because she's wearing him probably.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Oh my Luki.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Too funny.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Uh well, we get to hang out tomorrow. We do in real life. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

It's Father's Day, yeah. It'll be very nice, which will be very nice, despite our dad opting right out, which I think he just decided to do his own thing tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

But we're gonna have a little cookout, do a little cookout, hang out, some yard hangout time. Be lovely.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Some steak tips, and it'll be nice and chill. Presumably, the party across the way will be over by then. We'll see what happens. Um, I think the weather's supposed to be good. Oh, good. We got like a freak rainstorm today.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Did you get that? No, we got like 15 minutes of a hard downpour. Really? And like huge claps of thunder, and then there was a massive, beautiful rainbow. It was very funny. It but it literally lasted all of 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

We didn't get any of that. It's been like it's like decently warm in the sun. That's why I'm all pink. I was sitting in my yard absorbing the ambience before. Um, we came into record, but um yeah, it's like decently warm in the sun here, but the breeze is actually quite cool.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Yeah, and they were at a birthday party and it was absolutely lovely outside with the breeze.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Yeah, they got a good day for it. That's nice. Yeah, yeah. And we'll have a good day tomorrow. So great. We'll see you real soon.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

See you real soon.