Walt Disney World is fun for the whole family, and as a result, you’ll want to bring the whole family along.
Maybe you planned a small trip for just you and your spouse and the kids, and then it grew and grew until it also included aunts, uncles, cousins, and even grandma and grandpa. Or, perhaps you have been blessed with a large immediate family and even just the spouse and the kids add up to a crew that is on the large side. Either way, if you’re looking for the best Walt Disney World vacation packages, you came to the right place.
Disney can be an expensive venture even for a small family. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, it’s wise to stay in hotels that cater to large groups, buy meal plans for all participants, and purchase multi-day tickets. Doing so can save you lots of money and can help you to ensure that everyone is well fed, sleeps well, and has the time of their lives.
If you are looking for some tips for visiting Orlando’s Walt Disney World with a big family group, read on.
The Disney App
The official Walt Disney World free mobile app is called My Disney Experience and in this day and age, you can’t live without it. Make sure every member of your party with a cell phone downloads it and registers for it before you get to the parks and you will be so glad that you did.
This app is great for a million reasons. First of all, it offers maps of all four of the parks in the Florida Disney universe: Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Epcot, The Magic Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It also gives real-time waiting times for all of the rides, menus for all the restaurants, information about special events, and more.
Furthermore, the app will allow you to help your group secure FastPasses+ to skip the line for rides. It can help your group to more easily obtain and manage meal reservations. Everyone who has the app will have access to the information of the other members of the group. It’s a life saver!
Tickets
You can buy your tickets for Walt Disney World when you arrive, but it’s wise to buy them in advance when traveling with a larger group. Planning ahead can make a huge difference when organizing any trip, and this is a good example of that. Although you won’t get any special discounts simply because you are traveling with a bunch of people, the price per day goes down as you buy more days.
If your group will be experiencing Walt Disney World for four days, it’s much cheaper to buy four-day tickets than to buy single tickets for each day you’ll be in the parks.
Park Hopper options cost a little more and allow you to attend more than one of Disney’s parks in a single day, but think about whether or not you will really do so before opting for this more expensive option. If your whole group ends up staying in one park all day after all, you all will have ended up wasting money.
Meal Plans
There are so many places to eat in Walt Disney World and options range from quick fast food stands to full-service, sit down restaurants. One of the best Walt Disney Work vacation packages available for visitors to save money is their meal plans. Within this realm, there are also a wide variety of options.
The Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan is the cheapest of these and includes two casual meals per person per day. If you’d also like a sit-down meal with the family, the standard Disney Dining Plan costs a bit more but allows you one quick-service meal and one full-service meal daily. The new Disney Dining Plan Plus offers two meal credits daily of either type if you want ultimate flexibility for your group. The Disney Deluxe Dining Plan offers this same flexibility but for three meals per day.
All of these meal plans are fantastic for large family groups not only becuase they save money, but because the group can eat together or in individual, smaller groups. The meals are pre-paid. There’s no reason for everyone to come together for each meal if everyone is doing different things or gets hungry at different times.
If you don’t want to purchase meal plans, there are other ways to save on food for your group. You are allowed to bring snacks into the parks each day, so if you plan ahead and make sandwiches and purchase other treats your group enjoys then you can save a bundle here.
Or, if your group likes to eat a lot but has differing tastes, you might want to check out the buffets to save money. The Crystal Palace Buffett is on Main Street, USA in the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood & Vine’s Buffet is in Hollywood Studios. The other four buffets – Chef Mickey’s, Boma, Trail’s End Buffeteria, and 1900 Park Fare are in nearby Disney-run hotels.
Accommodations
There are many different accommodation options when it comes to visiting Walt Disney World with a large family group. If you don’t mind staying off-site, then there are countless hotels in the area or you may consider renting a house through Airbnb nearby. You might also want to consider DVC resorts; they are another affordable, off-site option for family groups.
However, many people find that their Disney experience is most magical when they stay right on site within Disney World in one of their many themed hotels. Furthermore, doing so will allow you and your family to get the most out of your trip twenty-four hours a day.
Unfortunately, Walt Disney World does not offer any group discounts on hotel rooms unless you are booking ten or more rooms at once. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to save in this area.
Many hotels in the Disney universe only allow four people per room, but there are a few that permit more. The Port Orleans Riverside hotel has room for five, and The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort sleep six and even have a kitchen area inside. The Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa have three bedrooms and have sleeping space for up to nine.
Walt Disney World Vacation Packages Make It Easy
No matter what you do, a trip to Walt Disney World with a large group is going to be expensive, but knowing the above tips and keeping an eye on Walt Disney World vacation packages to link food, tickets, and accommodations can make a world of difference for you and your family.
When all is said and done, you will have the time of your lives and you will see that every penny spent was absolutely worth it – but that’s still no reason not to look for deals! Get ready for a great trip and have a blast with your family. Walt Disney World awaits!
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