Recently, a friend of mine went to Disney World with her young kids, as a group of 8 people altogether. She was kind enough to write this awesome article offering her insight on her trip. Hopefully, this helps you if you fit this demographic too. There are great tips for anyone going to Disney though. Thanks, Linda!

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Authored by Linda.

Our family of three has visited Disney World multiple times throughout the years. Our last trip was in 2019, before the pandemic and before our second child arrived. We would often reminisce by looking at photos and watching Disney World live streams on YouTube. We longed to be there. We finally booked our next trip for February 2023 as a family of four. We then convinced my brother and his family of four to join us. Our party of eight had four kids, ages 3, 7, 8, 9.

If you haven’t yet, read Anne’s Planning a Trip to WDW article. Here are some additional tips and insights for planning for a large party from my personal experience.

1. Budget & Save
Do you have a budget? We had a budget of $6000 for our family of four which covered airfare, housing, transportation, tickets, parking, food, and shopping for 7 days. Have a Target Red Card? Save 5% off Disney items by buying Disney gift cards. If you don’t want to hold onto a lot of Disney credit, you can buy Disney gift cards with email delivery as you need them. I usually get them in my email within minutes of purchasing them.

2. Find the Time
When do you want to go? Central Florida can get uncomfortably hot. We’ve been there in June and it definitely wasn’t as enjoyable as the winter months. With our kids still in preschool and elementary school, we were okay with taking them out to take advantage of lower crowds and cooler weather. Early February worked out well for us. The weather ranged from the high 60s to mid-80s. We didn’t get any rain. The 80s did feel hot, and we did hear some mumblings from the kids, but we were able to manage it with shade breaks, Dole Whip, and Mickey ice cream bars.

Weather can definitely affect your trip, so keep your heat tolerance in mind. I think the most perfect time to be in Disney is early December or mid/late January. The weather is a bit cooler, and you can catch the Christmas decorations in December. I have already started planning our next trip in December.

How long do you want to stay? Disney World has 4 parks: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. Do you want to do each one? Would you like to do some more than once? Do you want to do 1 park per day or park hop?

Disney World requires advance park reservations. That means before you arrive, make sure to purchase park tickets, link them to your My Disney Experience account, and make park reservations for each day you are visiting the park.

We chose to do 1 park per day for 5 days. Two days at Magic Kingdom and one day at each of the other parks. Park hopping takes extra time and even more time with little children. Park hopping can make the day longer, which can make the kids more tired. Doing 1 park per day allowed us to optimize our time in each park.

3. Pick Your Property
For our previous trips, we stayed on-site at a Disney World Resort. We mostly stayed at Pop Century for the location and value. Pop Century is located further from Magic Kingdom but pretty close to all the other parks. Pop Century also has the Skyliner, which can quickly transport you to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The Skyliner is great for large groups because each gondola can hold up to 10 people. It’s even big enough to keep your child in the stroller and push it on. Unfortunately, because we were booking only 1 month in advance, Pop wasn’t available.

For the first time, we decided to stay off-site in a 4-bedroom house that we booked through Airbnb. The main reason we did this was the lower cost. Although the house was cheaper than one room at a moderate Disney resort, there are other costs to consider, such as car rental, parking, gas, and tolls. The house worked out great for us. The kids loved being able to run around and play together. My 3-year-old daughter was able to have her own room since she goes to bed earlier and wakes up earlier. The other 3 kids loved sharing a room and staying up late together.

4. Get Transportation
If you’re flying in like us, you’ll have to figure out how to get around. With little children that require car seats, a car rental was the cheapest and most convenient option for us. Each family had their own car that was picked up at the airport. We brought booster seats for the older 3 kids and rented a toddler car seat. We enjoyed the convenience of coming/going whenever we wanted. We scheduled a Walmart pick-up order for the day we arrived, which included toiletries, breakfast and snack items. This helped save money and time.

If you have a Costco membership, another money saving tip is to book your car rental through their travel site. You will get to add your spouse as an additional driver for free. You can do a search for rental cars on their site without a membership so use this to compare prices. Sometimes purchasing a Costco membership just to rent a car can still save you money!

If you decide to stay at a Disney World Resort, transportation from the airport is not provided, but there are paid shuttle services available. Uber and Lyft may not be options if you require more than one car seat. Once at the resort, transportation to all the parks and Disney Springs is provided via bus, monorail, boat, or Skyliner. The transportation is an attraction in itself. Need groceries? You can use services such as Instacart and Amazon Prime to have items delivered to your resort. If you have a car, parking is free at the resort and the parks.

5. Plan Your Park Days
Even if you like to go with the flow, a little planning will go a long way. If you’re traveling with a large group, make sure all your accounts are linked together in the My Disney Experience app. This will allow you to book dining reservations and rides for the entire
group.

Attractions
Disney World has a queue system for rides called Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL). This was implemented after my last trip in 2019 so I was nervous when I realized I would have to learn how to use it. Anne was there to guide me. She linked me to the most relevant and recent videos to learn about it.

At least a day before a park visit, talk about which rides you all want to do at that park. Figure out if you are going to purchase Genie+ and/or ILL. It can get costly. Genie+ prices range from $15-30+ per person per day. Each park has 1 ride that you can purchase an ILL for, and it can cost $7-$25+ per person.

We purchased Genie+ every day to help us optimize our time at the parks. We bought ILL twice, for Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom and Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios. Our 3-year-old wasn’t able to go on these rides, so we were able to use Disney’s Rider Switch program, and someone in the group was able to go on a ride twice.

For Genie+, there are rides that run out of reservations sooner than others. A quick Google search for “Genie plus priorities” will help get you the list. Amongst the group, agree on which one is the highest priority. This is the ride you will aim to book at 7AM on the day of your park visit. Be ready to book a few minutes before 7AM. I set my alarm to wake up at 6:30AM every day and to book Genie+ at 6:55AM.

Our group decided to do every ride together, but you can also book separate rides. It was much easier and faster to book rides for the whole group. We liked to aim for our first Genie+ ride to be around 10AM. We don’t always have a choice but I found the cast members (at least during our trip) to be really flexible if we were late for our Genie+ reservation. There were times we were 1-2 hours late and a green check mark still appeared on their screen when we scanned in. I’ve heard they are much more strict on ILL times though, so be sure to book a timeframe you can make. Having a start time around 10AM allowed us to take our time driving in and getting through security. It also allowed us to stop by the restrooms, grab a snack and stroll through the park on our way to our first ride.

To make things a little more confusing, there are also virtual queues for a couple of rides. Virtual queues take the place of standby queues. They currently exist for Guardians of the Galaxy and Tron. These virtual queues are free so if you want to ride these rides, be sure to book these at 7AM before your Genie+ ride. They go even faster! If they’re out, try again at 1PM. If successful, you will be given a group number and an estimated time to return. If you miss the time, don’t sweat it. We missed ours for Guardians of the Galaxy, but a guest services cast member said we can arrive anytime after our assigned time. Whew, what a relief!
*Note: they are currently being strict with the Tron return time, so don’t be late for that one.

Food
There are so many restaurants to choose from. You can make dining reservations 60 days in advance. We did make a few dining reservations just in case we wanted table service but ended up canceling them. Be sure to cancel dining reservations at least 2 hours before to avoid a cancellation fee. We found it to be easier and more flexible to eat at quick-service restaurants with the little kids. Be sure to do mobile ordering whenever possible. This can save you lots of time!

We brought some snacks like granola bars, sliced apples, crackers, nuts, and Cheetos in case the kids got hungry while waiting in line. There were also lots of other sn,acks that we bought and enjoyed, like the Mickey pretzels, churros, popcorn, ice cream, and cheesesteak egg rolls!

Things to Bring to the Park
● Stroller – We walked 5-10 miles a day while at the parks. We were so glad we had our jogger stroller for our toddler. The bigger kids were able to take turns sitting on the footrest of the stroller. I definitely recommend bringing or renting one if you have little kids. When parking your stroller, make sure it’s a designated stroller parking area. I have seen cast members move strollers because they weren’t in the right area. That can make finding your stroller again extremely hard. Another tip is to make a sign for your stroller so you can easily differentiate it from others.
● Park tickets – This can be in the form of a card, Magic Band, smartwatch, or on your smartphone.
● Portable charger battery pack – Using the My Disney Experience app all day will drain your battery so this is a must-have!
● Hats – Perfect for keeping the sun out of your eyes, especially during a parade.
● Portable fan – My tolerance for heat is not the greatest so this brought me and the kids lots of comfort.
● Sunscreen – It can get really sunny and hot so be sure to protect yourself and your little ones from getting burned. Remember to reapply!
● Water bottles – You can get cups of ice water from most quick-service places to refill your water bottles.
● Hand sanitizer – Help keep the germs away, especially before eating/snacking.
● Sanitizing wipes – Quick service tables can be left really dirty at times, so these can come in handy.
● Bandaids and alcohol wipes – Sometimes booboos happen and it’s nice to have them on hand.
● Large disposable toilet seat covers – These worked great for the kids. I didn’t have to worry about the cover falling down and where they were putting their hands.

Enjoy the Day!
Have your list of high-priority attractions but be flexible. Kids can get tired and cranky, and so can we. It’s ok to not hit every ride and be sure to take breaks. There were many times that we had to split up so the bigger kids can go on rides with height restrictions. My toddler did not mind waiting in the stroller because there was always something around to keep her entertained, such as a show, parade, or a snack. She also enjoyed looking at the princesses and characters from afar. If your little ones are a bit more brave, they will enjoy the up close and personal meet and greets.

6. Get Help
Still feeling overwhelmed? I highly recommend reaching out to Anne for help. She will be able to guide you through the process and answer any of your questions. She has provided me with countless tips for all of my trips and has truly made each experience even more magical.