On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen all working together.  Doc, Dopey, Sleepy, Grumpy and the gang whistle away. All in a neat little line and on task heading in the right direction. They make it look so easy but anyone that has ever traveled with a large group knows that Santa and Snow White are some type of magic makers because rarely does everyone go the same direction at the same time. This past Thanksgiving we took a merry group of 17 of our extended family members to Walt Disney World. We have done a few group trips but this was the largest so far. Here are some of my best tips for dealing with a group.

Be flexible!  Some plans are set in stone but a lot of things can be changed or worked around. Rigid schedules rarely work when you have more than a few people traveling together. The more people the more flexible you will need to be.

There is a thing as too much togetherness. Plan some time apart, let each small family unit break off into groups to explore or send families off with similar aged kids to tour together. Even some small group time like Grandparents/grandchildren or Daddy/Daughter groups will have fun on their own for a while and make some great special memories together. We found planning meals and a Fast Pass Plus reservation or 2 pre or post meal was a great way to get everyone together and stay together for a few hours and split up. Plus it makes checking in for dining on time a little easier if everyone is already together.

A nightly reminder of any important reservations helps. A lot. Before heading off to bed the night before send everyone a reminder of what concrete reservations you have the next day. Location and time and if it’s an early reservation, a reminder to leave the resort by X time helps significantly for those who are not familiar with the parks and transportation system. Giving them the itinerary pre trip is great but in the excitement and exhaustion of a day at Disney it can be easy to misplace anything or just simply forget about important plans.

Make sure everyone knows basic how to’s on My Disney Experience. A joint mass account holding everyone in your group will work great, but only if everyone knows not to cancel ALL Fast Passes for one day instead of just selecting themselves and cancelling only theirs. Having everyone have their own account can be tricky getting Fast Pass times booked together but it does prevent some uh oh moments. Everyone doesn’t need to be an expert but some basic information like where to find kiosks to get help or how to pull up the app on their mobile device to view their Fast Pass times is a good foundation for everyone that will be accessing it during your trip. And if you have some that do not want to access the app on their device visit the concierge desk at your resort for a printed list sorted daily with the itinerary of their Fast Passes that are scheduled.

Get Memory Maker. Yes you can take pictures with your own camera and you can ask someone to take a picture of your group but Memory Maker makes it so much easier. Split the cost between the different families and you will get full Memory Maker access for everyone in your group. It can be easy to rack up hundreds of pictures with a large group and its makes sharing those memories with each other easier. In the times when you are split up you can see what adventures each person got into. We had over 1500 pictures on our Memory Maker account in November. At less than $200 it was a great deal.

Talk, don’t text. While convenient and often a good option in noisy areas, texts can be slow or have delayed delivery, you can be crossing paths with responses, and it’s much easier to talk someone to your location in front of the Castle than to text your location. It’s a big castle, a lot of places look alike! And “I’m on my way” in text could mean I left the resort, I’m on a bus, I’m in the park or I’m 3 feet away. It’s easier to estimate arrival time if you can say ok so what do you see now, have you passed X location while you are waiting on someone to arrive for a reservation. Plus walking and texting can be bad for your health in the crowded parks and it just slows  down the late comer every time they stop to respond.

There are thousands of tips out there for traveling with groups but these were the most important ones for my group. I hope they help take a little bit of planning stress out of your trip and remember if you feel like your herding cats when trying to wrangle your group, you are not alone!