Any benefit to registering as a Grand Gathering? About This Page:

[cjadkins]

Hi! I know some of you have done the Grand Gatherings with groups of 8 or more so I was wondering if you could tell me is there any real benefit to registering as a Grand Gathering Group? We will have 8 in our group this summer and I've already made my dinner ADR's, have our resort reservations, etc... we're not interested in doing any of the special grand gathering meals, cruises, etc. Is there anything else that we would be missing out on if we don't register? Thanks!

[bradk]

it's my understanding that at the very most fundamental level, they will do whatever they can to place all of the resort rooms as close together as possible.

other than that, i doubt it. but man, if i qualified for a grand gathering, i'd be footing the bill if i had to for those events.

[Caldercup]

I've done two GGs since '05.

There are some on-line and downloadable "tools" that they offer to help you plan your GG, but I found them clunky and not good for the way I work.

The GG events coordinators are quite good and very helpful when setting up your ressies and plans. They have great suggestions and bend over backwards (IMHO) to make things magical.

If you have a group of more than 10 people, then the GG coordinators can't make your dining ressies and you'll be transfered to the group dining people. (Not a biggie, just thought I'd mention it.)

Brad is correct - the big benefit is that they will situate your rooms together (as much as possible.) I've been told that you will be placed in those rooms before any "single" ressies are placed by the room assigner. (Maybe Kelly can confirm that.)

Also, at check-in, every room will receive a prinout of their events and ADRs along with info on those events and suggestions for when to arrive, etc.

As a GG during the YoaMD, you should also be given special GG buttons to wear around. (One for each member of the GG) We got ours at check-in.

The events are fabu -- I've done all but the GG breakfast at Tony's.

I did find that they scaled the Fireworks Voyage down -- the desserts in '05 were to-die-for, but they were pretty crummy this past December. The cruise and our pirate were just as magical and fantastic as the first time and I'd still do this again!!

Eileen

[Joanne929]

I planned our trip of 8 this past December and had no problems getting ADRs. We weren't interested in any of the trips available. If I had know though that being a GG, and we would have had our rooms together for sure, I would have told THAT to the TA as well. (She did NOTHING for me and our rooms were not even in the same buildings! But that's another issue.)

[Luv2laff]

We are going with friends in Nov/Dec, and we registered as a grand gathering for just that reason- the rooms close together. I made my Reservations myself through the Disney phone number, and didn't realize this is how they assigned the rooms until the lovely person helping me make my reservations let me know. I didn't know about that other stuff at the time, but I don't think that we are going to sign up for them either.

[Marv]

[ QUOTE ]
We are going with friends in Nov/Dec, and we registered as a grand gathering for just that reason- the rooms close together. I made my Reservations myself through the Disney phone number, and didn't realize this is how they assigned the rooms until the lovely person helping me make my reservations let me know. I didn't know about that other stuff at the time, but I don't think that we are going to sign up for them either.

[/ QUOTE ]

I found this out after I got to disney. One thing you need to be careful of though is that even if you don't request it, you'll be assigned near the people you are in grand gathering with. I didn't know this and was assigned to a room next to Iamgrumpy because we were both staying at the same resort and checked in the same day. Ordinarily, this would have been fine but I was also going with my Mom and other relatives who were not in the grand gathering, so I was originally assigned in a building different from them when I had requested to be in a connecting room next to them. Hope that makes sense! The grand gathering over rode the request to be in a connecting room with my Mom. It was really a pain to try for Pop to try to find rooms even near each other for my Mom and my family because it was Memorial Day weekend and very full. So, you may want to keep that in mind if you have other room requests different from those in your magical gathering group. You may want a quiet room and they may want to be right in the action, etc.

[TexasHeathers]

Hey, I'm glad this was asked. Our upcoming trip - there will be 8 total - possibly ten in our whole group. But, we can not book as one group. I'm assuming to be a Grand Gathering, our reservation has to be all together right??

Heather

[bradk]

nope. everyone can book separately. what you do is one person initiates the grand gatherings and then each other party calls with the grand gatherings confirmation # to link themselves to the gg.

[Kids1stDisneytrip]

We are 10 in total and booked ALL together. We have 3 rooms total at Pop Century. How do I register as a grand gathering, even if we don't have any plans to do the GG events? Thanks!

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Kids1stDisneytrip

We are 10 in total and booked ALL together. We have 3 rooms total at Pop Century. How do I register as a grand gathering, even if we don't have any plans to do the GG events? Thanks!

All you have to do is call the Grand Gathering people and set it up.

You'll need the confirmation # for your reservation(s).

Call 407-W-DISNEY and tell them you need to speak with the Grand Gatherings department. There is a direct number, but I can't seem to find it -- I think it's 407-WDW-PLAN.

Also, if you are 10 people, you'll probably have to go through Group Dining for your reservations. Just ask the GG coordinator and they'll get you to the right people to set up your dining reservations (ADRs)

Good luck and have a blast. I've done two GGs so far and have really enjoyed all the special events!
Eileen

[sprentice]

We have booked a GG for this July. It will be me, dh, ds and both our sets of parents and my husband's sister. When we made our reservations at WL throught the GG phone number, we were asked if we wanted connecting rooms. I was very clear that I DID NOT! This was noted on our reservations. (It remains to be seen if they will honor this.) My impression is that if you make your reservations through the GG, you can make rooming request. We went with a GG so that we only had one number to call to make all of our arrangements: reservations, ADR's, GG events.

[ariel1]

i just booked a gg a couple of weeks ago and have made all the adr's for 10. you do not need to call group dining. i used the 1-800 # for wdtc. only one of our adr's required going through group dining (wolfgang puck cafe), so my call was transferred without having to call group dining directly. i was told that dinner shows and a few other restaurants require groups of 10+ to go through group dining, but most can be done through the regular #.

[dat731]

I made our reservations for 10 and got a grand gathering number but have not yet made our dining reservations as we have not hit the 180 days out yet. 2 of the 10 are infants, will we still need to make the reservations thru group dining? Really only 8 will be eating there.

[bradk]

i'm pretty sure group dining is more like 16+

i know in fact i made a reservation for 10 (we were staying offsite) back in dec 05 for WCC and did it through the main number.

[Caldercup]

Well, for the past GG in Dec 2006 -- when we had 13 total -- we were always passed through to Group Dining by the GG coordinators. I was told then that it was a 10+ thing. (Maybe it's just that the GG coordinators can't do a 10+ thing, but some WDW-DINE operators can do it.)

Call your the grand gathering coordinators to make your ADRs and they'll let you know whatever the current regulations are.

Good luck -- I love GGs and keep trying to "adopt" people so I can plan another one!

Eileen