Are there any Disney Experts out there?

It really depends on when you go, whether you really need such a plan. Are you going at Thanksgiving? If so, it will be very busy and you will have long waits and might want to plan a bit. Earlier in November is relatively slow, and you shouldn't encounter much trouble with lines and waits.

As for the Fast Pass, you can't break up and collect them for each other. To get a Fast Pass, you must enter your ticket into the kiosk at the ride. Then you get a single voucher with a return time. Each person in your group would have to do that to get a voucher for that ride. You can only have one Fast Pass in your possession at a time; there is an exception if your return time is a while away, in which case you can get another after about 2 hours.

We usually plan out which parks we want to visit on which days, and then we identify which rides and attractions are must-do's. We try to hit those first, and then we play the rest by ear. But we don't stick to a strict schedule - if we happen upon something else that we want to try out, we go ahead and do it unless it will interfere with a reservation we have.

It is a good idea to get to the parks early. It's also a good idea to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours if you are staying on Disney property. If you are not staying on Disney property, then I would suggest avoiding the EMH park each day since they tend to be a bit more crowded.

EDIT - No, you don't have to be physically present to get a Fast Pass. But you can only get one per ticket. So everyone splitting up doesn't really help the whole group, because you can still only have one Fast Pass per person at any given time. If half the group goes to Space Mountain and the other half goes to Splash Mountain, then only half your group will be able to use the Fast Pass for Space Mountain and the other half for Splash Mountain.

Oh gosh XD

You've been informed by super-planners.

I personally don't like super planners, I think more relaxed days are better.

First of all, November is a pretty good time to go. If you go around thanksgiving break it might be more crowded, but it's a better month to go to Disney.

I really don't think you should do the mad-dash thing. If you want to get there as soon as the park opens, great! But if you don't, don't think that you'll be missing out on a big chunk of your day.

So, what I would do is have everyone in your party make a list of their top 3-5 rides. What they really really want to do. Chances are, there will be overlap.

Then put that into a list, and those are the things you're sure to do. Everything else on your trip will be a "Hey, this looks cool and the line isn't too bad" sort of thing. If you rush too much you won't enjoy the atmosphere, and that's half the fun of Disney!

Next, use fast-passes wisely. If you go at the right times of the day, you shouldn't have to wait that long for a lot of stuff, so be sure to get a fast-pass for whatever's the most popular, and just wait in line for other things. Even thunder mountain will have a 20 minute wait. Also, if you want to go on the new Little Mermaid ride, go either at night (When lots of people with little kids have gone home) or early in the mourning. Mid-afternoon, the wait can even get to 120 minutes.

So, I'm just going to make a list of the most popular rides in the parks to help give you an idea of what to get a fastpass for.

Magic Kingdom:

Space mountain is #1, I would grab a fastpass asap

Peter Pan also has a huge line

And third, I would probably say The Little Mermaid, at the moment.

EPCOT:

Sorin' (I highly suggest this ride)

Test Track

That mission to mars ride

Animal Kingdom

Everest (though if you guys want to do a single-rider lane thing, that goes super super fast)

The River rapids (though who knows in November)

The Safari ride (Though If you get there in the mourning it isn't bad, and the animals are more active)

Hollywood studios

TOY STORY MANIA. Fills up fast.

Rock N' Roller coaster

Tower of Terror, though Rock n' Roller coaster is much longer.

Also, Don't be afraid to take breaks! Disney has great ice cream, and the Dole Whip is famous.

And use location to your best advantage. I suggest printing out a park map because it's much more condensed than the ones they give you at the parks, and online you can customize it.

Have fun!

With the fast passes you can only get one ticket at a time so you will have to wait in a line for a while at some point.

I've been to Disney 16 times and if you really don't want to wait for a great ride you do have to be there early.

You should choose a few rides you want to go on most and hit those first. Then relax the rest of the day eating, shopping and waiting in line for the rides you didn't really care about going on.

First of all, take a deep breath! Planning a trip to Disney World can be stressful, but it shouldn't be! It should be fun! I'm a planner. I usually like having everything planned out well in advance. One thing I have learned when it comes to Disney World is to throw all my super planning out the window. I know people who map out their days minute by minute on spreadsheets and get all worked up if their schedule is thrown off. To me, that isn't a fun vacation. Just know that you won't see everything there is to see at Disney World. There just aren't enough hours in the day. You will not enjoy yourself if you are rushing from place to place. Slow down, relax, and enjoy what you can when you can. The only thing I would strongly recommend is making advanced dining reservations. Some restaurants, especially the character meals, book up very quickly.

Have a magical vacation!

For the most part, the other answers that you have been given are correct, except you can split up for the Fast Passes. Whomever is getting the FP for everyone just needs the tickets. That person doesn't have to physically be there. You only get 1 per hour anyway, so if you insist on getting one, just rush for that one, then relax.

Also correct is that the crowds depend on which part of Nov you will be there. Early Nov is great, cheaper rooms and less crowds. Late Nov, much more crowded, but still enjoyable if you plan ahead. The ADR's (dining reservations) work out better if you do plan ahead, but sometimes people cancel theirs, so you can change yours all the way up to the day of your visit, if there is an opening. All you have to do is either call from your room before you head out for the day, check with your front desk on your way out, check with guest services at any park (even if it's not the park with the restaurant) or at the restaurant itself. I don't recommend this last one if it can be avoided, because they all have the same access to ADR's and the person at the restaurant itself will have other duties, so they will already be busy. They will be nice about it, and they are very good about not letting it show, but it's frustrating when people do this. However, the guest services people at each park, that's their main job. Deal with the person in front of them with whatever they need, then move on to the next person. They don't have to worry with multitasking as much, so they can get more done.

But even on the busiest of days, you can still relax and enjoy the parks as long as you lower the number of things you insist on doing. If it will be busy, work on just 1/2 the park for one day, then another 1/2 on another day. Stroll, don't run. As for the lines themselves, Disney is one of the best companies for breaking up the queue boredom by bringing in interactive stuff for the kids to do in the lines, and they're bringing in more all the time. Look at the theming leading up to the ride itself, it didn't get put there by accident. Also, there's the not so secret game of finding the hidden Mickey's.

Most of their counter restaurants are very good. You can skip sit down table service restaurants for a quicker meal on the go, then you also won't need dinner reservations. If you do have dinner reservations, leave yourself plenty of time to get there, things happen such as the monorail breaking down.

My other tip is to go on any ride that has a wait time posted of 15 min or less. Then you get that ride taken care of and you don't need to worry about rushing back to it another time to make sure you don't miss it.

I have never hit a park opening and I have a great time.

Geez, I hope you're not going during Thanksgiving week! It will be crazy crowded, and stress will be practically unavoidable unless you can go totally Zen about the whole experience.

The first time I visited Disney World I spent the smartest money I've ever spent and bought a book called "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World". The book is published on an annual basis, and kept quite updated. It's chock-full of information and hints, and best of all are the touring plans. It tells you what to ride, and in what order. We followed the plan for each park pretty closely on our first visit and were amazed at how well it worked.

Check it out, and enjoy your trip!