Ideal age for disney?

[lindyanne]

DH was never at Disney and I went in Kindergarten. My sisters are 6 & 8 years older so I guess we couldn't wait much longer but the only thing I remember is licking my ice cream scoop off my cone right after we left the park. I want DS to be able to remember some things and also ride things but not too old to really enjoy the "magic" of the park. What do you think the perfect age is? We will probably only take him once.

[mmmomof2]

If you only go once I would say 7 or 8. Still young enough to enjoy being a kid, but old enough to go on the bigger rides and stay up late. I'm not sure that remembering has anything to do with it. I mean there are some family trips we took in high school that I barely remember now, that doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing.

[Deleted]

I agree with 7 or 8 if you only go once. I went my first time at 12 & I feel I was too old to get into the "magic". My girls had a blast at 2, 4 & 6 but I am sure my littlest won't remember that. We went again at 3, 5 & 7 (only to Disneyland not Disneyworld) & plan to go again (to Disney World) when this baby is 3-4 probably.

[dragonfly08]

IMO, there is no "perfect age". DD #1 has been there four times - at 17 months, 5, right before she turned 7, and 7 1/2. DD #2 has two trips under her belt, both when she was 4.

They were all amazing trips in their own way. I wouldn't say any was better or worse overall, just different. The most "Disney magic" for a kid may have been at around age 4/5, but there are trade offs since they tired more easily and couldn't stay up as late. A lot depends on your kid, too...even at almost 8, DD #1 couldn't stay up late enough for the evening shows if she wanted to be at park opening (which my kids did) so we had to make choices. I didn't mind, and neither did they.

[hannamaren]

We went at 8/9 and 10/11.
Both were great for us as kids. Still magic, but we still enjoyed Epcot and didnt get too tired.

[kittycatlove]

I've never been, but my DH has been a bunch of times. He can't wait to go with DS. Right now our plan is to go for the first time whe DS is 5.

[livinitup]

At the age of 10, my niece declared that she was officially the ONLY child in her class who had not been to Disney. They went that year and had a great time. Plenty of magic, old enough to do everything.

I think if its a one-time trip, 8 is probably your best bet.

[Wines Not Whines]

I agree 7-8 is a good age. They're big enough to be able to go on most of the rides, but still young enough to get into the "magic" and fantasy of it all.

I went for the first time when I was 11 or 12, and while I loved it, I wasn't as much into the total fantasy of it.

[takeonyou]

My kids are 4 & 6 and we go next month. We will do another trip or two as they get older because there is so much to do at various ages, I feel like they would experience it differently each time.

[atouchofklasse]

I've always heard if you only go once, go at 5.

We took the kid at 10M and had a lot of fun, but he obviously won't remember any of it. (we were on Orlando for other reasons.)

Taking him from 10.5-15M would have been pure hell.

We hope to take him again before he turns 3, but we go to Florida often to visit family anyway.

[fortmyersbride]

I have very distinct memories from my first trip at age 5. My little sister though was a little over 1, and my mom says it wasn't so much fun dragging a kid under the age of 2 around the park (although that still didn't stop them from taking us every couple of yrs, even when our next 2 siblings were babies).

We'll probably go for the first time this spring. DS will be 4 and I think he's reaching the age when it's really magical. DD though will only be 18ish mos. If I thought this would be our only trip I would probably wait until they were 6 and 3.

[otowngirl]

We just took DD to Magic Kingdom for the first time; she's 2. She had a blast, but I doubt she'll remember it.

In full disclosure, we live in Orlando and have annual passes so I don't have to worry about planning a 'once in a lifetime' trip. I'd definitely wait til she was 5-6 if we were traveling, etc.

[h]

I think 5-8. Kids have fun there before that, but can't really do everything and don't remember it. Any older than 8 and I don't think most kids buy into everything to the same degree.

[countthestars]

I'd say if you are only going to go once, wait until the kid is 7-8. I don't remember any of our Disney trips prior to then and was tall enough to go on some better rides by that time (while still enjoying the kid rides)

[ilikedonuts]

6 or 7 if you are only going once

Young enough to still fully believe all the magic and old enough to remember some things.

We just took DD though for her first birthday and she had a blast. But we go at least once a year.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I've always either had family in Florida or (now) lived here, so to me the idea of going to Disney just once as a child seems very odd to me. It's a fun trip at any age, and it doesn't have to be terribly expensive. I say plan on going a couple of times with your kids :-)

DD went for the first time at 18 months, and we all had a blast on that trip. She was old enough to enjoy what we were doing with her, but too young to be scared. She went on Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean with no problems.

Our most recent trip was for her third birthday. The Disney magic was more evident on this trip -- she understood that she was MEETING CINDERELLA!!!, and she thought that was the coolest thing ever. So that was awesome to watch. But she's more frightened of the rides now -- in part because she understands more of what's going on around her. Sshe screamed through It's a Small World (who does that???), and she's still talking about how scary the Pooh Bear ride was because it had some thunder.

I can't wait for my DD to get a couple years older so that she'll be able to go for longer days. Right now skipping nap (which is usually what we do because we only go for the weekend) makes the afternoons rough.

Also, just as an aside, there are very few rides in all of Disney World with height restrictions. If we were to go to Disney right now, my three year old could ride more rides than I could (since I'm pregnant). A toddler can't do the roller coasters, of course, but there aren't that many of those, and there are only a few other rides they can't do. Fewer than 15 for all four parks, I'd guess.

[Deleted]

I was 7 when I went for the first time as a kid and I remember a ton of fun stuff from that trip. I think b/w 6-8 would be a great time to go, maybe 5 if your kid is tall and can ride the bigger rides. lol.

I do think it is worth going back to do Universal Studios when your kids can fully appreciate the movie stuff, so maybe middle school age?

[auberge]

We got free tickets to disneyland when my son was barely two. It was kind of a nightmare. I would of been pissed if we paid all that money.

I say four or five.

[Deleted]

We went when I was twelve and I remember that as being one of our best trips as a family.

[GailGoldie]

we took the kids last spring - DS1 turned 5yo while we were there- and to me it was perfect. He still believed all the characters were real (already now at 5.5 he is questioning it)... he just loved it - and b/c he's tall was able to go on any ride he wanted.

the twins were 2.5 and too young for "perfect" age- but they still had a blast.
We are going again in may - we had too much fun to wait 2 years (our plan orig)

[jena]

We went this summer - DD had just turned 5 and DS was 2.5. I thought it was a really good age for DD and an ok age for DS (though he obviously won't remember it). DD knew the characters in costumes with big heads were just people in in costumes, but still believed that the "real people" characters were real (so the princesses and such).

DD is also very tall, so there was actually almost nothing she couldn't ride. And Miss Timid actually wanted to ride Space Mountain... and loved it. I was pg, so I had to skip more rides than either kid did. My kids loved Epcot as well as Magic kingdom, but I could do without the other 2 parks (animal kingdom was ok, hollywood studios was the pit of hell and not little kid friendly).

My kids actually stayed up really really late most nights - we closed the parks at least 3 times. But we never made a park opening. We did go back to the room for naps for DS while DD stayed at the park with DH or with grandma.

[lindyanne]

Thanks everyone. It's not an expense thing - it's just a time and preference thing. DH only wants to go once. Maybe we'd end up going twice when DS is a little older if we venture out to CA with him but otherwise there's nothing else down there that we'd go to so we'd be making the trip only for that. There are lots of places we want to go and we don't know what DH's schedule will bring (he is a company owner so he can take off as much as he wants but it's just hectic and stressful for him to be away). Thanks for the input.

[Becca]

If you are going only once, I would say 5-8.

That said, we brought DD at 21 months and she LOVED it. She still talks about (she'll be 4 next month - she never forgets a thing). She thought that everything was real, and was in complete awe and amazement the entire time.

The kid even waited in line for an hour to see Ariel. Never complained about waiting once - was just SO excited to meet her.

May not be the same experience for all kids that age - but it was a great age for us!