Is There An Age That is 'Too Young' To Bring Kids to Walt Disney World?

[@torabelle]

Love this topic! We took a last minute trip with our son when he was 2.5. We were ready to be disappointed because my husband and I weren’t expecting to be able to do all the rides we like, but seeing the unsurpassed joy on my son’s face and feeling his heart beating out of his chest when he first met Mickey was so much fun! I didn’t even know he liked Mickey that much before our trip. My job schedule is unpredictable so I’m limited in being able to plan far in advance, but Disney can actually be a great destination for our family since the good travel season is most of the year (compared to our pre-parenthood vacation destinations like Norway or Cambodia, where the prime travel dates are dictated by weather). It’s also not likely to be any cheaper in the future than it is today.

[@56strine]

I was under 1 years old for my first trip to Disneyland, California. This was back in 1957. I was about 6 years old when I started remembering Disneyland, California. This was back in the early 1960’s. I especially remember the strict Dress Code. Our family always purchased nice clothing right before our trip. We always made sure we had a Haircut right before our trip. We also had nice dress shoes. We could not wear Tennis Shoes. I remember always making a stop at the Madonna Inn at San Luis Obispo, California. That was our rest stop from the San Francisco Bay Area. It really was a different world back than.

[@catshepherd3102]

Oooh, I love the Madonna Inn!

[@joykinser3444]

I think if you plan to go multiple times 2.11 is a great time bc they are free for most things, but can really enjoy it even if they may not remember everything. I would make sure to practice being in crowds, having to wait in lines, sit in the stroller, hold a hand, go through a gift shop and not get something everytime. I think a family vacation 100s of miles from home is a stressful way to teach those lessons. If you are only planning to go on a once in a lifetime trip, 9-9.11 is pretty perfect. Still young enough to really be blown away by the magic and to be priced as a child (that's right 10 is adult prices) but probably tall enough for most if not all attractions.

[@TheMaxRebo]

When I get asked this question I first ask them how often they thing they will go to Walt Disney World ... if this is a "once in a lifetime" trip, then I think it make sense to wait until they are 4 or 5 or so and at least 40" tall as then they are at that age when the magic is super real but tall enough to ride most things, etc. BUT if you are thinking you will go pretty regularly (like we go about once a year) then there really is no age that is too early as plenty of memories to make as a family and different ways they will experience the parks. Also, the characters seem to love to interact with real little ones

[@MP-cr7uf]

Depends on the kid. My SIL took her 3 kids (ages 6 and under) and only the 6 year old really enjoyed it. The other 2 kids didn’t enjoy the majority of the experience. I took my 2 year old daughter to a local amusement park first and she was fine with costumed characters, standing in queue lines, and riding the age appropriate rides as long as we took plenty of breaks in between. Then we took her to a Disney park later that year and she loved it. So we continue to take her to both Disney and Universal parks to this day. Meanwhile my SIL’s kids still do not really enjoy amusement parks now as tweens and teenagers, so they haven’t been back in years.

[@dee_mcgee11]

How about a conversation doing parks without the kids. Our household is 2 adults (40+) with no kids.

[@veronicareitherreese6671]

It is child dependent. My kid hated getting his picture taken and was terrified of characters till 6 years old. I just waited till he was 48 inches so he would actually enjoy the trip.

[@amydoran9987]

I brought my kids at 3 and 4. They are now teenagers,and my son does not remember when we took him to Disney at 3.I do remember having a great time with both of them when they were little.They got so much enjoyment out of the characters and the rides. Renting a stroller is very helpful too. It keeps your kids occupied, happy and contained.

[@catshepherd3102]

Great topic. Last year, I went to WDW with my best friend and her (adult) daughter. Now, we’re all neurodivergent and by the end of the week we all agreed we had a blast but the level of chaos in the crowds wore us down. I said that I thought WDW was lost on pre-schoolers: they get overstimmed, most of them won’t remember the experience, and if I ever hear another toddler shriek (either from exuberance or during a meltdown) it’ll be too soon. My parents took me to Disneyland for the first time when I was seven. That’s a great age: they don’t freak out at characters, they know the Disney oeuvre and have their favourites, they’ll actually get something good out of it. Yeah, wait until the kid’s in first grade!

[@shannonmiller5618]

Disney World is no place for kids!

[@Amy-yh8kf]

The first time that we took our daughter to Disney World(Florida) was when she was 3 1/2 years old....she's (now) 21 years old and still remembers that experience! She specifically talks about how she loved walking through the Toon Town area(which is no longer there).

[@torabelle]

Toontown was my first Disney memory, too. I remember being very disappointed that I could look into one of the houses but couldn’t go in!

[@MrChrisDanger]

Depends on the Parents but when they are to little to ride rides for what bringing them into but on the other side Craig and the Tim Thracker couple likes to bring them early on even when they can´t really ride much if even but interesting to doctrine them so early as long as the parents aren´t nutty ones that would crutinize and endanger their young ones even with few yrs old fooling or try to fooling the system and making nutty decisions to trick making their Kids look taller like some weird Parents try to to sneaking them into Rides they shouldn´t ride for safety reasons and threatening their own kids lifes risking for severe damages to them like sadly some dumb parents would do without using some inch of brains not risking their kids well being and getting issues at the parks for trying for doing so and so much that cost more troubles than making exciting experiences for their little ones and themselves. But good luck for Craig to hopefully getting the interests into your Child it makes things much better when he will be old enough tall enough to ride it so may the force will be with You, meanwhile enjoy the stuff you can already do with him and like I already wrote before I hope he hasn´t the allergic issues like Kylie that you haven´t been worry for him as well what he could even eaten there would be sad if he has to be careful what he enjoys there, what is sadly enough for Kylie. And great quote with nighttime shows put them down we want to see the nighttime not your kids backs 🤣😉😊especially with the projections blocked views.

[@terrydrosselmeier8163]

man she says um a lot