s/o: Best year for first Disney World trip

[Anonymous]

We did all of those ages and found "A" to be the sweetest. We took our 2 year olds and they talked about Disney for an entire year. Every day they remembered it and talked about it. Every time a Disney movie came on with the Disney fireworks in the opening, they talked about the fireworks at Disney. 2 year olds are just adorable.

And yeah, my kids went on other great trips and international vacations yearly, but Disney really held their little hearts.

I would NOT go on a Disney cruise until your youngest can go to the kid's program. Napping on a cruise is the worst. Whereas my kids just stroller napped at Disney. We got to Disney at rope drop and left when it closed. They just did whatever we wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did all of those ages and found "A" to be the sweetest. We took our 2 year olds and they talked about Disney for an entire year. Every day they remembered it and talked about it. Every time a Disney movie came on with the Disney fireworks in the opening, they talked about the fireworks at Disney. 2 year olds are just adorable.

And yeah, my kids went on other great trips and international vacations yearly, but Disney really held their little hearts.

I would NOT go on a Disney cruise until your youngest can go to the kid's program. Napping on a cruise is the worst. Whereas my kids just stroller napped at Disney. We got to Disney at rope drop and left when it closed. They just did whatever we wanted.

I'm very surprised to see so many C and Ds. I think those are people who really don't like Disney. I don't loooove it either, but it's so magical for the young kids. My vote would be for A and then another trip 3-4 years later when the younger one is 5. That's the best age to go - still into the magic of it all but old enough to remember it.

We went when kids were 5/1, 9/5, and then just did a Universal trip more recently. I would have regretted waiting until my oldest was older than 5 or 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did all of those ages and found "A" to be the sweetest. We took our 2 year olds and they talked about Disney for an entire year. Every day they remembered it and talked about it. Every time a Disney movie came on with the Disney fireworks in the opening, they talked about the fireworks at Disney. 2 year olds are just adorable.

And yeah, my kids went on other great trips and international vacations yearly, but Disney really held their little hearts.

I would NOT go on a Disney cruise until your youngest can go to the kid's program. Napping on a cruise is the worst. Whereas my kids just stroller napped at Disney. We got to Disney at rope drop and left when it closed. They just did whatever we wanted.

I'm very surprised to see so many C and Ds. I think those are people who really don't like Disney. I don't loooove it either, but it's so magical for the young kids. My vote would be for A and then another trip 3-4 years later when the younger one is 5. That's the best age to go - still into the magic of it all but old enough to remember it.

We went when kids were 5/1, 9/5, and then just did a Universal trip more recently. I would have regretted waiting until my oldest was older than 5 or 6.

I said later and we like Disney. The kids can only take advantage of part of the offerings if they are too young, short etc. We aren't going to go multiple times or every year so to get the most out of it the kids need to be older and taller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:C or D. Wait until they no longer need naps.

This if money is no object. Otherwise B - under three is free and kids have to pay adult pricing at age ten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C or D. Wait until they no longer need naps.

This if money is no object. Otherwise B - under three is free and kids have to pay adult pricing at age ten.

I’m surprised everyone glossed over that piece. That’s a big perk and takes away some of the stress these parents give themselves around “what if we don’t see and do everything when we’re paying so much.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C or D. Wait until they no longer need naps.

This if money is no object. Otherwise B - under three is free and kids have to pay adult pricing at age ten.

the adult price is like $10 more than child. It's not going to break the bank at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did all of those ages and found "A" to be the sweetest. We took our 2 year olds and they talked about Disney for an entire year. Every day they remembered it and talked about it. Every time a Disney movie came on with the Disney fireworks in the opening, they talked about the fireworks at Disney. 2 year olds are just adorable.

And yeah, my kids went on other great trips and international vacations yearly, but Disney really held their little hearts.

I would NOT go on a Disney cruise until your youngest can go to the kid's program. Napping on a cruise is the worst. Whereas my kids just stroller napped at Disney. We got to Disney at rope drop and left when it closed. They just did whatever we wanted.

I'm very surprised to see so many C and Ds. I think those are people who really don't like Disney. I don't loooove it either, but it's so magical for the young kids. My vote would be for A and then another trip 3-4 years later when the younger one is 5. That's the best age to go - still into the magic of it all but old enough to remember it.

We went when kids were 5/1, 9/5, and then just did a Universal trip more recently. I would have regretted waiting until my oldest was older than 5 or 6.

Some of this is kid-dependent. My youngest was 4 when we went and yeah I guess it was a bit more magical for her than our 6yo but it was also just a lot of stimulation and we pretty much had a daily meltdown at some point. I can't imagine taking her younger.

I think the other thing to consider is that with three kids with that range of ages, you really need to think about how the two parents are going to divide up. Like we frequently split for things because 6yo wanted to go on Star Wars rides but 4yo found that too scary (and may have been too short for some?). And there were some where they both needed to ride with an adult. So if there's a 2yo who can't ride anything, you need to be sure the older one is comfortable sitting on their own if one parent is taking 2 kids on a ride.

[Anonymous]

Spouse brought his staff to a Disney training when ours were 2 and 4. He couldn't wait to bring the kids, I thought they were way too young. I had him ask the Disney staff - they said wait until the youngest was 5, so that's what we did. They were 5 and 7, youngest was still afraid of many rides and wanted to wait on line to meet/see/get photos with all the Disney characters. Oldest wanted to go on all the rides. Definitely D

[Anonymous]

I moved to Orlando when I was 12 and went for the first time on a school trip and we had a great time. We would go more casually as teens (I think it's less common now but there used to be lots of opportunities for local choirs and bands to perform at Disney events and they'd give us free passes as a thank you).

So I wouldn't worry too much about getting it in when they're young.

I'm curious if this whole line monetization thing is going to be sustainable, it really spikes the cost of attending.

[Anonymous]

Older the kids, the easier it is. However, it does feel more “magical” when they are little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C or D - you want everyone to be somewhat independent and able to tolerate long days.

You’ll have more fun if you DON’T “tolerate long days.” Go to parks in the morning, swim and rest in the hot afternoon and then enjoy the early evening in the parks, with one late night for fireworks.

It's a lot of additional walking to get to and from the parks using whatever transportation method. None of it is door to door. We prefer a long day because after a midday break, nap, swim, we probably wouldn't make it all the way back.

Not really, unless you go to the far side of Epcot and back to the parking lot. Plan your day and stay in a hotel near the park you find least convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did all of those ages and found "A" to be the sweetest. We took our 2 year olds and they talked about Disney for an entire year. Every day they remembered it and talked about it. Every time a Disney movie came on with the Disney fireworks in the opening, they talked about the fireworks at Disney. 2 year olds are just adorable.

And yeah, my kids went on other great trips and international vacations yearly, but Disney really held their little hearts.

I would NOT go on a Disney cruise until your youngest can go to the kid's program. Napping on a cruise is the worst. Whereas my kids just stroller napped at Disney. We got to Disney at rope drop and left when it closed. They just did whatever we wanted.

I'm very surprised to see so many C and Ds. I think those are people who really don't like Disney. I don't loooove it either, but it's so magical for the young kids. My vote would be for A and then another trip 3-4 years later when the younger one is 5. That's the best age to go - still into the magic of it all but old enough to remember it.

We went when kids were 5/1, 9/5, and then just did a Universal trip more recently. I would have regretted waiting until my oldest was older than 5 or 6.

I am a Disney lover and I said later. We took our 3 year old (for a family reunion, otherwise we wouldn’t have) and it wasn’t terrible, but he just didn’t really get it and it was definitely overstimulating. He hadn’t seen very many Disney movies and he was kind of freaked out by the characters and rides. It’s very kid dependent though—if you have a Disney obsessed 3 year old I could see it going better. But the nap situation isn’t easy at that age, because even if you have a kid who can sometimes skip a nap, they almost certainly can’t when they’ve been at Disney.