My kids are college age now and talk a lot more about all of the other vacations we've taken over the years to national parks, big cities, Caribbean beaches, etc., than they ever do about any theme park we've visited (yes, including Disney World, Harry Potter, etc.). Disney is fun and all, but it isn't all that.

We took our DD when she was a week shy of 7. It was perfect. She was able to appreciate that it was DISNEY vs just another amusement park. We always figured that while some place like Dutch Wonderland was the pinnacle of her summer we would keep at that until Disney mattered to her and she was old enough to really appreciate it.

My husband took our 6 (almost 7) year old to Disneyland this summer. I think that’s a good age as she could handle a whole day and the walking and was tall enough to ride everything. My younger nieces and nephews went- the 2 year old was too young for most of it, the not quite 4 year old petered out midday and the 5 year old was done by early afternoon.

That said, she vastly preferred Legoland. She’s not, and never has been, a princess person, so I imagine if she had been maybe it’s something we would have done earlier to capitalize on that? The 3 year old and 5 year old loved that part of it. And space mountain was shut the day they went, she was bummed as we’d been talking about it in advance.

As a child I went at 3, 4, 5, and 8. I remember different things from each trip. 5 was the best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people always say "your kids won't remember it". Who cares if they remember it. If they have fun, it is worth it. Do you not throw your kids a birthday party when they are 6 years old "because they won't remember it". Do you not take your kids trick or treating because they wont remember it?

It's like people take their kids to Disney World for the parent points. It's weird.

Nice try, but Disney is expensive. Trick or treating isn’t. Some of us don’t have the money to take our children to Disney multiple times throughout their childhood, so we act “strategically” because we want them to have memories of it. If I only have the ability to take my child to a place once, I don’t want it to be at a point in her life where she can’t remember going. If that’s “parent points”, so be it.

How do you know it will only be once? That is what I don't get. The one and done mentality only applies to Disney around here. Maybe you could take them whenever you want AND later if you like it. I never leave a place going "Welp that was nice and I'll never ever ever ever see you again"

Maybe because you have other vacation priorities and things you want to see. I rarely go to the same place twice - too many things to see.

And because I only want to go to Disney once. It's expensive, crowded and tacky. It's fun...but not multiple times. So I want to go when my kids are able to have the best, most memorable experience. Then never go back.

Not all of us are married to the mouse.

It's like everyone on DCUM has the same word of the day calendar and they're all stuck on the word "tacky".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people always say "your kids won't remember it". Who cares if they remember it. If they have fun, it is worth it. Do you not throw your kids a birthday party when they are 6 years old "because they won't remember it". Do you not take your kids trick or treating because they wont remember it?

It's like people take their kids to Disney World for the parent points. It's weird.

Nice try, but Disney is expensive. Trick or treating isn’t. Some of us don’t have the money to take our children to Disney multiple times throughout their childhood, so we act “strategically” because we want them to have memories of it. If I only have the ability to take my child to a place once, I don’t want it to be at a point in her life where she can’t remember going. If that’s “parent points”, so be it.

How do you know it will only be once? That is what I don't get. The one and done mentality only applies to Disney around here. Maybe you could take them whenever you want AND later if you like it. I never leave a place going "Welp that was nice and I'll never ever ever ever see you again"

Maybe because you have other vacation priorities and things you want to see. I rarely go to the same place twice - too many things to see.

And because I only want to go to Disney once. It's expensive, crowded and tacky. It's fun...but not multiple times. So I want to go when my kids are able to have the best, most memorable experience. Then never go back.

Not all of us are married to the mouse.

We took DD for her 4h birthday. We didn’t tell her what it was before hand and she had a wonderful time. We took he back at 7.5. Again had an awesome time. Probably won’t go back until 10-11, waiting for Star Wars land to open.

25

When they're working and can pay for it themselves and I don't have to go.

Birth-18

If you're only going once, 6-9.

We took our kids as babies and people thought we were crazy, but those are memories we made for us as parents. They are older now but love to see the pictures from those trips and hear us us reminensce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people always say "your kids won't remember it". Who cares if they remember it. If they have fun, it is worth it. Do you not throw your kids a birthday party when they are 6 years old "because they won't remember it". Do you not take your kids trick or treating because they wont remember it?

It's like people take their kids to Disney World for the parent points. It's weird.

Nice try, but Disney is expensive. Trick or treating isn’t. Some of us don’t have the money to take our children to Disney multiple times throughout their childhood, so we act “strategically” because we want them to have memories of it. If I only have the ability to take my child to a place once, I don’t want it to be at a point in her life where she can’t remember going. If that’s “parent points”, so be it.

How do you know it will only be once? That is what I don't get. The one and done mentality only applies to Disney around here. Maybe you could take them whenever you want AND later if you like it. I never leave a place going "Welp that was nice and I'll never ever ever ever see you again"

Maybe because you have other vacation priorities and things you want to see. I rarely go to the same place twice - too many things to see.

We just went for the first time. Our kids were almost 3, 4.5, 6, and 7.5. Everyone had such a wonderful time. I think the (young) 6-year-old may have gotten the most out of it, because he was young enough to still believe in the characters and love meeting them, and old enough to enjoy all the rides.

My 2 and 4 year olds were just amazed by everything, and ask all the time when we can go back. Meeting princesses and characters was so amazing and joyful for them. It kind of made me regret that we hadn't gone when the older ones were younger, too.