Old enough to venture on their own

[MickeyCanada715]

What would you consider as an ok age, to allow your child to venture on their own with another sibling? An additional fact to add, which may or may not affect your opinion .... The siblings have been to Disney 5 times already.

I'm just curious what the popular opinion is.

 

[parkhopping]

It really, really depends on the children in question, and what the circumstances are. Are you talking about letting them roam free for an entire day? Just a couple of rides? In a gift shop? To the restroom? Will they have a cell phone? Are they good about following instructions and common sense?

It should be noted that Disney's policy is that children under the age of 7 cannot ride unless accompanied by someone 14 or older.

I often visit with friends who have sons ages 10 and 8. They are allowed to go to the restroom by themselves and meet at a designated place, but that's all they've ever done.

 

[SweetMissy]

Such a hard decision! My kids are still young so I haven't even thought about this. I'd say well into being a teenager....16 maybe?

 

[Granny square]

It depends for how long and where. As soon as I had older boys who wanted to do something different 12 and 10ish, I'd point them in the right direction and we'd meet up in an hour.

Free range, probably 15ish (the oldest) They know the property and parks and have traveled extensively. They have also been on their own irl in many situations .

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

We've been to WDW 6 times alreasy (kids 5 times). On out last trip our DD (17) and her BFF came with us and we allowed them free reign during our stay. However, we all arrived at the same park and left at the same time in the evening AND we gave her a cell phone so we could keep in touch every 2-3 hours or to meet up for lunch and dinner.

 

[Lizard Valley]

Two years ago, my oldest son (who was 11 at the time), was our FP runner. He was quite capable of following a map, and following instructions on where and when to meet. He also had a cell phone with him and knew how to text me.

Last year, when he was 12, he was allowed to go do what he wanted if he didn't want to do what the rest of us were doing (specifically the character BF at H&V in DHS). He was also allowed to ride the Disney transportation to and from the resort by himself. But he was also 5'10 at the age of 12, and certainly didn't look like a vulnerable child.

This year, he will be allowed to go to DTD by himself to shop and go to Disney Quest.

 

[blessedby3]

I agree it depends on the kids. My 2 oldest are very responsible...my 3rd--not so much! She is 14 and I dont even leave her home alone for more than 30 mins. Her older sister was babysitting at 12.
As far as the parks, I would have let my older 2 go off alone for a while once the oldest was about 13-14. My now 14 year old...hopefully in a couple of more years I can let her go off on her own
My DS took his best friend with him on our trip in 2011. They were 16 and they went to and from the resort to the parks on their own. I just had them keep in contact by text and calls. My ds has been going to WDW since he was 3, so he has a pretty good grasp on the travel and getting around...and I trust that one

 

[Mrs Eeyore]

I agree they should be in their teens. Mine are 17 and 14 and I think they've just reached the age where I'd be comfortable letting them roam free in a park together. But all kids are different -- my 14 YO is more independent than the 17 YO, who can get lost between the road and the sidewalk.

 

[ghtx]

The usual disclaimer applies: every kid is different, and you know your kid best.

Still, I would think that a bare minimum age for being unsupervised at WDW is around 10 years old, maybe 12. Even if your kid is mature, responsible, familiar with WDW, etc., you have to remember that WDW can be a CRAZY BUSY place that might make kids (and even adults) uncomfortable.

 

[JennSaint]

We've gone to Disney every year since they were 5 & 4. Last February was the first year I let them go off on their own and they were almost 17 and 15 1/2 along with my niece who was almost 18 at the time. I felt they were responsible enough and knew Disney in and out since they had been so many times. I should add that we let them go from resort to parks etc. Before that I let them go off on their own when we were in the same park as they were. But they were probaby at least 14 before I let them do that.

 

[outahere]

We started letting our son take off on his own when he was 16, but he had been to WDW many times, knew his way around all the parks and how the Disney transportation system works, and had a cell phone. The past two trips he managed to do all the major rides, in all four parks, in one day. There is no way we could have kept up with him doing that! He would leave the YC around 8:00 - 8:30, meet us for lunch and some park time (one park) then come back to the resort for dinner. After dinner he would head back to either MK or DHS and be back by 9:00 - 9:30. Yes...... he was pretty tired, but he still managed to float around the lazy river at SAB for a while to cool off and relax.

 

[1pixiemom]

As everyone else has said it depends on the children and the circumstances but for me my kids were old enough at 14 as long as they were in a group and stayed together. I also had meet up times for them throughout the day...

 

[2girlsmom]

My eldest dd is 14, but she is aspbergers/autistic, so a little different. I would NOT let her go for long periods of time without us, but we do let her stay in the mission control while we ride Mission Space, for example. We do utilize fast pass in those situations though, so not generally for a VERY long time, usually less than 30 minutes. My younger dd is 12 1/2, and I would be fine with her going on her own for a longer period/distance, as she is very responsible for herself and ALWAYS has her cell phone, LOL. And if they were together and absolutely committed to STAYING together, I would be okay with the two of them going off for a couple hours. However, my youngest generally doesn't WANT to go off on her own, and also doesn't like feeling like she is responsible for her older sister, so I doubt that this will come up for us anytime soon. They have gone to the movies together on their own (we dropped them off and picked them up), though, and that was fine, so I am sure they would handle it fine. I prefer to not have them off too far on their own as they both look young, my 12 year old looks possibly 13 or 14, but my 14 year old is generally mistaken for 9 or 10; would not want anyone to consider them targets.

 

[Robbi]

My daughter and her friends could walk around alone in the same park that I was in about age 11. They were allowed in parks by themselves when they were 13. She had been going for 10 years and probably 15 times by then.

It's a judgement call that a parent has to make.

 

[JessM]

I had traveled a lot to WDW when I was a kid so when I hit 12 (7th grade) my parents would let me and whichever friend I had brought that year wander around the parks on our own and stay later or go back to the resort earlier than my parents if we chose too. I was a responsible kid. Disney world is so kid friendly and easy to get around they had no problem with a responsible 12 year old going around on their own. The parks are easy to navigate, transport is well labeled and its not like there are any "sketchy" places at Disney, I mean really how much trouble can they really get into.

 

[Patience]

13 or 14 as long as she had a friend and a cell phone with her so she could periodically check in with me. My daughter's 9th grade class trip was to WDW and they went around the parks in groups of 4 and she was 14 then.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

my girls were 12 and 9 when allowed to adventure on their own. this was brfore cell phones but we had a meet up around every3 hours. the meet upas determined each time. we had done this so much that the younger one with mild special needs was in charge of herself and 3 friends on a high school trip. they were trilled on last day yo be allowed to go to a different park with a meet up at 3pm for trip starting home. only their group and one other group got as they were only group out of 12 to make all meet ups on time. as with every skill it takes pratice to learn

 

[DisNikki]

I went to WDW on a class trip in 4th grade. We had parent chaperones (of which mine was not one) but once we got to a park we were on the buddy system. We roamed free all day, meeting up only at night to go back to the hotel. Maybe those were different times though I can't imagine sending my third grader on such a trip next year!

I would think that as my kids get older it will be a natural progression from no freedom to going to the bathroom on their own to fastpass runner to riding a few rides on their own to a few hours apart, etc. We give our kids lots of room for "supervised independence" now like ordering and paying for their own food at a fast food restaurant (we're in the restaurant, of course, but not right on top of them). I think if you start small and build their confidence that it helps them make better choices. Since I'm there I can talk about what they're going to do beforehand, watch them, and then talk about how it went ("oops, you forgot to say thank you!" or "Good job noticing you got the wrong change back!").

 

[SheilaHeartsDisney]

I was about 13 when I was allowed to go off with a friend and it was probabaly my 20th time to Disney. We could take the Disney bus and go to whatever park we wanted. This was before cell phones too.

 

[momto3boysillbe]

Our oldest son was 12 when he first started going off on his own. When he's seen the parade once, it's enough for him so he asked if he could go ride some rides when we were waiting for spectromagic one night. He had a cell phone and I felt it was perfectly safe. On our trips since then he kind of goes and does his own thing when he gets bored with us and on our last trip in october he left early and rode the bus back to the resort at least once. Now my younger two, I have no idea. The middle guy is a wild one and when they're together can come up with some mischievous ideas so who knows with these two! ?!? They're 5 & 7 now and I can't even imagine letting them off on their own in a few years. I'm thinking the age might be when they can be trusted as a babysitter. Could be a while. Ha.