Old enough to venture on their own

[fizz13]

it's an interesting one because had you asked me this before my trip last month I would have been saying at least a teenager. what actually happened was I stood with my 10 mth old a lot while my 9 & 11 yr old boys rode rides without me. once I knew they could handle being in line and behave without me, later on I wanted to watch the parade and they didn't, so they were allowed to go ride space mtn and come back to the spot where I was going to watch from. they were allowed to do the same thing at the studios for rock n roller and ToT, I could look around and met them when they were done and came to our meeting point. they knew if they screwed up their independence was over. it worked out great for us. so yeah next trip, in a couple of years, I probably will let them free for an hour or so, with a phone and on the understanding that if they don't do what they are supposed to the party is over!

 

[TruBlu]

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.

This was our 6th trip with the kids. My boys are 13 and 11 & know the parks better than they know our neighborhood. One of them is 5'3" and the other it 6'1" - they look and (mostly) act very mature, so this trip we let them do a few things alone...
Like - go to BTM when we went on the Ariel ride OR DisneyQuest while we shopped. They had cell phones and we were in constant contact and never left them for longer than it took to ride one or two things (not crowded or much of a wait in Jan.)

It really depends on the kid and crowd level IMO.

 

[Granny square]

Put on your fire proof pants! These threads always get all judgy no matter what you say...

Here goes:
This was our 6th trip with the kids. My boys are 13 and 11 & know the parks better than they know our neighborhood. One of them is 5'3" and the other it 6'1" - they look and (mostly) act very mature, so this trip we let them do a few things alone...
Like - go to BTM when we went on the Ariel ride OR DisneyQuest while we shopped. They had cell phones and we were in constant contact and never left them for longer than it took to ride one or two things (not crowded or much of a wait in Jan.)

It really depends on the kid and crowd level IMO.

The only hint of potential trouble was your post...

 

[mom2rb]

I am at the parks right now. My boys are 14. I have been letting them go to the parks by themselves. They are having a blast.

 

[TruBlu]

The only hint of potential trouble was your post...

Me? What did I do? I was just joking & then gave my answer. I didn't even read any of the other ones. Sorry. I went back and deleted my joking part. I am definitely NOT a pot stirrer. :

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[ThreeBeans]

My gut instinct is....when they are old enough to babysit for other people's children....so? Freshman year in high school? 14? 15?

Mine are younger (oldest is 8) and he would be horrified by the notion anyway.

 

[Mainebound]

My boys are 11 and 13 and this will be their 10th annual trip next month. They know the parks VERY well. Last year we let them split up from us for brief excursions while we were in the same park. (For example, they could get in line again for Sum of All Thrills, while DH and I would go outside to enjoy the SUN and a snack or coffee. They would have to come out and meet us when they were done.)

They have cell phones, are very mature, and get along great. They knew that if they abused that freedom (for example, by splitting up for any reason, an absolute no-no), it would be gone, so they didn't.

As far as letting them be in a different area of WDW than we are (for ex, DH and I at a hotel, them at a park), tough call, but I am thinking 14 and 16. Maybe...

 

[Planogirl]

Me? What did I do? I was just joking & then gave my answer. I didn't even read any of the other ones. Sorry.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Besides you are right but so far so good.

I would have let DS go off with another kid at 12 or so. I did let him go off a bit at age 14. He is pretty sensible plus he was already bigger than me at that age.

 

[TruBlu]

WOW, what a great number of responses to my original question.

My daughter is 13 and my son is 11. Our next trip is in a month. At this time, I have no plans on letting them roam free but the thought of it did cross my mind that at some point, they're going to ask for the freedom. Until that happens, my wife and I will be enjoying our family time together having great Disney experiences.

Definitely enjoy it while you can!

My boys were rushing me at our Be Our Guest dinner because we were going to miss our fastpass time for BTM. That made the decision for me... BTM or pictures with the Beast. DH & I sent them off with all 4 passes & we took our time looking at the castle & taking pictures. Then we went over to Gaston's... THEY actually called us on the cell wanting to know what was taking us so long! They wanted to ride Space Mtn, so we met them over there after their ride. They stuck together the entire time & both had phones. I felt crazy panicked at first, but they loved it!!! They said having us trust them was really fun. :

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[tinkfan355]

When I was about 13 we went to Disney at Easter with my older cousin, who was a senior in high school at the time. My parents let us go to the parks on our own. I think it was a perfect age for me because I wasn't held back by waiting on my parents and what not. But honesly, it depends on the child I guess!

 

[MickeyCanada715]

Wow, what i amazed at is the abundance of cell phones for your 10-14 trolls kids. Our cell phone plans in Canada suck. I know it's coming but 2 more cells phones I the house is gonna cost me a fortune. Additionally, we typically don't have great US plans which are for limited voice-data-text. Albeit, free wifi I the parks- that would help. How good is the wii service anyway?

 

[Mainebound]

Wow, what i amazed at is the abundance of cell phones for your 10-14 trolls kids. Our cell phone plans in Canada suck. I know it's coming but 2 more cells phones I the house is gonna cost me a fortune. Additionally, we typically don't have great US plans which are for limited voice-data-text. Albeit, free wifi I the parks- that would help. How good is the wii service anyway?

My older son got a cell phone - not a smart phone - on our plan when he turned 12. This was helpful when he went off to overnights at camp or with friends. My 11 year old does not have a cell phone regulalry, but we havea trac phone, $20 from Walmart, that we add minutes for when needed, such as family trips.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

One year I was with my younger brother and parents. My dad was tired and wanted to go to the hotel at 9PM. My mom didn't want to stay either.

Wishes is my most favorite show and it wasn't until 10PM. My brother and I were planning on staying for EMH (I was 21 at the time and he was 12 - and taller than me!) and our father threw a fit! I was technically old enough to have my OWN kids yet he wouldn't even let me go into the parks with my brother. Crazy.

I guess that doesn't really answer your question, but I wanted to share my story!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

When my oldest DS was 14 I began allowing him to sleep in on the mornings he wanted to and meet up with us. In the park I would let them run off to a ride or two. This coming trip they will be 17, 15 and 12, and I will let them go off on their own as long as they stick together. For the most part we will be in the same park, etc. All three have iphones and I have the family map, so I can track them easily.

It's amazing how times have changed though. When I was 16, we went with our neighbors. They were a family of 6 and so were we. The kids ages were 16 (me, the oldest), my brother, 14, their oldest, 12 and second DD, 10. The last four were all girls, both ages 4 and 2. Our parents took off with the four younger ones and left us older kids on our own. This was back when there was only MK and EP, we stayed at the Poly, they stayed at FW. The four of use ate lunch in Epcot at France, and then split up for a minute. Their oldest DD (12) and I lost sight of my brother and her sister (14 and 10). We couldn't find them anywhere, had no clue where our parents were, and had no idea what to do. After trying to search Epcot, we decided to head back to our hotels. We took the monorail back and walked into my room at Poly, only to find those two knuckleheads watching cartoons. They decided to go back to the resort for a swim and my DB figured out he could use his room key to rent water mice and they went cruising around bay lake. I am still in shock that Disney rented a kid a boat, we all survived this, and even more so that our parents didn't seem all that upset about it. Different times....

 

[disney1990]

My feelings that 14 year olds are in high school. Most have cell phones. When our daughter was 14' she didn't have a cell phone. We did, however, have her stay in the same park we were in.

 

[MichelleVW]

Wow, what i amazed at is the abundance of cell phones for your 10-14 trolls kids. Our cell phone plans in Canada suck. I know it's coming but 2 more cells phones I the house is gonna cost me a fortune. Additionally, we typically don't have great US plans which are for limited voice-data-text. Albeit, free wifi I the parks- that would help. How good is the wii service anyway?

I think my girls were in 7th and 9th grade when I finally got them cell phones and most of their friends already had them. That was quite a few years ago since they are both in college now, most kids have cell phones by 10-12 now it seems.

 

[mom2rtk]

Wow, what i amazed at is the abundance of cell phones for your 10-14 trolls kids.

Wow, there are an awful lot of trolls at my daughter's middle school!

Most of the plans I saw when we changed plans a couple years ago were pretty pricey for the first couple lines. The extra ones could be had for next to nothing. In fact, we added my daughter's phone on her 12th birthday when they were running a promotion for adding extra lines for free. We just had to buy a phone for her, and those were available in a wide variety of prices.

 

[Granny square]

Wow, there are an awful lot of trolls at my daughter's middle school!

Most of the plans I saw when we changed plans a couple years ago were pretty pricey for the first couple lines. The extra ones could be had for next to nothing. In fact, we added my daughter's phone on her 12th birthday when they were running a promotion for adding extra lines for free. We just had to buy a phone for her, and those were available in a wide variety of prices.

Yep. we have five on our plan and the kids have gotten them as needed. My oldest had one early because of some activities he was involved in. My 13 year old still doesn't have one. For $10 it is really nice to be able to send a quick text or ask a question.

The wifi was ok at the parks and resorts. Not good enough for games or streaming movies but ok.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I agree it depends upon a lot of factors--maturity, age, the responsibility level taken at home, how familiar they are with WDW, etc.

On our last trip, I let our 16 and 14 yo go off once in a while together, but they also explored Epcot independently a bit as they wanted to do different things and we were all OK with that. I also gave the 16 yr permission to ride the bus back to the resort alone from Epcot when he wanted to go back to the room and the rest of us wanted to stay in the park. We were together for most of the trip, but the independent time now and then was nice to have.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yep. we have five on our plan and the kids have gotten them as needed. My oldest had one early because of some activities he was involved in. My 13 year old still doesn't have one. For $10 it is really nice to be able to send a quick text or ask a question.

The wifi was ok at the parks and resorts. Not good enough for games or streaming movies but ok.

My daughter went back to school yesterday after being sick for 3 days. She wasn't 100% yet so I said "go to the nurse if you get there and just can't finish the day". Well, turns out they won't even let you GO to the nurse unless you are bleeding or vomiting. So I told her to text me if she needed to come home and I'd come pick her up for a "doctor's appointment". Turns out she didn't need to, but it was nice to have that communication available if needed.