Who else has a large age gap between children?

[Mousemommy1]

DH and I have 3 wonderful children. Our kids are 11, 8 (will be 9 this month) and 10 months old.

Our 10 month old is basically our little miracle after a diagnosis of "unexplained infertility" almost 8 yrs ago.

We had been taking our girls annually since they were 3 and 5. We do have one trip under our belt's since DS was born but he was 3 months old. On our next trip, he will be 15 months old. I'm more nervous for that trip than the one when he was 3 months old.

He loves his sisters ALOT. I feel like from here on out he will be sad when they do things that he can't. Our age gap wasn't planned but is the way it was meant to be, but I'm asking people who are/have been in the same position how you deal with that.

 

[powellrj]

Our kids are spread out. They are older now, 32, 24 and 19. What we always did was split-up for the morning and then meet for lunch and stay together for the rest of the day. I always took the older kids on the big kid rides because I like them better than dh. Dh would take the little kids.

Funny off topic story. Because there is a large age gap between our kids, we are older than most of the parents of the younger kids. Middle DS's girlfriends parents are having their 25th anniversary this year and she is giving him a hard time because he didn't give us one. We took the 2 youngest to Wdw because our oldest was in Iraq on our 25th. He said she said they still should have done something. I finally told him to do the math, he was like 13 and his sister 7, what were they going to do at that age!

 

[4disneyfreakazoids]

Last year we went with our 11yo, 8yo, and 2yo. For the rides the 2yo couldn't ride on we would just ask for the rider switch pass and find something for him to do while they rode.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We do use rider swap and love it.

The idea of splitting up would work I guess.

On our last trip, our older girls didn't care what we did and just let us do things that DS could do because it was his 1st trip. This time they are already talking about the rides they will ride because they couldn't last time.

I have only done FP's for all members of my family but isn't there a way to split them up and use rider swap in conjunction in order to make sure everyone rides the stuff they want?

 

[Magic2000]

My girls are older now (33, 29, and 20), and we have a 9 year gap between our first two and the last one.

When they were younger, we did a mixture of riding the rides together as a family, and splitting up - with DH taking the older girls on rides and me taking the youngest. Then we'd meet for lunch and share what we'd done so far! The older girls always wanted to do rides with their younger sister and see how much she was enjoying it, but after a while, they were ready to do the "big" rides. My youngest and I were always the laid back, easy touring type. We liked to stop and look in the shops and stuff. Once the older two were teenagers, they'd go off on their own for a few hours, and DH and I would go off with the youngest. Again, we'd all meet up for lunch, or when we were ready to head back to the hotel. Rider swap was great - they'd get to ride the rides twice without much of a wait in line!! (My youngest wasn't much into the "big" rides for quite a while, but we always found fun things to do.)

I've spent quite a bit of time at the play area by Splash Mountain! My youngest LOVED playing there while the older ones rode Big Thunder and Splash over and over!!! LOL Or sometimes, we'd find a bench or a table somewhere, and I'd get her a little snack and some juice and just let her walk around a little while we waited for the others to come off of a ride. She was fine just chilling, waiting for her sisters!

We always had lunch and dinner together, as well as pool time; so although we didn't spend every minute together, I still felt like we were having a great family vacation. Everybody was happy. We often reminisce about our Disney trips!!

My older two are off on their own, and the youngest is in college. And now, we get to take our granddaughter to Disney!!!! I see by our tickers that we'll be there about the same time as y'all will be!!!! Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[Baklava]

My kids are nearly 18 and 5. We've done DL with both of them when the little one was 1 and 3. It was just fine. When she was 3 we made good use of rider swap and entertained the little one with an age appropriate ride or a snack. It was super easy when she was 1- we just timed RS moments for the guys for when she was ready to nurse and she never even noticed.

Your kids may be a bit young for it, but DS at 13 really loved taking off with his baby sister for an hour or so at a time. On the second trip he bought her new mouse ears every single day of a 5 day trip. (Which somehow I ended up paying for...) It was very sweet. We made sure he got his favorites in, but he was also really happy to just make her happy sometimes.

 

[Tahlzy]

Yup!
I have Madison, 13, Seb 7 and Chloe 10m - The joy I am finding with it, is that I can use Madi to babysit and do the rider swap so Hubby and I can still have our time at the park!

 

[cjparker0110]

When I was a child, I was the young one. My closest sibling was 9 when I was born. My oldest was 19 I believe. I was 4 on our first trip and I think at that time the only thing I couldn't go on was Space Mountain (BTMRR didn't open until my 2nd or 3 trip). I don't remember much issue at that age, but I know when BTMRR was open that I cried my eyes out that my brother and sister went on it without me. I remember my mom comforting me next to a garbage can (why a garbage can?). It was the only time I remember heartbreak at WDW. So I can't speak for WDW, but with my own kids I can speak of the State/County fair:

Our kids aren't spread out like yours (4,3, 20 months, and 2 months). We went to our fair recently and the two older ones were big enough to go on several rides (kids coaster, spinning scrambler type ride, etc). Number three was pretty upset about it. So mom took him to get a treat while I took the kids on the rides that he couldn't do. Then we met up and all were happy.

I know there are many rides at WDW that you can take the little one on. Do as many of those as you can together. Then maybe have one of you distract him with a treat while the others go to rides that he can't do. Kids are pretty resilient at that age so even if he doesn't do super well he will bounce back quickly.

 

[SweetMissy]

We have a few years in between each kid and what we do is utilize riders swap or either me or my husband will take the younger one on a ride he can ride while we're on the bigger ride with the older kids. We're going in January and our newest DS will be 7 months old....and our 4 year old is bigger now to ride on a lot more rides. Plus MIL will be with us so she'll be able to help out too. Definitely riders swap!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Yeah, it definitely sounds like splitting up is inevitable for the next few visits. Oh well, I am sure we will make it work!

 

[tzolkin]

We never did a lot of splitting up and everyone always had a good time. I don't think it's bad to split up, I just wouldn't go into the trip assuming its necessary-- see what works best for your family. I also have 3 children, but one older and two younger. We used to go once a year for 10-12 days since the youngest was under 2.

We used rider switch, but there really aren't too many rides that are height restricted so we would just use FP and then use the RS pass while one parent waited with the younger one(s) nearby. It only took a few minutes and we would use that time to get a snack, use the bathroom, or pin trade with CMs in the exit gift shop. We never felt the need to separate in the parks for long periods of time.

There were really only three types of situations we "split up" for:
1. Taking older DD to the pool while younger napping (but honestly, most days we all enjoyed the afternoon break in the room either sleeping or reading as a break from the crowds and the heat).
2. I would plan one evening each trip (usually MK EMH) to take DD out for some special mother-daughter time. DH would usually take the younger two swimming, get dinner, and go to bed early.
3. Once DS got sick at the resort bus stop so he and DH stayed back at the room.

 

[Mousemommy1]

It was just so much easier when he was 3 months old, lol.

We could just schlep him around all day, haha.

Now that he is older and has a schedule that we stick to pretty strictly (because he goes beserk without it), I think the next trip will be more challenging.

Maybe I'm worrying for nothing. I was freaking out about taking him at 3 months old and it turned out great.

 

[hollybearsmom]

Seven and a half years between ours. We do the half day split up, then trade kids after lunch so we each have memories with them. Then dinner together and the rest of the night is together. One day we spend together doing the pool, puttputt, resort hopping, downtown Disney, and souvie shopping.

 

[worm761]

My kids are 5 (almost 6) and 19 so quite a big difference. When DS was younger and still vacationed with us we did rider swap. We don't care to split up on vacation so that was our solution. DD was 22 months on her fist trip and I don't remember it really being a problem. They have play areas around most if not all of the bigger rides. She played in those while we swapped.

 

[smiths02]

We never did a lot of splitting up and everyone always had a good time. I don't think it's bad to split up, I just wouldn't go into the trip assuming its necessary-- see what works best for your family. I also have 3 children, but one older and two younger. We used to go once a year for 10-12 days since the youngest was under 2.

We used rider switch, but there really aren't too many rides that are height restricted so we would just use FP and then use the RS pass while one parent waited with the younger one(s) nearby. It only took a few minutes and we would use that time to get a snack, use the bathroom, or pin trade with CMs in the exit gift shop. We never felt the need to separate in the parks for long periods of time.

There were really only three types of situations we "split up" for:
1. Taking older DD to the pool while younger napping (but honestly, most days we all enjoyed the afternoon break in the room either sleeping or reading as a break from the crowds and the heat).
2. I would plan one evening each trip (usually MK EMH) to take DD out for some special mother-daughter time. DH would usually take the younger two swimming, get dinner, and go to bed early.
3. Once DS got sick at the resort bus stop so he and DH stayed back at the room.

This describes us a lot. The thing about WDW is that there is so much that you can do together. Luckily, my oldest is only 9 and is still into all the "kiddie" stuff.

Our next trip, I am going to plan a fishing excursion for DS and DH (while I take younger ones to princess breakfast) and hoping to do the family culinary adventure with me and DS and Contemporary (not sure what DH will do with younger ones, maybe arcade at the resort or just order in and watch Disney tv).

Last trip, my DH did take older DS to arcade twice while the twins were doing bedtime stuff. Once, I took DS to the gift shop and just had fun looking around the resort.

 

[justhat]

We were there in April and my kids were 11, almost 9, 5, and 16 months. So a 10 year gap between oldest and youngest, but some thrown in the middle. We mostly did stuff as a family (we were with cousins ages 17 and 6 also) but for the stuff that the little ones were too short/young for we just got a rider swap and went to the nearest kiddie ride and then met up when we were both done. It really wasn't bad because my son didn't really know what he was missing because he just saw his older siblings walking off with dad (or me), but was distracted enough by the other rides/people/characters/stores that he didn't care. Our next trip he'll be 2.5yo and it may be a little harder.

Yup!
I have Madison, 13, Seb 7 and Chloe 10m - The joy I am finding with it, is that I can use Madi to babysit and do the rider swap so Hubby and I can still have our time at the park!

I had to comment that I also have a Madison and Sebastian, great names!

 

[tzolkin]

The thing about WDW is that there is so much that you can do together. Luckily, my oldest is only 9 and is still into all the "kiddie" stuff.
.

We always found this to be a huge benefit of the age gap.

My oldest (now a HS senior) has always enjoyed the "kiddie" stuff. She will freely admit that and let her excitement shine now, but when she was in that in-between age it was really nice for her to have the younger siblings as an "excuse" to enjoy things that she might have been embarrassed to admit around her peers. "But, mom, I really think the little ones would like to ride Peter Pan again... or Sister would really love to meet the princesses, maybe I should take her..."

 

[brockash]

DH and I have 3 wonderful children. Our kids are 11, 8 (will be 9 this month) and 10 months old.

Our 10 month old is basically our little miracle after a diagnosis of "unexplained infertility" almost 8 yrs ago.

We had been taking our girls annually since they were 3 and 5. We do have one trip under our belt's since DS was born but he was 3 months old. On our next trip, he will be 15 months old. I'm more nervous for that trip than the one when he was 3 months old.

He loves his sisters ALOT. I feel like from here on out he will be sad when they do things that he can't. Our age gap wasn't planned but is the way it was meant to be, but I'm asking people who are/have been in the same position how you deal with that.

We have an almost 14 year old, 8 1/2 year old and a 15 month old. We go to Disney every year and I'm not going to lie, in some ways this trip with your 15 month old is probably going to be the most work. 1 year olds are just a lot of work in general and Disney is no different. Having said that I really don't think you'll have too many issues. We had a trip this past Sept. when my dd was 13 months and it really wasn't an issue. As far as your older ones being able to do some things that the baby won't, yes that's going to happen but I've never found it to be an issue with any of my kids. When you're at Magic Kingdom and the older ones do Thunder and Splash mountain, take the little one to the play area under the train station by Splash. -They'll have fun and will get to run off some energy. The baby will most likely sleep a good amount as well. We always try to hit some of the rides in Fantasyland at rope drop to get them done and also because the little ones are usually more likely to be awake and more pleasant, but other than that we just do whatever we would normally do and take advantage of the baby swap while we can. I think at 15 months the baby is still going to be pretty young to really feel "left out" so to speak.

 

[Chelley00]

We have 2 sets: 2 kids 3 years apart and then waited 9 years and had 2 more 3 years apart

We'd spend some time together in the parks and ride some family oriented rides, and then DH would take the 2 older boys to ride big stuff and I would take the little ones and watch a show or ride some of the smaller kid friendly stuff or find a play area. After a couple of hours we would meet up and switch off.

 

[amygphillips]

Mine are 15, 8,5,1. We do both... We do alot of family stuff but we also split up too so everyone is happy! My husband and oldest do big kids for a bit while I take the youngers to ride a few things! It really works out well for us. The 1st couple of visits we tried to stay together always, but youngers were bored and sad they couldn't ride and older was not happy not getting to do all the rollercoasters.There are a few exceptions like Kali rapids... All except baby can ride so we just do fast passes and rider swap so the kids get to ride twice! This is also a nice time for baby to nap because we always do water rides after lunch but early afternoon to allow dry time! We just try to find a nice balance for everyone.