Age that kids can "tour" on their own

[brighteyes]

Same here, I would probably be more inclined to let my 12 yr old wander off for a bit, with a meeting time and place set up if he was with a friend. Alone I am less inclined because of the safety issue.

I have been with my son when we have seen groups of teens and tweens being rude and rowdy in public. I tell him if I EVER see him acting rowdy, rudely or disprespecting anyone he will never leave the house without me. Just by my son's reaction when we encounter this behaviour I am hoping he would not act like that.

We were on ToT and we could not get a pic because "someone" on the ride was very inappropriate on the ride when the picture was taken. There were two tween boys who were very loud, obnoxious and claiming they knew when the camera was going to go, and how many times they had been on the ride.

My son was very disappointed that we could not get the picture to someone's rude gesture on ToT, and still talks about it.

Stephanie

 

[Rylee]

Personally, I think kids on their own, are safer in the parks than in the resorts.

At the parks there are so many people around. At the resorts, depending on room location, there may be no one else around, and a child could easily be pulled into a room or bushes.

That said, it obviously depends on how mature and responsible the child is, but I, personally, think 14 would be a general age for going off on their own. (Although, the school's honor roll trip went to an amusement park, and turned the kids loose... 5th - 8th graders.)

Luckily, my kids like to stay together as a family. The older kids want to see the younger kids' reactions and experience the attractions with them.

 

[Alesia]

We were on ToT and we could not get a pic because "someone" on the ride was very inappropriate on the ride when the picture was taken.

I've heard that when this happens you can ask for a pass to ride again.

 

[collcass]

which totally freaks me out! Who sends a 10 year old to a major theme park alone? JMO....

In my opinion, to take off alone, at least 15. If there was a group of kids with at least one who was 15 I'd let my 11 or 12 year old tag along.

It wouldn't phase me one bit to see groups of 12-15 yr olds walking together. That seems fine and an appropriate age

The 10 yr old thing, well, that seems crazy. When we were first booking our trip, I couldn't believe they charged a 10 yr old as an adult so I called and inquired. That's EXACTLY what I was told; at 10 (w/ an adult admission) Florida law allows the child to be left in the park alone.

I am sure that the % of parents who actually do this is very small so it really isn't an issue but For Disney to advocate this, well, that just seems crazy to me. If a 10 yr old was left in CT alone - the parent would be arrested

 

[TinkerbellMama]

In one of the guide books (can't remember which one) it talks about allowing kids to go off for a while on their own. I was talking to a friend about it who was in Disney last month and she said she allowed her older child to do this. I was surprised she let him do this because of his age so DH and I were discussing it this afternoon. Our oldest, turning 11, would absolutely love the freedom of this, but we'd never let her.


What age do kids go off on their own. I can't imagine allowing any of ours to attempt to navigate the parks on their own.

I am not looking for a debate as to whether it is or isn't okay to let a "tween" do this, I am really just curious.

If this is one of Those questions, I apologize.

It really depends on the kid. Mine would probably be fine at 11 with limited freedom within the park. He will have grown up in the parks, going several times per year, since he was 2 months old (he's working on trip #6 and he turned 3 in November). He also has grandparents in Orlando and we're buying him his first AP this year, so I daresay he'll have the lay of the land down pat by age 11! So it wouldn't really be an issue of "attempting to navigate"...he'll know where everything is, for sure! If he's mature (and I think he will be, just based on his personality now) and responsible, then why not? I'd probably insist we be in the same park or even the same general area, but I see no reason not to give him a little bit of freedom and see how it goes. I'm not worried about him from a self-defense standpoint.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

When they are married with kids of their own? Of course then I will be with them anyway because I wouldn't want to get lost!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hmm. I don't know if I really have an answer!

When I was 13 we lived in FL, and our school orchestra went to WDW on a bus for our end-of-year field trip. I went around the parks with 3 of my friends who were one grade behind me, so they were 12. And we had a great time!

My DS is 12. He is an only child so I don't think he would WANT to go off by himself. I am positive DH wouldn't LET DS go off by himself anyway. If we were with another family with kids his age I would allow the kids to go off for a little while as long as they knew that had to stay INSIDE the park.

When DS was almost 11 DH REFUSED to let him sit by himself on the benches in the area of ToT where you buy the ride pics. DH & I wanted to ride, DS did not. We had Fast Passes so DS would have been there for maybe 15 minutes. DS was fine with it, by the way. I think it would be much harder to convince DH to let DS have some time to explore without us than it would be to convince me.

On the tickets it states that children age SEVEN and under must be accompanied by an adult! So apparently WDW is cool with it if you want to drop your 8 year old at the gates!

 

[hemispheredancer]

I would not hesitate to let DD13 explore WDW with a friend. As long as they stay together and she has her phone. She has about 14 trips under her belt so she knows her way around well. When our family of 4 goes to the water park, we let her and DS10 go off together. She knows to keep an eye on her brother and he knows not to stray from her. They check in with us every hour and all has worked out well. I think only you will know when the time is right for your child to go off on their own.

 

[tzolkin]

i havent been since i was a kid, but i remember there being signs posted at some of the rides or just generally around the parks. i believe they said something along the lines of children under 10 had to be accompanied by an adult. was this correct? do they still have the same policy? i just remember reading them and wondering what parent would need a sign to tell them that they shouldn't leave their kids alone to wander the park-- i could figure that out myself and i dont think i was 10 at the time.

 

[Disneygirl26]

This year is the first I'm letting mine go. They are 15 & 17, we are also taking same age friends. My only requirement is that we're all in the same park and eat lunch together. We'll see how I survive it. They will be fine ~ it's ME I'm worried about......

I have two children 10 and 16 I would let my daughter (16) tour the parks alone only if she had friend to go with. I wouldn't let any child under 14 tour the parks at all with a friend or not. I believe there is safety in numbers.

 

[sahm1000]

My ds is only four so also way too little for this to even be an issue yet, but I have been in situations where there were 'tween age children that were not chaperoned that were being disruptive. One instance was on Soarin', the children sitting in our row literally screamed bloody murder through out the entire ride (as in barely stopping to take a breath) which really took the enjoyment out of it for me. I wonder if they would have done that if their parents had been there? For the record, if it had been a thrill ride that would have been entirely different. Just another aspect of this that I don't think anyone has brought up.

I remember the story about the molester at the Swan, it was not quite a year ago...very sad indeed. Lets also not forget that Disney has had to let some people go after finding out that they had child porn or other suspicious activities. I mean it makes sense that a place like WDW would be attractive to people like this, which is why just because we're at a "family" destination I still don't feel like I can let my guard down when it comes to my ds.

There are scary people everywhere. We were there last spring when the child molester at the hotel was caught thanks to a quick acting Dad and lifeguard. Very scary indeed! I also believe that the child who was molested was much younger than I would ever feel comfortable leaving by themselves especially around a pool area (where the incident happened).

My DDs are 4 and 2 so much too young to have by themselves. As a former teacher we always had chaperones (usually teachers or other school employees, not much parent support in the cities unfortunately) with our students in seventh grade during our field trips.

As a student though I remember being allowed to walk around the zoo in groups w/o adults in seventh grade. I also walked home (not far, just 1/2 - 3/4 mile) with friends and from what I can tell nobody does this anymore. Unfortunately, times have changed and maybe not for the better all the time.

I think the only way you can decide is by looking at the child. If you have a very independent "good kid" 12 year old who has friends with them I think they are fine by themselves. There are many 12 year olds who would not be ready for this though. Some kids would need to be closer to 14 before they would be comfortable and ready for this situation. Also, make sure that they know what their boundaries are...........do they have to stay in a section of the park (Tomorrowland, Frontierland, etc.) or do they have the run of the park? Are they allowed to leave the park and go back to the resort by themselves? What about set meeting times and places? Now most kids have cell phones at young ages it seems so that may be another way to maintain contact if they have to call at certain times and update you.

Kids do have to grow up unfortunately! We can't baby them forever but we can give them baby steps to freedom. It's the ones who have never had a taste of freedom who at 18 that scare me the most! Those are the ones who go hog wild!

 

[Kimberly Hill]

My boys were 10 and 11. They had to stay together, they had a cell phone, they had phone and physical check-in times, and they're "good" kids and very mature.

I grew up in So. Cal and I can remember going to Disneyland with my friends at that age all the time.

My daughter? She'll be 30!