Anyone else have their teen travel to WDW with frinds their senior?

DisneyBliss7

''Ohana means family''
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Jul 11, 2011
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I'm not sure if this is the best board for this topic..
My daughter is graduating High school (next year, 2019). Her and her two best friends want to go on a senior trip to Disney the summer before they head to college. Has anyone else allowed their older teens to travel alone to WDW? My daughter will be 18 but the other two have later bdays in Septmeber. They would fly, take the ME to the resort, they'll be on property the entire trip, they are staying in a deluxe studio. I'm trying to decide if they should do the DDP for the ease of it and I'm thinking hoppers would work great for them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I traveled for my senior trip to WDW waaayyy back in 2002 with several friends when I was 17. We stayed on property and used the transportation system (this was before ME so we had a car service pick us up) so our families felt safe sending us. It was was soooo much fun. We had park hopper and WP option as well. We were all pretty good kids (ie band and drama nerds) so our families weren't overly worried we would get into to much trouble. I think the dining plan is a good bet that way the don't need to worry about paying for food and what not and they would probably feel more comfortable eating at sit down places knowing the food was prepaid!

It was super fun and I have many fond memories from that trip. I felt so grown up traveling all alone with friends! Hope they enjoy!
 
What is Disney resorts age requirement for hotel rooms? Some have age restriction. Other than that, I do not see any issues.
 
From what I understand you only need to be 18 to book a room at a WDW resort. However, I'm fairly certain you must have a valid credit card attached to the account in the name of the lead person on the reservation. Also, I seem to recall that adults have to be over a certain age (maybe 21 or 25) to have a guest under 18 booked in the same room.

I would actually love to know Disney's policy on this as I have two children who are 18 (freshman in college this year) and 17 (senior in High School who will be 18 in Feb.) I think this would be a perfect 1st trip as a vacation on their own this summer before the younger one of the two leaves for college. They have been to the parks/resorts several times and we live in Florida only about 2 hours away. I may just look into this.
 

What is Disney resorts age requirement for hotel rooms? Some have age restriction. Other than that, I do not see any issues.

I spoke to Disney and at least one of them needs to be 18. That will be my daughter, so the resort reservation will be in her name.
 
I think it sounds great! After high school, lots of kids go away for college and have to be responsible enough to manage day-to-day life, classes, eating, transportation, etc. So they should certainly be able to handle a trip alone. And Disney would be a great place for it, since the "Disney bubble" means they don't have to worry about transportation.
 
My DD didn't do disney, she did universal and had a great time. They used uber to get around and it worked out well.
 
My DS19 just did this in June. We booked his room through DVC. He took 3 friends and all the parents bought Dining Plan to make it easy. I set up all their dining reservations and FPs. They had a great time except for one day where they argued quite a bit. Being on property with transportation I figured they couldn't get into too much trouble.
 
I'm not sure if this is the best board for this topic..
My daughter is graduating High school (next year, 2019). Her and her two best friends want to go on a senior trip to Disney the summer before they head to college. Has anyone else allowed their older teens to travel alone to WDW? My daughter will be 18 but the other two have later bdays in Septmeber. They would fly, take the ME to the resort, they'll be on property the entire trip, they are staying in a deluxe studio. I'm trying to decide if they should do the DDP for the ease of it and I'm thinking hoppers would work great for them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Well, they are going off to college in a few months, so hopefully they can handle a vacation at WDW. Hopefully one or more of them have been there before? DDP might be good if they like to eat big meals, but I'd check with them first. Hoppers are good during the summer, because you can hop to another park if one is being deluged with rain.

From what I understand you only need to be 18 to book a room at a WDW resort. However, I'm fairly certain you must have a valid credit card attached to the account in the name of the lead person on the reservation. Also, I seem to recall that adults have to be over a certain age (maybe 21 or 25) to have a guest under 18 booked in the same room.

I would actually love to know Disney's policy on this as I have two children who are 18 (freshman in college this year) and 17 (senior in High School who will be 18 in Feb.) I think this would be a perfect 1st trip as a vacation on their own this summer before the younger one of the two leaves for college. They have been to the parks/resorts several times and we live in Florida only about 2 hours away. I may just look into this.

I paid for my daughter's room when she went down at age 17. They did have one in the group old enough to sign off on the room, but I paid in full before they went down. I gave her my CC to present, but they didn't ask for it.
 
My DD just did this in March for her spring break. It was just her and one friend - DD was 17 at the time but her friend was 18.

They flew to Orlando and took ME to BWV. DD has a credit card (our account but in her name), and she said check in went very smoothly. They were there for a week and had the time of their lives! It was a great little bit of independence before heading off to college!
 
I would let a graduating teen go - as long as they don't go off with strangers/leave the property.

I had a client once who offered her graduating daughter to use their dvc points for a 2br villa at AKL and invite her friends and they'd pay for all their food and park tickets. The daughter declined- wanted to go the beach near our house. I was like I'll go!! lol
 
You have to be 18 to book a room at WDW, so they will be fine. I would highly recommend booking a package with tickets and dining so they don't have to worry about out-of-pocket expenses. They can bring cash or gift cards for miscellaneous items, souvenirs, etc. I've booked HS grad trips (just had 6 grads stay in an ASMu in July) and I've found it's much easier if a package is purchased. They've all gone very smoothly. With DME and Disney transportation, I can't think of an easier place for older teens to navigate on their own than WDW. Heck, my HS grad trip was a trip to Paris with my best friend (we stayed with her aunt) and I survived to tell the tale!
 
I went to Disney World with four friends after graduating high school in 2011. Four of us were 18 at the time, and one of us was still 17. I believe the only age restriction is having to be 18 years old to book the room. We flew, took Magical Express to and from the airport, had the dining plan and park hopper and everything went well. I think if the trip is planned out well and someone going on the trip is an avid Disney person and knows the parks well, everything should go smoothly. My biggest advice would be to take into account everyone's experience and expectations of being on a Disney vacation. I remember some of my friends not understanding how busy and overwhelming being in Disney can actually be and were not as accustomed to being in the parks all day, as I was. I also went back in 2014 with just my sister when I was 21 and she was 18, same circumstances with the dining plan and park hopper and that trip also went very well. My best advice would be to have it all planned out well in advance. Happy trip planning!
 
I also went with a friend to WDW after graduating college in 2009. It was an amazing the trip, and I think Disney was the best place for us to go on our first trip without supervision. It's such a safe and confined place, that our parents felt confident we would be taken care of and my friend and I were able to really be on our own and learned how to become a little bit more independent. And it was such a fun trip that I cajoled all my college friends to do a repeat in 2013!
 












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