"Go before the magic wears off..."
I read this advice a lot, but it always makes me pause a bit. I was in my 30's the first time I went to WDW, and it was incredibly magical. I still remember that very first day, walking into the Magic Kingdom and seeing the castle, then turning right and walking over the bridge to Tomorrowland. I'd never even imagined a "theme park" could look so amazing! It was far better than I'd even dreamed.
And maybe it was all the more magical, because I'd waited so long. Would I take it more for granted, if I'd been visiting since I was four?
Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't take your kids to Disney until they're adults!
But I do think there's something to the idea that there's no "best" age for a first visit.
My son was seven when we first took him to Walt Disney World. But that wasn't actually my favourite visit with him. He had a terrific time, but he was often tired and cranky and he has dietary issues that we hadn't diagnosed yet.
Nine was better, but he'd been sick a lot leading up to that visit. And we were still learning to accommodate his health issues.
Eleven he went with friends, so I wasn't along for that trip.
Nope, the BEST trip, from my perspective, was shortly after he'd turned 13. We got him a birthday button, and I made notes on all his ADRs. I was a bit worried heading into this, because my young man was now taller than me and had developed a cynical attitude toward most things. He was the very essence of adolescent cool, struggling with a lot of heavy stuff, and it's been a long time since I'd seen him laugh and smile in a genuine kind of way.
He resisted that birthday button for all of half a day, before the magic snuck in under his defenses. By the second day, he'd added a Winnie the Pooh button to the the front of his shirt. On the third day, he'd bought himself a Captain Eo tee and was high fiving performers in the parades. More buttons followed. Castmembers sang happy birthday to him, more times than I can count, and each time he grinned wider. He played Pat-a-cake with Pooh Bear!
For one whole wonderful week, Disney gave me back my little boy. It was magic!
So if I could only have taken my son to Disney once in his life, I'd want it to be the year he was 13.
(Still haven't figured out which was my daughter's best visit - she's so easy-going, I think you could take her at any age and she'd be right into the magic, no matter what!)