Disparate ages - need advice

[matthew_hull]

We will be traveling to WDW with three adults and three children, ages 12,10, and 4. I am worried about the age difference between the pre-teen boys and the 4-year old girl. The boys will want to ride the more active thrill rides (Dinosaur, Everest, Space Mountain) whereas DD4 is not adventuresome at all. I am worried that the vacation will devolve into two separate trips, with one adult attending the needs of the older boys and another following the wishes of the younger child, with only meals and evenings spent together.

Do you have any advice on how the family can stay together and yet avoid one child always waiting around for the other to ride a ride?

 

[labbott]

We have a 4 year old and two older kids that like the more thrilling rides. We make the most of our fast passes and get to the park early. This way we don't do a lot of waiting around. When we do wind up having to wait for a ride with the older ones, there is almost always a character around that the 4year old wants to see. The 4 year old is going to have a ball no matter what you do...they're at Disney World!

 

[luvmickey5374]

How tall is your 4 yr old? Last year our 4 yr old DD had a BLAST. The only things she couldn't ride was Space Mountain and RnR I believe. She went on everything else...even ToT and had a ball. Don't worry too much about it, have a great time!!!

 

[powellrj]

my kids are 24, 16 and 11 now, but when they were younger this is how we handled it. We would split up in the mornings and I would be with the older kids and DH would be with the younger ones. I love thrill rides and DH really liked the calm ones so it worked out well. We would meet mid afternoon for lunch and then do things as a family the rest of the day.

On a couple of different trips we even went so far as to go to different parks for the day and then meet later! A couple of trips I would drive the older kids to Universal for the day and DH would stay back at the hotel and let the younger ones enjoy the pool because they had no interest in Universal until they got older. There have also been times I have taken the younger ones to Sea World and DH has taken them to places like Gatorland and then we just meet up later.

I know a lot of people feel you need to stay together for the whole time, but we found if you give everyone time to do what they want to do, it cuts down on the bickering and it makes a smoother trip for the times you are together. We would sometimes get lunch on our own, but we never were apart at dinner time and in the evenings. Dinner and evenings were our family time.

 

[Mkrop]

My kids are 9 and 4 and we never split up. DS9 is the thrill junkie, DS4 we are just getting on any rides whatsoever. WDW was the prefect place for us becuase we could combine things for both. DS4 wound up riding a lot but still not any thrill rides. We planned ahead we got park maps before and figured out where everything was so that while they were doing Space Mountain we could go on Buzz over and over or ride the TTA. Then when they came out we went back on the mild ride etc. At Epcot, I let DS4 play in the cooler mists while they were on TT. Some rides were a little harder to find stuff to do, like TOT and RNR, there was not much to do and no street perfomers at the time so we just relaxed and had an ice pop. I also took this time to let DS4 have a snack or we would walk around the shops which DH hates to do. They also used FPs so our waits for them were never long and we got there early.

 

[matthew_hull]

Okay, so the choices seem to be the obvious ones:
a) take all the children on each ride. Anyone with vehement objections vetos the ride for all.
b) some ride whilst the others wait. Enjoy street performers, shop, perhaps even find a nearby fast-loading ride (It's DisneyWorld!)
c) split up

Whereas for sure we will try to be flexible and just "go with the flow; see how things work out; ..." I am also pretty sure we will be doing Option B. I'm sure that you are right in that waiting around for her older brothers to finish a thrill ride will not be so terribly onerous, because she's at DisneyWorld and there is always something to see. From what I gather, the wait can be an hour or more (we are going at a busy time, unfortunately). We will all have cell phones, and intend to communicate frequently (IE. "The ride just finished and we should be back out in a couple of minutes." )

Anyone else have specific suggestions on how to wait patiently for part of the family to attend a ride?

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

Hi Matthew!

I think plan b is indeed your best option. Keeping the bigger kids off the rides taht the younger one objects too will result in sulking, mad teenagers and that won't be any fun either.

There is plenty to look at in wdw to keep a younger 1 occupied while the others are riding. Sometimes it's nice to just sit and relax. Taht's what I did with my 8 year old last year when the 12 year old and dad rode Rock 'n Roller Coaster.

 

[Mkrop]

Okay, so the choices seem to be the obvious ones:
a) take all the children on each ride. Anyone with vehement objections vetos the ride for all.
b) some ride whilst the others wait. Enjoy street performers, shop, perhaps even find a nearby fast-loading ride (It's DisneyWorld!)
c) split up

Whereas for sure we will try to be flexible and just "go with the flow; see how things work out; ..." I am also pretty sure we will be doing Option B. I'm sure that you are right in that waiting around for her older brothers to finish a thrill ride will not be so terribly onerous, because she's at DisneyWorld and there is always something to see. From what I gather, the wait can be an hour or more (we are going at a busy time, unfortunately). We will all have cell phones, and intend to communicate frequently (IE. "The ride just finished and we should be back out in a couple of minutes." )

Anyone else have specific suggestions on how to wait patiently for part of the family to attend a ride?

I think Option B is where you should start, if the ride times seem too long then let the others wander around and catch up later but try to stick to B as much as possible. Go early if you can get the teens out of bed and you will do great even if it is busy or you will be able to grab FPs.

 

[Mkrop]

By the way are you staying onsite, take advantage of EMH. Even the evening ones, if the little one konks out then you could stick them in a stroller and keep going or then that person could take her back to the hotel and then the other stays behind with the grownup but by then it wont matter because they are asleep.

If you are not staying onsite, then dont do EMH parks that day, go to a different park, and that will help avoid the crowds, the rule of thumb seems to be to go to the one that had EMHpm the night before. But still get there at opening!

 

[mumto2]

We experienced a bit of this on our trip last summer with DD8 and DS1.5.

Prior to leaving the house, we got a Birnbaum's for kids and went through each park, allowing everyone in the family to name their top 3. We ended up with about 5 or 6 must-dos for each park (there were many duplicates). We all agreed that the must-dos would be priorities, and that any other attractions were gravy. This prevented meltdowns and the perennial favorite "how come x got everything they wanted, and I didn't?"

On rides that our toddler could ride, DH (who doesn't do thrill rides) would either take him on a nearby attraction (ie Alladin while DD and I did Pirates), or do a character meet and greet (this might be especially good for you as your two boys may not be thrilled with Ariel's Grotto), or just let him explore the area. The two of them found things we never knew existed before just by taking the time to look around.

Since you are going at a busy time, you won't get to see everything you wanted to anyway, so the top 3 list will be a big help there, as well. If you are staying on property, utilize the morning EMH. I know it's a pain to get up early, but it really does help. If you can't use EMH, be sure to arrive before the park opens and head for the most popular attraction on your list first, get a fastpass and then go to the second most popular attraction on your list, ride it and then return to the fastpass ride.

Have a great trip1

 

[matthew_hull]

Yes, we are staying on property at the FW campground. (At least that is the plan so far.)

I like the idea of a "Top three" list. And I agree that "managing expectations" is a big part of having a great time at the parks. We are not going to kill ourselves trying to ride every wonderful ride. I have ordered the Birnbaum book from Amazon.

I was just trying to avoid discontent while one child rides an age-appropriate ride and the other does not. But perhaps I worry too much; if indeed the street performances and character meet-and-greets, etcetera, are sufficiently available to entertain while we wait then there should be no significant problem.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

We will be traveling to WDW with three adults and three children, ages 12,10, and 4. I am worried about the age difference between the pre-teen boys and the 4-year old girl. The boys will want to ride the more active thrill rides (Dinosaur, Everest, Space Mountain) whereas DD4 is not adventuresome at all. I am worried that the vacation will devolve into two separate trips, with one adult attending the needs of the older boys and another following the wishes of the younger child, with only meals and evenings spent together.

Do you have any advice on how the family can stay together and yet avoid one child always waiting around for the other to ride a ride?

I would designate certain time periods as "family time" and others as "thrill ride" time. Does the 4 year old nap? Maybe you and dh could take turns taking the "baby" back to the room to nap while the other stays and rides the wild rides with the boys (or at least supervises as they ride together!). Otherwise, you could say that until 2 PM you are together, and then from 2-dinnertime you split up. Or whatever hours work for you. You could also take turns staying with the boys for EMH, while the other parent puts your dd to bed. Good luck!

 

[darlak]

There are 15 years between my oldest and my youngest. The youngest is now 13, so it isn't a problem now. However, we never split up when they were younger. Everybody just understood that we were on a family vacation and sometimes we had to wait while others were doing what they wanted to do. Whoever stayed off a ride with the youngest when she was small would usually just use that time to browse in shops or maybe have a treat. My suggestion is to just play it by ear and find what works best for you. I honestly just never even thought about spliting up.

 

[disneymom06]

The childrens ages are now 14,12,8 and 5 and we have never split up. It just didn't seem to be a need and when someone didn't go on a ride, there was something around to keep them happy. The 5yr is adventurous but we have done it this way for the past 4 years. For the thrill rides, FP's helped because we usually have an extra ticket someone usually gets to ride twice. The older children also liked to have a younger one to "take" on the other rides.