First trip-age 3 or wait until age 4?

[SwanVT2]

I was hoping someone could share from experience if it is better to wait until age 4 to bring our daughter to Disney for the first time, or bite the bullet and go this June when she is 3?

 

[Capang]

It all depends on your child. We took DD at 3 and she did great. She rode lots of rides and even got on Splas more than once. You know your child best. Will your child be too scared to ride or too scared of characters? We used YouTube videos and pictures to introduce DD to what to expect at the parks and on rides. It helped us get her ready. Use your best judgement. You will make the right call!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our girls were 5 and 3 on their 1st trip (turned 3 that trip actually) and they both did great! We wondered why we hadn't taken them sooner. Thus, the fact that we are taking our (will be) 3 month old on our next trip in April.

 

[btk2333]

We're taking our twins at 10 months- I say go earlier and more often!

 

[ktlm]

We went twice when DD was 3, as WDW was having great discounts that year and the inlaws wanted to go on a trip with us. They were great trips! We have taken DD, now 8, every year since she was 2. I would not give up those preschool trips for anything, they were my favorites of all my WDW trips. She was better behaved at WDW than at home at those ages, because she loved it there so much!. I also think that DD was more difficult on her age 5 and 6 trips, than in preschool- More walking instead of stroller and did not quite have the stamina for it yet, so she tended to get cranky here and there. By 7, she was doing open to close walking the parks without any complaints. I say go for it!

 

[msmama]

I took my son twice before he turned 3, but 3 was the year we skipped. We had ok twos, but definitely "trying threes." So for my sanity, we skipped that age.

That said, I don't think there is any bad age to take a child to disney.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We took our oldest son to Disney for the first time when he was 3. Mount youngest we took at 8 months old. We are going again in April and our oldest is 8 and younger one will be 1 1/2. This trip will be my older sons 4th time going to Disney. It's been a magical trip every time we've gone no matter what the age. I will say this though our last trip was prolly the most fun bc my older son was finally talk enough to go on everything. I think it all depends on the child.

 

[ChloeH]

Would this be the only trip for several years? If so, I might wait until she was 4 years old. It all depends on her though. Is she likely to be afraid of characters? Sometimes 3 years old are still quite shy and may be more dependent on their nap times.

Now, if you'll go again a year or two later, than 3 years old is a great age to start!

 

[SwanVT2]

Good point. I don't think this will be yearly so might be best to wait.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Would this be the only trip for several years? If so, I might wait until she was 4 years old. It all depends on her though. Is she likely to be afraid of characters? Sometimes 3 years old are still quite shy and may be more dependent on their nap times.

Now, if you'll go again a year or two later, than 3 years old is a great age to start!

I agree. If you will go back again in a couple years...go ahead and do three, but if you are going to wait more than that to return, I would wait on four. That is one place where one year truly makes a big difference in maturity and even height if riding 40inch rides might be an issue to consider.

 

[Hezzy04]

I would say it depends on how much you want to ride certain rides. I am taking my 3 year old and 4 year old in May, and the only con is that my 3 year old won't be 40 inches tall yet. So she can't ride some of the rides (like Splash Mountain). However, if you wouldn't want to ride those rides, I say go now! We wanted to go now bc it's extra magical. My girls actually believe the characters are real

 

[puffkin]

I say the earlier the better because it truly is magical to them.

 

[shm_helene]

We went when my oldest was 3 ( and she went at 4 mos). I plan on going every two years but given a choice, I think I would choose 4. It wasn't the rides or characters, it was more of a cognitive thing, she wasn't really into princesses or anything at that point. I think she would be more into it now. She loved it, don't get me wrong, just if I only had one I would do 4.

 

[AinsleyLM]

My sister and I took her little boy last summer at age 3. I wouldn't trade that experience with anything. It was wonderful seeing it all through his eyes. He did really well the first day when we went all day. The other two days were a little slower, but they wore him out. Our little man who goes 90 to nothing all day actually napped at Disney World. It wore him out, but he will remember some of this his entire life (he's like an elephant; he doesn't forget, lol). And if he doesn't, his mom and I will.

 

[Pookasaurus]

Do you want to go this year or are you fine waiting until next (without considering your daughter)?

If you want to go this year then I say go. If you're not all for it and want to wait, wait. Either age is great (in my experience at least).

We took my son when he was 3 (brother 8mo) and again 4 (brother 20mo). Both were great but I will be honest that I did like 4 a little more than 3, but I wouldn't have traded either for anything. 3 was great - he was very into everything, had a lot of fun, enjoyed everything - zero complaints and a very magical trip. He got a "Ploo" bear stuffy and I remember him insisting we take it with him on spaceship earth one last time on the way out. Having done both ages though I will say he was a little more into things, a little more excited about going, etc on our 2nd trip when he was 4 - but then again that could be because the 2nd time around he knew exactly how awesome the place we were going was He is a very tall little guy for his age so he was able to ride everything except expedition Everest and space mt at 3 I believe (and whatever is in that range I am missing). He was able to ride (and enjoy) both at 4.

 

[MandiC]

Personally I'd wait another year. As someone who doesn't go yearly (and never will), I think another year especially with that age can be a big difference as far as willingness to go by characters and height for rides. My 3 year old son is not quite 40 inches yet. I bet he will be by age 4 (my 4 year old, though he turns 5 in a few days, is over 40 inches).

 

[ellone]

Depends on how tall your 3 year old is. Mine was over 40 inches so she could go on most rides - her favorite was BTMRR - she went on that 4 times in a row one morning.

 

[Lupeix]

I will likely pick 4.
To me the most defining factor at that age would be potty training. Take and experienced potty user that is used to public restrooms, not a toddler that needs to go every 2 hours.
The height is also a factor, at 4 most kids are 40 or over, so that means they get to go on most rides. Some kids are 40 inches at 3.
Kids tend to have less temper tantrums at 4, but again that depends on the child.

But June? At either 3 or 4 I will avoid the summer like the plague if you can. Crowds and heat with little ones don't mix well

 

[MandiC]

I'd wait until 4 if you don't plan on going often. We waited until our girls were 7 and 9 to bring them. My 7 year old still found Disney very magical. I could tell my 9 year old didn't so much (though she still really enjoyed it!). A year at those ages just really makes a huge difference and as someone else pointed out, 3 has always been a much more 'trying' age than 2 for all 4 of my kids. Plus at 4 they are more likely to be 40 inches which opens up the option for quite a few more rides.

 

[airis]

My youngest turned 3 on our first trip to WDW. It was just me, my 5.5yo, and my turning 3yo. He was barely 38", so we were able to do Kali River Rapids but not the 40" rides. I knew that going in and set everyone's expectations -- we were going at the kids' pace and if O couldn't go on the ride, none of us were. We had a blast and I have no regrets. We're going again in May

I would say that if you see yourself going again in a couple of years, do it now. If not, then wait until he is at least 40" tall so you guys can enjoy more rides. If you're planning just one trip, waiting until 44" isn't a bad idea. I don't have that kind of capacity for delayed gratification, though.