Going for the 2nd time, but now my girls are TEENS! Best tips?

[Minnie_me]

The last time we went, my girls were 6 and 9. Now they are 14 and 17. What are your tips for doing Disney (and Universal) with TEENS?

 

[5stljayhawks]

I have a tweener -> water parks are a good bet, also they may enjoy epcot a little more. If they are going to hang out together, I would do the explore on your own, check in at noon thing.

 

[monorailmom]

Oh boy we've been doing Disney with teen girls for awhile now! My favorite tips that work with our girls:

-let them help choose where to eat. We found the older our girls got, the more interested in various dining options they have become.
-come to an agreement on cell phone use. What works for us (parents agree to this, too!) is no phones at Parks (other than using MDE) or restaurants, but are ok on busses/transportation and at the resort.
-give them a day or two to sleep in a little. We are rope droppers, and while our girls do appreciate why we do this (we go in August), they are teenagers (well, 20 somethings too!) and like a day to go slow in the morning.
-the past couple of years we've used that slow morning to head over to the Grand Floridian spa for pedicures. It's more expensive than we would ever pay at home, but it does give you access to all the amenities at the spa, which is really nice.
-encourage anyone with long hair to wear it up! My girls have found they prefer carrying Vera Bradley hipsters to string bags now that they're older.

Have a magical time.

 

[Lynne G]

With both Universal and Disney, I let my teens do their own thing some of the time. I ask them to eat meals with me, otherwise, they sleep in some days, hang in the pool while I go to the parks. I stay onsite at both parks and I think that helps. I've also done things with my younger teen and the older teen does something else. Like older one wanted to see Fantasmic, but younger one did not. Younger one wanted to go to Epcot. So, we met up after the Epcot and HS shows, and enjoyed going back to the room together.