How does Disney change as kids get older

[catherines_mama]

We are planning a trip for this time next year. Kids will be 2 13yr olds and a 9yr old. We are traveling with our best friends and their 13yr old.

I just don't know what to expect out of this trip. I don't think we'll be ready to send the older ones off alone. Bit we've all grown out of most of Fantasy Land. The 2 boys, my and their 13 yr old can be morons. Granted they have a year of maturity to happen.

We are really so excited as we love these friends a lot. The trip isn't 100% still planning but hopeful it happens

 

[Schmeck]

We are planning a trip for this time next year. Kids will be 2 13yr olds and a 9yr old. We are traveling with our best friends and their 13yr old.

I just don't know what to expect out of this trip. I don't think we'll be ready to send the older ones off alone. Bit we've all grown out of most of Fantasy Land. The 2 boys, my and their 13 yr old can be morons. Granted they have a year of maturity to happen.

We are really so excited as we love these friends a lot. The trip isn't 100% still planning but hopeful it happens

Give the boys some control over the day's activities. At 13, they could even be given some free time in the park, or be allowed to wait in a queue for another ride, etc. I'm sure they'd want to try the 7DMT in Fantasyland, so don't write that out of the schedule!

Have you thought about doing one day at Universal? I'm sure the boys would love that!

 

[SmallWorld71]

We are planning a trip for this time next year. Kids will be 2 13yr olds and a 9yr old. We are traveling with our best friends and their 13yr old.

I just don't know what to expect out of this trip. I don't think we'll be ready to send the older ones off alone. Bit we've all grown out of most of Fantasy Land. The 2 boys, my and their 13 yr old can be morons. Granted they have a year of maturity to happen.

We are really so excited as we love these friends a lot. The trip isn't 100% still planning but hopeful it happens

One thing that surprised me on our most recent trip (just me, DS14 and DD10) was how fun character interactions were when traveling with a teenaged boy. I'm guessing they don't get a lot of this group and the characters had a field day with DS14.
Some examples:
Marie "groomed" him (trying to clean his face etc... it was funny, not creepy, LOL)
Ariel made him sit right next to her for a picture
Merida made him turn bright red trying to find out what his "intentions" were
Goofy actually made him laugh; he was stealing his pen and making him jump for it

Gaston was great teasing DD and engaging her in a staring contest (which he declared himself the winner of)

It went on and on. I highly recommend taking the time to visit some characters if you can, especially some princesses. It will likely be a great source of entertainment for you.

 

[Happyjen27]

One thing that surprised me on our most recent trip (just me, DS14 and DD10) was how fun character interactions were when traveling with a teenaged boy. I'm guessing they don't get a lot of this group and the characters had a field day with DS14.
Some examples:
Marie "groomed" him (trying to clean his face etc... it was funny, not creepy, LOL)
Ariel made him sit right next to her for a picture
Merida made him turn bright red trying to find out what his "intentions" were
Goofy actually made him laugh; he was stealing his pen and making him jump for it

Gaston was great teasing DD and engaging her in a staring contest (which he declared himself the winner of)

It went on and on. I highly recommend taking the time to visit some characters if you can, especially some princesses. It will likely be a great source of entertainment for you.

Love this!

Glad Disney is not over after 12. I had been considering myself "on borrowed time" with each visit, but this brings me hope.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My son is 12 and dd is 9. I think our trips have gotten better as they've gotten older. My kids still like fantasyland though.

 

[mcraige]

I guess it depends on the kids. We're going in May, and DD19 informed me that I would be riding Dumbo with her.

 

[Jenn]

My girls are 16 and 12 now. Some of the benefits we have noticed with older kids...

They carry their own stuff!
No more strollers, snacks to pack, etc.
They ride everything, no more baby swap.
Mine still like characters, but we don't wait in long lines for them.
We skip stuff we are no longer interested in.
We let them pick their fav restaurants each trip.
Sometimes we sleep in.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Glad Disney is not over after 12. I had been considering myself "on borrowed time" with each visit, but this brings me hope.

I think it just depends on the kids. IME, with my own kids (16 now, twins), they're kind of like adults going to Disney in that they can have some of the same type fun they had when they were "little" if they want to and not be embarrassed about it or whatever, being among like-minded people. We had a lot of people tell us our kids would "outgrow" Disney, but they haven't, at all, and I don't really expect that they will. DD fell in love with the GF on our last trip and asked about (her) buying DVC and what it means, etc. (I told her to keep her college debt low and maybe she can some day! ) DS keeps park music on his iTunes and listens to it all the time, etc.

Visits do change a bit in that, when they're little, parents make decisions about how to tour and that's the end of it. Little kids go with the flow, so to speak. Not so as they get older. They have their own ideas about things, yet they sometimes have no clue what they're doing. When mine were 9 or so, on one trip, we were over by Frontierland and DS insisted he wanted to go on Splash then and there. We tried to explain it wasn't a good time, that we'd go do something else and come back later when lines were shorter, etc., but he was getting all bent out of shape about it, he wanted to ride it then, lol. Although he'd had many trips, he still didn't get the whole strategy part of it. But he learned and now he'll suggest strategies himself, sometimes ones we may not have even thought of.

One of the biggest upsets with my kids - ever - was on a trip when they were 13. We had our morning planned but plans were thrown off when a ride was down and I forget what it was but something else happened. Anyway, we all had different ideas about what to do next. Next thing I know, in their excitement, the kids ran off to do something by themselves. Remembering our many trips with them in the strollers and us doing things together as a family, etc., it hit me that day very hard that they were growing up and now had different interests than ours, and I started to cry. I mean, to the point where I surprised myself. (They say we all have our moments with this and this was mine. Fortunately that was the worst of it and it's never happened that severely again.) I'll never forget the kind CM in a gift shop, a fellow mom, who talked me down when she saw me upset. Later, DH made me laugh when he texted me to come meet them and I found him with the kids jokingly in a double head lock. (The picture I took of them at that moment sums up a lot of how we as parents feel about them when they're teens! We love them but we want to "strangle" them sometimes.) (*j/k, of course in case anyone takes that literally)

Last trip, at 16, was awesome and we fully expected they'd go off at times on their own. In fact they did all 4 parks on their birthday (while we did 3 with them, with a good mixture of things we did together and things we did separately). We felt comfortable with them getting back to the resort by themselves, even at night and park closing, etc. (They are mature and would not leave eachother's side, were in touch with us by phone, know the areas very well, etc.) It was fun hearing their stories and experiences later, and how they handled problems, arguments (with eachother!) and money, etc. I also heard them talk this trip about what it will be like when they take their own kids to Disney someday, so that was pretty heartwarming knowing how special it's been to them.

I guess you could say it's a process as they grow up...

Good thread!

 

[palavra]

We moved to Central Florida a few months ago with an 11 year old. We haven't gotten our annual passes yet, but we plan to. We have been to Downtown Disney and resort restaurants, and our daughter still loves it! In fact, she is the one pushing us to get passes. So, I think we have many more years to enjoy. After all, I'm in my 40's and still love Disney!

 

[MSSANDRA]

We find at WDW that it is ok for teens to not have to be cool and they will often do things that they would never do at home. There may be some things of course they do not care to do and that is ok. We did give a bit of freedom at 13. DS and his same age cousin and his 11 year old brother were allowed to do one or two rides in a particular area and then meet back with us. Now this was during a very low crowd trip and they all knew the parks pretty well by then. You problem might be the lone 9 year old as Im not sure you would be ok to send him along with them and that might be a major issue! I would decide on the game plan and make it very clear to all the kids before hand so there are no questions as to what will happen. If no one want to do Dumbo Land, no problem....just everyone skip it. We have never skipped it however, after many trip and lots of them with teens.....they never complain too much.

 

[Katelly]

My dd17 surprised me with some of the rides she wanted to do on our trip. Of course she loves ToT, RnRC, SM and the other headliners, but, she wanted to go on It's A Small World as well. She loved CoP which I thought she would be bored by.

The first thing she bought was sequin Mickey ears and she wore them the entire trip. I didn't think she'd be interested in wearing "ears" this time around.

Before our trip, she gathered some photo's of herself at Disney when she was a baby, a toddler, and when she was in grade school. Then, when we got to the parks, she took "then and now" pictures in the same exact spots as the old photos.

We didn't have to spend as much time in Fantasyland as other trips which freed us up to do other things.

Sure, we didn't have to do the autograph book this time around, but my dd still enjoyed meeting the characters, getting a hug and taking a photo.

In World Showcase, she practiced her French and Italian by speaking with CM's from those countries.

Each trip with your kids is a little different as they get older and it's a different experience each time. But, the experience is still magical!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Here's my take as a now 46-year old man.

Went to Disneyland for 2 days in 1977 at 10. Liked it a lot, but not really more than Six Flags (and was disappointed there was no Scrambler ).

Next was a trip to Daytona with my buddies in 1985 at 17. This included a day at MK. Honestly, I would have rather been almost anywhere else. Hated every minute.

DW and I in fact skipped MK in favor of AK in 1998 on a trip to Orlando.

Didn't return until 2012 when my daughters were 6 & 11 (both just shy of a birthday). We too thought we were on borrowed time given my own experience. DD13 still says she loves Disney and wants to go back. But, MK is already about #5 on her favorites list (topped by Epcot, AK, and both water parks). I can't imagine that changing as she gets older. DD8 would rate it higher, but still not at the top. So, the borrowed time thing CAN be real, it just depends on the kid.

 

[lyncecelia]

For us (with both my younger DSIS15 and DSS12) it was a chance to test their independence and trustworthiness.

Disney is a GREAT place to see if they will listen and follow directions. For instance, when we were taking the younger 3 on a ride, DSS12 wanted to ride a different ride. It was right next to the ride we were on, so we used it as a way to teach responsibility. Telling him that he can ride once, and has to meet us right at a certain spot after. If he failed and didn't meet us, he'd have to hold my hand the rest of the trip .

Needless to say, he did awesomely! We also let him and my sister go to the arcade by themselves for an hour or so at a time at the resort.

Being able to give him this freedom helped us all be closer. It was a safe environment where we could experiment.