How old, is old enough?

[21hearts]

I don't know for my kids - it depends on on how they are at the age.

But my parents let my sister & I go to the parks by ourselves when I was 15 ( she was 13). We had a great day and nothing bad happened at all. We had to call every hour to hour and a half with where we were in the park & we met up with them and had lunch & dinner with them. My sister & I made some great memories & my parents enjoyed the alone time at the parks - esp Epcot... My mom & food & wine festival.. YIKES.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

When I was 15 and my nephew was 12, my sister allowed us to leave the Contemporary Resort on our own and take a bus to the Walt Disney World Village (now known as Downtown Disney). I am not 100% sure, but I seem to remember that we took the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then caught a bus. Was that the way that it was done back in the 1980s? I remember this, because that was the only place that I felt a little nervous at the time. I wanted to make sure we caught the correct bus. Gosh! I am thinking the buses were identified by color flag back then. Is that correct, too?

Anyway, it was one of the biggest thrills of my life, at the time (1982). We had some sort of Gold Key Card, and it had a meal plan loaded onto it. My 12 year old nephew and I travelled to the Empress Lilly Riverboat several times that vacation for lunch. We each ordered appetizers, soup or salad, and LOBSTER for lunch--all by ourselves! It was so awesome. I felt like a real grown up (and a rich one at that)!

After a leisurely two hour lunch, we would make our way back the Contemporary to explore the parks with my sister and her husband that evening. That experience was definitely a highlight of my childhood!

 

[YodaGirl]

I say if your not comfortable with it don't do it. Anything can happen and does. I think there are bad people everywhere. A place like WDW there could be people looking for teens wandering alone. I say stay together.

I agree.

And please don't think that you're going to "damage" your kids by being slightly overprotective. I'm sure that you allow them freedom when you feel it's necessary. I'm just don't think that it's necessary at WDW.

 

[mjkacmom]

I have kids that age, and would let them go to different parks, use the transportation, etc., without us! They have the run of our town, and if dd14 told me she was taking the bus to NYC with friends, I would encourage her.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

They seem old enough. I have 2 DS(15 and 12.5) and they have been doing some things at WDW for the last couple years together. Never for very long, but that has really been there chosing. They have 2 just let me know where they are headed and stick together.

 

[Lizzygracesdad]

We let our 15 yr old and 17 yr old niece go on their own for about 2 hrs.

 

[Celidh]

We were there last month and we let our 11 and 7 year old go to the Arcade in our hotel by themselves while we were in our room. My husband gave them a walktakie so he could check on them. We are going again hopefully in 2-3 years, when my oldest will be 13 or 14 and he has already asked if next time a friend can come, so I am sure thats when he will ask us to go on his own when we are in parks. By then he will probably have a cell phone.

My two ds's will be 14 and 11. I don't know that I'm comfortable letting them go alone. We live in a small village of about 500 people. They have never been to Disney so have no clue of what is where.

How did you find the walkie talkie's worked. I have heard different things. We have a set of 3 and I think we might bring them with us. If there is too much interference then there is no point.

 

[Hannathy]

Seriously folks if a 15 yr old isn't mature, responsible, etc enough to go around a Disney park by themselves and especially with another person then someone did something wrong!!!!

15 not 10 but 15!!! they are months away from driving a very short couple years from going to college, military, the world and they don't know how to be alone in Disney?

Go ahead and flame me but there is something very wrong when an older teen can't walk around a Disney park. Either with the teen or the overprotective parent. Considering the hundreds of thousands of teens that have toured Disney on their own just where are the thousands, heck even the hundreds of serious problems,attacks, rapes , murders, whatever else has been mentioned here happening? For it to be a true problem with allowing teens on there own it should be very easy to find these hundreds of instances, Please show them to me.

 

[YodaGirl]

Seriously folks if a 15 yr old isn't mature, responsible, etc enough to go around a Disney park by themselves and especially with another person then someone did something wrong!!!!

15 not 10 but 15!!! they are months away from driving a very short couple years from going to college, military, the world and they don't know how to be alone in Disney?

Go ahead and flame me but there is something very wrong when an older teen can't walk around a Disney park. Either with the teen or the overprotective parent. Considering the hundreds of thousands of teens that have toured Disney on their own just where are the thousands, heck even the hundreds of serious problems,attacks, rapes , murders, whatever else has been mentioned here happening? For it to be a true problem with allowing teens on there own it should be very easy to find these hundreds of instances, Please show them to me.

You can voice your disagreement with some people with out being rude...

Thanks to band trips...
At 14, I was walking around Opryland with a group of friends with no chaperons. My mom was fine with it.

At 15, I was walking around the Bahamas with a group of friends with no chaperons. Ok, so maybe she wasn't as fine with her 15yr old roaming a foreign country with just a few friends, all of which were the same age or younger.

When we got to WDW, it never occurred to me or my older brother to even ask to go off by ourselves. It was a family vacation, and we did things together as a family. It was never a big issue. If a parent chooses not to let their (however old) child go off on his/her own, for whatever reason, it is their decision to make. It's not going to psychologically hurt a teenager to not be allowed to roam by themselves (or even in pairs) at WDW. There are many occasions in life where they would be allowed freedom. It's not necessary for them to roam freely at WDW.

As for "bad things happening"...if there is a chance that something could happen, then parents should exercise caution. They should also teach their child to exercise caution. Bad things happen, and it's our job to be proactive. I don't want to be the parent who is left saying "But the odds were in his/her favor that nothing would go wrong."

If a parent were to say that (s)he never let his/her 15 year old out of his/her sight for any reason, I would say that there would be a problem. Sticking together at WDW? I don't see the issue.

 

[dumbo33]

We did allow our son to go off by himself when he was 12. We had been going to WDW every year since he was 6. His two older sisters didn't get to go off on their own until they were around 14 or so and they had to go together. It all came down to experience with all of them, and they had shown that they were able to handle the busses and all.
That being said we traveled very much as a family doing AAU basketball for the girls every year so the kids were very travel savvy. We did put down some strict rules as to what time to meet and where though.

 

[susanrose73]

When DD was 13, she started riding the NYC trains to high school every day alone. And she had to transfer at the Times Square station! That was scary for me! She loved it!

The one & only times we went to Disney & she was 15, she asked if she could go off and explore a bit. We both had phones & a back up plan of where to meet up if we couldn't contact each other & it was fine!

 

[wide receiver]

I'm so glad I stumbled on this thread! I was going to ask the same question, my kids will just have turned 15 and 9 next trip and the 15 year old has asked to take his sister to the park. My 15 year old is very mature and often takes better care of his little sister than their Daddy does (don't tell my hubby I said that, he's actually a great dad). I too have a past event that makes me a little nervous but its time! Thanks everyone for the encouragement I read every post!

 

[GameDevLovesDisney]

At that age they'd be fine in the same park you're in, so long as they're good about meeting times and such. If they know the transportation system and prove their reliability in the first park or two, then there really isn't any reason not to let them go to different parks as well.

When I was 13 I couldn't wait to be off on my own. My twin sisters were 8 and I just couldn't stand fantasyland every day...By that point I had been so often that I knew how to get to where I wanted to go, and if I had a question I knew how to ask. Set dinners with family, leave lunches open in case they want to eat on their own.

Ultimately, you know your own children the best. If they can handle it, let them...they'll thank you for it later.

 

[JennyMP03]

I'm reminded of Marlin and Nemo.

Just teasing, OP. I think they're old enough for the reasons many others have cited, but allow me to insert the obligatory "You're the parent so you know your child best!" disclaimer here. My parents were and are still wonderful, but they sheltered me to the point that I was extremely naive and still struggle to overcome anxiety and timidity. Giving kids a little nudge now and then and encouraging independence can really help them in the long run.

 

[kathy884]

When I was 15 and we were staying back at Fort Wilderness back in 1975, my parents let me, my brother who is 13, and another girls also 13 (another family was traveling with us), go off on our own using Disney transportation and do a few things on our own. That was before cell phones too.

My son is 15 now. If he was with one of his cousins or a responsible friend, I'd have no problem with them doing something on their own. I would want a particular time that we were planning to meet up, and I would insist that they stay together and have charged cell phone. I think that for most kids once one is 15, this is probably a pretty reasonable thing to be able to do. // I haven't actually done this at Disney with my son. I did, though, back in 2008 when he was 12 let him go into Cedar Point one evening when we were staying on property with his 17 year old and 13 year old cousins. We had two free evening passes and opted to let the kids go in that evening. They had to promise us that they would all stay together, etc. We went in as a family the next two days, but didn't want to fork out the extra money for adults our first night (two free Starlight passes came with our room package and we bought one for our third teen). They had a blast.

 

[ascwilson]

We allowed our DS13 and his friend to go together to different areas of the park to ride what they want, but our DS13 has been doing Disney his whole life so he is familiar with everthing. They had cell phones and we all stayed in touch. I am fine with him going around the park, the resort, etc., but only if we are there too. I haven't yet let him stay at a park when we're heading back to the room. We all go together, but not necessarily stay together once there. Only you know the maturity level of your kids, but you could let them do a ride next to you or close by as a test to see where your comfort level is.

 

[kellydizfan]

We are going in August and my girls are 17 & 14. My Mother and Son and probably myself will stay together and the girls will go do their thing - same park as us. I don't have a problem with it as they know their way around and have been enough times. I may even let them go to another park on their own. Say Epcot by monorail while we were at MK. I already told them they will be wearing a fanny pack - at least one of them with their cell phones in a zip up plastic bag for like splash mountain or Kali River. My oldest daughter's name is Kali. I just had to put that in there.

 

[DisneyFinatic]

the big question for me is "What is WDW rules on this subject?" I thought about this myself. DD11 DS10 and they stay by themselves at home. But I dont see a reason for them to go by themselves cause everything they want to do i want to do to. But I think the best advice given was start with babysteps. Stay within a ride or 2 then move up to park sections then eventually whole parks.

 

[OZ 877]

In 2006 our oldest two (16,14) were allowed to go on their own. We were there 8 days and they only went by themselves for 1/2 day, wanted to be with mom & dad. In 2007 they stayed with us the whole time.

I think yours are old enough to experience some of the magic on their own. Most likely they will stay with you most of the time.

 

[delmar411]

ODD was 11 when she was first able to go off on her own for a bit. This past trip she took DS6 with her for a few hours. They'll likely do that again this trip.

I cannot imagine not allowing teenagers to go off on their own. Entire school groups come down to WDW w/o parents and minimal chaperons. They are just fine.

But whatever floats your boat. They are your kids.