media's expert on WDW says.....

[canda]

not to stay on site and not to take your kids until they are atleast five.

I cant remember what mag. I was reading I was at the DR.'s and they called me before I could get further into the article. But those to quotes were enlarged for quick viewing. I was able to figure out from those to quotes that this author had no idea what they were talking about.

 

[MsLeFever]

yeah right....sure sounds like that author hasn't had the wonderful experience of taking a preschooler to WDW!

reading this - it sounds like I'm being sarcastic and I'm totally not!!!

 

[Fiver]

I'll never forget when my little guy was 3yrs old and cheering throughout Spectromagic. He went the whole day at MK. I'm talking from 10am til 10pm at the MK having the time of his life. He napped inside the park and was excited every minute. On the bus ride back to the hotel, people were laughing at how awake and happy he was meanwhile my DH and I were dead on our feet. Usually we leave all the parks early because he gets tired with the exception of Mk where he is like the Energizer Bunny.

I agree that you can find great hotels and better prices offsite, but I prefer the atmosphere of staying onsite. Plus with a toddler, I dont want the hassle of driving everywhere. Room delivery of purchases also makes it easier on parents who all ready have strollers, diaper bags, etc. to carry.

I think you just need to find what works best for your family. Personally I wanted my son to see the Magic of the parks before he got too old and started to see through some of it. We just accepted that we would need to take longer breaks and not power walk the parks. We went into each trip knowing our limitations and so there were no unpleasant surprises. Did we see more of Fantasyland that any other area? Sure, but his excitement made the whole trip worth it.

~Mel

 

[kaytieeldr]

That media expert may be an expert on being a media expert but he or she knows little about a Walt Disney World vacation. Okay, fine, I can see the 'stay offsite' suggestion as a way to save money (although with the free dining plan, my hotel cost nets out to something like $25 a night if I eat everywhere/everything I've planned ), but please. Take your children when YOU think you should. True, as we age we remember little, if anything, of experiences before we're two or three, but small children STILL enjoy Disney, and their parents/grandparents/extended families enjoy and remember the childrens' joy. And of course, nowadays there's that newfangled video camera stuff to capture memories and reactions for a lifetime

 

[Kick Save]

Take your kids when you're ready, that's good advice. Our kids went when they were younger than five, and loved it. My oldest went the first time when he was three and was excited the whole time. Couple 3-year old-esque meltdowns, but that's not Disney's fault.

My youngest will be making his 4th and 5th trip to the World before his 4th birthday this December. He was talking about "Diney" last night...so, yeah, younger kids like it, too.

 

[Snoopymom]

oh my, what we would have missed if we had waited until ds was 5!!!

He's almost 6 and now he's into Spiderman/Universal, so he would never had the whole magical Mickey experience at all.

Boy, that makes me mad, just think how many people are going to take that advice!

 

[POB14]

Our youngest was a couple of months short of five when we went. She would absolutely have been too young to enjoy anything if she had been more than a few months younger.

The bottom line is, nobody can tell you when to take your kids. All parents are different, and all kids are different. You know your kids the best.

 

[lillygator]

I wouldn't have missed taking my daughters for the world! And as far as remembering....my eldest is 3 will be 4 on Halloween and she remembers tons! May rewrite over those memories at a later date but she is moving up a class at school Monday and we had a conference yesterday and they rated her skills, etc and the teachers can't believe how good her retention is and there was a note by that line and it said "especially her Disney trips"!!

 

[Ghost]

not to stay on site and not to take your kids until they are atleast five.

I cant remember what mag. I was reading I was at the DR.'s and they called me before I could get further into the article. But those to quotes were enlarged for quick viewing. I was able to figure out from those to quotes that this author had no idea what they were talking about.

Again proof that the MEDIA in not always right

My son was 6 weeks when he entered a Disney Park for the first time. He has seen Disney parks 7 to 10 times a year ever since. He is now six years young... Every visit with him was magic, no mather how old he was...

 

[jann1033]

have stayed on and off site and i wouldn't stay off site ever again. it might cost less but it just is not the same..

as far as taking toddlers, i think it depends on the family...if you want to spend all day every day in the parks it would be to much for a little one imo...but if you are willing to adjust and not act like you have a mini adult with you, i don't see why it's a problem.. i may eat my words after we take 2 1/2 yr old grand baby this fall since my kids were 6 at the youngest trip to wdw which imo is a great age if you want to go longer days, etc. but to say absolutely don't go till then as a rule is not sound advice imo. some 6 yr olds might be to young , some 2 yr olds not, depends on the kid

 

[rejobako]

These things are in the nature of "tips" or "preferences". For our family, it makes no sense to stay on-site. To us, vacation accommodations are nearly as important as the destination -- we value our "down-time" a lot more than others who are on vacation. Disney's "home away from home" options aren't the best in the Orlando area, in our opinion. We prefer some of the Marriott properties, especially the Grande Vista. So why pay a premium to stay on-site in a unit that isn't as nice as one 10 minutes down the road?

If you're the type who values the "magic" of staying on-site and you want to be as close to the Mouse as possible, staying off-site to save money may be an unacceptable compromise.

As for how old your children need to be to appreciate Disney, all I can say is we took our oldest daughter when she was 15 months, and she did great. Does she remember that trip in particular? Heck, I don't know. All I know is while we were there she was happy, and handled the parks very well. It was a great family vacation, and I'm very glad we chose to take it.

On the other hand, I've seen situations with families in the parks where I'm fairly certain that perhaps the parents regretted not waiting another year or two before bringing their children.

No "expert's" tips in a travel publication are going to apply to every situation and every family. But it is interesting, and sometimes informative, to learn how other people think about planning Disney vacations. I'm guessing that's the reason most people are on this board in the first place.

 

[wdwguide]

Sounds like my gluteus maximus is more of a Disney expert than that guy.

My personal opinion is that kids should be at least about a year or year and a half to get much out of WDW, but I certainly don't object to parents who think differently.

 

[scrapmoose]

DH and I stayed off site once and will never do it again. But, if the expert suggests it then more room for me at the WDW resorts. Also we had always thought age 5 was a good age to start taking the kids. But on a whim we took our 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 DD's and they LOVED it. My youngest had the best time, she LOVED all the rides she rode, even got made she couldn't do Test Track. She interacted with all the characters, smiled non stop and couldn't have been happier. My 4yo was in awe of everything and had a blast. We were there in Jan. and they have talked about WDW everyday since we have been home. They sing the POTC song and Small World song constantly. Definately am glad I took them before age 5 like I orginally thought. In fact we leave in a few weeks to go back.

 

[photobob]

I wouldn't go if I had to stay offsite, I truly mean that. I drive my car a great deal with my job and a big part of the reality escape for me is having Disney take me everywhere I need to go. AS far as the age to start taking children that's an individual choice. My youngest was almost five when we went for the first time, and we took an umbrella stroller which was worth its weight in gold..

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Sounds like my gluteus maximus is more of a Disney expert than that guy.

Amen to that. And once again the media shows off just how clueless they are. Anybody who has seen the WDW picture of the day on this board alone knows that kids don't have to be 5 to enjoy the Disney experience.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

to me its a very personal decision. u know when your child is ready and isnt'. my ds would have been ready 2 years ago, at the age of 3. my daughter, who will be 3 when we go, (she will be 3 years and 2 months) will not be ready to go. but not in the way u think...she will love the castle she will love the characters she will love the rides (more so than ds who is now just 5 and will be 5 1/2 when we go) and she will have the magic glowing thru her.

what worries us is her temper LMAO! she is a wicked poster child for terrible 2's. yikes. without going into details, we are worried about the 'vacation' part of the vacation. sigh. but we still have 7 months for that to 'pass' because as they say, this too shall pass. LOL

each child is different. if i were to go tomorrow, i would have to prepare myself for a long trip with a dd who won't sit for longer than 2 minutes. who won't sit at the table wihtout tossing a plate of food. oh i could go on. but the magic of disney would be perfect right now for both my kids. they would thoroughly enjoy it.

my mum is treating everyone for the trip for her birthday gift to herself. and she has said a few times "sorry that D will be so young, its the way it works. she will have other chances tho" Yep. but only this 1 chance as a big trip with extended family, and for that u can't put an age restriction :O)

 

[lorli]

When to take a child to disney is purely an individual choice. I wish I had taken dd before she was 3. She still remembers most of her trips from 3 and 4 and will be going for the 4th time when she is 5. Even if she didn't remember a thing I would still have the happy memories of her visits. Each child needs something different. Sometimes you may need to take it slower or take more breaks but fun will be had by all.

 

[traviesojmt]

I think that with proper planning, you can take your children at any age. I just think that people have to be prepared to tour with a 2 yr. old. My DS8 will take his 4th Disney vacation in Aug and it will #2 for DD3. They both love Disney and do a great job. Because of their age though, we don't do commando touring. We adjust our planning to accommodate what they handle. I too wouldn't stay offsite. We always take an afternoon break from the parks and go back to the resort. I could't imagine the price difference that it would have to take to make me give that and the EMH up.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It depends on the target audience of the mag.

For a lot of people, those tips are spot on.

Not everyone can afford 2-3 grand a trip and do so every year or even two or 3 years. For some people, this is going to be a once in a lifetime trip. . Nor are they in a position to pull their kids out of school for the free Dining. Furthermore, there are a ton more places to go than Disney and the average family isn't going to go to Disney year after year. So the advice to wait until they're 5, or 6, when they can do nearly everything but are still young enough to enjoy Dumbo has merit. As far as on site or off, if you're on a budget or don't meet the classic size family to fit in a Disney Room, then offsite is the way to go. You can get mod or deluxe level accomodations off site for half Disney's price. I haven't seen much that I'd be interested in for half the price of a value. But if you're over 4 people, you'd have to rent two rooms in a value and you can get into a nice hotel with 5 for less than that.
That being said I prefer onsite. The Values are just fine with me as we are not over 4.

The advice is sound for a lot of people.

 

[fun2bmomof3]

I agree that the right age is different for every family. Because if I waited my youngest to be 5 to make another Disney trip, I wouldn't get to enjoy taking my older children much at all since they were 11,10 and 7 when he was born.
I think the best advice to give out would be for those who are planning a Disney Vacation for the first time to research, research, research. The more you know, the better you can plan accordingly.
Our first trip in 2002 our children were ages 9,8, and 5. We just thought Disney unaffordable before that. We also thought that might be our only trip, boy were we wrong. Since our youngest was born we have been twice; once when he was 5 monthes and again when he was 17 monthes. I wouldn't changing taking the baby for all the world. He was wide eyed and excited by everything as a 5 month old and even more so at 17 monthes even though he did throw a huge temper tantrum every time we got on a bus. Those trips created just as many memories for us as our first trip did even if the baby won't remember it.
Although A month or two ago We watched a special on the travel channel that featured Blizzard Beach, after a few minutes he got all excited and he started patting dh, pointing to the tv and yelling go go go. Blizzard Beach was his favorite park last year and it was like he remembered it.
We leave today and he is turning 2 this trip. Everytime we say we're going to see Mickey Mouse he jumps up and down clapping his hands and goes to the door ready to leave. I am a bit worried about temper tantrams because he is the poster child for the terrible twos. But we know his limitations and are prepared to vacation accordingly. Our first trip was commando style thinking we might not ever get back; now due to the baby and knowing that we'll be back,we take things much more slowly and get to enjoy everything more thoroughly.

Crissy