Teen kids alone time in park

[Princess Disney Mom]

I've left my kids alone at that age many time. In fact, while at Disneyland we had to take one child to urgent care and didn't want the other two ages 13 and 15 to miss out on Disneyland as we seldom get to go so we left them at the park alone for several hours. I just told them I wanted them to stay together and they did.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I plan on letting DS15 go off on his own next trip. He can even take DD9 which I'm sure he will since he will want someone to go with him. We will be at the BC for a portion of our trip so I think he might want to go into EP since it's his favorite park.

At 12 I never could have let DS go alone. He had a very short attention span at that time. He either would have forgotten to come back or ended up doing something completely different. DD9 I can see me letting her go off alone at 12.

We do have one for sure date night planned and they will be staying in the room or the pool if they would like. That's while we are at the Poly. I want to maybe do another date night at the BC (maybe EP alone or Jellyrolls) and have the same plan.

 

[L&Lfan]

My sister and I did that at that age BEFORE cell phones were even INVENTED!

 

[Sully321]

Thank you all for the advice. I feel like I can let them be free from us for short periods. My oldest is 5'7", so she looks like an adult, so safety should not be a concern. Now, hey theres a bird and stopping and losing the other one may be...lol.

I will follow up on the post when we get back and let everyone know how it went.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We let our kids go off on their own at the parks at that age. Those are times in which they can build wonderful memories.

 

[skullsplitter]

We let our 12 yo son and his 12 yo friend go off together at MK. They had to check in periodically via text or call and they had to stay together. Also, the find my iphone app is great if you need to track them down or make sure they are where they are supposed to be.

 

[Asc341]

In the 90's, my parents first let explore MK alone when I was 10. No cellphones, but they gave me a (very early) curfew and all was fine. Times are different now, but as long as letting your kids go alone doesn't break any Disney rules, I'd say let them fly!

By the way, I love that you're considering giving your children this level of trust and independence. I know it's difficult to do so sometimes (my mom still says how nervous and unsure she was to let me go alone!) but as a kid, it's so empowering when you're confident that you can accomplish something, and the most important people in your life agree with you.

 

[mitchwebb]

We let our 12 and 15 year old DD stay at the BWV NYE for a couple hours while we had dinner at Rose and Crown. They wanted to relax and were not excited about our pick of dinner res. I was a little worried about them getting in NYE but everyone had
phones and it worked out great.

All they can talk about this trip is how they want to go off by themself. We'll see we thought last time they would go off by themself more but found them following us around

 

[ttintagel]

My sister and I were turned loose at 12 and 13, in the same park with our parents, and this was even in the days before cellphones! We knew that if we missed a meetup, our privileges would be revoked, no excuses, so we made every one. It was absolutely great.

 

[NavyDad]

So before I get blown up, I'm just trying to get some opinions and thoughts.

We have 2 girls ages 15 and 12. They want to be able and walk around the parks together and explore without us on our upcoming trip. We would have a meeting place after a couple hours and see how it goes.

A-- Has anyone done this at that age?
B-- Any issues you see with it?

Our last trip our older kids were 15 and 11 and we let them go off a bit on their own and it was no problem. Just set a meeting place. I believe the 15 year old had his phone.

Now they are 16 and 12 and I would have no problem with them spending an entire day in the park by themselves but I imagine DW would want to at least be in the same park that day...

When I was probably about 13 my friends and I would spend many entire summer days at Hershey Park from 10-10 no problem. Now, that was in the early 90's and we used to do all kinds of stuff on our own and times seemed to have changed a bit...

 

[bethy]

In the 90's, my parents first let explore MK alone when I was 10. No cellphones, but they gave me a (very early) curfew and all was fine. Times are different now, but as long as letting your kids go alone doesn't break any Disney rules, I'd say let them fly!

By the way, I love that you're considering giving your children this level of trust and independence. I know it's difficult to do so sometimes (my mom still says how nervous and unsure she was to let me go alone!) but as a kid, it's so empowering when you're confident that you can accomplish something, and the most important people in your life agree with you.

Love this viewpoint!

I'm not going to share how much freedom I give my 13 year old and for how long I've been doing it. But let's just say that when she's ready to head to college in five short years I don't anticipate any issues whatsoever!

Disclaimer: I do totally believe that every kid is different and that parents know best what their kids can handle.

 

[PoohsFan1]

When we were there in January, DD11, DD13, and I all headed over to Epcot to meet up with DH (we went to AK for most of the day while DH decided to hang back and make it a resort day but did go to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations). When we met up with him in WS, DH and I wanted to just walk around and take in the sites and do a little shopping and then watch Illuminations, the girls however wanted to go ride some rides, they were not interested in watching the fireworks show. Since they both have cell phones and are very respectable and responsible kids at home and when we are away, we had no problems letting them go off (they also know each of the parks like the backs of their hands since we go a couple times a year). They knew not to leave the park and to either call or text us if something should happen...once Illuminations was over, they had to go to our meeting place which was MouseGears and then we would all leave the park together. It worked out great, in fact we are heading back to WDW in October and while DH and I are wanting to walk around WS for F&W, I am sure the girls will want to go ride rides by themselves again .

 

[NickEslick]

That was about the age my parents began letting my brother and I go off on are own at both Disneyland and Disney World. However, my brother and I by then knew the parks like they were our houses because we had gone so much as kids. If they want to go off alone, and you are okay with it and one of them have a cell phone, I don't see anyway there could be a problem. And I would have a meet up time or at least a check in through a phone call every hour or two.

 

[alvernon90]

I don't see a problem for a 15 year old and 12 year old together. I would have them text me after every ride or every hour or something, and I would make sure that they were not going to leave the park we were in.

This trip we will have our 12 year old with us, and he will NOT be off on his own, but only because he is rather um, scatterbrained and anxious.

Sounds like a family affair.

I think letting kids over age 10 go off by themselves in a WDW park is absolutely fine, unless the parents refuse to let the kids be alone by forcing them to check in after every single ride. If you can't tell your kids "goodbye, see you at dinner" then maybe letting them go off "by themselves" is counterproductive. When kids are alone but can hear the thumping noise from their helicopter parents directly overhead, they're not really gaining much experience in facing the world alone.

 

[alvernon90]

My sister and I did that at that age BEFORE cell phones were even INVENTED!

GASP! How were you able to do an hourly check-in?

 

[madelyn]

Always set up a backup meeting plan at closing time in case a cell phone dies. Just back from a trip with 3 kids (boys 16 & 13 and 8 year old daughter). My daughter was always with an adult but the boys spent time off on their own, especially the 16 year old. We did have an incident where the 13 year old's phone ran out of power at the end of the evening at MK. He waited by the locker where we had stashed our jackets and he knew we hadn't left the park since the locker was still locked. We weren't too worried about him and were shopping along Main Street. He ended up asking a cast member to borrow a phone and left me a message saying he was taking the bus back to the hotel. This was our 4th day in the parks and we had been taking Disney transportation to and from Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House. He got back to our room before we did and he plugged his phone in and sent a text saying he had gotten back to the room. On our previous trip when the boys were 13 and 10, they were going to ride Splash Mountain while I went with my daughter to get something to eat. The ride ended up breaking down and my cell phone was not functional due to getting wet in the rain! We ended up tracking them down on Main Street but there were some anxious moments since we didn't know whether they were stuck on the ride. We should have instructed them to stay by the exit of the ride after they exited. I assumed I would be there before they got through the line but because the ride broke, they exited much earlier than I expected.

 

[DisneyPeachNJ]

So before I get blown up, I'm just trying to get some opinions and thoughts.

We have 2 girls ages 15 and 12. They want to be able and walk around the parks together and explore without us on our upcoming trip. We would have a meeting place after a couple hours and see how it goes.

A-- Has anyone done this at that age?
B-- Any issues you see with it?

I don't see any issue with that at all. At 17 and 12, my brother and I were free to wander around. And that was in the pre-cell phone days.

We were just fine and had a great time wandering without our parents.

 

[allysetraskos]

I feel like if you would let your kids go off alone at a carnival or fair then there should be no problem in Disney.
Disney has plenty of security around and CM's.. If somebody were to try and grab / take a 12 year old and they scream someone is going to take notice unlike a 5 yr old throwing a fit. They also can read & follow directions in an emergency. I see why not.