TEENS & WDW

[SmallWorld71]

I've been to FL the third week in April many times and the weather has always been great for swimming.

 

[wendow]

We LOVE the hot weather. Is April still hot enough to swim??

It can be hot enough to swim but it won't be the extreme heat of summer, which we love as well!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Happy Holidays! I have a trip planned in April, everything is set & paid for & now I'm having some doubts & thinking of switching to late June.
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~ I am looking for some tips specifically from parents of Teens. Our trip is 8 nights. My boys are: 16, 16 & 13. I'm planning one or two WP days. Two character breakfasts (for photo opps) I'm reading a lot of trip reports from families of younger ones. But, how do you all with older kids tour??? Just looking for some other ideas. Thanks!

We bought a trakphone and send the teens off at times. I don't let them bus themselves, yet. But by 16, I would.

I don't really write trip reports.

My oldest teen has her own MDE account and can manage her fastpasses. so long as her sister has the same, then I think she can manage both from her itouch using the app.

I still have littles in the mix, so we still do things all together as well.

We went to Sea World recently as part of a field trip. I sent them off with their friends. I find that teens really enjoy the freedom as much as we did when we were teens.

 

[jenr812]

~ Thanks so much for the response! We have booked POR but I'm thinking of switching it, not sure.
We did HDDR and it was fantastic for the boys you are right! I never saw them laugh so much gosh esp with all the attention one of them got.
You def got me considering a meet and greet but I doubt they will be up for it.
Thank you again for the great reply!!!

My boys' (aged 17 and 13) love POR more than any other resort we've stayed at.

 

[michygoomy]

My kids are 22, 19, and 10 and we're here now. I've done many trips with teens and it's great. I agree with letting them go off by themselves. Sometimes we plan a night for that and make it a date night for us. This year we're sticking a little close together as it's last family trip before my son graduates and moves.

They enjoy all the rides and will go on the kiddie rides, too, with their sister. We've done a lot of Star Wars stuff and they like shopping . They got bored with character meals a few years ago (though they enjoy the food) so I didn't book any this trip. They enjoy a better level of food, you know what I mean? Went to the wave last night and that wàs their favotire of the trip.

I thought we'd get away this trip without stopping to see characters, but DS22 really wants to see Baymax and DD19 wants a picture with Ariel for her friend who is a big fan.

 

[michygoomy]

Oh! One more thing - some teens really take to the responsibility of some of the planning. My kids have been here many times so they know touring strategies and stuff, so I'll ask for their opinion on what we should do. My DD19 is particurly suited for touring planning!

 

[Jess30]

We did a trip last summer with a 16 yo, 14 yo and 9 yo.

We did some character meals and my kids actually really liked them. Even my 16 yo son.

I did give the older two some freedom. They had to do all FP and dining reservations with us, but could otherwise venture out on their own. They have phones and they had to be reachable.

They stayed with us for most of the time. My 14 yo daughter is the one who ended up taking more breaks, just because crowds and heat get to her. So she would take more often, or a longer break than us.

We had a free day that was largely unscheduled, and my 16 yo son went to AK and rode EE 20 times in a row.

Otherwise, for the most part, we stayed together as a family, and they were happy to be with us.

We had a wonderful trip. We did 9 days at Disney and 3 at universal. It was amazing.

 

[Jess30]

Oh, and we stayed at POR, and we all LOVED it!

 

[hsmamato2]

I would stick with lower crowd times if I could... my teens enjoy going off on their own at times, since mom and dad are 'slow'..... I like to give ds a gift card to cover any food he may want on his own.... usually it's later in the day when I want to put my feet up,and he wants to run around and ride stuff. We did character meals,as long as it was buffet and they liked the food they were happy.... we always tour at lower crowd times,and my teens like to sleep in the morning,and go till late at night- it's been that way for years.... they HATE early morning stuff, esp. breakfast anywhere. We always bring our own cereal and stuff so we never have to rush out in the a.m.- That was a key in enjoying our trips, understanding that the boys don't enjoy early morning starts...and also that staying together 100% of the time wasn't going to fly,a little space makes everyone happier. even just a couple of hours.

 

[hsmamato2]

I think POR will be fine... I know you can get 5 peeps in one room there which is a savings..... FWIW, we tend to stay together quite a bit, but b/c we're all in one room at the hotel, it seems like everyone is more cheerful with a little free time when we're at the parks or at Disney Springs.... (like a pp, my ds will ride EE 20 times in a row,and we just meet him later) they know enough to get back to the hotel using the buses, which is great.

 

[Rosey_Rosetta]

Touring with teens is still really similar to touring with kids. I'm eighteen now and my parents don't do anything differently. We still love going to character meals (we're going to the Grand Floridian this month!) and love all of the rides.

If anything, I'd try to be really carefree and ask what they want to do the most. That's the one difference, I'd say. My parents are way more open to letting me go off with just my sisters or my best friend.

 

[GoinghometoWDW]

I am going with my 15yo and her 16yo best friend. I am taking their input for planning. They have both demanded we do character meals. We will do early magic hours for MK and HS. I am scheduling a couple of days to sleep in. We are also being very flexible with our schedule. I am planning on letting them go off on their own.

 

[larryz]

It's actually my 13yr old that I'm not sure about

One word: Princesses.

 

[Kiddosx7]

My boys are 11, 12, 14 and 19. They LOVE going to the water parks. Love. Like could happily spend the entire week there lol. They are all so different though. My 19 yo when he was 13 he wanted nothing to do with anything outside of Disney Quest and the Water Parks. My other boys are still happy to do the rides in the parks, meet characters, etc. Of course the more thrill rides are popular with them and they don't typically enjoy if I make them wait in line for a character (unless it is a Star Wars character then they don't mind).
My boys favorite park is HS. They also love eating. They love the dining plan and being able to get their own food, get snacks and desserts all day, etc

 

[Kiddosx7]

My teen boys love the character meals bc those are mainly buffet and they LOVE buffets lol