Trip with young teens

[NorCalPrincess]

We are planning a trip next May . DH and I are taking one of our DS and his best friend (other son will be 17 and thinks he is to cool for Disneyland now The younder DS (and friend) will be 14. We are considering letting them go off by themselves and enjoy the park while DH and I do some shopping and have dinner. Both of the boys are very well behaved, respectful and considerate. I am not worried about them making trouble. They have cell phones so that we can keep in contact. I will give them money to have dinner and then meet up later. So my question is.......Is it safe? Would you let your children? At what age is it appropriate to let your child enjoy DL by themselves? The boys think I am waaaay over protective and sometimes I guess I am. What about the DLH? I see they have an arcade. The boys will want to check it out and I won't. Any thoughts?

 

[goofyfordisney]

I think it's safe...when my older son was 14 (he just had graduated 8th grade) we did the same thing as you are planning on doing. We brought along his friend. It's funny, as much as we thought that they would venture out away from us, they ended up hanging out with us most of the time! With cell phones, it's pretty easy to stay in contact though. We usually made sure that they checked in with us every hour or so when they did venture off.

Our two sons are 15 and 20 now; but, in a past visit when the older son was 17 and the youngest was 12, we allowed them to venture out at the DLR area. Sometimes, they wanted to go to DTD or over to DCA and we would meet up later. I never felt nervous about letting them do this. The one place that they had trouble going into without us was ESPN Zone. They needed an adult to accompany them because of the Alcohol being served in the game areas. Other than that, they did fine.

I say, make sure they know what your expectations are, and let them venture out a little. They may surprise you though, and hang with you!

 

[DLR29]

My friends and I (14, 14, 15 last year) were there last August and most of the time we were by ourselves except for meals and some rides. We had so much fun and I think that if the adults were to have been with us, they would have slowed us down and we would not have gotten to do as much. We had so much fun that we're doing it again this year.

 

[Dukland]

I would totally do it. I know that when I was a teen, we went when I was 16 and my sister was 14, and we ran around together while our parents did their own thing. It was awesome. We just met up for meals and such, for the most part.

When we went as a family in June, I remember chatting with a couple of boys in line ahead of us, I can't remember which ride. They were 12-14 years old, and it was a boy and his friend that came with their family. They said they were running around on their own, too. I told them it's nice to be big enough to do Disneyland without your "parental units" hanging around. They were very nice and respectful boys, too.

If you can trust your boys, I say go for it. They are smart, and I'm sure they will be fine.

 

[Lynzer Torte]

We took our DS's ages 15 & 13 in March. We also stayed at the DLH. We gave them a room key so they could take off back to the room whenever they wanted (which was more often than I would have liked). They also liked to shop around DTD. I never once worried about them. It helps that my 15 year old looks much older than he is.

DH and I liked that we could take our time and savor DL without worrying about boring our teens.

 

[Kailua's Belle]

We also let our daughter and her best friend walk around by themselves. We actually went back to the room for naps and they stayed. I came back for them at dark. They were fine. This is when they were 14. The last trip I took in May my daughter, now 15, slept in a few mornings and met us at the park. We were staying at the HoJo. I was a little concerned about the walk by herself, but she was fine.

 

[sbakersub]

I would let them do it, as long as you can keep in contact with cell phones if anything comes up, and you have a well-established time and place to meet up. Just make sure you give them plenty of money for dinner -- at Disney, two 14-year old boys could run up quite a tab

To the more general question about what age it is appropriate to let a child enjoy DL by his/her self...obviously it depends on the child and the length of time to be away and familiarity with DL, but I always felt very uncomfortable letting just one child go off anywhere alone until he/she was 15 or 16. My cut-off was 13 if paired with a brother or sister or a friend, and for just a few hours, if they had cell phones and well-defined parameters of operation.

 

[DevilDuckie]

I would let two well behaved and responsible 14 year olds go off alone within the park for a couple hours. I don't think I'd let them park hop without me and I'd probably want to meet up for dinner, but dinner is generally our big sit down meal of the day- if you do that at lunch then it might not be a big deal.

 

[Wavy Blue]

Disneyland is loaded with security guards, so I wouldn't worry. Even if you don't see them, they are ever present! (Kind of scary, lol!)

 

[NorCalPrincess]

Thanks for easing my fears.My DS rolled his eyes when he found out I posted the question (loven the teen years He obviously thinks he will be fine. DS friends mom doesn't seem to have a problem with it either. I am still not sure about DTD without us. I think the parks and DLH may be ok. Thanks again

 

[Sy-]

Even if you don't see them, they are ever present!

Curious what you mean by this! You mean they are watching on security cameras? Are they in plain clothes all around the park? Except at closing time I can't say I have ever seen security in DL... Just curious why!

 

[RudemanRB]

Give them their passes and set them free, I have a 19 and a 17 year old
and they are PITA's (Pain in the ...) more complaints than my younger girls.

you will have a vacation of your own. let them want to stay with you. by setting them free. trust me they will be bored and come looking for you sooner than your ready LOL.



Rudy

 

[1disneynutt]

We were there a couple of weeks ago and my 2 daughters (14 & 18) loved being able to go off by themselves. They even had their own motel room due to a mixup but they were more than happy! We were texting back & forth throughout the day.