When are kids old enough to be unchaperoned?

[tinkerjo]

Last trip we let our 14 year old son make his way from BLT to MK. He discovered the independence wasn’t as much fun as he thought it would be <a bit boring> so was actually quite pleased when we coincidentally <really, not “coincidentally”> ran into him in the queue for SM and hung with us for the rest of the day.

He’ll be 17 this trip and our daughter will be 14. Both say they are going to spend lots of time on their own. We’ll see...

That’s what I found with my kids. Even when they took a friend with them they tended to want to be with us which was absolutely fine on our part!!! Now occasionally they would stay late in the parks by themselves so they could ride coasters till they were ill, but they would be up the next morning ready to back out with us.

 

[fairestoneofall]

On a previous trip, DS (then 13) and DD (then almost 16) went into MK for the evening together. They had a total blast and really enjoyed it. We told them they needed to stay together. They did a great job checking wait times and navigating the park and their plans.

DH, DD (17) and I just did a quick few days at WDW. DD went into Epcot by herself, but texted me within an hour telling me it was "low-key boring" without someone else.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yours are definitely old enough.

I think I have been letting my two go off together for about 2 years? So they were 10 and 12 or so. As long as the phone was charged and a "if the phone gets lost, we are meeting here at X time" was established, I was happy to send them off..