When is a good age to Bring your child to Dinsey for the 1st time??

[TIGGER41681]

I am 7 months pregnant and my husband and I are discussing when we should go to Disney with the baby. We go to Disney every year. I want to be enjoyable for the baby and my husband and me. Are info would help!! Thanks!!

 

[Webbie]

Congrats on the upcoming baby!!

Depends on if you and Dh are still going to go to Disney every year or if you are waiting until the little one is old enough to enjoy hiself/herself.

I personally do not see it a vacation to bring a small newborn baby. LOL must be getting old....seems like a lot of work.

If you are waiting until the child is old enough..well that depends on the child. Our youngest child was under 3 when she first went to Disney. She had a blast but does not have too many memories of that trip..not a problem since we have gone many times over the years.

Those early years were geared towards the age of the kids....early to the parks and then to bed at a reasonable hour. Never had a cranky kid and had the best of times. As they grew older our stategies changed.

 

[cleo]

Mine has gone at least once a year since he was 6 months old (he went before then too, but doesn't remember it since he was still 'cooking'. )

Ever age has it's plusses and minuses. The first 2 or 3 years you'll still be going for 'your' enjoyment rather than theirs, for the next 4 years they'll enjoy it too, but in small doses (you can't go all day and expect them to be little angels). After that, you have a couple of good years before they become a teen, at which time they enjoy it but they won't tell you they enjoy it.

Have fun!

 

[Aneille]

Since you said you go to WDW every year I would go probably go around 6 months.

Then again when they were around 18 months. And again when they were just under 3.

That way you get 3 trips in while they are still free at WDW.

 

[bicker]

Our policy has been to take the children for their fifth birthdays. It has worked out twice that that meant we brought a younger sibling along who was only one year old. The first time, I think the baby didn't get anything out of the experience at all. I wouldn't say bringing him along was specifically onerous -- it was surely a lot of extra work, but we had the advantage of four adults versus two children, so it was manageable. The second time was different. For starters, she's about twice the size as he was, and although I cannot say that she got all that much out of the trip, but we had a lot of fun watching her reactions to things -- something which didn't happen the first time.

So it basically boils down to "it depends" -- depends mostly on you, your family, and especially, the nature of the individual baby his/herself.

 

[Robo]

I am 7 months pregnant and my husband and I are discussing when we should go to Disney with the baby. We go to Disney every year. I want to be enjoyable for the baby and my husband and me. Are info would help!! Thanks!!

This has been discussed for decades.
Even before on-line boards.
Even when there was only Disneyland.

The general consensus is, for maximum enjoyment for both parents and children, when a child can walk by himself, communicate in sentences (without just "crying"), and is tall enough for many of the rides with height restrictions.

The "magic" age is about 4 or 5 years old, depending on the child.

I know that MILLIONS of parents bring infants to the parks.
We ALL get the benefit of standing near these families when the child has "had enough magic" and melts down.

So, despite all the warnings and stories to the contrary (I've seen the countless posts of "our little angel slept the entire 26-day trip") folks bring in EVERY age baby (we've all seen 1-week-olds, or so) and it will always be that way.

 

[MOmousefan]

Our youngest was 5 the first time we went and everything was real to him. My kids are grown now and one daughter told me her kids could go when they could "fend for themselves".

 

[HappyLawyer]

for me, i would not take my children before the age of 5, as i do not think they can understand and appreciate everything, but once they turn 5 look out cuz we will be going all the time after that.

 

[CharityLynn]

We are taking our kids for the first time this year. I was one for the wait until the youngest is 5. But our youngest will be near 4 when we go in October. OUr youngest is HUGE Princess/Disney anything fan so we think she'll have an enjoyable time, our son will be 7 so I'm sure he'll remember and enjoy. We took the last two years for adults only trips and hopefully we'll get some more of those in the future.

 

[MareQ]

Only you can decide that. IF this was a once in a lifetiome type thing or only an occasional type thing I'd say wait until the child was at least 5. Since you already go often and will probably to continue to go often - I'd go when they child was at least 9 months - 1 year old.

Personally - we have spaced our trips out so our children were around 2 when we went. Now that our last one is over 2 - we will start to go more often. Since DH and I take our Disney trips very seriously - we didn't want to have to deal with a child that was on a feeding schedule, deal with having to stop to nurse(or feed etc) We have dealt with diapers every trip for the past 6 years but that's not so bad and quite frankly even we need afternoon naps at this point now so that's not an issue either

In any case - like I said - only you can decide when it would be a good time for you to go with your baby

 

[d4est]

We just had our first trip. DS is 8.5 and it was too late! Oh, he enjoyed the vacation, but it definitely wasn't magical. He had absolutely NO interest in the characters and wouldn't pose with them. At one point, we were walking along at MGM & Aladdin is walking straight at us. He put out his hand to give DS "5" as he walked by. DS almost blew him off. At the last possible second, DS put out his hand. That's how disinterested he was. It was sad for me.

So...I don't know about what is too early, but that's my story on what is too late.

 

[labst60]

We took DD at 3 months and again at 7 months - and she will be going again at 14 months. (Each time we flew and bought her her own seat).

It wasn't HER disney vacation - it was the family vacation (DH, me and DD) and she was part of the family, so she came.

3 months was tough, but enjoyable - 7 months was just incredible - we had a blast - that being said, I think teh 7 month trip was better b/c we "learned the ropes" with a baby at the 3 month trip. If our 7 month trip had been the first one, we may have had it a little tougher!

 

[The Sweetness]

I took dd14 when she was 2. She loved it, and had no prob sharing our food, or sleeping in the stroller. She doesnt remember it. I have lots of memories. Unless you are only going once, take them as early as you like. Ive read stories here from parents who w/ babies under a year, who swear that their lil angels loved it. Going every year, you will thoroughly enjoy watching them expand their disney horizons a little every year.

 

[mjmcca]

My DS who is now 5 has been 9 times starting when he was 9 months old. My DD who is going to be 4 in a few weeks has been 8 times the first when she was 2 months old. The majority of those trips I took them alone since hubby doesn't like Disney. I am a very on the go person. I like the idea of getting in the car and just going. To the mall to Maine to Pennsylvania to LI to see my Aunt and to Disney. When I had kids I decided that was not going to change. I say take your baby when you feel comfortable traveling with him/her.

 

[heaven2dc]

When is a good age to Bring your child to Dinsey for the 1st time??

I'd say 25 years old - just kidding! I'd think around 3 years old - we took our oldest 2 when they were 4 & 5 to Disneyland (they don't remember it at all - even when they were around 10 years old). If you want the child to enjoy the vacation, I'd wait until they were at least 3. Depends how they deal with being in strollers for long periods, making sure you pace the trip to their needs as well.

 

[AMcaptured]

Our daughters first trip was when she was 9 months old. We went down to Disney all the time before she arrived and have continued going twice a year ever since.

I believe it depends how often you go.....If you go once year, or more often us, then you just continue to do what you have been doing and life moves on. If it's a once in a lifetime experience and you don't think you will ever be going again, then probably 4 or so.

Personally, we never found having a child as a hindrance to doing anything we normally did before her arrival, except for the movie theatre.

 

[Magic Man]

Our magic age was 5 years old for our youngest. By then they were both able to look forward and enjoy the trip, and they could walk without us having to lug a stroller around. The only problem we had was our dd5 would not take any photos or do anything else until she saw Cinderella. Fortunately for us the stage show started about 15 minutes after entry and she saw all the princesses and was ready for action. Photos and smiles galore. Up close with Belle at storytime made it official.

 

[ReneeA]

We took out just turned 2 year old and 3 1/2 year old in August. They LOVED it. Of course, I am not the kind of parent that likes to stay home, so they are used to being out and about and on the go everyday.

Of course, since they are early risers, we did EMH mornings and got all the rides in before noon. Then we had lunch and went back to the room for naps and pool time. We were usually back in the parks by dinner, then made sure to get them into bed by 8 or 8:30.

It wasn't the way that we used to do Disney...go, go, go...but it was very enjoyable for us as a family. Both my kids still ask to watch the planning video and tell me what they want to see next time we go to Disney.

 

[ConnieC]

Congratulation on your pregnancy!
I went with my then-18mo. He doesn't remember much but "I" enjoyed the vacation. I don't regret it at all.
Well, when you have a baby, the definition of "vacation" changes. It's not going to be the same vacation you used have w/o children.
And you never know how you change after baby actually comes. Some moms can get really nervous and protective about the baby. Other moms are very relaxed. I will advise that you plan your vacation AFTER the baby is born.

 

[Merriwind]

DD8 has been lots of times, her first was at 25 months. She had a blast--loved the characters. We only did one park day that trip; it was very low key.

My Dsis took her boys at 5 months and 22 months and then again at just turned 4 and 2 1/2. We were along on both trips. The 5 and 22 months one was exhausting!

So much depends on your expectations and the personality of the child. Some children can go younger more easily than others. As others have said, if you're going often, it probably doesn't matter. If it's a once in a lifetime, I would wait until at least pre-school age.

Congrats and enjoy!