When is it to soon to bring your baby

[Mcduck71]

My wife is due at the end of April, it's tradition we go every year around Christmas time. We missed this past Christmas b/c we were in the Philippines, 1st time in 5 years. And 2007 would defintely be to early, I was looking at 2008, so would this be way to early, would we still enjoy ourselves as much. I defintely waiting til he grows up a little more so I can finally ride the Dumbo ride
How old should they be before you go back?? I can't wait to take my son to Disney

thanks
Ronnie

 

[jillyjoey]

On our recent trip -- I talked with a lady who had her 7 day old son at Epcot. Too early for me... we took DD for the first time when she was 18 months -- she loved it.

 

[PeachesDoesHair]

We took our one year old son and he loved it! We were able to ride everything that there was not a height restirction for. He loved the characters, the rides, the parades. It was an absolutely great vacation.

 

[luvgrumpy]

Never too early! We took DD when she was 4 months old. She was bright eyed and bushy tailed all the way. She loved looking at everything. Everything is so colorful. 20 years later she's still lovin it. DS was 9 months his first trip. He also enjoyed looking at everything. They are both lifelong Disney fans and can say they've been going all their lives.

 

[disneynutz]

One our last trip we took our 30 year old DD. During our stay she commented on how many young children were on vacation. While growing up we took many trips to DL and a few to WDW. She said that thinking back, she can only remember trip details starting at about 7 or 8. Her comment made me think back to my childhood. I can remember that I went to DL as a kid but I don’t remember the details or at what age I was when I went. All this brings me to my question. Do you think we take our children to Disney for their enjoyment or ours?

 

[djpositivek]

One our last trip we took our 30 year old DD. During our stay she commented on how many young children were on vacation. While growing up we took many trips to DL and a few to WDW. She said that thinking back, she can only remember trip details starting at about 7 or 8. Her comment made me think back to my childhood. I can remember that I went to DL as a kid but I don’t remember the details or at what age I was when I went. All this brings me to my question. Do you think we take our children to Disney for their enjoyment or ours?

I'm sure there's many different reasons we take our children but just because they don't remember when they get older doesn't mean they don't enjoy it. I'm looking forward to seeing a smile on the face of my 11 month old daughter when we go in 3 and a half weeks.

We're lucky and grandparents will be there so they are going to babysit and have fun with DD at the Villa pool while we do some Disney parks alone. So we get the best of both worlds. Take DD for a few days and spend some alone time at Disney while DD has a blast with her grandparents.

 

[Mom 2 Two]

Both of my children went to WDW at 23 months old. While I do agree that they will not remember the very young trips 20 years from now, both of them remember bits and pieces of their first trips. The same is true for the trips to the zoo or the Elmo show they saw, but that did not stop me from taking them. My opinion is that it is good for the family to spend time together no matter where you are and I think that WDW can be educational in many ways even to a very young child. Truth is, I love all things Disney and want to share that with them, too.

I will get off my soapbox now and try to answer the question. Doing WDW with young children is definitely more of a challenge, but well worth it if you go with the right expectations. Plan on taking mid-day breaks for naps and try to keep the baby on the same schedule as at home. In my experience, if you keep that schedule relatively the same, my children behaved remarkably well--even better than at home!

GO!! You will have so much fun seeing the World through his eyes.

 

[themudd4]

We took ours when they were 2-3 years old. They still remember their first trips and their first trips were special for us as well.

 

[byoung]

Never to soon at Disney.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We took our son when he was 3 months old, then again when he was 15 months, and in June will be going with him at 2.5 and our new baby who will be 3 months at the time - so I would say for us - 3 months is a good age !

 

[PeachesDoesHair]

My dd3 still fondly talks about our trip last September. She asks me if we can ride her favorite rides again. My dd1 probably doesn't remember much of the vacation. But, we do. My daughter remembers what he liked and did not like. So, it's my opinion that just because they won't remember a vacation as a baby does not mean that you will not remember and enjoy your vacation with them. We are going again this September. I'm excited to see how differently each of them react to everything this go round.

 

[bab31]

I think it has more to do with family and how much you are willing to spend and how well you will manage caring for your baby in the disney inviroment. For me I would not do it as I wouldnt manage it very well at all. But they do have baby swap now so you dont have to miss out on rides.

 

[Andrea34]

We took our son for his first time when he was 9 months old and his sister was 4 years old. We all had a great time and my son still likes looking at the pictures from his first trip.

 

[TaraPA]

Any age is fine - just keep in mind that younger children will need to stick to their schedules (naps, bottles, nursing, etc.) which may actually cramp YOUR schedule, and you have to realize that beforehand. Our youngest was 7 weeks old once when we went & that was actually fine - he was a preemie so he was tiny & just hung out in the carrier all the time, I stopped to nurse every few hours. At age 1 though he was mobile & it made the trip very tiring. I felt like I didn't enjoy as much as I had before, because I was chasing him all the time, and stopping for naps, breaks, food, etc. more often than I wanted to be. In my personal opinion, anything before age 3 can be exhausting for both child & parent. Like the OPs stated - how much will an 18-month olf or 2-year old really remember? I can't remember a thing about Disney til I was about 6 or 7, and had been there twice before that at a younger age. I guess it's all up to the parents - just be prepared with younger ones to not be able to stick to any commando style itineraries - their schedules & behaviors will rule the trip!

 

[MommySiobhan]

Last year on our first trip our kids were 3 months old, just shy of 2, 3 & 5.

We were warned by many that we would be so stressed and not have a good time trying to jusggle all the little ones and a new baby.

Boy am I glad we didn't listen.

The most important thing was to pace ourselves.
We didn't try and arrive in the morning and stay til midnight.
If it was getting too much, or too hot, or the kids were crabby, we went back to the hotel, took a nap or had a swim to cool off and then went back or to a different park.

When we go back (fingers crossed) the kids will be 1, almost 3, 4, & almost 6.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

It gets really frustrating hearing people talk about what kids will remember. Do you not take them to the park because they won't remember you did it? Do you not get them the toy they want just because they may not remember it 10 years from now? It isn't always about what they'll remember, but what they'll enjoy while they're doing it. No different than taking them to a zoo. My kids were all a year old when they went. They don't remember it, but they know looking at their old pictures that it was them. In the moment they had a blast. They LOVED the rides, the characters, the shows....it was fun for them. I would never take back those trips because in addition to them having fun, I have the memories of watching them have fun. As they get older they'll have trips that they will remember, but I'm letting them enjoy Disney from the start.