What is the best age to take your kids to Disney ?

Lets talk about the best age to take your kids to Disney. I see this subject come up all the time on social media, and its one of the most popular questions I receive. I see a lot of parents getting “attacked” online for taking kids ages 1 to 3 years old. But you will find me on team little’s all day long!

My oldest daughters 1st trip to Disney World was just a few months before her 3rd birthday. She was abnormally tall for her age, and when people hear my 2 yr old road the tower of terror they are shocked. This also happened to be my 1st time to the happiest place on earth, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

We took my middle child for her 1st time at 18 months old. Now we probably could have waited a little bit longer, but my oldest was now 4 years old at this point and that is such a super fun age to experience Disney at that we couldn’t wait any longer to go. I will say that while taking a diaper wearing, breast feeding, nap needing 18 month old posed some challenges it offered some amazing memories with her I will never forget. In fact this trip was 1 of my favorites ever with both of my girls. Check out the picture of my middle child melting for Cinderella after refusing to even look at the other princesses while big sister had her meet and greets. She took 1 look at Cinderella and reached her arms out to be scooped up, and away Cinderella took her…. along with my heart!

After those 2 trips of firsts we took 2 more trips. One at ages 4 and 7, and another at ages 5 and 8. Both were absolutely awesome trips as they were both still totally into the princesses, believed in the “magic”, and this time had a few new rides they were tall enough to do for the first times.

We are currently planning our 5th trip to Disney. We are looking at experiencing our 1st Disney World at Christmas time trip. I could not be more ecstatic! On top of being a total Disney nerd I am also a complete Christmas nut as well. Happiest place on earth and the happiest time of the year? Yes please!

This trip will be the 1st for our 3rd child, and our 1st trip with a boy. A whole new worlddddd! He is into all things Toy Story and you cannot get me to the new Toy Story Land fast enough! At the time of our trip he will have just turned 3, and we think its going to be the absolute perfect time for his 1st visit. Our older 2 will be 11 and 8 years old. My 11 year old loves Disney, and cannot wait to get on a few rides she was too short for before like Rock ‘n’ roller coaster and Expedition Everest. But aside from being our little guys 1st time, this trip is super important to me because of my middle child. She will be 8 at the time of the trip and she still whole heartedly believes in the “magic”. What do I mean by that? The magic of Disney is something I think you get the most of when you take the little ones aged 1-8. When they still believe that the princesses are real, and they really live in the castle! I am desperately trying to hold onto those days and squeeze 1 more trip in while she still believes.

So what is the right age to take your kids to Disney? How young is too young? There is no right answer. But I will argue all day long with the parents who think they shouldn’t go if “they can’t even remember it”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that 1. The thing is….. I will remember! I will remember those chubby little fingers reaching out to Cinderella, their faces when they see the castle on main street for the first time, when she took her binky out of her mouth so she could put her nose to Minnie Mouse’s nose, her conversation at 4 yrs old with Gaston when she drew a crowd arguing with him over who would make a better husband for Belle and even made him break character laughing. Those memories are with me forever. The most magical moments I have had at Disney World have been with my kids ages 1.5 to 4 yrs old. Take your kiddos when they believe in the magic, you won’t regret it!