sometimes I wonder about how sound impacts stress. As I get older, I’m more impacted by the constant background music, at the parks, and after a short time crave silence.
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Sound definitely impacts my son, but we were able to mitigate that by taking breaks and finding quiet spots, using headphones on some of the louder rides, etc.
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This was definitely my point. Also that the writer was like “Ooooh, I’ll have a headline nobody expects!” That’s why my own thread title was click-baity on purpose.
Like I said, my nephew isn’t a theme park person. He just didn’t like the whole thing. That’s fine. That experience with him never, not even for a second, made me think that any other kid, let alone most other kids would not like the whole thing. I also didn’t consider the trip to be wasted (and this I had gambled and lost), because he had a good time at the hotel pool, and we rented a boat and went fishing on Bay Lake and he had a great time doing that.
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Unfortunately, clickbait is how media survives right now. Most authors don’t write the headlines.
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I mean, that’s true, but to have an article that says that Disney World isn’t for kids just because their kids didn’t have a good time is a bit strange if you ask me.
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Say you don’t have young children without saying you don’t have young children.
This is key. If your children are having massive meltdown, you have to be willing to pivot and adjust expectations or of course you’ll have a miserable trip.
We had a pretty difficult trip taking our 10 month old and 2.5 year old. Our 2.5 year old being the source of difficulty. There were parts of our trip that I may call miserable. We left and my husband said “we’re never taking a child who needs to nap again.” Lol. But our overall memories of the trip are good because we adapted. And the good parts were really really good.
We didn’t get to do everything that we wanted to. I wish we would have given up more of our things that we did for us and just focused on the things to do for them, as the things we wanted to do for us were the biggest cause of strife. Next time we do a trip with kids, we will definitely make this our focus.
Of course, being a part of a community like this helped too. I received some wonderful encouragement on the way through my trip report.
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Exactly this. I have mentioned here my first trip with my DD at 5 was a disaster (mostly). But my advice based on this experience has always been, “know your kid”. If they like strangers and are go with the flow, then st 4 yeats old you are going to have a magical time with instagramable hugs with Mickey.
If your kid is more anxious and easily overwhelmed? Maybe wait until they are 7 or 8.
Its like airplane advice with little ones. People get really friggin judgemental. People will also tell you not to worry about the hassle of bringing a car seat. I had flights from hell with my daughter dispite having a full bag of creative and imaginative “tricks”. I’m talking almost getting kicked off the plane. After that flight we started flying with her car seat and it was problem solved. Now I tell people - know your kid. If you knownthings might get difficult, just bring the car seat (I even regifted my carseat carrier to someone here).
Back to my first trip, my child LOVED carnival rides, so I thought we were all good. But there were a few issues: First, this was my first trip back to WDW in at least 20 years. So much of my dream list had more to do with me than her. I had discovered touring plans and “maximized” the hell out of this trip - thinking I could include every “neat” thing liners recommended.
DD had just finished a horrible summer in a new pre-school class (seriously, it was bad) and she was getting ready to start Kindergarten after our trip. Apparently she was super anxious about this because she broke down about it in the middle of our trip. We started with Peter Pan and she immediately developed a new found fear or the dark and refused to go on any ride with a dark element. Do you know how many rides have dark elements? Even ones like BTMRR have a dark element.
To keep my story from being even longer, there were a couple of key take aways:
- I had to give up my pre-planned dream and listen to her when she was telling me what she needed.
- That didn’t mean completely giving up my own dreams, so for each park I picked a couple of rides I went on without her and DH (he didn’t care. His requirement to make it through the trip was beer).
- I learned that I am the tone setter for the family. Their anxiety level is 100% correlated to mine. So I better keep myself in check.
- After that trip, I only talked about the good times. So when we went 2 years later her main memories of WDW were positive ones. We had a great time.
- Part of the success of the 2nd trip was that I had spent a day in Disneyland by myslef, at the end of a work trip. I got all of my needs out on that trip. It was glorious.
End point - no one should generalize thier experince to everyone else’s. But we shoul also listen to the advice that matches our own situations. Not the sociatal “should”, or a clickbaity blogger.
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I have had young children. (They’re grownups now.)
If the kids can’t deal with having the loving protection of only one parent for a few minutes, there’s something wrong with the family dynamic.
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I highly recommend the full psychological work up if it’s possible at that age. I think though DS didn’t do it till middle school. But He had an outright full on mental break at the NOLA airport at 8yo though landing us for a night at the hospital and a night at the mental hospital before hubby made the 8 hour drive to come pick us up. Absolutely a tortuous experience which led to his diagnosis and years of therapy. He had already been diagnosed ADHD in first grade and had already done therapy (play therapy) for that. I recommend play therapy for the littles. At 8 he started talk therapy for the anxiety. All those years back then were a struggle but as an adult while he still struggles, he has developed healthy coping mechanisms (sans drugs for some of it, like music). Help em get the skills while they’re little before they develop bad coping skills on their own.
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Totally agree. But it can be easier said then done. Especially if it is a first trip and you don’t fully know your options around the park. Plus, it is crucial to meet your own needs too. But their needs and your needs don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
For everyone in my family 100% this.
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Exactly! You know what’s a fantastic spot for nature kids, Fort Wilderness. You could spend days there, not ever stepping foot into a park and get some Disney too while giving them the opportunity to fish, etc. your kids aren’t digging the parks, then redirect the focus of your trip. I find it hard to believe places like The Boneyard and the animal trials at Animal Kingdom would be losses and they don’t require standing in a line or splitting up unless the parent refuses to ride the slide or crawl thru the tubes (or can’t lol). I had my kids in my 20s so I was much more ambulatory. I did all the tunnels at Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground in DHS. I miss that place. It was fantastic (not on your knees) but for the kids.
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Agreed. Sounds like this guy was trying to have the standard “adult trip” and pushing kids into his own agenda, which isn’t going to work. You have to Disney different almost every time, no matter who you go with. You need to be able to adjust for the people you’re there with.
I’m thankful for this forum because I feel like it’s made me a more flexible Disney person. I can have different expectations going in depending on my circumstances because I’m able to get so much input from people who have had similar trips.
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This playground saved my disastrous trip. It was the turning point. I miss it for all the parents who need it.
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Yeah there is nothing like that now and I think Toy Story land would be a great place for something like that.
They should replace ASS for that.
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WOW!! You learned so many valuable things!! Like, things ima take note of on our next trip with kids. saving for later
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Mine too
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Yes, if you’ll look, I suggested, “you don’t HAVE (present tense) young children”
I take issue with the pervasive stance of some people with grown children scoffing at parents in the thick of young childhood “letting” their children “rule the household”, or suggesting that the parents are not fully in charge. It’s called giving your children some autonomy and not forcing them into situations they’re uncomfortable in.
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They absolutely don’t need to be exclusive. The key is to recognizing when you’re approaching a breaking point and taking breaks when needed, and are also making sure that there is something to keep them occupied while you’re doing what you need to do for you. For example, when we went on RotR, We knew that that would be too much stimulation for DS5. So we did ILL + rider swap (DS12 got to go twice). When DW went on, DS5 and I sat, had a snack, looked at pictures on my phone, and played one of his favorite games. He loved the break. When it was my turn to go on the ride, DW took him for another round on his favorite ride at the park- Toy Story mania. It worked out perfectly, everyone was happy, and everyone got to do what they wanted.
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I agree with this. I was simply questioning the situation where the children “couldn’t bear to be apart from either parent long enough for them to ever use child swap.” Seems like these kids have never been allowed to be in situations where they’re uncomfortable.
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Yup. I noticed he kept just mentioning the rides. He never mentioned character meets, or the little things like random fountains or looking at topiary or anything like that so I have to wonder if they had that kind of flexibility to just stop and check things out that might have piqued one of the kids’ interest.
Then again, I’ve traveled The World with kids who were 6 years apart and I know the tug of war that can happen when one wants to stop and check something out and the other absolutely does not, even if it’s just because they simply don’t want to stop.
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