18 months or 2 yr old?? Wait or not to wait.....

[Disney Dad 3000]

We took our son when he was 8 months old, again last year when he was 20 months and are heading down in 2 months when he's 3 1/2. I will admit the 8 mo visit was tough mainly due to summer heat and bringing formula, etc. he was a trooper, but that was obviously not a visit we were going to do a ton of things. We do have some great pictures though that we'll always have.

I've heard some say even under 2-3 is still to young, and maybe our son just has ridiculous long term memory, but when we took him last year, he was still telling us 6-7 months later about something we did on the trip. This was usually not prompted so we know he really enjoyed it. He won't be riding space mountain this year by any means, but he's over the 40" mark now so will have a few more options available.

Best advice I can give is take them at any age, if you think they can handle it, and enjoy yourself. Start out slow when they are young. We did 1 park day first trip, 2 days with him last year, and planning 2-3 full and 1-2 half days with him this time.

 

[Dana Boo]

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but tomorrow is never guaranteed. I'm not a pessimist, I promise- I just think if you can go sooner than later, do it!!!

 

[scubasteve]

we toke our son at 5 months. to me that was a little young but it was more the time of year way to hot would have been great if was cooler we take our kids every year. they may not remember much put thats why we take a lot of pics. our dd is now turning 4 and does not stop talking about going to disney she loves it and ds is now 17 months hes been there twice. but heres some good advice if you want. for about 400.00 they will have a pro walk around with you for one hour and take pics and you can get dvd with them it was great we did it at
our home resort the grand floridian we joined the vacation club when my ds was 5 months

 

[DarthVader]

18 is a bit young but I think if you take the mentality of just going slow then you'll be ok.

 

[Seanual757]

Just returned from 3 days @ Saratoga Springs DVC with our 7yr old, 5yr old and 11 month old and our 11 month old was great she just loves to be out and about. She loves the water so the kids area and pool she was having a blast. The fireworks she could not stop clapping each time they blew up, the weather was very hot and humid as well as wet but she did great. Her 1st trip for an overnight Disney stay was 3 months old, and then 5 months and now 11 months. At night she was walking all over the room have a good time. She is definitely a Disney girl along with her sisters

 

[Caffeinated Wanderer]

We did WDW in May when my youngest was 20 months. It was difficult but she did love the rides and it was worth it for the older kids to be able to enjoy it.

 

[PrincessVic]

We first took my daughter when she was 18 months old, and has been every year (apart from last year) since - she is now 7. She can't remember the first couple of holidays, but you don't expect them to at that age. We had a fantastic time on her first holiday, her expression and delight every time she saw Mickey and Minnie (I trained her well) was one of the highlights - I admit I cried the first time she did it! She was great with the photos, and one of our "games" each year when we get home is to compare some of the photos of her and a character from each holiday to see how she has grown and changed.
I think a lot of it is down to the individual child, and also how much you mind things taking longer - taking up precious Disney time, for feeding/nappy changes etc.
One thing I will say even at that age, is how fantastic the cast members and characters were with her. I have a great set of photos of her sitting with Aurora, and all she wanted to do was put her hands over her face (her own, not Aurora's!) which made it difficult to get a good picture. So Aurora sat and held her hands so we got a wonderful picture!

 

[blana]

My oldest two each got to go when they turned 2 1/2. Due to timing, my youngest went when she was 1 1/2. For us, I think 1 1/2 was easier because she was still full time in diapers. The older ones were in the early stages of potty training, so didn't like being put back in Pull ups, and weren't reliable at telling us when they needed to pee. Yeah.