Best ages to go : 1, 5 & 7 years or 2, 6 & 8 years?

[AME79]

Hi,
We were supposed to go to WDW for the coming Christmas-New Year with our 3 kids (1, 5 & 7 years old). But my husband would prefer to wait until next year (the kids would then be 2, 6 & 8). What do you think is best?
It seems easier to me to travel with a 1 year baby than a 2 years toddler. But I have never been to Disney with kids, so I might not be a good judge. For now, he is very easy to bring everywhere in the ergobaby.
On the other side, we might have more days at disneyworld next year (7-8 days) compared to 5 days this year. Would 5 days be enough for a first time to WDW?

 

[Weather_Lady]

My personal opinion is that you should go now (before the older children get any older - carpe diem!) -- and that your instinct that traveling with a 1-year-old may be easier than with a 2-year-old is a good one.

I'd say 5 days ia good length for a first trip, as well -- especially if you don't mind leaving a few things for when the kids are older (e.g., the water parks, much of Epcot's World Showcase). With children that age, I'd spend 2 days in MK 1 day each in Epcot and AK, and a half-day (maybe a full day if you want to see the live shows or meet lots of character) in HS, with a rope drop arrival and 3-4 hours of morning touring, a 2-3 hour nap break back at your hotel after lunchtime, and another 4 or 5 hours of more leisurely touring in the evening. (At least, that schedule has always worked well for us.)

 

[Nemo14]

Just keep in mind that the Christmas - New Year's week is the busiest week there, so plan accordingly.

 

[Master Yoda]

Tough call due to the differences in trip length but I would vote for go now as a 1 year old is a bit easier to deal with at the parks than a 2 year old.

In all honesty, your 2 other kids are going to be considerably more work than the 1 year old. While that does improve to a point with age, it will be a number of years before that happens.

The one thing to remember with kids is you are on their schedule, not yours. Odds are pretty high the one or more of them will have a meltdown if you try to go commando on the parks like you can do on your own. Many times they would rather play in the pool at the hotel for 8 hours straight vs going to Magic Kingdom. Plan for naps, downtime and don't expect to do everything regardless of how long the trip is. Given the time of year you are going, the crowds will make it impossible.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Many people think shorter trips are "easier" for first timers, but I disagree. Go for as many days as you can. The longer your trip, the more you can relax your pace and spread things out. We won't go for less than 8 nights anymore, as we feel too crammed for time on anything shorter. We like to get to the parks early, visit until lunch time, take an afternoon break, and then return for a few hours in the evening before a reasonable bed time. This keeps my girls (4 and 1, first trip with the now-4 year old was at 6 months) well rested and in a good mood.

That said, I beg you not to visit for Christmas and New Year's. If I won an all-expense paid trip in a Polynesian bungalow for that week, I would decline. It's an absolute nightmare, to the point where the crowd levels feel legitimately dangerous at times.

 

[Now Is The Time]

I don't think waiting a year necessarily buys you anything with regard to the kids ages but I agree with what others have said - the week between Christmas and New Year's is abysmal. If you can possibly go next year (and for more days it appears) I would definitely do that. Is 5 days enough? It really depends on how much you want to do. If you are planning to go to all 4 parks then I would argue no. We've gone before when the kids were 11 months, 2, and 3 and you just kinda find a way to get through it. I think the toughest thing with bringing the young kids is having to come to terms that you're gonna be doing things like Small World (and multiple times) rather than going on thrill rides (or even if you do manage to get on them with child swap, you're still going on them alone.) It's just a different kind of trip when they are at that stage.

 

[RememberWhen]

We’re going this December (the 21st to 28th) with our 6 year old and our will-be 19 month old. The 6 year old will definitely be our difficult one. I would say go now. It is going to be busy, so try to find out what everyone must do. Make sure you hit those items if at all possible. Utilize your FP well. Rope drop, then rest for the middle of the day. Have an awesome time! Maybe we’ll see you there.

 

[thomas998]

I would wait. If you didn't have a 7 year old I would say wait 2 years until the 1 year old is 3... but if you do that the oldest is going to be pushing the time when the magic starts to fade for them a bit.

Reality is your 1 year old isn't going to remember any of it now or even next year... probably not even when he/she is 3... but you will have photos to remind them that they were there.

I would also echo the don't go the week of xmas and new years. We've been there the week before xmas all the way through xmas and the crowds get bad the weekend before xmas and they don't start getting manageable again until aver new years. We did it with 2 young kids and it wasn't something I would suggest to anyone especially a first timer that has no idea what they are getting into.

Now you could do 5 days and see it all but you would be spending most all your waking hours in the parks... I wouldn't suggest that with young kids. If you think next year would give you more time then that is another reason to push it off another year... The other problem you have with this year is your time to book flights and get hotels is getting near the critical time when they can be hard to find or at least hard to find good deals.

If you want to do Disney at xmas time I would suggest you aim for the week before and plan it so your return home happens on xmas day, the flights are usually cheaper on xmas than after or right before as most people don't want to travel on that day... and of while the crowds the week before will be getting worse and worse you'll be back home when they get really crazy.

 

[Marianm]

Not because of their ages, but I would wait and go at a different time than New Years AND go when you can go longer!

 

[richg35]

You're late in the game as far as booking a trip for this upcoming Christmas-New Years.
I don't know where you planned on staying, but the values and some moderates like POR-Riverside have no availability.
You're going to have an extremely difficult time to get any popular ADRs. CRT, BOG...forget about them.

I think the age differences are negligible and shouldn't be a major factor either way. The 1/2 year old won't remember much of anything. The differences between 5&7 and 6&8 are not that vast. I have 10 year old triplets, and being DVC members we have been to Disney every year since 2013, so I've experienced all of these age ranges. I'd say the biggest change for them was when they turned 7 because it meant that they could ride things alone. That actually made things much easier for us since we had one more kid than adult we no longer had to worry about matching up kids with adults for rides.

In terms of actual ride experiences though and what they wanted to do, that's less a factor of age and more a factor of how adventurous your kids are and whether or not they are tall enough for the more intense experiences.

My advice, especially for a first timer traveling with three kids:

1. If you can, do not go during Christmas. This is the busiest time for the parks at WDW. It's during this period when they actually have to close the parks due to capacity on some days and this doesn't really happen at other times of the year. Jam packed parks means more misery, longer waits and being able to do less. See #2 below.

2. Book a trip longer than 5 days if you can afford it. With a 5 day trip, first time, you're going to try to cram so much parks time in to make the trip "worth your while" that everyone will be miserable.

3. You really need to book the trip farther out so you have more of a choice of rooms and ADRs.

But aside from all that, I would really avoid a trip this year simply because you are so close to the time when you plan to travel. Disney is usually best experienced when you book farther out and have more time to plan things out.

 

[IMFearless]

With young children doing less per day is likely to give you a better experience.

Having time available to spread out what you want to do over a less intense schedule will allow you to get the most out of your trip in my opinion.

Young children get tired quickly and benefit from having pool time, time to nap and time to simply play or have some downtime.

Personally I would go for the longer trip next year with more time to plan ahead.

Like others I would avoid Christmas unless you have no other option - the parks are very busy and it will mean less availability for dining, FastPass and longer standby lines.

 

[aliceismad]

Next fall (theoretically) is when Star Wars Land opens, and most things I've read suggest higher crowds next winter, if that matters to you.

 

[AME79]

Thank you all!
You convinced me NOT to go at Christmas time. We are now looking at the first week of March (school break for us), this year if the planning goes well. We will probably drive and camp off-property, so the hotels should not be a problem.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

From my recollection of my two sons at 1 vs at 2, I think I would rather travel with a 2 year old, than a 1 year old. This of course is heavily skewed towards my children but here are the factors I am considering.

1) at 1, babies may still be on bottles vs more normal food. To me the headaches of traveling with bottles and bottles can be avoided with a 2 year old who is on regular food.

2) At 1, both my children were taking multiple naps both in the morning and later afternoon. By 2 they were down to 1 nap per day. I think a schedule based around 1 nap per day is easier than a multiple nap day.

3) I think a 2 year old gets more out of seeing the characters than a 1 year old.

 

[NickMaio]

I agree - - go longer
By the time you are in the vacation groove you will need to pack up.

Also - go now - - - you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Not to sound negative - - - - but we like to do things in their moments - no more pushing things to be more practical.
What ever you decide to do build those memories now. Not a year from now.