This is one of the biggest misconceptions about Disney that I hear often. Why would you ever want to wait to take your kids to THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH?? We took our oldest for his first birthday. He’s three now. He certainly DOES remember his first Disney trip. There are things we did on that trip that we didn’t do on other trips. He adores the Disney characters and over time who his favorite one is changes. He still remembers feeding Minnie Mouse grapes at Chef Mickey’s.
Now that he has a younger brother (who we took on his first trip when he was nine months, he’s about to turn 1) he tells him about the trip. He has been to Disney multiple times and each trip was different in its own way. We took him on the Tea Cups on this trip and on his next trip he remembered going on them. He was quite concerned though on his first ride on them.
We had two couples and their kids go with us on that trip and he clearly remembers the people that were with us. He talks about H and L going to Disney with him for his birthday and he asks before every trip if they are going to go again with us. No doubt they remember this trip too. L was 4 and H was 3.
If we followed this guideline of only doing things they will remember, we would never leave the house with our kids. They take music classes, swim lessons, sports classes, go on a variety of play dates, attend birthday parties, dinners out, etc. We create family memories together by living in the present.
The best part about taking them when they are younger than 3 is they are FREE. That’s right, FREE. Disney allows children who are under the age of three to go into all of the parks, water parks, etc for free. They can share meals with you at every restaurant which means the character meals are FREE. You can save hundreds of dollars on their first trip just by going before they turn 3. You can even celebrate their 3rd birthday there and as long as they are 2 on the day of check in, they are FREE. This is definitely a great deal.
Even if he never remembered this trip though, this look right here is one that is embedded in my memory and his daddy’s memory and I know we will never forget it. This was the look on his face when he saw we were about to meet Mickey Mouse. He was not even walking yet and he wanted down on the ground and he crawled as fast as he could over to Mickey and Minnie. The pure innocent joy on his face makes every trip worth it to us to take him and to let him and now his brother experience Disney.
So when asked why take the kids if they won’t remember it anyhow, I always say take the kids. YOU will remember it and they will surprise you with what they do remember. I personally could not have waited to share the Disney magic with my kids until they were older. We went to Disney often before the kids were born and have continued to go often since they arrived. We have incredible family memories from all of our trips and my kids are very lucky to have experienced these.