Teenagers at the park?

We are going to WDW in January of 2003. We have two children ages 11 & 13 and I was looking for some advice as to how much freedom to give them while in the parks. What has been your experience with the saftey of teenagers in the parks, is it safe to allow them free range, limited range, or should we keep them on a tight leash? They are both well behaved and I am pretty sure that they will not be causing any problems, I am just concerned with other people in the park. They will be told to stay together at all times if we allow them to travel around the parks by themselves. This would not be an issue except I am not that familiar with the park's security and other issues, unlike our local theme parks which we go to each year.

It was only about three years ago that two of our children were those exact ages when we went to Disney World. We let them go pretty much as often as they wanted to by themselves as long as they stayed together and they met us once every hour at a pre-arranged location. I would however not let our smallest child, just now 6, to do that. We also had times and attractions which we insisted the kids enjoy with the entire family.

Hope this helps.

I failed to mention that there were times when we were able to "spy" on our kids to know how they were behaving without us. What I mean by that is that on occasion, we would see them standing in an attraction line or whatever and they would never see us. So it wasn't like we were intentionally checking up on them.

While my boys are still too young for that (6 & 9), we are going to take 2-way radios with us so we adults can split up if necessary. (6 y.o. wants to ride Dumbo again, 9 y.o. craves Space Mountain, etc.) I recommend something like that for your kids to have with them.

With radios, you can get away from that "meet at 10:00" thing where you've been in line for 35 minutes, it's 1 minute to 10 and you've got 2 more minutes 'til you board. Do you leave the line? Do you make parents (or kids, for that matter) wait? What to do? What to do? Radio in and say, "just boarding now. See you in 10. Over" Problem solved!

I personally would feel fine with my kids roaming at WDW at that age, provided they've earned the privelege by being responsible in other situations.

And way to go on that spying thing, Jasper! hehe

It's not so much strictly their ages to be considered. It's more their maturity and responsibility. It's their ability to think on their own and make good (or at least reasonable) decisions. It's their ability to recognize situations, and their ability to respond in a safe, and reasonable manner. The children should be evaluated individually too. No matter how safe you "feel" they are, keep in mine, it's the safety and welfare of your children that is being gambled when you let them go on their own. I've know some 11 and 12 year olds who I would have no problem with letting roam. I've also know some 16 and 17 year olds who deserved to be worried about.

When we went in 97, the kids were 9, 13, and 15. The 9 year old stayed with us. The 13 year old stayed close (but we would not have been afraid to let him wander more), and the 15 ran on his own a lot. In 2000, they were 12, 16 and 18. The 18 and 16 ran on their own if they chose. The 12 year old we still kept very close. She was just not ready for it (at 14 she's still not).

Judge wisely, and err on the side of caution.

[ July 08, 2002, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Marker ]

I think that previous post hit the nail on the head. I'm 14, and I'm allowed free range in the parks. I never take advantage of it unless I'm with my little brother though. It's really not the safety of your kids you need to be concerned about, but more their responsibility level, and will they cause trouble for other guests.

Just my two cents. :D

I am 14 and have been going by my self since I was 12.I know WDW is very safe and as long as your kids know how to make good choices they should be fine.

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Originally posted by Marker:
It's not so much strictly their ages to be considered. It's more their maturity and responsibility. It's their ability to think on their own and make good (or at least reasonable) decisions. It's their ability to recognize situations, and their ability to respond in a safe, and reasonable manner. The children should be evaluated individually too. No matter how safe you "feel" they are, keep in mine, it's the safety and welfare of your children that is being gambled when you let them go on their own. I've know some 11 and 12 year olds who I would have no problem with letting roam. I've also know some 16 and 17 year olds who deserved to be worried about.

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I agree with you,im 14 and have been able to wander the park since i was 11-12 and it was me who had to watch my older cousin i was with. But it's not if they'll be safe, it's there maturity level and the ability to handle diffrent situations that arrise amd know the right thing to do.But i agree with Disney_nut and kanssteen13, it's the maturty level. Not to point anyone out or make a steriotype out of anyone or to offend anyone, but some teens, usally 16-18 tend to goof around a lil, but most have the maturity level to know when to stop or how far to go and not be ruining other guests experiences. But some don't as was pointed out in another thread about the teens and the incident at Epcot.

Thanks for the help. You have relieved me of some of my worry. Both kids have level heads and I trust them to make the correct decisions, so I will be giving them some freedom with check in times. I have thought about the radios, but was concerned about the amount of traffic that we will encounter.

Go with the radios!!! They are invaluable, and it allows for lots of flexibility to change plans at a seconds notice. Also, you can just check in on them whenever you want (my 14 yr. old doesn't like this part, especially when he's walking with his "friend" at a carnival the other night and we wanted to know where he was ;) ). They are really terrific, just remember to bring extra batteries, and put fresh ones in before the trip. We use Motorola talkabouts. Good luck! Oh, we encountered very little interference with others using radios.

I'm 15, and as long as I stick with my brother (he's 13 now), we can go any where we want. I could, but my brother needs to have someone with him. [img]smile.gif[/img] With so many people around at Disney, its really hard to get lost, and if you do, just ask any cast member, and (s)he will be happy to help. Also, the way I see it, you have to pay to get into almost anywhere at Disney...50 bucks for MK, Epcot, AK, and MGM, around 30 for the Water parks...and 20 or so for Pleausre Island.... The "bad" people that are out there wouldn't want to spend that kind of money to go mess with anyone.

Nonetheless, you still need to be careful, just like anywhere else you go, so the radios aren't a bad a idea. Good luck!

On a few occasions, when our DD was in her teens, she brought a friend to DW with us. Generally, we would allow them to strike off on their own for parts of the day.

We did always go to the same park and stay in the same park together. We would always meet up for lunch and again for dinner to check in. We would leave the parks together.

On at least one occasion, we allowed DD and her friend to take the boat from FW to the game room at the Contemporary with instructions they were to return with the last boat. It was off-season and the last boat returned at 10:00 p.m.

DD had been going to DW since she was young and knew her way around very well.

It worked out well for all involved. If I remember correctly, DD was in the 14-16 year old age range at that point in time.

I would start out by giving them an hour to go and do "whatever". If that goes well then add a little more time and so on. I think if you gradually let them have their freedom both sides will be comfortable with the situation.

I just wanted to say that I agree with the comment about the maturity of the child. There is no doubt that some can handle that amount freedom at a young age and others can't. Only you can decide if they are capable of handling themselves and others.

I don't know. That sounds a little young to me. I wouldn't think it's a wise idea to let children of those ages to be away from their parents in a park of this size. I'm 18 and I wouldn't have felt right being alone 6-8 years ago on my own down there.