Your youngest memory at WDW?

[tr-ray]

My first memory is at 3 years old - going on BTMRR with my Mom and I cried in fear the whole time!

I also remember being too afraid to have my picture taken with the characters - which was just a 'go up and say hi' style meet & greet back in the 80s. Plenty of pictures of my mom with Tigger, the penguins from Mary Poppins, etc.

 

[monorailsilver]

My earliest memory-

It was 1975 & I was 3 3/4.

I remember waiting for my sisters & dad while they went on Space Mountain. I was with my mom & I am sure my cousin, well my mom's cousin & either one or two of her kids. I swear if was Space Mountain but I don't know what year that came to WDW so it could of been another ride.

I remember sitting in our room at night watching the fireworks out of our balcony. I can recall sitting on the bed one night & one night my mother telling me to go to sleep because it was late. We stayed at the Poly & were in what is now the Hawaii building.

Not Disney, but was there a Sea World then? If so I remember riding in the dolphin strollers that they had for a rental.

I remember our rental car. We had one & my mom's cousin had one. We all (there were 9 of us) got in our rental car which was a wagon of the 70's & a small one & I remember giving the piece sign to random strangers we passed on the road.

I think my sisters dove into the Poly pool in the deep end, well the old pool.

 

[kohlby]

ODS had just turned 3 and still remembers. He's now 7.5 years old. Even if they don't remember, take lots of pictures and they'll look at the pictures and think it's neat. DD went at 2 and 9 months and then again at almost 4 years old. Before the last trip, we went through pictures of us there when she was a baby. She loved looking at the pictures and from that, remembered certain things when we went back.

 

[MinnieGi]

Those early trips are for the parents and for those precious pictures to relive the memories!! My kids have been going since they were babies and although they don't remember, I do and I LOVE the pictures of them at different ages at WDW!

I visited MK for the first time when I was 5 - my memories - I was TERRIFIED of the fireworks!!! I remember my dad holding and hugging me and I was screaming to get out of the park b/c of those fireworks!!! LOL!!! He so nicely did and I remember feeling safe when we were inside the monorail! LOL!! I also seriously remember the long line of traffic to get into the parks, that whole world drive was packed!!! I guess I remember it b/c I was sooooo looking forward to getting there!! It's so funny the things that stick in our memory!!! I also remember loving the monorail and just wanting to ride it over and over again!

Anyway my parents have some great pictures too of this trip that I just bowl of laughing at now b/c of what we were all wearing (mid - 70's) and what the characters looked like etc. They create great memories and my parents have great stories to tell b/c of the trip. So I wouldn't be too concerned if your kids don't have all these fantastic memories of their trip for years to come, b/c you as the parent will and you'll have precious pictures to share.

 

[jshuff1]

looking up at space mountain and not being able to go on cause i was too short and petting the horses while i waited for my brothers

 

[aleighjc]

She will probably not remember it, but that doesn't matter, because YOU will. So I would go ahead and take her. We took our daughter when she was 2 years and a few months. We had a great time!

 

[natale1980]

I remember things from my second trip when I was 5 and it wasn't of thing that I have pictures of. But what I really remember from all of my 30+ trips with my family is how much fun we had and how much we laughed!
My almost 6 year old has been there 7 times and talks about Disney World all the time. My almost 3 year old who has been to Disney World twice asks to go back daily!!!

It may help that I did a Youtube TR and they love to watch it.

I love the memories that I have of them being so tiny in Disney. It's important for me too.

If your only going to go to Disney World once then wait until your kids get older.... but if you plan on going a bunch of times then don't wait.

-nat

 

[alayne]

Studies say that most kids don't remember a lot before 1st grade, however, that's only studies - everyone is different.

We took our kids when they were 3 months old, 2 and 4 - it was only because of a business trip and it was not a great experience (in the middle of June and we only had 2 days).

We are now going for the first time on a True Disney Vacation in April and the kids are now 6, 8 and 10. (Two will have a birthday before we go). I think this is a great age because they are still into the true MAGIC - with seeing Characters, getting dressed up like a pirate or princess, etc. They may not remember each detail but with cameras and video cameras it will help.

If you wait until they will really remember it want be the same experience because at each age level their interest change.

And for me when we did go for the first time - my 4 year old had the biggest smile on her face when she saw her first princesses and it's a memory I will never forget but she doesn't really remember. So for me I say take them when ever you can and enjoy it all.

 

[Fyrefly]

I went when I was three. I have about 5 flashy memory snippets. They are in order of most depressing to most awesome:

1) Me throwing a tantrum in the Village Haus. This is what my parents never let me forget. I had never done a major tantrum in my life and never did since. It figures the one day I would was the day I visited Mickey. I think they didn't have anything I liked for lunch very much for some reason. I was entirely overstimulated and probably too young to have been there actually, my senses are heightened, especially hearing and that caused me to have a lot of problems as a kid.

2) Peter Pan's flight. Mainly because this and Small World were all I wanted to go on. I remember mainly seeing everyone in the nursery, then my mom was trying to point to Peter Pan's shadow so I'd see him, then the "flying" up out of the window (we were really flying, you know) and seeing London. This is one of two memories I remember as "real". The good news is the ride this past January still gave me amazing warm fuzzies, particularly flying up and over London.

3) I remember a bit of Journey into Imagination, mainly because I was going through a phase with Exit signs at the time. So my mom was a little frustrated because she was pointing at Figment to me, and I kept looking for Exit signs. Yep...

4) I remember the dancing ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, and a sad, big ghost with a frowning face sitting on my lap at the end of the ride. I was apparently fine with the ride up until then, but the ride announcing there was a ghost following us home and having him sitting on me was too much and I lost it a bit, I'm told.

5) I didn't want to go on pirates. I tried resisting, I remember my mom promising it wasn't scary and we'd go back on Peter Pan next but could we do something Daddy wanted to do? The memory I actually remember in the ride itself though is awesome. I remember being in the middle of the ocean, with a real island in flames, and it was so black and vast, and there was a pirate ship out in the water...

So don't be too frustrated with your kids, I guess. Those rides can be real to a little one. I'm wondering if that's why they stuck with me so well.

 

[ktlm]

It is not too soon! DD was 2 years 10 months on her first WDW trip, and it is my absolute favorite trip. Everything was absolutely real to her and she spent the entire week with a giant smile on her face. She would get so excited about everything. It was so special brought tears to my eyes several times during the trip. I agree with the others who say that even if she doesn't remember it, you will.

DD is almost 5 now, and although she has been back to WDW 2 other times, she still remembers a lot from that first trip. She will just randomly say "remember when...." and go into a story from her first trip. Most of it is stuff that DH and I have forgotten. I actually have quite a few memories from before I was 5 (not of WDW because I was 7 on my first trip), so I hope that some things stick with her. Even if they don't, I wouldn't trade that trip for the world! She's a smart one and at the ripe old age of 4, she has already figured out that a lot of things aren't "real", which makes her first trip all the more special.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I didn't go to Disney as a young child, but my kiddos did. I just asked, and my oldest said he remembered riding in the golf cart in the rain at Fort Wilderness to go get Mickey ice cream bars. He was 3 at the time.

 

[Pumpkingirl7]

We brought our DS right after he turned 2 in Dec. 09-- he asks everyday if we can go back. So we are going again in May 2011. He is already excited and talks about seeing Mickey Mouse daily. Now if I can just get him potty trained!!!