'Best' age for US Disney / California / Hollywood / Universal / Yosemite trip

[longshot]

DCs are currently aged 4 & 7 and I am wondering when we should aim to do this trip. I know it will be a pricey one so want them (and us) to get the most out of it...

I went myself as an 8 year old (with a 10 yr old brother) and thought it was fantastic but am wondering if we go next year if DC2 might still be a bit young...

Anyone got any thoughts? We will go at Easter not in Summer hols.

Yes I definitely think your youngest is a bit young. We went a few years ago when Dc were 16, 14, 11 and 7.

Youngest Ds really struggled at times with jetlag and exhaustion.

Any younger and it would have been too difficult.

We went last year when the kids were 4 and 2 and did San Diego, Santa Monica and Disneyland at Easter - everywhere was really child friendly, and we all had a great time. Jet lag took us a couple of days to adjust. Disneyland was really busy one day so we went to the Californian adventure park as that’s quieter, and at 4 they are over the height restriction for a lot of the rides. Weather was fantastic and we spent lots of time at the pool, both kids talk about it regularly.

8 and 11 would be really good ages in terms of being able to go on rides but also remembering the experience of it all. I wouldn't take a really little one under say 6 to Disney personally.

DD was 9 when we did this. I probably wouldn’t go any younger than 8, not that younger children wouldn’t enjoy it, but I think older children get more out of it in the long term. DDs highlights were Alcatraz, the Exploritorum in San Francisco and Las Vegas (!).

Thank you, good tips and looks like we can go elsewhere for a few years...!

If that's a single trip there'll be a lot of travelling between places, we've done road trips a few times, the youngest ours were was 10 and 12. Disney is aimed at younger children than Universal, the Yosemite leg seems a bit random, we've done it when we've been to Las Vegas but it adds a massive amount of travelling, you could make it easier by sticking to the West Coast. Our rule now is 'one side of the Sierra Nevada or the other'.
Enjoy the trip!

We did a similar trip when DTs were 4 and did a Pacific NW road trip when they were 5. Both were fine. They actually managed a fair bit of hiking in Yosemite (and then again the year after) and the driving, as long as done in small bites, was fine.

We didn’t ‘do’ LA at all - it was August and they weren’t going to appreciate being dragged around the sites. We stayed right outside Disney (Anaheim) and they loved it. Too small for some rides but fine for loads of stuff and a really lovely age to really enjoy all the magic! We didn’t do Universal.

The only think with Easter is presumably Yosemite will be pretty cool. Most of Northern California likely to be chilly. But to be honest, we had coats on in SF during August!

We're doing San Francisco in May with our 2 boys, they'll be aged 11 and 13 then. We are planning SF, Yosemite and Monterey, with 2 themeparks along the way (Great America and Six Flags).

My kids aren't the most outdoorsy of kids (they're ok once they're out but would never choose to go out for a walk if you know what I mean) so I am slightly concerned but I'm going with the 'it'll be absolutely fine' attitude and am hoping once we're there the boys will be taken by everything and will love it as much as I think I will!?!?!?

I agree with the posters above, I think kids over the age of 9 or 10 would get much more out of it then little ones

I think 4 and 7 are ok for Disney but a bit young for the other places mentioned and they would probably get more out of it in a few more years time.