Just wanted to get peoples opinion on taking an 18-20 month old to Disney World. This wont be a first and only trip, as he'll probably go at least every two years ago. Also, its not a first trip for the parents, we just went about 18 months ago. Thanks.

I took my daughter on her first trip to WDW when she was 18 month's and it was a great trip for the whole family. She could ride most things and she was really into the shows and absolutely loved seeing the characters. I'd say it's a good age to start taking her.

Kfoxx was 9 months when she made her first trip to dland. and exactly 1 year old when she made her first trip to WDW

Cfoxx was 11 months on her first trip to dland, and 15 months to WDW.

both did well, and other then being as addicted as us they are otherwise normal

We took our son at around 13 months and had a wonderful time. The main advice I can give is to go at your child's pace, rather than having expectations of doing a "commando-style" tour of the parks. The fact that this won't be your first or last visit should help tremendously with that.

Are there any specific areas of advice that you'd like to get?

-Jeff

My parents first took me when I was in middle school, but I had, and still do, wished they had taked me when I was younger, like when I still thought the characters were real, even though I still let myself think that when I'm there. I think there's things there that one can only experience when there young.

Not really looking for any specific advice. My son is just over 3 months, but I love to start planning things early. So now its pretty much decided we will take him sometime next summer.

My only other question would be about the hotels. Probably the three up for consideration are Cont, Poly, and AKL.

I think that you are going to find many who have taken thier youngest family member to the parks enjoied it regardless of age. But I personaly think that it depends on your youngster. For us, my son was 5 months and he loved the parks and the Disney Cruise. But then again, we also took him to Great America before our Disney trip just to see how he would react to crowds and the like.

Your mileage may vary. :)

As for my 2 cents on hotels, AK is great and they are very accomodating. Their pool is great too. Poly has the edge of being easy access to MK and Epcot, due to the monorail.

As for other hotel tips, do a quick search in addition to seeing what others say in this thread. There have been many "What hotel is best when traveling with a young child" threads. The more info you have the better decision you can make.

I've never been to WDW, but my son was 8 months on his first trip to Disneyland, then I took him again for his first birthday. Any age is great. They will enjoy people watching as babies, and once they're about 2 or 3 they will really start to enjoy the magic of Disney in other ways.

Our family just went in Jan. 05 and that included our little one at 21 months. He had a great time and still talks about a few things. His favorite being Dumbo. "Up and Down" "Wheee!". He also remembers the "Mean Man", I.e. Captain Hook, on Peter Pan. He also really liked the train at MK. This was his second trip to the World, his first being Jan. 04 at 9 months. We all had a great time!!!

My kids have never been to WDW. We live on the west part of the US so a trip over there is across country. Since we would be going that far, I would like to make that trip at least a week long, and would like the boys to be older. I can make sure that they both enjoy things more when they are older and will remember it more. There is much more to do at WDW than at DL, in terms of parks etc.
That said, my oldest went to DLR for his first birthday, with Wendi (previous poster on this thread). My youngest had his first trip to DLR at 10 months. Both kids have done GREAT on all their trips. My oldest now has his first AP. As Wendi said, they enjoy different things at different ages. Now that my oldest is 3 1/2, he loves it all, shows, characters, the rides etc. My youngest was a bit afraid of the characters on our last visit, he was 16 months, but after a day or 2, he warmed right up to them. We have some great video of the characters really interacting with him at Ariel's Grotto.
The key is what do you expect out of it? Do you expect to hit everything in a few days, a marathon trip. Or are you going to be able to relax and realize you can't do or see it all, and enjoy yourself. You have to really slow things down with younger ones. As they get older you can pick up the pace more.
Good luck in your decision. Oh and be sure to get their first mouse ears, no matter the age!