Tips for Taking Kids to Disney World
Parents planning their child’s first trip to Walt Disney World often have a lot of questions, as visiting Walt Disney World with kids is uncharted territory that can be intimidating. This guide answers some of those questions with helpful advice to avoid mistakes and common planning pitfalls. (Updated December 17, 2023.)
Let’s start with the latest update, which comes as we’re reviewing this guide for the first time as parents ourselves. When we last covered this topic ~5 years ago, we were the dreaded Disney Adults without kids. The tips & tricks were written based on a mixture of firsthand experiences with friends and their kids, seeing families meltdown in certain scenarios, and reader feedback. The goal was fresh advice from an outsider perspective.
Admittedly, we’ve long worried that some of the strategy here would come back to haunt us. That our expectations would be unrealistic or idealized. As we now look update this after visiting Disney(land) for the first time with our baby–while planning her first Walt Disney World trip–most of the recommendations here still strike us as pretty reasonable. Perhaps we’ll feel differently in the future, though!
Since there are gaps in our knowledge concerning visiting Walt Disney World with kids, we’ve enlisted the help of our brilliant and attractive readers, who provided us over 100 tips for traveling to Walt Disney World with kids. You can find their quotes scattered throughout the article. The great thing about these quotes is that they often provide a sharp contrast to our opinions (and one another)–even parents can’t seem to agree on things–so they provide multiple perspectives from which you can determine what will work best for you.
This guide is meant to supplement other guides (including our own Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide) and provide a reasonably informed (hopefully) perspective parents might not otherwise hear. All in all, we think this is a pretty decent resource to read as you plan that trip with the kids to Walt Disney World!
We’ll be back for far more comprehensive updates after we have baby’s first trip to Walt Disney World under our belts. And probably many more times in the years to come as we make mistakes and learn from them. For now, here are some things that we think are good to know before your first visit with children.
Attitude
The biggest piece of advice we can offer is to know your limitations. We’ve seen this scenario time and time again, in a variety of forms: parent pushes kid’s limits in one way or another, and everyone has a bad time. For many families, Walt Disney World trips with are a once in a lifetime thing, and a rite of passage for the kids.
We understand that these trips are really expensive, and with that comes higher stakes and more pressure to “make as much magic” for the kid as possible. Our strong advice–and this goes equally for couples or solo travelers–is to disabuse yourself of this notion. Think about the money when budgeting, but once it’s already spent, think about the trip only in terms of enjoyment.
Kids get cranky after too much stimulation. Everyone knows that. However, adults can too. Parental crankiness manifests itself in a variety of ways, but the unseen way is the most common: in the stubbornness of wanting to keep pushing when they normally would not in “normal” parent mode.
This in turn causes crankiness in the child who is beyond their breaking point, which in turns causes more crankiness in the parent, who keeps thinking about how much the trip cost, and how much fun they “need” to “make” their kids have. It’s a vicious cycle, and before you know it, there’s a full-blown meltdown.
As a parent, attitude is everything. Don’t go into the trip with the expectation that you need to do 17 attractions per day and must have X, Y, and Z done before 11:30 am. There is no magic number of rides for a great and memorable trip. Four hours per day of quality time in the parks is better than 2 hours of quality time and 6 hours of miserable time.
If you’ve been to Walt Disney World before having kids, don’t expect to go at your old pace or to do the same things you once did. The trade-off for seeing the magic through your children’s eyes as they light up with joy upon meeting Mickey Mouse for the first time is that you can’t do marathon hours in the park (unless you bring grandparents!).
Approaching the trip with realistic expectations and a positive attitude is the most important element of planning a trip to Walt Disney World with kids. A plan of attack for hitting rides in the most efficient order is a great thing to have (as you’ll read below), but parents should be prepared to abandon those plans immediately once the kids on the trip are beginning to approach that wall.
What Age is Right
One of the most common questions when planning a child’s first trip to Walt Disney World is: “what age is right?” This is a loaded question that really depends on your circumstances.
For many adults who take their really young children, the experience is not about the memories of the kids, but for the parents. It’s about watching their kid’s face light up as they touch Eeyore for the first time, or it’s about getting that first photo in front of Cinderella Castle. Obviously, infants are not going to remember any of that. But they’ll be indelible memories for the parents.
Our advice here would be not to let other people talk you out of the decision you’ve already made concerning when is right for that first trip. It seems like a lot of parents find themselves thinking that they want to take a trip with their toddler for whatever reason, and then turn to other people, almost as if they want to be talked out of the crazy idea.
In this area of planning, your individual instincts and gut feeling should trump all else. If you want to wait until the kids are old enough to walk, wait. If you want to take them as soon as it’s safe (experts advise that you limit a newborn’s exposure to large groups of people so that they don’t get sick, so they’re the only group we’d rule out definitively as being “not” the right age), more power to you. You know what you want more than I know what you want.
Since this section is more or less, “when to go to Disney World with kids,” we’ll lump time of year in here too. If possible, don’t go when school is out of session–especially if your kids aren’t yet in school. There are actually two reasons for this, the first of which should be pretty obvious and intuitive.
Walt Disney World’s key demographic is families, and school breaks are the time when that demo is most inclined to visit. This actually is not quite as bad as you might expect in summer. Many families do take vacations to Walt Disney World from late May through mid-August, but since that’s a multi-month break, the attendance and crowds are diluted.
By contrast, the weeklong or shorter breaks are far worse–especially when everyone is out of school at the same time. There’s only one Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and so forth. Even fall break and spring break occur for many school districts around the same time, so those weeks and long weekends are bad. This is to say nothing of the many lesser known holidays or breaks that have an outsized impact on crowds. Things like Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, Jersey Week, etc. Suffice to say, see our 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars.
The underappreciated component of this is weather. Summer is the worst time to visit Walt Disney World not because of crowds, which are “only” above-average, but because of crowds plus the worst weather of the year. The heat and humidity makes those congestion and crowds feel so much worse. Even the late summer and early fall off-season, which has the lowest crowds of the entire year, is arguably not worth it due to the weather.
This could all probably be reduced to “comfort.” Lower crowds means greater comfort, as does better weather. Less comfort increases the chances of a meltdown, whereas the opposite is true of more comfort. Everyone should optimize for comfort–minimizing crowds and maximizing weather to the greatest extent possible. That’s even more true for families with small children, who are more meltdown-prone. See our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025 for the sweet (and not-so-sweet) spots.
Where to Stay
Where to stay really depends upon personal preference. Common advice for families is to stay at the most compact hotel in each price tier. This means French Quarter out of the Moderates, Contemporary out of the Deluxes, and All Star Music out of the Values. The advantages are more pronounced at French Quarter and the compact Deluxes than they are at All Star Music–pretty much all of the Values are equal in size.
Other families may want to stay at resorts with interior hallways (Deluxe Resorts plus Art of Animation suites and Gran Destino Tower). Some may want to avoid resorts without elevators (Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans Riverside). Then there are the resorts with internal bus loops and multiple stops, which is related to sprawling size but slightly different.
Speaking of which, transportation is really a big one. We strongly favor resorts that offer non-bus transportation to at least 2 parks. Typically, this means the Magic Kingdom area (monorail loop, boats, walkways), Crescent Lake/EPCOT area (boats, walkways, Skyliner) or Skyliner gondola resorts.
Buses are the least-predictable or reliable form of Walt Disney World transportation, and being able to use non-bus transportation can make things easier on families. Less stress with strollers, lower commute times, and a greater likelihood of actually taking a midday break. (This is advice that is not unique to families with kids, but it’s more pronounced for them.)
Resort pools should also be a consideration, as midday breaks at the pool seem to be popular and well-remembered by kids. See what pool theme appeals most (the best pool by far is Storm-Along Bay at the Yacht and Beach Club) to your kids, and factor that in the decision.
Picking the “right” hotel seems to be one of those “YMMV” things. Different themes will appeal to different families. You might not mind being farther from the parks, or relying on bus transportation. But over the years, we’ve receive a ton of feedback from parents who think the spread out resorts are awful because of how inconvenient they are to navigate with kids. In any case, see our Rankings of All Resort Hotels at Walt Disney World from Worst to Best for recommendations of where to stay for all parties and travel styles.
Where to Eat
Certain restaurants are more fun for kids. Namely, restaurants with cool and kid-friendly themes. Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater ranks at the top of this list. I still remember eating here as a kid, although I don’t really remember any other restaurant (besides Hoop De Doo Revue, and that’s only because we went there every year, so something was bound to stick to my memory). Our list of the Best Themed Restaurants at Walt Disney World is a great resource for making Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs).
We have a List of Best Character Meals at Walt Disney World, and we’d strongly recommend booking at least one meal at these far in advance of your trip. This is a great climate-controlled way to meet several characters, and eat while doing so. Kill two birds with one stone. (For some families, character dining experiences are the highlight of the trip–they do one every single day!)
Our other recommendation for places that many families should avoid is Signature Restaurants. These restaurants do allow children, and a lot of parents bring their kids to the restaurants. However, they’re upscale restaurants that definitely skew towards adults, with adult ambiance, adult cuisine, and adult prices.
If your kids are often loud or unruly during dinner, it’s probably not the best of ideas to bring them to these restaurants. We mention this because a lot of “for kids” guides written by actual parents try to justify taking any children to these restaurants with the mentality that “it’s Disney World, the place was made for kids, they are okay ANYWHERE.”
Speaking for the adults without kids who form the main clientele of Signature Restaurants: this isn’t true. Walt Disney World is not solely “for kids” (there are tons of convention-goers, honeymooners, businesspeople, couples, etc.) and other patrons will be irritated by the presence of unruly children during their nice, expensive meal.
Not only that, but you’ll probably be less comfortable and feel out-of-place at a Signature Restaurant if your children are unruly. The meal is pricey and neither the menu nor the atmosphere are aimed at families. Frankly, it’s hard to see how this is more enjoyable than just eating at a more family-friendly restaurant.
However, it’s important to emphasize that this pertains to unruly children. If your kids are well behaved, by all means take them to any restaurant (besides Victoria & Albert’s, where they flat out are prohibited). It might be an expensive way to feed kids, but there’s not necessarily a problem with taking them. Other people won’t give side-eye at the mere presence of children–only misbehaving ones.
As for counter service restaurants, most places in Walt Disney World have pretty tame options that will appeal to children. World Showcase in Epcot is a notable exception to this, but that’s really about it. Otherwise, almost every counter service restaurant at Walt Disney World will offer something that’s suitable for even the pickiest of eaters.
Our final recommendation with dining is to go early to avoid the crowds. We recommend everyone do this, but it’s especially important with kids. Some restaurants get really busy around noon, to the point where it can be difficult to find a table. Juggling the kids and trays of food during these times can be difficult (we’ve seen plenty of families struggle with it), and it’s just much easier when things aren’t so busy. The opening times for restaurants varies, but most start serving lunch at 10:30 am or 11 am.
Attractions
The salient recommendation here is to not take kids on rides that they’re not ready to experience. For starters, read our Disney Parks Ride Guides that describe, rate, and provide other info for each ride. Beyond that…how can you know whether they’re ready? Well, the best way is to gauge their reactions or what they say when they approach an attraction.
Lots of kids are scared at the prospect of the Haunted Mansion, and just because a Cast Member tells you that it’s mostly comical ghosts doesn’t mean your kids will pick up on that nuance of the attraction. To them it might be the case that a ghost is a ghost is a ghost, and all are equally scary. You may also find they’re scared of things that seem innocuous.
Kids won’t even be able to ride some attractions due to height, and you should not attempt to circumvent these rules to get your child on an attraction before they’re the appropriate height. Those restrictions are not arbitrary–they’re for the sake of safety.
It also important to remember that height is no guarantee that a child will enjoy an attraction. It seems like everyday we’re in Walt Disney World, we see parents trying to coax their kids to “be brave” and go on a particular attraction. This probably stems from the mentality that the vacation was expensive, and parents want to get their money’s worth.
Also don’t be surprised if these fears change and “evolve.” One day they might be fine with Haunted Mansion or whatever attraction, the next day they may not. Just roll with it. Heck, if they are reluctant to go on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, don’t force them. Some of these fears might defy logic, but it is what it is.
If the attraction is going to traumatize the child and make them nervous about experiencing subsequent attractions with which they otherwise wouldn’t have had an issue, what is gained by forcing them to “be brave”? Nothing. Their memories of the trip will form around those negative experiences, and there will be issues for the rest of the day or rest of the trip. So why force it?
The rationale kids have for wanting to do or not wanting to do things perplexes even the smartest scientists, so there’s no sense trying to rationalize or reason with them about experiencing an attraction. Karin J. offers solid advice in this regard: “Do not take young children on attractions they aren’t ready for. I’ve heard many stories from others who did that and it can ruin the trip, because the child is miserable and then can be fearful of everything afterward. Test them with tamer rides first if young and see what they like and can handle.”
Of course, you know your kids better than a guide written by some stranger, and there’s always the chance that your kids have initial hesitation but are typically fine once they actually engage in the experience. If you know this to be the case with your kids, disregard the above advice, and encourage them to go on attractions about which they’re nervous. But if you don’t know, and find yourself just pushing them because you want to do as much as possible, rethink the strategy.
As for what attractions are best for kids, that depends on the kid. We’ve seen kids like and dislike just about every attraction at Walt Disney World, and any list you see elsewhere is going to be based on what the list writer’s kids enjoy. Their kids aren’t your kids.
I absolutely loved Country Bear Jamboree as a child (and still love it), but I read parents all the time who call it a snoozer that puts their kids to sleep. What different people and kids enjoy may be shocking. Erin S. illustrates this point with her daughter: “You can’t plan for everything, so be prepared to go with the flow. Who knew my daughter’s fave ride would be the transportation bus?”
To get an idea of what your kids will like in advance, we recommend watching YouTube attraction ride through videos; just search for the attraction name plus “ride-through” and you’ll find plenty of results. You might even watch these with your kids so you can see their reaction to specific attractions (like we said above, they may be scared by things that surprise you and they may like things that you thought would’ve scared them).
It’s also important to remember that, for kids, character meet & greets are an important part of the experience. Doing a character meal can be a great way to see several characters without waiting in line, and while eating in the air conditioning. We highly recommend character meals. If you don’t want to do character meals, indoor meet & greets are typically better options.
Chris T. has a recommendation for meet and greets that proved polarizing: “Skip the stupid autograph books. If you have an outgoing child who’s not afraid to talk, get them to interact with the characters. They’ll have a lot more fun.”
Like so many things, we disagree with this as one-size-fits-all advice. For some kids, the autograph book might be a conduit for an interaction that they might’ve not had otherwise. For more social kids, the autograph book might be wholly unnecessarily–and prevent an organic interaction. (One thing we do recommend in our Unique Packing List for Walt Disney World is an autograph book replacement.)
No matter how much you prep yourself and them, there’s always the possibility (nay, probability) that your kids will surprise you once you visit. To this day I remember being scared senseless by the Universe of Energy as a child and hiding on the floor of the ride vehicle when I saw the dinosaurs…and I loved dinosaurs as a child. This was no fault of my parents, but it made for a bad experience that I still remember. Unpredictable things like this happen, and the best you can do is damage control once they do happen.
Plan of Attack
If you’re like my dad, you teach your children life lessons through maxims and colloquialisms. A popular one is always “the early bird gets the worm.” A trip to Walt Disney World is a great time to really hammer this one home. (Okay, maybe not in the sense that the trip is really the time for teaching them life lessons, but you should follow it on the trip.)
Tackling Walt Disney World with kids is so much easier if you’re up early and to the parks before they open. Ideally, you want to arrive 15-30 minutes before official opening time, and you want to have a plan of attack for at least your early morning. If you’re eligible for Early Entry, you absolutely want to take advantage of that.
Usually this will involve experiencing several attractions in Fantasyland, most of which are quickly experienced and can get long lines later in the day. In these cases, the difference between being to the park at 8:30 am versus 10:30 am can be a 5 minute wait for Peter Pan’s Flight versus a 60 minute wait. The importance of arriving early cannot be understated.
We’d also recommend reading itineraries in advance of your trips and making some notes. However, we do not recommend creating binders, spreadsheets, and scheduling every step of their day. People get serious and obsessive about this, which is a mistake. (See above about parental expectations leading to meltdowns.) The best laid plans often go awry, and when that inevitably happens (and it absolutely will if you’re traveling with small children), it can be disappointing if you’ve over-planned.
As with most things in life, balance and moderation are key. We have the following flexible step by step plans for each park that cover our perfect days using standby-only:
- 1-Day Magic Kingdom Park Itinerary
- 1-Day Epcot Itinerary Park Itinerary
- 1-Day Animal Kingdom Park Itinerary
- 1-Day Hollywood Studios Park Itinerary
Do NOT expect to stick to these plans if you have small children. Use those as a broad strokes outline, not as a strict schedule. Kids may become tired, irritated, or they may spontaneously see something they really, really want to do. We’re not suggesting that you should always let kids call the shots, but at Walt Disney World…there are a lot of circumstances where you should let kids call the shots.
It may sting to skip your Lightning Lane return time for Frozen Ever After because your kid can’t get enough of the interactive water in Moana’s Journey of Water, but don’t fight it. Embrace the joy and spontaneity–forcing them to stop having fun to do a “higher-priority” ride likely won’t end well.
This was advice multiple parents shared with us, and the recurring theme of this advice was that it’s important to slow down and not over-plan. Sharlene M. said this: “The youngest member of your group is always going to determine your touring style. Slow down, take a nap, and keep them on as close to their normal schedule as possible, especially for meals. You will have a better trip and everyone else will too. A melt down is no fun for anyone.”
Beyond arriving early and having a loose plan, you may want to consider using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Genie can be confusing, but everything you NEED to know, including ride priorities, where it’s NOT necessary to buy Genie+ or Lightning Lanes, and much more is covered in our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World. We do not recommend using Genie+ every day or for every park.
Another similar time-saving option is the Rider Switch Pass (more commonly known as a “Child Swap”), which can be obtained from Cast Members outside attractions with height limits. This pass allows one parent to stay with the kids who don’t meet the height requirement for an attraction while the other parent (or group of above-height people) waits with the kids. When the riding parent/group is done, the waiting parent/group can use the Lightning Lane.
Midday breaks are another popular recommendation, and these are something we advise taking advantage of for both parents and non-parents. The middle of the day is not only the busiest time at the parks, but it’s the hottest, too! A midday break allows you to return for nighttime fun, so definitely leave the park during the middle of the day.
When it comes to a “plan” for preserving memories, Karin J. reminds families that photo time should be early in the day on the plan: “Take pictures early in the day when the kids are happy and not worn out…have a current photo that shows exactly what they’re wearing if you get separated during the day.”
Strollers
Even now, we have a knowledge gap here. Even though we own a stroller, we’ve never used it. (Well, aside from “practice” runs.) We use a BabyBjörn Baby Carrier everywhere–including during day trips to Disneyland. We are huge fans/advocates of baby-wearing, and hope to continue doing so for as long as possible, and avoiding strollers to the greatest practical extent.
It may be impractical to baby-wear for a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World, especially during hotter times of the year. The jury is still out on that for us. While we love the idea of not taking or using a stroller, and having to deal with folding it up on crowded buses, parking, navigating through crowds, etc., it simply may not be reasonable to baby-wear all day every day during the heat and humidity from April through October.
With that in mind, we are of the opinion that strollers are often a necessity. The parks are huge and small children simply cannot be expected to traverse World Showcase or Animal Kingdom without some assistance. However, strollers might be overused.
When you look back at photos of Walt Disney World from past decades, you notice far fewer strollers. This isn’t because more children are visiting now–it’s because a greater segment of children are using strollers. When visiting the international parks, we’ve noticed shockingly lower use of strollers by guests. There are still strollers, but not nearly as many. Part of this might be due to the active lifestyles of Europeans and Asians as compared to Americans, but that’s just a guess.
Anyway, our first piece of advice when advance planning would not be to plan on renting a stroller for older kids, but would instead be to work on increasing their stamina before the trip. Strollers are just as much a hassle as they are a convenience, so why take one if you really don’t need it? Of course, this won’t be practical advice for everyone, and we recognize that.
Reader Rhonda B. agrees: “Have your child walk. We took our children to Disney back in the days when children were not obese, went outside to play, and exercised. They were 2 and 4 years old….now 22 and 24 (currently a cast member). My youngest, age 2, did just fine.”
However, not everyone agrees. “Rent a stroller! Even for your kids that have outgrown them…Something that’s comfortable for the kids, we had an lightweight break and had to call Orlando Stroller Rentals they got us one that day. Amazing. It cost the same as our stroller we bought and it was a double, had lots of room for bag and a big sun shade,” says Jill M.
It’s about a 50/50 split as to whether you should bring a stroller or rent one at Walt Disney World. Megan R. shared this: “TAKE your own stroller! Totally not a hassle in the airport (can be gate checked for free) and so much nicer and cheaper than renting the plastic ones from Disney.”
On the other side, many parents recommend renting a stroller because what you’ll want at Walt Disney World might differ from what you’d normally use at home. Again, a YMMV situation. The overwhelming recommendation other parents shared with us was to use an umbrella stroller.
Dawn B. said this: “When my boys were younger, we always brought umbrella strollers (if it reclines for naps, that’s a bonus–not all umbrella’s recline). The umbrella stroller was nice because it folds easily for bus rides to parks and helps save grown ups from carrying little ones from the parking lot into the park.”
Kayla E. shared a few additional tips: “Bring a poncho or rain cover for your stroller…if you’re in a ride or eating when an afternoon rainstorm breaks out, that will help. Tie a scarf, balloon, something identifying on stroller. It will probably be moved from the time you park it to picking it up.” She further added, “think in advance how you’ll ride the bus. If you have two or more kids, a stroller, and a few bags, boarding the bus can be a mess.
Know how to fold the stroller, and if you can, fold it before the bus arrives, not as you’re stepping aboard. The bus advice is something to consider when deciding which stroller to use in the parks. On the one hand, a Cadillac-sized stroller can be nice to use, but the drawback is transporting it when there aren’t kids in it, which can really be a pain. Weigh the pros and the cons before settling on one stroller.
Enhancing the Magic!
A lot of people look for little ways to make the trip more “magical” for their kids. We’d advise parents not to fret too much about adding more “magic” for the kids, as it seems more likely to put pressure on the adults than to really result in that much of an enhanced experience for the kids. Really, if you’re a kid at Walt Disney World, that’s already about as magical as it gets.
There are ways to make the trip more “interactive” for the kids. Ben H. summarizes some of our favorites: “Hidden Mickey books go over well, too. And prizes to daily winners, if you can afford. The books have different Mickeys at different point values, as do the apps! Disposable cameras are an inexpensive way to let a kid be a photographer without risking their iPod Touch or your iPhone to damage. Zip-top bags are a must for electronics… they’ve saved my butt more than once in a surprise rain storm!”
Buying Disney pins in advance of the trip to trade with Cast Members was another piece of popular advice. Here’s what Bernadette G. had to say: “Pin trading was a huge hit for our three kids (teen through six year old) on our first trip to WDW last year – great for helping shy ones muster up the courage to interact with cast members, etc. I second (third?) buying them in advance on ebay – we doled them out a bit at a time over the vacation to spread out the fun.”
The over-arching advice regarding souvenirs is to always buy before leaving home, as things are much more expensive in the parks. Rosalie gives another example: “Bring your own costumes, never buy them at the parks. Buy your Princess dresses right on or immediately after halloween from Disney.com, they will be on sale, or wait for any of the numerous sales shopDisney.com has. Never pay full price, if you like it, wait and it will go on sale.”
A recommendation of something that might make the trip a little more special for parents is shared by Darleen L., who writes: “Many people don’t know about the Main Street Barber Shop. It is NOT just there for looks/atmosphere. They do an AMAZING “baby’s first haircut” there! By amazing, I mean, take your tissue and camera!”
Another miscellaneous tip comes from Sara S., who recommends taking a lot of photos (we agree!): “Another tip that was great for our family is take pictures of everything. My husband loves photography and snaps pictures constantly. It’s not uncommon for him to take over 6,000 in a 10 day trip…. He took tons of shots of our kids, but also took lots and lots of pictures of the parks themselves. There are so many details that I missed because I was so busy looking down at our youngest. I was so grateful to have to pictures when I came home, even the ones that were a little out of focus!”
We’ll close out this article with perhaps the best piece of advice and something that’s always worth remembering from reader Anthony G., who writes, “BE A KID TOO! All the prep tips are awesome. But enjoying Disney with your kids as a kid is the best part of going to Disney with Kids!”
We agree. A trip to Walt Disney World with kids can seem overwhelming and it might sound like a lot can go wrong…but way more can go right than can go wrong. Roll with the punches and remember to lighten up and have fun!
As our own experience increases, we’ll undoubtedly be back with many (many) more pieces of advice. For now, if you need personalized help with planning any aspect of your vacation—we recommend contacting a no fee “Authorized Disney Vacation Planner” (Disney’s term for a travel agent) to get a quote and to help you plan. They get their commission from Disney, so none of the authorized (key word) planners will charge you for booking their trip and helping. Here’s one such recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What tips do you parents think are most important? Which advice we shared do you agree with? Where do you disagree? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We have a little different view on strollers. We just got back from 8 days at WDW with 3 adults & 5 kids ages 5-13. The 5 year old spent more time out of the stroller than in the stroller. But the stroller made a great storage spot for stuff. It was just a small umbrella stroller, but it had a large enough under area for water for 8 for all day, snacks for 8 for all day, rain ponchos for all, & food for the 2 youngest for 2 meals a day. No one in their right mind would want to carry that much stuff without a stroller. Saved tons of money on food & drinks.
I also wanted to add that they have fantastic baby care stations at each park, if you have a baby with you. There are private rooms with rockers for nursing. There is a room full of very nice changing tables as well, they are a lot nicer than restroom changing tables. There is a room with Disney movies playing and toys for the older sibling while you are freshening up the baby. They also sell different little baby necessities as well.
Child swap is an awesome option as well as the single rider line if there is just one person wanting to ride a ride.
Thanks for the tip about the baby care stations. We don’t have any experience with those! 🙂
Hi – since no one’s mentioned toilets yet, LOL, I will be the first. Last year our then-4-year-old experienced an accidental flushing from an automatic toilet at EPCOT after the fireworks. From that point on we had potty issues at Disney, and she even would respond after we got home, when people asked if she liked WDW, No, because of the toilets. SMH. Anyway, we found non-auto toilets only at Akershus in Norway and Sci-Fi Dine In/ABC Commissary at Hollywood Studios. Does anyone know of any others? It would be great to have at least one handle-flusher stall for each restroom, not just at Disney, but everywhere, for kids with sensory issues or just us short people 😉
While we have not had this issue with our son, I have heard of others who carry post-it notes, using them to cover the toilet sensors. Apparently when covered they will not flush.
We had this issue just this year with a little one. She just needed to watch us drape a piece of toilet paper over the electric eye on the toilet and all was well.
Did you have any luck finding manual toilets? Our 4 yo is the same way and I had totally forgotten about that! Maybe I can start calling to ask if any cast members know – hopefully not the oddest question they have ever heard! Thanks!!
Hi, this was a great read! Hubby and I are planning our first trip with the kids for the the first week of May (I’ve been to DisneyWorld three times pre-kids and DisneyLand once). I did want to take issue with the poster who said it was “not a good plan to take kids out of school at any age for extended vacations. Plan your October vacations before your oldest hits kindergarten.” Foolishness. My son is 6 and my daughter is 4. My son is in public first grade and is miles ahead of his classmates academically. He could miss 6 months of school and still be ahead. And there are tens of thousands of other kids out there who are either ahead of their grade level or learn so quickly, they can make up a week’s work in a day. I’d rather him miss a month of school than make the poor kid stand in a 2-hour line during July in Florida! You never hear an adult saying, “Gosh, I know I’d have gotten in to Harvard… if only I hadn’t missed that week of first grade!” Making a great (and much less stressful) family memory by hitting Disney during a low-attendance week is by far the better choice, at least for my family. But ask me again when my kids are in high school 😉
I need some help…I’m planning to go next year 2014 to WDW for a week my daughter, husband, and I to have my daughter 3 rd birthday. I want her have dinner with the main charters of Disney so I can take pictures so show her with she gets older. I don’t now how to do that ?…Also which parks to go since she won’t be able to ride all of them. One more thing if we were to stay in one of disney hotel would it be cheaper since they pick us pick from the airport and provide transportation to the parks.
I think you need to contact an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner for personalized help.
My daughter and I are planning a girls only week trip to Disney this spring. My advice for parents is follow your kid’s lead. I know even with advanced planning its never an inexpensive trip and us adults want to get our money’s worth. Take along a trusted adult or take advantage of the child care offered and do an adult only day in the park. Open to close and the rest of the days follow your little ones lead. A happy child makes the trip more enjoyable.
We took our first kid trip with 5 kids this past summer. Our youngest was 14mo old. I had seen so much discussion about what type of stroller was the best one for Disney. It didn’t occur to me to not use a stroller but if I had to do it over I would have left the stroller at home. We have a very nice baby carrier and I should have just used that.
Strollers can’t go into many pavilions, restaurants, shops, and can’t go in any lines for rides. For most of the trip our stroller was parked somewhere. We also spent a decent amount of time looking for stroller parking, covering the stroller, and then hunting for it when we got done with whatever it was we were doing.
Our son wasn’t too crazy about the characters, all the strange people, and needed to be held a lot more than usual.
We did use the stroller a little bit but not enough that I could personally justify dealing with the hassle again.
Just a note that Disney is now charging a $10/person no-show fee on all restaurants that accept reservations. This is definitely a disappointment for many parents I imagine (not being one myself). I’d advise parents to really think out what their kids can handle and not try to pack every possible ADR into one vacation (max one a day!). Even myself and my significant other are limiting the ADRs for our next trip to the ones that are super hard to get the day before (Crystal Palace, Candlelight Processional Dinner Packages or popular World Showcase eateries, & HDDR (for us) and and Character meals. All my other choices I’ve been doing my homework and continually checking the day before and they always seem to have some openings. I also cruise message boards about many places that have room to accept walk-ins (Sanaa!)… Anyway, something to consider as an edit to the original post.
Great post as always! I have a little tip for the day of traveling to disney. These days are often long and stressful for parents and kids. My mom used to buy us little, cheap gifts (trivia cards, travel games, books, small crafts, etc) that she would wrap up and place a time on it (“10:00am”). Every two hours we could open our present. We would drive 20 hours and we would typically get to open a package at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00. Of course we were told that bad behavior meant we would get nothing. Let me tell you though we were all angels. My siblings and I are all grown and married but we still talk about those dumb little gifts. To this day I’ll never forget the tiny, magnetic checker set I got and LOVED. We drove down to WDW many times and I remember every traveling gift I received but only one or two souvenirs from the parks. (Sorry, mom!)
I love this idea! We will be going to WDW in August and are traveling from Michigan – over 20 miles. It’s going to be a long drive and this will definitely give my kids something to look forward to and keep them occupied during the trip. Thanks for the tip!
Just wanted to add time of year “night-time hours” as a consideration for younger kids. Mine are young, and we’ve gone a couple times a year the past few years. During winter/spring months when “dark” was earlier in the night and the evening shows were earlier in the night they were able to hang in there for the fireworks, etc, every night. When we went and the sunlight hours were longer and the evening fireworks were later they only made it to see one fireworks show, which was disappointing.
Currently at WDW. Girl-8, boy-4 and wife-? in tow. Third day in with three to go. Glanced at your blog before the trip, but figured we’d blaze our own path. Now actually reading and taking notes after a melt down on space mountain. When told he couldn’t stay on the ride for a second spin, Boy-4 flipped at a cast member who told him he had to go because the space ship had to be refuelled before its next flight. “NO IT DOESN’T! IT’S ELECTRIC! DAAAAAD, HE’S LYING! I WANT TO GO AGAIN! WAAAA…AAAA…AAAA…etc.” Even in the dark you could see the cast member blush … mortifying me (like I wasn’t sweating enough).
Question: is there a private place to give your child a reason to scream cry on Disney property? He is never like this and it’s like he knows I can’t do more than quietly idol threat his @ss.
(no, not really).
All pending schedules have been edited to include a hotel return for forced naps/ pools.
I think our prekid WDW pace eeked into our preforced nap schedule more than I thought it would. Maybe it’s the 30+ C heat. In any case, it’s the difference between knowledge and applied knowledge.
Thanks for the tips I’m actually taking to heart now.
Lots of great info! We went with our 4yo, 2 yo, and 4 mo in 2009 and had a great time mostly because we employed many of these tips! We’re headed back with the same three plus the twins we had since then (they’ll be 8, 6, 5, 3, & 3) later this year and I’m glad I read this to remember that’s its not just about what ‘I’ want to see and do. The only thing I can add is if you feel like leaving the park in the middle of the day isn’t feasible there are some other ways to get a bit of ‘downtime’ within the parks. Some have been mentioned like doing table service (or even find an out of the way spot to eat counter service) in the middle of the day when meltdowns and overloads are likely. Another place to find are the ‘play areas’ that are in each park (Swiss family treehouse and Tom Sawyer island in MK, there are some little play spots near UK and Germany as we’ll as a playground between the land and imagination in Epcot, Honey I Shrunk area in HS, and the Boneyard in AK) and just let the kids be free for a while can take a child from manic to magic in about 15 minutes. If those things don’t work there are TONS of little private-ish nooks that you can find to take yourself and your munchkin out if the ‘world’ and decompress till you’re ready to get back out there. Just having some one on one (or five on two in our case) time can make huge difference in a great day a day where you want to bang your face against a wall.
Good tips in here! I’ve been going to WDW my whole life but now I have a 2YO and I’m plotting and scheming for that first trip – probably around 3 1/2-4 years old I think. Definitely things in here I wouldn’t have thought of even though I consider myself a Disney pro.
Sara,
So true. Everything changes when you have little ones. We took my little guy when he was 3. He had a blast. We took things slow and easy but we still did quite a bit. For us, we don’t like to go back to the hotel for a midday break (we go in September/October when the hours are often too short to get much from this and we are not early birds). Our solution to the midday break was to do a sit down, character lunch daily in order to give the break without the commute. :o)
Great tidbits that I hadn’t found elsewhere!
Going back to the teachers comments: “don’t let kids miss school”. Oh my…
A lesson I love watching over and over again on the episode of “Boy Meets World”, Mr. Feenie is mad that Corey stayed up late to watch a baseball game with his dad. However, Me. Feenie is the one who learns a lesson this time. He recalls when he was younger and wanted to stay up late to hear the president on the radio. His parents refuse, bedtime is bedtime and he had school in the morning. He doesn’t know what he learned in school the next day.
The point he was making, “school will be there the next day. But taking that time to experience life is what we truly remember forever.”
They can make up school work, but that child will always remember being “sneaky” and missing school just to have a fun time with his family.
It’s okay to have a little fun in life.
Great tips! As far as the stroller thing…once they start walking they are too old for strollers. Our little guy walked over 2 miles before wearing down when he was just over a year old (he was a very early walker). A healthy, fit kid should be able to walk on their own. If they get tired then let them rest in a cool hotel room or take a swim in the pool, but past infancy strollers are not necessary.
My best advice is to go at your child’s pace. I notice that at many different places parents are always rushing their kids and yelling at them to hurry. I say let them be kids and enjoy the moment, as frustrating as that may be on the parents.
Dee, that is great about your kid walking 2 miles at a year old. My son is also very fit, 5 years old and we always take a stroller to Disney. Every kid is different. But let me tell ya what isn’t different: a 5 foot nothing woman trying to carry a 42 inch 40 pound child who has worn himself to the point of exahustion from Fantasyland to the bus. Have you ever tried that? It’s no fun, let me be the first to tell you. My son’s stroller has not left the closet in a year (last time we went to Disney) and we will be dusting it off for this trip in September. He won’t touch the stroller for the first half of the day and not again for a couple of hours after our sit down lunches (table service, character meals always get his energy going). But, as the night gets later, he will get tired. And he is the kind of kid who is either 1000mph or asleep. There will be little to no notice between over the moon excited and full melt down. I am a very attentive mother (we homeschool, so I get him all the time and know his moods very well) so it isn’t that I’m not paying attention. It really is that he just wants to fit so much fun into his day that he goes until he can’t go anymore. I find that having the stroller helps us extend our time in the parks. He gets to have more fun, we can relax more overall and no meltdown. We are big fans of some of the secret spots (Tom Sawyer Island, Dino playland in AK, etc) where he can just play and we can let him enjoy the moment (and chase lizzards, because that is his big thing). The average person walks 6-12 miles a DAY at WDW. Our trip is for 9 days. I don’t want him to be miserable for over half of the trip because he wore himself out too early.
My only point here is don’t judge. Every family is different, every kid is different. You don’t know those other kids and families and they may have very valid reasons for doing what they do. Once “they” start walking they are too old for strollers is subjective and may be perfect for your kid, but not every kid.
I agree with Lisa. I recently visited with my 14, 6 and 1 year old, and would have not made it without my stroller. Number one, I couldn’t carry everything, diaper bag, water, etc. Also we were getting up super early. 6:30 Florida time is really 4:30 wyoming time. So by 8:00 my 6 year old would fall asleep on the bus ride home. (we had a sit n stand stroller) If we didn’t have our stroller it would have been MISERABLE. Not only was it convenient using it at the airport, ( you just check it at the gate)but I would have been lost without it at Disney. We spent 9 days at disney, and on the 2nd night before we finished the day, I could barely walk. There were several times I told my husband I didn’t think I could walk anymore, then we would break for lunch, or go on a ride that lasted a while. This is sitting plenty of times because I had to wait with my 1 year old while the others rode. I would recommend a stroller for those who have multiple kids and who are going for more then a day.
Not every child is the same! Sometimes kids looks totally “normal” but have other issues that just by looking at them you wouldn’t know about! My son is 8 yrs old and is active and fit but will be using a stroller for Disney World. He has cognitive disabilities it takes a lot for him to mentally process different things when we are out of our normal schedule. He has a processing disorder and high functioning autism. He can get overwhelmed and frustrated when he has a hard time being able to understand things and process information A stroller is a usefull place for him to take a break when he’s feeling overwhelmed. It also takes a lot out of him mentally on a daily basis so to try and physically exhaust him on top of that would be distatrious!
Tom you may be interested in adding this to your list ***** Disney offers something called
Disability Access Service Card “DAS”
The Disability Access Service, “DAS” Card, is intended for Guests whose disability prevents them from waiting in a conventional queue environment. This service allows Guests to schedule a return time that is comparable to the current queue wait for the given attraction. Once a return time is issued, Guests are free to enjoy other theme park offerings such as meeting a character, grabbing a bite to eat, enjoying entertainment or even visiting another attraction until their listed return time. Return times are valid until redeemed prior to park closing.
Guests may only have one active return time. As soon as an outstanding attraction return time is redeemed, Guests may receive a return time for the same or a different attraction.
This service can be used in addition to Disney FASTPASS® Service and Disney FastPass+ service.
Love the columns as always.
I thought this was an interesting article to write for you as not being a parent. You did a pretty good job about looking at it throught objective eyes.
In my opinion, it all comes down to the demeanor of each child. One of hte greatest moments I have ever had as a parent was taking my then 2 year old to Disneyland while I had a conference across the street. Far from being a Disney fan at the time, it produced memories that rank #2, right behind him being born. When we took his younger brother a few years later, it produced equally positive moments.
However, for my kids, the luster wore off pretty quick as evidenced by a return trip a couple of months later. Gone were the wide eyes taking in everything and enjoying almost all of it. Replacing it were stark fears about any ride in the dark, lots of crying and an overall decidedly not as pleasant trip. For them, now being able process what they saw the first time made them quite uncomfortable.
Being Disneyland vets, we are still going through park growing pains with my youngest, 3, still pretty much refusing to go on any dark rides. This results in either missed opportunities for all of us or one party having to sit and wait for the other two to enjoy a ride.
Many of the things you talked about in terms of getting there early, having fun tchochkes and other things do really help. For the most part, my kids will keep up with me from the 8am-10pm park days and they are troopers for it.
We try to do a new experience for each of our trips as a way of further enhancing it.
As a family, we are off to our first WDW visit next year and I am eagerly/nervously looking forward to it. Yes, this will be one of those “once in a lifetime” trips. My goals are set but more than likely will be reduced in terms of whta we can accomplish. Knowing that we will not be back for some time, I am hoping to pump the kids up to enjoy it once as they won’t have a chance to do it again once we fly home.
I have used the youtube videos a lot to prep my kids and show them that there isn’t anything scary about X ride. This holds true until the moment they are to pass through the archway onto the ride.
Even though I fail at my own advice to set your expectations low and not hope to do it all, traveling with kids does require that. Don’t expect much and just enjoy it. Maybe one day I will follow my own advice. 🙂
I forgot to mention my stroller thoughts. When investing a lot of money on the perfect memorable Disney trip having a great umbrella stroller will really make all the difference. Please invest in a mcClaren volo stroller,Its their cheapest and most lightweight with a strap to sling it over your shoulder for carrying. This is a must for toddlers and even kids 4 or 5. This stroller is one of the few umbrella stroller with long handles so your back is comfortable when pushing for hours and the kids spend plenty of time walking inline they don’t need to walk all over the park. We have never had a melt down on any Disney trip with 4 kids over the years even with being passholders due to not pushing their physical limits and I keep my kids in strollers till they are 5. We have them get plenty of exercise during other activities and make their time in the park less strenuous. Everyone is happier this way.
Great article. It was filled with many tips we have already employed and some that we will the next time we go. We took our kids for the first time when my some was turning 5 and my daughter turning 2 …. our family thought my daughter was too young, but that simply was not true. She was completely engaged in the fantasy and loved the Princesses (although she was not having anything to do with Pooh and friends …). But by the end of the trip, she was dancing with Mickey at Chef Mickey’s. Totally priceless. As for her, or even my son. not remembering anything, that’s what pictures and video are for and those memory conversations are some of the most fulfilling. Other priceless memories include the look on my son’s face when traveling through the parks. Kids that age really do see the magic everywhere and it helped us to keep a nice slow pace and see some for ourselves.
My favorite tip you mentioned was taking a break midday. When we went the first time, we broke the budget for a “family vacation of a lifetime” and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge which made it sooooo easy to take a boat back to the hotel for a midday nap and detox. This was so successful that we have done it on our following 2 trips notwithstanding that our kids are past the napping age. Some nice quiet time and a dip in the pool are still great ways to break up the stimulation — for both them and us. I will even admit that the 1 day we did not take a midday break during our last trip, yours truly was the one who had the meltdown at approximately 10:00 pm …. I cannot stress enough how helpful a break is.
Lastly, when traveling with really young kids as we did the first year we went, someone told me to make a really short (maybe 3 or 4) list of “must-do’s.” I was somewhat skeptical about this as the $$ spent meant that we had to squeeze as fun as possible out of the trip … but their point was, which I found to be completely true, that we would always successfully meet our “must-do” list often by lunchtime and our midday break, so everything else we ended up doing — of which there was plenty — always felt like gravy. You certainly cannot do everything with young children at WDW, and a shorter list helps you be a lot more flexible.
love your blog and usually agree with most everything which makes reading so fun.But I really disagree with no kids at signature restaurants! The best thing about Disneyworld is the great upscale themed restaurants which all have kid menus and crayons a sign that they are most welcome. Once you have children you will find out dining with children in nice places will be a thing of the past until you go to Disneyworld,Walt Disney created it all to be enjoyed with your children. There is only one restaurant Victoria and Albert that ask you only bring children 10 years or older. When you are childless remember Walts original plan, Disney is for the young or the young at heart. Children miss behaving can ruin your Disney moment anywhere Hotel,line wait,bus etc that’s a parenting issue. My kids have never misbehaved in a signature restaurant and we are often given nice comments at the end of our meal and they have learned how to behave by having had so many signature restaurant meal experiences. The places are always quiet and peaceful and gives the kids a much needed break. Other restaurants are noisy and more stimulation which does not help to wind down. So when you have children don’t be afraid to try a signature meal youll know when their ready and you will be happy you can enjoy some of your favorites with them.
I agree. My children know how to behave in a nice restaurant because they have had practice. My husband and I are foodies, and that certainly didn’t change because we had children.
I’m so with you guys (Tom…and Sarah… I love this site – the photos, Sarah’s outfits 😉 – everything, so no offence meant). Our daughter first visted last year, aged 10. She’s a chilled chick and an ‘old soul’ (so different to the manic, loud, 100 mph 3 year old that she was…she’d have been a nightmare!). We dined, often, in signature restaurants and she was a delight to be with (and I tell you, we’re strict – in what we expect – , but chilled parents). We were complemented on her and she was complemented on her behaviour so many times…Walt said that he wanted to create a place where children could have fun with their parents. You’ll always get the parents who don’t get it (the ones that you offer up a quick ‘thanks’ that you’re not), but if you’re in a Disney place it comes with the territory. This year we’ve booked into signature restaurants almost every night (we tend to go for brunch, a snack later and then a nice meal in the evening). Some of our best memories of last year are having these (signature) meals together. So, Tom’s overarching theme comes in here……go with your child, each one’s an individual (and I’ve worked with them for 22 years…)
I get what you’re saying and don’t necessarily disagree (as it says in the article, each child is different and some might do fine in Signature Restaurants), but the “Walt said…” as justification doesn’t make sense. Walt Disney also built the Matterhorn in Disneyland, which kids could not enjoy with their parents. When he died, he was building Club 33, which would *not* have been a place for kids.
I think it’s pretty difficult to extrapolate from Walt Disney’s quotes and actions what he would have wanted for something he didn’t even envision, decades after his death.
I felt the article was well informed and really appreciated this. We have done several trips with our daughter and all I can say is know your child first. We had a great plan but found the heat and stimulation tired our very energetic child out so we went back to the room for a nap and swim everyday with one day off. Also make the most important plans for the first few days before your child is overly exhusted we always do favorite characters and meals first then leave the rest of the trip for things we missed.I also think parents need to remember there child is not perfect and watch them. My MIL had a child step all over her during a parade and the mother said nothing she had bruises from this child it made me really angry that she just thought my MIL should endure this. Our view is WDW is a vacation for the whole family not just our child my husband and I love eating at nice restaurants and my daughter knows she has to be good when we are there or she wont get to do what she wants to do.We allow each member of the family to pick what is important to them and we each take turns. We feel if everyone in the family is having fun its a great vacation.As a parent I know its hard but parents really need to know others have paid as much money as they have and need to enjoy there vacation too and respect that disney is not just for families with children and not allow their children to get away with things because it is family friendly.I would not recommend waiting till the right age every age is fun and magical just make your expectations fit your child.