In this post, we’re going to discuss all the challenges of planning a Disney World trip with your toddler (or toddlers!). We’ll talk about things like how your toddler impacts when you visit, where you stay, where you eat, and you strategies once inside the park. Read on to learn all about visiting Disney World with a toddler!
About This Post
This post is not a complete planning guide for your trip to Disney World (but that link will take you to one). Rather, this post is a complete guide to the specific issues that you’ll face in planning a trip to Disney World with a toddler (or infant, or any other small child). We don’t go through every factor that will impact your trip. We don’t touch much on budget, for example, because that’s a more general factor than something specific to having a child.
Because planning a trip to Disney World is such a big deal for many people, we’ve written a ton about it that can’t fit into a single post. So, where necessary, we link to other posts—it makes sense to talk a bit about whether you’ll want Genie+ when visiting with a toddler, but we link to other posts for the strategy you’ll need to get the most out of Genie+ with or without a toddler. To see all our toddler / infant - specific content in one spot, click here.
And the most unfortunate thing about this post is that we can’t answer every question for you. Every toddler is different, and every family is different. We do our best based on our experiences with our own toddler and the feedback we’ve gotten from other parents.
When To Visit Disney World with a Toddler
We’ll start with the timing of your trip. If you’re here, you probably already have some idea of when you’d like to visit, and I can safely says that’s probably going to be a good time! But there are a few factors that might make you shift things by a few months.
Before we get to the main discussion, let’s address two preliminary questions…
Is Disney World good for infants?
Our first Disney World trip with Zoe was at 10 months, and generally we think Disney World is an appropriate trip for kids of all ages. The youngest kids won’t really have any idea what’s going on, which is both good (they won’t be as easily scared on Haunted Mansion, for example) and bad (they’ll be unimpressed with everything you want them to beam with joy at).
But you’ll make memories and get a few smiles along the way with a kid of any age. They key with any age—and really the key for a trip without kids, too—is setting reasonable expectations for what you and your family expect to get out of the trip.
Moreover, if you’re visiting with an infant then this post is for you, too. While there are differences between visiting with an infant and a toddler, most of these things are on a spectrum—some infants are like toddlers in some ways and some toddlers are like infants in some ways. The bulk of this post is relevant to all young kids.
We have a separate post with tips for visiting Disney World with an Infant or Newborn that focuses a little more on issues relevant to those ages, but for the most part this post will serve you best.
Is Disney World Good at (whatever Toddler age)?
Zoe has been a frequent visitor to Disney World since that 10 month old trip, and, in short, it’s been a roller coaster. While Magic Carpets of Aladdin has always been a favorite (er, except the time the camel spit on us), Haunted Mansion has gone from being a favorite to absolutely terrifying and back to a favorite. And don’t even get us started on the mouse in the middle of the teapot on Mad Tea Party—that haunted us even when we weren’t at the parks.
While you definitely get a sense of when your kid is going through a cautious stage, you can’t really plan around it in advance. The few months when Zoe hated basically every dark ride were a little tough, but never did our time at the parks feel like a chore. We’d fully endorse a visit at any age, if the timing works best for your family.
Picking the Time to Visit with Your Toddler
Now, onto the main issue of this section, when to visit Disney World with a toddler. There’s not a clear winner for best time to visit with a toddler, but let’s start with one huge factor—price.
Children under 3 years of age don’t require tickets at Disney World. If your child is under three years old, you don’t need a ticket for them at Disney World. For a four-day trip, this can be over $500 in savings. That’s a lot of money, but Disney World trips are expensive any way you cut it, and you very well might find reason to wait until your kid is a little older (that is, taller) as you read the rest of the post.
If your child is still under two, they can be a lap infant on most (all?) airlines, which further saves you the cost of a roundtrip ticket (alternatively you can purchase them a seat and use an FAA-approved car seat). If they are small enough to share your meals (or if you’re still nursing), you’ll see further savings in food costs. Altogether an under-2 can probably cost nearly $1000 less than an over-3.
With that major factor on our minds, here are some other child-specific factors you might want to take into account.
Height Requirements. Price aside, this is probably the biggest issue for timing your trip—the longer you wait, the more rides your little one will be able to enjoy. You can visit our Disney World Height Requirements post for more, but for example you’ll see that when a kid reaches 40 inches they can ride nine more rides than if they’re only 38 inches.
The flip side is that if the taller members of your party are fine skipping all or even just most of the rides with height requirements, you’ll save yourself a lot of stress. If you intend to make multiple visits in the next ten years, skipping a few rides the first time, maybe saving them so everyone can have their first ride at the same time, is a fine option.
It’s also worth noting that just because a kid hits 40 inches doesn’t mean they’ll want to ride everything with that limit. DINOSAUR and Tower of Terror both have that height requirement, but there are many, many adults scared of both those rides.
Naps and Midday Breaks. This will come up a bit later, too, but you’ll have more time to do things if your child doesn’t require a two-hour nap in the middle of the day. This isn’t make or break for us—and we’ve gotten to the point of enjoying a midday return to the hotel ourselves—but if I’ve got a four year old who is on the cusp of dropping their last nap, I might plan my trip a touch further out so at least the nap won’t be necessary every day.
Heat with a toddler. Whether your little one walks on their own, or you carry them, or push them in a stroller, you want to think about how much heat is going to impact getting around. In our household, Zoe either walks or gets carried (i.e. no stroller). That makes us a little more averse to the hot months because Zoe can’t tolerate walking in the heat as well, and we get worn out more quickly having to carry them. Theoretically, this means avoiding July through September, though our most recent August trip went perfectly fine.
Prices for specific room categories. If you’re looking at something like a family suite, or even a DVC villa, for more space, then you might focus your timing on when deals for those room categories pop up, or when your desired DVC rentals are available.
Water parks. If your kid absolutely loves playing in water, then the water parks might be the thing they enjoy most at Disney World. The openings schedules have varied greatly since the 2020 closure, generally we expect to see at least one water park open each day of the year (weather permitting).
Both water parks have sections for small kids. You can read more about Blizzard Beach here and more about Typhoon Lagoon here.
Special ticketed events. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are two seasonal events that every family should have on their radar. The downside if you have a toddler is that these events are late. They start around 7PM and the core entertainment—the main reason for visiting—isn’t done until after 10PM.
We’ve taken Zoe to both of these parties now and have written a separate post on visiting Disney World’s Holiday Parties with a toddler. The bottom line is that these parties can work for small kids, but you’ll want to go in with the right attitude and approach.
How Long to Visit Disney World with a Toddler
Deciding how long to visit any destination with a toddler is one of the more challenging aspects of trip planning. On the one hand, short trips with a toddler can feel “not worth it.” Travel days can be incredibly stressful, and if you’re changing timezones you’ve got even more to deal with. A four-night / three-day visit might not feel like enough to justify the trip.
On the flip side, if you don’t travel much with a toddler then five full days away from home can feel daunting. And even if your little one is a frequent traveler, six nights at Disney world is expensive, no matter how you cut it.
I can’t tell you how to feel about those factors (if nothing else, your time zone and flight length is a big factor here), but I’ve always tended toward longer trips with Zoe. As frequent travelers both pre- and with Zoe, we’re comfortable away from home and of course incredibly comfortable at Disney World. It’s the long travel days that bother me more, so I’d rather have plenty of time at the destination.
Anyways, that’s all logistical stuff. What about the destination itself?
How many days do you need at Disney World with a toddler?
The biggest objective factor here is height—how tall is your toddler. Here’s a table from our Disney World height requirements post showing how many rides you can ride once you get to the respective height requirements:
A 40-inch tall toddler has a striking 15 more rides to ride at Disney World than a toddler under 32 inches, with eight of those coming at the jump from 38 inches to 40 inches. From a pure ride perspective, at 40 inches tall, a toddler can justify four full park days.
Under 38 inches, a toddler will have at most 33 of the 51 rides at the resort, which makes their lineup easier to get through assuming the adults in your party are fine skipping rides.
If the taller guests aren’t set on getting in all the major rides, three full days is the minimum time we’d advise visiting. If you did three full days, you’d probably want park hopper so you can spend at least 1.5 days at Magic Kingdom. You’d also want to strongly consider Genie+ at least two days of your trip. If I had to plan a three day trip that focused on a toddler, my schedule would look something like:
Day 1 — Full day at Magic Kingdom with Genie+
Day 2 — Hollywood Studios and Epcot with Genie+
Day 3 — Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (or a different park) without Genie+
Personally, we still prefer at least four day (five night) trips even if we aren’t personally set on any rides without our toddler. This allows more flexibility and time for things like the pool at the resort, shopping around Epcot’s World Showcase, or sleeping in one morning.
If your party has people who meet all the height requirements and want to ride all the rides, you’ll want at least four full park days, and possibly a fifth because things like toddler sleep schedules, diaper changes, and rider swap are going to be more time consuming than if you were at the parks just with adults.
Flying to Disney World with a Toddler
There are thousands of posts out there on flying with a toddler, and while we might eventually write one (as of this update Zoe has over 50 flights and 70,000 miles), we haven’t yet, and this section isn’t going to go into as much depth (the bottom line, by the way, is just to try and survive and then celebrate once you’re off the plane). Here are some of the key things, though.
First, kids under 2 can fly as lap infants on most airlines. This means they don’t require their own ticket and they won’t have their own seat. The downside is you’ll have less space, possibly a stranger next to you, and it’s less safe than buying a seat and using a car seat. Our preference when flying with Zoe as a lap infant was to book a pair of larger, more expensive seats, preferably without a third person in the row.
Second, you can (and should) bring an FAA approved car seat onto a plane if you book your small child their own seat. The actual rules on this are mucky, but basically you should assume you may get a flight crew that isn’t comfortable with a child under 2 in their own seat without a car seat (someone is going to say “I did this and it was no problem” and I’m going to say “okay good for you but flight crews vary” and they’re going to say “well but there’s no rule” and I’m going to say “okay let’s just not plan on arguing with flight attendants because that’s a ****** thing to do”). So, for under 2, either lap infant, or separate seat with a car seat. Car seats are of course allowed for kids over 2, too.
This baby should be wearing socks.
Third, if you have a lap infant, or if your child is old enough to sit in the plane seat without a car seat, you can gate check a car seat. Approach the gate desk before boarding and ask them to tag your car seat for gate checking. Either they’ll take it then, or they’ll ask you to leave it at the end of the jet bridge (right before you board the plane), and it will be stuck under the plane. Then, when you step off the plane, it will be off the plane and waiting at that “same” (but, different jet bridge 1000s of miles away) spot.
As for “survival tips,” we can’t offer much. Like all situations, you want to keep your kid distracted, but they’ll often be too excited for any of that. On the plus side, if you’re flying to MCO you won’t be the only family on the plane and anyone on that plane should be prepared for screaming kids. Unlike, say, that time Zoe screamed for 4 hours—not exaggerating—of the overnight flight from New York to London in the business class cabin. Those businesspeople were not prepared. But we survived, and had a great trip, and you will too.
Park Tickets for Families with Toddlers
First thing’s first…
Do toddlers need park tickets at Disney World?
As mentioned above, every guest 3 years of age or older needs a park ticket. Guests under 3 don’t need tickets, including for events like the Halloween and Christmas parties. We have a post on where to buy Discount Disney World Tickets, including tickets for kids.
Park Hopping with Toddlers
This issue could come up more in discussing park strategy, but you’re probably going to decide on park hopping when your purchase your tickets (you can add it later, if not). Park hopping costs around $65 per ticket, and you might wonder whether it’s worth it. Let’s divert a little to discuss why we favor park hopper tickets when you have a small child.
While we personally park hop a lot, we used to feel it wasn’t necessary and always enjoyed building itineraries around the concept of one-park-per-day. That changed a little bit once we had Zoe, and particularly once we started adding midday resort time, for naps and pool time, to our days.
If your kid can sleep in a stroller or while you’re wearing them, or if they’re at the age when they don’t nap at all, you don’t have to plan for a midday break. You still may want to, as families of all compositions often prefer their hotel to escape midday peak heat and crowds. But when you have a kids who (1) requires a midday nap and (2) can’t do that in any manner at the parks, then the midday return to the hotel is a must.
If you’re the type to take a midday break, park hopping becomes more valuable. Yes, you can go to a park, then back to your hotel, then back to the same park, but it often won’t make sense to do so. One simple reason is park hours. If a park is open from 8AM to 5PM, it doesn’t make sense to return there when your kid wakes up at 3PM.
Another reason is your hotel location. If you’re staying at a hotel that has Skyliner / walking / monorail access to a park, then it’s often most convenient to go to that park in the afternoon, visit a few rides, and then return to your hotel for dinner (or shortly after dinner at the park for bedtime). Taking the Disney buses roundtrip twice in one day is not problematic, but I’d avoid it every time if I could.
Finally, the one-park-per-day mentality is based on this idea that your family will sort of “push through” the parks one at a time. You’re not going to love everything at every park equally, you’re going to wish you had more time at some things, but you’re here to do as much as possible and that’s often (not always) most efficiently done with one park per day. But that’s not how small kids, or families with small kids, operate.
Toddlers don’t “push through” things they don’t enjoy. Families hauling small kids around don’t use every second efficiently. Park hopping gives you the flexibility to lean into whatever everyone’s happy places wind up being. Zoe loves the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom, so an extra morning there is a really special treat. And if your first day at Magic Kingdom doesn’t go well for whatever reason, you’ll absolutely benefit from being able to come back one afternoon later in the trip.
Baby likes trains. Baby does not want to leave trains. Baby screams when we leave trains. We’ll stay at trains a bit longer.
Where to Stay with a Toddler
We have a full post dedicated to the topic of the Best Disney World Hotels for Kids, so this section is just going to summarize that post a little.
The first thing to know is that you don’t have to pick your hotel around your child. In that post we explain that we deviate from our personal preferences in making recommendations, but we still book at the hotels we like for our trips.
The point is just that not every aspect of your trip has to be centered around what your toddler will want, particularly since they’ll constantly surprise you with what actually interests them. At 2 years old, Zoe couldn’t care less about the theming of a room, by 3, the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation earned a happy face. But even now, it’s much more important how many remotes there are and how many trash cans can be stacked.
The second thing is that the differences, from the perspective of a child, are limited. All the Disney World hotels are more than equipped for a child-friendly stay. You’ll probably spend most of your waking hours at the parks, and you can make up for transportation deficiencies with Uber Car Sear / Minnie Vans.
That said, here are the hotels we wind up recommending in that post:
Value Resort — Art of Animation (because Skyliner and theming)
Moderate Resort — Caribbean Beach (because Skyliner)
Deluxe Resort — Contemporary Resort (because location / price)
Split Stays With Toddlers
A split stay (for our purposes) is when you take a Disney World trip, for example five nights, and split it between two hotels, say three nights at the first and two at the second. While that might sound like madness with a little one in tow, it is our go-to for all our family trips.
Our ideal trip consists of one stay on the Skyliner, so we have easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and one stay at a hotel around the monorail for easy access to Magic Kingdom. The monorail resorts are super expensive, so staying only a few days at one also saves us a lot of money overall.
The biggest problem with a split stay is you might not have any hotel to go back to midday. Check-out is 11AM and check-in is 3PM, so unless your room is ready early you won’t, for example, have a place for your little one to nap on the day you change hotels.
Hotel Amenities for Toddlers
We discuss this a bit more in the above-linked post on picking the right hotel for your kids, but there are some things you should know about the amenities the different hotels offer.
Playgrounds and Arcades. Most—but not all—of the hotels have arcades or playgrounds or both. Those links will take you to the Disney listings for those items.
Pools. All of the Disney hotels have pools, life vests, and some sort of shallow pool / area / splash pad for small kids.
Cribs / Pack ‘n’ Plays / Bed Rails. All the hotels have either cribs or Pack ‘n’ Plays (or both) and bed rails. All are limited in quantity, so it’s best to request ahead of time. Of course, in our over-a-dozen Disney hotel stays with Zoe, most with crib requests, we’ve never actually arrived to one in our room, so plan to request one at the desk or by phone and to wait about 30 minutes for it when you arrive.
Activities. Every hotel has a recreation schedule that includes a variety of activities. Most of these are better for slightly older kids, but we’ve had some nice experience making s’mores with Zoe or watching a late movie on the lawn. Zoe even enjoyed watching the older kids play some pool games one stay.
How to Have Housekeeping Avoid Nap Time
You’ll want to visit your hotel’s front desk and ask housekeeping to avoid coming to your room during nap time. While you should also put your “do not disturb” sign out, just putting out the “do not disturb” sign is not enough and may actually make things worse.
If a guest leaves a “do not disturb” sign on perpetually, Disney staff will enter the room as part of a safety check. They’ll knock, but the knock and ensuing conversation aren’t good for nap time. Or they’ll call, which is even worse. So make sure to:
Ask housekeeping to avoid servicing during nap time
Use the Do Not Disturb sign during nap time
Remove the Do Not Disturb sign when it isn’t necessary
Bedtime at Disney World
Depending on your toddler’s age, they may or may not be at an age where you can just go through a simple routine and ask them to fall asleep. Generally speaking, you want to keep your routine as close to it is at home, make sure you have time to wind down and settle in for the evening, and maximize darkness.
On the darkness front, there are mainly three tools. A blackout cover for the crib will work for most Pack ‘n’ Plays. Blackout window shades are a little trickier and we found it too much a hassle to get anything resembling the right size (the truly dedicated might pack garbage bags and tape). We typically use a blackout cover, and then we use hangers with clips—available at probably every hotel we’ve stayed at—to close the curtains as tightly as possible.
Getting Around Disney World With Toddlers
On any trip with a toddler, you need to sort out how you’re going to get around, factoring in things like car seats and strollers. If you have your own car, or if you’re renting a car, this section might not be a big deal for you. That said, it’s probably worth reading so that things don’t go wrong if you decide to try something different one morning.
Getting from MCO to Disney World
First up, getting between the airport and your hotel. We have a separate post discussing the options for getting between Disney World and Orlando airport, but here are the child-specific things to know (always confirm details with the different services, as policies can chance). Our main concern here is car seats.
If you bring a car seat, basically any transport option is open to you. Our go-to in this case is just to use Uber and our own car seat (usually the Pico Portable Car seat). We never had any issues doing this, and we always tipped well for the additional time / hassle involved.
If you don’t bring a car seat, you have two options—make do without, or book a service that includes one.
Sunshine / Mears Connect, the main shuttle service between the airport and Disney World, can transport both strollers and car seats. Car seats are not required, but I believe you can sometimes wind up in a van. My understanding is these vans don’t require car seats because of how they’re licensed, but you may not feel safe without one.
Uber Car Seat includes a single car seat, but is restrictive. Per their terms:
Uber Car Seat provides one forward-facing car seat for a child who is at least 2 years old, 22 pounds, and 31 inches tall. A child is too big at 48 pounds or 52 inches.
I believe the IMMI Go Car Seat is standard in Uber Car Seat, but I don’t believe its what I’ve always seen.
Finally, you can book your own car service that includes a car seat. This was the route we went for the first two years of Zoe’s life on trips when we didn’t bring a car seat (usually because Zoe was a lap infant). Some popular services include (we can’t vouch personally for these) Happy Limo, Tiffany Towncar, and FL Tours.
Disney World Transportation with a Toddler
Disney provides buses, boats, the Skyliner, and walking paths for getting around the resort. Strollers are allowed on all of these, and car seats are not required on any of them. For more on strollers and Disney transportation, check out WDW Prep School.
When you’re in a rush at Disney World, you might opt for rideshare via Uber, Lyft, or Minnie Van. We discussed Uber Car Seat above, but the key thing to remember here is you probably don’t want to use your own car seat once you’re on Disney property. You can bring a car seat into the parks, but their lockers very well may not be big enough to store car seats. If your car seat doubles as a stroller, good on you (and part of me wonders if you could just leave a car seat in stroller parking…).
So Uber Car Seat—subject to its restrictions—is an option, but the better, and more expensive, options is Minnie Vans. Minnie Vans include two Graco 4Ever Car Seats, good for kids of most any size. Moreover, Minnie Vans can drop you off right at the gate of Magic Kingdom (not TTC, like other drivers), and they’re operated by Disney Cast Members.
Disney World Parks With Toddlers
How is it that with everything written above we’ve still only barely touched on the parks? Disney World trip planning is just way too complicated. But here we are, so let’s discuss the logistics and strategies of visiting the parks with toddlers…
Strollers and Baby Wearing at Disney World
We know almost nothing about strollers at Disney World, and we’ve never used a stroller at Disney World (or elsewhere, so really take anything we say about them with a grain of salt). WDW Prep School has some good information on stroller rentals at Disney World. Within the park, you’ll need to leave your stroller at designated stroller parking areas or risk a Cast Member moving it to one for you.
On the other hand, we know almost everything there is to know about baby wearing at Disney World, and we’re fans. Baby wearing grants you a lot of freedom and has always been our preferred way to get Zoe around (before they started walking). We recommend clicking that link and learning more about it.
The biggest downsides to baby wearing without a stroller (you could always plan to do both) are that your child loses the shade provided by the stroller, and you might have trouble with naps (Zoe has always been able to nap in the carrier, but carrying a 2-year-old for two hours in the heat is no fun).
Which Disney park is best for toddlers?
Magic Kingdom is far and away the best park for toddlers at Disney World. It has deepest ride lineup, several character greetings, and a variety of entertainment options.
Are all the parks good for toddlers?
We address this question in our park-specific toddler posts:
but the short answer is yes, every Disney World park is good for toddlers.
Epcot, despite being most known for its festival scene, has seven rides without a height requirement. Plus, our toddler loves running around the stores at the World Showcase and taking bites of any food we grab along the way. There’s also the fun Kidcot activity to throw in some education along the way.
If there’s a festival ongoing (there almost always is), you might consider doing one of the (paid) scavenger hunts around the park. Zoe loves these and is even better than us at them sometimes.
Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios have fewer rides for little ones, which might make them more appropriate for half days with a toddler. That said, they both have very popular rides for taller riders, so a full day might allow you to fit those in, too. They also have other, non-ride offerings for kids. Our toddler could spend all day at Animal Kingdom’s Boneyard playground, and they’re a big fan of the Frozen Sing Along at Hollywood Studios.
What rides are best for a _ year old?
Yes, we’ve approached this issue from this angle, too:
Baby Care Centers at the Parks
The Baby Care Centers can be your oases in the parks when you’re a parent of a toddler or infant. Each park has one Baby Care Center—basically a facility with a feeding room, changing tables, and various baby supplies for sale.
The Magic Kingdom Baby Care Center is located between Casey’s Corner and Crystal Palace, near the First Aid building. The Epcot Baby Care Center is connected to the Odyssey building, between the Mexico Pavilion and Test Track. The Animal Kingdom Baby Care Center is just behind the Starbucks, Creature Comforts cafe. And the Hollywood Studios Baby Care Center is actually inside the Guest Services building at the front of the park.
Magic Kingdom’s Baby Care Center
While they’re reliable places to change and feed, the Baby Care Centers aren’t perfect. We’re frequently found them to be sold out of items (diapers, specific food items, medicine), and only the recently renovated Magic Kingdom Baby Care Center is a spot where we’d actually want to spend any downtime.
Somewhat surprisingly, not all restrooms at Disney World have changing tables. While changing tables are the overwhelming norm, we’ve definitely had instances where the nearest restrooms didn’t have them and we had to either find another one or just change Zoe in some discreet spot.
How Park Strategy is Different With Toddlers
Park strategy with toddlers is tricky. For the most part, you’ll be able to follow any of our usual itinerary recommendations…just slower:
Those itineraries are largely written without rider switch in mind, but if you asked me what approach to take, I’d say to read those posts—which are packed open-to-close itineraries—and expect to skip a few things because you’re moving slower.
Whether you’re carrying your kid, letting them walk, or pushing a stroller (to and from stroller parking), you can’t move as quickly in the parks with a kid as you can without them. This overall isn’t a huge deal—we’ve had plenty of successful rope drops with Zoe—but you need to manage your expectations if you’re used to traveling without kids (or you primarily follow content from people without kids).
Second, you’ll be navigating height requirements and rider switch, which are covered in more detail here. If your kid isn’t tall enough to ride something, you’ll use rider switch so that your party doesn’t have to wait in line twice. Basically:
You approach the queue for the ride and ask a Cast Member to sign up for rider switch
Group A gets in line for the ride
Group B stays with the little one and are given rider switch passes by the Cast Member
Group A gets off the ride and takes the little one
Group B uses the rider switch pass to use the Lightning Lane for the ride
This is great because everyone gets to ride but you don’t have to deal with twice the wait. That said, this still is time consuming. Using rider switch will easily cost you 15 minutes (say 7 minutes for the Lightning Lane wait, 5 minutes on the ride, and 3 minutes of walking the exit queue and swapping the little one). Early in the day, this 15 minute delay per ride will greatly impact your ability to zip through rides at rope drop.
Single Rider
There are a handful of rides at Disney World with single rider. If you have a small child who can’t ride, and particularly if you are a group of only two adults (so you’d be riding individually anyways), then it will usually make sense to take advantage of these single rider lines. You can usually combine these with rider switch, but you might encounter a Cast Member who makes the first rider(s) use the regular standby queue.
Do You Need Genie+ with a Toddler?
First, you need to understand how Genie+ works and whether you want it at a given park generally. For that, we have these posts:
As for how having a toddler specifically impacts that decision, it will vary park by park. There are three big family-specific factors here.
First, your toddler can’t do as many rides, so your family will get less out of Genie+ if you’re only doing things you can ride together. This makes Genie+ less valuable.
On the other hand, if you want to do the rides you little one can’t, then Genie+ is going to save you a lot of time. We pointed out that rider switch still takes some time, so if you can cut the time everyone is waiting in line by using Genie+, you’ll be able to fit more into your day.
Finally, it isn’t easy to wait in lines with toddlers. This will be particularly true and important for rides your little one is nervous about, like coasters they can see from the queue. That alone is enough for many families to justify Genie+. An hour wait for an adult might not be tough, but it’s a long, long time to be stuck in a crowd with a toddler.
Let’s quickly see how these factors play out at each park.
Magic Kingdom has so many rides both with and without a height requirement that we simply always recommend Genie+ there, at least for one day of your trip. Epcot also has a large share of rides without a height requirement, so having a toddler won’t impact your Genie+ decision one way or the other (but probably get it).
Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios have a higher share of rides with height requirements, meaning your Genie+ decision comes down more to what the adults expect from the trip. As we mentioned immediately above, you’ll accomplish less with a toddler in tow, so if the rides at these parks are important to you, you’ll more likely need Genie+ when you’re with a toddler than if you were without one.
We’d get Genie+ at Hollywood Studios every time because we like to get on as many of those rides as possible and the park is challenging despite its relatively low ride count. At Animal Kingdom we’re usually fine skipping Genie+ and using rider switch with standby lines.
Dining at Disney World with a Toddler
Some people are hardcore into food at Disney World, and we simply aren’t them. Dining with a toddler at Disney World could certainly be a separate post, maybe even one as long with this one, but we’re going to try and offer some useful information from our more limited perspective.
For starters, almost every restaurant at Walt Disney World is a fine place to bring a toddler. The signature restaurants are generally nicer, but kids are still allowed and if I wanted to eat at any of them I’d bring Zoe along without any hesitation. The big exception is Victoria and Albert’s at Grand Floridian. Kids under the age of 10 cannot dine there.
Table Service With a Toddler
If it’s table service you’re interested in, there are two big things to know. First, kids under 3 eat free at buffets / all-you-can-eat meals. Our pick in this category is Biergarten at Epcot.
Second, select restaurants and meals are character meals, where characters roam the restaurant visiting with each table. This link takes you to the Disney website’s list of character meals.
Until you’ve tried a character greeting, you don’t really know how your kid will react, and this is another thing that changes (in both directions) with age. One tip I’ve recently been told is to book character meals toward the end of your trip. That gives your kid the opportunity to get used to characters, or else gives you the opportunity to cancel / change the meal.
Once you’re sure characters are a good option for your family, character dining is a fantastic way to efficiently get a few greetings done.
From our personal experience, from when Zoe started eating solid food until about two years old, table service was worth it every. single. time. This was definitely unexpected for us—and we know plenty of parents avoid table service with their little ones—but having someone wait on us and having a wide range of options, including sides on our dishes, to offer Zoe were huge perks.
When making table service reservations, always include the child as a person.
Quick Service With a Toddler
Quick service can be a little stressful until your toddler effectively eats on their own. Quick service restaurants are more chaotic and your food options, specifically for kids (and keeping in mind we’re vegetarian), are more limited.
None of that changes the fact that quick service is still a cheaper and more efficient way to get through the day, and we still mostly eat at quick service restaurants. They all have high chairs (search around a bit or ask a Cast Member).
Disney Bars With a Toddler
Ah, the days when we were primarily an “adulting at Disney” site. And now…not…
For the most part, you can bring your kids to bars at Disney World. As always, there may be restrictions on where they can sit (i.e. usually not at the bar, but this is one of those things where your experience may vary), but with the below exceptions, bringing a toddler to any bar at Disney World is perfectly within the norm.
Two notable exceptions are Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance Hall, both of which are for guests 21 and over only. Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, the famed “hidden” bar at Polynesian is 21 and over only after 8PM. There may be other restrictions (the Disney website pages for the bars tends to list them), but those are the main ones we’re aware of.
I’d particularly be cautious about the bars at Disney Springs, where I believe several bars have an age restriction at a certain hour. Even where kids are technically allowed, that would be much more like bringing your kid to a bar in your local downtown than the bars at the parks or the hotels.
Oga’s Cantina is a popular spot in Hollywood Studios and I want to specifically call out that they have a limited number of high-top highchairs. So if your group gets put at a high-top, be sure to ask if they have one of the taller high chairs.
Other Things to Know About Visiting with a Toddler
Let’s close with a few other notes that don’t need their own categories, but aren’t any less important.
Do Kids Need MagicBands at Disney World?
No one needs a MagicBand, but if your child is 3 or over you’ll need something that stores their ticket. Here’s how this works at Disney World.
MagicBands are wristbands that function as a park ticket and room key (as Disney hotels) during your Disney World ticket. They can also be used to charge things to your room (again, at Disney hotels). No one needs a MagicBand. The entire functionality of the band can be put on a plastic Key to the World card that you can get from Guest Services or your hotel. The My Disney Experience app also allows most phones to be used as room keys and to hold park tickets for multiple guests.
Guests under 3 don’t need tickets and thus have basically no use for MagicBands. Every guest age 3 and over needs something that holds their ticket. We strongly recommend against the My Disney Experience app’s MagicMobile service for this and instead recommend every guest have either a Key to the World card or a MagicBand.
As for kids and MagicBands specifically, it’s all up to you. MagicBands can get quite small (the band has a removable portion that shortens it, too), and anyone older than an infant could theoretically wear them.
If your kid wears their own MagicBand, you’ll need to tap it at the tap point to get into the park and at rides when using the Lightning Lane. That can be a hassle, and there’s a risk of them losing it.
You could get them a MagicBand and hold it yourself most of the time. The core piece of the band is also removable and can be placed in specially designed keychains, too. Or you could skip the band for them altogether and just use a Key to the World card.
Our Experience With a Toddler and MagicBand
Zoe was very excited to finally have a MagicBand having watched us use them for years. We let them wear it and to tap at all the required points. We had huge problems with the fingerprint at the entrance, I think it has been reset almost every time we’ve entered the park.
The “trick” here is to use a parent’s finger instead of the kid’s. Unfortunately, we both visit the parks individually with Zoe, or we have grandparents who take them. It’s not practical for us to have Zoe tied to one parent.
It’s frustrating that we slow down the line when Zoe’s finger doesn’t work. We always move to the side and encourage people to use the open tap point to keep the line moving. I pretty strongly feel that if Disney wants to require tickets and fingerprints for three year olds (as is totally their right), it’s their responsibility to install technology that accommodates this.
And Some Closing Notes…
You can get celebration buttons, including “First Visit” buttons, at guest services at any of the parks. They might also be available at hotel front desks.
You can get a novelty license at Tomorrowland Speedway for around $5. The booth is just to the right of the ride entrance. Kids have to be 32” to go on the ride, but anyone can get the license.
While you can buy most any supplies you need at Disney World (or use some sort of delivery service if something isn’t sold at Disney World), some essentials either we’ve used or we’ve heard frequently recommended are: a handheld fan, a cooling towel, swim diapers, some supply of diapers, specialty sunscreen, bibs (you won’t have as many spare outfits while traveling), a hat, and sunglasses.
That’s all we’ve got for visiting Disney World with a toddler. Check back in 10 years When our “Disney World with a Teenager” content will debut!
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.