Preparing for & Conquering Walt Disney World with Very Young Children

Mad Tea Party—Magic Kingdom

Where to stay and which parks to visit

The biggest decisions you’ll have on a Disney trip are where you want to stay, how to get to the parks, and which parks you want to visit. With small children, staying at a resort with either monorail access or park shuttles is a huge benefit. I chose to stay at a resort that offered free park shuttles and took an Uber back once the kids got tired. We could have waited for the free park shuttle back, but I didn’t want to push it.

From the airport we took an arranged roundtrip transfer to and from our resort, which was super easy and I highly recommend! I skipped out on renting a car, and it was easier for us this way. Several resorts highlighted in this trip report do have monorail access, but shuttles or Uber also work!

Meeting Anna at Epcot

Install apps

As soon as you decide on a Disney trip, you’ll want to install three apps: Disney World, Magic Guide, and Wait Times. All of these are super useful!

• The Disney World app allows you to purchase Lightning Lane, plan your day, see park hours, place mobile orders for quick-service restaurants, and make meal reservations.

• The Magic Guide app provides park maps with layouts of the rides, in addition to dining lists, and wait times.

• The Wait Times App provides real time wait times for rides, attractions, and princess meets, and allows you to filter wait times by park. I used this app constantly during our visit and routed us around in a way that made the most sense based on lines.

Wait Times App

Baby Care Center

A great place to rest, recharge, feed, and nap for little ones who might need a nap, or purchase baby supplies. Each park has its own Baby Care Center, so I recommend scouting this out on your map prior to your park day. The baby care center also serves as a reuniting point for a child who becomes lost.

Lightning Lane

In my opinion, when traveling with a baby, it’s totally worth it! I ended up splurging on Lightning Lane for Epcot because Frozen Ever After was a must-do for my girls and I knew the lines would be long.

If you choose to purchase Lightning Lane, this will become available to you three days prior to your first park ticket. You’ll then select either a single pass, multi-pass, or premier pass. The premier pass gives you Lightning Lane access to all the rides. I recommend the multi-pass, which is what we did.

You’ll select one Tier 1 ride or attraction and two additional rides or attractions. You can then select a second Tier 1 attraction after you redeem your first Lightning Lane pass, depending on availability. You can also modify both the ride and the time at any point which is nice.

There is no bar code to scan for Lightning Lane. The Lightning Lane passes will be linked to your park ticket, which you will want to save in your wallet.

It’s a Small World—Magic Kingdom

Bring a boatload of snacks

Disney parks allow food and drinks, so with little ones come prepared. It will make for a far better experience! Stock up on pouches and snacks. They will plow through these since it is lots of walking for little feet. You can also bring your own water bottles to fill up throughout the day.

Mobile ordering and quick-service restaurants

You may choose to purchase a dining plan, but you don’t have to. Either way, mobile ordering at quick-service restaurants is a huge help with little ones. This can be done in the Disney World App with your uploaded payment method and selecting an arrival window to pick up your food.

We utilized this service at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe at Magic Kingdom. Everywhere you go in the Disney Parks has food catered to little ones’ taste buds.

Don’t try to do it all

It’s okay to do what you can and call it a day! We actually only spent about four hours at Epcot because of the heat, but I honestly felt like we did a lot in that amount of time. With the Lightning Lane we were able to ride five rides and meet Elsa and Anna, and that was enough. With little ones, especially, don’t feel like you need to do it all. Just focus in on whatever three rides you want to hit and a special princess meeting. Anything beyond that becomes a bonus!

Meeting Elsa at Epcot

Guest relations/disability access

This is a fantastic service! I had called the disability access line prior to our trip as my son has a seizure disorder and I wanted to be prepared. If you or a family member has a disability of any kind, you can sign an agreement and set up a Zoom meeting with a cast member prior to your trip to explain the situation and see if there are any accommodations they can make for you. This can be done on the Disney website or by visiting guest relations in the parks.

Ariel’s grotto—meeting Ariel at Magic Kingdom

The more park days you do, the cost per day goes down! Prices will be higher during peak seasons such as spring break and other school breaks. We took advantage of a summer promotion on kids’ tickets for three parks for 50 percent off, however the heat can be brutal with the humidity. I actually had a much harder time with the heat than I expected. Make sure you come prepared with water bottles, fans, etc for a summer visit.

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