Disney with small children: how to stay sane and get the most out of your time

I never thought I would be a Disney parks person. Sure, I love Disney movies, characters, and music, but the parks have always seemed to be an expensive pain in the butt to me. As a Florida kid, I grew up going to the parks often (I know I’ve been upwards of 25 times) so by the time I was an adult, going to Disney just wasn’t high on my priority list. I’d go every now and again as a teacher when we would take trips with the students, but my husband and I had only gone once togther.

And then we had a kid.

Right before our daughter turned two, we took her for the first time in May 2023. She LOVED it. Had a freaking blast. The pure joy on her face at nearly every turn was something I could not get out of my mind. So when the opportunity to go again before she turns three presented itself recently, we jumped at the chance, even though that meant taking our three month old along for the ride too.

Disney can be a LOT. It is crowded, there’s a ton to do, and it’s easy to become overstimulated and overwhelmed. However, I found that the first trip in May 2023 taught us a ton about how to stay sane and make the most of our days. You can read/ watch a lot ahead of time too, which makes it easier to prepare.

Pack all the things

This sounds obvious, but it’s really important to be extra prepared at Disney for anything. You can’t easily/ quickly get back to the car or hotel if you need something, especially at Magic Kingdom, so it’s better to just pack it all. This is where your stroller will come in handy. If you’re driving, bring the full size stroller with the big basket. You’ll use every square inch of that thing. If you’re flying, you can rent full size strollers from places like Kingdom Strollers or Orlando Baby Rental. Our toddler won’t sit in a stroller seat, so even though our Mockingbird stroller can be a double, we opted to use our riding board attachment for her instead. It worked wonderfully and so many people stopped us to tell us how cool it was! It is also a good idea to have a rain cover for your stroller as FL weather can be particularly unpredictable.

Here is what we packed for a full day at Magic Kingdom, around 8AM to about 7PM with a 2.5 year and 3 month old: 

Big Cooler backpack 

• Five frozen water bottles and two frozen Gatorades
• Fresh fruit – cut up strawberries, appples, bananas 
• Simple grab and go snacks – rice cakes, pretzels, fruit bars

Diaper bag

• Seven diapers and six pull-ups
• Baby wipes 
• Alcohol sanitizing hand wipes 
• Change of clothes for both kids 
• First aid kit
• Sunscreen 
• Bug spray 
• Jacket (for toddler)
• Small blanket (for baby)
• Ponchos
• Hats
• Portable phone chargers

Small cooler backpack 

• Six bottles 
• Two formula dispensers
• Room temperature bottled water 
• Travel bottle brush cleaning kit 
• Travel sized bottle soap 

Get there early

There is this thing called “rope dropping” that Disney people do. It means you get to the parks as they open and you go straight to a ride or two to get them done before the lines get long. Well, with small kids, we like to “rope drop” too, but not for the reason those with older kids do. Since we personally don’t stay on property (more on that later), we like to get to the parks early to get good parking and beat the crowds. The kids are up early no matter what, so it just makes more sense to get out the door. My kids won’t last past like 8pm anyway, so if we want to get the most out of our day, it pays to be there early. 

Magic Kingdom allows visitors into the “lands” at 9AM usually, but they open Main Street an hour before, so we generally try to be out the door no later than 7:15AM, which puts us in the park by 8-8:15AM. If you are driving to Magic Kingdom, you have to park at the transportation center and then take the monorail or boat to get to the actual park, so it takes a bit of time. The other parks are a bit more straightforward and you can just park and walk in. You can take strollers on the monorail and you won’t have to collapse them, so we always opt for that.

One thing to note, Disney does do bag checks. Be prepared by having one person take the bags out from under the stroller to walk through the metal detectors, while the other person stays with the stroller in the special line.

Genie+ is a must 

Toddlers and lines do not mix and let’s face it, Disney can be a LOT of waiting, especially on crowded days. That’s why we have decided that Genie+ is a must for our family. This system allows you to make advanced appointments for rides and go at a special line when it’s your designated time. The wait is MUCH shorter and it saves you a ton of time and meltdowns. You have to purchase Genie+ on the day of your trip and it ranges in price from $18-25 per person depending on demand. You can make your first reservation at 7AM each day, so it’s good to be up early for that as well. 

There are a ton of YouTube videos on Genie+ that breakdown how to make the most of it. I watched a couple before we went for the first time with our daughter in May 2023 and got the hang of it quickly. I absolutely will always budget for Genie+ because I cannot imagine trying to entertain my toddler through an hour of waiting on line. Plus, you can see and do so much more when you aren’t spending so much time just waiting.

Know where the baby center is

Every Disney park has a baby center. This is magical place. They have beautiful, clean diaper changing rooms; nursing rooms; tables to have a snack; a movie playing; and more. You can also buy anything you may have forgotten or run out of like diapers, pull-ups, snacks, formula, clothing, and medication.

The baby center at Magic Kingdom is small, but awesome. The one at Epcot is huge!! We haven’t been to the ones at Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios yet, but I expect they are equally great.

At Magic Kingdom, the baby center is at the end of Main Street by The Crystal Palace (it is to the left if you’re facing the front of the castle). At Epcot, it is right before Mexico as you start the countries loop from that side. According to Disney’s website, the Animal Kingdom one is on Discovery Island, and the Hollywood Studios one is to the left of the main entrance.

Take your time

It is easy to feel like you need to do everything at at Disney park, and the reality is that even without kids, it isn’t really possible. If you are going with young children, especially infants, the amount of things you’ll be able to do may be smaller than you hope for, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing! By making a list of “must dos” and taking your time, you can have a ton of fun. For example, at Magic Kingdom, my 2.5 year old loves meeting the characters, and then she has a handful of rides that are her favorite: the carousel, Small World, Pooh, Little Mermaid, and Dumbo. Obviously my 3 month old only cared that he gets his bottles on time. So we made sure to leave in plenty of time to meet characters, prioritize those rides, and take lots of breaks so baby could have a bottle every 2-3 hours.

My husband and I took turns where one of us would stay and feed/ burp the baby, while the other took our toddler on a ride. It worked perfectly! If you can bring a grandparent along to help, even better, but it was just us this trip and it was totally fine. Often, our toddler was ready for a snack at the times our baby needed to eat, so that worked out well for the whole family to take a break. Also, if a ride has no height limit, then it is safe for pregnant women and babies! We took the baby on several rides. For most of them, I was wearing him as he slept in the carrier, but for Frozen, he was awake and my husband held him. He enjoyed looking at all the colors and lights.

Consider staying off property

Some people will give me hate for this, but I am not a fan of staying on Disney property, particularly with small kids. We absolutely require any place we stay with our children to have a kitchen. If it has a washer and dryer, even better. On Disney property, you can’t get this without spending a ton of money (like thousands), and that is just not something we are willing to do given you can stay SO many other places for a fraction of the price.

We really like the Wyndham properties near Disney because they are apartment style and super close to the parks. Some of them even get early entry perks like the Disney properties do! We have stayed now at Bonnet Creek and Cypress Palms. Bonnet Creek is an incredible resort and only 8 mins from the Magic Kingdom gates. Cypress Palms is a little further away at about 15 mins and isn’t as big/ has less amenities. Both have beautiful rooms with full kitchens and washers and dryers. Wyndham Lake Buena Vista is the one near Disney Springs that gives early park entry. I have heard great things, but we haven’t stayed there yet. We booked Cypress Palms through Airbnb for this last trip and paid $323 for three nights. We booked a one bedroom suite and were upgraded to a two bedroom, which was awesome!

I do realize that we have the advantage of driving to Disney, so we have our car and car seats with us, which makes staying off property easier. But I would argue that even if you fly, it is worth renting a car to get a much more comfortable space for your family at an affordable price.

Final thoughts

Disney is definitely easier once you no longer have to worry about stopping to feed a baby every 2-3 hours, so I think we will wait a bit before our next trip. That being said, if the opportunity to go comes up for you, don’t let having an infant hold you back. It is absolutely do-able with some planning and patience. Ideally, the perfect age to take a child is probably closer to two. Like I said, my daughter had so much fun when we took her for the first time at 23 months. It will definitely be cool once our son is old enough to really enjoy it. Though I have a feeling Disney with two toddlers will be a whole other type of challenge, HAHA!