Tips for Traveling to Disney World With Small Children
Visiting Disney World with small children is truly magical. There’s nothing like seeing your kid get excited when the see their favorite characters, or seeing the castle for the first time. As you know, traveling with small children on the other hand is challenging to say the least! Disney is no exception. Here's some tips that can help you and your kiddos have a magical time while visiting Walt Disney World.
Keep Your Kids on Their Normal Routine and Allow Time For Rest
I get it, you're spending A LOT of money on this vacation. You want to get your money’s worth. However, you and your little ones will not have a good time if everyone is tired and cranky. We recommend keeping your kids on their normal routine. Just because your kids are at Disney, that does not change their internal clock. Allow for time to head back to the hotel for a break if you’re planning on rope dropping and staying till park closing. There’s no tired like Disney tired!
Try not to over do it. If you over do it you may come home needing a vacation to recover from your vacation. I recommend that if your time at Disney World is longer than five days you should include a rest day. A rest day is essentially a break for the parks. Take a day to sleep in, explore your resort, hangout by the pool, or venture out and visit Disney Springs or Disney Boardwalk (if you’re staying at a Skyliner resort). We recommend your rest day be in the middle of your vacation.
Bring Extra Clothing to the Park
There’s not way around it, kids have accidents. Having to head back to the hotel for a change of clothing can waste valuable park time. Save time by avoiding having to go back to the hotel by bring those items with you.
Bring Wet Wipes & Ziplock Bags
Anyone who has a toddler knows how helpful wet wipes can be. Whether you choose disinfecting wipes or baby wipes, you’ll want to pack something to help eradicate the sticky messes. Speaking of sticky messes, bring Ziplock bags to put left over food or snack in. They can also be handy to put your phones in during rainstorms or water rides.
Bring Your Child's Favorite Snacks
If you have picky eaters that must have their Cheerios for breakfast, you’ll want to bring those with you. Disney may not offer you kids favorite snacks and the last thing you’ll want is a hungry cranky kiddo! If you’re flying to Disney, and you don’t have the luggage space to pack a tone of snack, consider ordering from a groceries delivery service.
There are a few that will deliver right to the bell service of your resort. Our top pick is Garden Grocer. Garden Grocer can be a great choice as one of the Disney World grocery delivery services because they don’t require a minimum order purchase, and the delivery fee is only $14 if your order is less than $200. Just now selection maybe limited, so check ahead of time and see if you’re able to order you must have snacks.
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Know the New Stroller Requirements
A trip to Disney involves a lot of walking and is likely to tire out everyone at some point, especially younger children and even those who don't normally use a stroller. If you’re heading to Disney with a small child (or even bigger kid) having a stroller can be a life saver. Some will purchase cheaper quality strollers just incase their child needs to rest, and to have for baggage storage while exploring the parks. If you choose to bring a stroller, Disney World has a few stroller requirements that you will need to be aware of:
Strollers must be 31” (79cm) wide and 52” (132cm) long or smaller. I recommend you measure your stroller before arriving. They do measure at the gate.
Wagons are not permitted in the parks. Stroller wagons will also no longer be permitted.
Stroller Rentals:
If you have a kiddo that does not often need a stroller, or if you’re flying to Disney, you may want to rent a stroller. If you’re need to rent a stroller you do have a few options. You can rent a stroller while in the parks though Disney Stroller Rentals. Or rent a stroller from a third party, we recommend Kingdom Strollers. If you’re a client of Wave of the Wand, we will complete the third party rental for you.
**Tip: If you rent a stroller at Disney World and are park hopping, be sure to keep your receipt. Show the receipt to the cast member at the park you hopped to and you will not have to pay a for a new stroller rental.
Purchase Stroller Accessories
Stroller Fans: Florida is known for being incredibly hot and humid, so a fan that attaches to your stroller would be a great investment! You can find several options on Amazon.
Stroller Covers- These are basically just giant ponchos fit to your stroller! Many come in universal sizes meant to work on most strollers. These can run 15-30 dollars and something I highly recommend. FL is known for random rain showers.
Stroller Flags or Balloons- While riding attraction, you will need to park your stroller in the stroller parking locations. Cast members will often move strollers to new locations to make room for more guest needing to park their stroller. That being said, it can be a little tricky locating your stroller after riding attraction. If you have a stroller flag or a fun Disney balloon, it can make locating your stroller easier. Note: You can not have Balloons in Animal Kingdom for the safety of the animals.
Tile Tracking Locators- If you’re worried about your stroller being misplaced, or possibly stolen. Investing in a locator can be helpful. Tile help find misplaced things nearby and far away. Tile trackers and the free Tile app work with Android™ and Apple® devices. You can also add a Premium Plan to get the most from all of your Tiles.
Something we want to mention. Disney is magical, but it’s still in the real world. Things get stolen for strollers daily. Keep all of your valuable items with you at all time. Do not leave your items unattended.
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Know Where to Find the Baby Care Centers
Offering more than just privacy, Baby Care Centers are fully staffed and feature a host of helpful amenities for parents with infants and toddlers. This is also a wonder area to go if you child is over simulated and needs a cool down. Located within all four theme parks, Baby Care Centers offer a place to change, nurse or feed your little one. You can easily locate them on the park map by looking for the pacifier icon in the My Disney Experience App.
Bring Activities
Disney World has long lines. Bringing handheld games, coloring books, etc. can keep you kids occupied while waiting. The coloring books are wonderful while in restaurants as well.
Use Rider Switch
With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again! Check with a Cast member to see if Rider Switch is offered at the attraction in question.
Know Your Child’s Height Before Arriving
Is there anything more upsetting than not being able to ride an attraction you were looking forward to? Let me set the picture for you. You and your kiddo have been talking about Space Mountain for months! The time has finally arrived, you’re both excited, you’re about to get in line to ride.. and oh no! You’re kiddo doesn’t meet the height requirements. You kid is now heartbroken, and not much can be done. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN! Look ahead of time and see what your kiddo can ride, and make sure no one is disappointed. Make a list of your must do’s and prioritize those for your park days.
Book Your Trip With Wave of the Wand Travel
Our Certified Travel Advisor Angel specializes in Disney and Universal travel. She is a huge Disney fan with extensive knowledge on Disney World. She helps guide our clients along the way with personalized advice, tips, customized itineraries, resort booking, advanced dining reservations, My Disney Experience app training and set-up, and on-going discount monitoring (if Disney releases a new offer, she will apply the offer to your package and save you money!)
The best part, All of our services are 100% free. We are extremely committed in providing the best travel services, and we are always ready to go above and beyond in order to ensure the highest level of personalized service for you. Find out what magic we can bring to your vacation. Click here to contact us for more information.
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