Traveling with Small Children to Walt Disney World

Traveling to Walt Disney World with small children can be a bit overwhelming with so much to see and do and eat, yet, it is AMAZING! I recently heard from several readers seeking advice for their upcoming trips with their young travelers.  Here are my suggestions:

What attractions are best?

The post, Top Ten Attractions for Toddlers, has some great suggestions.  The beauty of Walt Disney World is that it is always changing and adding to the theme parks.  Here are some attractions that I would add to the list:

Magic Kingdom

• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – much like the Dumbo ride, as magic carpets go up and down, but with spitting camels!
• Enchanted Tiki Room – slightly loud, but nice to sit down for awhile
• The Monorail- try to get a seat up front with the pilot.  The view is great!
• Main Street Vehicles – have a seat, relax and just soak in Main Street
• Mickey’s Toontown Fair

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• Playhouse Disney Live on Stage – a must for all Playhouse Disney fans

Epcot

• Turtle Talk with Crush – this is one of our family’s favorites – if your children  are not old enough to follow a conversation they may not get a lot out of this, but they will enjoy seeing and hearing Crush from Finding Nemo

No matter what park or attraction you visit, pick up a guide book and read the description of attraction first.  You know your child.  Ask yourself -

• Does my child meet the height requirement?
• Will this in any way frighten or cause stress to my child?
• Is this something my child will be interested in or find fun?

Trust me on this one, if you answered any of these with a negative response, write the name of the attraction on a note card and put a red X beside it!  We took our child to the Haunted Mansion – I kept saying, it is just pretend, it is funny.  It wasn’t so funny when our little Disney traveler had to sleep in our room for a month afterwards!

Is one theme park better than another for this age?

Each of the theme parks has attractions for all age groups.  For young children, Magic Kingdom certainly seems logical as there are so many attractions for this set.  Animal Kingdom also offers wonderful shows like the Lion King and Finding Nemo, animal experiences on Kilimanjaro Safari and Affection Station and the Boneyard is a great place to run around.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is home to Playhouse Disney, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Muppet’s 3-D.  The 3-D effect can be scary to young ones and we learned with our youngest to simply remove the 3-D glasses, it halts the popping out effect and made things much less scary.  Another great place to run and explore is the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set.

Should we park hop?

Tickets to the Walt Disney World theme parks come in two options – one park base ticket (used to visit only one park for that day) or park hopper (allows guests to “hop” from park to park throughout the day). As far as which ticket would be best for you, you need to check with everyone in your party.  If you plan on visiting several parks, the park hopper might be the way to go – you can visit Animal Kingdom in the morning and head over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.  However, if you feel you will focus on only one park each day, then the one park ticket, which is slightly cheaper, would be the way to go.

Which Character Meal is best?

I polled my own travelers and got a different answer from every one; so once again, this will depend on your family’s personal tastes and favorite characters. I think you will find that the food is very good at all the Disney restaurants, although the menu, atmosphere and characters vary at each. Some of our favorites are:

• Chef Mickey’s – Mickey and gang
• The Crystal Palace -Winnie the Pooh and friends (need park ticket for admittance to Magic Kingdom)
• Donald’s Safari Breakfast – Donald, Pluto and Chip & Dale (need park ticket for Animal Kingdom)
• Restaurant Akershus at the Norway Pavilion — our favorite princess dining experience (need park ticket for Epcot)
• Hollywood & Vine - Playhouse Disney pals – JoJo and Goliath and the Little Einsteins (need park ticket for Disney’s Hollywood Studios)

By all means, get a reservation as soon as you make a decision 407-WDW-DINE, up to 90 days prior to your scheduled visit .  If you aren’t able to get a seating time at your favorite spot, check back because guests cancel reservations all the time.

My best piece of advice is to just have fun!  Know from the minute you arrive that you will not see everything – enjoy those attractions that you are able to see and don’t rush through it all.  Above all, schedule in some down time for naps, swimming and relaxing – EVERYONE will enjoy themselves more!

Photo Courtesy of WDW News