We recently took a trip to Walt Disney World with our entire family. My in-laws gave all of their kids/grandkids a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth for a Christmas gift. It was AMAZING! I had not been to Disney World since 1990. It is definitely different (plus new parks)! Our group consisted of eight adults, four kids (between ages 6-8) and two kids under three (both mine). **Our group did not stay together for the entire trip as that would have been impossible to keep everyone happy. My parents also met us for part of the trip which made it really special for our boys to get to experience Disney with both sets of grandparents! The following tips for visiting Walt Disney World with two kids under three are based on our experience with our two kids (ages 11 months and almost three years at time of the trip).
My philosophy for the trip was to keep expectations LOW. We decided to have one goal for each day- meaning one attraction, ride or character to meet. Anything we got to experience beyond our one goal was just extra! This worked really well. We didn’t feel pressured to do and see everything. We did have magic bands (you don’t need them for kids under 3) and we did have fast passes for a few attractions (mostly character meet-and-greets). We also gave the kids time to rest. The baby took at least two naps every day (in the stroller or Moby wrap). Our oldest napped a couple of the days, but not every day. Those days when he didn’t nap, we were back at the hotel early and he got a good night’s sleep.
Getting There-The entire gang flew out of Baltimore on a Sunday morning. We were on a VERY early flight. Getting to the airport, checking bags, getting through security and to the gate was a breeze since it was so early. My mother-in-law has done this trip before with the older grandkids, so she knew from experience to go with the early flight. We had packed the car the night before so we didn’t have to deal with that in the dark at 4am! We also tried not to wake the boys, so we put them in their car seats in their jammies. Once we were settled at the airport, we had the opportunity to get them dressed and in clean diapers. We brought two strollers (I’ll elaborate on this decision later in the post) as well as an infant car seat and base. We were able to check both strollers and the car seat at the gate for no charge.
Getting Around Orlando- We rented a small SUV. This provided enough space for two car seats, two strollers and all of our luggage. We rented a car seat for our oldest from the same car rental company. This was much easier than lugging yet another piece of equipment from Baltimore (we also didn’t want to risk damaging our car seat on the plane).
Where to Stay- My in-laws are vacation club members with Hilton, so we stayed at one of the Hilton Grand Vacation Club resorts in Orlando. It was FABULOUS! Our suite was bigger than our first apartment! Seriously, we had a huge bedroom with a king bed, a living room (with a pull out couch), dining room and a full-size kitchen. We also had a spa-like jacuzzi tub as well as a stand-up shower and a huge screened-in balcony off of the living room. This was the perfect situation for us. Hilton provided a pack-n-play for the baby to sleep in which we put in the living room. We had a full sized refrigerator and dishwasher. This was a life-saver since our youngest was under one; I was still nursing some, but he was drinking out of a bottle most of the time. Every night we were able to run the dishwasher with the bottles and they were clean for the next day. My husband ran to Publix (the grocery store right across the street) to buy milk, cheerios, waffles, formula and bottled water. It was very convenient to have a full-size kitchen. It felt just like home. We didn’t have any issues with staying “off Disney property”. Sure, we had to pay $20/ day to park, but you are able to come and go as you please or park at any of the Disney parks for that day (just hang onto your receipt).
Park Bag- We were able to fit everything we needed in one backpack, a small lunch-bag size cooler and a camera bag. Since the baby was under one, I had to bring formula. This is totally a personal preference, but I decided to get the Similac ready-to- pour bottles so I didn’t have to measure, mix or shake. The bottles stayed cold enough all day in the cooler with a frozen cooler pack. For the backpack, we had diapers, wipes, bottled water and a change of clothes for each kid.
Strollers – We choose to take two umbrella strollers. The reasons we did this instead of bringing our double BOB or renting a double stroller from one of the many stroller rental companies are as follows:
- We wanted to be able to split the boys up for age-appropriate rides/attractions and wanted to be able to keep them in their strollers
- We didn’t want to pay extra to take our BOB on the plane
- We didn’t want to pay to rent strollers (double or single)
In my opinion, we made the right decision. This worked out really well since our youngest would sometimes fall asleep in the stroller. We were able to park him with a grandparent and take our older son on rides or to see characters. This also worked well at certain parks where I had to nurse the baby in the baby care center (more on that later) I was able to keep him in his stroller instead of carrying him all over the park.
One last note on baby equipment- I also brought my Moby wrap and used it a few times with the baby. He is really good about falling asleep in the wrap, so whenever he was getting fussy and not falling asleep in the stroller (this only happened twice on the trip), I was able to put him in the wrap and he fell asleep immediately.
The Parks- For each Park we were able to park our rental car in the Park’s lot and then take the tram to the Park or monorail. Since we had a 5 day magic your way park hopper ticket, we were able to go to any park- any day and come and go as we please or go to multiple parks in the same day.
Magic Kingdom-We did the MK the first day and it was absolute perfection. Since the baby was 11 months and had never had a haircut, we were able to get him into the Harmony Barber Shop for his first haircut. We tried for about a month to get a reservation before our trip, but no luck. We stopped in to the barber shop as soon as we got to the park (about 15 minutes after it opened) and we got on the list. It was about an hour wait, but we were able to walk around and check out the shops while we waited. His first haircut was such a fun experience and I would recommend this to anyone who has a little one in need of a haircut. Bonus: He got a certificate, mickey ears, stickers and a little snippet of hair (and fairy dust) in a bag. My oldest enjoyed all of the character meet-and-greets, but did not like most of the rides. He did however enjoy the train that goes around the park, the Transit Authority People Mover, and the race cars at Tomorrowland Speedway. We just happened to be taking a break on Main Street USA when people started gathering for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, so we were able to get a prime seat on the curb. We probably sat for about an hour before the parade actually got to us, but it was TOTALLY worth it. This was my favorite parade. The music, the costumes, the characters…it really is amazing! Since we were there the first week of December, everything was decorated for Christmas and they were doing the Frozen Holiday Wish where Elsa freezes the castle (I believe this occurs 2 or 3 times a night…we caught the early show). We had seen this on Youtube before our trip, but seeing it in person literally gave me chills- it was beautiful and truly magical! As soon as Elsa froze the castle we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. Surprise, surprise, the kids were asleep before we got out of the parking lot. We missed the Celebrate the Magic laser show, but have seen it on Youtube. That is definitely something we want to see in person next time we are at the MK.
Animal Kingdom– We visited the Animal Kingdom on the second day. I made reservations at Tusker House for an early breakfast (before the park opens). This breakfast was by far our favorite. The food was phenomenal and the characters come to the table to sign autographs and take pictures. It was a great experience all around. We also did the safari. My mother-in-law actually joined us for this park so my husband and I took our oldest on the safari while grandma got the baby to take a nap in his stroller. The safari is a little long for a kiddo under 3 and since you can’t be sure that the animals will be out, it is a hit-or-miss attraction for littles. We got lucky, but I don’t know that I would do the safari with a toddler again. AK also has a little playground that is set up to be a fossil dig area. Lots of slides and plenty of room for little ones to run (it is fully fenced in). This was great for our oldest to explore and get some energy out. We also took the little train out to the petting zoo. That was fun- both of our kids LOVED being able to touch the animals. If you are thinking about AK with toddlers, this is a must! We left the park around noon to head back to the hotel and rest since we had tickets to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that evening.
EPCOT– Our day at EPCOT was really fun and laid back. This was the one day that our entire group was at the same park. Not only was it great for all of the cousins to do stuff together, but it was great for my in-laws to get to spend time with all of the grandkids at once and not feel pulled in different directions (or different parks). We did the Land and Nemo (our oldest was scared because it is so dark on that ride). We also did the character meet-and-greet here and it was awesome! EPCOT has the world showcase so we had a chance to walk around the world. It was great and relaxing to just walk around with no agenda. Since it was the holiday season, there was a person at each country who talked about holiday traditions in their respective country-very cool for the big cousins to experience.
We did not make it to Hollywood Studios because we thought our kids were too little to experience all that HS has to offer. We definitely want to visit next time (when our kids are older).
Food– Basically, all of the character meals we had were fantastic, the sit-down meals were good and quick service meals were ok at best (the food at Cosmic Ray’s at MK was hands-down bad). We did the following character meals and loved them:
- Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary
- The Garden Grill at EPCOT
- Tusker House at Animal Kingdom
We also ate at the following sit-down restaurants:
- Teppan Edo – EPCOT
- Tony’s – Magic Kingdom
- San Angel- EPCOT
Extra Tips:
- Use the My Disney Experience App. You can plan, book and edit all of your dinning reservations and Fast Passes from your phone. You can also see all of the photos taken by cast members if you get the memory maker (photo pass). One of the coolest features of this app is the wait times. You just pull up the map and the app will tell you what the wait time is at the rides closest to your current location. So convenient!
- If you are nursing, definitely utilize the baby care centers. Even if you are comfortable nursing in public, the nursing rooms offer a great escape if you (or your baby) needs a little quiet time. The nursing rooms are air conditioned, have rocking chairs and are dimly lit. It was such a nice break from the overstimulation of the parks, noise and the sun!
- My oldest also loved riding the monorail and this was a fun thing to do one afternoon when we were at EPCOT and needed a break from walking around.
- My husband and I had a date night while the grandparents watched the boys one night. We went to Disney Springs for dinner. In my opinion it was not worth it. There’s free parking at DS, but none of the restaurants were very appealing. We ended up leaving right after we ate and headed to EPCOT to see the light show and have dessert- now THAT was AWESOME!
- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was really special. The parade was beautiful and it was just so cool to experience Disney Christmas! Our youngest fell asleep shortly after we arrived and slept the entire time. Our oldest was way over-tired and we left in the middle of the fireworks show (which was by far the BEST fireworks I have ever seen!) The party goes until midnight, so if you have older kids- this is definitely worth it!
- There is nothing good about leaving Orlando. NOTHING. It’s sad to leave The Happiest Place on Earth to head back to reality, but to make matters worse, the Orlando airport is a bit of a nightmare. We got there a solid two hours before our flight and waited in line for security for a full hour. People are tired, out of patience and all the magic is gone. People were rude, kids were crying and it just took forever to get to the gate. Leave enough time to return your rental car and get through the security lines.
- Splurge for the memory maker. This is a very cost-effective way to capture all of the magic -ESPECIALLY if you have a large group. We were all linked together, so all of our pictures were combined on one account. Everyone chipped in and we were all able to access the pictures.
Visiting Walt Disney World with two kids under three can be done if you keep your expectations low and plan ahead. Also- having grandparents with you helps out a lot too!
