Disney World with Toddlers: Things You NEED to Know

Toddlers, to say they’re challenging would be to put it simply. Look we love our 2 year olds and 3 year olds but they push us every day- to the brink of sanity and to be our very best. When you’re considering a Disney World vacation with toddlers you may wonder if it’s worth it. We say it is- if you plan it right! Here’s how to book that Walt Disney World or Disneyland trip with confidence. We survived visiting Disney World with toddlers and you can too!

Disney World parks can be a magical experience for toddler-to-preschool-age children. At that age, princesses are REAL and everything is so very MAGICAL. Character meals blow their tiny little minds. Take advantage of those first time visit photo opportunities! The pictures you take will create a lifetime of memories and your little chatterbox will relive every detail of every encounter for years to come. Disney with toddlers is a magical vacation.

But before you venture off to Orlando, Florida with visions of Hidden Mickeys and character breakfasts, keep these tips in mind.

SheBuysTravel Tip: You can now book Disney vacations up to 500 days in advance! That means you can book now for visits in 2023. All it takes is a $200 down payment. The balance isn’t due until 30 days prior to travel. You can get details on this, as well as help booking, from our partners at Get Away Today. Not only does the company have the lowest prices, it offers a best price guarantee. If you ever find park tickets cheaper, Get Away Today won’t just match the price, the company will beat it.

1. Costumes are abundant at Disney parks.

I’m not talking about the characters. It’s the kids. One out of every five kids you’ll see in the theme parks will be in costume or sporting a Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse shirt. Of course, once your kiddos see this, they’ll want to join the club. Think about this RIGHT NOW, before you get to Disney! Princess dresses in the parks run close to $60. Do yourself a favor and hit a Walmart or Target to buy one before you board that Disney-bound flight. Or check out the wide selection available on Amazon.

I was able to find a Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) dress and tiara for $27 total. I packed it in our luggage without our daughter knowing. (Hint: Keep it in a bag or your clothes will take on that glittery princess look as well.) Once we arrived, we had the princesses leave it as a “surprise” in our hotel room one morning. She wore it every day we were there. In retrospect, I should have bought 3 dresses and skipped packing normal clothes.

Read More: Complete Disney World Packing List

2. Consider your child’s mobility when doing Disney with toddlers.

Strollers are great and many kids end up using them for rest and/or naps during the day. Take into account what your child-to-adult ratio will be, how many kids you’ll have with you and your kiddos’ rest needs. If you do bring a stroller, you’ll need to park it outside of rides, which can slow down your progress getting through the ride line. Make sure you add something to make it easy to find after!

On one of our trips, my daughter was barely 3. We brought a baby carrier and she walked a lot of the time with small periods of rest riding in the baby carrier. On our next trip, we had more kids with us, so we brought a stroller and were thankful we did. (Here’s how we managed to travel WITHOUT a baby crib, thanks to my TravelingDad husband.)

Keep in mind that strollers rented in the parks from Disney cannot be taken to other parks. You’ll need to grab a new stroller at each park. So depending on whether your park tickets are hoppers or not, you may want to consider renting a stroller from off site. Bringing your own stroller? Make sure it meets Disney size requirements.

3. Take advantage of the Disney Baby Care Centers.

You may be saying “Wait, I have a toddler, not a baby.” Yes, but the Baby Care Centers are still amazing. The entire Walt Disney World Resort area can be hot. Getting out of the sun and into some air conditioning can do wonders for parents and kids alike. The Baby Care Centers are decked out with restrooms, changing tables, movies, rocking chairs and nursing areas. You can also buy diapers and any other supplies you may have forgotten.

My husband loves that you can buy Pedialyte there, which we always give to our kids to prevent dehydration. Be sure to pay the center a visit. Each park has a baby care center.

Read More: 27 things you need to pack to do Disney with a baby or toddler!

4. Plan out toddler-friendly Disney rides in advance. 

Toddlers won’t be able to go on everything (sorry kiddo – no Space Mountain for you!). There are height requirements, and you’ll want to keep fears and attention spans in mind.

We have an entire series of articles on kid-friendly rides for doing Disney World with toddlers. Here they are sorted by Disney park:

Best Rides at Magic Kingdom For Toddlers

Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Best Things to Do with Preschoolers

EPCOT with Preschoolers

Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Toddlers

We also cover our favorite parks to hit with toddlers here. While our lists include classic fan favorites like it’s a small world, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, we also cover some fun new rides you shouldn’t miss!

5. Just because they’re tall enough doesn’t mean they’re old enough.

Have a tall kid? So did I. She could ride almost everything at a very young age.

I made the mistake of bringing her on DINOSAUR at Animal Kingdom. Oops. As almost everyone who has been on that ride can attest, it is not very kid friendly. She was horrified. It was dark and bumpy. Dinosaurs jumped out. There was a threat of our annihilation.

Above where I mentioned those great articles we have on the kid-friendly rides in each park? This is your warning. Go back to them and bookmark them! I wish I had done more research on the “fear factor” of some rides. Even a simple boat ride like Pirates of the Caribbean can be scary for a toddler who doesn’t do well in the dark.

6. Do you want to meet a princess? How to find Character Meets.

Princesses are a little more scattered than they used to be. We are sharing where they can usually be found but the best way to find daily character meet times is in the My Disney Experience app. Don’t miss your favorite character! Check it every morning.

At Disney’s Magic Kingdom princesses can be found at:

Princess Fairy Tale Hall is the place princesses. Lineups can change but standard rotation princesses include Cinderella, Elena, Princess Tiana, and Rapunzel.

SheBuysTravel Tip: If you are staying on site in a Disney resort and there are extended evening hours, character lines are short! So if your kiddo is a night owl, take advantage. 

Ariel’s Grotto in Fantasyland is the place to find the Little Mermaid. Bring a dinglehopper for a fun photo opp!

Merida’s meet and greet can be tricky to find, but I highly recommend it because you get to do a little archery with her. There are no Fastpasses available for Merida. She is located to the right of the Cinderella Castle. Walk on the bridge like you are headed to Tomorrowland and look for the path off to the left.

Princess Jasmine can be found in Adventureland near The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

At EPCOT Disney princesses can be found in:

Morocco. Princess Jasmine is near the Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco.

Anna and Elsa now reside at the Royal Sommerhus in Norway near Frozen Ever After. You can also make dining reservations at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. They are not always included in the lineup there. Morning diners have reported them coming in frequently and it puts you right where you need to be to queue up for Royal Sommerhus.

Mulan meets kiddos near the entrance to the China Pavilion in the World Showcase. It’s the only place to catch her.

Belle and Aurora both have meet and greets in France.

The best way to find many of your favorite Disney characters is to check the My Disney Experience App while on site. Many of the “pop up” meet and greets in EPCOT don’t have Fastpass available.

In Animal Kingdom meet princesses here:

Unfortunately Pocahontas has not made a return since Covid reopenings. Prior to park closures she was technically located on Discovery Island trails. Follow signs to Dinoland. Before you enter the bridge to Dinoland there is a trail on the right that leads up to her. We’re not sure when this opportunity will reopen but when it does this meet and greet is outside so try to plan it for early in the morning or later in the day when the heat isn’t as bad.

Currently at Animal Kingdom you can meet Kevin (bird from Up!), Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip, Dale, and Donald Duck.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

There aren’t any current princess meet and greets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. However, there are tons of fun characters. Disney Junior characters like Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, Pluto and Fancy Nancy hang out in the Animation Courtyard. Sully from Monsters Inc. is at Walt Disney Presents in the Animation Courtyard. BB-8, Chewbacca, and Darth Vader hang out at Star Wars Launch Bay. You can often spot Donald Duck on the front entrance balcony on Hollywood Boulevard. Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse are located at Red Carpet Dreams and Olaf gives warm hugs at Celebrity Spotlight near Echo Lake.

In Toy Story Land, you can meet Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Galaxy’s Edge has Stormtroopers, Kylo Ren, Rey, and Vi Moradi.

Need help planning your Disney trip? Get all your questions answered from our Disney Planning & Fun Facebook Group!

7. Don’t judge a ride by its cover when visiting Disney with toddlers.

Frequently I see folks overlooking shows or quiet rides in favor of thrill rides. Going to Disney with toddlers forces you to look past that. Remember, every ride at Disney has a story behind it, so even some of the slower ones can be enjoyable.

If it hadn’t been for my toddlers, I likely would have skipped some of the fun sing-along shows at Disney, such as the Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studio’s For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.

Even play areas such as the Storybook Circus near Dumbo the Flying Elephant have hidden details if you slow down and look.

8. Disney with Toddlers Tip: Buy the Memory Maker PhotoPass option.

It’s a must for Disney with toddlers.

You’re at Disney, you’re herding around your family. Moods fluctuate with possible toddler meltdowns, you feel like a hot mess. Do you really also want to be responsible for all of the photo memories of this trip? No! You want to be in the photos too!

Memory Maker allows you to tap your Disney MagicBand every time your picture is taken. The photos are added to your My Disney Experience account so you can download them later. You must add this option no less than 3 days before your trip starts.

The pictures we were able to download were so much better than the ones we took. These are trained professionals clicking a mile a minute. They may capture the moments in between funny face and scowl that are pure perfection.

SheBuysTravel Tip: Disney photographers will take photos with your smartphone. It’s one of the best free things at Disney!

9. Think about a trip before your kiddo turns 3.

Children younger than 3 get into Disney for free! Some folks think that Disney should be a trip you do when your kids are older and will remember. That’s great! For us, though, we’ve brought most of our kids before we had to pay for their ticket. They still loved it.

And while my daughter at age 28 may not be able to articulate her trip to Disney at age 2, right now at 8 she can. She can tell us about what she saw, what dress she wore and what we ate. Memory fades over time, but to her right now? That experience was worth it.

10. Relax and enjoy!

Remember, above all other advice you get, have fun! Breathe deeply. Perfection will not happen and is unrealistic. However, you can have a memorable time that will stick with your little one for years.

Then you will get to be the fun grandparent who brings her grandkids to Disney years from now in a flying car.