Is anywhere truly toddler-friendly anyway?
Most people think of Disney World as quintessentially child-friendly. It’s basically an entire city built with children in mind. And I believe it’s true that Disney offers something for children of all ages. When I was 11 years old, a family road trip to Disney World ignited my love of travel. Years later, my 19-month-old daughter’s eyes lit up when she actually met Minnie Mouse.
That said, there is a distinction between “child-friendly” and “toddler-friendly”, and Disney World tends to lean toward the former. During our family’s six-day Orlando stay in March of 2024, we took a crash course in navigating spaces intended for older children while caring for a toddler. We made some surprising discoveries and confirmed some notions that completely checked out. By the end, we knew enough to improve our tactics and do it all again. Unfortunately, both my husband and our bank account frown on the idea of two Disney trips in one year.
Through all of our learning, I found Disney to be doable and enjoyable with a toddler. The key is to consider the trip through your child’s eyes, regardless of their age. Don’t assume that simply being at Disney will meet their needs, and prepare to adjust along the way as you learn what’s best for them. Hopefully, your child will love some combination of the rides, shows, characters, and new foods. But these features don’t negate the basics: naps, familiar foods, and space to run around.
Based on the sheer number of takeaways I came home with, I’ve decided to split my learning into two posts, focused on “What Our Family Learned” and “How It Went”. In this “What Our Family Learned” post, I’ll share five takeaways that caught us off guard. In my upcoming “How it Went” post, I’ll provide a synopsis of our trip ranging from the plane to the parks to the beach. Without further ado, here’s what we learned:
Build in Time to Run Around
Toddlers need stroller-free time to wiggle. It’s well known advice, but it’s harder to follow at Disney World than you might think. When I describe Disney as more child-friendly than toddler-friendly, this is the example I would reference. We were surprised to find so few dedicated and contained spaces for little people to simply run around. When we took advantage of the ones we did find, our daughter was overjoyed. She loved these spaces easily as much as the rides, if not more.
The first one we checked out was Swiss Family Treehouse in Magic Kingdom. This winding, woodsy attraction is full of opportunities to climb and explore. Note that the path, as the name suggests, makes its way up into the treetops. I’m afraid of heights, so this irrationally bothered me, even though the path was safe and fully protected with guardrails.
The other wiggle-friendly attraction we enjoyed was The Boneyard in Animal Kingdom. Looking back, I found the most smiles in photos of our daughter running around among the faux boulders and dinosaur bones. I expected this attraction to involve digging and sand, but it doesn’t. It’s a spacious, clean spot for running and climbing, and it offers at least a few shaded perches for big people to rest.
Outside these spaces, we did our best to provide closely monitored, stroller-free time whenever it made sense. Our daughter isn’t quite old enough to walk from point A to point B reliably, or hold hands for long durations, so each of these stroller breaks was its own little adventure with plenty of chasing.
The character lines were one, key spot where we ditched the stroller. We separated, leaving one or two adults in line to keep our place, and allowed our daughter to run around nearby. Both times we did this, everyone was very understanding when we squeezed back in line at the last minute. This helped our daughter truly enjoy her precious moments with Minnie Mouse.
Rent — or Bring — a Full-Size Stroller
On previous vacations, my husband and I have noted all the lightweight umbrella strollers around us, while we hauled our more robust travel system. I started to think, are we doing this wrong? So, I finally said to myself, that’s what we should do next time.
Turns out, I was mistaken. At Disney with a toddler, you absolutely want a full-size stroller. This became apparent on day one, when our daughter fell asleep around nap time in an uncomfortable, upright position. If you’re not making a pit stop at your hotel after lunch — we simply couldn’t make time — then you’ll need a stroller that reclines and offers full sun protection.
We ended up renting a stroller through Kingdom Strollers, an off-campus option, after reading that Disney strollers do not recline. We rented the basic Britax City Mini Single, and we really liked it. The price was reasonable — about $65 for three days, including tax — and the process was fairly smooth. We booked online and chose our pick-up and drop-off times. We were able to handle these exchanges in our Disney hotel lobby, which was very convenient.
Aside from taking our umbrella stroller to Magic Kingdom on the first day, we might have actually stumbled on the right overall stroller combination. It’s hard to imagine navigating the airport without a stroller, but it’s also strenuous to travel with a large one. Allegiant Air allows you to gate check strollers for free, but we’ve had trouble finding a stroller bag that’s big enough, and we don’t like the idea of stashing our stroller on a plane without a protective bag.
Navigating the airport and short excursions with an umbrella stroller makes sense to us, along with renting the real deal for the parks. If you go with this plan, we also recommend a pair of handle extenders. Our Minnie Mouse stroller has short handles, and our backs don’t like hunching over to push it. This pair of extenders from Wheesir Designs on Etsy solved the problem for us at Disney and at home.
Make Time for a Big Breakfast
At Disney, you’re sure to be enticed by at least a few interesting food options…unless you’re under three. Our daughter’s adventurous days of trying new foods without a battle have, for the most part, unfortunately passed. At Disney, she turned away a surprising array of child-friendly favorites, including mac & cheese, roasted potatoes, and ice cream.
But one thing she absolutely loved was her predictable Disney Resort breakfast at the All-Star Music Resort. Every morning, she enthusiastically fueled up on blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, and bananas. That’s a huge meal for a little girl!
Knowing she would reliably eat these foods, we consistently made time for breakfast at our resort, sacrificing our plans to rope drop. And it was definitely worth it. Starting the day with a big meal helped deter our worries when she picked at (or, more accurately, threw aside) her lunch or dinner.
Expect Genie + Confusion
I’ll say right up front that I am not a fan of Genie +. I am a self-proclaimed Disney Adult, and I’ve visited Disney multiple times as a grown-up without kids. In the past, Genie + might have made more sense for me (although I doubt my 20-something, millennial self would have paid for it).
As a toddler parent, Genie + just doesn’t seem family-friendly. It caters to adults navigating the parks without children, as well as locals who have the time to practice and (maybe) families with older children. At the very least, it caters to parents with different learning styles than mine. I say this because I learn by doing. And it’s hard to think while you’re doing anything and caring for a toddler at the same time. Even though I did research beforehand, Genie + was complicated and stressful to use when it counted.
I should note that this post is not meant to explain Genie +. For that, I would recommend the blog, Mouse Hacking, and this amazingly succinct TikTok video that came out right after our trip. In a couple sentences, Genie + is a paid service that allows you access faster lines, called Lightning Lanes, mostly (but not exclusively) one at a time. This is done through a menu of time slots on the My Disney Experience App.
The first day we used Genie + was at Hollywood Studios. I pulled the app open bright and early at 7:02 a.m. Time slots for rides open up at 7:00 a.m. sharp, and those two minutes ended up being crucial. I missed all the morning and afternoon slots for the new roller coaster, Slinky Dog Dash. Believing I could only book one ride at a time — we later learned there are exceptions — I passed on the evening slot. And because the stand-by line for Slinky Dog was always over an hour, I missed it altogether.
But this is where the tone of my review changes. Once we got the hang of Genie +, it definitely came in handy. Our toddler was, understandably, not a fan of long lines. I’m sure we avoided dozens of fussy moments and, ultimately, rode on more rides as a result of the service. It also came in handy when we left our daughter with grandpa to check out a few rides on our own, cutting down on unnecessary time apart.
Strangely, we enjoyed Genie + the most at Animal Kingdom, a fairly low-stakes park. We were able to zip on and off pretty much any ride we wanted, and we walked onto Expedition Everest twice: Once in the morning with Genie + and once in the late afternoon, before the park closed. There was less pressure to reserve rides quickly, but we still benefited from shorter lines.
If you can afford it, I would recommend building in a Genie + “practice day”. Use it at Animal Kingdom or Epcot before entering the ring at Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, so you don’t miss any favorites.
All-Ages Rides Really Are for All Ages
Before we arrived at Disney, I had trouble envisioning exactly how our wiggly toddler would stay safe and secure on any ride. I was very dubious of the term “all-ages”. But this wasn’t false advertising. Disney World has roughly two dozen all-ages rides, not including shows, character greetings, and other experiences. Our daughter rode and enjoyed nine of these.
At the parks, the mechanics of riding with our daughter just clicked. She sat on my lap, my husband’s lap, or her grandpa’s lap every time. The process of boarding with her was always intuitive. We didn’t run into any issues holding her and getting safely seated, and I consistently felt like I was able to keep her snug and secure.
Our daughter surprised us by preferring the all-ages rides at Hollywood Studios. You can read more about each ride we did and the rest of our experience at Disney World in my upcoming “How it Went” post!