We love Disney World and go at least once a year sometimes twice a year. So, that means my 4 year old daughter has been six times! Some people think we are crazy and some people totally understand 🙂
Over the years I have accumulated some tips for taking toddlers and young children to the most magical place on Earth. I hope these tips help you have a wonderful trip!
1. Let it Go
I like to have a plan of how I am going to tour the parks each day. I don’t have each minute planned but I do usually know what I want to accomplish in the first couple hours of the park being open. However, what happens when my daughter decides that she wants to ride Barnstormer 5 times in a row or see every character that the park has? Well, I go with the flow, adjust and do what my daughter wants to do (within reason).
2. Characters
I know that my daughter loves to meet the characters, so we always plan our day around meeting them. We usually follow the rule of seeing the most popular characters early in the morning and arrive before they start their set. Once people see the characters out, the line can get really long. Yes, we do spend a lot of time meeting characters, but this is one of my daughter’s favorite things about Disney World and I know that there will be a time when she no longer wants to meet them. On days when we met a lot of character across the whole day my daughter is happier with less meltdowns then on the day that we hardly meet any characters. The trip isn’t just about us but also about her and if she is happy then we all have a better time. Does that mean we don’t ride any rides? No, we ride a lot of rides, watch a lot of shows and enjoy the nighttime entertainment – parades and fireworks.
Not all children love the characters. If your child is scared, do not push them. See if they want you to go with them to meet the character. The characters are usually really awesome and they take cues from your child to help the situation, like getting down to your child’s level and letting your child come to them.
3. Rides
I always explain a ride to my daughter before we ride it. If you have never been to Disney World or it has been a long time you can find videos of a lot of the rides on YouTube. My daughter agreed to ride Soarin’ with us at Epcot, however the morning of she became adamant that she did not want to ride it, so she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while my husband and I rode it. Do not force your child to ride a ride that they do not want to; I see this happen a lot and it makes for an unpleasant experience. The child swap option is also available for most of Disney World’s rides with height requirements. This option allows everyone in your party to ride with only having to stand in line once while alternating who stays with the children.
4. Stick to Your Normal Routine
If you have children that take naps let them take their nap whether you go back to your hotel (another great reason to stay on Disney) or they sleep at the park. When my daughter took two naps a day, we would let her sleep in the park for one nap and go back to the hotel for the second. When she switched to one nap a day we would have her take that one at the hotel. Also try to stick close to your children’s bedtime. We choose which nights to stay late and enjoy the fireworks based on what time we were waking up the next morning. Again trying to prevent melt downs.
5. Beat the Crowds and Temperatures
Florida is hot most of the year. Plan to be at the park prior to rope drop, allowing plenty of time for transportation to the park. This allows you to visit the park during lower crowd levels and cooler temperatures. Take a break in the afternoon, cool off in the pool, and then return to the park for dinner and the nighttime entertainment. Crowd levels in general are lower when school is in session, therefore plan a trip during a non-holiday time. Plus as a bonus that is also when Florida tends to be cooler.
Just remember you are on vacation: enjoy your time together and create lasting family memories!
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Good tips Paris!
Thank you Julie!
Great tips, we’ve just been to Epcot last weekend!
I love Epcot during food and wine; I hope you had a great time!
This is perfect to email to 2 of my friends planning disney trips!
Thanks Neely! They are going to have so much fun at Disney World!
Great post for parents. I’m not there yet but hopefully I’ll remember some of your tips when I am! 🙂
Thank you Ashleigh!
I can’t wait to take Hamp to Disney! Thank you for the tips!
Thank Logan!
We love Disney, too, and have been so many times – when I was a teen, with all of our kids and now, annually with the grands! Oh, the memories we’ve made at Disney.
Your tips are spot on and I always learn something helpful from your posts about Disney. I really want to take the grands in the fall next time. Your daughter is one blessed little girl!
Thank you Alli! I love that you take your grands every year; I know they enjoy your annual trips.
Great tips Paris! Question, have you done a post on how you save money to go to Disney World every year? Disney can be very expensive and I would love to know how your family is able to go every year.
Great idea Louida! I’ll have to put together a post on that one 🙂
Good tips, and thanks for reminding people not to push their kids into “having fun.” Stumbled this!
Thank you Skye!
I could not agree with these tips more!!! We went to Disney for the first time with my almost 3 year old last July and discovered all of these to be true! She had a blast meeting characters, not so much on the rides even though we watched the videos, and we still had the perfect day! And our evening was a success because we stuck to our normal routine and went back for a nap mid day! Great post! I pinned it too! 🙂 First time to your blog and loving it so far!
Thank you so much Heather! I am so glad that you had a wonderful trip!
Love the tips! I’ve never been to Disney World. This is definitely something I hope to do with my children one day.
I hope you are able to take them!
I’m going to pin this for future reference. We plan to take C when he is just a little older this tips are ones I really need to remember.
Thanks Stephanie!
Great tips Paris! We want to take our son to Disneyland Florida when he’s four so these have been really helpful tips to me and have assured me that it WILL be a manageable thing.
Totally manageable! He will have a wonderful time!
Great tips! We haven’t been to Disney yet with the boys but it is in our plans for the upcoming year!
I know you will have a wonderful time!
Great tips! I too am a big believer in going on trips and doing fun things even when your children are pretty young! My little ones (4 and 2) love Disneyland!
We have yet to hit Disneyland, but it’s on my list!
Our family is going to DW in January and I can’t wait! Thanks for the kid friendly tips!
~ Ashley
Thank you Ashley! I know you are going to have so much fun!
I definitely need to learn to let it go. I was so determined to have our family see as much as possible I had each day booked…well until I realized what was happening then we took a day to simply be…it was so much better.
Yes Tiffany! 🙂
Oh my six visits, that really does make you the disney expert and your wonderful tips all the more noteworthy. I really must take mie once before they all get too old to appreciate it. Thank you for sharing your adventure on Country Kids.
Thank you Fiona! Your children would enjoy a trip.
Great tips – you know I’ve always thought that I would wait until my son was a lot older before taking him to Disney World, but after reading your post, I might do it sooner 🙂 I went when I was 12 and I still remember it to this day! #countrykids
I am sure whenever you do take your son he will have a wonderful time!
Brilliant tips! We’re taking our almost two year olds back out to Orlando in a few weeks and while we’re not visiting as many theme parks as we usually do I’m taking this advice to heart!
I hope you have a wonderful time!
Thanks so much for linking up to Teach Me Tuesday last week. We hope to see you again there this week. Our party would not be such a growing success without you 🙂
Have a great week!
Congratulations on being featured on Wake-Up Wednesday.
Check it out here- http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.com/2014/10/before-we-party-wuw-linky-party.html
Thank you so much Tanya!
Fantastic tips! I found when we were little kids and went to Disney World, our parents brought lots of healthy snacks for us to eat while we waited in line. It helped to pass the time! 🙂
Yes, those lines can be so long!
We love visiting Disney parks, too. I always have to remind myself to Let it Go and just go with the flow. When my daughter was 4, about the 3rd time she’d visited a Disney park, she decided she was scared of every single indoor ride — even Winnie the Pooh. It certainly changed our plans for the day. We’ve always stayed at a Disney hotel with the idea of going back for a nap, but we’ve never once actually done it, relying on naps in strollers. My kids are now too old for naps, and it’s a delight to be able to go the whole day without worrying.
Yes, I was so happy when naps stopped for that same reason. We could go all day and not have to juggle a nap.
We waited for the kids to be a little older to take them to Disney. Living in South Florida it’s a little closer for us to travel there when we want. For our kids it was more about the rides than the characters. It’s certainly a magical moment for them when they see Mickey or Cinderella for the first time. Thanks for sharing and linking up to #WeekendWanderlust.
Such great advice! I had no idea you could watch Disney rides on youtube! I cant wait to include this in the Jetsetter roundups!
Thank you Nadeen! I look forward to reading your roundups each month!