Walt Disney World with a 2 year old!

During the planning phase of a Disney trip with toddler I found myself thinking "This could be great! Or, this will fail miserably and I might need to frequent the drink stands in EPCOT." Spoiler alert: this trip was amazing.

Before leaving I read several forum posts with helpful tips regarding traveling to Walt Disney World with a toddler. This was my 8th trip to WDW but first as a parent. It was also my first time staying on property. Those 2 factors made an 8th trip feel like the first. I want to share what worked, what didn't, and what I wish I had done differently.

Before you go

Familiarize him/her with what to expect: A couple months out I started showing Cooper the planning DVD and YouTube clips of kids meeting characters. Characters are so much bigger in person compared to what kids are used to seeing on TV, so I didn't want him to be frightened. We also let him flip through the planning book my mom bought me for Christmas. He started to absorb it and would talk about going to "Mickey's Castle."





Carefully consider lodging: Pre-kid days, my husband and I were at the parks from open until close so lodging wasn't a huge concern. This trip was different because I knew we would be spending considerably more time in the room. Think about your budget, your family, and amenities that are important to you. Be realistic about what you'll be happy with. After narrowing down what was important to us (proximity to the parks, separate bedroom from the living area, within our budget, room for Cooper to run) We booked a cabin at the Fort Wilderness Campground:

I will do a full review later but it is safe to say that we loved the cabin and the campground! There were several times where I thought about how much less enjoyable the trip would have been if we weren't happy with the lodging. Our toddler (and the adults!) couldn't handle the full park days, so we were all relieved to have a place that we loved going back to.

Packing: I took the time to organize while packing for the trip. I used the "Ziploc bag method" for each morning and also had a Ziploc bag for the diaper bag for each day. The morning bags had a shirt, pants, socks, and diaper. The diaper bags had long sleeve shirt (in case it got cold at night), short sleeve shirt, shorts, and enough diapers to last the duration of the park day. Other necessities (wipes, bandaids, etc.) stayed in the diaper bag and I just added the appropriate day's Ziploc bag to the diaper bag each day. Taking ten extra minutes while packing saved a lot of morning stress. Just pull the appropriate bag out and avoid digging for tiny socks and stray diapers. Pull the appropriate Ziploc out for the diaper bag and you don't have to worry about forgetting things.



Road trip: We opted to drive this trip. To help the 12 hour (each way) drive go by a little quicker, we put together a surprise bag from Mickey Mouse that held new toys (woo clearance!), sunglasses, and a few DVD's.

The rental vehicle had a DVD player which captured Cooper's attention. We don't have these in our cars so it was new to him:

He had a blast playing with the new toys too. Aside from that, we let him run around at almost every stop and changed diapers frequently to avoid diaper rash.

Prep your stroller: It's no surprise that strollers are everywhere in Walt Disney World. You frequently have to leave the stroller with a cast member who then parks it among a mass of other strollers. You're then left to try and find it in the designated "stroller parking" area. Wrapping the handlebar of the stroller in bright red Mickey ribbon helped us easily identify our black stroller among the dozens of other black strollers. I also tied a small bike light (which flashed) to the handlebar so we could easily find it at night. This takes less than 5 minutes and alleviates a lot of stress. We added a "Mommy Hook" to the stroller to help hold extra bags.

Park strategies

All aboard!: Strollers need to be packed up on Walt Disney World buses, boats, trams, and the train. We found it was easier to pack it up before we were standing in line. You are less likely to hold others up too if you pack everything up and then stand in line. Another note on trams: after a couple days we realized that several times it's quicker to just walk from where you parked to the gate instead of trying to haul your stroller, kid, and travel party onto a tram. This isn't always the case so eyeball the gate area from where you are parked. 

FastPass+: Walt Disney World now uses a FastPass+ system. You can read more about it on their website. We saved a lot of wait-time in the parks by reserving our FastPasses ahead of time. Cooper still doesn't fully comprehend waiting. Using the FP+ system meant less waiting in long lines. That is invaluable when you have a toddler with you. I noticed that there were usually lines for the FastPass+ kiosks in the park. If you are able to, manage your FP+ through the MyDisneyExperience app and avoid the crowds around the kiosks. If you don't feel like carrying your phone around, just plan out your FP+ ahead of time and jot the times down on a sheet of paper.

Rider Switch: When your little one is too short for a ride, you can use Disney's Rider Switch. When you approach the queue, tell the cast member that you want to use rider switch. You are then handed a ticket or badge. 1 adult from your party waits outside of the ride queue with the child while the other individual(s) wait in the regular line. Once the individual(s) in line ride the ride, you then switch with the person who rode the ride. The person who was originally waiting with the child gets to go through the FastPass queue and skip the regular line. This means both groups don't have to wait the full amount of time. We loved the Rider Switch and used it on several of the major attractions! Not all rides offer this, so check the website (or ask) to see which ones do.

Bring a favorite stuffed animal/blanket: I went back and forth on this one but decided to bring along "bear bear" and "blanket 1" with us in the parks. I just kept a close eye on them to make sure they weren't dropped. Disney can be overstimulating for anyone. Having that security item for Cooper really helped calm him down when things were stressful for him.

Snacks: Bring along favorite snacks. It can be hard to find something of the non-ice cream variety when you're walking around. Also, I'd rather not spend $8 on a snack he might not even eat.

Ask for a cup of ice to keep milk/perishables cold: Full credit to my mom for this one! Cooper randomly fell asleep right before we ate lunch. We didn't want to waste all of the $ spent on lunch. Usually we would just grab water for him but the water in the fountains at Disney is disgusting. At my mom's suggestion we ended up saving the unused milk by covering it in ice chips in a large cup. It was still ice cold an hour later.

Let them explore: It's easy to keep your kid in a stroller in such a crowded place, but make sure you let them out to explore the parks by foot too. I would find little nooks and crannies of the park to let Cooper run around and let off steam. At 2 years old, even the landscaping is interesting to them.

Look for play areas: Most of the parks have little play areas for kids. I wasn't even aware of this until I was planning this trip. Look into it ahead of time so you know what to look for in the parks. Cooper especially loved the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area in Hollywood Studios and the tiny forest area with a slide near Splash Mountain:

Keep the conversation rolling: Talking a lot about the surroundings helped calm Cooper down sometimes. It is easy to get lost in your own little world while at Disney World, so if you notice your toddler starts getting grumpy, try engaging them with specific questions. Cooper would get irritated with broad statements like "Isn't this fun? What do you think?" but did really well with more concrete observations. "Do you see the spinning sign? What color is this cup?" etc. Similarly, it helps to give concrete examples of what you are doing next. If your kid is having a ton of fun on something, they likely won't be happy when you try to take them away from it. We started giving clear directions when we were taking him away from something fun. "I know you're sad to leave the play area, but now we are going to a Mickey Mouse show!" worked much better than "I know you're sad to leave the play area, but there are so many more fun things we are headed to today!"

Rest: Listen to your kid's cues, your travel party's cues, and your own cues. As much as I love it, Disney World is absolutely exhausting. Don't push yourself too far. If your little one won't sleep in a stroller, try to head back to your hotel to let them rest. You know your kid the best but I know with mine, everyone would be miserable if he went a week in an exhausting place without a nap. Adults need the rest too. The walking and the heat can lead to exhaustion. We did several half-days to be able to enjoy the 5 park days.

Invite the grandparents!: This might not work for everyone's families, but I am so glad we invited the grandparents. My mom-in-law was with us for the whole trip and my parents met up with us for the first day in Magic Kingdom. I am so glad that they were there to see Cooper's reactions. Even though his face doesn't reflect it here, Cooper was very glad too.

Check out your resort: Most people traveling to Disney with toddlers won't be in the parks full-time. Use this downtime to check out your resort! We went swimming several times, rode around on the golf cart, watched the fireworks from the beach, etc. I doubt my husband and I would have made the time to do this previously but I am so glad we had the downtime and were able to check out the fun amenities.

When things aren't so magical

Schedule? Pssh: Although I am not obsessive about keeping Cooper on a strict schedule, I was still surprised to see how much his sleep routine changed during vacation. Suddenly my 8PM sleeper was falling asleep at 11. I'm sure his schedule could have been maintained, but stuff tends to pop up on vacation. I was more focused on being flexible and having fun instead of having his head hit the pillow at the same time every night. This really wasn't a big deal in the long run, but it did make me wish I wouldn't have scheduled early fast passes every day. I ended up switching our fast passes mid-week so that we could all sleep in 1 day.

Weather: We lucked out with weather, but the mid-upper 80's weather was still a bit of a shock from our 18-degree temps we left. Cooper broke out in a heat rash and was a little grumpier than normal because of the heat. Next time I would pack a stroller fan.

Bags: Disney with a diaper bag was new to me. As I used to go to Disney with just an ID and debit card, I kept forgetting that you have to stand in line for bag inspections at the front of the park. Just keep that in mind and have your bag opened to keep the line moving quickly.

Sun: FL weather is unpredictable. Don't trust an overcast morning. Always bring the sunscreen even when the day starts off looking miserable outside.

One of these things is not like the other: Just because something worked one day doesn't mean it will work the other. The road trip down? Amazingly easy. The road trip home? Stomach bug-ish hell. The first couple days? Cooper refused to sleep in the stroller. The last few days? He fell asleep without us even trying. Things change-sometimes for the better, other times not so much. Try to roll with the punches and focus on the better parts of your vacation. There were several toddler meltdowns but the happier moments more than made up for it.

Overall, we had an excellent time at Walt Disney World with a 2 year old. Like any other vacations there were challenges, but I hold 0 regrets for bringing Cooper at this age. There really is no other place like it.