I’m sure you've heard the saying: “It’s not worth it to bring your Baby to Disney World because they won’t remember it.”

Before Arriving To Disney World

A sweet family photo taken in front of the Castle from a PhotoPass Photographer. We got all of our photos included through Memory Maker.

• Pack your diaper bag lightly with only the essentials. We made the mistake of bringing a huge diaper bag filled with every “just in case” item we could think of. It ended up more of a burden than a savour, and after our first park day, we traded it in for a smaller diaper bag with only our top essentials.
• Keep a large reusable grocery bag in your stroller - especially if you’re traveling to the parks using the free Disney Parks bus service. When you collapse your stroller for the bus ride, throw all of the odds and ends (like stroller fans, souvenirs, misc toys, snacks, the pair of Ears your Baby ripped off their head 5 minutes after entering the park, etc.) in the reusable grocery bag. You absolutely will already have your hands full with your Baby and the stroller - why also stress about possibly dropping or losing things, too? Then, when you arrive to the parks or back to your resort, you can set the stroller back up the way you like it for the rest of the day.
• Take Advantage Of Early Entry. Early Entry is a perk all resort guests get that allows them into the parks 30 minutes before the general public. If you have a Little, try to take advantage of this perk because this is when wait times will be the shortest all day.
• Plan for a midday nap back at the resort. The nice thing about Disney Parks is that you can enter and exit multiple times throughout the day. Something we really enjoyed doing was going to the parks for early entry, staying until about Noon, taking a midday break back at the resort to nap and escape the heat, then head back in the late-afternoon to ride a few more rides and grab a bite to eat.
• Get familiar with where the Baby Care Centers are in each park. I am pro-Baby Care Center all the way. Like I mentioned in my blog post all about the Baby Care Centers, this is such a helpful amenity for parents with young children and babies. Whether you need to use their services (which are FREE btw!) or just need a place to escape the heat while you enjoy your lunch, it’s good to know where they are located in each park before heading there for the day.
• Purchase Memory Maker before your trip, not while you’re there. Memory Maker is Disney’s PhotoPass service - where, for one price, you get access to all of your photos on Disney property professionally taken by Disney’s PhotoPass Photographers. There are PhotoPass photographers all over the park in bright green outfits. If you know you’re planning to purchasing Memory Maker, purchasing it in advance can save you a lot of money. Advance purchase of Memory Maker will cost you $185 USD, whereas purchasing it during or after your trip will cost you $210 USD.
• Purchase Memory Maker on My Disney Experience (MDE) through a web browser, not the MDE app. In the app, it costs $210 USD, even if you plan to purchase Memory Maker in advance. To ensure you get the Advanced Purchase Rate, hop into your web browser on your laptop or computer and purchase it there through the MDE website.
• Familiarize yourself with which rides your Baby can ride. You want to make the most out of your time at the Parks and it would be a shame to walk across the park for a ride only to find out your Baby doesn’t meet the height requirement. In a previous blog post, I put together a list of all rides your Baby can go on.
• Be aware of stroller parking. For obvious reasons, strollers are not allowed inside many of the restaurants and ride queues. That being said, there are spaces, all over the parks, dedicated to stroller parking. Be aware that you should try to avoid leaving valuables in the stroller. A wise fellow guests told us on our first day: “This may be the most magical place on earth, but it may not always be the most trustworthy” as she told us a story about how she purchased souvenirs for her nieces, left it in the stroller, and it was missing when they returned to their stroller parking after a ride. Even at Disney things get stolen sometimes.
• Rent a locker. If you do have valuables or souvenirs you don’t want to carry around all day or leave in your stroller, you can purchase lockers at all of the parks.

Must-Haves For Park Days

These are some things that really helped make park days easier with our Baby:

• Rechargeable Stroller Fan - we purchased ours off of Amazon*. We really like this one because it tells you its battery life on a screen and one single charge lasted us 4 half-days in the parks.
• A stroller rain cover - Again, you just never know when it will rain in Florida. If you rent a stroller from Kingdom Strollers, like I mentioned above, it will include one with your rental. However, if you are bringing your own stroller, be sure to bring a stroller rain cover - just in case. It would really ruin the day to have a soaked stroller seat that your Baby would have to uncomfortably sit in for the rest of the day. 
• Roll-On Sunscreen / Sunscreen Stick (for you and Baby) - While we also had sunscreen spray, we always bring a sunscreen stick along as well. It makes application, especially on Baby’s face, so much easier. And if you have a finicky baby who doesn’t like applying sunscreen, this will definitely be a better alternative with less fuss. Our favourites are the roll-on sunscreen* and sunscreen stick* from sun bum.

Epcot With A Baby

We started our trip by visiting Epcot. While we didn’t know it at the time, Epcot ended up being our favourite park in all of Walt Disney World. It has the second most amount of rides that Babies can ride, it's slower paced compared to Magic Kingdom, and it is foodie heaven if you love to eat!

Our daughter and my husband dancing to the music of Gran Fiesta

• Have a breakfast plan. While Epcot is a foodie's heaven on earth, a lot of the quick-service restaurants (especially in the World Showcase) don’t open until around 11am, and the ones that do tend to have longer lines in the morning due to a low selection of quick-service options. So either plan to have breakfast at your resort before you leave for the parks, grab a breakfast at your resort to bring with you to the parks, be openminded that you may be in line waiting for a bit with everyone else looking for breakfast, or be prepared with snacks and hold off until most of the restaurants open at 11am.
• Rope Drop Frozen Ever After or Remi’s Ratatouille Adventure. Both of these rides are Baby-friendly and the most popular in the park. As you take advantage of Early Entry, pick one of these rides and head there immediately after entering the park, especially if you have a Frozen fan or Ratatouille lover.
• Escape the heat at the Sea Base. Home to over 4,000 sea creatures, this 5.7-million gallon indoor aquarium will have your Littles in awe. Inside the facility also has The Seas with Nemo and Friends, an interactive show where Littles can engage with Crush the Turtle called “Turtle Talk with Crush”, and a scavenger hunt booklet with stickers. 
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros is a great baby-friendly ride that usually ends up having a 5 minute wait or less. During our visit, we were able to ride it twice with no wait at all.
• Take a break from walking the World Showcase with the FriendShip Boats. Navigating around the World Showcase is a lot of walking. Thankfully Disney offers complimentary boat transportation across the lagoon called FriendShip boats. There are four Landings around the World Showcase Lagoon. The Mexico boat will drop off at Germany and the Canada boat will drop off at Morocco.
• This is the park to visit if you have a little princess who wants to meet all the Disney princesses. In 2024, there are currently 9 Princess Meet & Greets: Anna & Elsa, Asha, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, Moana, Mulan, and Snow White. You can also book a dining reservation at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, which is a Character Dining restaurant where you could meet Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora.

Magic Kingdom With A Baby

• Skip the “Let The Magic Begin” Welcome Show. This is a short (and I mean, really short) welcome show in front of Cinderella’s castle to kick off the start of the park day. It is only 5-minutes long, but if you enter the park for early entry, you’ll find yourself waiting in front of the castle for a good view for 30 minutes - wasting your early entry perks. If watching a show in front of the Castle is a non-negotiable, rest easy knowing that there are shows in front of the Castle all day long, including “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire” which occurs multiple times a day at various times. Instead of wasting your early entry perks waiting for the “Let The Magic Begin” Welcome show, take advantage of early entry and get some rides in, then circle back to the castle for “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire” later in the afternoon.
• Watch The Happily Ever After Fireworks Show From Your Hotel Room. With Littles, it can sometimes be too loud, overstimulating, and overwhelming to stick around until the end of the night to watch the Happily Ever After Fireworks Show. Instead, did you know that your Disney World Resort TV has a recording of the fireworks show on there. Get your Littles’ favourite park snacks to-go, head back to your resort, get them ready for bed in their pajamas, and watch the recording of the fireworks show from the comfort of your hotel beds. The nice thing about this option, too, is that you can hear the music and see the projections on the castle better, you don’t have to worry about navigating the post-fireworks transportation chaos, and this may be a good transition to a bedtime movie night.
• Visit the Baby Care Centre. Even if you don’t need to nurse your Baby or you’re comfortable changing your Baby from the public bathrooms, give the Baby Care Centre a visit anyways. It is the nicest of all four with the most Disney theming - inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Even the Cast Members are dressed in themed outfits. It also has baby-specific Disney merch for sale inside.
• Have A Plan For Rides. This park has the most baby-friendly rides with no height limit scattered all over the park. Knowing which rides are baby-friendly can help you avoid decision fatigue - leading to wasted time.

Hollywood Studios With A Baby

• Arrive for early entry OR get Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. Hollywood Studios has the least baby-friendly rides (only 2) and both of them have very long wait times. So, either plan to arrive for early entry so that you can ride both, purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, but accept that your Baby may only go on one (or no) rides that day.
• Don’t skip out on just exploring. Even though there aren’t a lot of rides, Hollywood Studios has a lot of immersive lands. Slow down, take time to really look at the details of this park (especially in Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge), and even try some of the themed foods.
• Smallest Baby Care Center. Since there are the least amount of rides for babies at Hollywood Studios, the Baby Care Center at this park is actually the smallest and the most inconvenient to access. The common area is very small, there is not an actual merchandise store inside unlike the other locations (and instead just a simple vending machine with baby staples). There isn’t a communal nursing room, but there are two small private nursing rooms instead.
• Skip the line. It is located inside of the Guest Services building and often there is a line in front of the building. If you are visiting the Baby Care Centre, you can walk right past the line, go inside, and walk straight into the Baby Care Centre on the left. No need to wait in the line.
• Plan ahead for Fantasmic. If you’re planning to see Fantasmic with your Baby, plan ahead with either booking a Fantasmic dining package (where, for a packaged price, you get to enjoy a meal at one of the select table service restaurants and you get express priority seating to the show later that night) or show up at least 30-45 minutes early for the show. Also plan to pack noise-cancelling earmuffs for your baby - as the show and fireworks can be loud for their sensitive ears.

Animal Kingdom With A Baby

• Take your photo with the Tree of Life behind the tree. While it is tempting to snap a photo of your family in front of the Tree Of Life right when you enter the park and see it, there are better photo spots. If you take the path behind the Tree Of Life, you get a great view without lots of people in the background.
• Book a reservation for Tusker House. This was our favourite restaurant during our whole trip. It is buffet style, the food was delicious and our 9 month old ate Mickey waffles and eggs for free. The character interactions are what made this experience the most magical though. The Characters really took their time with each table, was open to multiple photos, and Donald Duck even played peek-a-boo and danced with our daughter. It was so special!
• Take a hike. There are a lot of exploration trails located around the park with real animals to see. Your kiddos will absolutely love this!