Making the most of Disney World with young children
It would be just plain wrong to say that booking a trip to Walt Disney World for the whole family isn’t a complete and utter minefield!
How do you book tickets, where do you stay, how much will it all cost, do I need Genie+, what rides can my baby go on… etc., etc. Do I need to say any more?
We travelled earlier this year with 3 children, aged 1, 6 and 12. For the 6 and 12 year olds, Walt Disney World is perfect! We have a tall 6 year old, who could go on EVERYTHING in each of the Disney parks, and both of them are total thrillseekers. But, if you have a smaller child like we did, you may be wondering if it’s even worth taking the trip or if you should wait until they are older.
But just look at the glee on her face!
The perfect age to enjoy all of the magic of Disney. I guess we will just have to go again when our youngest is older (oh no, what a shame!)
So here are my top tips for making the most of a Disney World vacation with an under-two in tow!
1. Plan Ahead
Sounds boring, unless you’re a planner-sort-of-person like me. I love plans. I’ll plan all day long. I have our holidays planned out for the next 3 years. Do I need help?
Anyway… this really makes a difference. By looking at the rides and planning ahead, you will easily be able to work out which rides at which parks are available for everyone, and, more crucially, which rides have Rider Swap available so that you can have a go on the bigger rides with your other children.
2. Use Rider Swap
Rider Swap is so easy to use in the parks. You go up to a Cast Member under the umbrella at the entrance, they will scan your Magic Pass / Magic Band and it gives you a return time for the other adult and one other child to go on the ride a second time. Because we had our 6 year old and 12 year old going on the rides, we took turns in who got the ‘extra ride’ with the other parent.
Rider Swap Rides in each park:
Magic Kingdom
The Barnstormer - We used Genie+ for this one instead of Rider Swap!
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - We paired this with Genie+ on our second day in Magic Kingdom. It was our first ride of the day, so we only had a 10 minute wait time both times!
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - The queues can be long, it’s worth a swap if you as adults both want to get on it with your kids!
Space Mountain - Obviously, no babies allowed. We didn’t use Rider Swap on this one because I am a wimp.
Splash Mountain - Again, big queues, we didn’t do a rider swap on this one due to nap time, but did both get on this ride on separate days.
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway - We didn’t try this one out unfortunately!
Animal Kingdom
Avatar Flight of Passage - The queues on this are HORRENDOUS! Sometimes it can be up to 3 hours. Definitely a priority for Rider Swap.
DINOSAUR - Brilliant ride, we absolutely loved this one. We used Rider Swap but the queues died down at the end of the day so we had a few extra goes with very little wait time.
Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain® - Sadly this ride was out of action when we went, so no chance to try it out.
Kali River Rapids - Whoever is not riding on this one, make sure you go onto the bridge near to the exit / accessible entrance and shoot water at the unsuspecting voyagers!
Na'vi River Journey - We missed this one, but it’s on the list for our next trip!
Hollywood Studios
Alien Swirling Saucers - A great family friendly ride, definitely worth a Rider Swap in my opinion.
Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith - See above: I am a wimp. So no Rider Swap on this one, but the more daring of you would need to snap this up. Queues can be long or short, it’s a bit of a gamble with this ride.
Slinky Dog Dash - Queues for this are awful. We didn’t use Rider Swap for this as it was only the two of us who wanted to ride.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run & Star Tours® - The Adventures Continue - We aren’t HUGE Star Wars fans in our house, so these rides didn’t take priority for us. If you are, then these are worth a Rider Swap as, again, the queues can be long!
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - This was our first ride of the day and so the queue time was minimal, so minimal in fact that my husband and kids were out of their ride before my Rider Swap return time!
EPCOT
Frozen Ever After - Your little ones can come on this ride too, as there is no height restriction, but if you find yourself stuck with a baby and an ill-timed nap, Rider Swap can come to the rescue! Queues can be long for this, unless you get there at opening.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - We didn’t try this one, but all Rider Swap participants are required to be in a Virtual Queue boarding group or have an individual Lightning Lane.
Mission: SPACE - Again, we didn’t try this one out!
Soarin' - This was an amazing ride! We did Rider Swap right at opening time, so very little queue time on either wait.
Test Track - Again, we didn’t try this one out either! We spent very little time in EPCOT compared to the other parks, and focused more on the rides that everyone could go on.
3. Keep an eye on queue times
The best app for this is Lines WDW by Touring Plans. You can fully customise your day in each park by ticking the rides that YOU prioritise, when you want to take lunch/rest breaks, and how much walking vs waiting you are prepared to do, and the app will then optimise your day for you and recommend the order for each ride. You can re-optimise throughout the day.
We used this and managed to get on every ride we wanted to except for one or two, without using Genie+. In fact, we only used Genie+ on our second day in Magic Kingdom, and the maximum wait time we had was about 2 hours for Avatar: Flight of Passage. Other than that, our wait times were around 45 - 70 minutes as an absolute maximum.
