Just got back a few days ago...

[GoingToDisney25]

From WDW and had a great week, but found FP does not make touring Magic Kingdom with a toddler easy at all. In fact, it's a huge challenge and you end up missing TONS of characters and rides as a result. I won't even go as far as browsing the shops and buying anything, which Magic Kingdom was the one park I didn't browse at all because I had literally no time to.

Because of FP, we were pretty much stuck in Fantasyland all day and walked back and forth between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland to try and fit a couple things in between FP times. I never even made it to the other side of the park until nighttime. Thank God for the 24-hour event because otherwise I would not have felt as though the theme park price would be justified to be able to go on 2 rides and meet a few characters.

I get that FP makes it so you don't have to wait, but then it leaves you with 1-2, maybe more, hours between that and your next attraction and you can't go far because there's most likely a wait there too. I also didn't like how the character meets outside were being done. I get that it's hot and the characters are only out for 10-15 min at a time, but if a crew member tells me the character will be back at 4 and I come back at exactly 4PM after running from possibly another part of the park to meet them, I do not want to hear the line is closed and they'll be back in another hour. I found out later that unless you're in line 10-15 min prior to their show-up time, you aren't going to be in that line. Mix that with the fact that they're all out at the same time for a limited time, scattered throughout the park, and some of them with long waits, you almost can spend your entire day trying to meet characters rather than actually meeting them. I see this only working easily for adults and adults with older kids. We didn't make our FP Be our Guest and never even made it there for lunch because we were going back and forth between characters, each time hearing the line was closed. Frustrating.... And I have a toddler, so that means I do need to stop and change a diaper, or walk slower because he has short legs, etc. Personally, I think Disney should have more people to switch them out more often and/or have them there later.

I'll be back in December, so hopefully next time around I can plan a little better and hope, since it'll be cooler and during the holidays, the opportunities to meet characters may be better.

I also do want to mention to anyone still on the fence about memory maker. It's 150% worth it, and I didn't even take full advantage of it. I also brought my DSLR and was taking pictures in addition to photopass, and have decided I will never go back to Disney without purchasing it.

I want to thank everyone on this board. Because of you guys, I was as prepared as I could have been for this trip, which was my first trip back since I was 12 years old and it definitely helped make my son's first trip and birthday a very special one. I do plan to keep watching the boards as I plan for my next trip in December.

Oh, one last thing. I don't recommend Animal Kingdom if you have a toddler. Is it a beautiful park? Yes, absolutely. But unless your child is like 40 inches, there's NOTHING there except the Safari ride, the Triceratop spin, and the shows. It's one of those parks that I've been to and probably wouldn't go back to until my son was much older. Then again, this also depends on your family. Disney for me is about my son, so I won't go on a ride if he can't. So, of course, if you and your family are different and will go on rides separate from each other, this may be different for you.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks for your thoughts. And yes, it can be tough with a little one.

Did you rent a stroller? You mentioned diapers, so I guess quite young. You mentioned walking slowly for the little legs. A stroller, preferably rented from offsite, would make things a WHOLE lot easier.

Get ready to enjoy again on your return visit.

 

[GoingToDisney25]

Thanks for your thoughts. And yes, it can be tough with a little one.

Did you rent a stroller? You mentioned diapers, so I guess quite young. You mentioned walking slowly for the little legs. A stroller, preferably rented from offsite, would make things a WHOLE lot easier.

Get ready to enjoy again on your return visit.

Yeah, I had our umbrella stroller, but my son wanted to walk most of the time and when I'd ask if he wants to sit down, he'd just start whining and no-ing lol. It's Disney, so he didn't want to be stuck to the stroller, and I'm sure it also had to do with the heat and his back up against the stroller. He was good and held my hand the entire time, so I had no issue with it. He'd actually get mad at me if I took my hand away to take pic for a second lol. But I may force him into the stroller next time, so we can actually get more done. He'll also be potty trained by then (hopefully lol) and I'll be able to schedule in quick bathroom breaks near attractions, and I definitely will try a different strategy for fastpass and scatter them throughout the park to allow me to actually leave one part. I also will skip Belle's enchanted tales. Personally I think it's a waste of time. It's cute, but nothing spectacular.

And yeah, he just turned 3 at the end of our trip, and we decided that we'd wait to get back to force the kid on the potty. He's been extremely resistant to the whole potty idea lol, but pull-ups actually made it pretty easy. I was even able to take him into a corner while my mom waited on line for daisy duck and minnie and just change his wet diaper quickly, but other than that, yeah, it would take me a little bit between running to the stroller, finding a corner somewhere, and changing him. It's also hard because I had to make sure since he's a small kid and won't tell me he's thirsty to keep him extremely hydrated, so we had like 10 water bottles and extra diapers in the locker and I ran twice from fantasyland to lockers and back to get stuff for him, which of course is a bit time consuming. I SO wish they'd put some lockers inside the park! LOL

I def hope and will try to plan better next time. Just wanted to throw my two cents in for anyone traveling with a toddler because I do have to admit, before leaving, I didn't account for all of that stuff taking time away mixed with the kind of inconvenient schedule + wait times.