So you’re planning a trip to Disney with your 1 year old? So exciting!! Yes, it is going to be MUCH different from any other trip to Disney you’ve ever had. I promise you all of the temper tantrums and stress is 1000 percent worth it!!! You will never forget the joy and wonder on your little one’s face as they take in all of the amazing things around them. I cannot wait to go back! While not everything here may help you, as each child is different, I hope to make planning your trip a little easier so that it runs more smoothly than mine did.

Flying

Basically what you need to know about flying is YES your child will probably cry at some point, YES your child will probably want to get down, YES they will try to put the tray table up and down over and over (especially if you’re on Spirit where those cheapies don’t even have a latch to hold the stupid tray up), YES no matter how hard you try to keep those little hands and feet contained, they will kick or pull on the seat in front of you, and YES there will probably be some JERK(S) that will get frustrated that a child is crying and/or kicking their seat. IGNORE THE JERK(S). They obviously have never had children or forget what it is like to contain wrestle a baby honey badger in a 2’x2’ area.

My suggestion is to bring their favorite snacks, small toy(s), and some sort of electronic device with their favorite show or movie loaded and ready to go. Then again, I’m that parent who let their child lay on the floor where a personal item would normally go.

Bottom line – Don’t stress. The more you stress, the more your child will stress. It is a very small fraction of your trip and you will likely never see the people on that plane again.

Napping

Oh the nap situation. I would say this is the only part of the trip we stressed about before hand. Should we go back to the room every day so he could nap? Should we let him try to nap in the stroller? What were we going to do if he didn’t nap at all and turned into an overtired crazy demon child?! The fact is I have zero advice for you. Each child is COMPLETELY different and I have no clue on how your specific child will react. I can only tell you my own experience.

We tried all of the above. My son is a light sleeper most of the time. When we took him back to the room to try to nap, he did not. All he wanted to do was play. However, taking a two-hour break in our hotel room to just let him do his own thing, play, and take a break from the sensory overload that is Disney did wonders. Even though he didn’t sleep, it recharged his battery just enough to get through the rest of the day.

Although he looked like he was going to fall asleep numerous times in the stroller, the only time he actually did was when my husband was walking through Animal Kingdom at the speed of light to try to make our lunch reservation. As I said before, Disney is complete sensory overload for a toddler, so my son was trying to take everything in and would not nap in the stroller.

The bus ended up being our naptime saving Grace. He would fall asleep either on the way to the hotel during the middle of the day, the way back to the park after what was supposed to be naptime in the hotel room, or at the end of the night on the way back to the hotel.

Again, each child is going to be different so you will probably have to wing it and go with the flow.

Tickets

The package we bought included five-day park hopper tickets. Did we need the park hopper tickets with a one year old? Absolutely not. Unless, like ours, your package includes a park hopper, do NOT waste your money on it. Plan on one park a day and take your time.

The Parks

Magic Kingdom

We spent a day and a half there. There is a TON to do for toddlers and pregnant women (I was 28 weeks pregnant during my trip).

** VERY IMPORTANT** If you go on Pirates of the Caribbean – DO NOT sit in the front row with your toddler! The space is too big and you cannot hold onto your child and the bar at the same time. My son and I almost fell out of the boat after going down the little drop. It is funny now, looking back because neither of us were injured, but it was not funny then!

 

Epcot

There is not much to do in Epcot for toddlers. We did the few rides that we could and then we walked around the “World”. Since the World Showcase was fairly empty, my husband and I let our son play by the fountains in the different countries for a long time. It ended up being an amazing break since we did not have time to go back to the hotel that day.

Animal Kingdom

The new Avatar river ride was great since we had a Fast Pass. However, if we had not had Fast Passes for this ride I would have been annoyed that we waited in such a long line with a toddler for a 2-minute ride. The Safari is great for toddlers! My son loved seeing the animals! And yes, I went on the Safari 28 weeks pregnant. Honestly, other than those two things there is not much to do at Animal Kingdom. We weren’t able to see the Lion King show so I cannot attest to that but the Finding Nemo Show is WAYYYY to long to keep the attention of a toddler. Also, Animal Kingdom seems to be 15 degrees hotter and more humid than any of the other parks.

Hollywood Studios

Unfortunately, this park has closed most of it’s attractions due to new construction so there isn’t much to see. The shows here were better suited for a toddler because they were shorter.

Fast Passes

Planning out fast passes was by far the biggest learning experience I had and I am truly hoping if you only take one thing from this blog post that it is from this section.

I had originally planned my Fast Passes around our dining reservations. My selections usually consisted of one morning, one afternoon, and one night Fast Pass. DO NOT DO THAT!!

Instead, make your Fast Pass selections back to back to back. If you do this the rest of your day will be much less stressful. If you want to go back to the room to chill out, you can. If you want to call it an early night, you can.

The Fast Pass selections I recommend for 1 year olds are:

Magic Kingdom – Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (if your kid loves Toy Story like mine) OR Meet Mickey at Town Square Theatre. We did not meet Mickey at Town Square Theatre; instead we did so at character meals. I will tell you my opinion on these further down in the blog.

Epcot – Frozen Ever After, Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot, and The Seas With Nemo + Friends.

Animal Kingdom – Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, and a show of your choice.

Hollywood Studios – Toy Story Mania!, and any two shows of your choice (I went in August 2017 when most things were closed. This may change as more opens back up)

Food

Our package included the Dining Plan. Whether the Dining Plan is worth it will be different from family to family. If you want to pack breakfast, lunch, and snacks it is not going to be worth the price but if you want to not worry about packing and preparing any meals, than the dining plan will be worth it.

We did a lot of character meals. I do NOT think these were worth the price. The characters are rushed and the food at most character dining is subpar.

Individual Restaurant Reviews

Hollywood and Vine – Minnie’s Seasonal Dining – Good food with lots of variety and options. Takes characters a long time to come around.

Sleepy Hollow – AMAZING!!! We both ordered the Fresh Fruit Waffle Sandwich and shared with our son. It was one of the best things we ate our entire trip.

Mickey’s Backyard BBQ – Total waste of money! The food is good but way overpriced for BBQ. Older children might get more out of this experience than toddlers as they dance with characters. We spent most of the time standing in line to meet characters. We could have done this in the park and saved $62/person.

Crystal Palace – Winnie the Pooh Character Breakfast – Great food and a giant selection. Most of the characters actually took their time, which did make it take longer, but my son had a great experience with them. Probably the only character meal I would do again.

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe – DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE! Terrible cafeteria food.

San Angel Inn – Great food and amazing atmosphere!

Sanaa – View of the Safari – I was personally disappointed that we were the first ones there for lunch and they sat us so we could barely see the animals and my son couldn’t see them at all. The food was AMAZING!! Be sure to get the bread service with all of the dips.

‘Ohana – The food was delicious and they give you a TON of food! The “activities” were definitely not for toddlers but the food was so good, we didn’t mind.

If you’ve read all the way through, thank you! It was a long post but when going to Disney, the more information, the better. I truly hope I have made your trip planning easier! If you have any questions or if you’ve been to Disney World with a 1 year old I would love to hear from you so please comment below!