Disney World with Little Kids: Top Rides, Shows, & Essential Tips
Addicted to the Mouse: Disney Podcast | Disney World, Universal, & Cruise Vacation Planning
In this episode, hosts Dana and Leslie provide a comprehensive guide for families visiting Walt Disney World with very young children. They
Key takeaways
- Magic Kingdom offers the highest number of toddler-friendly options with 16 rides having no height requirement.
- The Haunted Mansion pre-show can be skipped by asking a cast member if a child is sensitive to spooky themes.
Main topics
- Magic Kingdom rides for littles
- Epcot attractions and interactive water features
Notable quotes
We get a lot of questions about how to do Disney World with little kids that might not be old enough or ready for the larger rides.
Conclusion
This episode provides actionable advice for parents to ensure a succes
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) We get a lot of questions about how to do Disney World with little kids that might not be old enough or ready for the larger rides, and that's exactly what we're talking about today. Hello and welcome to Addicted to the Bounce. Today is Sunday, September 20th. You're listening to episode number 834, and this is Disney World with Littles, Top Rides, Shows, and Essential Tips. Speaker 1 (0:34) Hey everybody, Dana and Leslie here. Thanks for joining us today. I, you know, it's been kind of on our minds going to Disney World with Littles because my niece and her husband and little one are coming here shortly. And so we've been talking a lot about... Things to do with little kids. Speaker 2 (0:51) That's right. And so we are going to talk through all of the rides with no height requirement whatsoever, meaning you can take, assuming that you want to take your kid on one of these rides, you can take your kid regardless of what age they are. But we're also going to talk about some things that you can do whenever you're not feeling the ride or maybe you don't want to wait in the queue. So shows, walkthrough attractions, things like that. So a lot of really good information on what you can do that you don't have to worry about relying on RiderSwap. Speaker 1 (1:18) Absolutely. All right. Well, before we get into that, I don't have any news today, but I do have a quick review. And this, there's a lot of letters and numbers on this one, so I'm not exactly sure. the name of the person, but it's titled ABD Egypt Trip Review Rocked. It said, love the recap of your Egypt trip with ABD, so much so that we rewatched Death on the Nile that evening. Well done. Look forward to hearing about the second part of the trip. Speaker 2 (1:44) Oh, that's awesome. That is fantastic. Thank you so much for that review. And we actually just posted today the first video from the second part of the trip on YouTube. So I had to take a little break because we did the opening weekend, the media event for Halloween Horror Night. And then we had to do food and wine, of course. I mean, we got to get food and wine whenever it first starts up. So but now we're back on the trip. And so this is the video that posted today are the first two days of the seven night cruise. So it's embarkation day and then basically our sea day to get over to Greece. So it Speaker 1 (2:12) was fun. I got I always watch the video before he posts it. And it was fun getting to reminisce about. that time, you know, just like, yeah, Speaker 2 (2:21) I love reliving the trips. I relive them as I'm editing. So it's, it's so it's yeah, it's Speaker 1 (2:25) great. It's awesome. So, all right, well, um, let's get into this. So I think that it makes the most sense to just start at Magic Kingdom, right? Because Magic Kingdom by far has the most to offer for littles. Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:38) And I didn't. I mean, I always knew, of course, that Magic Kingdom had the most things to do for littles. But when I put numbers to this, it was a little bit shocking to me. 16 rides have no height requirement in Magic Kingdom. Epcot has seven. And then Hollywood Studios only has two. Wow. And Animal Kingdom only has three. Speaker 1 (2:56) And we're talking like attractions with no height requirement. No height Speaker 2 (2:59) requirement. Okay. Speaker 1 (3:01) So, I mean, there are probably some attractions that have a height requirement that would be low enough that your younger child might be able to ride it. It's just whether or not you want to or not. And so it's kind of, you know, there's obviously going to be... more things than what we talk about today that probably do have like a smaller height requirement that you could probably filter in depending on the height of your child. Speaker 2 (3:28) Yeah. Like for instance, I was thinking alien swirling saucers because that's definitely more of a kid friendly ride. But the height requirement on alien swirling saucers is 32 inches. So yeah, these rides are no height requirement at all. So like basically you just sit there. Speaker 2 (3:46) So anyway, okay, so are you ready to dive into Magic Kingdom? Speaker 1 (3:50) Yeah, let's do it. Okay, so let's start. I mean, like we've just walked our way down Main Street, USA. We've seen the castle and now I think let's head into Tomorrowland. We Speaker 2 (4:01) are going to start with a ride that I have never ridden before. There are not many of them. So if you listen to the podcast any time, you know, we don't do country bears because they creep us out. Figment, we're going to wait on the refurb for Figment over at Epcot and Astro Orbit. We just, I don't, it's something about taking that elevator up to the top of the thing and getting on the little thing and spinning around in circles. I don't know. But there's no high requirement for it, so it can't be too scary. But yeah, Astro Orbiter is the first ride. That you can do over there. Yeah. Speaker 1 (4:32) So, I mean, if you want to take that elevator up and do that, then I'd say go for it. More power to you. All right. Speaker 2 (4:40) And right next door to Astro Orbiter is Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This is fantastic. It is newly refurbished. So they have a whole new blaster system with targets. And this has no height requirement either. Speaker 1 (4:54) And it's so fun. And I mean, it's one of those that I think it's a little tough depending. on how old your child is. I remember trying to do this when Jennings was very itty bitty and it's a little challenging to shoot the targets while you're holding a child. Yeah. But it doesn't have a height requirement. So if you can somehow assist or maybe just you're just going along to enjoy it or whatever, just know you're probably not going to get like the Galaxy Hero Award if you are assisting a little one. Speaker 2 (5:29) Next up is Dumbo the Flying Elephant. This is in Fantasyland. So huge tip on this one. There's an indoor playground and it is really nice in there. So, I mean, air conditioned space. You can go in there. Your kids can just run all over the place in the indoor playground. And that is how you wait for your cue, basically. So there's a short cue, like once you leave that to get on the ride. But honestly, like we would go in here like when Jennings was little. We'd go in here and just. let him play for a while and they'd call us and be like, Oh, we're not ready yet. Could we, you know, can we stay in there a little longer? Yeah. They were cool with it. Um, but yeah, it's a good one. Speaker 1 (6:03) Yeah. I always enjoyed that. Um, another one is haunted mansion over in Liberty square. Now this one, you know, it, it, it's not scary, but I suppose that it could be a little spooky depending on how, um, how sensitive your child might be. And so do keep that in mind, even though it is, it does not have a height requirement. Everybody can ride it. Um, you might just keep in mind the theming behind it. Speaker 2 (6:28) Pro tip for little ones. Uh, the scariest part of the entire attraction for most people is the stretching room. And that's Speaker 1 (6:34) a Speaker 2 (6:34) pre-show. You actually don't have to watch that. You can ask if you could just skip the pre-show and go straight to the queue for the Omnimover ride through the haunted mansion. So, um, there's a, there's Speaker 1 (6:43) a Speaker 2 (6:43) good tip for you. Speaker 1 (6:43) Yep. So just ask the, the, cast member that is leading you into the room and they will guide you exactly where you need to go. All right. The next step is going to be, it's a small world. Now this is one I definitely think you should not miss for whenever you have a little one, because one, it's just fun and bright and colorful has a really. addictive song that you can sing along to for the whole rest of the day. And I think that they would enjoy, you know, seeing all the little dolls dancing around and everything. So it's a good one. Speaker 2 (7:09) Next is the Jungle Cruise. And bonus, if you go in the holiday season, it turns into the Jingle Cruise. So it is a holiday themed, which is really, really fun. But we love this ride. It is. You know, it is, it's all animatronic animals that you're sailing past. What? They're not Speaker 1 (7:28) real? And the boat itself Speaker 2 (7:29) is on a track. So it's pretty tame. Of course, there's no seatbelts or anything like that. Again, no height requirements. The real winner of the attraction, though, are the skippers. Yes. And they are hilarious. They are very... punny jokes that they say throughout the entire ride. And that's why we go. Leslie's the one cackling at all of the puns over there when we're writing these. I Speaker 1 (7:54) was going to say, if you're ever on and you hear a loud little witch cackle on your boat, you might look around because it might be me. All right. Next up over in Fantasyland, we have Mad Tea Party. Now, this is one that you and I have both ridden, but we don't. ride it anymore because it is very spinny. Um, now, I mean, anybody can ride it, but, and you do kind of control how much it spins. But, um, if you get queasy at all, like I just can't spin in circles around that many times, it's not going to go well. So. Speaker 2 (8:28) Next is Peter Pan's Flight. This is in Fantasyland. This one has a kind of a reputation for having extended wait queues that don't really match the experience. And that's fair. I don't love waiting super long at this ride. However, I will tell you that the queue itself, if you were in the standby queue, there are some interactive elements, which actually makes the wait a little bit more bearable. And then what I really like about it, it's a dark ride, but the ride vehicles themselves are suspended from the ceiling. So everything you're looking, you are above all of the scenes, which is really fun, which is probably why, because it is a little bit different, why that it is a little bit more popular. Yeah. Speaker 1 (9:08) Next up is Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, this one is, of course, themed to Pirates of the Caribbean, if you couldn't tell by the name. And it is a fun little boat ride. Now, there are two. small drops, but you don't have a seatbelt. You don't have a bar. You don't have anything strapping you into this boat. So they're very tame drops. So don't be concerned about that, but do know that it is possible, you know, it's going to be coming. All Speaker 2 (9:35) right. Next is Prince Charming Regal Carousel. This is, it should be pretty straightforward. I mean, it's just a carousel, like just like you would see anywhere else, but it is there in Fantasyland and again, no high requirement. Speaker 1 (9:48) All right. And then we've, We've got Magic Carpets of Aladdin over in Adventureland. Now, this is just kind of like a spinner ride. Yeah. So, I mean, it's just it's very tame. Probably one of the fun, most fun parts about it is the camel that spits water at you out front. So definitely check that out. But it's going to be very similar to like. A Dumbo type attraction. Speaker 2 (10:09) Yeah. Okay. And then back in Fantasyland, we're going to another dark ride, the Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Now, this dark ride is a normal dark ride. You're in a vehicle on a track on the ground. You're not suspended over it like you are in Peter Pan. However, the queue here is amazing. If you do the standby queue in the Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, there's a ton of interactive elements in there. And so it's really super fun for kids to play with those elements as you're waiting. And it's kind of like a little mini playground. as you're walking through there. However, I would say pack the hand sanitizer because everyone is touching these elements. I Speaker 1 (10:44) was going to say, it's all fun elements at your kid's height level that can like, they can touch all over and all of this. And so you just got to think about the... thousands