As first time visitors to Disney World last year, I did a TON of research on what we should see with the girls. I knew there was no way we'd ever come close to seeing it all so I wanted to be sure we didn't miss something really big and awesome because we were distracted by 50 other cool things first.
Knowing that we needed a game plan for our young kids, I had the list of things to see, in which order, all figured out ahead of time. I wanted to maximize what we saw with the least amount of waiting in line and working within the limited number of hours I knew we'd have each day. I knew we'd be overwhelmed once we got into the parks and I thought having a checklist would help guide us through the chaos.
Day 1, Magic Kingdom went something like this:
Arrived at the park early only to discover it takes an hour to leave our car and actually get on to the grounds because of the shuttle trains and lines and monorail jump over the pond. Finally get inside the park and BEE LINE it up Main Street passing amazing things in order to get to Dumbo (which my guidebook insisted we had to do first if we wanted to do it at all.) Arrive at Dumbo to discover a 30 minute wait already exists.
Panic set in.
We'd been "on the go" for 2.5 hours getting ready and to the park, had ran past so many appealing looking attractions to get to Dumbo that both girls were crying from disappointment, and we still hadn't done one fun thing. Only to discover we should wait in line for 30 minutes??
I looked at my list trying to figure out what the next thing was that we should try to do instead. The Winnie the Pooh ride was right there but we needed to get Fast Passes in order to ride it if we didn't want to wait 45 minutes.
The plan had Failed. In a huge and horribly dramatic way. Now I was nearly in tears, too.
All that planning, all that hard work ahead of time to prevent this exact scenario. I was miserable.
Then Handyman Tim came to my rescue.
After a deep breath we decided he would run to get the Winnie the Pooh Fast Passes while I took the girls to wait for the teacups ride. It gave us time to collect ourselves for a minute and then Tim invented the Single Most Brilliant Disney Planning Tip you will ever find:
The "See One Thing" Rule!
When you are visiting Disney with 2 very young children (ages 5 and 2 at the time for us!) you absolutely must set your expectations to LOW. Lower that bar waaaay down if you want to save your sanity.
Tim's magic rule is simple:
One Thing Per Day. That's it.
Go into the park expecting to see One Single Thing.
As a family discuss that one thing the night before so everyone is on board with what they feel is the single most important thing to do.
Once you've Accomplished that One Thing you have your whole day ahead of you. It's like every single hour after that is a magic bonus hour because you've already done your One Thing.
I'm not even kidding how this simple tweak changed our attitudes and outlook and absolutely saved our family vacation.
Day 2, Magic Kingdom went something like this:
We arrived slightly earlier to the park since we now realized how long it would take to get inside. As a family we agreed that our One Thing was to see Mickey Mouse in his dressing room off of Main Street and have our picture taken with him.
With our plan in mind, we entered the waiting line for Mickey but the girls were Happy! They knew exactly what we were doing and why we had to wait. MICKEY! We were all excited, relaxed, and enjoyed our short wait to meet the mouse. After our meet and greet was over we lounged in the hat shop and bought the girls their mouse ear hats.
We strolled up Main Street and I spent maybe 20 minutes just taking pictures of the girls wandering around and happy with their new mouse ears. Those pictures are some of the best from our entire trip.
With our sense of accomplishment and relaxed pace, everything else we did that day felt like bonus. We spent most of the rest of our day in Tomorrow Land on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Everyone enjoyed it so much we did it twice.
Because, why not?? We'd already done our One Thing!
Do you need some help picking out your own One Thing? Here are our family recommendations per park. I hope they help you to prioritize your own One Thing Itinerary!
The Top Attractions to See at Disney World
Please keep in mind these recommendations are intended for families with children ages 6 and under.
Magic Kingdom:
We focused on one land per day and then one single must-see ride as our One Thing. Our favorites included:
Fantasyland: Peter Pan's Flight
Tomorrowland: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Main Street Area: Mickey's Meet & Greet
Adventureland, Frontierland, & Liberty Square: TBD (We honestly didn't get here, hoping to update after April '13!)
Epcot:
Handyman Tim's Pick: Rose and Crown Pub Ha! Funny guy, but honestly Epcot was by far his favorite of the parks.
The Peanut's Pick (age 5): Journey Into Imagination with Figment
My Pick: Strolling through the topiaries during the annual Garden Festival
Hollywood Studios:
The Whole Family Recommends: Toy Story Mania
This ride is worth running to from the opening gate. We got there so quickly we were able to ride it once and then circle around a second time with just a short wait in line to ride again. By the time we were done with our second turn the wait line was so long and the Fast Passes were nearly gone. It's also a fussy ride that can break down. They ended up shutting it down for the rest of that day so we were all so happy we had made it our One Thing for the day.
Animal Kingdom: (In my opinion, skip it altogether if you have a toddler but if you must. . .)
Handyman Tim's Pick: Kilimanjaro Safari
The Peanut's Pick (age 5): The Lion King show (but this was extremely Unpopular with Little Pea, age 2)
My Pick: I honestly can't even say. I was pretty miserable the entire time that day since Little Pea had hit the end of her rope. This particular park is better for older kids who don't mind more intense rides. The landscaping was beautiful though.
Was this information useful? Interested in seeing more Disney vacation planning tips? Check out my full Disney Vacation Guide here!
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Shannon H
Great advice! I disagree about skipping Animal Kingdom with a toddler though...it was my daughter's favorite park by far when she was under 3 (now it is Magic Kingdom.) Also some good news...thanks to New Fantasyland you don't really have to stand in line for Dumbo anymore, you get to play in a fun circus playground while you wait for your pager to go off, then go ride. For Winnie the Pooh, if you don't do Fast Pass then your kids get to play in the fun playground while you wait in line. Not as much fun for you but the playground is a blast!
Erin Fields
I agree, I think my kiddo enjoyed the playground as much as the ride! We did fastpass the second day for Dumbo and he got to bypass the whole playground and go straight to the ride and I think he was disappointed haha!! But, your husband is a genius Tiffany! That's definitely good advice! 🙂
Amanda
Wonderful idea! As someone who's been to Disney countless times, I've wondered how I will handle bringing our new little guy. We want to try to go every year, and I want him to become as much a fan as his parents are! With that in mind, I will have to scale down my excitement for him to experience it all, and simply allow him to see his "one thing" each day. Ingenious!
Tiffany
Shannon: Everyone has their favorites, don't they? Glad to hear you loved Animal Kingdom. Our experience last time wasn't great, but maybe another year!
We are totally excited to check out the new Fantasyland this year. That Dumbo play area sounds awesome, can't wait to see it ourselves! Thanks for the insight, Erin & Shannon!
Amanda, Yes, definitely it is good to have a reality check to avoid disappointment. I'm a huge Disney fan and out of our 4 member family was the only one who had been to the parks. I wanted to share it with everyone and got way ahead of myself! Thank goodness for reasonable husbands. 🙂
stacy
Great idea! Sorry you had such a horrible time at Animal Kingdom, our first trip was reversed. I could have just stayed in Animal Kingdom the whole time! Even though we roughed a torrential downpour it was such a cool experience, like walking in to a different country and so much less crowded. We loved it! We had nothing but hard times at Magic Kingdom ... this summer, I'll se the one thing rule 🙂
Erin
What great advice! The hubs and I spent about a year living in Fla. pre-kids! We had Disney World passes and I remember families with crying kids and no one looked very happy to be at the "Happiest place on Earth" We now have a 7yro & 3yro. We have yet to make it back down to DW. But we did go on the Disney Cruise last Nov. it was pretty chill because "where are the characters going to go? We are on a boat!" as my husband reminded our then 6yro.
When we go to DW, we are adopting your mantra!!
Jay
We just got back from Disney World 6 days ago....I SO wish I had read this before our trip. I have two four year olds...I did the same thing researched a billion websites (how did I miss this article!) put the "perfect" game plan together and quickly realized we were running around like crazy trying to get to wherever before the masses did....we would hurry up and then wait (in line)...hurry up then wait. After two days we decided...we were going to sleep in and if we didn't get to do something oh well...at least we had our sanity. We did miss Toy Story Mania...we went there first but the line was already over two hours and the fast passes were gone! Great article!
Melinda
I've been doing Disney with my 4 kids for many years. My oldest is 15, and he's been there 8 times!! We're obsessed:-) anyway.....the absolute best advice i could ever give anyone is to go in September!!!! The lines are so short that you simply dont feel the need to rush around. Also, get their early in the day...leave to rest....and come back in the evening!
Kerum
We have gone to DW 3 times as a family. Each time we've added a kid. LOL Our oldest got to go when he was a couple of months shy of 3 years old. The next time our 2nd son was 10 months old and our oldest was 4 and the last time our oldest was 6, 2nd son was 2 (turning 3 the next week) and our youngest was 1.
We have gone in the "off-season" each time (2nd week of November twice and 2nd week of January). I HIGHLY suggest the off-season...I know kids have school, and I am all about education, but the family time is important to us (we are military and don't get regular vacation time anyway). FYI..they decorate the parks for Christmas in EARLY November...the castle is AWESOME! Look for when they start having Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and you'll get the Christmas season feeling but not the crowds.
Anyway, a flexible frame of mind is a MUST at Disney World. You pick your must haves and everything else is gravy. I also have to say that don't discount Epcot. We had friends say they weren't going to that park and we talked them into it...they ended up going there twice because their 5 year old daughter loved some of the rides there! Each park has something to offer...even if it's just the dinosaur bone park in Animal Kingdom. 😉 Our plan the first year was to go to each park for one day (Magic Kingdom was allotted two days). We purchased the park hopper passes just in case and figured if we didn't think Epcot or whatever park we were in was going well with our son, we'd just leave and go somewhere else at lunchtime. After that, we knew the places in each park that offered something for the little kids and catered to them with some stops for us adults in between.
I LOVE Disney World...my first time was when my son went for his first time and I still get goosebumps thinking about going. 😀 I could go every month and still be happy going. I want my husband to be stationed in Florida so we can go more often...LOL We'll see!
Brandi K
We are literally leaving for DW in one week and will have 2 toddlers with us! So glad I read this article!!
Stephanie C
I agree! As a recently divorced mother of 3 small kids( ages 5,4 and 3) we go to DW often. We are FL residences with annual passes. I now go in with letting each kid vote with park we go to. Once there we all pick a ride we have to go on. After that we happily wonder around finding new things.
You didn't mention Hollywood Studios. They have an awesome Pixar themed area and fun little play areas such as Honey I shrunk the kids.
Susan (5 Minutes for Mom)
Brilliant advice!!! I wish I'd had that mindset when we had our girls at Disney World. Next time!
Jen
Perfect advice! We just took our 2 and 4 year old to Disney and pretty much followed the same rule. Yes...it was quite a challenge with the 2 year old. Especially our day in MK when he wanted me to hold him the ENTIRE day, but still worth every moment! Can't wait to go back in a couple years!!!!
Lisa
Animal Kingdom MUSTS: Safari & The Nemo Show!!! I say do Animal Kingdom & Epcot in the same day and make it a day that Epcot is on evening Extended Magic Hours -- You can finish Animal Kingdom fairly early in the day and then head right over to Epcot! You can actually also do another day with morning at Disney Studios and afternoon evening at Epcot, in the event you wanted more time at Epcot.
I just took my daughter who is about to turn 3. All of my other kids have been, but she'd not been. We actually did the "ONE THING" plan ourselves (and I found your post after we returned home) -- but I AGREE whole heartedly. Make a plan to do ONE special thing and then you are so right, the rest is just a bonus. Our one thing was Belle's Enchanted Tale! My princess got to meet almost every princess in the Magic Kingdom, but not one of them was as significant as her meeting Belle!!! It made our entire trip! Even dinner in the Castle (Cindy's) wasn't as special as her meeting Belle face to face. I've never seen my baby so happy! Great idea to share this tip!!! I say it is still a great idea to make an itinerary, but pick one MAIN thing on the itinerary that MUST be accomplished!
Also, i agree, hands down, Toy Story Mania is the B E S T!!!
Brooke
You are going back!! Lucky! We just went over my oldest (5 years old)daughter's Christmas break. I agree, my 18 month old was more happy at the resort where she could run around! That being said, when you go back I HIGHLY reccomend the "Enchanted Tales with Belle." It is in the new fantasy land! It said a 90 minute wait, but honestly I think it was more like a 30 minute wait. Anywho, you go into Belle's cottage and are "transported" via a magic mirror into the Beast's castle. Have your oldest daughter practice roaring. They pick kids to play "parts" and the best "roar" gets to be the Beast. MY DAUGHTER WAS THE BEAST the second time we did this. This might not seem all that fabulous...until you see your daughter dancing with Belle! Ugh! My heart still swells and tears sting my eyes when I watch the video I took or look at the pictures! I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY reccommend doing this for your girls! By far Disney's BEST character interaction!
Lani
Thank you so much for writing this! I am in the middle of planning our trip with our 2yr old and soon-to-be 4 yr old girls. This so would have been me! I've been researching rides and wait times and touring plans. Trying to plan the perfect disney vacation. Its my new obsession. I can totally see me standing in the middle of MK and wanting to cry because all my months of hard work just went down the drain. Reading this, I actually felt the "panic set it". Thanks for the advice!
Sara
This is our third year in a row going (next month). My boys are. 1 and 3. So I have been while pregnant and nursing. One piece of advice to having a great time - stay on Disney property! We are staying at an Epcot resort so just a short walk to Epcot and short boat ride to Hollywood Studios. We may enjoy one park during the day, come back to rest and head to Epcot's world showcase or the Boardwalk at night. The one thing my son who loves dinosaurs wants is to ride the Triceratops ride in Animal Kingdom. It's like Dumbo. But I really hope we can make it on the safari this year!
Leah
I did a lot of research before taking our 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 boys to Disney this month. This was by far the most useful piece of information I took with us. We adhered to the see one thing rule (which for the boys was meeting Mickey every morning no matter which park) and after that the day was ours! We didn't do everything (or even a fraction of what we thought we would) but as a result the boys didn't feel stressed or rushed and had the best time possible and they can't wait to go back. We can't either!
Kelly
This is great advice. I would also add to go during the off times if you can. We will manage to get in lots of rides since there are often rides (even popular ones) with a 10 minute or less wait. There have been times we have even got off a ride and walked right back to have no wait to go a second (or 3rd or 4th even) time.
Cassie
I just stumbled upon this site from pinterest and after reading all the positive feedback I have to say, this is completely insane! I mean no offense but after paying what Disney charges how could you be content with seeing one thing! My children are close to the same age as yours and we visit more than once a year. With some planning and effort on my part, we see and enjoy nearly all of the attractions each year. When they get tired they nap in the stroller, no big deal.
On the flip side I guess I'm glad there are people like you to make the lines shorter for the rest of us!
Tiffany Dahle
Cassie, the point of the post is not to see one thing and then walk out of the parks. The point is to make sure your family is in agreement with what the single most important thing is and do that first so that the pressure is relieved on the rest of the day. Everyone has already done the most important thing and is free to relax and enjoy the magic as it comes. Trust me, we got more than our money's worth on our park passes and saw a very long list of things every day we were there.
Melissa
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have read every book, web post, My Disney Experience all of the time and the "See One Thing" rule was the most useful piece of advice of anything I have read. Taking a 6 & 7 year old for first time. Our last day we were only doing a character breakfast at Ohana. Kept thinking we would be wasting park ticket. Not anymore, anything else is butter.....
PRW
Absolute genius! You never know how long the kiddos will make it once inside the park. We are definitely using your rule this Fall when we go!
Courtney
Nothing ruins a Disney trip like trying to do too many things. You really miss out on the experience that way.
Debbie
My husband and I went to WDW with our daughter and her 4 kids a couple of years ago(ages 6-10). One of my favorite things at Magic Kingdom(one that really helped save my sanity) was Tom Sawyer Island. We took sack lunches for the kids and found a picnic table right near a small playground. There were very few other people around, and the sounds from the park were muffled by the trees. The kids could eat and play and the adults were able to relax and easily keep an eye on them from the picnic table. Everyone benefitted from a break from sensory overload.
Heidi
Looking back on our first trip the best moments weren't the ones rushing around trying to get to see the must do's, but the things that we just happened to stumble upon. We got to the park later than we thought we would, but to the end of main street just in time to see the big show in front of the castle with all the characters. My daughters face was priceless. Then we randomly came across our kids favorite characters that we weren't even expecting to see. Marie at the magic kingdom, them baloo at Animal Kingdom. Those were my three favorite parts of our trip and we didn't even plan for them.
Cami
I just found your blog via Pinterest and this is one of the best Disney tips I've read (and I plan Disney trips so I've read a lot)! Rushing around trying to accomplish too much can really take the joy out of such a joyful place!