Before talking about Magic Kingdom, let me give you a quick review about our Disney’s Art of Animation resort. This resort is listed under Value category which means the cost of staying here is affordable. All value resorts are character theme resorts except The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Read more about benefits of staying in WDW Resort property here
Disney’s Art of Animation resort is perfect if you want to be reminded that you’re at Disney. My daughter enjoyed every single detail of the resort from the decorations, the characters, the arcade, the room to the largest pool of Disney’s resort. The pool is heated so no matter what season you stay, you are always welcome to the pool.
PLAN YOUR DAY AHEAD
- Disney Dining plan – Do I need a dining plan? It is a “NO” for our family of three because I and my daughter are not the real eaters. We can’t finish 3 course meals. If you are a strong eater, you can consider about the dining plan. Or if you have kids under 3 in your group, you might join the dining plan since it’s free for them then you can share the meals which is more efficient.
- Try not to come during the holiday. Magic Kingdom is the most crowded park even during the weekdays. If your kids do not attend the school yet, try not to visit the park during the holidays/weekends.
- FAST PASS – If you stay in the WDW Resort property, you can reserve your fast pass up to 60 days. Do your research and download the map so you know where the rides/attractions at. After that, try to reserve the fast pass as early in the morning as possible. After you finish your last fast pass, you can reserve another one.
- Lunch and Dinner – you can reserve the restaurant up to 6 months before and the famous restaurants run out of seat quicker than the rides so do your research and reserve it as soon as possible. If you change your mind, you can cancel it 24 hours before your appointment with no charge.
- Prepare water and portable fan. Bottle water is expensive there but the fountain water is free. If you don’t mind to drink fountain water, just bring the empty bottle. All restaurants and food courts have free water. Florida is hot all year round and you don’t want your kids sweat all the time so prepare a fan. I bought the portable fan with mist spray from Kohl’s for $7 which is sold as $25 in the park.
OUR DAY
Let me share with you our day at Magic Kingdom with a toddler. She was 3 years and 8 months old. Her height was barely 40 inches/100cm with the help of her shoes. We booked the resort and tickets 45 days ahead so we only have 45 days instead of 60 days to reserve the fast pass. I chose Peter Pan’s flight, big mountain and the last one was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at 2 PM. I divided the rides into 2 different categories. One is “the look” and one is “the feel”. The look means theater attractions, parades and the slow rides which you can see the theme around. The feel means the roller coaster rides which cause the sinking feeling. My daughter is more into “the feel” than “the look”. However, she was not high enough to ride all the roller coasters.
We woke up at 6 AM, left the resort at 7 AM, took the shuttle bus and arrived at Magic Kingdom around 7:15 AM (thanks to the magic hours benefit for the resort guests). Since it was the hurricane season and Dorian was about to land so the park was not as crowded as usual. I went to Tomorrowland first and ride the Tomorrow Speedway which is the only ride she can do because of the height. After that, we went to Fantasyland and rode every single ride at least twice. We didn’t even need the fast pass since the waiting line was too short (about 5-10 minutes).
We had lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant. I had to keep looking at the website every day to see if anyone dropped their reservations since the restaurant was full months ago. Even with the reservation, we had to be in line for about 45 minutes. The restaurant was so nice with beauty and the beast theme. Since my daughter was allergic with peanut, the staff took almost an hour to check her food and we ended up so hungry when the food arrived. For me, the food was average, the service was slow. We might not come back here again.
After lunch, my daughter fell asleep so we went to the shops to see if we can buy anything and also waiting for the parade. Disney parade has never disappointed me. The parade was wonderful. I was sad that my daughter missed it.
After the parade, we continued with Frontierland and Adventureland. I tried to convince her to the shows but she was not interested in any of them. We skipped all the shows and went straight to the rides. Below is the score for each ride we did:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 10/10. This is the long roller coaster.
Mad Tea Party 10/10 – She was in love with this one
Dumbo the Flying Elephant 9/10 – For me, this ride was boring but kid is still a kid. My daughter loved this ride and she came back for it several times.
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin 10/10 – same as Dumbo ride. I think kids love basic 
Peter Pan’s Flight 10/10
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 9/10 – this is the only ride that include both “the look” and “the feel”. The only reason I give this ride a 9 but not a 10 is because the roller coaster is too short.
Under the Sea 9/10
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin 8/10
It’s a small world 8/10
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 8/10
The barnstormer 7/10. this ride is super short 🙁
Tomorrow Speedway 6/10 – my kid said it was boring
Haunted Mansion – we skipped it because my kid scared of the darkness
We were too lucky to come on the day that the park was kind of empty so we could ride most of everything at least twice. My kid enjoyed everything, not only the rides/attractions but also the atmosphere, the park itself, the ice-cream and the basic ride such as Dumbo the flying elephant or mad tea cup which we don’t need to be in line for so long even on the busy day. Trust me; 1-2 hours waiting for popular ride/attraction is not worth it if you come with toddlers. Let them play the simple rides and enjoy their moment. As long as my kid is happy, my vacation is wonderful.
