The Magic Kingdom has more to do and see than any of the other parks at Disney World. I always like to have a plan of attack for the day when we visit the Magic Kingdom, just to make sure we don’t miss out on any of our toddler’s favorites! I thought it would be fun to share our typical morning at the Magic Kingdom! Keep in mind that we live local to the parks and usually don’t spend a full day, but this will give you an idea of how we usually like to plan our time!

A Morning at the Magic Kingdom with an Infant and a Toddler

Arriving to the Park

Arrive at the parking lot 30-60 minutes before park opening. If we happen to have a breakfast dining reservation inside the Magic Kingdom, we would arrive at least 30 minutes prior to that reservation time. My number one tip for a fantastic day at the parks: Arrive before the park opens.

We make our way through security. Usually I take the toddler ahead and my husband handles the bag and the stroller.

After security, we decide how we’d like to get from the Transportation Ticket Center over to the park. We almost never take the Ferry. If the express monorail already has long lines, we take the resort monorail. This is merely personal preference. I don’t like being stuck in the monorail car with people standing right on top of you and the resort monorail is usually less crowded. This is a great opportunity to feed your baby if they’re hungry.

We unload everyone off the monorail and head to the entrance! Scan our magic bands and let the fun begin! Even if the park opens at 9 and you arrive early, you will still be able to get into the park and explore Main Street! You will not be able to go into any of the lands or beyond the castle until the opening show on the castle stage completes. During the opening show I put the baby in the carrier so that we can quickly drop the stroller after opening.

Our Typical Route

Once the park is officially open, we run our little butts to Fantasyland. We take the path that is directly to the left of the Castle. This brings you towards Liberty Square but we take the path next to Sleepy Hollow which brings you right to the Carousel. If we don’t have a Peter Pan fastpass that day, that’s our immediate destination. We park the stroller and get in line. Peter Pan is one of our toddler’s favorite rides, and we do not wait for it unless we have a fastpass or the park has just opened. The lines grow here immediately so if this is a must do for your family, snag a fastpass or arrive early.

After riding Peter Pan, we will tackle whatever we can in Fantasyland. This part of the park gets extremely crowded, so we try to enjoy it before that happens. Our must rides are Small World, Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, Little Mermaid, and Dumbo. If we do all of those, we can leave the park knowing our toddler rode everything her little heart desired!

In between rides, we have snacks that we packed to keep the toddler happy. She doesn’t like to ride in the stroller but when we are walking further than within one land, we’ll use the snacks to get her to sit.

After Fantasyland, we make the decision to either head to Tomorrowland or Adventureland.

If we head to Tomorrowland, we will ride Buzz Lightyear (and see Buzz if we can!), People Mover, watch the Laugh Floor, and then catch either the Move It! Shake it! Dance & Play it! show or the Royal Friendship Faire — whichever we happen to hit. Check your times guide but Move it Shake it is usually 11:00 and 12:30 and the Friendship Faire is before, after, and in-between. Our toddler loves either of these!

If we head to Adventureland, we will ride Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and enjoy the Tiki Room. We also try to catch one of the shows I mentioned above.

After all the fun of the morning, we typically head towards the monorail. We live an hour from the parks and our toddler is unfortunately not a stroller napper so we try to leave the park before meltdown city. We always grab an ice cream to eat on the way out and hop on the resort monorail to head back to the car.

Throughout the day, the baby is mostly in the carrier — I can’t say enough about baby wearing at the parks. It makes your life SO MUCH easier.

Usually once were in the car, both kids will immediately fall asleep. If we’re feeling daring we’ll drive a bit and head to Disney Springs while they nap. I’ll jump out and explore while my husband sits in the car in the parking garage with the kids while they sleep. We then will either make the decision to head home or let the kids nap and then head to another park. Either way, that’s a typical morning at the Magic Kingdom for us!