What to do other than big rides
If many of the adult attractions won’t work (height requirement, too scary, too long wait), what are good ideas for families with little kids to do at Disney?
Dining
If you plan sit-down meals, they can take up a lot of your park touring time, entertain your kids and you.
If you choose a buffet-style sit-down restaurant, kids under 3 eat free.
A possible itinerary for a park might be going 2:30pm - 7pm after naps with a 4:45pm dinner reservation that breaks up the touring into two 2-hour managable segments.
Character Dining
Character dining is great for kids because you get a meal with table-service and you’re guaranteed to meet the characters.
Characters
You can spend a whole half-day just meeting characters at the Magic Kingdom or Epcot.
What if my kids are too young to care about characters?
Well, do you like characters? Great! Because it’s much less awkward for adults to meet characters when they bring their baby than by themselves.
Parades!
The Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom always have a parade each day, sometimes more than one. The other parks might have a parade too, you’ll have to check when you go.
Excellent thing to do with little kids.
Visit resorts as attractions
Some Disney resorts create immersive worlds to explore (for free!) with Disney transportation to and from
Parking at resorts
If you self drive to a Disney resort, research the parking before hand. Many Disney resorts you need a dining reservation to use their parking lot if you aren’t a guest.
Disney’s Boardwalk
Disney’s Boardwalk is a fun place spend a few hours with the kids. It’s got a lake, boardwalk, paths, street entertainers at night, Friendship boats to ride, fun bikes and Surrey bikes, connects to The Beach Club and the Yacht Club resorts, restaurants and shops.
Downtown Disney
A shops/enterainment district run by Disney on their property.
Ride stuff (trains, monorails, boats)
Think of these things as an ‘end’ for your little kids, not just a ‘means.’
Your hotel’s pool
Some pre-school age children cite ‘the pool’ as the favorite part of their family vacation to Disney World.