Two-Day Guide to Disney with a Toddler

As someone who just went to Disney for the first time LAST YEAR, I feel like the magic hit me just like it did Eloise. I couldn’t wait to go back and experience it again now that she is a little older. We just got back from our second trip and packed a lot into two days. So I thought I’d share our two-day guide to Disney with a toddler, and what we learned along the way.

If you’re headed to Universal Studios any time soon, I have a travel guide for that destination too found HERE!

Two-Day Guide to Disney with a Toddler

The reason we only stayed at Disney for two days is because Andrew’s parents have a beach house near by. So we stopped at Disney first, and then headed to the beach for the rest of our spring break trip. Though two days doesn’t seem like much at Disney, we were able to fit a lot in with the short amount of time we had there.

Travel Day to Disney

We left on a Wednesday in hopes of beating the spring break crowds. We chose to fly because it’s a 7 to 8-hour drive, and Jade struggles big time in the car. The flights were reasonable, and both girls did great on the flight, and slept most of the time.

After we unpacked at our resort (more on that in a minute), we went to Disney Springs for dinner. Disney Springs has a variety of shops, restaurants and a great place to walk around. We ate at the Rainforest Café, which is super kid-friendly and keeps everyone entertained while we wait for dinner. Highly recommend, if you’re traveling with kids. We rode the bus back to the resort and had an early night after dinner. Two big days ahead!

Art of Animation Resort

On our previous trip, we stayed at the Riviera Resort. To switch things up, we wanted to stay somewhere different, and chose the Art of Animation Resort. I got a lot of questions about the differences, and to be honest, they are too different to compare.

The Riviera Resort is very over-the-top glam, and Art of Animation is more family/kid-friendly focused. Both will give you a great experience, and both offer the Disney Skyliner, which is the gondola system that can take you to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We really never came back to the room this time. We got up and left by 7:30 each day and came home by 8 or 9. Truly, it was just for getting ready and sleeping!

Art of Animation has things like bonfires with smores every night and movies at the pool. It also has a massive pool with a splash pad that Eloise couldn’t wait to get in!

Genie Passes

Before we dive into our itinerary each day, I wanted to bring up the Genie Passes. I utilized this feature both days in order to bypass some of the lines to the rides we really wanted to experience. You can read all about what the Genie Passes offer HERE. But one of the features is to reserve your spot in a Lightning Lane entrance. This is huge when you’re traveling with small kids because the whole waiting-in-line thing can get tough!

Day 1: Animal Kingdom & Epcot

SHOP MY LOOK

On day one, we woke up bright and early, and hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom. The wait wasn’t long for the bus at the resort, and it drops you off at the front of the park. That morning, I signed us up for the Safari via the Genie Pass. When we arrived to the Safari, it already had a huge line, and we were able to walk right on. Because we used our Genie Pass early in the day, we could use another Genie Pass for a ride later, and opted to do the River Rapid with it.

In between the Safari and the River Rapid ride, we rode the TriceraTop Spin, and had lunch at the Tusker House. The Tusker House is located in Africa within Animal Kingdom, and hosted by Donald Duck and friends. This was by far the best part of the day. It’s a little pricey. However, because we didn’t get to see any characters in 2020, it was amazing to have them come up to the table and get pictures with Eloise. There were lots of dance parties involved too!

Tips and FYI for Animal Kingdom

Jade, was able to ride every ride we went on except for the River Rapid, which was great to be able to include her in most things.

You also want to be sure to bring ponchos and some type of water shoes for the water rides like River Rapid because you get wet!

Epcot

Park hop started at 2pm, so our goal was to leave Animal Kingdom by 1:15 pm. We road the Skyliner to Epcot. One of the rides we wanted to ride the most was the Frozen ride. However, I didn’t get a Genie Pass for it earlier in the day, and were sold out by the time we got there. The wait was 90 minutes, so we decided to skip it and do the Nemo ride.

We were able to get into the Lightning Lane for Ratatouille. It’s an adorable ride that makes you feel like you’re the size of Chef Remy. It’s super cute!

The princesses at Epcot stop greeting guests at 6:15, and we unfortunately missed them. So we decided to brave the Frozen line, and Eloise loved it! However, that wait made me realize how worth it the Lightning Lane passes are. We finished our first full day watching the Epcot fireworks that start at 9pm.

Tips and FYI for Epcot

If your kids love Frozen, I’d recommend starting your day off at Epcot to get to that ride and greeting the princesses first thing.

We brought headphones for both girls to watch the fireworks, and they did great with those on! Also, my sister-in-law got Eloise glow sticks for the fireworks which was a big hit. You could bring them from home too. Many people have them for the fireworks show.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

SHOP GIRLS’ OUTFITS | SHOP MY LOOK

We were ready to take on day two! I was up early to get the Genie Pass for the Barnstormer ride and the Lightning Lane for the Seven Dwarfs ride. Eloise is right at 38″, so it eliminated some of the bigger rides right off the bat for us.

We took the bus again from the Art of Animation and went straight to the Barnstormer and Dumbo. We ended up using the Genie Pass for the Jungle Cruise later in the day, so it wouldn’t be sold out like Frozen was the previous day. This meant waiting in a few lines, but nothing was too bad. Next, we rode the Little Mermaid, and then it was time for lunch with Belle.

We got to meet Belle outside the castle, and it was incredible. This is our second time doing Belle’s castle for a meal. To be honest, Tusker House is more our speed. She kept wanting to get up and dance like she did at Tusker House, but the castle was a little more formal. We may skip that next time!

After lunch, we rode the merry-go-round and tea cups. We saved our fast pass for meeting the princesses. We walked right in and saw Cinderella and Elena, which was the highlight of Eloise’s day! Then, we went to meet Tiana and Rapunzel. Meeting those two didn’t have a wait luckily, so we ended up seeing them back to back.

This is about the time a storm started to roll in. We waited an hour and a half undercover to see if it would ease up. When it was only getting worse, we called it a day. If we had stayed, the plan was to ride Small World, Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin Magic Carpet and Jungle Cruise. Then we were going to have dinner at the park, ride a few more rides and then watch the fireworks! We ended our last day at Disney running through the rain to the bus. 🙂