EPCOT

Check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The main reason we travelled to Florida was to visit the parks at Disney World and Universal Studios. Unfortunately, illness prevented me from going to Universal Studios.

I am going to discuss each of the four parks at Disney from the perspective of a new mom with a stroller, as well as point out my favourite parts of each.

Something that we were extremely pleasantly surprised by was that every single concessions stand had an ingredient list.

Epcot

Stroller

The proximity and amount of stroller parking in Epcot was very reasonable. As this was the first park we visited, I was anxious about leaving the stroller unattended. However, we never had a problem, and neither did anyone else, as far as I could see.

Walking around the “world” was actually pretty easy with the stroller. There was space in the stores we went in for maneuvering, and the only time we felt at all worried about people kicking the stroller was in Norway, because Frozen, and dinnertime. It was a little squishy in the restaurant in China, but that was the case in pretty much every restaurant.

We used the rain protector today, and it worked perfectly.

** Pro tip: When leaving the stroller in the parking, cover it with the rain protector even if it isn’t raining. Your baby will thank you when their seat is nice and dry when it rains unexpectedly while you were inside.

Baby Care Centre

The Baby Care Centre was off to the left, just before Mexico. It was big and clean. There was a huge nursing room with only 4 wooden rocking chairs (could definitely have fit more in there). The changing area had large sturdy change tables, with space for the diaper bag. The changing paper was the same throughout the parks – very large, thick white paper that, once used, go in the garbage with the used diaper. I wish there had been a recycling bin for the paper.

There was a tiny room for those accompanying the mother to sit, and they were playing Finding Nemo.

Highlights

Introducing Dragon to Baymax.

Seeing Dragon’s reaction to the hologram images of Dory, Nemo, and Marlin.

Seeing the Frozen ride.

Animal Kingdom

Stroller

We had a very similar experience as in Epcot, although the stroller parking outside the Finding Nemo Musical was not very clearly marked, so that was a little confusing. We used the solar screen today, and it worked really well. It does keep the heat inside the stroller, too, though, so if it’s a warm day, I recommend letting the baby breathe every ten minutes or so, depending on how hot it is. (Or maybe our Dragon is a little furnace, and this isn’t a problem for other babies?)

Baby Care Centre

The Centre in this park is in the centre island, over near Africa. It was tucked away and was supremely tiny. There were two individual nursing rooms and very tiny change tables. The chair in the nursing room was a wooden rocking chair with very soft cushions. There was a change mat and more space to change the baby inside the nursing room than there was in the change room itself.

Highlights

Changing Dragon in the theatre for Finding Nemo before the show started, across our laps.

The Finding Nemo show – phenomenal!

The Lion King show – we were in the lion section. Rawr. Dragon fell asleep during it.

Hollywood Studios

Stroller

Lots of curbs in this park, which was mildly annoying with a stroller. Stroller parking wasn’t very clearly marked for the Toy Story ride, although it was everywhere else. They did an excellent job of parking the strollers for Fantasmic.

Baby Care Centre

Right at the entrance to the park, on the left hand side as you enter, was the smallest Centre of the parks. There were 2 curtained individual nursing rooms, again with a wooden rocking chair, and the changing room had two tables only. There was barely any space to breathe in the space. Definitely my least favourite.

Highlights

Eric being allowed to wear Dragon during the Toy Story ride, getting the highest score of the 4 of us, and Dragon falling asleep partway through the ride.

Introducing Dragon to Moana – Dragon was asleep by the time we got to see her.

Watching Dragon watch the fireworks from Fantasmic. Oooh lights, *startle*! Oooh lights, *startle*!

Magic Kingdom

Stroller

The proximity of the stroller parking to the rides was not very good, and it was confusing to find it sometimes. Once, Eric parked the stroller somewhere, and a park attendant had moved it by the time we exited the show. That was mildly terrifying.

Definitely the least stroller-friendly park, because of how much is in it.

Baby Care Centre

Located just to the left of The Crystal Palace (when facing it), this was by far my favourite Centre. There was a calm room for nursing with 5 squashy rocking chairs, and while it was a bit squishy in the room, there was space for everyone. The change room had 6 changing tables, and the room for accompanying people had lots of chairs and a TV screen; the only other one to have a TV was Epcot.

Highlights

Nursing Dragon during Mickey’s Philharmagic – I had forgotten about the champagne bottles and I jumped at the forced air, startling Dragon.

Dragon falling asleep on the Haunted Mansion BOTH times we went on it!

Watching Dragon get excited about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – her little head swivelled from side to side, trying to see everything. And she raised her arms in the air when we went down the water fall!

Introducing Dragon to Tinkerbell, while dressed as Tinkerbell!

Disney Springs

Stroller

The stores were maneuverable with the stroller, and easily accessible. I was pleased by how easy it was to get around with it, and that I didn’t have to go too far out of the way because I had it.

Baby Care Centre

There wasn’t one. Bad Disney! It’s on your map!

The Information Centre let me use one of their offices when I asked about the location of the Baby Care Centre, which was nice of them, but not practical for multiple people.

Highlights

YeSake food – this was delicious, large portions, and had customizable rice, noodle, or wraps. Yummy!

Cookes of Dublin – Super yummy fried fish, and they were very good about my mother’s allergies!

Mickey’s Pantry (and Spice & Tea Exchange) – a store with the best fancy salts and sugars, and other kitchen supplies

Marketplace Co-op – a series of shops that are high-end and great quality

World of Disney Store – everything for everyone, except they were out of the cute short set in the size we wanted for Dragon…but they did check to see if they had any in any other location (they didn’t, but I appreciate that they tried to find it for us!)

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If you are interested in booking a trip to Orlando. You can contact Jennifer Desmarais through Orleans Travel. jennifer.desmarais@orleanstravel.ca