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| WDW Trip With Kids Planning Guide Visiting the resort with your children | |
| Brian Bennett |
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Baby Care CentersA good piece of advice for anyone traveling to WDW with kids is that you should know where the Baby Care Centers are located in each of the four main theme parks and take advantage of them! The Baby Care Centers provide a place for handling changing and feeding chores. They also have supplies available (you'll pay a premium price versus what you'd probably pay at home, but they can be very handy in a pinch). The centers also have quiet relaxing feeding/nursing rooms. The facilities are staffed with knowledgeable attendants who can answer questions about handling kids around WDW. The center at the Magic Kingdom, especially, is nicely appointed and well located. The Epcot and Disney / MGM Studios centers were both poorly located and less "user-friendly", but can still be wonderful for handling those baby-care chores if you're in the neighborhood. The Animal Kingdom center is at least centrally located, and is very nice. Magic KingdomThe Center is located on the West side and at the end of main street (nestled midway between Casey's and the Crystal Palace Restaurant).
These photos are on the wall as you enter the Magic Kingdom's Baby Care Center. One of these little guys is Walter Elias Disney. The other is big brother Roy. Don't ask me which is which, though.
Cast members at all of the parks place large sheets of paper on these tables to provide guests with a fresh, clean surface for changing infants, and also spray and wipe them down throughout the day.
Each Center provides a kitchen area to warm bottles and baby food and to handle feeding clean up. Also, the centers each have quiet areas for nursing or bottle feeding, and fathers can accompany mothers into them if they are not occupied.
 ... kitchen ... The waiting areas can be handy for keeping older children occupied while their younger siblings are changed and fed. The Centers are well-stocked with toys and videos to keep them occupied.
 ... and waiting room. One important note... the photo above reminded me of another function of the Baby Care Centers. The Centers in each park are also the "lost parent" locations. If a child loses their parent(s) in the park, cast members are trained to bring those kids to the Baby Care Centers. (I'm not completely sure, but it looks to me like we might have a boy here in the Center who is being closely watched over by a cast member while waiting for his lost parents to claim him.) You really should tell your children to seek out a Disney cast member if they get separated from the rest of the group. EpcotLocated on the World Showcase side of the Odyssey Center between Test Track and the Mexico Pavilion, you'll find the facility at the top of the walkway closest to Mexico. There are signs to direct you, but you have to keep your eyes open.
Disney / MGM StudiosThe Studio's Baby Care Center is located in the guest services building, just to the left as you enter the gate (next to Sid Cuehuenga's One-of-a-Kind Shop). This is, by far, the smallest of the centers and is actually integrated with the guest services area. Because of the smaller size, this place tends to be very busy... even with fewer people than at the other parks' Centers.
The feeding areas have highchairs for babies. Both the public and quiet feeding areas (not shown, but available for nursing mothers) are great for infants who need a place to eat without a lot of distractions.
Animal KingdomThe center in Animal Kingdom is located way to the West side of the Oasis, just past the Pizzafari Restaurant as you walk in from the entrance of the park. Animal Kingdom's Center has off-the-shelf changing tables like those sold at baby furniture stores. They're smaller than the tables at the other parks and don't have the "elbow room" that those larger tables allow you to enjoy. Changing a child on these tables, though, is still better than having to handles that chore in a public restroom.
One note about the nursing rooms at the Animal Kingdom (above): unlike the nursing rooms at the other parks, they are completely private. All kinds of baby and child care supplies are available for purchase at the four Centers including diapers, wipes, bottles, pacifiers, rash ointments and other over-the-counter medications, sunscreen, and feeding supplies such as formula, baby food, bibs and spoons.
The Centers also maintain a selection of infant and small toddler clothes just in case of emergency.
If you have a potty-training toddler, you may wish to bring their children to the Centers to use the toilets since the restrooms there are both larger and more private than a typical stall in a public restroom. At the Magic Kingdom, a family restroom houses two toilets, one adult-size and one child-size. |
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