How To Do Disney While Potty Training

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If you have young kids then your Disney World planning might need to include some information on how to do Disney while potty training. The potty training process is different for every kid. For some kids it can take a long time. Others might catch on quickly, but they can still be thrown off by things such as a vacation. If your child is anywhere in that potty training process when you head to Walt Disney World it’s good to be prepared.

How to do Disney While Potty Training

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It has been several years, but I have been that parent that took a potty training child to Walt Disney World. We went about a month after we started the training process. We were past the point where I was scared to leave the house for fear of accidents, but it was still our first real trip since we had started potty training.

Certainly those first few weeks, and months, after potty training accidents here and there are common. Still things are very different when you’re traveling in the car for 18 hours and you can’t just run your child into a bathroom the moment they tell you that they need to go potty.

I would recommend starting potty training well before you take a vacation to Disney, but when it comes to parenting I think we all know that nothing ever seems to go the way that we plan. Potty training while traveling might seem like a massive undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be. I hope these tips for how to do Disney while potty training will help put your fears to rest and to help you see that a magical vacation can still await you!

Portable Potty Training Seat

When we potty train our kids we typically do it either with a small potty that they can use, or with a special seat that goes on the regular toilet to help them fit on it better. Perhaps you use both. I know we used both depending on the situation.

Kids are used to having that extra seat, so using one while you’re at Walt Disney World can be a big help. Now obviously you’re not going to walk around the theme parks carrying a potty seat. That’s why these folding potty seats are so useful!

These portable potty training seats are really awesome. When unfolded the pieces lock and snap into place like puzzle pieces, so there are no worries about it supporting your child or bending while they sit on it. There are also some foam pieces on the bottom of the seat that keep it from sliding around on the actual toilet seat. Best of all it comes in a plastic bag that snaps closed, so when you’re done using it you can put it away in the bag. That keeps any germs on it from getting all over other things in your stroller or larger bag that you’re carrying it in.

Bring Sticky Notes

Before becoming a parent I never would have thought that sticky notes would be something I’d keep on me at all times. After Nick started potty training I realized that sticky notes became a must have.

Nick’s always been extra sensitive to loud sounds. The sound of toilets in public restroom always upset him, but he would freak out if the toilet he was using flushed while he was still on it. He’s not the only one either. A lot of kids get upset over the toilets simply flushing on them.

I’m sure many of us know that public toilet sensors often don’t work well, but it’s even worse with tiny kids that move around a lot. The simple solution to fix this problem is to cover the sensor with a sticky note before your child sits down. When you’re child is all done using the toilet then remove the sticky note and the toilet will flush.

Basically any size sticky note will do the job as long as it’s big enough to cover the sensor. I find that 3×3 sticky notes are the best size to have on hand because that size is always big enough and isn’t too big to carry in my travel backpack.

My Disney Experience App

With all of my Disney travel experience, including a trip while I was pregnant, I know where just about every Walt Disney World restroom is. Most people don’t have that insider knowledge though. There is nothing worse then having your little one tell you they need to go potty and having no clue where one is!

While any cast member will happily point you to the nearest restroom it’s even faster to pull out your phone and check your My Disney Experience app. This really is a must have app for your Walt Disney World vacation. Especially when it comes to finding things in the theme parks.

Disney has made the app very user friendly when it comes to finding the nearest restroom. At the top of the app, when you’re on map screen, choose “restrooms” from the drop down menu in the middle. Then it will highlight all of the restrooms that are near your current location.

You can see how this works in the image above. There is a blue circle on the right of Dumbo the Flying Elephants marking where I was standing when I opened the app and choose to see the restrooms on my app. You can see the closest restrooms are to the right past the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station.

Look for Companion Restrooms

As the Walt Disney World theme parks get updated more and more companion restrooms are being added. The companion restrooms make potty use with little ones that are potty training so much easier.

We all know how hard it is to move around in a restroom stall while helping a little one use the potty. Handicap stalls are a bit better, but they aren’t always that large either, and I hate using them in case someone with a handicap comes into the restroom and needs that stall. Nick especially loved companion restrooms because he didn’t have to deal with all of the noise of flushing toilets and hand driers.

Use Pull-Ups

I know that some people really don’t like the idea of using Pull-Ups because they feel it causes potty training struggles. Still, they can make your life a lot easier, and give you peace of mind, when you’re traveling.

When people think of long lines at Walt Disney World they often think of lines for the thrill rides. I’m here to tell you that lines for rides such as Peter Pan’s Flight can get crazy long too. You don’t want to be in the middle of that hour long wait when your child says they have to go to the bathroom. Even if you can get out of line and to a bathroom in time it still will have your nerves on end until you know you’re safe from an accident. The last thing you want to have to carry around in the Florida heat are soiled clothing.

Now I’m not saying you want to encourage your child to utilize the Pull-Up, but I know if we hadn’t used the Pull-Ups I would have been worried and nervous about accidents all day. Plus we didn’t feel we needed to waste time going into every bathroom we passed to make Nick try to go.

In the end we could have made it without them since Nick didn’t have any accidents, but using them made our trip far more enjoyable.

Realize that Florida can be Hot!

When people think of Florida they often think about how hot it is, but they don’t always think about what that always means physically. We know that when we’re hot we sweat and we get dehydrated. This means we need to drink more liquids, but even when we do that we often still release a lot of liquid through our sweat.

Long story short, you’re likely going to find that your child won’t need to go to the bathroom anywhere near as much as they normally do. In fact, depending on how much you get them to drink and how much they sweat they might not need to go all day.

I really didn’t get this when we took Nick to Disney while we were potty training. I kept making him try to go and would get frustrated over how he never needed to go. Nick has always been a big sweater though, and that’s where all his liquid was going.

If he hadn’t been wearing Pull-Ups I probably would have been beyond stressed out over worrying about accidents. I can only imagine how bad our trip would have been otherwise as I would have been really stressed, and that would have caused Nick to be stressed. It’s those type of things that lead to family fights on vacation.

Be Prepared for Anything

When it comes to how to do Disney while potty training it is much like how motherhood is every day. You have to take some deep breaths and be prepared for anything.

It’s always good to have some extra clothes in your park bag and some plastic bags that you can put any soiled clothes into. I would also carry around baby wipes. Cleaning up any possible messes in a bathroom stall isn’t easy, and wipes can make that a lot easier. Plus they’re great to have on hand for dirty fingers and faces from those Mickey Mouse ice cream bars!

Potty training is a tough part of parenting. It takes both time and work, but it doesn’t have to prevent your family from going to Walt Disney World and having a good time! Hopefully with these tips on how to do Disney while potty training your biggest vacation worry will be if you have enough time to wait to ride Dumbo before the parade starts and not about your child having an accident on the ride!

Must Have Potty Training Travel Items

The tips above will help you know how to do Disney while potty training, but they’re only so good without these helpful items.

More Disney World Planning Tips

The most relaxed Walt Disney World vacations come from being prepared. Check out these Disney World planning tip posts for more help planning your trip! Also, be sure to watch the video for this post on YouTube and to check out my other Walt Disney World tip posts there as well!

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