One of the reasons many families choose to travel to Walt Disney World is the Resort’s offerings for kids and the way they cater to the whole family.
High Chairs Ready!
You want to eat in a real restaurant with three small kids? Sure, no problem at Disney World. You need a space to change your baby’s diaper, feed them away from the hecticness of the main park spaces, or buy first aid supplies for your little ones? They’ve got you covered! But when it comes to high chairs and booster seats at Disney World, what does the situation look like right now?
We’re taking a look and sharing all the details with you!
Are High Chairs Available?
Generally speaking, throughout Disney World’s restaurants, you’ll find a decent supply of high chairs. Of course, availability can vary, so that’s just something to keep in mind. Depending on your location, you may find either plastic or wooden options.
Chairs in a corner at the Magic Kingdom’s Cosmic Ray’s Starlight CafeÂ
The chairs are generally fixed-height and tray-less. You’ll push the chair right up to your table, so the table itself functions as the child’s eating surface. Because of this, you may want to keep a supply of disposable placemats on hand.
What Do You Do If You Need A High Chair?
At Table Service restaurants, when you check-in for your dining reservation (either in person or via Mobile Check-In), Cast Members will ask for the ages of the children in your party. They may specifically inquire about the number of high chairs and/or booster seats you need.
©Disney
At Quick Service restaurants, there is usually a stack of high chairs located along a wall in the dining location. At larger locations, there may be several stacks of chairs. High chair supply and availability, however, will vary depending on the restaurant.
Plastic chairs at the Beach Club’s Cape May Cafe
At Quick Service spots, you will generally need to grab the chair yourself and bring it to the table where you will be sitting. You may also need to or be able to ask a Cast Member to get one for you.
Wooden chairs at Epcot’s Sunshine Seasons
If you’re staying in a Disney World Resort hotel, you can generally request an in-room high chair for the length of your stay. According to a Cast Member we spoke with recently, this is something you would want to request when you arrive as they said it is not something that can be done ahead of time.
Screenshot of Disney Chat
You could try to call Disney or the hotel directly to see if they will be able to note your request on your reservation ahead of time, but be sure to also speak with the Cast Members at the hotel when you arrive. There is no cost to get these high chairs at the resort.
Screenshot of Chat with Disney Cast Member
We also asked whether getting a high chair is something that would only be available at Disney’s Vacation Club Resorts or if it is available at all of Disney World’s hotels. The Cast Member said you should be able to get this at any Disney World resort, but again, things will depend on availability.Â
Screenshot of Chat with Disney Cast Member
We would recommend calling the resort you’ll be staying in ahead of time just to confirm whether they generally have high chairs available for you to use in your room.
You’ll also generally find high chairs at Disney World’s Baby Care centers in the parks.
You can find high chairs here to feed your kiddos
You can look into potentially purchasing a folding high chair that attaches to a regular chair, purchasing a high chair of your own and having it delivered to the resort, or renting a high chair depending on your needs and wants.
Standard safety notice
It may also be a good idea to bring a high chair cover that you can place on any high chairs you use in Disney World. You can then remove these and wash them as needed.Â
What About Booster Seats for Slightly Older Kids?
While high chairs are generally available throughout the parks, finding a booster seat can be a bit more challenging.
The vast majority of Table Service restaurants generally do have booster seats available, although the supply of boosters can be more limited than the supply of high chairs.
Both high chairs and boosters ready to go at Animator’s Palette on the Disney Magic Cruise Ship
Booster seat availability at Quick Service restaurants can be noticeably limited. They are more likely not to have boosters on hand. If you have a smaller kiddo who needs a booster seat and you plan on doing a lot of Quick Service dining, you may want to practice eating at a few simple restaurants at home without a booster. You can practice with different seating positions to see what is both most comfortable and safest for your child’s size (and which position is most likely to allow them to focus more on eating and less on wiggling!).
There are many inexpensive, portable booster seats on the market as well. But bringing one with you can add another level of bulk to the already vast amount of equipment you might be lugging around with you as the parent of a young child. If you are going to buy one, you’ll want to look around for what is best for you.
Seat Cushion booster at ‘Ohana
And that’s a look at the current situation with high chairs and booster seats in Disney World. Your ability to get a booster seat or high chair in Disney World is entirely based on availability, so always be aware that you could end up going without.
We’ll keep an eye out for more updates and let you know what we find.
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Erin can I have a highchair in my room at pop century? I would love to feed my daughter before we leave the room in the morning and that would be the easiest solution.
also on an unrelated note… do you know if the stores on property (that sell grocery items) sell cheese sticks? if so are they very pricey? Thanks so much!
What a timely post! We will be going to WDW in February with my then 13 month old boy and I hadn’t even thought about high chairs.. I guess I just assumed they would be there and would be of good quality! Thanks for checking this out!
Jill – High chairs are not on the official list of “requestable” equipment at the Pop (Cribs, bedboards, and refrigerators are). However, it’s certainly possible if you ask nicely at the front desk, they would bring one to your room. I stayed at the Pop about three weeks ago, there were plentiful high chairs in the food court area. I just double checked my stash of photos of the refrigerator cases at the resorts (is it weird that I have this?). I did see individually wrapped cheese sticks for sale at several places for about $1.00 each. I don’t specifically have a photo of cheese sticks at the Pop, but my guess is that they are there. Or, if not, you could stop by one of the resorts that has DVC rooms (Boardwalk, Beach Club, & Contemporary are all a convenient walk away from one of the theme parks) to pick some up.
Marcellina – Have a great trip with your son!
At any counter service restaurant, all cast members will know where the high chairs are. Even if they are all being used, they usually know where to obtain a backup supply. Don’t be afraid to ask. If you wish for a cast member to help you out and go fetch you one, most are more than willing to.
Great post, Erin! Highchairs are one of those little things that can make or break your meal, if you’re visiting with little ones.
We’re locals, so we’ve been visiting the parks with our son since he was about three months old, and we’ve generally had very good luck dining with an infant, even at table service locations. The only challenge we’ve run into was the availability of slings for “bucket”-style infant seats. (Explanation for those without small kids: until your little one can sit unsupported–probably around five to seven months for most–highchairs are not much use. Instead, you need somewhere safe to place your child’s infant seat, unless, of course, you plan to hold or wear them throughout the meal.)
Most of the table-service locations we’ve visited automatically offered a sling to hold our infant seat. The one exception was Via Napoli, which not only didn’t have a sling but didn’t even know what one was. The manager kept trying to offer us a high chair for our very tiny baby, who clearly wasn’t old enough to sit in one, and eventually decided to place us at a booth with our infant seat sitting on the booth. We were nervous about it the whole time, and it definitely impacted our enjoyment of the meal. In fairness to Disney, though, after we contacted guest relations, they followed up with us and told us they would see that the situation was fixed, so hopefully they’ll have slings for guests in the future.
After that experience, I tend to agree that it’s a good idea to ask ahead of time if there’s a specific type of seat you’ll need (sling, highchair or booster). I wish they would add a field for this to the online ADR system, as I generally make my reservations online.
Thanks again for the useful post!
Diane – Excellent point about traveling with the smallest babies. Really helpful tips. Thanks for the extra info!
thanks for the great advice! I will ask at the front desk when we get there!
If a sling is not available for a child in a carrier seat, a trick I have learnt back home eating in restraunts is, if they have the wooden style high chairs and the top rails of the chair are even, you can flip the seat upside down and the seat should rest between the legs. Doesn’t work with every style of highchair, but it’s an option.
Good job Disney! We ate at a local restaurant last week and then only had a couple high chairs in a huge restaurant. They were all in use the entire time we were there and had to hold him while we ate, which is not relaxing whatsoever.