Airline Question

[cheap traveler]

Ok, I am NOT a frequent flyer. I have flown to Disney and home once and that is it. My daughter is going to be 5 when we fly to Disney this August. Can she use her Leapster on the plane?? We are flying jet blue so we will have TV but she isn't really a TV watcher, especially on weekdays. Also, anyone have reccomendations on good motion sickness medicines that kids can use too?? Thanks in advance

 

[bjeannep]

Your leapster needs to be off during take off and landings, but once you reach crusing altitude and the pilot says you can use your electronic devices, it can certainly be used.

 

[HeatherSue]

Sure, she can use the Leapster on the airplane. However, the first time my daughter used hers on the airplane, she couldn't hear it at all! The plane is so loud that you can't hear it, no matter how loud you turn it up. So, the next time we brought headphones and that worked great. I can't help you on the motion sickness question.

 

[mommyofboys]

Thanks for mentioning the headphones! We are not frequent flyers at all either and I never thought of the boys not being able to hear their Nintendo DS on the plane.

 

[sparkyboy]

we have brought new disney stickers, markers, disney printed pages to color,write, etc. as well as a stuffed friend which has kept them entertained. I would ask kids dr. to prescribe something for motion sickness if she is prone to this.

 

[cheap traveler]

Oh yeah, I was definitly going to bring the headphones. Video game music drives me nuts . But thank you for the great input already!! This site is the best

 

[BelleOfTheBall76]

My kids have never flown, but we have had several experiences with car sickness. I started buying the chewable Dramamine tablets for them and it seems to work well. I'm thinking that when we do fly to WDW, I may have to check into getting a script from their doctor, just to be safe.

 

[jenlynn0808]

DD11 uses headphones with her Nintendo DS becasue there is alot of "white static" on planes.

The ped. told me to give DS3 (flew once at 11months, 2yrs, 2.5 yrs). Benedryl a 1/2 hr before take off the first time we flew. It was a miracle! Now he gets a dose once we are on the plane and settled everytime we fly.

Just an FYI- Since he is so little he has to have the liquid. I have never had a problem getting it through security (at DTW-Detroit metro, or at FNT-Flint). I always carry it in a little bag (a 2 bottle holding bag) and open it and say it is for DS, to keep him calm on the flight. You may want your ped to write a script or a note (with his info on it) saying it what it was prescribed for. I did have another prescription once, so it was obvious he needed it.

I have always had the big bottle, but with the new individual dose packets that might work for you. To much in the prepackaged dose for a 3 y.o.

 

[tlh0726]

definitely take headphones. Been on quite a few flights that neighboring people complained about the noise from computer games and the attendant advised the people that the either needed to have headphones or the games would need to be stowed until landing.

 

[all4fun]

I agree with talking to your ped about Motion sickness meds. I believe there is a kids dramamine and there is Bonine that comes in a kids formula. Some people prefer Bonine over Dramamine. I can't really say much as fortunately we don't have motion sickness issues. Dramamine and Benadryl have the same active ingredient, so you could give her that to help. We gave my ds Benadryl for his allergies once (a half dose, at that), and it knocked him out for several hours. I personally don't like it when meds do that to me (because of the "medicine head" feeling I have when I wake up) so we won't give him that med any more. Sleepiness is a common side effect of Dramanine & Benadryl, or it can the opposite side effect of making one wired instead of tires, so if she's never had it before, you might want to try it before your travel date.

As for headphones, we bought these GE Kids Flexible head phones. They fit a smaller head perfectly and pretty comfortable. I like that they are flexible because ds can twist them and abuse them a little, and they don't break. They've held up over a couple of trips now. Bought ours at Target.

hth

 

[lc1965]

Apologies if someone said this already, but Jet Blue no longer provides free headphones. The sell them for only $1 (on a credit card only), but your own headphones are probably better anyway.

 

[KAMLEM]

Definitely bring the headphones, if not for your child then for the others sitting nearby. The last time we went to WDW there was a kid next to us with a portable DVD player and no headphones. He had it turned up so loud that everyone around him had to listen to it. I found it very annoying while I was trying to read.

 

[design_mom]

Thanks for mentioning the headphones! We are not frequent flyers at all either and I never thought of the boys not being able to hear their Nintendo DS on the plane.

For those with Nintendo DS, here's another tip: games that require the microphone on Nintendo DS might not work properly on the plane, because the microphone picks up the plane's engine noise and interprets it as your response.

For example, we have a game called Yoshi's Touch and Go. You draw a path of clouds for Yoshi to walk on to reach his goal. If you want to change your path, or remove obstacles, you blow into the DS's microphone and the clouds blow away. Yoshi's path would blow away as soon as my son would draw it. It was picking up the plane's engine noise and interpreting it as constant "blowing!"

There was another game that also acted "unexpectedly" on the plane. It was another one that allowed you to give some input through the microphone, but I can't remember which game it was.

However -- it's something to keep in mind when choosing which games to take on the plane. My son was very frustrated that his DS "wasn't working right" until we figured out the problem and switched to different games!