Entertaining kids while waiting in lines

[della]

I guess in my family its not so much waiting in line with my 2 yr old-it's waiting with him while the rest of the family is in line. I usually seek out a quiet, out of the way, shady spot. I could see how bubbles up close could be annoying or dangerous if there is an allergy involved. I never even thought of that. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

 

[dis75ney]

Several tricks I learned as a day camp counselor in my youth:

Pipe cleaners. Cheap and easy entertainment. It's amazing what some of these kids can come up with when you give them several pieces of bendable, fuzzy wire...

Park maps. My DS7 loves reading maps and begs me for a park map of his own whenever we go to Six Flags. I'll get him a map and bring along a marker for him to mark his favorite rides and attractions. Of course, he marks the rides he's still too short for...

Playing cards. If you have some members of your family that can't or won't ride certain rides, bring a deck of playing cards. DS is still too short for some of my favorite rides, and DH isn't too fond of roller coasters, so they will find a shady place and play card games while I wait in line for my favorites. It never fails...every time I come back, DH and DS are heavily involved in a game of Speed and I have to wait until their round is finished before we can move on.

Small snacks. Bring a stash of Dum Dums or small lollipops (if your child is old enough for them). I give my DS one, he's happy for at least 30 minutes...

Small pad of paper and crayons/markers. My DS is a budding artist, so I bring along a hotel scratch pad and three or four crayons in a small baggie, which DH carries in his backpack. DS gets bored, out come the art supplies, DS is magically happy again.

Bubbles. Whenever we're in line and remember to bring bubbles, Mommy and Daddy are the ones in charge of the bottle and of blowing the bubbles. We're very conscious of those around us and if someone shows signs of being uncomfortable with the bubble blowing, we'll stop. The bubbles are only pulled out as a last resort if nothing else in my bag of tricks works...which does't happen very often...

Hope this helps!

 

[JWollman]

those are all excellent ideas!!
I am going down with a 3yr old in the fall... and line waiting is NOT something he has ever experianced!

 

[janiebegood]

We live near an amusement park, so we have been "practicing" our Disney trip! We've found that a line of 30 minutes is do-able for our almost-7-year-old -- anything longer than that and she gets surly and bored.

I've got pipe cleaners, Silly Putty (don't worry, we'll make sure it doesn't end up places it shouldn't!), mini gel pens and a small spiral-bound notebook, ring pops (with ziplocs to put them in in case she doesn't finish one), and a deck of mini cards. I plan to bring one or two each day, stored in the stroller basket.

Two other key tips we've learned from our dry-runs:

1) Always go potty before you get in a line
2) Always bring a drink into the line

 

[crisi]

Potty is important.

Try and keep your kids (and yourself) fed and fairly well rested. Tired kids hanging on exhausted adults do not make for a fun line waiting experience.

Try your best NOT to let your kids hang on the rails or chains. I'm doubting few people have spent a day at Disney without watching some kid get a minor boo boo by hanging/climbing/walking where they shouldn't.

Use Fastpass and a good touring plan - you really SHOULDN'T have to wait in line more than 30 minutes if you are smart about it. Its probably much more useful to plan on how to avoid lines than how to spend time in them

 

[Schmeck]

Try your best NOT to let your kids hang on the rails or chains. I'm doubting few people have spent a day at Disney without watching some kid get a minor boo boo by hanging/climbing/walking where they shouldn't.

Good point! Also, try to keep them from unlocking the end of the chain, as the metal hook really hurts when it is accidently dropped on top of someone else's foot. When some unattended child did this at Philharmagic at MK, the chain landed on my right foot and left a lovely bruise. It hurt like heck to walk around the next day.

 

[janiebegood]

Use Fastpass and a good touring plan - you really SHOULDN'T have to wait in line more than 30 minutes if you are smart about it. Its probably much more useful to plan on how to avoid lines than how to spend time in them

crisi, do you know of a place where I can customize a touring plan? Our wants and desires seem very at odds with many -- we could care less about thrill rides and character encounters; the first too scary, the second being planned for with character meals. What we'd like is the fastest, easiest ways to see just what we want to see -- the touring plans I've seen so far are WAY more than we want to do, and much longer days.

I'm shooting for 3 - 4 hours in a park, 3 - 4 hours of downtime, then dinner & fireworks and bed so I can get up and do it all again the next day!

 

[crisi]

crisi, do you know of a place where I can customize a touring plan? Our wants and desires seem very at odds with many -- we could care less about thrill rides and character encounters; the first too scary, the second being planned for with character meals. What we'd like is the fastest, easiest ways to see just what we want to see -- the touring plans I've seen so far are WAY more than we want to do, and much longer days.

I'm shooting for 3 - 4 hours in a park, 3 - 4 hours of downtime, then dinner & fireworks and bed so I can get up and do it all again the next day!

Tourguide mike and touring plans both have very good advice, for a price. Also, any WDW guidebook (I'm partial to passporter). Know which attractions you want to see, understand which use Fastpass and which don't (Dumbo) and which get long lines (Dumbo). Knock off those first that don't have Fastpass and get long lines (Dumbo).

(If you walk away from this post knowing you need to arrive at the park at opening and ride Dumbo, you know that basic rule of all toddler touring plans).

 

[saratogadreamin09]

i wouldn't bring any toys because if one gets lost your children might not like it


bubbles sound good

 

[janiebegood]

Tourguide mike and touring plans both have very good advice, for a price. Also, any WDW guidebook (I'm partial to passporter). Know which attractions you want to see, understand which use Fastpass and which don't (Dumbo) and which get long lines (Dumbo). Knock off those first that don't have Fastpass and get long lines (Dumbo).

(If you walk away from this post knowing you need to arrive at the park at opening and ride Dumbo, you know that basic rule of all toddler touring plans).

Hee, crisi!

We wasted time we'll never get back waiting for Dumbo back in 1997 with my niece. I've already told DD7 that we aren't going on Dumbo!

I know which attractions we want to see, and where they are on the map, and which have FP (in MK, Mickey's Philharmagic is the ONLY one...*sigh*). I told my husband that if by some miracle we get through our entire agenda by 11 AM, he can go back to bed.

 

[jody618]

We always bring disney sidewalk chalk that we purchase at the dollar store. They always have pooh, nemo, and princess. It keeps our two kids busy for quite some time.

 

[In a hurry]

Great point! But if you don't let the kiddos blow or hold it, there's less of a chance of spilling. Mine like to pop the bubbles. Again, not in crowds, but there are times when letting them out of a stroller to stretch their legs a jump around a bit are great!
I say just do it in a place where there aren't other people around and make sure that you don't spill.

If one is in line, then there are people around. If not, the whole issue is moot.

I agree...don't stand in lines. Plan the day well, and they aren't necessary.

 

[Kaler131]

We would also play rock, paper, scissors. /QUOTE]

My kids and I play that in the ride lines at Cedar Point!

 

[sk!mom]

crisi, do you know of a place where I can customize a touring plan? Our wants and desires seem very at odds with many -- we could care less about thrill rides and character encounters; the first too scary, the second being planned for with character meals. What we'd like is the fastest, easiest ways to see just what we want to see -- the touring plans I've seen so far are WAY more than we want to do, and much longer days.

I'm shooting for 3 - 4 hours in a park, 3 - 4 hours of downtime, then dinner & fireworks and bed so I can get up and do it all again the next day!

Not crisi, but what we do is- use any of the touring plans, stick with the order of the plan and eliminate the things that you aren't interested in.

 

[janiebegood]

Not crisi, but what we do is- use any of the touring plans, stick with the order of the plan and eliminate the things that you aren't interested in.

Thanks, sk!mom! I'll do that!

 

[Schmeck]

We always bring disney sidewalk chalk that we purchase at the dollar store. They always have pooh, nemo, and princess. It keeps our two kids busy for quite some time.

You let your kids draw on stuff at WDW?

 

[disneymom3]

Tourguide mike and touring plans both have very good advice, for a price. Also, any WDW guidebook (I'm partial to passporter). Know which attractions you want to see, understand which use Fastpass and which don't (Dumbo) and which get long lines (Dumbo). Knock off those first that don't have Fastpass and get long lines (Dumbo).

(If you walk away from this post knowing you need to arrive at the park at opening and ride Dumbo, you know that basic rule of all toddler touring plans).

That pretty much covered my tour plan when my kids were little. Every one knew, we are not stopping to see things on Main ST, we are not getting a drink, you better have already gone potty, there will be no character greetings....pretty much don't even talk to me, just WALK to Dumbo! Once Dumbo was over then we could relax and enjoy the rest of the park.

For lines, I have always been amazed at how little entertaining my kids need in line. I have taken them at all ages. Our most challenging trip was probably the year my boys were 1 and 2 and DD was 6. But even that wasn't bad. We would hold them and talk to them and watch people going by on the ride, I know we sang a few little songs and such and we definitely had fruit snacks, goldfish and some water, but other than that, I think there is SO much going on at Disney that they are just distracted by all the sights and sounds.

 

[Sues423]

When we went to WDW the first time my DD was 16. So I didn't have to deal with entertaining a child in line. However I did get see everyone dealing with their children. I notice that some adults actually helping parents out by asking the children questions about the time at WDW. Kept the children occupied for some of the ques. It is always fun to hear the answers from the kids because they have a different perspective than us adults. When we do down in Dec. I'm going to remember this and try to help out some of those parents.

Sue

 

[tlens]

You let your kids draw on stuff at WDW?

Yeah. Seriously? Let's make more work for the cast members as they have to get rid of the pictures other people's kids have 1/2 drawn before they have to move down the line.

That's just bizarre.

 

[nateryan]

OP - with the age of your kids - I would sing their favorite songs, wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, etc. Or have them point out body parts, nose, eyse, ears, etc.

My oldest loves to play rock, paper scissors in line. I love playing "what's your favorite....?"