How do you keep your kids entertained in lines?

[NorCalDisney]

Our kids are always asking for our IPhones whenever they get bored. We don't want to drain our batteries but don't know how to keep our 5, 7, and 10 year olds busy without getting bored in lines. What do you do?

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Our kids are always asking for our IPhones whenever they get bored. We don't want to drain our batteries but don't know how to keep our 5, 7, and 10 year olds busy without getting bored in lines. What do you do?

My son, 7 now but was almost 6 when we went last and he was obsessed with finding Hidden Mickeys. Being in line is a nice to do that. Some people bring bubbles. I've used that as a snack time too. Granola bars or fruit.

 

[disneychrista]

I have never had an issue with my kids being bored in line. My kids are older now (20 & 18) but they have been going since they were 3 & 5.

 

[gapoochi]

we were planning on bringing my son's DS to keep him occupied in the longest lines but I think it will bring on fights between the little one and him lol

so now we are thinking of other ideas....

we like the bubbles...not sure how many times that will work though.

I was thinking about that book of characters' histories....maybe let them each pick a character each time and we'll learn their history. I can see that working when they aren't tired and cranky but we'll need something else for when they don't want to focus.

they like to dance and when we went to the sesame place, we played freeze dance in line. kept them happy. they got extra points for staying in place and hubby and I stayed on either side of them to keep them from bumping into other people. They loved it. (we played the music from our phones so it wasn't too loud of obnoxious either) Some of the kids around us got into the game too!

 

[Bungle]

We play I spy, look at pictures we took earlier, but usually we just talk. If you ask my kids what was their favorite part so far they can go on forever. And I know some people might not agree but really candy works.

 

[minjo]

We did the "I Spy", hidden mickey's, I would do lots of research before hand and tell what I found out. We also created our own games..we do a hand game that we call "double double this this" It is taken from the hand games I used to play as a kid but with our family flair. We do back hand to back hand, forward hand to forward hand, criss cross (back and foward) we do either singles or doubles and we say it out loud what we are doing. We start by creating a routine, then we go slow at first, then speed up. We do it two - five people. We also try to do it as the line moves so that we don't stop. It's a lot of fun.

We also just like to look at the que lines and seeing what we can and try to find something that we haven't seen before.

 

[heather_sue_98]

Play I Spy with a park map. My 4 year old thinks it's cool when we have two and each have a copy of the same thing to look at.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I don't think that bubbles would be a good idea. Some people don't like bubbles landing on them and there isn't a lot of room for your child to chase them. They can also make the floor sticky or slippery. You can try playing word games, I Spy or look for hidden mickeys. I don't allow my DD to play her DS in line, because she gets so wrapped up in the game that she doesn't pay attention to the line moving. I really haven't had an issue with keeping my DD entertained in line. There are, generally, so many things to notice and look at in line that she doesn't bored.

 

[briangl]

My son likes to scroll through the pictures we took. We also take short videos of the rides that are good for keeping him occupied.

Many of the queues are interesting and we sometimes have trouble keeping him moving.

 

[munchkinsmom]

We try to think of things Disney-related in ABC order (e.g., Alice, Big Thunder, Cars). You can pretty much decide on any theme and make it as specific or general as you want. We've also done Harry Potter, places, and TV shows and movies we've watched.

Edited to add: IMHO, bubbles may not be the best idea in queues where people are in close proximity to each other. Some people in line don't really like having bubbles blow into their faces as they wait in line (a previous poster also mentioned this). I don't mind it if bubbles are blown in a larger area (my own kids loved it when they were younger) but I've had bubbles blown into my face walking behind children as they used those bubble making toys. I'm not too thrilled when they pop on my face/sunglasses. Just something to think about....

 

[DahliaRW]

We go in the off season so the lines are short!

For the most part, talking or singing with the kids worked fine. My 6yo had no trouble waiting in line. My 3yo was usually fine. My 1 1/2 yo was the only difficult one, and that's because all she wanted to do was climb the railings!

 

[DisSarahK]

We've gone to DL when our children were 2&4 and then again when they were 4&6. We just waited in line--no fancy entertaining with phones/bubbles/etc. We talked about our favorite rides, favorite parts of the day, what we'd be doing next, etc. Sometimes they ate an easy (no-mess!) snack while in line or drank some water.

Even though I have young children, I would be REALLY annoyed if someone was blowing bubbles around/at me. I don't want bubbles in my face or popping all over my legs where I can't get away from them.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

We were going to do the bubble thing my 3 year old LOVES them, but he has to be the blower. I bought some for him on our last trip, then forgot them at home. It turns out i didn't need them. DS would talk to me about what he wanted to do next, what he just did, or something he sees in the queue.

 

[NorCalDisney]

Great ideas - I've played that name game with my boys naming different sports teams but haven't done it Disney related. The problem isn't so much that they are bored, we need to keep them entertained so that they keep their hands to themselves. It's not fun waiting in line when they're fighting with each other.

 

[Heymy]

The only long line we've waited in is TSMM and there is one solution for my girls...the Mickey head suckers. Takes about 30 to 40 minutes to lick them down to the stick. I haven't decided if they like to ride to wait in line to get their sucker.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I am kinda laughing at how sensitive the whole bubble thing is. We've never done it, I've just read on here that many have. That being said, I'm sure those that have would have the common sense to not do bubbles in tight quarters. Also, if it's a very small child doing it, I'm sure they would have quite a struggle to blow them in your face. We're talking a tiny container of bubbles folks, with a very small child blowing them. I guess what comes to mind for me is all the parades that have bubbles. I'll have to watch in a few weeks and see if I see people playing "dodge the bubble".

 

[brookies_mommy]

I am kinda laughing at how sensitive the whole bubble thing is. We've never done it, I've just read on here that many have. That being said, I'm sure those that have would have the common sense to not do bubbles in tight quarters. Also, if it's a very small child doing it, I'm sure they would have quite a struggle to blow them in your face. We're talking a tiny container of bubbles folks, with a very small child blowing them. I guess what comes to mind for me is all the parades that have bubbles. I'll have to watch in a few weeks and see if I see people playing "dodge the bubble".

LOL!!! HAHAHAAHA If you see it take a picture!! LOL

 

[MommyWithDreams]

LOL!!! HAHAHAAHA If you see it take a picture!! LOL

Certainly don't want to upset anyone with my post but I just instantly got a vision of people upset with jumbo bubbles being blown at them. That's the nightmare of it, when really it's maybe a 3 year old little girl blowing tiny bubbles and trying to catch them on her finger while waiting to ride Peter Pan. Silly comparison but the latter is what I've seen in DL.

 

[gapoochi]

for us it's DEF more about keeping the kids from bothering each other and erupting into a fight in the line (my little girl is very annoying to her brother when she's not occupied or happy lol!) than it is about them being bored.
and we only do anything with really long lines.
the bubbles we've done are very small and the kids can barely get a few out with each try. They never were a bother to anyone and we usually have them face towards the bushes or whatever is on the side of the line.

 

[kiwitravel]

We have never got bored in lines save a couple of times we got caught in a long wait...

Once was the Jungle Cruise when we didn't notice the line went upstairs... And once was in the FP line at splash when this had a 15 minute wait due to the ride being down earlier...

Peter Pan can be slow but there is a lot to see...

We used to go hard till 10 with no lines and stock up on FPs, as the crowds built we started using our FPs (get more as soon as we could) around midday out of useable FPs we would do shows, innoventions etc, we wouldn't enter a line unless less than 10 minutes (TSMM Mattahorn and PP excepted). If we found ourselves in a slow line we would eat our lunch, snack on pringles, drinks etc and discuss our afternoon plan...

We would leave the park around 2 or 3 and head back to the hotel for a swim, rest, dinner and then head back with FPs already ready, we would get more FPs (usually only BLAB BTMRR available at this hour).. We would stay till kids were tired and head back to the Hotel after Fireworks or Fantasmic... As the kids got older we stayed later, sometimes right till park closing..