How do you make a two year old (barely) wait in lines for rides?

[RumpleMom]

Before our trips, we walked as a family on the weekends at a local park to build up stamina.

During this time, we talked about getting ready for our Disney trip. We discussed waiting in line, how each of us could pick a favorite thing for the family to do, including how all of us would be patient until it was their turn to pick.

Most important we talked about how much fun we would have together and how following the rules would help us to have fun.

Things like holding a hand, going to the bathroom and trying to go just because someone else in the family needed to go because you never know where the next bathroom might be ( worked like a charm ) and anything else that is important to you family.

I even related it to helping Daddy to have a great vacation from work and how much we appreciated him going to work every day to earn money for our family to be able to live and go to WDW. We had a wonderful vacation with only one melt down which we photographed because the week had been so perfect.

This was our first trip and was to be our only trip for many years to come.

But we were completely covered by pixie dust, our family memories from that first trip are among my very favorites. We ended up buying DVC 11 years later.

Our twentysomethings still like to vacation with us.

 

[aestapa]

We used a fabric sling for our 2.5 year old in lines. It folds up to nothing but is great for supporting his weight. Our little guy wanted to see what was going on and this brought him eye level without killing my back.

 

[taylor5]

Wal-Mart has the Mickey & Pooh harness backpacks in the baby section for $20!! That's what we plan to use for our daughter who will be 10mos. when we go to Disney.

 

[ekatiel]

At that age, having a good touring plan (and getting to the park early) was a must for us!! It will help you have minimal waits in line.
Happy Travels!!

ITA! Buy RideMax. You can play around with the program so that you have minimal waits listed. The longest we waited during our trip in May was 12 minutes-- we walked on to most rides. The great thing about Ridemax is that you can put in the rides you want to ride, breaks you want to take, etc, and it spits out a plan customized for you. When I was making our RideMax plans, if a plan had more than a 15 minute wait for a ride, I would redo the plan-- switching certain rides to a different day in the same park, etc. So, we went into our trip knowing exacly how long we would be waiting for rides (and the program is scary-accurate). We had no meltdowns b/c we didn't have any waits!--Katie

 

[GoinToDisney]

We took our dd at 17 months and at 2.5. For her, just keeping her talking and a good tour plan were the main things that worked. Also stickers and little books.

 

[Bones1389]

We took our 19 month old DD and she did great, but we were worried there at first. Dumbo was our first ride and we were only couple minutes after rope drop. It took 30 minutes the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and she was squirmy the whole time in line, not disruptive but squirmier than she was normally anywhere else. But the thing about Dumbo that made it hard is, you can't really see the ride in action when you're in the weaving part of the queue and there's not much theming like the other rides...and the line doesn't continually move like the other kid rides because the ride has to stop to let people on and off. So, after riding Dumbo we were worried she'd be like that all day.

But, fortunately all the other lines were shorter and moved continuously and had better theming. Moral of the story, get there at rope drop and sprint for Dumbo. Get it out of the way quickly and then grab a Peter Pan fastpass after that. You'll have plenty of time to breathe and meander later after getting some of these rides out of the way early before the mid-day swarms when you should be strolling them for a nap (and enjoying a Dole Whip while they dream -- best part of our day ) or going to the pool.

 

[flipflopmom]

We used a fabric sling for our 2.5 year old in lines. It folds up to nothing but is great for supporting his weight. Our little guy wanted to see what was going on and this brought him eye level without killing my back.

I was contemplating bringing either my sling or wrap. The wrap is hotter and bulkier, but the double shoulder support is awesome with my chunk! Did the sling work well?

 

[prinkle]

I think you will be pleasently surprised. Going in November it will not be hot and lines not crazy long!! I would highly recommending the touring plans from the unofficial guide to walt disney. I would get the book and use the touring plans online...they have a ton to chose from so you can find one that works for your family. When I went the first time with my DD I didn't know about these...Every trip since and there has been 6 at all different times of the year..we have never been on a line longer then 15 minutes!! At Disney that is nothing due to all there magic of their lines...meaning they do a great job at entertaining you while you wait!!! The hard ones will be Dumbo, Aladdin Carpets and a couple of other top picks 4 little ones...hit those 1st thing when the park opens!!!
Hope this helps!!!Have a magical trip!!

 

[aestapa]

I was contemplating bringing either my sling or wrap. The wrap is hotter and bulkier, but the double shoulder support is awesome with my chunk! Did the sling work well?

I used a Hotsling and it was perfect. My little guy is 28 - 30 lbs. We just had his tonsils out last week, which were chronically infected. I tell you that to say that he never really felt great...he basically carried strep all the time apparently. So, he would wear out easily and get tired and cranky...and want me to hold him. With a back injury from a car wreck a few years ago, I really struggled on our first couple of trips last year.

Then came the sling and it was perfect. It folds up to the size of a scarf and the little bit of stretch molded him to my body in lines. It worked remarkably well for taking the pressure of my back. I couldn't believe I didn't try it sooner. Because I never used one when my kids were babies, it was always hilarious to try to figure out how to get him in the thing. Usually hubby would pick him up and lower him in for me.

I got mine at a boutique where I could try on a sample for fit. I'm glad I did, or I would have gotten one too large and it would not have been nearly as comfortable.

Little guy is 3 now and we will be taking the sling with us in September just in case. (hopefully with those nasty tonsils gone...he will get stronger though)

I hope our experience helps you make up your mind what will work for you.

 

[smwslp]

We are going to WDW at the end of August with our DD 2 and 4. We have been slowly collecting small toys/sticker books etc to have with us in lines. We have been pretty lucky finding things at Target in the dollar bins...small magna doodles, view masters that can clip onto a back pack and pocket size coloring/sticker/puzzle books...all Disney themed. We also were at our local zoo recently and got misting fans that much cheaper than at WDW to bring with us.

 

[mmcphee]

Waiting in line is tough for any age. But especially very active little boys.

When our DS was 26 months old, we went to Storyland, NH. He was having difficultly waiting. OK he was screaming that it was his turn. The thing that finally cured this behavior... He was carrying on in the queue for the tractor ride. My husband told him to stop or we'd leave the line. He didn't stop. We left the line. He has never cried again in line.

Even year later, he remembers why he had to leave the tractor line. We didn't punish him any further. In fact, we just sat down, calmed down and went on to the next ride.

I agree. By 2 kids can understand how to behave and the consequences if they don't. It only took sitting on a bench once for my kids to realize it is better to behave in line and get to go on the ride than sit and wait for others to go on the ride. Give one warning and then get out of line if necessary.

 

[crisi]

I was contemplating bringing either my sling or wrap. The wrap is hotter and bulkier, but the double shoulder support is awesome with my chunk! Did the sling work well?

Remember that you need to be used to carrying that extra weight. If you are a parent who is used to wearing their toddler - a sling will work great. If you are a parent with a two year old you only carry for a few minutes at a time a couple of times a day - you'll be dead tired with a backache before vacation is half over.

 

[bumbershoot]

When we were at DLR when DS was 2.5, we wore him in the Ergo for most of the day. And when I say "we" I mean "I". The lines are completely boring if you're at bottom-height. So bring 'em up! I had DS on my back in the Ergo, and he could see things that we could see, making it FAR more interesting than "oh there's another railing or chain to get up to no good with".

Also, when DS was 2.5, we hadn't yet figured out a pretty drastic sensitivity he had, and the food at the parks was actually *causing* his rotten behaviour. DS can't have anything with "corn syrup" in the name, which means the Dole Whip he had made him crazy (corn syrup solids), the Uncrustables are now Unmentionables b/c they have corn syrup AND high fructose corn syrup, most of the ice creams have it in their ingredients. Even breads/buns have HFCS in them at the grocery store, and probably at the parks, too. Ketchup omg I remember a DRASTIC tantrum at the Hungry Bear at DL, which I now see was caused by the stinkin' ketchup with its HFCS. And it was a DumDum lollipop which helped me to *finally* see what was happening and WHY it was happening. I've found Trader Joes organic lollipops that use vegetable coloring (it's probable that DS has a food dye problem as well, but they are usually in foods he can't otherwise have anyway, and no one wants to experiment) and normal sugar instead of corn syrup, so those are nice *every so often*.

So I would be VERY careful with the snack foods, the treats, you give him, just in case. We watch perfectly normal children turn into screaming banshees *while* licking a lollipop or having an ice cream...even DS, now 5, knows what is causing it...

In addition to *possible* food stuff, there's also the heat factor, so make sure you have ways to help with that.

By the way, wearing a kid old enough to have water, and more importantly to drink water on his own, can be terrific on hot days, b/c it's inevitable that they will spill just a bit of cold water down your back, LOL. It's refreshing!


Now I have never been anti-kid-harness. Why? Because my mom used 'em with us. She would take my brother and I to the beach, along with her two Alaskan Malamutes, and we were ALL on harnesses and leads. Why? Because she loved ALL of us. She didn't just love the dogs, nope, she loved US too, and wanted to keep us safe from the traffic along the beach road, the water, other people, and dogs whose owners didn't love them enough to put them on leads as well. Alas, DS never took to them, b/c he'd run to the far end of the lead and SLAM into it. Not fun for my shoulder, and oh the glares I would get when DS would do that (why did I get the glares? he was the one causing the problem by trying to see how far he could lean over). I sure do wish it had worked out better!

 

[JSG]

We just returned from HOT temps and long lines. Our 3.5 DS definitely understood waiting . . . except for when he saw the people ahead of us getting into boat/car, etc. but not him. He was very good, but it still took a lot of care and planning.

Agreed - just don't do massive waits. We didn't do any waits longer than about 20 minutes. Like many of the PP have suggested, we sprinted to Dumbo at rope drop and used FastPass as much as possible. This was made a bit easier because I am 6 mos pregnant and couldn't ride many thing . . . so it was easier than usual for DH and DS to do an standby line first thing in the a.m. while I got them FastPasses for something later. Still, even if we'd all been riding, we'd have followed the same routine. We took p.m. breaks--just too hot not to.

I packed lots of small toys in multiples--usually party favors. Those small plastic Slinkies that come in packs of 6 (very useful), small Mickey Mouse Clubhouse magic writing spiral-bound pads, etc. Silly Putty is very effective for us. Easy to play with and mold and hold in your hands, etc. but doesn't really stick into things. Plus I also had paper, crayons, and stickers for meals.