How to keep the kids entertained in line?

[Lavender Mom]

We'll be in Disneyland starting April 1. I'm resigning myself to the fact that we're going to be spending some time standing in lines. I've read all the tips that I can find on these boards about efficient touring during peak season, but I'm thinking that lines may be inevitable given that we're a group of 8 traveling with small children during spring break.

So what can we do to entertain the troops (ages 4,5 &6) while we're waiting in line? So far my bag of tricks includes snacks and looking for Hidden Mickeys. What other ideas do you all have for me?

 

[wannagoback]

Do you have a leapster or an ipod with video? Those things could keep my DD4 entertained for hours. Are they girls or boys? If they are girls, you could teach them how to braid, then get some yarn and safety pins. Attach it to their pants and they can practice braiding. Hmm... I'm just trying to think of things that aren't difficult to walk around with. My daughter also loves a travel size magna-doodle that we have, but I'm not sure that the interest in that would last too long. They could look around at different things and draw them. In that line of thought, a sprial notebook with one or two pens attached via string would work fine. DD4 loves to practice writing. Give them some disney words to write or print out coloring book page downloads from the internet and paste them in the spiral notebook.

Just some ideas off the top of my head...

 

[wannagoback]

I'm loving this... how about a scavenger hunt/checklist? Things like:

A lady with green pants
A little girls in pigtails
Someone wearing minnie mouse ears
A tinkerbell t-shirt
A LGMH
A penny lying on the ground
An emergency exit door
Burned out lightbulb
Electrical Outlet


You could think of things that they will see in the actual line, or things in the park that they could see while standing in the line. While a 4 year old probably can't read the list, if you review it enough times, I'm sure that he/she will remember many of the things on it.

 

[LavenderPeach]

How about thinking up some Disney trivia questions? Just think about what movies they've seen or what characters they know about. They could just be questions you think up on the spot or you could come up with a list ahead of time. You might need to think of harder ones for the older kids and easier ones for the younger child (for example, "what color are Mickey's shoes?"). Also, trivia questions about your trip like "what did mom eat for lunch yesterday".

 

[Lavender Mom]

Great ideas so far! Thanks.

We've got:
Two 4 year old girls, a 5 y.o boy and a 6 y.o boy.

 

[thinktinkspink]

a gameboy!

 

[Mike_M]

Many of the queues are themed nicely and have things to look for or are just simply entertaining in of themselves. Most of the queues were pretty entertaining to me as a kid and my DS really didn't need to be distracted by something while in line.

HM has funny tombstones and a spooky quietness to the overflow queue which gets you in the mood for the ride nicely.

Indy and Roger Rabbit's queues have more stuff than I can list here and almost count as seperate walk through attractions to me.

BTMRR is full of old mining equipment and western items.

Most of the Fantasyland dark rides have interesting things to look for in line.

Star Tours has essentially a pre-show to watch while in line.

Overall, I'd say that most of the lines have something interesting built into them to look for besides hidden Mickeys.

 

[Teki]

I bought a magnadoodle that can clip on to my sister bag while shes in line for doodling. Ive also heard that small toys from the disney store can be entertaining to small kids in line.

 

[Mugglemama]

if it's going to be nice and warm during your DL visit, you might consider getting each of the kids one of those handheld fans that squirts water. kids never seem to get tired of those, and they keep hands busy and everyone comfy and cooled off.

 

[mom2ian]

I love the idea of a scavenger hunt/checklist. We're going in about a week and my 3.5 year old loves planning the "I spy" game. We can do a DL version instead!

 

[clairabell29]

Dollar store bubbles, the little ones you would use at a wedding. My DS3 loves these and most kids don't tire of bubbles.

 

[AmericanItGirl]

A bottle of bubbles. I love carrying a small one in my bag and whenever I get bored or a kid behind or in front of me starts getting cranky, I whip them out and start blowing and popping them. It's fun to watch people try to figure out where the bubbles magically appeared from. Be sure to keep the bottle in a plastic baggie to prevent possible leaks.

 

[mechurchlady]

From disAbilities there are the following tips: radios or headphones, tidbits of food for rewards, games like gameboy, worry beads, busy toys to keep the mind going, books for older kids, and things that keep kids active mentally as that is the problem. Kids at age 5 have about 5 to 10 minute attention spans and can get bored easily so keep them brains moving on new things.

Ask them questions about what they see like on the Jungle Cruise line you can talk about the pictures and stuff.

 

[azdisneylover]

When ever we have to wait in line anywhere (grocery store, etc) a few games we play are:

rock, paper, scissors

thumb wars

don't know the name, two people put their hands together palms touching, and the person on the bottom tries to move their hands quick enough to slap the person's hands on top

we also try ask the kids to spell different words we see, for example, truck,

Hope you have lots of fun!

 

[SleeplessInSeattle]

We let our 6 yo watch YouTube or play games on our cell phones. In fact, even though we are at Disneyland, she likes to watch YouTube videos of Disneyland rides. For our daughter though, if anyone starts to talk with her, then she'll become a chatterbox, talking about the ride we're in line for. Although one might normally frown upon talking with strangers, we found this a great relief for the tedium of some lines .

 

[xman111]

we're going in August of all times with a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl and im nervous as heck about this

 

[mechurchlady]

we're going in August of all times with a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl and im nervous as heck about this

Remember that kids feed off of parents. I watch people in the parks and see the mom telling her daughter how to do an autograph book and was slightly OCD. If mom is anxious then the kids are anxious. If the parents are calm then the kids remain calm. I see way too many families in parks were the parent or other adult tends to either make the kid exactly like them or totally opposite.

Stay calm. a bit hyped about the thing you are waiting for, and do not panic in front of the kids. None of them "OMG, this line is like so long and we will miss dinner" or "OMG, the ride must not be working because we been here over 30 minutes.". Have fun and while away the time in fun ways. You will be fine, look at me, I am fine and I have survived spending 15 of my first 18 years in parks.

 

[evandmp]

The only thing we really do is give snacks. We talk and people watch until it's time to ride. My ds (almost 5) has no problem standing in line (doesn't need entertaining). My 21 month old I just carry and sway side to side with or bounce her, give her snacks and talk. It's not as stressful as it would seem since there is so much to look at even if it's just people walking around. I like the mini magnadoodle idea though.

 

[evandmp]

Kids at age 5 have about 5 to 10 minute attention spans
.

OT but I disagree completely. They have much longer attention spans than we give them credit for.

 

[mechurchlady]

OT but I disagree completely. They have much longer attention spans than we give them credit for.

4.5 years of upper math in high school.

The correct figure is 3 to 5 minutes per year of age and maxing around 20 minutes for adults. For me it is like 3 minutes top, lol. I do make mistakes, sorry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_span