Need Advice for First Flight with Kids

[Emily & Sarah's Mom]

Our June trip will be the first flight for DD 4 and second flight for DD 9 (she flew 6 years ago). Any tips on making this a smooth experience?

Thank you!

 

[Ariel8676]

I would say maybe make sure you have a few snacks, a coloring book and crayons and maybe get some Ear Planes..just in case. Good Luck!

 

[DISNEYFOS]

A Laptop/portable DVD player always travels with us. ;-)

Carryon with snacks & juice as most flights dont have meals anymore.

I usually try to buy a new toy before our trip to pull out on the plane.

HTH

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Just a couple of activities(coloring books, activity books..) Definately snacks. And I am going to try earplanes for me and the kids next year also, they are recommended by alot of people here. My DD's ears were fine but mine and ds's hurt pretty bad. You never know til you get up there.

 

[brat5063]

I have never heard of earplanes. I will have to check it out. This will be our first flight and I am planning on bringing snacks and drinks, a new book and maybe a new toy. And if that doesn't work, pulling out the laptop to watch a movie.

 

[tribus121]

Thank you for asking this question as we have a 4 year old going on a plane for the first time. I wanted to know how to make the experience a good one for her.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My 5-year-old likes gum for the plane. The chewing keeps your ears from popping. (Just remember to by enough for the return trip before you leave. - They don't sell it at Disney.) I also agree with the folks who said to bring snacks, and I always wrap up a couple of little surprises when we travel, too.

 

[TexDisneyMom]

The best advise I ever got was to give the kids the proper dose of Benadryl. This keeps them from stopping up. My dd's ear used to hurt so bad that she would start crying from the pain. After I started giving her Benadryl about 30 min before the flight we have never had a problem. Also a good trick is to take a bunch of balloons. By blowing on them they can "pop" their ears. Works a lot better then gum.

I also make a three ring binder with a bunch of disney coloring pages I print out and puzzels I make. I also put in some blank tic tac toe pages for them to play. I keep them as a surprise and give them to them the night before we leave. Then they are new and "special" and it keeps them entertained.

 

[luvmesometigger]

When we went 2 years ago, DS was 4. He had a Leapster to play with and a Game Boy also. He never was (and still isn't) very interested in coloring but I do have some pages for him to do this year on the plane. If you go here

http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/articles/mickeysaver070402.shtml

there are a lot of neat ideas.

I also printed a whole journal for my son to fill in every day. Here is that site.

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/journal.shtml

 

[mjh8955]

My kids still talk about this and we did it 10 years ago. To get our kids ready to fly we read lots of books and even drove to the local airport for a visit. Before their first plane ride, when DD was 5 and DS was 8, I set up the living room like a plane, with rows of straight backed chairs. I made tickets and boarding passes (in little folders) with seat numbers on them and placed seat numbers on all the chairs. I packed their little backpacks with a lightened up version of what they really would be taking with them. They did not see this set up beforehand but were in the "waiting room" or "pre-boarding area". As their "mommy" I gave them their instructions. They would enter "the plane" when the stewardess announced their flight. Then they were to put their backpacks on and board the plane quietly and quickly and find the seat numbers that matched their boarding passes. They were then to immediately stow their backpacks under the seat directly ahead of them and buckle in (I rigged up seatbelts using old belts). I stood at the living room door (that had been labeled GATE 1719) and announced their flight number on their Little Tykes microphone and became the flight attendant. "Welcome to flight #417 now boarding for Orlando." Etc. We are now prepared to board. All passengers please proceed to gate 1719." They both came in from "the waiting room" and did exactly what they were supposed to do and thought it was great fun. When the real flight came along they boarded like they were old pros. They knew what they were supposed to do, what was in their backpacks, what each pocket contained and they needed very little assistance. Because they were so well prepared they were able to enjoy the ride. And so were we... and so were the people around us The ONLY problem we have had on airplanes was when our kids legs were still short and they could only stick them straight out or sit cross legged. One time our son's feet kept bumping the seat ahead and this lady was really intolerant. He couldn't help it, it's just where his feet reached and his legs were too short to bend at the knees so they could hang down. We had him sit Indian style and that worked out fine.