Odd number of people

[AndreaDM]

How do the rest of you who have 1, 3, 5 or more kids of an odd number handle attractions that are designed for 2? I'm thinking specifially TSM, Buzz, rides like that. Do you take turns being the "odd man out"?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Unfrotunately, that is about the only answer.

 

[rhondabee]

While I have never been to Disney (first trip is in Sept. Yay!!!) we do visit other parks such as Silver Dollar City quite often. My family consists of my husband, daughter and myself. I am always the "odd man" out, lol. My daughter always rides with her dad. Occasionally, she will ride with me. It used to bother me riding by myself, but I have gotten used to it by now.

 

[WendyBirdGirl]

I was the odd man out all weekend while I toured the parks with my brother and his girlfriend. I just look for little perks of being the odd man out! I get two shooting devices on Toy Story Mania and Buzz Lightyear. I can stretch out and enjoy an entire bench seat to myself at Sci-Fi. I can make all of the lifestyle choices on the Spaceship Earth screen. I made funny faces in people's photos when I was a single rider in someone else's car, LOL. Riding alone is not always a bad thing!

 

[BarbieGal457]

When I go with friends, though we have always been an even number, when it comes to rides we're almost always odd-numbered. A lot of my friends dislike different types of rides, leading one person to be the odd one out. We'd all take turns riding alone, and I rather enjoy riding alone sometimes, so it wasn't much of an issue. Like WendyBirdGirl said, I like being able to stretch out and make all the decisions!

 

[kohlby]

Not everyone can always do every ride since our youngest is only 2. The second child is over 40" and the third is 53" but isn't as brave as the 40" child. If we can all go on a ride - or if one adult must stay with the youngest, then we're at an odd number for every single ride. The oldest child has to go by himself that in situation. There's really no other solution because the middle child isn't old enough.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We're a family of 3 - myself, dh and dd age 11. She usually chooses to ride with me leaving dh the 'odd man out' and he's a good sport about it.

On our last few trips however, we've all figured out that it's a good thing to be solo on TSM you can get a lot more points that way! So now we rotate who's alone on there and she is always campaigning to be the solo one. It's fine IMO for her to ride 'alone' on TSM since we're right there in the car too.

 

[AndreaDM]

Yeah there are a few rides where one of us is happy to let the other parent ride with our 8 year old (tea cups, haha), but I was wondering who you'd compete agains in TSM. I never thought of using both and competing against myself, thanks!

We are also eating at Sci-Fi, I'll take the seat by myself since DD and I ate there last year, but DH didn't, so I'll let her sit with him.

 

[WendyBirdGirl]

And don't forget you can still compare scores and "prizes" when you get off of Toy Story Mania!

 

[seals]

DH, me, 3 tweenage boys. On our recent trip we mixed it up each time for all possible combinations. My 12 yr old always volunteers to be the odd man out, but sometimes I made him ride with me for the shared experience. Test Track is one I recall that all 5 of us plus a stranger rode together. One time we got a little girl and another time an extremely tall man whose knees were practically in his chin.

 

[jaiwin]

We rotate who is sitting by themselves. It depends on the rides. Sometimes, we will sqeeze all three DD's together in a ride, and me and DH will get to ride together.

we try to go off of who rode alone on the last ride, but nine times out of
10, its Dh, or I thats riding solo. and most of time thats fine. We are at WDW so we are happy

 

[AndreaDM]

Test Track is one I recall that all 5 of us plus a stranger rode together

That brings me to another question, how is single rider line? I have a feeling I may be doing that a few times this trip. DD has said NO WAY will she be riding EE and I'd like to experience it at least once and DH could go either way, so I'm assuming he'll hang out with her while I ride. When she was 4/5 she was riding everything she couldn, even ToT and crying about the stuff she wasn't tall enough to ride. Now that is IS tall enough, she doesn't want to do half the stuff!

 

[BarbieGal457]

That brings me to another question, how is single rider line? I have a feeling I may be doing that a few times this trip. DD has said NO WAY will she be riding EE and I'd like to experience it at least once and DH could go either way, so I'm assuming he'll hang out with her while I ride. When she was 4/5 she was riding everything she couldn, even ToT and crying about the stuff she wasn't tall enough to ride. Now that is IS tall enough, she doesn't want to do half the stuff!

I love the single rider line! I think it's one of the best things at Disney. Even when my party does it to save time, we don't ever end up too split up/far apart. In my experience that line usually goes very quickly as well. I've always had great interactions with fellow guests too. I'm a people person, and I think it's really neat meeting people from all over the world. I did Disneyland solo (LONG story!) and they only had a few single rider lines, but in those lines (& even the regular lines) I met some great people, and got everything done super quick!

If you don't want to do single rider or your DD/DH wants to see the queue, you could always get in line together, and then whoever isn't riding can use the chicken exit at the end. All rides have one, and I've done this tons of times. I'm a scaredy cat mostly, but I still like to see it! And it's nice being able to stay together until the very end. CMs have always made me feel totally at ease and never silly or "a baby" for asking for the chicken exit, even when I did it at Splash Mountain and accidentally fell down the steps!

 

[mesaboy2]

That brings me to another question, how is single rider line? I have a feeling I may be doing that a few times this trip. DD has said NO WAY will she be riding EE and I'd like to experience it at least once and DH could go either way, so I'm assuming he'll hang out with her while I ride. When she was 4/5 she was riding everything she couldn, even ToT and crying about the stuff she wasn't tall enough to ride. Now that is IS tall enough, she doesn't want to do half the stuff!

Single rider is great if it's open. There are only three (EE at AK, TT at Epcot, and RnR at HS) in all of WDW, and they are not open 100% of the time, depending on crowds.

 

[sydneysmom]

we just have one daughter, so we found that on pretty much everything. But I didn't look at it as being "odd man out". It was actually hilarious to get a different "view" of the fun. When we went on Everest, (now, my DD was 4 at the time) she wanted to sit in the front. ( okay, I'll be the one to sit alone on this one!! ) so she and my DH sat in the front. I sat in back of them. it was hilarious to watch them w/ their arms in the air and laughing. it was a whole different perspective.

Also, on the slower rides like Dumbo, you (or the other parent) can take pictures. We got some terrific shots when we did that. Just switch off who takes the child.... you'll be having so much fun you won't feel like the odd man out !!

 

[jacksonsmom]

We are a family of 3, and in the past, yes, we used to take turns being the odd man out. No biggie.

Now that my son is older, (almost 12) he likes to be the odd man out on some ride, like Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, etc.

 

[kaligal]

Not only are you sometimes "odd man out", but Disney doesn't like to send rides out with open seats when people are standing around waiting for seats.

They fill the extra seat.

Sometimes you ride with strangers.

Even if you're 4 people, sometimes someone is the odd man out. Depends on the ride.

Have fun!

 

[Florimel]

We're a family of 3 and take turns to be the odd man out. DD has always kept track of whose turn it was - and gave the excuse for multiple rides on favourite things. She too likes being the odd man out now she's bigger. Only exception is Buzz - Dad's better at driving to get the higher scores!

 

[AndreaDM]

O wow, I guess I thought there were more single rider lines than that.

Ok, I guess I'll just try to look at riding alone or with a stranger as a perk, sometimes I need to get pushed out of my comfort zone.

 

[whitney37354]

DD was 5 when we went. The only things we didn't ride together were: Buzz Space Ranger Spin, Finding Nemo,TSM & Tomorrowland Speedway. She rode with Daddy on all of those & I was the odd man out. I was surprised that we were able to fit together on Snow White, Pooh, HM, SSE, Figment. We were prepared to split up on those. I rode Dumbo, Tea Cups, Aladdin's Flying Carpets, & the flying dinos (I think?) in AK with her while Daddy sat those out.

My sister has 2 kids & a DH who won't ride any rides. They are taking a 20-something cousin with them to ride with them to even it up. We've trying to convince BIL that he can ride most things without getting sick. We'll see how it goes.