Single Parent --- How to Take Trips?

[esk]

Help! DH is leaving for a 6 month deployment, unexpectedly, and I need help on how to travel as a single mom.

I have a boy, 9, and girl, 5.

Of course my first thought was "oh, I'll take them to WDW" since I am very familiar with everything there. But then I thought about rides.....how do you ride rides with 3 people (I don't mean Peter Pan or Small World)? Could let DS go alone on some, but what about when I have to ride with DD5.....where does he hang? With the CM at the ride loading point? Bathrooms, well, we'd figure that out...I am notorious for putting my hand over his eyes, taking him into the ladies room and placing him in a stall while DD and I do our business in the stall next door. He gets embarrassed but I know where he is.

Flying, no big deal. Renting a car, no big deal.

But I'm worried 2 will be really hard to handle alone and he wants to ride RnR Roller Coaster, Space Mountain, all that, and how do I do that? DD only wants to meet Princesses and ride Goofy's Barnstormer.

Any other trip ideas for this summer? Relatives are not an option --- my mother will not go to WDW for anything, she hates crowds, and my MIL....well, if I want to shell out airfare, hotel, meals (and I mean MEALS), souveniers, cell phone minutes, new clothes, anything she might decide she wants to buy...no thanks, plus I can't stand her. Both my sisters have kids, whose husbands don't travel with them, so in theory, we could be 2 adults and 4 kids under the age of 10, not sure if that would be the best idea either.

Not the first deployment, by any means, but the first where the kids have been old enough to ask what we're going to do this summer.....

 

[Hannathy]

First you he can ride alone. You have to be 7 to ride alone at Disney so you all wait in line and when you get to the ride he goes in his own seat and you and DD go together. 9 is old enough to go the the bathroom alone at Disney.
For the other things then they learn compromise- he gets to pick something and she gets to pick something and they each have to do what the other wants when it is their turn.

I think those are great ages to take alone! still kids but old enough to do a lot for themselves and you don't need a stroller etc, You'll have a great time!

 

[EKW]

As far as 3 to a ride, the boys usually ride together and I ride in the seat behind them. This only changes on rides where the younger one might be afraid. Lots of times there are families in front or behind us who have an extra kid, and they jump in with the older boy.

On our 2005 trip my older son was afraid of some rides the younger one wanted to go on...at the time he was about your son's age. What happened depended on the ride. If you exit near the entrance, he just waited there, in sight of a CM. When you exit someplace else, the CMs would walk him to the exit. Not a problem.

If I were you I'd explain to the kids that there will be a different SOP for this trip than for previous trips. I think if you lay the groundworks ahead of time, they will get on board. Heck, neither my boys really wants to ride iasw, but they both do because that's the way our family works...if one of us wants to do something, we all participate.

The only other option I can think of is that you consider taking along a teenager. I had a friend in high school who went with a family due to this sort of situation. They gave her a certain amount of free time each day...when she could go do whatever she wanted...in return for her being there when they needed someone to go on a ride...or stay with the younger one.

 

[summerrluvv]

I went with my (at the time) 17 month old and 9 year old. Everything we could ride together, we did (Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc.). The larger rides like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, I got a fast pass, or if the line was like 15 minutes or less, I let him go through the line alone and DD and I would be waiting at the exit after I watch him in the queue until I couldn't see him anymore. I admit I was a nervous wreck doing this, but he LOVES rides and it worked out fine, and we had a GREAT trip. Our recent trip I had help, so that made things a tad easier.

 

[Duckyiam71]

I did this with my nephews years ago and I was fine. So much so that I am doing it again with my DS10 and DS5. Like PP have stated, I will wait in line with DS10 when we ride RnR and ToT just inform the CMs and they will show how to get around to the unloading areas. My DS 10 will not care that he is riding alone because we have already talked about what we are doing. As far as bathrooms go, you can always look for the family restrooms. They are just a big room with one stall..they can just turn their backs( Iknow kind of weird but I liked this rather than taking them in bathroom with me). Have fun and dont stress you can do it. I will pray for your DH. My DH is deployed as well. You can do it!

 

[bobcat]

I've been traveling solo with my kids since they were little and WDW is so easy as a single parent.

I went with my (at the time) 17 month old and 9 year old. Everything we could ride together, we did (Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc.). The larger rides like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, I got a fast pass, or if the line was like 15 minutes or less, I let him go through the line alone and DD and I would be waiting at the exit after I watch him in the queue until I couldn't see him anymore. I admit I was a nervous wreck doing this, but he LOVES rides and it worked out fine, and we had a GREAT trip. Our recent trip I had help, so that made things a tad easier.

Ditto. Just let the CM know whats going on and they will direct you to the exit area to wait. If your youngest is tall enough to ride you can all go through the line and take the chicken exit right before your oldest one rides. DD is my daredevil so was riding anything as soon as she was able.

I did this with my nephews years ago and I was fine. So much so that I am doing it again with my DS10 and DS5. Like PP have stated, I will wait in line with DS10 when we ride RnR and ToT just inform the CMs and they will show how to get around to the unloading areas. My DS 10 will not care that he is riding alone because we have already talked about what we are doing. As far as bathrooms go, you can always look for the family restrooms. They are just a big room with one stall..they can just turn their backs( Iknow kind of weird but I liked this rather than taking them in bathroom with me). Have fun and dont stress you can do it. I will pray for your DH. My DH is deployed as well. You can do it!

Just make sure you know that some of the bathrooms have more than one entrance/exit if you send your kids in alone. We always had a meeting place at every restroom and every food court because it can get confusing. I also stressed that the kids should go to a CM if they got lost/turned around. I made a point of talking and having the kids talk to the CMs as soon as we stepped on Disney property so they would feel comfortable doing that. Thankfully we never had a problem.

This isn't always a popular decision but DS was in a stroller at 4 and 5 when we went to WDW. It worked well because I always knew where one child was in a crowd and DD was older and easier to keep track of. It was also faster to navigate the parks. We would usually leave the stroller parked in whichever land we were in and walk around after that. A stroller was a must at Epcot and we never would have gotten around WS without it!

 

[Wendy5055]

Sometimes it just feels daunting doesn't it???

I just have one to worry about, but I drag my Mom on vacation with us. Thankfully, she is a good egg about this and I mostly pay for her vacation...besides, we love having her with us!!!

Otherwise, I think if I had two I would follow the rule the other pp said about everyone participating...that would have to be the rule. It is difficult I know, because he is getting older and wants to do the more daring rides.

I wish I could have been more helpful.

 

[shuteye]

I will be taking my boys 5 and 9 to Disney next month by myself since dh is unable to go. This is my boys first trip and my first trip in 15 yrs. I am pretty nervous but figure all I can do is make it work.

 

[eebadeeba]

I have gone alone with 2 little ones (5 & 1) before & pregnant. There was no way we were doing big rides, even if she was tall enough for some of them. Now I am thinking of going with 3 (8, 4, & 2). I will get a babysitter at least once for the 4 and 2 year old, and take the 8 year old on the big rides. There is also the kid's clubs that you can put the 5 year old in and then take the 9 yo for an evening of big rides.