Ways to amuse kids in line, particularly at rope drop...

[Princesca]

I did search on this, and there HAVE to be a million threads covering it, but I'm evidently not looking for the right combination of words, so...

Can you all please drop me your best tips for keeping an almost 6 year old, a 4 year old, and a 2.5 year old entertained in lines? I'm hoping to do a grab and go breakfast they can sit in the stroller and eat while we wait at rope drop, but I know that's only going to work for so long.

Thank you!

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

I know this is silly and maybe not helpful, but I brought pipe cleaners when my daughter was small. We ended up using them to make animals and puppets and then random general repairs to headphones and suitcases! I still pack a couple for the trip now that we are all old enough not to need distraction. We also still play eye spy. No materials required!

 

[nancipants]

The phone.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Gummies

 

[ZeeWP]

My kids have done disneyland at 2 and 4, Knotts at 5 and 7, and just now six flags. We love playing heads up or doing mad libs on our phones. I spy, word association, games.

 

[SLThomas318]

When my kids were younger we had some old iPhones that we downloaded a few things on... would only pull them out if they were ready to melt down. Snacks were helpful.... I would always bring gummy packs or small packs of m&m's... something I could hand them one at a time. Surprisingly the kids did better then I thought they would in lines... there is so much to look at and when they were younger we timed things so we only did maybe 20 mins max for a line.

Edit to add: This post made me laugh a little because we were just down in June and while waiting in the rope drop crowd my 5 year old goes "Mom, you bring any toys?!" My husband and I had a good laugh...

 

[MamaMermaid]

We talk, use the phone (as a last resort). I saw a mom break out little containers of play-doh which I thought was smart!

 

[FAITHOMAS]

Eye spy, fun facts about the park you are visiting, bubbles, take turns with silly selfies..

 

[tinkerjo]

We always get a park map (a couple actually) while we wait for rope drop. The kids can find their favorite rides and plan out their day. That and breakfast should handle rope drop. I have seen lots of families playing heads up in line but honestly I don’t think we ever needed anything but I never went with a 2 year old. That age is challenging in itself.

 

[DisneyMama811]

I've downloaded a set of Disney "Would you Rather" cards that I'm going to print and bring with us, Disney Eye Found it card game, might bring bubbles but I'm worried about annoying other guests, snacks of course because my kids are forever starving to death, plus I'll have Disney+ on an old phone with some stuff downloaded.... this will be our first trip with our kids so I can't vouch that any of these are no fails but they're my ideas!

 

[sponica]

So we didn't do any rides with real lines, my oldest hates roller coasters and we didn't always have a non rider with us, so I just accepted that they wouldn't get done this trip. The worst line I remember was the safari. We had a lightning lane, but an ostrich had decided to block the jeeps about 15 or 20 minutes before we got in line, so it wasn't moving. My 5 year old was fine, my 20 month old just kept trying to escape.

The real challenge was dining, but i always bring coloring books and crayons with me and that keeps them occupied.

We're now in the position where we can go frequently enough I don't care about making rope drop, so I'm no use there, if we were on a 5 year plan or once a decade plan, I'd feel differently.

 

[brockash]

I did search on this, and there HAVE to be a million threads covering it, but I'm evidently not looking for the right combination of words, so...

Can you all please drop me your best tips for keeping an almost 6 year old, a 4 year old, and a 2.5 year old entertained in lines? I'm hoping to do a grab and go breakfast they can sit in the stroller and eat while we wait at rope drop, but I know that's only going to work for so long.

Thank you!

That's what we do...breakfast in the strollers abd. sometimes they nap. It's never really been an issue. There are so many ppl. around and things going on; they have plenty to "look at."

I do bring a little quart size baggie with a small notepad and a few colored pencils and pen that my youngest will sometimes use while waiting for something (rope drop/parade/fireworks).

 

[DisneyAuntie12]

Dollar Tree, Party City, 5 Below and the dollar bins at Target are a good source for small novelties. (Just be careful about possible choking hazards for the youngest.) You can put together a grab bag of unique toys and dole them out slowly as needed. Slinkies, squishy sensory toys, fidgets, mini magna doodles, Disney figures (Dollar Tree often has these), stickers, keychains that do funny things (5 Below has animals that “poop” a balloon when squeezed, or light up, make animal noises, etc.) You can also get sets of fidgets on Amazon for much cheaper than you would pay to buy each toy individually.

Just DO NOT get sensory toys with goo inside because they will break and ooze everywhere. Get the foam ones or the ones filled with tiny beads instead.

Melissa and Doug also make good reusable sticker books and paint with water books. They are a little pricier but will last a long time so you could use them other places or at home.

 

[Tigerlily125]

Late to respond to this...but when my DDs were that age we made our own autograph books ahead of time. When we were waiting in line they loved to look through them at what autographs they had already gotten and which ones they still wanted. I also brought a few extra markers and bought various disney stickers so they could continue to work on them while in line

 

[maxiesmom]

Eye spy, fun facts about the park you are visiting, bubbles, take turns with silly selfies..

This, minus the bubbles. I wouldn't use bubbles anywhere where the people around you can't get away from them. They can damage your phone/camera, and some people are allergic to the solution. And if you have ever had a skin allergy you know it isn't as simple as wiping off the offending solution.

 

[AZMermaid]

We just talk about our day or look at things

 

[TheGingerMermaid]

We had 4 kids under 10. I think key for us was all of the kids having their OWN things, which gave them things to play with during wait times. Disney lanyards with a pocket for their ticket card (they loved looking at them) and a fidget keychain, sunglasses, their own park maps which they loved looking at, and just an absolute ton of snacks. Just keep in mind whatever you bring you have to carry, so I'm a fan of anything "wearable" so they can carry their toys themselves. There is so much to do and look at, we never really had any meltdowns.