What do you do while waiting?

[BeckyW]

We'll be traveling with 2 kids, DD5, and DS(not quite)2... On our previous trip w/ DD3(at the time) she handled waiting in lines like a champ. I had not yet stumbled upon this glorious website/forum so we did A LOT of waiting. Although I'm now planning on utilizing a touring intinerary, which will hopefully eliminate a good chunk of waiting time, I know we'll still have to wait at least 30 mins for the RD's we have scheduled (Right?). DD5 will be able to play around on my iPhone, but I'm a little more concered w/ DS. He's typically a pretty "chill" little dude, but just trying to anticipate a possible meltdown.
Any suggestions/ideas on how to keep DS occupied during those morning waits would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[Bernie2003]

My dh usually take the kids to the bathroom at least once while we're waiting at the turnstiles. Gives them a chance to move around, plus gets the first bathroom break out of the way.

We usually bring breakfast along as well so they sit on the ground at eat it at the turnstiles.

[blyday]

We do breakfast and bathroom breaks also.

We also have been known to bring the sunscreen with us and use that time to put it on. We have no problems sitting down on the ground and just chatting about what we will be doing that day while waiting also. I have not yet had a child who couldn't wait that 30 minutes for the park to open......they are always just so excited about the day. Even the little tiny ones. And of course.....the rest of the day you will not be standing in lines so you will be good to go. I think that more meltdowns happen when you are standing in line after line after line all day then will happen first thing in the morning when that is pretty well the only line you will encounter.

[casperjj]

Ours handle those waits much better. They can actually get out of line and wander closeby a bit as well so its not a rigid (as long as someone is still there waiting). We bring breakfast, and snacks, and they watch for possible character sightings and other interesting things. Other people are always interesting to watch even for my youngest. And like Brenda said, since you don't do lines all day long, those first 30min aren't so bad. Its another interesting thing to do in WDW instead of 'another' line.

[LizD]

We also have been known to bring the sunscreen with us and use that time to put it on.

Good tip.

I am planning on doing breakfast while waiting for RD as well. Plus I will have some little do-dad busy things with me that the kids can share while we wait in any line during the day. One will be an ipod, I also have some Disney themed card games from the $ store and some homemade things to play with. I think with breakfast and sunscreen application they'll really only have time to play with 1-2 things.

[Jessmela]

My DD3 likes to do a lot of dancing to the background music while waiting, especially while at MK. We also did sunscreen, bathroom breaks, games on my DH's iphone. My DS2 mostly chilled in the stroller-- he was perfectly happy just people watching.

[gorsh]

I agree with the sunblock and snacks! The spray fan is always a big hit pre RD too.

[DisneySmiles]

If you go to the rope on the left hand side entrance at MK, there is a little gift shop they can look around. The rest of us stayed at the rope while DH and DS checked it out.

The other great thing we did was pin trading. We don't care about "real vs fake" and all of that craziness, we just let DS5 (and now DD2) get the ones they like. They have a couple of nicer pins that aren't for trading and then they got to trade 2-3/day. All of the CMs hanging around before rope drop (at all 4 of the parks) have lanyards to check out and it was a great way to pass time waiting for rope drop. You can get cheaper starter sets of pins/lanyards on ebay. If you check out the "Chit Chat" forum, there is a link to a seller who has a very good reputation.

[Claire]

Luckily ours 2 and 1 year old just chill. We do snacks and luckily they love just waiting for the train to come! We go again in 8 weeks. The 1 year old now 1 1/2 is much more on the go....we will see!

[BeckyW]

Great advice all - Thank you SO much! I will definitely plan on the sunblock/snack combo!!

[nolarookie]

I've never had an issue with the kids being antsy or impatient about park opening. They 're just super happy to be there and people watch. I do have a sit and stand stroller, so they can both sit.

[Merida]

My kids still seemed to be half-sleeping at rope drop. DS1, who was 12 months when we went, actually was hardly awake at all when we were at the parks anyway, but DS3 (just turned 3) just relaxed in the stroller and took everything in. He is normally quite restless and tantrum prone, but I think he was in a constant state of shock, so doing rope drop went much better than expected :) We would get danishes as our dessert (when eating at the resort) and we saved them for the next morning to share with the kids while we waited - packing extra ziplocs came in handy after all!

We also took each of the kids' photos at rope drop (but also so that we knew what each kid was wearing in case she or he got lost and we needed to describe what she or he was wearing), applied sunscreen, flicked through the camera with the kids to look at photos from the day before etc. DH thought I was insane getting us there so early, but the time passed so quickly -

[annethomas]

All great advice! Everything I do from sunscreen and opening snacks is in slo-mo, I have been lucky and had 3 kids ALL prone to meltdowns. Last year while waiting in line we used the hand sanitizer distraction also I have a ziplock bag of mini toys (tiny slinky, twirling light ball, stuff you win at arcades) gummy worms are a favorite they sling them around awhile before eating them. I have so many tricks my list would be huge, just be creative.

[marybeth]

My three year old loves to look at the maps, and I give her things to find on the map while she waits in the stroller. You would just need to grab them at the resort before going.