Entertaining a 16mo old & 3 yr old in long lines?!?

[Burghdiva]

Hi Everyone! I have a few questions. We are taking my daughter who is 16 months old and my 3 yr old nephew to Disney in 2 weeks. We have already made our fastpass + ressies and I was wondering if someone could tell us how long do you normally wait to get on the ride if you have made fastpass+ ressies for a ride? Also, if you end up waiting for an hour to get on a ride, how do you entertain the young ones? I'm terrified of how we'll be able to stand in line for rides and character meet and greets with the young ones.

We made fast pass+ ressies to see Mickey Mouse and our time is 12:50 to 1:50 but then we got fast pass ressies for Be Our Guest Lunch and our time is 2:15 to 2:40. Do you think if we were able to get in line for Mickey at 12:50 that we could be at Be Our Guest by 2:40? We will be in MK on October 19th. Hoping the crowds that day will be light!

 

[stevehousse]

Hi Everyone! I have a few questions. We are taking my daughter who is 16 months old and my 3 yr old nephew to Disney in 2 weeks. We have already made our fastpass + ressies and I was wondering if someone could tell us how long do you normally wait to get on the ride if you have made fastpass+ ressies for a ride? Also, if you end up waiting for an hour to get on a ride, how do you entertain the young ones? I'm terrified of how we'll be able to stand in line for rides and character meet and greets with the young ones.

We made fast pass+ ressies to see Mickey Mouse and our time is 12:50 to 1:50 but then we got fast pass ressies for Be Our Guest Lunch and our time is 2:15 to 2:40. Do you think if we were able to get in line for Mickey at 12:50 that we could be at Be Our Guest by 2:40? We will be in MK on October 19th. Hoping the crowds that day will be light!

You will have no problem at all! The parks aren't too busy when u are going, I hope you made FP selections for attractions with longer lines? U probably won't have to wait more than 30 minutes in a line while u r there! Our iPods and iPhones work est forbthebkids waiting in line, but that's only if there is one. Our last visit te longest line was 25 minutes back in May!

 

[Burghdiva]

May I ask what attractions have the longest lines? There are rides that I know that I want my daughter to ride, though it's very limited since she's so young but I also really want her to be able to meet as many characters as possible. My husband allowed ONE character meal while we are there and we are doing breakfast at Chef Mickeys. I want to be able to make the most of this trip! This will be the first trip for my husband to Disney and he's not much of a fan at all but I'm hoping that once he's there he will love it and want to bring us back sooner than later! We only get one day in MK and one day in HS!

 

[stevehousse]

So fun! Hope your first trip is wonderful! The longest lines usually are;

MK- splash mountain, space mountain, big thunder mountain, Peter Pan and jungle cruise, and Rapunzel at princess fairy tale hall.

Epcot- soarin and test track

Studios- toy story, tower or terror, and rockin roller coaster

Animal kingdom - safari, expedition Everest, and kali river rapids!

 

[Mousey21]

We're going on Friday, (can't wait!!!) and we'll have our 3 year old with us, so for the lines I'm going to buy some bubbles, everyone loves bubbles, and also I've bought her these little carry colouring books, they have a handle and crayons on the back, I hope we won't need them, but they are small and light. so it wont be a problem

 

[docdebbi]

i know the politically correct types will want to kill me, but the iPhone is the best thing we found for entertaining them. the three year old clearly can do some games, we get the ones that are educational so we don't feel so guilty, but our kids love them, and do indeed learn. they seem to especially like the puzzle ones.
i don't know about your 16 month old, but our started using the iPhone by 12 months, mostly because he saw his older brother doing it, but there are lots of cute games for that age. lots of kittens and dogs who do things for you, lots of games where it repeats what you say but in a funny voice.
waiting for parades was where we used them mostly, yes with lots of adult superivision and in a really protective otter box case, just IN CASE.

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

We're going on Friday, (can't wait!!!) and we'll have our 3 year old with us, so for the lines I'm going to buy some bubbles, everyone loves bubbles, and also I've bought her these little carry colouring books, they have a handle and crayons on the back, I hope we won't need them, but they are small and light. so it wont be a problem

*Raises hand* I love bubbles. In an open space. Ever had a bubble land on your eye while wearing contact lenses? Not fun.
I'm all for keeping little ones amused (I have a 7, 4 and 3 year old) but I don't let my distraction techniques encroach on others. We use iphones, snacks and small toys. We've yet to be able to stay still long enough to draw in a queue, the lines move quickly, and the Winnie the Pooh queue is so much fun, and Dumbo!
Just my two pennies

 

[Weather_Lady]

First, avoid the long lines by getting everybody to the park before rope drop. Hit the headliners in whatever "lands" (preferably 2 or 3 adjacent ones) you're touring that morning first. (E.g., if it's Adventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square in the MK, you'd visit the Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion within the first hour after park opening. Voila! Given the fairly low crowds for the time you're traveling, you'll spend the rest of the morning working your way back through those lands with nary a wait over 10 minutes and with many attractions being walk-ons. Then you'll pause to slurp a Dole Whip and pat yourself on the back for being the World's Most Efficient Tourist.) Save your Fastpasses for late afternoon and evening, and don't forget that there will be a "magic time window" during each park's parade(s) when the lines in headline attractions will plummet as guests line up for the entertainment. We like to take advantage of that magic moment each day to ride a headliner attraction or two, and save watching the parades ourselves for the last day of our vacation.

So many of the queues are interactive or just detailed and attractive that we often just distracted our kids with whatever we could see, talking about the queue design, the attractions, and the films on which they were based. If things got desperate, my DH would hand the kids his smartphone to play games.

 

[Fordlover]

we went in Feb. with our then 18 month old. We found that she had plenty to look at to keep her busy, even in the longest lines - The ride queue's are getting pretty awesome (like Ariel's Undersea Adventure). While she is very well behaved, I think what helped the most was always taking a break mid day so she could get her nap in. We're ready to go back, but have to wait a while, now we have a 3 month old...

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Mousey21]

*Raises hand* I love bubbles. In an open space. Ever had a bubble land on your eye while wearing contact lenses? Not fun.
I'm all for keeping little ones amused (I have a 7, 4 and 3 year old) but I don't let my distraction techniques encroach on others. We use iphones, snacks and small toys. We've yet to be able to stay still long enough to draw in a queue, the lines move quickly, and the Winnie the Pooh queue is so much fun, and Dumbo!
Just my two pennies

I wear contacts too, I'll keep that in mind !

 

[Freshee61]

The 16 month old is more likely to be fine all the time in wdw in a stroller, in your arms or bjorn/sling.
Now the 3 year is the tricky one. Are they a calm three year old? Then they should be fine with minor distractions but a more active 3 year old will need snacks, treats, and or have books or electronic distractions.

 

[jkl2000]

First, avoid the long lines by getting everybody to the park before rope drop. Hit the headliners in whatever "lands" (preferably 2 or 3 adjacent ones) you're touring that morning first. (E.g., if it's Adventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square in the MK, you'd visit the Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion within the first hour after park opening. Voila! Given the fairly low crowds for the time you're traveling, you'll spend the rest of the morning working your way back through those lands with nary a wait over 10 minutes and with many attractions being walk-ons. Then you'll pause to slurp a Dole Whip and pat yourself on the back for being the World's Most Efficient Tourist.) Save your Fastpasses for late afternoon and evening, and don't forget that there will be a "magic time window" during each park's parade(s) when the lines in headline attractions will plummet as guests line up for the entertainment. We like to take advantage of that magic moment each day to ride a headliner attraction or two, and save watching the parades ourselves for the last day of our vacation.

So many of the queues are interactive or just detailed and attractive that we often just distracted our kids with whatever we could see, talking about the queue design, the attractions, and the films on which they were based. If things got desperate, my DH would hand the kids his smartphone to play games.

You're such a reasonable sounding park warrior that I have to ask you this question:

We're going later this month. We're going to the "best parks" according to TouringPlans.com for rope drop most days, then PROBABLY going to back to the resort for a midday break. But most days it works out that the "best parks" close quite early (because of hours, MNSSHP, etc) so we're planning on hopping to a different park that's open later for the late afternoon/evening. Given that plan, do you think it makes sense to get the FP+ for the morning park or late afternoon/evening park? I have them now for the morning park. I sort of figured late afternoon/evening will be more about parade/dinner/fireworks anyway. What do you think?

Probably after the first full day we'll have a better idea of both 1) how necessary a midday resort break is, and b) how long lines in the morning are without FP. Of course, there will also be paper FP in the morning, which is a consideration.

 

[Weather_Lady]

You're such a reasonable sounding park warrior that I have to ask you this question:

We're going later this month. We're going to the "best parks" according to TouringPlans.com for rope drop most days, then PROBABLY going to back to the resort for a midday break. But most days it works out that the "best parks" close quite early (because of hours, MNSSHP, etc) so we're planning on hopping to a different park that's open later for the late afternoon/evening. Given that plan, do you think it makes sense to get the FP+ for the morning park or late afternoon/evening park? I have them now for the morning park. I sort of figured late afternoon/evening will be more about parade/dinner/fireworks anyway. What do you think?

Probably after the first full day we'll have a better idea of both 1) how necessary a midday resort break is, and b) how long lines in the morning are without FP. Of course, there will also be paper FP in the morning, which is a consideration.

It sounds like you're well-prepared and know the best way to tour. As far as what time of day to get the Fastpasses, it all depends on your family's personal style. We found that the Fastpasses just weren't necessary in the morning. If we got to the headliners in our "touring zone" the first hour after park opening, then there were no long lines to contend with for the other attractions in the area as we finished it out. By afternoon, however, you no longer have the "early bird" advantage, so we tended to use Fastpasses in the late afternoon and evening. (Example: we'd go to Hollywood Studios in the morning and do TSMM, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours right away, and then finish the park in a more relaxed fashion. In the afternoon after our naps, we'd skip to Epcot and use Fastpasses for Soarin', Test Track, and the Character Spot.) It's true that our evenings were generally more relaxed, with a long table service dinner and a slower pace, but the kids always still had a headliner or two (or five!) that they wanted to ride "one more time" before we called it a night.

If, however, you truly don't plan to ride attractions in the evening, or if you want to hit ALL of the headliners in a park all in one morning (for example, if you wanted to do Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Peter Pan, Pooh and Space Mountain), you're going to need that hour after rope drop PLUS your Fastpasses to get it done without some long waits.

 

[Hot Lava]

*Raises hand* I love bubbles. In an open space. Ever had a bubble land on your eye while wearing contact lenses? Not fun.
I'm all for keeping little ones amused (I have a 7, 4 and 3 year old) but I don't let my distraction techniques encroach on others. We use iphones, snacks and small toys. We've yet to be able to stay still long enough to draw in a queue, the lines move quickly, and the Winnie the Pooh queue is so much fun, and Dumbo!
Just my two pennies

Have to agree about the bubbles in a confined space such as the lines. I would be unhappy. Especially if they were also the staining type such as sold at Gymboree.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

My husband and I took our (very active) grandson when he was 10 months, 22 months and 34 months. We've used snacks (one at a time), bubbles (the small wedding ones from WalMart -- and a few extra bottles to give away) and our iPhone. I remember before our first trip worrying how we would keep him occupied in lines, but we never really had a problem. He was busy checking out everything and everyone in the line. We usually avoided anything with a line more than 20 minutes and would just come back later. We went to the least busy parks in the morning, back to our resort for a nap in the afternoon and the parks that were open latest in the evenings. During the course of the week, we were able to ride everything we wanted to.