How to entertain kids while waiting in lines

[lpl47]

We're heading to WDW in a month with my parents, brother and sister and our kids. We'll have 8 adults and 6 kids (ages 7, 5, 5, almost 4, 2.5 and almost 2!) How do you entertain the kids in long lines? I went to the dollar store and bought a few little things and bought some small coloring books and game books, but any other suggestions?

Thanks!

UPDATE: I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT WE'LL BE GOING DURING PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEK - ONE OF THE BUSIEST WEEKS OF THE YEAR, SO EVEN WITH TOURING PLANS, WE WILL LIKELY SPEND SOME TIME WAITING...

[egoldber]

Avoid lines as much as possible. Get to the parks early, do major attractions early and use FastPass strategically. Also, with that many kids, plan to split up a lot. The older kids will want to do things the younger kids can't or won't want to do. BUT the theme park tickets for the younger kids (and the adults with them) can be used to get FastPasses for the older kids so you can get FastPasses to multiple rides.

[jamesmom]

We also had a small flashlight and that was fun for the kids. My DS has sensory issues, so he has a pair of sound blocking headphones and a small flashlight to deal with dark and/or loud rides or performances. The kids ended up having a blast with the small flashlight. Sometimes we also look at all the fun things in the preload areas. Disney does a really great job with designing the pre-load/waiting areas to entertain the people in line, and it was fun picking out all the details and taking pictures. DCs had a blast in the Toy Story Mania ride waiting area looking at all the giant toys and interacting with Mr. Potato Head. It made the 40 minute wait go faster.

[hellokitty]

I'd be heavily armed with a bunch of snacks. :)

[TwinFoxes]

We didn't bring anything. Honestly, it never occurred to me. I grew up going to Disneyland, in the dark days before fast passes, and we just stood in line. It was just something we knew we had to do.

On our trip to WDW last year (girls were 28 months) we did what Beth said, and avoided lines when at all possible. We had to wait in line for Dumbo, and to see characters. The girls looked around, and talked, and played with their stickers (cast members hand those out constantly) and maybe got bored, and we'd take turns taking them for a stroll, but there were never any meltdowns because of lines. Waiting for parades was worse, but they were usually in their stroller then and went to sleep.

I think it would be hard to color or do games because most of the lines move pretty frequently. But it's worth a shot.

[JTsMom]

Buy a $20 subscription for Tour Guide Mike and don't stand in long lines!
http://tourguidemike.com/

[hellokitty]

Buy a $20 subscription for Tour Guide Mike and don't stand in long lines!
http://tourguidemike.com/

Did you like it? I can't decide btwn touguidemike or touringplans.

[crl]

I third, avoid the lines. We got to the parks early, used fast passes for our must-rides and were flexible about going on rides without lines (hey, look no line at the teacups, let's go there!). Also, dh and ds report no lines at Blizzard Beach in the afternoons in November.

Catherine

[JTsMom]

Did you like it? I can't decide btwn touguidemike or touringplans.

oh yeah! seriously worth every penny and then some. the only thing that i didn't like was that the dhs stuff didn't have up to date info, (it may now- it's been a while) so you had to read a separate article on ts midway mania to know that has to come first.

it made a HUGE difference for us though. i talked my sister into it too (she went during peak season) and she loved it.

it was truly the best $ we spent for our first trip.

[mytwosons]

We used touring plans, so didn't usually have long lines. I think the longest we waited was around 40 mins. I viewed it as practice in patience. We talked, played games (e.g. I spy, what # am I thinking of?, etc.).

[klwa]

Avoid lines as much as possible. Get to the parks early, do major attractions early and use FastPass strategically. Also, with that many kids, plan to split up a lot. The older kids will want to do things the younger kids can't or won't want to do. BUT the theme park tickets for the younger kids (and the adults with them) can be used to get FastPasses for the older kids so you can get FastPasses to multiple rides.

:yeahthat:

[crl]

Oh and with the little ones you might be able to rider switch on some of the rides with height restrictions. We did this for Soarin. We all went up to the line and I showed dd and the cast member handed me a rider switch pass. Then dh and ds got on Soarin using their fastpasses. When they came off, I handed dd to dh and ds and I went right back to the end of the fast pass line and went on it again immediately. I think they let up to three people go on a rider switch pass.

Catherine

[hellokitty]

oh yeah! seriously worth every penny and then some. the only thing that i didn't like was that the dhs stuff didn't have up to date info, (it may now- it's been a while) so you had to read a separate article on ts midway mania to know that has to come first.

it made a HUGE difference for us though. i talked my sister into it too (she went during peak season) and she loved it.

it was truly the best $ we spent for our first trip.

Thanks! We are going in December, so I am going to get TGM. It's been over 12 yrs since we were last at WDW, so I feel like a newbie.

[JTsMom]

us too! 11/27-12/5

[paysensmom]

TGM is wonderful and WELL worth the price. I think there is a code if you go to disboards.com too! Wealth of information if you haven't already been on there! We have been to WDW three times, twice in June and once in August and the longest line we ever stood in was for the princesses and that was about 30 minutes. If you follow TGM you will not be standing in any ride lines!!