Waiting in lines

[bdubs419]

Just curious, how do your kids handle waiting in long lines? My youngest will have just turned 5 and my oldest almost 7. I will say they are NOT the most patient kids ever. We have never gone to any theme parks before so they are not used to waiting. We went to a fair last weekend and they were terrible even waiting for short amounts of time!!! Are your kids normally just excited and waiting patiently??? Or do some of you parents bring something to entertain them with? Just trying to see what the “norm” is here.

[jaycee]

In some circumstances, lines and waiting at DW can be managed by doing the following:
*Get there before rope drop
*Have a good touring plan
*Know how to use the FP system
*Know how to use the app
*Pay for tickets to an event (early morning magic, holiday party)
*Use extra magic hours if you stay on site

We went in February and didn't wait in line for more than 30-45 minutes. My kids were 5 and 8. Some rides had a posted wait of 3+ hours, so we either skipped those or were able to ride them at rope drop, extra magic hours, or early morning magic. We did not bring any toys or iPads or anything for waiting. Some of the waiting areas are very interesting and interactive or we just ate some snacks while waiting.

If my kids were not good at waiting, I'd prep them for weeks by just talking about it regularly. Say we're going on vacation, it'll be so much fun but it'll be a lot of waiting. We expect that you wait patiently. Then I'd bribe them if that didn't work. We used a stroller for our 5 year old and it was awesome for giving them some time apart so they weren't fighting and preventing tiredness and overstimulation. We also weren't at the park for super long days and we took lots of breaks.

[Patsy Baloney]

We went when my DD was 5, and I don't recall any horrendous shenanigans in line. We didn't take anything to entertain. I think the longest one we waited in without much to do or see was for Rapunzel and Tiana. DD got pretty impatient with that one, asking to be picked up, etc. But for the most part, the lines have quite a bit to see or do (Pooh has a play area, Dumbo does, or there will be an open area where you can see what's going on at nearby attractions, etc.), and lines seemed to move pretty fast. We did our best to not end up in a line that was longer than 30 minutes, most of the time hopping from 20 minute line to 20 minute line. We went at the end of May, so not a light crowd time, and I was impressed with how many things we were able to find that just didn't have a line.

I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised by line behavior like we were!

[mccallister84]

My girls are significantly younger than yours but they did okay in the lines.

I can’t emphasize enough how much you can get done in an EMH or at rope drop (assuming rope drop is early). In MK we walked on to a dozen rides from 7-9 am. Now we weren’t trying to do any of the roller coasters, but if you use your fastpasses for those than you can get a ton of other rides done right away.

I had mini manga doodles in my purse but that was it. We would play I spy a lot.

One thing I was not prepared for was how long the waits could be with a fast pass - I hadn’t been in 7 years and was used to waiting no more than 5 minutes or so with a fast pass. This is an extreme example, but even with a fast pass we waited 40 minutes for Tinker Bell. And it took my mom, dad and H about 40 minutes to get through Flights of Passage although that is a longer preshow, etc. Just mentally prepare for that as well, since there’s no stated fast pass wait time so you don’t know what you are getting yourself in to.

[bdubs419]

Oct 31, 2019 12:06:26 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

My girls are significantly younger than yours but they did okay in the lines.

I can’t emphasize enough how much you can get done in an EMH or at rope drop (assuming rope drop is early). In MK we walked on to a dozen rides from 7-9 am. Now we weren’t trying to do any of the roller coasters, but if you use your fastpasses for those than you can get a ton of other rides done right away.

I had mini manga doodles in my purse but that was it. We would play I spy a lot.

One thing I was not prepared for was how long the waits could be with a fast pass - I hadn’t been in 7 years and was used to waiting no more than 5 minutes or so with a fast pass. This is an extreme example, but even with a fast pass we waited 40 minutes for Tinker Bell. And it took my mom, dad and H about 40 minutes to get through Flights of Passage although that is a longer preshow, etc. Just mentally prepare for that as well, since there’s no stated fast pass wait time so you don’t know what you are getting yourself in to.

Wow! Yes I am totally still learning about all of this since I haven’t been since I was a kid. But wow, I had no idea waits could be that long even with a fast pass!!

[mccallister84]

Oct 31, 2019 12:09:27 GMT -5 bdubs419 said:

Oct 31, 2019 12:06:26 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

My girls are significantly younger than yours but they did okay in the lines.

I can’t emphasize enough how much you can get done in an EMH or at rope drop (assuming rope drop is early). In MK we walked on to a dozen rides from 7-9 am. Now we weren’t trying to do any of the roller coasters, but if you use your fastpasses for those than you can get a ton of other rides done right away.

I had mini manga doodles in my purse but that was it. We would play I spy a lot.

One thing I was not prepared for was how long the waits could be with a fast pass - I hadn’t been in 7 years and was used to waiting no more than 5 minutes or so with a fast pass. This is an extreme example, but even with a fast pass we waited 40 minutes for Tinker Bell. And it took my mom, dad and H about 40 minutes to get through Flights of Passage although that is a longer preshow, etc. Just mentally prepare for that as well, since there’s no stated fast pass wait time so you don’t know what you are getting yourself in to.

Wow! Yes I am totally still learning about all of this since I haven’t been since I was a kid. But wow, I had no idea waits could be that long even with a fast pass!!

Yea - I also wish they gave some info about how long rides/experiences are - I started googling for that info when we were there. Like I knew the safari was long but I didn’t realize how long and we were a little late to brunch.

[jaycee]

We had better experiences with FPS than mccallister. All of our Fps were walk on for the entire week, except maybe 2 where we waited 10 minutes.

[Patsy Baloney]

Oh wow, we never had to wait long with fast passes. I think our longest wait was 7 dwarves mine train, and that was about 10 minutes when you count walking through the line maze to actually stand in the line, lol. Oh, and I think we waited about 10 minutes for the safari, just because the loading takes a while.

We did do a lot of fast pass shuffle throughout the day, so maybe that helped us not wait so much? We never did rope drop or EMHs. We're not early people on vacation.

[nicolewi]

Mine were pretty good, overall. Most rides have things for you to look at as you move along. We didn't have any insane lines, though. I think the longest was my two oldest kids and DH waiting about 50 minutes for Haunted Mansion.

There is an app for a guessing game where you put the phone on your forehead with a picture of something and the other people give you clues--someone showed us that on a field trip and it would be great for lines.

I brought small packs of bubbles, but we never used them.

[VillainV]

Our son is 5, and we have done two one-day trips in the last few months. He’s okay for short waits (20-30 minutes), but I don’t think he’d be able to wait much longer than that. We haven’t tried any longer wait times than that.

Disney is pretty good at having fun and engaging activities in the queue to keep kids occupied. We play I Spy, tell jokes, talk about our favorite thing we’ve done so far, look at the map and talk about where we have been and what we’re doing next, look at the menu for lunch and decide what we want to order, eat snacks and drink water.

[ssmjlm]

Honestly unless it was a ride that I really felt I needed to go on, we just didn't wait. Between FP, getting to the parks early, and/or going during the evening fireworks, we rode a lot with little wait.

My kid hates fireworks so one night at MK while everyone else was watching the show, DH and I did space mountain and my mom and E went on buzz like 3x (space mountain had a slight wait b/c only 1 side was open). Then we all rode buzz again, just walked right on.

Also when you are in the parks, you can modify your FP, so sometimes if we weren't feeling what was planned, I could modify to something better. Or add a 4th after we scanned in our 3rd.

[nsl]

I agree with those who don't wait in long lines. If we don't have a Fast Pass for a high-demand ride and the wait is longer than 30 minutes we just don't do it. We always rope drop because my kids are naturally early risers, so it's unusual for us to just not ride something cool because of long waits.

[irishbride2]

Mine are fine, as long as it isn't a hot outdoor line that is more traditional rows. THey struggle on Slinky Dog, for example. The speedway at MK is also terrible.

We play lots of games. Heads up on my phone is our go-to.

[countthestars]

I never feel like we wait a ton, and when we do, Disney tends to keep the lines moving so you're more wrangling kids to keep up vs. just standing there doing nothing. A lot of the lines have cool decor to look at. If we are standing in one spot for a long time, we either play thumb war or 20 questions of I Spy and that helps!

We typically skip all of the major coasters right now because our kids are small but we have not experienced the same FastPass waits listed above.

[jeaniebueller]

Oct 31, 2019 16:29:57 GMT -5 nsl said:

I agree with those who don't wait in long lines. If we don't have a Fast Pass for a high-demand ride and the wait is longer than 30 minutes we just don't do it. We always rope drop because my kids are naturally early risers, so it's unusual for us to just not ride something cool because of long waits.

This is us too. Would I have liked to go on Slinky Dog Dash? Sure, but my time at HS was at a premium so we skipped it. 

[covergirl82]

Oct 31, 2019 11:49:04 GMT -5 jaycee said:

In some circumstances, lines and waiting at DW can be managed by doing the following:
*Get there before rope drop
*Have a good touring plan
*Know how to use the FP system
*Know how to use the app
*Pay for tickets to an event (early morning magic, holiday party)
*Use extra magic hours if you stay on site

+1 to this list.  We have done all these things, especially watching the wait times on the app (MDE) while we're in the park.  Any really popular rides we either get a FP for or we plan to get to the park early (either using EMH or rope drop) to get in line.

Also what PPs said about preparing your kids in advance about waiting in lines.  Some rides have fun things to do/keep people occupied/entertained while in line.

[MDmomof2]

My son is particularly bad at waiting in lines and definitely lost his patience in a few - even if they were short. Sometimes I think he just wanted to sit down and the line moved too frequently for that. Unfortunately, there's not a good way for someone to sit outside on a bench and then meet you near the front of the line! He's also just not into rides so waiting for pretty much anything was not worth it to him. We generally helped to manage his behavior by making sure he wasn't too hot (challenging in late September!), taking frequent breaks to sit down, eating snacks, promising something he wanted to do after the ride was over (get ice cream, visit a shop, etc.) and not trying to over-do it. DH and DD could go-go-go and my son just can't do that AND isn't into the Disney magic. Sometimes DH and DD would wait for roller coasters or in long lines and DS and I would do other things. Honestly, he's not a joy to take to Disney, but we all had fun!

[nicolewi]

You probably know this, but I should point out that we used apps a lot to check wait times. I mostly used Touring Plans. I had a rough plan in there, and then we would adjust as needed. It was easy to look at estimated wait times and re-arrange to avoid the longest waits. I think you can also do this right on the MDE app.

[bowies]

I had phone apps, a phone charging brick, snacks, and a few FunPacks packed in my bag. The FunPacks were more for things like meal waits but worked when we would unexpectedly be in a long line because of a ride breakdown.

[goldengirlz]

We’ve been twice, once when she was 5 and again at 7. She did amazingly well, never once asked for our phones. She was just caught up in the excitement.

[minniemouse]

Generally I find my kids to be sooo much better about lines at Disney than anywhere else. I think it’s because the theming and queues are really interesting, and most are not in the direct sun (rides that don’t have covered queues are brutal - like Aladdin carpets, where a 15 minute wait feels like an hour). That said, if they get bored I will sometimes let them play with my phone. Or they will take pictures with their cameras. We usually keep snacks on us too,although it’s not as necessary now they the kids are 6 and 10.
ETA- now that I think about it, the Aladdin ride has some shade but that is the one I remember everyone was the most hot/cranky waiting for.

[VillainV]

Nov 5, 2019 12:12:30 GMT -5 minniemouse said:

Generally I find my kids to be sooo much better about lines at Disney than anywhere else. I think it’s because the theming and queues are really interesting, and most are not in the direct sun (rides that don’t have covered queues are brutal - like Aladdin carpets, where a 15 minute wait feels like an hour). That said, if they get bored I will sometimes let them play with my phone. Or they will take pictures with their cameras. We usually keep snacks on us too,although it’s not as necessary now they the kids are 6 and 10.
ETA- now that I think about it, the Aladdin ride has some shade but that is the one I remember everyone was the most hot/cranky waiting for.

The Raceway line in Tomorrowland is also brutal, but partially because of the horrible fumes. You’d think Disney could convert those to electric — it’s Tomorrowland for crying out loud!

[litebright]

In addition to the good advice you've gotten, I would say to make sure you're open to repeating rides with very short lines. While your impulse as an adult might be to think that "we've already done this" and look for something new/go to one of the longer lines, it's not necessarily the same for kids, who tend to love repetition in general more than adults.

We did a trip when my kids were 3 and 5 and I used the app to check on which waits were the shortest -- and aside from once or twice during the day, the MK carousel almost always had zero-5 minutes for a wait. I think we must have ridden it half a dozen times or more that day. We'd stop there as we criss-crossed the park on our way to something else, while we waited for a FP time slot, or just for something to do while we waited for lines elsewhere to get shorter. Half a dozen carousel rides in a day might sound "boring" for MK, but for my kids, that thing by itself was magical, because really, how often does that ever happen? Never, unless we're at Disney.

On our last visit, we did Soarin' twice because we rope-dropped it and then saw on the app later that day that the line was really short. You see so many things you missed the first time around. I think it's the same with Pirates and many of the other rides where the focus is the theming and on what you see/hear rather than a rollercoaster-type ride.

[VillainV]

Nov 11, 2019 13:10:14 GMT -5 litebright said:

In addition to the good advice you've gotten, I would say to make sure you're open to repeating rides with very short lines. While your impulse as an adult might be to think that "we've already done this" and look for something new/go to one of the longer lines, it's not necessarily the same for kids, who tend to love repetition in general more than adults.

We did a trip when my kids were 3 and 5 and I used the app to check on which waits were the shortest -- and aside from once or twice during the day, the MK carousel almost always had zero-5 minutes for a wait. I think we must have ridden it half a dozen times or more that day. We'd stop there as we criss-crossed the park on our way to something else, while we waited for a FP time slot, or just for something to do while we waited for lines elsewhere to get shorter. Half a dozen carousel rides in a day might sound "boring" for MK, but for my kids, that thing by itself was magical, because really, how often does that ever happen? Never, unless we're at Disney.

On our last visit, we did Soarin' twice because we rope-dropped it and then saw on the app later that day that the line was really short. You see so many things you missed the first time around. I think it's the same with Pirates and many of the other rides where the focus is the theming and on what you see/hear rather than a rollercoaster-type ride.

This is great advice! The Teacups also tend to have a fairly short wait (5-10 minutes) so between that and the carousel, you can keep kids entertained for a while. Downside is that there isn’t much shade there....

[bdubs419]

Nov 11, 2019 13:10:14 GMT -5 litebright said:

In addition to the good advice you've gotten, I would say to make sure you're open to repeating rides with very short lines. While your impulse as an adult might be to think that "we've already done this" and look for something new/go to one of the longer lines, it's not necessarily the same for kids, who tend to love repetition in general more than adults.

We did a trip when my kids were 3 and 5 and I used the app to check on which waits were the shortest -- and aside from once or twice during the day, the MK carousel almost always had zero-5 minutes for a wait. I think we must have ridden it half a dozen times or more that day. We'd stop there as we criss-crossed the park on our way to something else, while we waited for a FP time slot, or just for something to do while we waited for lines elsewhere to get shorter. Half a dozen carousel rides in a day might sound "boring" for MK, but for my kids, that thing by itself was magical, because really, how often does that ever happen? Never, unless we're at Disney.

On our last visit, we did Soarin' twice because we rope-dropped it and then saw on the app later that day that the line was really short. You see so many things you missed the first time around. I think it's the same with Pirates and many of the other rides where the focus is the theming and on what you see/hear rather than a rollercoaster-type ride.

This is a great reminder! My kids have never been to Disney and any other theme park for that matter so likely anything will impress them.