Random - Detroit airport with a toddler help!

[wanderingback]

Anyone familiar with the Detroit airport? I have a 3.5 hour layover there tomorrow with an almost 2 year old. I have delta lounge access so that will work for some time but prob not 3.5 hours. Per Google it looks like there might be some small play areas in the airport but one site says 4 areas, another site says 2 areas. I guess walking around to find them could kill some time even if those play areas don’t actually exist lol. But thought I’d ask here just in case anyone has some insight!

[mccallister84]

No clue on that specific airport but my kids (still!) could spend hours on the moving floors and escalators.

At 6 and 8 I still need to build in time for the moving floors and escalators whenever we fly.

[jackie011]

I think they have a cool light tunnel between concourses. It’s been years since I’ve been there, but I thought it was cool as an adult!

[cap]

Nov 2, 2024 21:29:02 GMT -5 jackie011 said:

I think they have a cool light tunnel between concourses. It’s been years since I’ve been there, but I thought it was cool as an adult!

They do. It's annoying when you have to run through it to catch a flight, but it is really cool and I'm sure it would keep kids entertained! 

[Jalapeñomel]

Nov 2, 2024 21:18:19 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

No clue on that specific airport but my kids (still!) could spend hours on the moving floors and escalators.

At 6 and 8 I still need to build in time for the moving floors and escalators whenever we fly.

Mine can do this too. They’re never bored in an airport!

[dontlook]

Nov 2, 2024 21:18:19 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

No clue on that specific airport but my kids (still!) could spend hours on the moving floors and escalators.

At 6 and 8 I still need to build in time for the moving floors and escalators whenever we fly.

Also no clue but my H had the brilliant idea to let our 18 month old DD run on one going the wrong direction when we had a long layover. She was so entertained and very tired on the flight. It wasn’t a busy one so she wasn’t in the way. Highly recommend lol.

[wanderingback]

Ok thank you all! She’s flown a bunch but thankfully all direct flights so a layover is new for us lol. I didn’t realize it was over 3 hours till I checked in last night. Will spend some time in the lounge and then The light tunnel and walking floor sound perfect

[fernweh]

There are two different terminals that each have play areas. However you won’t want to cross between terminals on a layover.

I assume because you mentioned delta that you will be in the Macnamera terminal. There are 2 areas in that terminal I believe.

[timorousbeastie]

This is my home airport. Since you mention the Delta lounge, I assume you’ll be in the McNamara terminal. Most likely, you’ll fly in/out of concourse A. The light tunnel connects A to B/C, where I think the play areas are (I’ve never seen the play areas, though, so I can’t vouch for them). At that age, my daughter *loved* the light tunnel. She could honestly spend an hour down there dancing to the light and music. Even now at 10, she still insists we walk through there every time, but she sadly won’t dance any more. Other things that always kept her entertained were riding the tram through concourse A, and watching the big fountain that’s in the middle of A. The fountain isn’t always turned on lately, but when it is, it is always a big hit with the littles.

[pinkpeony08]

We got stuck there for 6 hours once with young kids. Highly recommend riding the airport train around, checking out the fountain and the tunnel with the lights. That plus eating a sit down restaurant used up a ton of time.

[janegold]

My parents live in Michigan so we've spent a lot of time at this airport.  My kids love the big fountain in the middle of McNamara, and love riding the tram around. There's also a bunch of the moving sidewalks throughout the terminal that we can kill a bunch of time on. There's a Chick Fil A and Pinkberry next to each other at the end of the terminal with higher gate numbers; those are always dual crowd pleasers for my crew.

[Beeps (WOT?*)]

Something I'd mention that's not really airport specific is that in lieu of a stroller, my daughter would bring a fold-up wagon That way she could transport her kiddo *and* luggage without worrying about constraints. Airlines treat a folding wagon the same they would a stroller if it's used as a stroller and folds up compactly like one. She could also transport her car seat in the wagon with the kiddo in the car seat.

(She's military and did a *lot* of travel with small children. The flights from Misawa would look like: layover in Tokyo, layover in Honolulu, layover in San Francisco and land in Seattle. I'd have a stroller here for her to use if necessary.)

But to kill time with a small kid (not Detroit specific) snacks at the Delta lounge, shop for a small stuffed animal in the Hudson News or a local shop, moving floors, trains between concourses (since you have 3.5 hours to fill you should be able to get a few things in.) The light show some mentioned would be a great way to kill at least a half hour to an hour of it. My grand loves that stuff and could be entertained for hours, especially if it involves "chasing" the lights.

[wanderingback]

Thank you everyone!!
It all went pretty well
We went through the tunnel of lights and she said it was fun but she didn’t want to do it again haha.
Then, we went to the lounge and I kept her in the stroller and she ate so much food, so we were there for awhile.
By that time it was only an hour left and I had to change her so did that and then walked to the train thingy. We rode that 4 times haha. It was mostly nice to let her run around at the top while waiting since it was somewhat of a contained area with not too many people. Got on the flight almost last so she could get out any last wiggles. Of course she didn’t sleep all day, but she did coloring and stickers on the plane and opened and closed the window shade a million times and all was good.

Thanks again for the suggestions

[DotAndBuzz]

Light tunnel, fountain in the center of McNamara terminal, and the tram that goes from one side of it to the other.

And tons of moving sidewalks.

DTW is actually a really great airport!