Strategies to Kill Time in Standby Line with Kids

[prestoncaldwell]

Sounds like a way, to waste your time, waste your money , standing in line.
go do something else with out waiting in lines.
chances are you will wait hours for a 5 minute wide. It is not worth it.
but there again nothing is, at Disney anymore. Don't Go, save your money , you won’t miss much, If ya done it before.

Interesting take from a DISboards member

 

[Gingerfun1]

Sounds like a way, to waste your time, waste your money , standing in line.
go do something else with out waiting in lines.
chances are you will wait hours for a 5 minute wide. It is not worth it.
but there again nothing is, at Disney anymore. Don't Go, save your money , you won’t miss much, If ya done it before.

Spoiler alert: Disney isn’t the only place in the world where families have to wait in lines

 

[prestoncaldwell]

Spoiler alert: Disney isn’t the only place in the world where families have to wait in lines

They not have invented wasting time in lines, but they perfected it!

 

[Rory607]

Spoiler alert: Disney isn’t the only place in the world where families have to wait in lines

Last summer we went to the state fair and the kids were whining about standing in line for the midway rides. The lines weren’t even that long and my son asked why I didn’t get fast passes Spoiled Disney children.

 

[gorkt]

When the kids were really little, it was mostly just silly word games like Alphabet (pick a word that starts with A, then the next person does B and has to remember A and so on). Once smart phones were a thing, it was pokemon go for a few trips. Now I have teens so they just scroll Tiktok or whatever.

 

[slf10]

This topic is one I've been pondering since we began planning an extended family trip that includes 16 of us from 12 months - 65 years of age. Headbandz is a fun game and one we've enjoyed playing with older children in the past, but I prefer to limit games on devices because I'd really prefer to use the opportunities for interaction. So, besides some of the ideas already mentioned, here are some things I'm considering adding to my list:

1. A variation on traditional "I SPY." In this one the leader announces, "I spy." Everyone should stop what they're doing, listen, and respond with, "What do you spy?" Respond with something like, "I spy children hopping up and down." The children perform that action until the leader again announces, "I spy." Leader gives another clue to act on. The thing I like about this game is that it gives children the opportunity to move some.
2. Simon Says. Well, my grands like to play Grandma Says. Normal rules, but they like when I try to trick them with visual miscues.
3. Do This - Do That! Similar to Simon Says. When the leader says, "Do this", the group does the action. When the leader says, "Do that", they do NOT follow the direction. When a player follows the direction of "do that", they are, technically, out, but we often just laugh and continue the game since we often have really young ones playing.
4. Statues. As you play music, players move in place, even jumping or dancing, depending on the amount of room. When you stop the music, children freeze in whatever pose they were in when the music stopped.
5. Silly Sally's Cool Club. Silly Sally has a club. A person can join if they can figure out what Sally likes and doesn't like. The leader gives some examples and others try to figure out the rules for joining. Silly Sally like soccer but not golf. She likes apples but not oranges. She likes jeeps but not cars. (She only likes things that have double letters in them.) Silly Sally likes apples but not berries. She likes earrings but not necklaces. She likes the color orange but not red. (She only likes things that begin with a vowel.) Be creative!
6. Hopping Challenge. This one requires some space but is good for moving. Give hopping commands and have children follow the directions. You could even say "Bunny (or Kangaroo or Froggie) says, ..." For example:
- Hop in place. - Hop and turn in a circle at the same time. - Hop on your left (or right) foot. - Hop backwards (or sideways or in a circle or square.) - Hop over a line. - Hop with a partner. - Hop with your hands on your head. - Hop quietly to line up.
7. Back Writing/Drawing. Using your finger, draw a letter (or number or picture) on someone's back. See if they can guess it.
8. Rain. In a circle, the leader starts by rubbing their hands together. The person to the right does the same and so on until everyone is doing the action. When all are rubbing their hands, the leader starts a new sound, finger snapping, then hand clapping, next slapping thighs, then foot stomping. To END the storm, reverse the actions. At the end, the group one by one stops rubbing hands and sit and waits for the action to be completed by the group.
9. TELEPHONE.
10. RHYME THAT WORD! Think of a word. Children take turns seeing how many "real" rhyming words they can think of. When one word is worn out, choose another. (Nice words only.)
11. I'M THINKING OF AN..... One person picks something their thinking of and then introduces it with a category. "I'm thinking of an animal (or a fruit or a movie or a character). Others ask yes or no questions to guess the word.
12. Writing in the air.
13. Leader asks a question for other to answer. The leader may ask, "What makes you happy?" Others then take turns calling out things such as "Sunshine makes me happy; warm cookies make me happy; new babies make me happy; soft, cuddly puppies make me happy."
14. Sing.
15. Follow the leader.
16. WHAT AM I COUNTING? Have one person start counting aloud an object in everyone's view: windows, white shirts, tables, etc. Can your group guess what the person is counting? Or, in reverse, name an object and challenge the group to count as many as they can find in one minute.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Each of my girls (7 & 9) had a small, lightweight, waterproof cross body bag ($7 on Amazon), We had handsanatizer ( their pick from bath & body), chapstick, old phone with no plan/internet, small notebook with attached pen & candy.

We did:

• suckers (dumdums) or Lifesavers ( this was great with masks)
• Old phones with downloaded games (no internet) for lines over 30 minutes/ pictures
• Gum if you have gum chewers ( and they are responsible with their gum) you can do "who did the biggest bubble" "fastest bubbler" etc..
• Hidden Minckeys
• let the kids help plan the next stop/ride/ order quick service food
• My youngest would read her joke book before we got there and would tell us all "her jokes"
• My girls would use their pads of paper for hangman, connect the dots, drawing, etc...
• With masks gone you can do quick non messy snacks: granola bars, bite sized -peanut butter crackers, teddy grams, etc... ( just make sure you pick any up any your child drops.)
• I read about but did not try those old trick toys. I forget what they are called but you get two hoops separated or the two nails apart, etc...

 

[Doingitagain]

Amazon has "fidget packs" that worked great for our little ones.

 

[Edeyore]

A little off topic, but have you ever been to the parks on a slow day and walked by the multiple switchback in the queue and
just thought what kind of hell would it be, being stuck in that line during a hot day?

 

[Jennkneefir]

What about creating a bingo card for each park? You could include things like "find a hidden mickey" or "find a woman wearing a blue hat", etc etc. something small for a reward like a candy or drink. Start a new one each day.

 

[CamillaF]

We love looking for Hidden Mickeys, especially on the newer rides that are left out of my old book.
We also play Heads up. Disneyfied 20 questions.

That is a great idea. I think we will copy you!

 

[godfather927]

Bumping this in case this might be of some use to others, but going off of the earlier advice someone posted in the thread about the heads-up disney version of the game, I found this site (link below) with a web-based kids version that has pictures for younger kids like my youngest that aren't reading yet. It even has instructions to download the app to use less data. Played a few practice rounds with the kids over the weekend and it was a huge hit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/disney/comments/cfz3vy

 

[Edeyore]

Sounds like a way, to waste your time, waste your money , standing in line.
go do something else with out waiting in lines.
chances are you will wait hours for a 5 minute wide. It is not worth it.
but there again nothing is, at Disney anymore. Don't Go, save your money , you won’t miss much, If ya done it before.

Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine. I am sure the poster appreciated your constructive advise.

 

[xipotec]

We just talk to our kids.
Ask questions about what they love about the ride or what they think the ride will be like. Take turns voting on what the next stop will be, let them plead their cases for the next event.

Ask them what the liked and didnt like so far….

you know….communicate.

 

[pixiemama91]

We look for hidden mickeys, play would you rather Disney addition (I have some cards I printed off of Pinterest), talk about our day or what we are going to do next, play heads up. I usually bring a small notebook and we can play tic tac toe or hangman or guess what I drew.