Traveling With Kids: Theme Park Tips (Guest Blog Post!)
posted May 17th, 2010 by EverywhereistI am extremely excited, and honored, to introduce my very first guest blogger, Christine! Despite a very busy schedule, she look some time to write a post about an important subject (of which I know absolutely nothing): taking your little one to a theme park for the very first time.
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I still remember my first trip to a theme park. My parents took my brother, sister and me to the Magic Kingdom. My aunt, uncle and two cousins came along too. It was a great day. Sunny, lots of ice cream, Disney characters, fun rides.
Now, twenty-four years later, I’m the proud mother of a two-year-old boy, Jackson.
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Isn't he cute? I'm biased, but I think he's gorgeous.
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A couple of weeks ago, my fiancé, Jason, and I were able to take Friday afternoon off; we decided to make the most of it and bring Jackson to Orlando for his first theme park experience. We stayed with my brother, and he came along. All four of us had a ball, and I learned that bringing a child to a theme park requires planning and proper expectations in order to have a good time.
Below are some of my tips for success with small children at theme parks, based on years of personal experience as a child, and my new parental perspective:
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- Choose a park with plenty of age-appropriate activities for your child.
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Like I mentioned above, Jackson is two. We opted to take him to Sea World because they have relatively few rides, lots of animal exhibits, and a small enough footprint for us to cover in half a day. The Magic Kingdom or Islands of Adventure have too many roller coasters, EPCOT is geared toward educational offerings he wouldn’t understand, and water parks are a no go because Jack’s got limited swimming skills. If we brought Jackson to a different park, he might have gotten bored, overwhelmed or scared—instant fun killers.-
- - Bring supplies.
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This is logical but tricky advice. You want to bring essential items that will ensure your day’s success, but you don’t want to be made into a pack mule. We brought a stroller.
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Is it just me, or does it look like we're about to "ford the river" during a live-action game of Oregon Trail?
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Yes, Jackson is an excellent walker and runner. No, I do not routinely put him in a stroller anymore. Still, the kid gets tired after an hour or so of running around. If you want to get your money’s worth out of your visit, bring or rent a stroller for little ones (up to age five, depending on your kid). Other key supplies we brought: sunscreen (a must even if it’s cloudy), diapers and diaper bag (natch), camera (duh), and extra clothes. Extra clothes, you ask? Yes. At a park with lots of sea creatures and a few water-based rides, you’re better off bringing a light change of clothes that store easily in a bag than getting soaked and having to shell out $100 or so on new clothes from the gift shops. No, I’m not exaggerating the costs of the clothes very much.
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- - Accept what you cannot control.
-Jackson loves to say “dolphin” whenever he reads his “fishy book” at home. I figured he’d LOVE the dolphin show at Sea World. Nope. He looked at them with a bored expression on his face while these poor guys jumped and twirled their hearts out for the audience. Sigh.
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-Once we accepted that Jackson might not like what we expected him to, we figured out that we needed to try everything and see what happened. This ended up making the day much more fun, since we had no clue what he’d like. Everything became an experiment, and we all had fun. His favorite part? The water fountain.
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I should have been grateful that he went for the fountain and not the gift shop toys. I wasn't.
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Yes, like the water fountain you can see for free at any city park in the United States. Luckily, his other favorites included a room with a glass floor that overlooked a massive aquarium full of fish, a “touch tank” fully of stingrays and manta rays, and the famous shark exhibit, where you walk through a Plexiglas tube surrounded by big, scary swimming sharks.
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Not pictured: frickin' laser beams.
(Photo by kroszk@ via flickr.com)
You can’t find those just anywhere.
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- - Enjoy small pleasures.
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I’m happy to report that Anheuser-Busch owns Sea World, which means that you can buy beer there!! Woo hoo!
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Mmmm. Beer.
(Photo by tskdesign via flickr.com.)
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Obviously you don’t want to ruin your kid’s experience by getting sloshed and puking all over their shoes, but it’s nice to have a glass with lunch and relax. You might not find this at other parks, but you’ll likely find something to make your time a little nicer, even if it’s just a quiet ride that bores the rowdier park patrons or a well-placed water mister on a hot day. Or, hey, if you’re like me you’ll want to go on a super awesome ride that your kids might not be up for. As long as you’re not the only adult responsible for your party, I say ride away. You should be having fun, too, after all.
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- - Quit when you’re ahead.
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To quote philosopher/poet/chicken restaurant mogul Kenny Rogers: You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. After about four hours at Sea World, we’d covered most of the park, and Jackson was getting fussy. We probably could have stayed another hour, but I suspect I might not have come away with such good memories of the trip. Know your kid’s limits, and respect them. Nobody wants a level-10 tantrum to go down at a theme park.
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Don’t all of these tips sound easy and obvious? Yes, but you’d be surprised how many families we saw who could have used this advice. Sure, it’s entertaining to watch these poor shlubs and chuckle, but only for a minute or two. It’s easy to plan a fun day at a theme park, even for a toddler, and it’s worth every penny to make those memories.
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About the Blogger
Christine is a lawyer, a mom, and an all-round kick ass person. She enjoys spending time with her fiance, Jason, and her ridiculously adorable son Jack.
Tags: Advice, Attractions, Traveling with Kids
May 17th, 2010 at 7:52 am
I really love the attitude they have of letting the son choose what he really wants to do, even if it’s just stare at a water fountain. I’ve overheard a lot of bitching from parents at Disney World who spent a fortune on park tickets only to have their kids whine because all they really want to do is splash around the pool at the resort. But the parents obviously didn’t think about what was age-appropriate for their child, or consider the child’s interests and temperament. Toddlers’ brains are wired differently. I used to get just as excited about playing with a cardboard box–which could become anything my imagination wanted it to be–as with expensive toys. You just never know with kids.
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May 17th, 2010 at 10:00 am
This is just amazing – I agree with Gray: it’s awesome that you let Jack decide how he wanted to spend his day. And that you took everything in stride and didn’t try to push him (or yourself) too much. It sounds like you had an absolute blast. But darn it, he must be an old soul, because he looks so SERIOUS in some of his pictures.
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May 17th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Thanks. Jason and I are both busy juggling careers and family, and we value the limited time that we have with Jackson. We can’t prevent tantrums altogether, but we’ve found that letting him have some input keeps them to a minimum when we’re traveling.
Note that I said SOME input. We kept him moving through the park, set the schedule for arrival, departure and lunch, and wouldn’t allow him to: (a) do things that the park prohibits, (b) harm himself or others, or (c) act in a way that was rude to other park visitors.
Within that structure, it’s incredibly interesting to see what happens when we let him choose what to do. He’s his own little person, with his own interests. I love watching those interests develop.
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May 17th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Well, I figured you weren’t allowing him to commit crimes or poop on other children.
Although a baby gang leader would be an awesome premise for a movie. Still, I’ve seen tons of people who don’t realize their kids are actually little people – I love that you and Jason realize it and let Jack be his own person.
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May 17th, 2010 at 11:14 am
You’d be surprised how many parents allow their children to behave like baby gang leaders. Trust me.
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May 17th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Christine! I followed you over from Facebook. Jackson is adooooorable. You’re an awesome mommy. I loved reading about your little adventure. …and then I proceeded to read like a year’s worth of Everywhereist posts (but what else am I supposed to do when there aren’t any meetings scheduled?). Totally addicted. Oops.
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May 17th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Christine you’re a wise mom indeed – and it will make for many very happy childhood memories for Jack. And far fewer public tantrums. And here’s to enjoying the simple pleasures! Like beer. And tame theme-park rides.
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May 17th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
What a cutie-pie! I’ll definitely bookmark this for when we eventually take the Ninja Baby to a theme park. Someday. After I’ve boosted my resolve with a lot of that beer you mentioned.
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May 17th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
What Christine fails to mention is our trip another Orlando theme park, Swords-A-Plenty. It was a great time introducing our son to scimitars, katanas, and the like. I, too, feel it is a good idea to bring him to places that are age appropriate, which is why we are waiting until next year to bring him to TNT World.
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May 18th, 2010 at 7:56 am
Thank you for making me feel less lazy and more progressive. We are firmly in the “follow where the kid takes you” camp when it comes to taking our three-year-old on outings. At least some of that is because I never have it together enough to plan the outing. And it’s partly why we only ever see the penguins and the elephants at the zoo near our house. But if that’s what the kid likes, why should I force her into looking at the jaguar (always hiding) or the reptiles (too humid in the reptile house anyway).
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Philip, what Christine doesn’t mention is that I worked at Walt Disney World for eight months during a college internship. One of the many lessons I learned there was that if you want to have a horrible family vacation, force your child to do what you want. If you are there to introduce your child to a park, museum, zoo, etc., who cares what you look at? The only thing that matters to me is the happiness of my child. I want to introduce him to the world, yes, but allow him to decide where he’s gonna go.
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May 18th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Another lesson Jason learned there was “Don’t pick fights with PTA moms.” They will mess you up.
Also, Philip, I am so glad you and Jason are now internet friends (I just decided that you are). It works well with my devious plan to get Jason and his wife to move to Seattle. Then Jackson could go on play-dates with your lovely daughter (speaking of people who will mess you up. HER LOVE IS FIERCE).
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May 18th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Excellent. Jackson is into older girls, but isn’t looking for a commitment yet. I however, will discuss dowries at a discounted price now due to the economy and age of children. However, the price will only go up.
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September 16th, 2010 at 11:20 am
[...] meantime, I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have the support of my awesome friends like Christine, who tore the manager here a new asshole on my behalf. Thanks, Christine! You’ll be happy to [...]