We are traveling to Disney World in October. This is the first time my husband and I have been there with children. We last went 9 years ago when we were newly married. Anyway, we will be taking a 7 year old who will ride anything he meets the height requirement for and a 6 year old who is definitely not a thrill rider at all. Does anyone have suggestions for what one parent can do with the younger child while the other parent takes the 7 year old on the thrill rides. Ideally, we'd like to stay in the same general area of the park so that we can swap up and both ride some. I know we could do the child swap but it seems unfair to make her stand in rides all day for rides she doesn't have any intention of riding. She's old enough that there are bound to be fun things to do so that she can have a nice vacation too. I'm not opposed to taking her on "It's a small world" over and over while the others are at space mountain but I understand it's closed for refurbishment during the time we'll be there. I can remember visiting at 3 yrs and being perfectly content to sit through country bears over and over. So I was kind of hoping for an update on those type attractions in the different areas of the park.

Crossing my fingers that she has gotten a little braver since last summer but not holding my breath.

Thanks for any help. :)

I know we could do the child swap but it seems unfair to make her stand in rides all day for rides she doesn't have any intention of riding.

Does Child Swap work differently at WDW than DL? At DLR, the family gets a "pass" so that the child who is not riding does not stand in line, just the people who are riding stand in line. The child and the parent not riding don't have to stand in line and can spend that time riding other rides, shopping, seeing a show, meeting a character, etc.

That doesn't answer your question of what to specifically do while other family members are in line but at Disneyland you can come back later with the child swap pass so it's still worth using.

Adrienne

Perhaps I just don't understand the child swap system. I thought everyone had to stand in line but if they don't that would actually work fine.

I have a sensitive child, 7 yrs old, who is very limited on what attractions she will do. However, we always find lots of things to keep us busy.
Here are some attractions my little fraidy cat likes--your mileage will vary, of course. ;)

Fantasyland--Carousel, Casey Jr. Storybook boats, teacups (non-spinning), Alice, Peter Pan, IASW. Not Mr. Toad (sometimes too intense), sometimes not Snow White(too scary), sometimes not Pinocchio (too loud) not Dumbo (too high.)

NOS--Pirates (this took a lot of coaxing, but she's good now.) Not the Haunted Mansion (for obvious reasons).

Critter Country--Pooh. Not Splash (too high)

Frontierland--Big Thunder Ranch. Very fun, a nice place to kick back and wait for your group.

Adventureland--Jungle Cruise. Tarzan's Treehouse (watch the jaguar--he's very loud) Indy --"not in a million years" ;)

Tomorrowland--Autopia. Not Honey I shrunk (too intense), Not Star Tours (too intense)

Toon Town--Minnie's and Mickey's house, Donald's Boat, the Bounce House. Not the Cartoon Spin (too intense)

Main Street--the Cinema, Mr. Lincoln (her favorite attraction--go figure)

So, there are potentially lots of things to do--of course, all kids are different, but this might give you some ideas of some safe attractions. Good luck. :)

Which parks are you visiting at WDW? Just Magic Kingdom?

Everyone doesn't have to what in line in order to take advantage of the child swap. From allearsnet.com, the state the following: "It works like this. At the entrance to the attraction, you mention to the cast member that you would like to do a baby swap. They will instruct you on how to proceed on that particular attraction. You will all go into the attraction line and one parent will ride the attraction while the other stays with the child. When the first adult is finished, they will take the child and the second adult will then ride. This is especially fun for an older brother or sister who is large enough (brave enough) to ride the attraction. Many times the cast members will allow the child to ride with both adults which gives the child the chance to experience the attraction twice without having to wait in line.

This procedure is changing for many of the rides that are now offering FastPass so be sure to ask the CM at the entrance of the attraction which procedure you are to follow." For more info, here is the link to source: http://allearsnet.com/pl/infant.htm#toosmall.

While waiting you might won't to consider the rides in close proximity to the thrill ride. For example, say your husband and 7-year old go on Space Mountain. He tells the CM that he will do a child swap and proceeds on. During this time, you and the 6-year old can ride TTA (Tomorrowland Transit Authority). You will even get to go inside Space Mountain so you can say "Wave to your dad and bother/sister." Once you’re finished the ride, proceed to the arcade located at the Space Mountain exit. Once your husband/child exit, you go ride Space Mountain with your 7-year old, and dad can let the little one play games, or repeat TTA. Don't worry, there are plenty of things located near most thrill rides to entertain little ones. There's a small play set located near Splash Mountain and the WDW Railroad has a station there as well. That way you can ride the train while the older sibling/parent does Splash Mountain/Big Thunder Mountain.

Hope this helps out and have a great trip.

Thanks for the help. This was exactly the kind of information I needed.

Just noticed it was a WDW question. D'oh! Sorry about that.
:rolleyes:

At Animal Kingdom, the sand pit and climbing area would make a fun area while others went on the Dinasaur Ride.

There is also a climbing area (Honey I shrunk the Kids play are) in MGM that would be fun while some others went to Star Wars.

In general in both MGM and AK there are shows and rides, if your older child wouldn't mind missing them, seeing a show with the 6 yr old while the older one jumps on the thrill rides- might be a good idea. Also kids at that age like seeing things twice sometimes too so sitting through a second showing might be a good idea.

Muppets 3D might be fun for the 6 yr old (you can always take the glasses off and the plot is fun). This might be a good show to see twice at MGM while the 7 yr old does one of the scarier rides.

Finally, how is your 6 yr old with standing in line to see charactors and get autographs?-- that might be an alternative activity for her. I think the idea is to have the younger child not feel like they are waiting around while their older sibbling does the "fun" stuff, but instead that she has other types of things that she likes to do- like shows, charactors, looking for hidden mickeys etc. It's really great that you are doing this thinking ahead, I'm sure your family will have fun.

At Animal Kingdom, the sand pit and climbing area would make a fun area while others went on the Dinasaur Ride.

In this area there are some Dino footprints that when you step on them they make "dino" noises. It was just my sister and me last time (we're both in our 30s) and I "made" her go in here so I could see what somebody thinks dinos sounded like! :fez:

It looked like a great place to chill out with a younger one while the thrill ride was being enjoyed by the older siblings.

In this area there are some Dino footprints that when you step on them they make "dino" noises. .

Thanks, I didn't know that. That will make a great thing for my 3 yr old to show his older sister when she meets us back there after Dinosaur

I think the idea is to have the younger child not feel like they are waiting around while their older sibbling does the "fun" stuff, but instead that she has other types of things that she likes to do- like shows, charactors, looking for hidden mickeys etc. It's really great that you are doing this thinking ahead, I'm sure your family will have fun.

Exactly. Especially since she thinks it is "scary" stuff instead of fun. I think that in addtion to what you've all mentioned, I'm going to keep my eyes open for alternate activities as we walk around and then if she doesn't want to do space mountain, we won't be sitting on a curb with her asking, "How long is this going to take?" every three minutes.

Be sure to use fastpasses for those thrill rides so that the wait time is less. In Frontierland, there is the Country Bear Jamboree and a Goofy dance show where he dances with the kids that you can go to while the others ride splash mt. or thunder mt. There are loads of rides in Fantasy land to do, and in tomorrow land you can ride on the people mover overhead while they ride space mt.

Thanks! She ended up being willing to ride much more than we'd thought. She only skipped Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom and we ended up doubling back so she could ride Splash Mountain which turned out to be her favorite ride next to the teacups and Peter Pan. She did want to ride and skipped primevil whirl and dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, but Triceratops Spin was not busy so she just rode that over and over. We messed up on the 3-D movies. She just really hated those which we didn't anticipate. Anyway, she ended up taking up and loving PIN TRADING! So we had no problem occupying her during the rides she missed. The lines were short the week we were there and she could easily occupy herself watching for those lanyards and asking for trades. They are a little pricey but the lanyard with pins ended up being one of our better investments because the kids enjoyed that so much!

a Goofy dance show where he dances with the kids
Nope. Killed by budget cuts. It's now a Woody/Jessie/Bullseye meet-n-greet. How wonderful. :rolleyes:

while they r on space mountian,you 2 can ride the peoplemover. it's right across from Mt. in tomorrowland. you can ride it several times and watch for the other 2 to come back. just set up a place to meet !