Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with a 3 year old on a plane ride from NY to Orlando? I want to make her a special disney pack to take on the plane, but have no idea what to put in it. Any suggestions?

At that age both my children loved glueing and sticking. You could cut out pictures of Disney characters from used comics, take a glue stick and a scrap book and let her loose on them - cheap as chips and would eat into flight time. Or how about those cardboard dolls with press out clothes you can dress them in? My DD got a book of those that were Disney princesses a couple of years ago.

My kids love Colorwonder kits. Also consider a simple craft, like packing Froot Loops and string licorice, and making necklaces-a snack and a fashion statement.

Another thought ot two! I think at the Disney shops you can still get Disney princess dolls with dress up clothes. You could also get toddler version Disney story book. Also, whilst it's not for using on the plane, I've bought my DD some Minnie Mouse PJ's for our next trip and a Tinkerbell costume for wearing at Cinderella's Royal Table. I'm going to take them on as hand luggage wrapped up and when the 10 hour flight starts to take its toll produce them to cheer her up again.

activity booklet: http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/experience/preschool/PreKActivityBook_Final.pdf

If you have an MP3 or other portable music player, you might consider picking up some Disney "books on tape." (or CD) Do they still make the recordings to go along with the story books, so that the child can follow along and turn the pages with the little "ding" sound? Or am I just dating myself by even mentioning it? (They might be in used book stores, if nothing else.) If you pick them up new and not give them to your child until you are on the plane, that could be a lot of fun.

so that the child can follow along and turn the pages with the little "ding" sound? Or am I just dating myself by even mentioning it?
You mean when "Tinkerbell rings her little bell, like this"? Ours were on vinyl (how's that for dating myself!)

If you have an MP3 or other portable music player, you might consider picking up some Disney "books on tape."

Portable dvd players are also good along with some of their favorite dvd's.

They have those new Crayola coloring pads that have black or white pages and there is an outline of a Disney scene and it's one of those markers that only marks on that paper and the color shows up as multicolor. Maybe Crayola Expressions. Color Wonder has Disney stuff too. There are also a lot of Disney items at Barnes and Noble.

I am doing the same thing for my 5 year old on our plane ride....trying not to buy and Disney activity stuff now so that it will all be brand new when we get on the plane.

I have oodles of Disney Collection CD's and made my son a "mixed tape" (CD) of his favorites that his has in my old portable CD player. If you have iTunes, you can download FREE kids stories from pod-casts and burn those onto a CD too. There's even a couple Disney kid pod-casts that are fun to listen too.

They are kind of tiny and loosable, but I've seen little princess play sets at the toy departments of Target, Fred Meyer, WalMart, etc. that are like Polly Pocket. (snap on clothes) If she's not into putting things in her mouth, those are small and easy to play with on the plane. My three-year-old DS keeps asking my why they don't make "boy" versions of these. :)

They make small (half size), Disney Color Wonder sets that are great to take along in a backpack or purse. I get mine at Target or Michael's Craft Store (if you can find a 40% coupon for Micheal's - even better!!!)

Have fun!! You've inspired me to start collecting for our up-coming trip too! Six hours on a plane will be his longest ever . . . Wish me luck! ;)

activity booklet: http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/experience/preschool/PreKActivityBook_Final.pdf

By the way, thanks, Brad K! This is wonderful!

My 2 year old loves stickers. I bought some jelly stickers in fun sea creature shapes(not sure if that's what you really call it...). It's intended for mirrors and bathroom tiles. We would make up stories and put the stickers up on the window. The easy peel-off reusable stickers will work well too.

activity booklet: http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/experience/preschool/PreKActivityBook_Final.pdf

Awesome! Going to print out 2 for our trip in May! THANK YOU!

Are you doing the character autograph thing? If so, you can get her an autograph book early and have her decorate each page for a specific character to sign. Mickey Mouse stickers on his page, etc

But I highly recommend the portable DVD player. That's saved us more times than I can mention

my son was 3 last year when we flew down and is 4 for this upcoming trip. We are flying from CA to WDW and the total air time is 5.5 hours. So what we have found is let him have some toys in his carryon back pack that he can play with. When he finally shows that he is bored with what he has (for us it is about 3 hours into the trip) we suddenly break out new items from our carryon that catch him off guard and then he is good for the rest of the flight.

When my kids were little and we flew cross country (either to WDW or to see the grandparents who live in Maryland), we always took an 'entertainment' bag on the plane. I got a lot of little cheap toys (little plastic dinosaurs or farm animals were good, as were toy cars), coloring books, stickers/sticker books, colorforms, and...one of the big winners, play-doh in party-size cans (you know, the size you might give out in birthday goody bags). We also would take the laptop with DVDs (along with a bungee cord to keep it on a tray table during turbulence) as well as a jack that would let all three kids hear the movie. We also would bring along favored snacks, and drinks for the take off/landing.

Now, though, we fly on either JetBlue or Virgin, and they have seat-back video, so the onboard entertainment is not such a big issue. And the kids love to read, so they often bring books along.

Now, though, we fly on either JetBlue or Virgin, and they have seat-back video, so the onboard entertainment is not such a big issue. And the kids love to read, so they often bring books along.

We are flying virgin in August with our 2 year old... Is the food kid friendly? Can you order at will in the main cabin? She eats lots of veggies, pasta, meats and chicken.

I have her bag packed. I keep bins in her closet full of activities and toys for "the bag" I use it for Dr. appts and trips. It's the food that is causing me a bit of concern.

Also, we are getting her a portable DVD player... If anyone has any good suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

I agree with flying Jet Blue because everyone has their own tv to watch. My 3 year old was really happy looking out the window, watching tv, listening/watching videos and sesame street on my ipod, and he also enjoys playing Jawbreaker on my PDA. this kept his busy for almost the entire flight, he only got fussy when we were left on the runway for about 40 minutes...:eek:

Gameboy! My son loves his and there are many age-appropriate games. The only problem is it has to be turned off when taking off & landing....the longest 5 minutes of my life!

Snacks, coloring books and crayons, picture books, more snacks, drinks...

If you have one of those portable DVD players, they can be a lifesaver. If you don't have one I know you can rent them at a lot of airports.

My daughter handled air travel like a pro on our 2006 trip, she was four. She got in a little light reading, got some work done on my laptop and then settled back for a movie.

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/picture.php?albumid=105&pictureid=748
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/picture.php?albumid=105&pictureid=749
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/picture.php?albumid=105&pictureid=750

Just had to put on here - I found fat triangle-shaped Crayola crayons the other day at Office Max! They don't roll off the table - perfect for the airplane (or restaurants, and even home!)

My daughter is 4 years old now and is a pretty seasoned traveler, but we found the following items to work for us:

1. Snacks!- small items that keep her busy like fruit by the foot, cereal, etc. You can never have too many snacks.
2. Color wonder- comes in all different disney themed packs.
3. Sticker books- we found these ultimate sticker books from costco that had different disney themes. Each section had different activities to do with the stickers like simple math, matching, opposites, etc. She still loves these and has even done some of the boy themed books.
4. Leapster- this leapfrog hand held game system keeps her busy for hours. Plus it teaches them stuff, so I feel ok about letting her play with it.
5. Video Ipod- a must! We downloaded her favorite movies to the ipod and that normally holds her attention for awhile. Just make sure you bring your chargers. This is easier than carrying around a dvd player and dvd's but if you don't have a video ipod, the dvd player works just as well.

Here's another tip for when you are waiting at the airport. Now that they don't allow liquids in your carryon, we had to figure out a way to appease my daugther while waiting for our flight. Many times the consession stands are closed by the time we get to the airport and the vending machines only carry soda- which she doesn't drink. We finally came up with taking an empty water bottle through security, filling up the bottle after going through TSA and then using one of those crystal light packets. She loves it and it gets us by until we get on the plane. Of course, we live in Hawaii and our water from the fountains are ok to drink, but you'll need to use your discretion wherever you are travelling.

Just had to put on here - I found fat triangle-shaped Crayola crayons the other day at Office Max! They don't roll off the table - perfect for the airplane (or restaurants, and even home!)

Those things are murder when you step on them, though. Just did that the other day, ouch!!!!!


At 3...I took crayons for DS, and he promptly drew on the windowshade. Sigh. I smeared it off, and took away the crayons. Luckily the SW flight attendants were on the ball, and gave him one of their little packs that contained a colored pencil that wasn't so easy to draw with on plastic.

We also had stickers that weren't very sticky (ancient Gymboree stickers a friend gave me about 6 years ago), so nothing permanent was left on the seat or window.

Fun picture flashcards from the Dollar Store.

By the time he was 4 ,I just make sure I have some good for him snacks (he can't have corn syrup or anything related to that or he goes bonkers), some fresh, pure juice (he's a huge fan of Odwalla, LOL, expensive tastes), water, a notebook and a couple crayons, and he's completely fine. Though he did get into the Jet Blue tv on our last flight; but since we won't be flying JB any time soon (they treated first me, then my husband, incredibly rudely because I couldn't hear the ticket agent, and then b/c hubby wasn't moving fast enough to put his seatback up and the FA moved hubby's hand off the button, pushed it, and slammed hubby's seat up) that won't be part of our flights.

For us, it worked if I was prepared with lots of stuff, so I could see what worked and what didn't for my guy, and it turns out for my guy, minimalism works. :p

5. Video Ipod- a must! We downloaded her favorite movies to the ipod and that normally holds her attention for awhile. Just make sure you bring your chargers. This is easier than carrying around a dvd player and dvd's but if you don't have a video ipod, the dvd player works just as well.




What GB do you get to download movies and shows does it cost to download?

nicky