An Amusement Park Survival Guide
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I'll send you time- and money-saving tips every week!
Growing up in the Los Angeles basin, I saw my fair share of amusement parks. Disneyland, the real one, was a yearly trip. Magic Mountain was a mere five or ten miles from my house. I even worked there one summer after high school. We bought passes to Universal Studios back when it was cheap and not half as popular as it is now.
Yes, sirree, I knew exactly how much money I needed to buy a waffle cone, a large, soft pretzel, and a frozen lemonade. And I knew what order to ride the best attractions. And I knew the layout of each park like the back of my hand.
My biggest concern was would the water ride muss up my hair and would I see a cute boy — and would he notice me.
But, it’s different when you’re a mom.
Yes, mussed hair is the least of my worries these days. I love an amusement park just like the next person, but I’ve realized in the two short years since I started taking kids along, that there are some items that will help you survive the day — and even smile.
Here’s my little survival guide for touring amusement parks with children:
1. Pack a backpack with incidentals.
For our family this means the travel potty seat, hand sanitizer, travel size Lysol, bandaids, and spare clothes for the girls, ages 2 and 4. And after the last few outings when more than one person has asked for Tylenol or Advil, I’m adding pain killers to my bag of tricks!
I am the one to man the backpack. The back in backpack is important here. You need to have both hands free to catch wayward children, handle a map, and hold your frozen lemonade.
2. Wear a family uniform.
Yes, I know, it looks a little nerdy. Puhlease, don’t tell my kids! But, trial and much error has proven that we need to be color coded when we go to places like Legoland or Disneyland. The shirts don’t need to be identical, but at least in the same color range.
If I lose a kid — and the chances are great when you have six — I need to conserve every brain cell possible. I can’t be wracking my brains to remember what he was wearing. All I need to do is look at the five kids I still have in my possession. Then I’ll know at least what color t-shirt he was sporting.
3. Splurge on a fun snack.
Some amusement park food is icky, icky, icky. But every park has at least one signature snack that is worth the splurge. Beignets at Disneyland, Apple Fries at Legoland, and the aforementioned waffle cones, large soft pretzels, and frozen lemonades at Magic Mountain are well worth a little coin. Buy a few choice items and split them.
Otherwise, bring food from home or leave the park for a buck-fifty Costco hotdog. You’ll find nourishment without having to take out a loan to pay for it. We’ve packed coolers into Disneyland and passed through security, so I’m under the impression that it’s quite all right.
4. Give each kid a fanny pack.
I don’t care how un-hip you may think hip pouches are. These will save your life. If you let your kids stuff them with the snacks of their choice at the beginning of the trip, you will not have to hear the whines and moans:
When are we gonna eat?
I’m hungry?
Can I have some popcorn? cotton candy? hot dog?
See how annoying that is? Instead the kid is wearing all the junk food nourishment he needs!
5. Bring a stroller even if the toddler insists on walking.
They may give up naps. They may potty train. They may insist on doing what the big kids do. But, don’t let them fool you.
Even though that toddler insists on walking at the start of the day, she will be begging you to carry her by lunchtime. Amusement parks involve a lot of walking and little feet just wear out eventually. Even if you use the stroller to carry everyone’s junk, keep it with you. Eventually she will conk out and you will have help in conveying her about the park.
A little secret? Just park your stroller in a stroller parking section of the park and come back for it later. No one will know that you’re not on that ride right next to it. There are scores of strollers about. Don’t leave valuables behind, but chances are your stroller will be fine. (I’ve heard that dirty diapers are wonderful deterrents to stroller-nabbers, though I’ve never tested the theory.) Remember where you parked it, and come back for it later.
Amusement parks can be a wonderful adventure for kids and adults alike. With a little pre-planning, you can eat good and cheap, go home with as many kids as you came with, and have a wonderful time.
These tips are fantastic! It never occurred to me to leave our stroller parked somewhere while at the park until I heard someone mention it recently. It’s a simple yet clever idea that can make our park visits much more enjoyable. Thank you for sharing this helpful suggestion!
Glad it helps! I’ll be updating this post before the summer, so be sure to let me know what else you’d add.
Hey Jessica!
Loved the share 🙂 I read the same book, did lots of the same tips you had as well. My favorite shared shirt was actually tie-dying the whole families shirts! Well, I did about 3 or 4 for the Guys, and at least 1 for Grandma and Me. The kids had 6 different ones (but they wear smaller shirts and it was easier to dye theirs!) It was a lot of careful thought on my part, using Michaels coupons to buy the largest set of dye kits I could, and buying shirts at Wal-mart. A lot of work, probably more money than you would normally plan to spend – but everyone noticed us in our shirts, it was super easy to spot my kids and family members in the crowd. The extra cool thing about it, since Grandma had one made for her too – we have a delightful family photo taken of all of us wearing our tie-dye shirts. We all love it (Grandma has it on her wall!) and so many people tell me how much they love that photo! As a bonus, I use the tie-dye shirts with my kiddos on our weekly park day. Sometimes so many kids are running around the park, and you can’t always your kids when they run around the equipment. When my kids are all in the tie-dye, it takes less than 10 seconds to spot them all and I don’t have to worry or panic that one of them is missing!
The only thing about the fanny packs – is they really didn’t like wearing them. Since we had the stroller with us, I just added the snack bags to the diaper bag and piled it at the bottom of the stroller. There was only one moment when we sat down to wait for a ride (Tom Sawyers Island) and while we waited for the fairy – having those snack bags helped pass the time and everyone traded what they wanted and didn’t want with others 🙂 We went at a super un-busy time of year though 🙂
Another tip we did, was in the months preceding up to our trip was have nightly family walks. This helped strengthen the kids legs and give them some stamina when it came to going the distance at DL. We are planning on heading back next February! We just loved it so much!
Tie dye sounds like a great way to stand out from the crowd!
Great tips. My kids are getting a lot bigger but we still color code!! This year they all have yellow swimsuits for the pool.
“Go home with as many kids as you came with”
*snort*
Sometimes, by the end of a-day-at-the-amusement-park…(seriously, I think a couple of my boys would be happy being left there. They could find a bush to sleep under…bath in the water rides…)
Thanks for the great tips! We’re headed to Disneyland in a few months with three kids (ages 6,4,& 2). We were at Walt Disney World when my oldest was four months old. I was surprised how well the “baby centers” at each park cater to nursing moms. I also found Animal Kingdom very “baby friendly.” I took the baby to many of the attractions.