An Amusement Park Survival Guide
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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.
We recently took a trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO with our 2-year-old. Here are some things we learned:
1. Measure your kid before you go and look up online which rides they’ll be able to ride. (We learned this the hard way – our kid was 1.5 inches too short do any of the “kiddie” rides)
2. Consider renting a stroller. You don’t have to worry about anyone stealing it while you’re there. Also, we wish we’d have rented a double stroller just to carry our stuff and carry the kid when he finally conked out.
3. Prepare the kids ahead of time. For instance, we’ve been making it a requirement that our son has to wear a hat and sunglasses when he goes outside. It made him fight them less when we were at the park. Same thing with hand holding.
4. Pack extra ziplock baggies (for wet stuff or to keep valuables dry on water rides) and trash bags (make great rain ponchos, shoe guards, laundry bags, and trash receptacles too).
5. Reapply sunscreen every 2-3 hours. The face sticks are convenient for this. We tried to do it after we had been sitting for meals or snacks but before we ventured into the park again. My husband was more of a challenge to get sunscreen on than my kid.
I love this blog. It always addresses exactly the things I am needing to know!
Okay, now I am so sad that I did not know about these apple fries when I went last year! I’m an east coast girl who loved me some Cali! Well, at least I know for next time. =D Great post! I really appreciate your personality that runs through your posts. You seem like a lot of fun!
Great tips. Love the uniform idea.
Doing the “long term stroller” parking thing is genius, thanks for the tip. I’ve heard rumors of friends of friends getting strollers stolen, but I’ve never actually known anyone it’s happened to.
I have a small child that did NOT like to nap in his stroller. It was too stimulating outside. At Disneyland we took to riding the train for multiple loops. Many times he would fall asleep by the second loop. If after the third he was still awake, we’d give up and go do something else. At California Adventure we’d go to the Grand Californian. Walking the grounds and the lobby was much less stimulating than the parks them selves and that also often (though not always) worked to help put him to sleep.
On the busiest summer days, cast members at the entrance between the park and the hotel will ask for a room key before they’ll let you use that entrance, but other than that, it’s no big deal.
Packing your own food/buying outside of the park, is definitely one of the best ways to save money in the park. I regularly bring food into Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm. They always look at my bag, sometimes even comment if it looks good, but then pass me through. As I understand Disneyland’s rules, they will confiscate sharp knives and glass (no glass mayo bottles for instance) but other than that, you’re golden. I have also seen them escort someone with a large (40 gallon?) hard sided cooler to the picnic area just outside the gates where i presume he was going to have to pay to store it in a large locker.
Disneyland (and Disneyworld?) also have a free water policy. At any food stand with fountain drinks they will give you free ice and/or ice water. It totally depends on your cast member. Some will only hand you a kids cup with ice in it and point you to the nearest water fountain, some will give you a regular size cup with ice and water and everything thing in between. As far as I know none of the other So. Cal parks have a similar policy. 🙁
Lastly, there are many restaurants just outside of Disneyland, but most convenient is the McDonalds just outside of the main entrance. If you are already near the front entrance it is as quick to get to the McDonalds as it is to get to the back of the park. Look it up on Google maps before you go. It’s a normal McDonalds, as far as prices go, a really large seating area, a super efficient crew, and a fill your own drinks station.
My husband and I were able to go to King’s Dominion for Kingsfest on Thursday as our anniversary gift to each other. We left our three littles with my mom (for the first time ever since our oldest was born).
We were blown away by how much amusement park food costs- and it didn’t even taste that great! We walked around and around to find the cheapest places to eat at. $20 and $35 were the costs of our two meals that day- and it was just the two of us!
Unfortunately, King’s Dominion doesn’t allow you to bring in outside food or drink. We even saw them taking people’s extra water bottles at the gate/bag check. Crazy.
They did have a pretty good “promotion” running though. If you bought one of their specialty cups, refills all day were $1.99 each time. Or you could buy a wristband for $5 and get unlimited refills all day for no extra charge. So we bought the cheapest cup, $8.99, and the wrist band, $5, and got ice water instead of soda all day. It was a miserable hot day, well over 100 with the humidity and heat index, so it was worth the money. One small Dasani bottle of water was $4.
Overall we had a blast, especially because we got to see some great bands- Finding Favour, Lecrae, David Crowder Band, and Skillet (that was an AMAZING show!!!!). We just weren’t really prepared for how expensive everything at the park was going to be.
I only have two but when traveling with friends or family to a crowded place, we always take a picture on the way in so I don’t have to remember what anyone was wearing.
@Kelly, that’s a great idea. The extra benefit for me with one color is that I can easily scan the crowd and count heads. 🙂
@Kelly,
I was going to say the same. We take a picture on our phone or camera each trip in case we have to have a security guard’s help to “find” them. {Thank the Lord, we’ve never actually needed to use this photo.}
Nice article, I am a single Grandfather who had to take several trips with my grandson 3 years old. lugging luggage around and keeping track of him was very hard. I bought him a little animal shaped backpack with a hand held leash. I was worried at first that people may think I was nuts, but it saved a lot of stress with him running away all the time. He loved it so much, our travel time was stress free at least for that part. Thanks for the tips.
These are great tips! Thanks! I always enjoy what you share on your blog.
My kids are still very little (3, almost 2 and 6 months), so my biggest tip would be to plan for down-time after lunch. We would either pack the kids into the pram and stroll around a quiet part of the amusement park for a while, or plan to do something a little less stimulating (e.g. a movie house) for an hour or so if available. Better yet, if you live close to the amusement park, get a season pass, get there early, get out by lunchtime and come back another day!