As a mom I do incredible things to avoid waiting in lines. And for good reason. Waiting in line with my kids for more than a few minutes can be painful. They quickly get either fidgety and crabby or goofy to the point that I want to hide under the nearest chair in embarrassment.

Waiting is hard. For everyone.

When we started planning our trip to Disney World how to survive all that waiting in lines was definitely on my mind.

Fortunately between some Disney Magic and careful planning our waiting experience was not bad. If you’re heading to Disney I want you to know these tricks because that fidgety, crabby, goofy, boredom that waiting in lines can create can kill a great day.

Below are our top 7 tricks and tips for surviving the inevitable lines at Disney World.

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How to Survive the Lines at Disney with Kids

1. Fast Passes

Let’s start with the best one – avoid the line all together. Fast Passes are new since I was a child but they are genius and delightful.

Fast Passes allow you to skip ahead to the front of the line – or at least into a much shorter line. You can read more about them on the Disney Site, but here are tips from our experience.

First, reserve your Fast Passes as early as possible. The when depends on whether you are staying at a resort or not. I thought this was a little insane – but do it anyways. You do reserve your fast passes on the Disney site or on their mobile app – which I recommend.

The site or app will give you great recommendations for what rides or experiences will have a long wait and therefore are best for a Fast Pass. We found those recommendations to be helpful and reliable. You can read more tips about the process here.

For our 6 year olds we just prioritized the things we thought they would love the most. Most of our character meet and greets (with our autograph books of course) were Fast Passes and also the rides that had long waits and we thought they would love – the Seven Dwarves Mine Train was our son’s favorite.

Our daughter loved the tea cups.

We all LOVED the Avator ride at Animal Kingdom and the Lion King Show – shown below. We used a Fast Pass for all of these and were glad every time that we had.

2. Disney App Wait Times

Whatever you can’t get a Fast Pass for utilize the Disney resources to help you plan. Beforehand you can enter all of your reservations and Fast Passes and preferences and get a schedule laid out for you based on Disney’s extensive research on wait times.

Again this is a little nutty. (They do research on wait times?! Yup. They do). But they do it – so use the resource. We found it incredibly helpful.

There were some exceptions – one day in particular that was busier than the site anticipated – and that’s when the having the App was huge. We could find out how long wait times were without having to run all over the park.

3. Disney Magic Hours

If you stay at a Disney World Resort you can enjoy Disney Magic Hours. I highly recommend this.

I am a HUGE promoter of predictable sleep schedules but we made an exception for this and I was so glad we did.

We stayed at the parks for the fireworks one night and then the Magic Hours that followed. We got to re-ride so many favorites in those couple of hours and try a couple of things that we hadn’t gotten to.

Plus there is something truly magical about seeing the park after dark. If you really don’t want to stay up late – you can also enjoy early Magic Hours in the morning as well.

Story Hour with Belle was one of our favorites. It was adorable. All of the kids got a little role in reenacting the story of Beauty and the Beast. Here’s my little guy playing the Dad shivering in the beast’s jail.

We also had the opportunity to get a date night another evening – thanks Grandma!! My husband and I enjoyed Magic Hours at Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

4. New Waiting Experiences

Disney World seems to experimenting with some different waiting experiences. They definitely seem to get that this is not the best part about the Disney experience.

We experienced two new waiting experiences at the Magic Kingdom and loved them both.

The first was the Dumbo Ride. You go in and are given a card. Then your kids play on this circus themed play structure in a tent until your card color is called. My kids loved it and did great.

I think the one downside of this would be convincing your kids that leaving the play area to go on the ride is a good idea.

The second is the Winnie the Pooh ride. This one had fun interactive things for kids to do all along as you wait. A small play area, a large version of those movable beads in doctor offices, interactive screens, etc. My kids enjoyed this one as well.

5. Smaller Activity Books

So despite the Fast Passes and timing our activities and those experiences, there are still times you’re going to get stuck waiting with kids. Honestly I don’t think this is bad. Waiting is a skill and learning how to occupy yourself while you wait is a good thing.

One of the ways we keep busy while we wait are small activity books – Dover has some really cute little ones on a variety of subjects/themes.

6. Eat your snacks / lunch in line

Packing your own food for snacks or sandwiches for lunches is a huge money saver at Disney World. Eating those snacks or sandwiches while you wait can also keep kiddos happy and pass the time while saving time for fun stuff.

also read: disney world with a kids dairy allergy

7. Five No-Materials-Needed Games for Waiting

I also keep waiting games in the back of my mind to pull out whenever my kids start to get antsy. At six year old they also suggest some of these when they start to get bored.

Our favorite things to do while we wait or ride trains (that require zero materials) are;

1. Sing. This is less true now, but for my twins when they were toddlers this worked better than anything. If you don’t mind feeling a little silly, singing a few interactive favorite songs can pass the time easily. 
2. One Leg timed stands. This is a current favorite. Simply say “How long can you stand on your right leg?” and then either count together or time them on your phone. Take turns. Switch legs. 
3. I-Spy. Classic and a favorite with my kids. 
4. How many ____ can you find? This is a number version of I-Spy. Just say something like “How many red things can you find?” and then have them look around and count. Other ideas include how many hats, glasses, umbrellas, strollers, etc. 
5. Circle Stories. My kids started loving this when they were about 5 (even though they are just now at almost 7 starting to get good at it). One of us starts a story. Something like “Once upon a time there was a little boy and a little girl. One day they happened upon an orange sad dragon” and then the next person adds something to the story. You can go any direction with these. My kids love ones that I start with them as characters the most and beyond that the crazier and sillier the better. Keep going around in the circle adding until you come to some sort of end. 

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