Buddy and I both love Disney World, and we were lucky enough to be able to take a quick trip with our extended family in August. All of Buddy’s cousins came, which meant our group had a total of 5 kids – ages 2, 4, 5, 5, and 7. I spent a good amount of time planning for keeping our kids busy while they were waiting at Disney World.

Disney Busy Bags

Before we left, Buddy and I went to the party store, the dollar store, and the grocery store looking for cheap toys to play with at Disney. I splurged on one larger toy per child. For the three girls, I got a small princess doll. I got a Woody doll for Buddy’s oldest cousin, and Buddy desperately wanted a dragon stuffed toy. (It was actually a keychain and I cut that part off so it was just a tiny stuffed animal.)

Buddy and I got a bunch of smaller toys to play with in lines. I put them in groups of similar typed items, and then I put each group in a bag. The groups were: things for fingers (skateboards/light up rings), pretend play (fairy wands and pirate spy glasses), and rubiks cubes. I also made bags with papers, coloring supplies, and stickers for times that we were sitting and waiting for a show or at a restaurant.

Here is a close up of the coloring supplies bags. I put them in quart size ziplocks to be easy to open and close. The girls had a spiral notebook and pen from the party store. Then I split a set of princess stickers and a princess crayon set from the dollar store. The boys had a spiral notebook, marker, and ruler set from the party store, and then they split Lion King crayons. I found a ton of Disney stickers around the house, and I put them in the bags along with tiny coloring/activity books from the party store. The spiral notebooks were the biggest hit and several of the kids used them as autograph books.

When we were in a long line, waiting for a show, or the kids were about to melt down, I’d pull out one of the bags. They were great distractions, and helped to enhance the Disney magic. I also brought a bag of glow wands, which were great entertainment at night.

Other Waiting Activities

• Read a picture book – We did this at rope drop! It would also be great for waiting for a show.
• Play I Spy – Buddy and I take turns picking an object, saying its color, and then the other person has to guess which item it is.
• Play The Animal Game – I taught this one to Buddy earlier in the summer and we play it all the time! One person thinks of an animal, and the other person asks yes or no questions until they guess the animal. This was a hit with our group.
• Play The Color Game – Choose a color, and count how many things you can find with that color.
• Look at a map – Buddy loves looking at maps, and there are many of these available as you enter each part.
• Look for Hidden Mickeys
• Blow Bubbles
• Play Simon Says
• Put on sunscreen
• Have a snack

It wasn’t easy to keep a large group of little kids entertained while waiting in Disney lines. And there were definitely tears and meltdowns. But for the most part, having a plan for keeping the kids busy in lines made our trip much more fun.