{"id":43012,"date":"2015-12-16T10:03:16","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T15:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=43012"},"modified":"2022-05-04T22:44:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T02:44:57","slug":"how-to-avoid-meltdowns-at-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/how-to-avoid-meltdowns-at-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Avoid Meltdowns at Disney"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Meltdowns in Epcot<\/em><\/p>\n

You have this perfect image of your kids walking hand-in-hand down main street with the castle up ahead. \u00a0They are laughing together and whispering secrets to one another. \u00a0\u00a0It is the perfect trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then you get to Disney. \u00a0And reality hits. \u00a0The kids will fight. \u00a0There will be meltdowns. \u00a0Tears will be shed. \u00a0There might even be a minute where you question how it could ever be called the \u201chappiest place on earth\u201d. \u00a0It is okay. \u00a0We have all been there. \u00a0I am here to tell you that there are ways to prevent most of these things from happening daily during your trip. \u00a0Steps to take in order to prevent most meltdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Talk to the kids<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We found that it helped telling our kids the plan the evening before they fell asleep. \u00a0Walking them through where we were going (the castle, tree, hat or ball) and what they would be able to do seemed to help the next day with eliminating meltdowns over them wanting to do something that was at another park entirely. \u00a0We even made little literary sheets with pictures to help them understand. \u00a0I saw a mom that had a mini book with her on the stroller that her kids flipped through as we waited for rope drop. \u00a0It had pictures of all the different rides they\u2019d be able to do that. \u00a0No matter how you go about doing this, letting the kids know that tentative plan can go a long ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

    Communicating he was done with the stroller<\/em><\/p>\n

    2. \u00a0Listen to them<\/p>\n

    This one is hard for me. \u00a0I am a planner and I don\u2019t like when things mess with my plan; however, my kids challenged me on this and I had to learn quickly during our trip to slow down and listen. \u00a0When kids are crying, whining, pouting or all out throwing a tantrum they are normally trying to tell you something. \u00a0It is time to revert back to when they were babies and go through the checklist: are they tired, hungry, hot, cold, overwhelmed? \u00a0When our kids started to get crabby, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t the time to dig my heals in and power on with my plan, but to stop and figure out exactly what they needed. \u00a0Yes, we might have lost fifteen minutes or so of ride time, but in the end we gained time as by taking time to listen we prevented a major meltdown that might have caused us to leave the park altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

    This little one needs her sleep<\/em><\/p>\n

    3. \u00a0Don’t drastically change their schedule<\/p>\n

    Stop and think about your kids\u2019 typical day. \u00a0When do they eat? \u00a0How long do they sleep? \u00a0Do they nap? \u00a0Do they shower before bed? \u00a0In order to prevent meltdowns and tantrums, try to stick to their routines as much as possible. \u00a0If you kids need 10 hours of sleep normally, don’t think you can magically change it to 8 and have no meltdowns. \u00a0Plan some breaks, rest time, \u00a0and sleeping in mornings. \u00a0Even if they are like my kids who will still be up at 6:00 am even though it is a day to sleep in, not having to rush to the park will help them. \u00a0If lunch time in normally around 12:00, try to make sure you are eating close to that normal time, or make sure you are having snacks to prevent a food meltdown. \u00a0Kids, just like adults, bodies have internal schedules and it is important to be aware of those while on vacation.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

    Enjoying Dream Along With Mickey<\/em><\/p>\n

    4. \u00a0Relax, breathe<\/p>\n

    Don’t get mad when they don’t want to follow your schedule and plan. \u00a0I struggle with this one as well. \u00a0As much as I would love for my kids to see our plan and be ready to follow it perfectly, this never happens. \u00a0And it is okay. \u00a0Some of our best memories from trips are those that were not planned. \u00a0We watched the Dream Along with Mickey show at least three times our last trip and it wasn’t even in our plan once, but our kids saw it from a distance and it became a favorite. \u00a0\u00a0We ended just chilling after a show and letting the kids play with bubbles and just be kids. \u00a0It is one of my favorite moments and it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t stop and breathe. \u00a0Don’t miss those magical moments because you are so stuck on the plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u00a0Be proactive<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Kids are kids and will act that way no matter where you are even if it is the most magical place on earth. \u00a0Try to plan ahead and think about what might cause a meltdown and take steps to prevent it from happening. \u00a0Hunger is a major trigger for meltdowns in our world. \u00a0I know this, so I always make sure to have a quick snack and water with us at all times. \u00a0Bathroom breaks are especially important to plan in as it will be stressful for all if you are waiting in line and have to leave for a bathroom stop. \u00a0Think through those triggers for your kids and take some steps to prevent them from happening. <\/span><\/p>\n

      \"MFL<\/a><\/p>\n

      Hanging out at Epcot<\/em><\/p>\n

      Meltdowns will happened by kids and even adults at Disney. \u00a0I hope these quick tips will help you prevent them from happening too much throughout your trip. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Do you have any great tips for preventing meltdowns from happening? Share them in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n

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      • https:\/\/www themouseforless com\/blog_world\/how-to-avoid-meltdowns-at-disney\/<\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Meltdowns in Epcot You have this perfect image of your kids walking hand-in-hand down main street with the castle up ahead. \u00a0They are laughing together and whispering secrets to one another. \u00a0\u00a0It is the perfect trip. And then you get to Disney. \u00a0And reality hits. \u00a0The kids will fight. \u00a0There will be meltdowns. \u00a0Tears will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":43015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1695,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theme-parks","category-walt-disney-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43012"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43053,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43012\/revisions\/43053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}