How to avoid being one of THOSE parents – PREP116

At Epcot Ellen's energy adventure is a great place for a nap for kids it's a crazy long ride (like 30 min once your in the ride) and usually not too crowded because it kind of long and in an out of the way spot it moves gently but does have loud noises so more for your "I can sleep through a nuclear air strike " type of child

We have found the carousel of progress to be a good napping spot, as well as hallways in Innoventions East.

Thank you for the wonderful podcasts they are so helpful! This is actually my husband's tip for dealing with our 4 year old, who wants everything he sees at stores. We hand him one of our phones with the camera open. He can take pictures of everything he wants and that usually satisfies his need. We discuss that he can pick from the pictures what he may want for an upcoming event (birthday, christmas, etc). He will often ask to look at the pictures later and then forgets about them within a day or two. It works great, no fits over not getting a toy and some pretty funny pictures taken by a 4 yr old!

We just did a trip with a 1 and 4 year old and, overall, avoided being "those" parents by following Shannon's advice. Being flexible is really important! My 4-year old loved (really loved) the People Mover and, surprisingly, the Carousel of Progress. We rode the PM 4 times and CoP 2 times. Also, he adored Magic Kingdom! We had planned 2 days at MK and 1 day at each other park. I made lunch ADRs at Tusker House and the best FP+ for Animal Kingdom, but canceled them about 24 hours before and opted for a 3rd day at MK instead, so he could ride everything he loved one more time. We didn't get any table service reservations for MK or good FP because of the short notice, but it ended up being one of my favorite days because we had no real plans and just did what he loved!

Thanks for the podcast. I love how you always help us parents of small children prepare for all potential situations. On our first family trip to WDW last January, I did try to use your afternoon break tip. But it was very challenging. One early afternoon in particular, we waited for 45 minutes for the Art of Animation bus. And it wasn't even crowded - it was us and one other couple waiting the entire time. That was the longest wait of our entire trip. So, after walking to the front of the park, waiting for that bus, and then riding to the hotel and walking to our room - it was 1.5 hours just to get to the hotel. I would love to hear more about how families can take an afternoon break in a way that doesn't ruin a good day (that was not a great moment for our four young ones, but we tried to keep it fun). I'm thinking there are lots of ways that people take successful afternoon breaks, I would love to know how people do it. Or maybe they all stay closer - like at the Contemporary? We ended up using shows and table services as breaks because we just couldn't seem to make it work another way. Please consider a podcast about this maybe in the future? Everyone advises breaks, but no one really says how to make them work. Thanks for all your great tips. Every other bit of our trip was amazing because of your advice. Already planning the next one!