You have planned this wonderful and most likely expensive trip to Disney. You have spent the time planning out the flights, the hotel, the dining, the fast passes, then packing and arriving to your destination. Everyone is excited, whether this is your first or one millionth trip. You get to the park, you start having fun, and all of a sudden a infant/toddler/child meltdown happens. If you are anything like me you get a tad embarrassed as your child screams and people start to stare. Here’s a few tips to try and remedy the situation and get your trip back on track.
Check if they need to be changed, fed, or down for a nap. When at Disney, it is easy to lose track of time, so for a child that may be on a stricter schedule at home, that can easily go out the window while on vacation. If your child is having a meltdown, may be time to take a sight step back and just double check that everything is still on track for them. While most parents try to keep to a similar schedule, it just sometimes becomes a lot and we need to just get back to central mode.
Remove them from the situation. Does your child want to stay on a ride but there is a big line, do they want that bubble toy/Mickey balloon/etc that everyone seems to have, or in my child’s case play with rocks on the ground and embedded into the wall?! Well time to leave that specific area and distract them from what caused the meltdown. They want to ride small world again-try to take them to the other side of fantasyland, they want that toy-leave the store, they want to play with rocks-leave the entire area with rocks. I realize some of these are easier said than done because carrying a screaming and moving child is very difficult. But in our case, I just picked her up and booked it as fast as I could to a different land. I do find it easier to deal with the meltdown not in the area it was started.
Babycare centers. I’ve mentioned these as a god send in a past blog, but they definitely help. On our last trip, Cameron had a few issues and we were on the brink of calling the day early and leaving but I decided to try one last ditch effort and take her to the baby care center for a cool down and to blow off some steam indoors to see if that would help. We also bought some children’s Advil because Cameron had just started teething her back molars and I think that was part of her reasoning for her meltdowns. So these centers are great for a quiet place to regroup, and to buy some much needed or somewhat needed baby items.
Now when all else fails, it may be best to go back to the hotel or head home, depending on if you are here on vacation or a local. It’s never fun to be that parent with the screaming kid, but I’m almost positive every parent has gone the same thing at least once, so they are probably throwing good vibes your way, while also being glad it’s not their child.
