Tips for visiting disney world with kids

Taking your grandkids to a Disney theme park is a special memory maker, but with the huge crowds and constant excitement, it can quickly become a high-stress experience. Susan Veness, author

of the new _Disney World Hacks: 350+ Park Secrets for Making the Most of Your Walt Disney World Vacation_, has seen it firsthand: She lives a few minutes from the famous Orlando attraction

and has been visiting it regularly since 1971. Veness’ top meltdown-prevention tips for navigating Disney World with children can be applied to any big amusement park. SAVE TOY/SOUVENIR

PURCHASES UNTIL TRIP'S END Kids tend to feel very strongly about wanting to buy certain things, so one of my favorite hacks is to say, “We're going to take a picture of everything

that you really want, and then at the end of the day or at the end of the vacation you can choose one or two of those things.” It gives them separation to figure out what they really want.

ENCOURAGE BATHROOM BREAKS  Children are so excited they don't want to take the time to go to the bathroom, which can lead to trouble. One roadblock: Little kids can get scared of those

turbo toilets with the loud automatic flush, especially when it goes off when they are still sitting on them. Take a little packet of sticky notes with you, cover the sensor on the back of

the toilet and it won't flush until you remove that sticky note. HAVE FUN WAITING IN LINE In the old days, you'd play rock-paper-scissors to keep younger kids entertained in line,

but now there are things like Heads Up!, which is an app you can get for 99 cents on your phone (you may have seen Ellen DeGeneres playing it on her show). One person holds the phone up to

their forehead with the screen pointing out, and everyone else has to offer clues to help the person guess what the word or the name is on the screen. You can do it as a family, even with

little kids. TRY A NO-CELLPHONE POLICY WITH OLDER KIDS We did this with our boys when they were teens to give us time in the park where we could really talk as a family. I just think that as

grandparents, you have so little time for that kind of interaction with your teenage grandchildren. Make the most out of it.