When you consider a Disney Parks vacation, it’s easy to be swayed by the marketing you’ve seen. Many of us picture the perfect family, placed in a carefree pose, somewhere around the castle, not another soul or a worry to be seen. Though the magic is undoubtedly there, the reality can be quite different, especially if you have teenagers. They don’t make excited conversation as quickly, they would rather take 100 selfies than one family photo, and they want to eat everything in sight; it’s a bundle of fun. Even though my teens don’t take any persuading to go to Disney (they know a good time when they hear one), dealing with all their feelings while we are there takes, shall we say, patience. Gone are the days when they could be tricked into happiness with a cookie. Don’t get me wrong, bribery isn’t off the table in some instances, but you have to be a bit smarter about how you approach it. Here are five challenges you might face with your teens and how to master them like a pro!
Getting Them Out Of Bed
This might be the most complex challenge you will face. Unless they are naturally early risers, getting those teenagers out of bed early for your park day is half the battle. My best advice is to start way earlier than you need to. My teens tend to waste about an hour getting ready, rolling around complaining about how early it is, and generally getting their heads straight. So I wake mine up much earlier than they need to, allowing for that time before the second alarm kicks in that says, now we have to get serious. As long as I know they have slept enough, this works every time.
We are a neurodiverse family, so I prefer to wake my kids up with some fun music rather than an alarm. It doesn’t have to be loud, but it does have to be peppy. It seems to earworm them into getting up and moving faster. You wouldn’t believe the difference it can make to the temperament of teens to wake up to something catchy and fun over a blaring alarm sound.
Managing Screen Time
If you have a teen glued to their phone, you know this one will be a problem. Not only do they feel the need to share every thought they have with someone on social media, but they also spend more time scrolling through the virtual world than living in the real world. Managing screen time in the parks is tricky because even though it keeps them content, you want them to invest in the family time you create.
I like setting screen time limits for my kids, albeit generous ones. They have a specific block of time for social media apps and can use them however they like, but once it is over, it’s over. I find it helps them not to get lost in those check-in moments unnecessarily, spending 5 minutes here and there rather than much longer lengths of time, giving them a little of what they want, and me the same. Setting these limits also helps minimize how much damage can be done at night, improving sleep quality and readiness for the next day. If they find security in being on their phone, try giving them a job as a B-roll photographer. Capturing the little things like Disney ducks, characters, landscapes, and decorative details might help them absorb more of the experience.
Photo by Elijah Chen on Unsplash
Allowing & Managing Evolving Independence
If there is one thing that teenagers tend to want, it’s independence. I have always tried to encourage this, as I would rather my kids be confident and independent in the real world than set free on the internet and confined to our home. You might be reluctant to let your kids feel independent while traveling. A new place in a foreign city is the wrong time to let them test their limits. However, in my experience, Disney might be the perfect place to give them more responsibility. Depending on their ages and capabilities, Disney is a reasonably controlled environment. While I am not saying that everyone is perfectly safe, many of those acts of opportunity you might find out in the public world don’t exist within the Disney gates.
Try setting a period for when they can choose to plan their activities, even if that means they are actively choosing to stay with the group. My kids and I all have Apple Find My set up on our phones for each other’s devices, and it’s amazingly reliable to see where everyone else is, making it easier to find each other when the environment is too noisy or intense to hear text alerts or calls. They are pretty good with it, but I am hopeless; I can never hear my phone. If the wifi is unreliable or you are an international visitor and your kid’s phones aren’t in action while you visit, try an Apple AirTag in their Loungefly. It works a treat when you need to track each other down. Make sure to keep them accountable for their independence by setting a meeting spot and a time so you only need to use the tracking as a backup.
All The Feelings
Another delightful part of parenting teens is the constant mood swings. Ah, all the feelings. Some are fair, some are ridiculous, and you will likely never see the change coming. One thing I have learned over the years is that your kids will react to you. Even though they might be moody or snappy, how you respond to them will set the tone for what happens next. You can usually control them by controlling yourself.
When traveling and trying to keep everyone on track, it can be tough not to have significant reactions to seemingly unnecessary behaviors. If possible, I try to make a joke, bringing some comic relief to the situation no matter how silly it might seem. Even if they roll their eyes and think I am a goose, it changes the direction of what happens next. If you keep your cool, they are more likely to come back to center. I like to keep snacks for bribery purposes, too. That trick of a fun quiz in the longer queues with an M&M reward for every correct answer still works.
Keep Their Spending in Check
One of us seems to want every drink, snack, or merch item that passes, and if we aren’t careful, it can get out of control very quickly. We travel a lot, so sticking to a budget is crucial. Because of this, I like to set budgets early on in the planning phase so my teens can start thinking about how much things cost and how to manage the money they must spend. Meals are on me, as are any family snacking opportunities, but if they want to indulge in something extra or buy a merch item, they need to account for it with the money allocated to them.
We have international travel cards preloaded with a particular amount of local currency, and our kids can track what they have left on their phones. Once they feel ownership over that money, I find they take a different approach to seeing their own money disappear and spend more wisely throughout the trip.
If you have advice for fellow teen parents visiting the Disney Parks, add it to the comments below!
Feature Image: Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash
