5 Child Safety Suggestions for your Disney Trip
A Disney vacation is a stressful time for a parent. Well, the trip itself is mostly amazing. It’s just a few standard concerns about taking care of and protecting your child during the trip. Thankfully, Disney’s one of the safest environments on the planet for families. Just to cover all our bases, however, let’s go ahead and discuss five ways to maximize child safety during a Disney visit.
Kids Love Stickers, and You Will Love This One
The best businesses are the ones that cater to most people. I’m about to list two examples of what I mean by that. Since so many parents travel with their kids, there’s a lot of money to be made through child safety innovations. And some of the simplest ways are the best.
When you go to a child-friend restaurant, store, or event, what do the event’s employees hand out to children? Stickers! In some cases, they also offer free temporary tattoos. They do this because kids love them and simply cannot get enough of them.
You’ll carry your cellphone with you while you’re at Disney theme park anyway. So, writing this information on the tattoo guarantees that in the extremely unlikely event that your child gets lost, a cast member can help them. The Disney employee will see the contact information and call/text you immediately. A set of six SafetyTats costs $10.99 on Amazon. That’s a bargain.
Permanent GPS Is Even Better
Did you have one of those Tamagotchi devices back when they were all the rage? Well, I’m about to recommend a device that’s similar in size. Instead of taking care of an imaginary creature, however, it’s the real life version wherein you protect your child.
The device is a Jiobit, and it will tell you where your child is at all times. With a Jiobit, you’ll never have to worry about your child getting lost. You’ll be able to pull up an app and see exactly where they are at all times. It negates all potential stress of vacationing in an unknown area. Even if your child isn’t with you, you’re only a couple of swipes away from finding them!
Jiobit is a location tracker. You’ll store this small device somewhere on your child, preferably in a place where they’re unlikely to mess with it. As long as the child remains in possession of the Jiobit and there is a cellphone signal, you can load the accompanying app. It will show you a visual map of your child’s location.
This device can’t be hacked or cloned. Each Jiobit is unique thanks to a clever bit of digital encryption. As such, you’re the only one who can locate your child should they go missing. Jiobit will identify a signal within 30 feet in an outdoors area, assuring that your kid will never stray too far away from you.
You can even set up a geofence that will signal you when your child leaves a set area. In other words, you can drop them off at the line for a particular ride and then go sit down somewhere. If Expedition Everest or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is too much for you, Jiobit saves you from becoming a martyr. For a cost of $99.99 – $149.99, it is a tremendous value that has utility beyond your theme park visit. All parents should buy a Jiobit whether they’re going to Disney or not.
Train Your Kids about Emergency Situations
As a responsible parent, you’ve had several conversations with your children about what they should do in emergency situations. They know who to contact or how to behave. The difference while on vacation is that the standard rules no longer apply.
You’ll want to sit down with your child and discuss the special circumstances of a Disney visit. You should tell them that they’re at one of the best places on the planet but also warn them that it’s a crowded area. You should instruct them on what to do if they get turned around for a moment and can’t find you.
Assuming that you bought the Jiobit, it’s not a big deal. If you’re relying on SafetyTats alone, however, your child needs to know who to ask for help. Explain to them the importance of the name tags on Disney employees. Show your child Google Images, SmugMug, or Flickr examples of these name tags. Even though different themed areas of each park use different costumes, that name tag is still the same. You may have wondered why. Here’s your answer. It’s a subtle child safety strategy hidden in plain sight.
Trust the Height Restrictions
A short professional wrestler named Alexa Bliss did a satirical bit on Monday Night Raw the other day. The gist was that her friend teased her about whether she was tall enough to ride various attractions at Walt Disney World, and it’s funny because Bliss is a notorious Disney fanatic. Her friend is much larger than her. Everyone can relate to this bit since the shortest person in a group is inevitably on the receiving end of this joke.
For your child, however, theme park attraction height restrictions are no laughing matter. Disney invests millions of dollars (literally) to determine the safest sizes for various rides. Your kid will want to ride EVERYTHING, and so they’ll beg and plead whenever faced with an unfavorable height notice.
They’ll stand on their tippy-toes, pointing out that the difference is just the distance between their fingers, inevitably scaling down the gap between them for effect. You love your child and want them to be happy. For this reason, you’ll feel the tug on your heartstrings and want to give on. Please resist that temptation.
Disney theme parks have dealt with millions of children (again literally) over the years. They know who can safely ride something as opposed to what might happen if a smaller child tried. Trust them to know their business and respect the posted height restrictions.
Consider a Leash
Yeah, I know. It’s not something that you want to think about. What I will say as someone who has spent a lot of Disney theme parks is that it’s valid strategy. People use it each day. In fact, you’ll find some backpacks that come with leashes for this very reason.
By tethering your child to a backpack or something else that’s always with you, you’ll prevent that sort of wandering. You know, it’s the wandering that Billy from Family Circus does around the neighborhood. The difference is that you don’t want your kid roaming like that at a Disney theme park. The leash keeps them in check. I understand that it’s a divisive parenting topic, but it’s something to consider when you’re heading to Disney.
Using some or all of these five tips, you’ll reduce all of your stress at a theme park visit. For the most peace of mind, we recommend parents purchasing a Jiobit. You’ll have complete confidence that your child is safe and having the trip of a lifetime at the Happiest Place on Earth!
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