One of the reasons my family loves Disney World is that we have a few ride chickens, and Disney parks have many attractions that are accessible to people across the entire range of tendencies to motion sickness. We also have some anti-chickens (more commonly known as thrill junkies). Once, we waited in the car while an unnamed member of my family took five trips through the single rider line at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. They were only supposed to go once, so there was … some discussion … in the car on the way back to the hotel.

This highlights a key tension for mixed families like ours. How does everyone have a good time at a theme park without compelling everyone to the lowest common denominator – the rides that everyone likes but might not be anybody’s favorites? If you are a ride chicken, and you travel with an adrenaline junkie, then here is my best advice for touring strategy. And if it’s you that’s the adrenaline addict, feel free to send this article to the ride wimps in your group.

Do A Little Research

I hate to start with this because it sounds a little like “are you really sure you’re allergic to that?” But it’s like a band-aid that I’m going to rip off quickly, because it needs to be said.

Motion sickness is very personal, and so is tolerance for thrills, darkness, heights, and all the other things that send some riders to the chicken exit. Two different ride chickens might not have the same rides on their no-go lists. If you’re one of those people who is only sometimes a chicken, check out our ride chicken reviews to see whether a particular ride sounds like it might be OK for you. Watching a Point-of-View ride video on YouTube is another commonly recommended strategy, but I don’t always find that effective. My stomach somehow knows that I’m not really on the ride.

Tour Separately

When I say tour separately, I don’t mean with both of you in the parks. I mean let them go on their own. Spend your park time together doing things that everyone wants to do. And when they’re in the parks zipping upside down and messing with their inner ears, you can be doing other stuff. Here are some ideas.

Sleep Late

It isn’t true that thrill rides are always the ones with the longest lines, or that every thrill ride will have a long line. Look no further than Peter Pan’s Flight and Star Tours for your counterexamples there. But it is true that usually the thrill rides are the ones with the longest lines. Let your beloved family head off to the park for Early Entry to get ahead of those lines on a couple of rides. You sleep in and meet them in the parks later for breakfast.

Go To the Spa

Disney World has three spas on property: Senses at the Grand Floridian and Saratoga Springs, and the Mandara at the Swan and Dolphin. If you’re at Disneyland, you’ll be looking for the Tenaya Stone Spa at the Grand Californian. And if you’re at Universal, it’s Mandara again at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel. Bring on the pampering!

Do Chores

Depending on your schedule and your transportation, it may make sense for you to pick up groceries or do other errands while the rest of your group is in the parks and you’re not. The best part is, this is like a two-fer. You’re doing two nice things for them at the same time: giving them time in the parks and getting the chores done that they’re not doing. They can make it up to you with a foot rub later on, amirite? Because seriously, you’ll be able to lay claim to some major “doing what I want now” privilege in return.

Pro tip: One of my favorite “chores” to do this way is watching the littles who are too young to go on those rides. Someone has to be hanging in the hotel room, reading a book while they nap.

Go Shopping

Before I was talking about groceries, but here I’m talking about the shops at Disney Springs, Downtown Disney, or Universal’s CityWalk. This can work especially well if you’re meeting up for dinner afterward.

Resort Crawl

Disney hotels have terrific theming and decoration – it’s one of the things that Disney charges a premium for. Take advantage of Disney World’s transportation system to do a resort crawl and check out the lobbies, shops, and snacks at each hotel. A Seven Seas Lagoon crawl uses the monorail to visit the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian, and the Contemporary. For bonus points debark the monorail at the Magic Kingdom and take the boat to Wilderness Lodge or Fort Wilderness. At Crescent Lake, use a combination of boats and Skyliner to visit Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Riviera, and Caribbean Beach before entering EPCOT through the International Gateway and meeting up with your group.

When Touring Together

Sometimes you want to go to the parks together, and you just need to separate for a little while so your thrill-seekers can do their thing. Rider-Switch users pay attention here: this list can also be used to occupy your time while the first party (that waits in the line) is riding. Of course window shopping is always an option, but especially if you have kids that might not be what you want to do.

Get Food for Everyone

I admit, this may feel a little like being left behind to do the drudge work. But see above about the two-fer you get for chores, I think you can totally claim foot rubs in return here.

Wait In the Queue

Not to overlook the obvious, but you can always wait with your party and depart through the chicken exit without riding – that’s what it’s there for. Some of the queues and preshows are worth seeing at least once, and your vacation is about spending time together, right? This option feels a little banal, but it has to be said.

Find an Alternate Attraction

Good options here are things that are near to coasters (or other thrill rides) that routinely have low waits and are easily accessible. One challenge with this strategy is that these attractions will need to either be something that the coaster-riders don’t mind skipping, or something that you’re willing to ride twice. But let’s be real – all the concessions can’t be coming from your side. Sometimes they’ve got to give to get.

This is far from a complete list, but here are a few options for each park at Walt Disney World:

Magic Kingdom

In the Magic Kingdom, your alternate attraction is likely to be a ride or a show. But one self-paced option if you’re on the Tomorrowland/Adventureland side of the park is Pirates of the Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas, which is an interactive treasure hunt game.

• Space Mountain → PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Teacups → Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid, Mickey’s Philharmagic
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain → Country Bear Jamboree, Tom Sawyer Island, Liberty Square Riverboat
• Pirates of the Caribbean → Enchanted Tiki Room, Magic Carpets of Aladdin

EPCOT

EPCOT is one of the easiest parks to tour with a mixed group, because of the games and play areas in many Pavilions. If you’ve just ridden Spaceship Earth, you can send your thrill junkies on ahead to Mission Space or Test Track while you spend some extra time in Project Tomorrow playing a few games of Super Driver. Or hang out in the big aquarium (the Living Seas) while the rest of your group moves on to Soarin’. When Moana: Journey of Water opens in World Celebration it should also be a great option for spending time while waiting. A bonus of self-paced attractions is that the rest of your group can still experience them – just for less time than you will.

I just said that there’s a ton of self-paced stuff all over everywhere, but here are some of the closest attractions to each thrill ride in EPCOT.

• Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission Space, Test Track → Project Tomorrow, Mission Space Playground, Mission Space Race game (these last two are in the same building as Mission Space, enter through the gift shop).
• Soarin’ → Living with the Land, the Living Seas Pavilion, the Imagination Pavilion

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios can be tricky, because it has the biggest number of thrill rides compared to non-thrilling activities of any of the parks. One good option can be to coordinate with a show that the coaster-riders don’t mind missing. That probably won’t work for everything because of the number of attractions you’ll accommodate, so here are some additional suggestions.

• Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster → Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.
• Slinky Dog Dash → Alien Swirling Saucers could be an option if it’s within your tolerance, or if the line is short enough, Toy Story Mania
• Star Tours → MuppetVision 3D
• Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run → MuppetVision 3D or use your smartphone to play the datapad games in Galaxy’s Edge.

Animal Kingdom

I’m going to stop here and note that Animal Kingdom is a fully accredited zoo. Watching the animals while waiting for your party is always an option. There are only 7 attractions in Animal Kingdom that have standby queues at all. Almost all of them could give ride chickens some pause, but in addition to the animals there is lots of street entertainment. Finding an alternate activity should be low-key and straightforward in this park.

Are you a ride chicken? What are your favorite things to do at Disney World (or other parks) while waiting for the rest of your group? Let us know in the comments!