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Universal Orlando Resort: Where to Stay & Play for a Few Days

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My recent stay at Universal Orlando Resort was so much fun and I’m going to share and highlight my favorite moments with you. First and foremost, I stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort on the property which allowed me early access (one hour) to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™. It was my first time experiencing Diagon Alley™. I took advantage of the complimentary shuttle service to Universal Studios Florida and was able to … [Read More...]

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Navigating Disney World During a Pandemic

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Taste the Flavors of St. Thomas USVI

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Navigating Disney World During a Pandemic

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I recently had an opportunity to visit Walt Disney World as part of my Goofy Getaways FAM Training. It was exciting and I was a bit anxious because even though some restrictions are being lifted, guidelines are more relaxed, and travel is starting to … [Read More...]

Taste the Flavors of St. Thomas USVI

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I am excited to be collaborating with my fellow foodie lover Hannah Victoria on this listing of places to eat in St. Thomas USVI whether you are visiting or local to the island. We are giving you our personal opinions based on our dining experiences … [Read More...]

Food

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How I Kept My Kids Entertained During a Two-Hour Wait for a Bus in St. Thomas

Travel days with children rarely follow the schedule printed on a booking confirmation. During our stay in St. Thomas, a simple bus journey turned into a two-hour wait in the heat, with tired children, limited shade and no clear announcement about when the next bus would arrive. It was the sort of delay that could easily sour an otherwise lovely island day.

Instead of treating the delay as lost time, I turned the bus stop into a temporary activity zone. We played simple games, shared snacks, made up stories about the passing vehicles and used the scenery around us. The children still remembered the wait afterwards, but they remembered it as an adventure rather than a disaster.

The bus stop became our temporary base

We had planned our outing around public transport, expecting the usual island unpredictability but not quite such a long pause. St. Thomas has buses and shared safari-style taxis moving around the island, yet services can feel less predictable than the timetables many families know from home. The stop where we were waiting offered little to do, so I quickly checked what we had with us: water bottles, a few snacks, tissues, sunscreen and my phone.

The first step was finding the most comfortable position available. We moved into a patch of shade and kept the children away from the edge of the road. I made it clear that the bus stop was our “base camp” and that we would return there after each little game. Giving the place a name made the situation feel organised, even though our transport plans were temporarily out of our hands.

That approach reminded me of waiting for a delayed bus in Brisbane or Melbourne, where real-time transport apps and electronic signs usually give passengers more information. In St. Thomas, I had to rely more on observation, local advice and patience.

Snacks bought us useful time

Hunger made the children much less willing to cooperate, so I brought out snacks before anyone reached the dramatic stage of saying they were “absolutely starving”. We had small portions that were easy to eat without cutlery, and I handed them out gradually rather than allowing everything to disappear in five minutes.

Water was especially important. The tropical heat made the wait feel longer, and I encouraged small, regular drinks instead of letting the children gulp down a whole bottle at once. We kept the food simple because sticky fingers, crumbs and a hot roadside are not a good combination.

At home in Australia, I would usually make a quick stop at Woolworths or Coles for familiar travel snacks before a family outing. On St. Thomas, I worked with what we already had and accepted that the children might not receive their usual lunch at the usual time. That flexibility helped me stay calm, which made it easier for them to settle.

I turned passing traffic into a game

The road provided a constant stream of entertainment. We counted cars by colour, looked for different types of taxis and guessed which vehicles might be carrying visitors, residents or workers. The children chose a colour each and kept a running score whenever their chosen vehicle appeared.

We also played “spot the island detail”. They looked for palm trees, bright buildings, hills, boats, signs and unusual number plates. Because St. Thomas has steep roads and striking views, there was plenty to notice even while standing in one place. I encouraged them to describe what they could see rather than simply pointing at it.

When the game became repetitive, we changed the rules. A yellow car earned two points, a vehicle with an interesting roof earned three, and a passing bus counted as a bonus. The rules were deliberately silly. The aim was to keep their attention moving without needing toys, Wi-Fi or a paid attraction.

A small travel kit made a big difference

I had packed a small pouch with colouring pencils, paper, wipes and a few lightweight activities. It was not a carefully designed entertainment bag; it was simply the sort of collection that tends to accumulate in a family day pack. Still, those supplies became valuable once the waiting time stretched beyond an hour.

The children drew the view from the bus stop, then designed their own island transport vehicles. One invented a bus with a swimming pool on top, while the other created a taxi that could drive underwater. Drawing gave them a quiet activity during the hottest part of the wait, when running around was not sensible.

I kept the phone available for practical purposes rather than handing it over immediately. That choice was partly personal preference and partly habit from family travel in Australia, where I often save devices for longer journeys or genuine emergencies. A charged phone was useful for checking messages and directions, but it did not need to carry the whole afternoon.

Stories filled the gaps between games

Once the drawing slowed down, I started a story about two young explorers waiting for a mysterious island bus. The children took turns deciding what the explorers could hear, which road the bus would use and what might be hidden behind the next hill. Their ideas became increasingly imaginative, involving treasure maps, friendly parrots and a driver who knew every secret beach.

Travel stories work well during delays because they transform the surroundings into part of the plot. We connected the story to the sea, the hills and the colourful vehicles passing in front of us. I also used the moment to talk about how journeys can require patience in different places.

When one child became interested in mountains, I showed them a short trekking guide later on my phone and we compared the idea of walking through the Himalayas with exploring an island by bus. It gave us another subject to discuss without making the delay feel like a lesson.

We used movement without losing our place

Children need to move, even when adults are trying to preserve a good waiting spot. I created short movement breaks that kept them close: ten quiet jumps, a slow walk to a nearby landmark and back, then a balance challenge using an imaginary line on the pavement.

We did not wander far because traffic, unfamiliar streets and heat required attention. I also avoided turning the stop into a racecourse. In Australia, child car restraint laws and road-safety habits are a regular part of family life, so I was already conscious of keeping the children well away from vehicles and making road edges a firm boundary.

After each movement break, we returned to our shaded base and chose the next activity. That rhythm worked better than expecting the children to sit still for two hours. They knew they would have a chance to move, but they also understood where they needed to stay.

The delay became part of the holiday story

Eventually, the bus arrived, and the children climbed aboard with a mixture of relief and excitement. By then, the long wait had its own collection of memories: the imaginary transport designs, the vehicle-counting competition, the unusual taxi colours and the story about the secret island route.

The experience also changed how I thought about family sightseeing. A carefully planned day in St. Thomas could still include an unplanned block of waiting, and that did not automatically make it a bad day. The children needed attention, water, shade and something engaging to do, but they did not need an elaborate attraction.

For families visiting from Australia, the biggest lesson was to pack for the pause as carefully as for the destination. A few snacks, refillable water bottles, paper, pencils, sun protection and a flexible attitude were enough to turn a frustrating bus delay into one of the more memorable moments of our island trip.