5 year old and rock n roller coaster?

[hbehrman]

I had the same question wuth my 5 year old that begged me to take him.

My suggestion is to take the 5 year old through the line and stop when you see the train waiting to be launched. Let the child watch the launch, maybe two launches. Then ask if they want to do the ride. My son did not want to do it as soon as he saw the launch, despite being convinced and very excited to be doing the ride. No fear if they don't, their is a car for photos on the way out that you can take a photo keepsake.

By the way I had FP for the whole family and he was the only one to attempt it.

 

[Barnhill9586]

My 5 year old loved it and it is still his favorite ride. OTH, my daughter wouldn't ride it until she was 10 because she hated the idea of going upside down so it completely depends on the kid. Now our favorite rides are RnR and EE and we ride them over and over every trip. Have a magical trip!

 

[Rekenna]

OP-I know what you mean. DS5 (almost 6) is plenty big enough to ride RnR this year, and he would-he's a thrill junkie, but, I just am unsure whether he should or not. It's the whole inversion thing...the seats are pretty tight and those harnesses are nice and tight too-I'm sure DH will take him on it-I have rode it before-but for me 2x's was enough!

Also, as far as loops go-you are going so fast you don't even know you are going upside down-the most intense part of RnR is the launch. Has your child rode Space before? If they are okay with the dark there then RnR should be okay from that aspect.

DS5 will ride anything if they will let him on-he LOVES ToT, Splash, Space and all the rest.

 

[waynesgirl]

All these 48-inch + 5-year-olds... are you folks from a race of giants or what?

I have a really tall 5 year old as well, who loves rides. I am concerned only for his little head getting bee-bopped around. I will not let him ride the Primeval Whirl yet. It snaps really bad. But when I tell him to keep his head back, he does so I don't thin RnR would be too bad.

As far as giants, my nephew just turned 11 and is 5'9"- which is 5" taller than me. (Man, you should've seen the Little League coaches go when he started to play baseball.) My oldest son is 6' and his father is 5'6" if he's lucky. My twin brother is 6'. It really is the luck of the draw...some of us vertically challenged folks hate it though!

 

[ktlm]

When my niece was 6, RNR was her favorite ride. My DD(5) who is just about tall enough won't even set foot on Big Thunder, so I think it will be a while before she gets on RNR. Space Mountain is her 4 year old buddy's favorite ride, but DD won't get near that either (I'm talking freaked out on the TTA when it went into the Space Mountain building because she thought we had tricked her into going on the SM. ). As others have said, it just completely depends on the kid. If he is a thrill junkie and he wants to ride it, I would say let him.

 

[daaasmith]

My 5 year old DS will be on the bubble height wise for this trip. He loves roller coasters, so if he is tall enough according to Disney scale I will let him ride if he wants. Like others have posted, it depends on the child. My daughter would have been terrified (she loves it now) at that age, but my son has always been a daredevil. I say if he wants to, let him give it a whirl! Have a great time!

Someone posted about it giving them a headache in the 5 ft. range. I am only 5ft 4, and daughter is only 5ft. We have never had this problem-just FYI.

 

[Tlou]

My boy has been going on most of the roller coasters at Cedar Point since he was 5 and all of them since he was 6. RnR has nothing on the intensity of several of the coasters at CP.

The one thing I'd say is that if he wants to ride, let him... why not?

Heck, my boy was resistant to a lot of rides at both WDW and CP, but once he rode them he BEGGED to ride again. Well, except for Tower of Terror (dark and scary) and Top Thrill Dragster at CP (just a bit too high for him at age 6, he loves it at age 9). As for Tower of Terror... we've watched a ton of twilight zone in the past year... and he is psyched to ride it in two weeks.

 

[wmharley]

I'm surprised a 5 year old is tall enough (I didn't get past his height until I was closer to 8 or 9, but I was always quite a bit shorter than my peers growing up), but I'd say as long as he really wants to ride it and passes the height check, it should be fine.

All these 48-inch + 5-year-olds... are you folks from a race of giants or what?

my boy is 3 (just turned) and he's already at 41". We would have gone on BTM last week but his sister (my "roller coaster partner") fell off the a slide and hurt her back so we were all bumed and did non-coaster rides.

He's bigger than several folks we know with 5-6yos, so I expect him to ride that ride around that age.

Every kid is different. If your child enjoys the dark, and thrills, then yes. Our boy loves that sort of stuff, but sister hates the dark, and doesn't care for ExpEverest because of the dark parts. We've finally convinced her to get on Splash Mountain (after she screamed her head off last year when I tried), but the injury prevented her.

countdown to 3 weeks.

 

[quarters]

My 5yo nephew rides California Screamin' in DCA (while it IS outside, it has an inversion like RnR does) and absolutely loves it. He's a tiny kid, too! But as a previous poster said, the force is definitely a part of what keeps you in your seat. So I wouldn't worry too much about him not being secure.

I'd say if he wants to go, let him! It's one of my favorite rides in all of WDW!

 

[nytimez]

But as a previous poster said, the force is definitely a part of what keeps you in your seat. So I wouldn't worry too much about him not being secure.

A CM once told me that when they were testing a ride before it opened, they put a basketball in one of the seats without a restraint and sent it off.

When the coaster came back, the basketball was still in the seat.

 

[Mom-2-2Princesses]

My dd was 5 when she first rode it and she LOVED it! I was also worried about her on it, but we made sure she was snugged down tight in the harness and we harped on her to KEEP HER HEAD BACK. She did, and it was great fun for all of us! If he wants to do it, and you think he will abide by the instruction to keep his bead back, I'd say to let him go for it.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

My 5 yo loved RnRC it is his favorite ride. Also, I am kind of picky about what I let him ride. Our local theme park I don't let him ride most of the roller coasters because I think they are too rough. I do ride next to him though and hold his hand.

 

[kokotg]

I think my 5 year old may just squeak past the height requirement with shoes on this year; if he does, it's up to him whether he rides or not (right now he says he will, but he may back down at the last second). He rode Tower of Terror (at his own insistence) when he was 3, and he's been on everything except Rock n' roller coaster and Primeval Whirl, so I'm not too worried about him.

 

[KrysiaG]

Depends on the child completely.

My daughter JUST turned 5 and she was not tall enough to ride (even though she is very tall for her age, about 90th percentile for height). She would have LOVED to ride this when we visited WDW back in July.

Now my twin boys that are almost 7 years old - heck no. Splash Mountain was enough for them. They HATED Expedition Everest so I didn't even attempt the RR.

 

[northeast_minnie]

my DS is 48 inches without shoes and he says he is going to ride everything when we go to WDW in October. We have told him even if he doesn;t like we will ride it once and then he doesn;t have to do it again - before anyone gets wound up about me being a pushy parent - not we will NOT make him go on the BIG rides if he doesn't want to.

My DH is panicking now as DS is over 48 inches and can ride Summit Plummett and DH says that if DS rides it he will have to ride it and he is scared.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Would you let your 5 year old go on rock n roller coaster? QUOTE]

I would and I did - and she LOVED it. It's one of her favorite rides. That was the first trip that she was tall enough for Space Mountain, Expedition Everest and Tower of Terror - she loved them all. But she rode Dinosaur for the first time on her 7th birthday and came off in tears.