A little unwanted advice

[luuuceee]

My DD is one of those who has to be "pushed" a little. On her first WDW trip in 2004, she was 6. Right at 48". And a ride chicken. She was scared to ride Barnstormer, but gave it a go. Loved it.

Then she was scared to try Space. She said she'd go, but as we got to the loading area, she got scared again. I told her I sure wish she'd try it since she got that far, and I talked her into going by promising I'd hold onto her the whole ride. She seemed a tad shaken once we got off the ride, but then by the time we were back outside, she said she'd like to try again, and this time, I didn't need to hold onto her.

Then came BTMRR. Again, apprehensive, but I talked her into trying once and she loved it.

Finally, RNR. She went back and forth about trying it and almost freaking out. My dad asked if she'd ride with him. She reluctantly agreed. She was OK till she saw how fast the coaster took off. Then she turned white. I mean Casper white. I played it up like, "wow, I wish my car would take off that fast!" which calmed her down. She was totally white-knuckled with her eyes shut the entire ride, but once it was done, she wanted to go again.

In a week's time, she went from ride weenie to coaster lover.

Her fave ride at WDW now? RNR. She's made me promise we'll go on it several times.

Now, let me point out that she never had a full on freak-out moment on any ride. If she had, I may have insisted that we NOT go. But she did need a little nudging to overcome her fear, and it worked splendidly.

 

[Caboosey]

Ha ha, we had a reverse situation once at Universal Studios... (I know, the evil park...) My mom and I were in line for the E.T. ride, and my mom had been on it before but I hadn't. There was a mom behind us with a daughter who was about 5. The daughter was a little freaked out by the ride queue, which was sort of dark and spooky if I remember - but my mom reassured them that the ride wasn't scary at all.

Of course, the little girl cried through the whole ride - poor thing! My mom felt really bad about talking this girl into riding! What can you do?

 

[sconnell]

I remember another poster having a similiar problem except her child would beg to go on rides and love them, BUT would start to freak out in line so the mother, knowing her child, insisted she ride. Boy did she get allot of hateful stares but after every ride her DD was happy as a clam.

That will be may DD! She's a thrill seeking drama queen!

 

[mwerner2]

When my daughter was 4 she rode all the big rides - TOT, Splash, Space Mountain, the dark rides like Peter Pan, Snow White etc. and had a great time on all of them.

What ride did she freak out on? Indy speedway - the little cars that go on a track. She wanted to drive and about 5 seconds into the ride decided driving was *very* scary. She hid her head for the rest of the ride while I drove from the passenger side.

Who knew?

 

[MermaidMommy]

We actually had the opposite happen at a local Six Flags. DD was 4, and we were going to go on the Mine Train (similar to BTMRR). All of the cars were seated when the ride operator had her climb out and stand on the platform so she could measure her. Well, the riders were mostly teenagers, and they all started chanting "Let her ride!" over and over again until the employee let her get back in the car. It was pretty cute!

She also went on the tallest coaster at the same park when she was 6 1/2, and a teenage boy shamed his fearful friend into going on the ride by pointing to DD and telling his friend that he should be braver than a little girl. Poor kid!

 

[luuuceee]

She also went on the tallest coaster at the same park when she was 6 1/2, and a teenage boy shamed his fearful friend into going on the ride by pointing to DD and telling his friend that he should be braver than a little girl. Poor kid!

Which one? Titan? My coaster loving DS rode this for the first time when he was 8 and decided he needed to be at least 10 till he rode again, LOL. That was the first ride that was ever "too much" for him.

Of course, now he just loves it.

 

[MermaidMommy]

Which one? Titan? My coaster loving DS rode this for the first time when he was 8 and decided he needed to be at least 10 till he rode again, LOL. That was the first ride that was ever "too much" for him.

Of course, now he just loves it.

Yes, it was the Titan, and now it's her favorite ride, too! She went to Six Flags with my brother and sister-in-law, and I almost had a heart attack when they came home and told me she had gone on it -- I thought they were kidding at first! My problem now, though, is that I will not go on it, and my husband can't because of back/neck problems, so I guess her uncle is going to have to go with her every time! It serves him right!

 

[DRLuvMD]

Is it bad to force your 22 year old girlfriend on the roller coasters because she is crying in line she's so scared...haha. Its tough considering I am a roller coaster fanatic, but hey, she hasn't been on one that she hasn't liked yet....hahaha

 

[MyManGoofy!]

There is a big difference between a child that is apprehensive and needs a little reassurance and one that is terrified, crying and begging to not go on the ride. I fully support those CM's that ask you not to ride in that circumstance.

Why? Because as I parent I know that if my child were to go into full panic mode I could not guarantee that he wouldn't do something that might jeopardize his/others safety, like trying to get out. And if that did happen, I wouldn't want to take the chance that I might not be able to prevent it from happening.

As happy a place as Disney is, these rides are still machines and safety should always come first.

 

[luuuceee]

Yes, it was the Titan, and now it's her favorite ride, too! She went to Six Flags with my brother and sister-in-law, and I almost had a heart attack when they came home and told me she had gone on it -- I thought they were kidding at first! My problem now, though, is that I will not go on it, and my husband can't because of back/neck problems, so I guess her uncle is going to have to go with her every time! It serves him right!

I figured it must be. That thing is HUGE! Of course, we only get down to TX every couple of years, so we don't get to ride it much. I like it too, so DS always has someone to go with him. DH can't stand it, though, so he usually waits with DD. One of these days, though, she'll go.

 

[jlieblaw]

My dd5 loves splash and thunder mtn. but hates any of the 3D shows, including philharmagic. I always make her go in with us b/c I'm figuring one day she'll realize it's not scary but we usually end up leaving it early. I make sure I sit on the end with her so I don't have to disturb anyone leaving early. I haven't taken her on ToT b/c I was worried about her being too young but with all the other comments about 3 yr. olds riding, I might take her on the next trip. She has ridden space mtn. and RnR so maybe she's ready for ToT.

ds3 has ridden thunder mtn. and doesn't fuss while in line and just whines a little bit at the end. He has ridden Soarin a couple of times and he'll whine a little riding it, not loud enough for anyone other than me to hear since I hold him close to my side, but last time there, the CM saw him whining as we boarded (he had just woken up too) and told me if he didn't stop by the time he had everyone loaded, I'd have to take him off. I ended up doing that and it ended up being okay since dd was able to ride twice, once with my mom and then with me when we swapped off. Both my kids, at this age, also didn't like pooh, snow white, peter pan, anything remotely dark, but they don't fuss so loud that anyone notices. If they were really crying, I wouldn't take them on the ride.

 

[KimR]

I actually feel terrible about this, but DD gave 'unwanted advice' to a little girl on Body Wars.. We were in line and the girl behind us, about 6 or so, was obviously nervous. Her Dad was trying to reassure her, but you could tell she was reluctant to get on the ride. Meanwhile, I was telling DD about the ride, really playing up the theme. I told her that they shrink you and send you through the human body. She was really getting into it and asked me what happened at the end - did they 'unshrink you'? I explained to her of course they did, and most of the time, it worked!

Anyway, I could tell the little girl behind us was still nervous so I turned to her and told her she shouldn't be scared, it was a fun ride and nothing to worry about. And then DD piped up 'yeah, they shrink you and send you flying through someone's body. But don't worry, because they unshrink you at the end and most of the time it works!'. The little girl turned to her dad, shook her head, and they left the line. I felt bad, I really did, but at the same time it was kind of funny. I'll bet the Dad didn't think so though.

 

[MermaidMommy]

I figured it must be. That thing is HUGE! Of course, we only get down to TX every couple of years, so we don't get to ride it much. I like it too, so DS always has someone to go with him. DH can't stand it, though, so he usually waits with DD. One of these days, though, she'll go.

Well, maybe the next time you come down here you can let me know and DD can ride with you!

 

[cara76]

DS is one of those that is quietly scared, I think the wait gets him. Last year we couldn't get him near any ride outside of Fantasy Land. Thanks to Modern Marvels and some of the other behind the scenes shows he's realized there is nothing to the rides (Mommy is now the chicken because I can't stand drops) and is riding them. This trip he rode, Splash, BTMR, and Soarin for the first time. We were going to have him ride Test Track but he changed his mind at the last minute. He now wants to ride it , so I guess next trip

DH is happy because he now has a ride partner

 

[MAKmom]

I remember a lady taking a really young child on Alien Encounter during an E ride night. I had to mention it to her do you know what this is like? She said O she did great on the Haunted House Ride. I said this is nothing like that. I dropped it after that. That poor child was so terrified I could see her when the lights flashed. I tried not to make eye contact when it was over.

 

[BamaFan121s]

Yeah, I used to get the "Isn't she scared?" and the "I can't believe she'll ride this." questions from people referring to my now 6 yo DD. She has been riding the 40 in ride...TOT in particular ever since she was 3. "Tower" was her 3rd word, actually...

She LOVES to get in line by older kids...8 or 9 range, particularly boys...who seem 'nervous.' She just gets this air about her and gives them the 'it's NOT scary look.' Then we squeeze her fat head on the ride and go on about it...

 

[loopner67]

I can't remember getting advice in the parks about this, but I do have an issue now.... I have a friend who can't believe that I would let my boys go on a few rides by themselves. My boys are ages 6 & 8. They want to go on a few rides that my DH & I will get nauseous on - Star Tours, Mission Space and Primeval Whirl (I went on that last year. ). I will walk with them in line until they get on, then wait at the exit for them. I don't need someone hounding me about how bad it could be that they'll be out of my sight for awhile, yadda yadda. I know my boys and I know they'll be A okay! I'm not going to get sick on a ride just to go with them when I have an option to wait for them. Best for everyone!

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

I do so agree with this!!! As I said before I don't think a child should EVER be forced to go on a ride!! I frown on it too!!

I agree, but also DISAGREE.
My son is autistic. On one trip he was fearless. He wanted to ride EVERYTHING, and he loved Test Track and SM most. Begged and begged to ride both of them over and over... then one day we went to Carrowinds, and he (and all of us) had a bad experience on Hurler that gave us all migraine headaches that caused all 3 of us pain all day. The ride had always been great, and weve rode it 100s of times before, but THIS time it shook us into a frenzy and we all staggered off, heads pounding, ruining our trip. So when we returned to Disney, suddenly he was scared to death of EVERYTHING... INCLUDING the Monorail!!! I tried to get him on Splash Mountain (his favorite) so he could remember the fun he had had on previous trips. I was ONE OF "those" parents "forcing" my child onto a ride... for his best interest. He screamed and cried and a CM made us exit the ride after an hour wait. If she had LET us ride, he would have remembered it, and got his "memory" back. But the experience of getting pulled off SM made it all worse. It took us almost 2 years of multiple trips before we could get him back on ANY fun rides. It was a rough 2 years having to swap kids and my wife and I never got to ride ANYTHING fun together. I was right. Once I finally got him back on Splash Mountain, he remembered it, and he then, from that very moment wanted to try ALL the rides he had enjoyed on his earlier trips, and he became the fearless little guy I knew and loved. (not that he wasnt loved when he wouldnt ride rides... you know what I mean). the point is YOU know your children best.
BUT (on a different thought) theres always the "worse case scenario..." mentalty. If something really bad SHOULD happen... (he/she pass out, freak out, or worse) and they are VERY young... just be prepared because its not the child they will blame. Not that you should worry what people think...

Just use your best discretion and do what you feel is best for the CHILD, and not the parents who want to ride. Ask yourself if its YOU or your CHILD your thinking about. If your pretty sure your child will like it, and he isnt absolutely terrified, do it. In my case my son WAS terrified, but he loved it last time he was there, and a bad experience somewhere else blocked those fun memories. It was a different situation. I'm sure those around us thought us to be tyrants, but they didnt know the whole story.

 

[lynda_oz]

My DS has loved all rollercoasters and is begging to ride them as soon as he is tall enough. But I also know he gets freaked out by some intense things, I.E. we almost ruined all 3D movies after going to Bug's Life, it took two more trips to WDW to convince him other movies were not as bad. Therefore, I waited a couple of trips before letting him go on Dinosaur. Before the ride and in line I reminded him it would be in the dark, etc. He kept saying he wanted to ride. Sooooo, DS5, DH and myself rode the ride. At the end I loved it but I was afraid to look at DS since it was sooooo loud and intense, I thought for sure he would be crying hysterically. Guess what, DS loved it and wanted to ride again, it was DH that looked terrified in our ride photo. By the way, DH refused to let me buy the ride photo since DS and I were smiling and he was screaming. It was hilarious. Who could guess??

 

[queenvic]

Count me in the mean parent category. We have told our DS, who is now 11, that he has to try a new ride every trip. We do this because otherwise he would never try ANYTHING. And there is only so many times you can ride Small World. But we also tell him that he only has to do it once. If he tries a ride and doesn't like it, he never has to try it again. On our last trip we told him he had to do BTMRR. He was nervous. His eyes were tearing up in line. But after he rode it, he absolutely loved it. Same thing for Space Mountain, only his anticipation was worse. I know the others in line thought we were terrible parents. But just like every other ride we have "forced" him to ride, he loved it.

The fear of the unknown is what get him, but I want him to learn to face and conquer his fears. Otherwise I might end up with a 40 year old child still living with his parents because he is afraid to go out and try life.

Queenvic