Age for Tower of Terror?

[NicholeB630]

How young were your kids when they enjoyed or didn't enjoy TOT? My daughter didn't ride it last time, well none of us did but she loves the roller coasters. BTM, EE and Mine train. She did not like Dinosaur but she was 5 about to turn 6 in a month. This next trip she will be well over 7 years old and my son if he's tall enough to ride the 40'' rides will be 4. Would they freak out? Is it mean for me to have them ride it? I've watched videos and it doesnt seem to bad. But I honestly can't really tell. Do they drop you all the way down at any point or is it gradual the whole time? Thanks!

 

[loves to dive]

There are a few dark spots so if they have an issue with that it might be a little scary. It is a series of drops, random so you'll never get the same ride every time. They take you up open the doors so you have a great view of the park, drop you, rinse and repeat. Some of the drops are short little skips, some I get air on (I'm a 5'2" woman). Last time I rode it I was solo and there was a father with his son who couldn't have been more than 4. He was fine until the dark then the little fella looked over at me with big ole eyes, I told him I was scared and could I hold his hand. He said yes and he held on to me for dear life, until the first drop then it was every man for himself he was having too much fun to comfort me.

 

[disney world dreamer]

i was 8 when i first went on it but thats because i turned 8 in 1994 when it first opened.
i can still remember the first time and i was nervous but i had fun and went on it again.
thats back when it dropped you some and then went all the way to the top and all the way down.

my one niece went at the age of 5 which is the first time she went to WDW.
she enjoyed it.

my other niece went on it for the first time at the age of 3yrs4mos. it was her idea to go on.
she seemed indifferent about it the first time and when asked if she wanted to go again she said yes.
then when we walked into the library she cried and she cried until the chicken exit which is once you get to the elevators.
she does not like it still and she'll be 8 in april.

personally no i don't think you'd be terrible for wanting them to try it.

i have no idea whether they will freak out or not but if they do prior to getting on you can take the chicken exit.

how far the drops are all depends on the random sequence.
i find that most times you will be dropped all the way at least once.

 

[NicholeB630]

Thanks everyone. I guess I will feel them out when we go and explain to them what it is and see what they say Its a surprise trip so no watching videos prior though I think that might freak them out more. HA.

 

[montugirl]

My son was 6 when he rode it, he said he liked it but I think he was scared. He does want to ride it this year when we go back and he will be 10.

 

[Meshell2002]

DD was 5 when she road it last time....we stood outside and watched the drops before we got in line..i warned her about the pre show being "show scary" with a story.....she did ask to ride it again but not that day...later in the week

 

[akadada]

My kids are 4 and 6 and we're going to give them the option to try it next time we go...i doubt either will do it, but we plan on asking them either way.

 

[skuttle]

My 4 year old rode it in April for the first time. He had just turned 4 at the end of January. He didn't cry and didn't seem terribly scared. He actually just sat completely silent. LOL! He didn't say he didn't like it, but also didn't say he loved it. He also opted out of going on it a second time.

However, we went back to WDW in December and he rode ToT again, so I guess he didn't think it was too bad the 1st time!

 

[Shroog]

My 5 year old daughter rode it on our trip last June. She LOVED it!!! One of her favorite rides at all the parks!! We are going again in September and she can't wait to ride it again. We showed her a video of it before we left and she said wanted to ride it. She was a little nervous waiting in line, but we just kept telling her "remember, it is just a ride, it's not real." And, she loved it! She is generally a little daredevil though and loves all roller coasters, etc.

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Ya just ask them if they want to ride.

If they do, then let them go.

If they don't, then don't force them too.

 

[taythecray]

I rode when I was 4 and loved it so much my parents kept taking me on XD
But then we just took my 10yr old sister and she looked a little shaken up afterword. She recovered quickly though! Said it wasn't terrible but wasn't her favorite. Its hard because it differs so much from person to person. She hated Everest more though. Cried the entire time and we had to cheer her up by getting ice cream and going to the petting zoo

 

[minnie mum]

Have either of your kids ridden Splash Mountain? Because it's really the only other ride that involves a big drop. Some people can enjoy coasters but can not handle rides with huge, sudden drops. And while I like all the coasters (except RNRC) and even enjoy Splash, I just can't handle the drops on TOT. My DDs were split on this ride. One loved it as a young girl. The other was terrified. Maybe show them a You Tube video of the ride and see how they react.

 

[eastendlights]

My 19 year old rode it for the first time when she was 11. She has never ridden it again and has convinced my 15 year old son to never ride it. My husband refuses also. I ride alone.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I'm 17 and refuse to ride Tower of Terror. I can't handle the drops and I'm easily scared.

So, ultimately it depends on your child.

 

[summerw]

DS forced me to go on it when he was 3. He loved it the first time, then the pre-show freaked him out for a year or so. Sometimes kids are braver before they know what scary things are out there. You can just never tell. I would say to try it and gently encourage if they get scared, but have an exit plan in case of a freak out.

 

[beck00]

Our 7 1/2 year old rode everyTHING else including Big Thunder (loved it at night in the dark),Space, Everest, Rock n Roller, and asked to ride all of these multiple times. She wouldn't go near Tower of Terror! Maybe next time...we didn't push it.

 

[cruisingtwins]

My kids won't ride it.I rode it a few months ago after not riding it for many years and found it very intense I hate all the short drops. It used to be my favorite ride when there were just 2 drops. My kids are little wusses so I don't expect them to ride until 10-11.

 

[book_junkie]

Let them watch the drops ahead of time, and then take them to the gift shop where everyone comes out so they can see everyone "survived"- you'd be surprised how that helps sometimes.

The other thing I'd suggest is to let them know that the exit IS an elevator, but it's not the SCARY elevator. It's brightly light and normal with no seats.

There was a little girl freaking out the other day behind us in line, and then when her parents tried to explain it was OK, they'd take the other elevator out, she went to full on wailing. I got into story time librarian mode and told her about the bright shiny happy elevator while my husband got the CM's attention, and the family was able to scoot around through the crowd and to the "happy" elevator. Funny enough, we ran into them at Muppets and the girl waved Hi.

 

[kohlby]

My daughter hated ToT the first time she tried it. She was only 3 years old and an itty bitty thing. Her little self came off the seat so much so I totally understand her freaking out. She hasn't been willing to try it since then. However, she'll be 10 on our next trip and says she is ready. This is the kid who did RRR and EE as soon as she was tall enough. (Test Track was her favorite ride at 3 and Space Mountain at 5 - so she loves thrill rides). My eldest isn't really a thrill ride kid but did okay on ToT at 6 and beyond. He's more of a ride-once kid though. My youngest has some sensory issues so there's no way he'll be ready on our next trip, at 7. We haven't even got him on Test Track or Space Mountain yet though.

I wouldn't force either child on. I would let either do it if they wanted. I would make sure it's not at the start of the day for the 4 year old though. (Though my daughter recovered quickly, we have had experiences with our sons not recovering from rides quickly).

 

[BubblyTrip]

Mine was terrified. He loves coasters and thrills. He was prepared for the "pretend ghosts" and the drop, but I was sorry he went on it afterwards. He's looking forward to EE this next trip. We watched a video, but he says never again for TOT.

I think if it had not have been dark he would have been OK with the drops and rises, but in the pitch black it was not good.