What rides scared your preschooler???

[Hunnybee]

Just subscribing -- we'll be arriving with our almost 3 year old DD and our 6 1/2 year old son on Saturday! I'm curious what would be a good "first" ride for her -- not the ones I know she will be fine with (Dumbo, carousel, etc.) but a "questionable" one. I'm thinking maybe the Pooh ride -- it is a little dark in that one and things do come forward at you. I really have no idea how she will do. She is a very unpredictable child! She also doesn't want to meet any "guys" -- including Mickey! She can't wait to meet the princesses and Minnie -- but no guys!

When we took DS for his 3rd b-day, he was scared of everything dark. Even though he was a huge Captain Hook fan, the Peter Pan ride was even too dark for him! I don't want to start with a bad ride -- and have her scared for the rest of the trip.

 

[sara74]

Just got back and DD was a few weeks past her 4th birthday. We knew she was a thrill fiend but weren't sure how she would do on the dark/scary stuff. I did lots of reading about attractions and had decided that we would skip Tough to Be a Bug, Haunted Mansion and Dinosaur. She had never been on a coaster, so we started her out at Goofy's Barnstormer. SHe called it "Crazy!" and wanted to ride again. So we took her over to BTMR and Splash. Loved 'em. In the course of the week she rode all the coasters she was tall enough for several times. When we were leaving AK she saw the signs for ITTBAB and begged to see it! She loved it! She had already seen Philharmagic multiple times and Muppetvision so she was well prepared. Last day at MK and she asked to go on HM. Didn't like the preshow but once she had the ghost with her she loved it! And she rode ToT and came off it a little shaken, but not crying - did not want to do it again. Walked in to PreK yesterday morning and immediately bragged that she had been on it!

Depends on your kid, but I think the way to go is to try them out on things like Philharmagic before ITTBAB and Barnstormer before Splash or BTMR and see how they take it!

 

[gbrogers]

I think that Pooh is a good first choice. Not too dark and some decent movement on the honey pots. My 2 and half year old loved it. She rode pretty much everything that she was tall enough to ride in MK (she was right at 35"). Like you, we gradually built her up. We went from Dumbo to the Teacups to Pooh to Snow White to Peter Pan. The witch scared her a little on Snow White, but not enough to keep her from riding it again and again.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I definitely didn't win the Mother of the Year award when I took my eight month old on the Great Movie Ride It was an understatement to say she was terrified.

I think I was even more tramatized by the experience.. I read up on all reviews and descriptions on every ride now (on allearsnet.com)

 

[mama4]

Just subscribing -- we'll be arriving with our almost 3 year old DD and our 6 1/2 year old son on Saturday! I'm curious what would be a good "first" ride for her -- not the ones I know she will be fine with (Dumbo, carousel, etc.) but a "questionable" one. I'm thinking maybe the Pooh ride -- it is a little dark in that one and things do come forward at you. I really have no idea how she will do. She is a very unpredictable child! She also doesn't want to meet any "guys" -- including Mickey! She can't wait to meet the princesses and Minnie -- but no guys!

When we took DS for his 3rd b-day, he was scared of everything dark. Even though he was a huge Captain Hook fan, the Peter Pan ride was even too dark for him! I don't want to start with a bad ride -- and have her scared for the rest of the trip.

My 4 year old ds is unpredictable as well. We took him last year for his third birthday. He loved the characters, loved Buzz Lightyear ride, loved POC (with the loud cannons!) but scared of the 3d movies. This year (4th birthday) he loved Barnstormer, Astro Orbitor, racecars, but was terrified of all characters, not crazy about Buzz ride, loved Peter Pan ride but not Pooh (beware if you're daughter is afraid of thunder- that's what he didn't like about it- not the dark) and still afraid of the 3d movies. My 2 yo ds didn't seemed bothered by any of the children's rides (didn't take him on Barnstormer) and also loved Astro Orbiter. Good luck with your daughter. I think sometimes it has to be trial and error because you never know if something that seems innocuos will send them to tears. Maybe try a small flashlight or glow stick on the dark rides? I've heard that helps. I had them ready last trip but my kids seemed ok with the dark- which surprised me. What got me was the character phobia. Wasn't expecting it. I guess I'll have to be leery of scheduling character meals for future trips

 

[mama4]

I definitely didn't win the Mother of the Year award when I took my eight month old on the Great Movie Ride It was an understatement to say she was terrified.

I think I was even more tramatized by the experience.. I read up on all reviews and descriptions on every ride now (on allearsnet.com)

I have heard this from a couple of people since I got back from WDW last month.
I would never have thought of this ride as being frightening for a little one- and I've always checked on ride reviews. I seriously thought about riding it with ds-4 & ds-2 while dh and ds-15 were on ToT. So glad I didn't. Sure hope you're not feelin' too much mommy guilt though - that was a tough one to foresee.

 

[lauritagoddess]

My 4 year old ds is unpredictable as well. We took him last year for his third birthday. He loved the characters, loved Buzz Lightyear ride, loved POC (with the loud cannons!) but scared of the 3d movies. This year (4th birthday) he loved Barnstormer, Astro Orbitor, racecars, but was terrified of all characters, not crazy about Buzz ride, loved Peter Pan ride but not Pooh (beware if you're daughter is afraid of thunder- that's what he didn't like about it- not the dark) and still afraid of the 3d movies.

This is why you never know with kids. My DS was scared of so many rides, it sounds like more by far than the other kids from what people have answered on this thread, but he loved, loved the characters!! I keep joking that he molested half the characters at WDW, but it's not far off. Meeting the characters was definitely the highlight of his trip and he would hug, kiss and grab them. He just couldn't get enough. He'll be almost 4.5 when we go back in December so I'm hoping he'll be willing to try more rides, but I'm not counting on it. But at least he had a few he really loved like the Indy Speedway.

 

[txm]

DD4 just cleared 40 inches when we went to WDW and the only ride she did not enjoy was Dinosaur in AK. I was surprised that the height requirement is only 40 inches. It is definitely a little too intense for most 4 year olds.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I have heard this from a couple of people since I got back from WDW last month.
I would never have thought of this ride as being frightening for a little one- and I've always checked on ride reviews. I seriously thought about riding it with ds-4 & ds-2 while dh and ds-15 were on ToT. So glad I didn't. Sure hope you're not feelin' too much mommy guilt though - that was a tough one to foresee.

Thanks Mama4. The thing is It does say "might be frightening for small children" or something like that. I hadn't been on the ride in years. I was thinking Dark/Loud...Not shooting guns and aliens dropping down from ceiling.. And my Aunt who has literally been to disney every year for about 25 years now...convinced me it would be fine!!

Oh well..Its a "remember when" story

I really is a crap shoot what they will be afraid of...At a little over a year old she screamed when she saw Tigger but Pooh and Piglet were fine .. even though Tigger was her favorite at home.

 

[HollyEpcot]

Thank you for great advice!

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I agree with DISNEYFOS...it's so hard to know what will scare some kids and not others. One of my sons was completely fine with everything, so I got quite a surprise when his brother reached that age and was completely fine with nothing!

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I did a lot of research ahead of time and thought I did a good job of avoiding the usual "frightening" rides, but we had two suprises:

Winnie The Pooh ... the thunderstorm can be very frightening if your preschooler doesn't like real thunderstorms. My niece was TERRIFIED on this ride. We're talking screaming and trying to climb out of the ride vehicle.

The Great Movie Ride ... I thought it was harmless when we got in line, but the "bad guy" with the gun scared my kids, as did the fire (I covered their eyes and ears for the Alien part as soon as I realized what was happening ... so that didn't scare them b/c they didn't see it).

 

[2girls4me]

at 2, DD went on everything. She loved all the rides and wanted to go on more. FWIW, I've heard that the witch on Snow White is very scary for toddlers/young children.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Hi,
My DS will be 4 yrs old when we make our second trip with him to Disney and I was just curious what rides we should avoid even though he meets the 40" height requirement. He doesn't scare easily, but he has never been on a roller coaster before either...

TIA!
_____________________________________________________________

Nothing, DD has nerves of steel, she's a tough little bird!

 

[bushdianee]

I took my DNiece 4yo in June. She didn't like the great movie ride in DHS. She also didn't want to go on HM which she'd been on 2 years ago. She liked all of the 3D movies. We didn't even try ToT or the big coasters except Splash which she loved.

 

[Scampi]

Snow White. As soon as the witch came out, she was in tears through the whole ride.

 

[elilala]

I went when I was 4, and Big Thunder Moutain Railroad didn't scare me at all, even though people say it's a roller coaster . Well, it did a little, but that was only because we went on it at night, and I was scared of the dark. But I don't now what your kid is like, but I am a total rule-follower, so I freaked out when we went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in DL because the police were yelling at me to stop but I couldn't make the car stop. I woudn't take a little kid on 'It's Tough To Be a Bug" though

 

[amyren]

DD (2.5) hated Goofy's barnstormer. She didn't mind Haunted Mansion or Snow White but she always talks about how the "blue roller coaster was soooo scary". I'm hoping she will give it another try next year

 

[Chee Chick]

My DS4 was scared of almost any ride or show that was in the dark. He was mostly afraid of Snow White and POTC (the Davy Jones image in the waterfall, he was ok with everything else). But he loved Haunted Mansion. Strange!

 

[proud_canadian]

My Dd was 3 and 40 inches, so we took her on pretty much everything. I wouldn't let her go on TOT though... that scares me!

But we went on all the big rides, soarin', test track, maelstrom, tough to be a bug, dinosaur, HM, POC, Great Movie ride, etc. The only thing she didn't really like was the 3D movies because "stuff keeps coming too close to me!!". So she still went in wiht us, just didn't wear the glasses

We didn't let on the rides were going to be scary as we didn't want to put that idea in the kids' heads. But we did tell them, nothing would ever touch them. If they were scared, we told them to just cover their ears and close their eyes. And if they really don't like a ride, we just won't ride again. Worked well and they never cried or freaked out and loved most things!

Good luck.