ETA FP Decisions-Please Judge Me! What rides would a 9 year old who is scared of "big kid rides"....

[cbellasmomma]

***Thank you so much for all the information! After reviewing videos with DD these are my choices for the FP I will (hopefully) be booking soon - please tell me what you think!

Monday (Arrival Day) My expectation is to arrive at the hotel no later than noon (flight arrives at 9:30) and our room won't be ready so we will head to MK.
FP I plan to book:
I plan to do a little Fantasy Land and most of Tomorrow Land

7DMT (get into the rides right off the bat)
Ariel's Grotto (do you need to do the ride and the meet and greet? And which would you suggest first?)
Buzz Light Year
Hoping to snag a meet and greet with Mickey and head back to our resort

Tuesday: We have a prepark ADR at CTR so we will be focused on Fantasy Land this day. This will be our only "full" day at MK. We will be taking a midafternoon break.
FP
A&E
Enchanted Tales with Bell
Peter Pan's Flight (meeting a fellow DIS'er for this one!!!)

Friday (MK again but with my DH as well this time) working our way around Frontier Land and .... I forget the name. The one with Pirates of the Carribean. We will not be here for rope drop and will probably not stay through Wishes.
FP
Pirates
Splash (she SWEARS she wants to try it)
Big Thunder Mnt (again she swears she wants to do it)

I didn't FP Cinderella's Meet and Greet because we are going to CTR. I also booked the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise (again with a fellow DIS'er can't wait!) so my hope is we get to meet Tink. Am I missing any other FP meet and greet opportunities? I would switch out BTM for that if there is one.

Thanks again everyone!!!
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I haven't been to Disney since I was 16 so my recollection is skewed and a lot has changed.

My dd is NOT an adventurous ride kind of person. Anyone from the New England area? I had to BEG her to go on Storyland's Polarcoaster!

But, she loves theming, etc so I think she will get sucked in by the "idea" of rides and any interesting ques. She has tried to "be brave" for rides before and chickened out last minute. No biggie at our local amusement park (Canobie lake anyone?) but with Fast Passes I want to get an idea of what everyone thinks is worth me trying out with her. We have watched the videos and these are the rides she's excited about but I think once we are there she will "no way Mom" me.

Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Railroad
Edited: I meant Mission Space!!! (I heard this is really intense)

We are doing 7 Dwarfs because I know in the end she will be glad she did. Any other suggestions for my fearful little big girl?

 

[karly05]

Spaceship Earth is a slow, gentle ride; I've never thought of it as scary. There is a part where you descend (slowly) backwards while looking up at a dark "sky" with starry lights.

I'm kind of a ride chicken and I LOVE 7DMT!

 

[mpetti]

My son who was always afraid at the age of 9 went on Splash Mountain several times and loved it. My older son took me on Big Thunder Railroad and I am not big on rides and it was fun. Spaceship Earth is a great ride and not intense at all. Buzz Lightyear is a fun ride and all the kids big and little old and young love it. Figment at Epcot is a nice enjoyable ride. You must do Soarin she will love that ride. Even test track is good at Epcot. You will have plenty for her to do. Hope you both enjoy Discovering WDW together.

 

[cbellasmomma]

That's funny. I have read "what rides would you never go on again" threads and they always seem to include Spaceship Earth!

 

[CinderElsa]

That's funny. I have read "what rides would you never go on again" threads and they always seem to include Spaceship Earth!

Are you sure you're not thinking of Mission: SPACE?

 

[cbellasmomma]

Are you sure you're not thinking of Mission: SPACE?

Ha ha YES!!!! That's funny!

 

[Alesia]

That's funny. I have read "what rides would you never go on again" threads and they always seem to include Spaceship Earth!

Spaceship Earth is the exact opposite of intense. If anyone mentions it in those threads it's because they were bored by it.

 

[MischaOz]

I would recommend trying 7DMT first. It is a very smooth ride. If she enjoys that try Splash Moutain. Splash Mountain is very cute and fun, the only "scary" part is the big drop. If she wants to keep going then you could try BTMR. It is not intense as far as roller coasters go, but it is a little bumpier. Have fun!!

 

[MainMom]

My son is 9 and kind of chicken. He loved BTMRR and Splash. Would not do RNR, TOT, or EE. We did Mission:Space Green side and that ended up being his favorite. He also liked Soarin', TT, POTC, etc. we haven't done 7DMT yet. He says he will try TOT this summer.

 

[Aerinha]

No thrill rides

MK
Peter pan
Small world
Haunted mansion
Little mermaid
Jungle cruise
Liberty belle steam ship
Enchanted tiki hut
Winnie the pooh

Epcot
Anything but mission space and test track

 

[cbellasmomma]

My son is 9 and kind of chicken. He loved BTMRR and Splash. Would not do RNR, TOT, or EE. We did Mission:Space Green side and that ended up being his favorite. He also liked Soarin', TT, POTC, etc. we haven't done 7DMT yet. He says he will try TOT this summer.

Newbie alert! What is EE, TT and POTC?

This is great info thanks!

 

[Alesia]

Newbie alert! What is EE, TT and POTC?

This is great info thanks!

Expedition Everest
Test Track
Pirates of the Caribbean

 

[superchime]

My 9 year old is not very adventurous. He will ride the Barnstormer, but we have to talk him into it every time. He loves Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission Space: Green, and Soarin'. We can't talk him into Big Thunder or Splash (and Space Mountain is just not even up for discussion) although I suspect he'd like them. He *says* next time he wants to ride Test Track and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We'll see.

I'm a great big chicken, so I'm happy to let him sit out whatever he doesn't want to ride, although I do nudge a little if I think he'll enjoy a ride if he tries it. But, then again, he and I could just happily ride It's a Small World all day, so I'll admit we're a bit odd.

His little brother (age 5) will ride anything and everything that he is tall enough for and can't wait for the day he's big enough to ride The Hulk at Universal.

 

[joannamet]

It's hard to predict. DD, now 10, loves all of the roller coasters but she hates Splash, Pirates and anything remotely scary like HM or TOT. We encourage her to try things we think she would actually enjoy but I've walked her out of a few rides she couldn't handle so that's always an option.

 

[Kathryn777]

I would book your fp based on the scariest rides she may want, because most of the others are easy to get fp for.

 

[ParkHoppers]

If you take her on Splash Mountain you might not want her to watch the people coming down the big drop out front. Might give her second thoughts about it.

 

[Lucius Best]

We are doing 7 Dwarfs because I know in the end she will be glad she did. Any other suggestions for my fearful little big girl?

New Englander here. 7DMT is similar in intensity to the Polarcoaster, but 1,000 times better themed and 1,000,000 times more fun, should definitely do it. Splash has dark parts inside and the one big drop at the end, just looking at the boats coming down that big hill might freak her out? Barnstormer is another kiddie-coaster, similar to Polarcoaster. Thunder is definitely more intense than 7DMT, but my 5yo niece loved it (she loved the thrill rides, but dislikes the dark rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates).

Like previous poster said, Everest/Tower of Terror/Rock n Roller Coaster are more serious thrill rides probably to be avoided. Mission Space the problem is more claustrophobia/motion sickness.

 

[mom2cse]

This sounds so familiar. I will also second the Barnstormer. My daughter tried it when we realized that her 2 year-old sister was tall enough to ride. It is a quick and pretty easy ride and it seems to be a confidence booster for her. She will not try any of the mountain rides, but she likes to chime in that some coasters were her favorite rides (Barnstormer and 7DMT) so I know that she was happy that she did it.

 

[decker96]

My oldest was always extremely fearful of any kind of coasters and Big Thunder ended up being her favorite when she was 10. We started with Goofy's Barnstormer which she did like, but really had to coax her into going on Big Thunder. As soon as we were finished, though, she wanted to go again. We went on it 3 times in a row the night we went to the Christmas party.

On the other hand, we also got her on Splash Mountain that trip and she absolutely hated it before we even came close to the final drop and to this day, has not gone on it again (she is almost 18 and went to Disney two years ago with her high school band and wouldn't even go on it with her friends). I think with Splash it is more the anticipation of knowing what is coming and freaking out about it the entire time. At least for my kids (my youngest hated it too).

 

[senadler]

My DS10 is very tentative on rides, I think his brother DS4 might ride the thrill rides before he finally does. I would not make a FP for splash, once my son saw the drop there was no way he was going on the ride.

He is doing most rides now, but he still wont ride:

Splash and Space Mountain
EE
ToT
RNR

I think most others would be fine.