2 year old on Smuggler's Run

[danceintherain]

My 2 year old is tall. He's 37 inches now and I think he will pass 38 inches by our trip in March (just before his 3rd birthday).
I'm starting to work out the logistics, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run baffles me. Typically, when I've traveled with my tall under 3s they're only tall enough for rides that have shared space in the ride vehicle. MFSR has individual seats that aren't even particularly close together.
So, assuming he's tall enough, will my 2 year old be in his own seat with his own seatbelt? I can't really see an alternative, because as slender as I am, I don't think another human will fit next to me on the seat.
Will he even be able to reach the buttons? Is there a particular job that we should put him in that's lots of buttons lighting up for him to push?
TIA!

 

[HopperFan]

My 2 year old is tall. He's 37 inches now and I think he will pass 38 inches by our trip in March (just before his 3rd birthday).
I'm starting to work out the logistics, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run baffles me. Typically, when I've traveled with my tall under 3s they're only tall enough for rides that have shared space in the ride vehicle. MFSR has individual seats that aren't even particularly close together.
So, assuming he's tall enough, will my 2 year old be in his own seat with his own seatbelt? I can't really see an alternative, because as slender as I am, I don't think another human will fit next to me on the seat.
Will he even be able to reach the buttons? Is there a particular job that we should put him in that's lots of buttons lighting up for him to push?
TIA!

He will have to be in his own seat and belted in. It gets bumpy so you have to be sure he won't try to get out of his seat belt. What I do with my son is however it shakes out switch with folks so that you can be in the back seats. Sit across from him. You would be able to reach over to hold his hand if need be. You won't be interfering with anyone's experience if you are in back seat.

Yes he can reach the buttons. Tell him to just push the buttons as they light up and he'll be fine. Most of those are pretty low.

 

[SkyGuy]

Both the gunner and engineer position have buttons that light up when you need to push them. They’re mostly at face height for me while sitting, so they should still be reachable for a little one. The pilot role is more complicated with one controlling up and down and the other one controlling right and left. There are also other buttons to push and levers to pull. I’ve ridden with small children as pilots before, and it’s, frankly, not a good time. If I’m in a group with a very young pilot, I will try to politely ask a CM if I can be moved so I don’t face some major motion sickness. You won’t be right next to your child, so you won’t be able to help push buttons, but if he misses some of them as gunner or engineer, it won’t affect the ride for others except for scoring poorly. Oh! You need to basically “tell” the computer that there is someone in the seat by pushing a button as the ride begins. If it isn’t pushed, it’s considered to be on auto-pilot. So, if he sits in engineer or gunner and doesn’t push when prompted, the lights will still light up, and he can push buttons, but it won’t affect anything.

 

[gharter]

Don't think they will enjoy it or understand anything that is going on. They will have to be in their own seat. Not sure how well that will go. If they don't push any buttons, that doesn't really matter.

 

[youngdeb12]

Keep in mind that if you are travelling with more than one child, an adult will have to sit next to them - they can't sit in the same row/position as another child/sibling if they are under 7. My 4 year old daughter was given the pilot card along with my 7 year old son and we had to choose which parent was going to switch with one of them because they couldn't both be pilot. My daughter couldn't reach or control a lot of what was needed for pilot so my husband had to do a lot for her. Highly suggest avoiding pilot with the 3 year old.

 

[nancipants]

My son (2.5, turning 3 in December) passed 38 inches recently. We plan to take him on Smuggler's Run the next time we go to Hollywood Studios. I'll report back. He loves pressing buttons and is a daredevil so hopefully, he will enjoy it!

 

[danceintherain]

We are a family of 6, so I'm not worried about seating positions.
I definitely don't intend to put him in a pilot position. I was on one with my Dad piloting at DLR in the spring, and it was horrible. He didn't understand that you needed to actually hold the controls up or down in order to get a response. The 12 year old did a better job. We may end up having the 5 year old pilot with DH though. But, again, it will be just our family, so we will only be our own downfall.
All the kids are very into Star Wars, so I think it will be a blast as a family.

 

[Anna131517]

Don't think they will enjoy it or understand anything that is going on. They will have to be in their own seat. Not sure how well that will go. If they don't push any buttons, that doesn't really matter.

This. My five year old didn’t enjoy it and actually found it a little scary. We sat at the back and she wouldn’t even try to push the buttons. She was just confused.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

This. My five year old didn’t enjoy it and actually found it a little scary. We sat at the back and she wouldn’t even try to push the buttons. She was just confused.

My kid went on his 4th birthday, sat in the pilot seat (he was with his dad, I was with toddler who was too small to ride). But apparently he had such a vivid imagination that he thought they were really going in to space without me and started crying during the ride So it can be intense for some little ones.

 

[DduzDis]

My 3 yo (at the time) did not like sitting by herself even with holding mommy's hand. It was a pretty decent disaster and she has had no desire to try again even now at 6 (almost 7).

 

[juxtapose]

Yes they can ride in their own seat. My son struggled at age 4 with pushing the buttons and figuring out what was going on but he was fine when he held my hand (I don't think he would have been fine at 2 though but who knows). It is very stimulating sensory wise so I'd try a few dark/bumpy/loud rides before they go on that one to see how he does.

 

[scrapquitler]

My 2 year old is tall. He's 37 inches now and I think he will pass 38 inches by our trip in March (just before his 3rd birthday).
I'm starting to work out the logistics, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run baffles me. Typically, when I've traveled with my tall under 3s they're only tall enough for rides that have shared space in the ride vehicle. MFSR has individual seats that aren't even particularly close together.
So, assuming he's tall enough, will my 2 year old be in his own seat with his own seatbelt? I can't really see an alternative, because as slender as I am, I don't think another human will fit next to me on the seat.
Will he even be able to reach the buttons? Is there a particular job that we should put him in that's lots of buttons lighting up for him to push?
TIA!

If he is tall enough, he will be required to sit in the seat alone. Each seat has one space for a person and one seatbelt. There's no sitting on the lap kind of thing allowed. The seats that aren't in the front have the buttons on the sides.

 

[kmeurs521]

My 2 year old is tall. He's 37 inches now and I think he will pass 38 inches by our trip in March (just before his 3rd birthday).
I'm starting to work out the logistics, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run baffles me. Typically, when I've traveled with my tall under 3s they're only tall enough for rides that have shared space in the ride vehicle. MFSR has individual seats that aren't even particularly close together.
So, assuming he's tall enough, will my 2 year old be in his own seat with his own seatbelt? I can't really see an alternative, because as slender as I am, I don't think another human will fit next to me on the seat.
Will he even be able to reach the buttons? Is there a particular job that we should put him in that's lots of buttons lighting up for him to push?
TIA!

We took our daughter the week before she turned 3. It scared her quite a bit, and this is from the girl who didn’t flinch on Mine Train or Barnstormer. We sat in whatever the middle position is and it was too far away to hold her hand or really comfort her. Really wish we would’ve child swapped, but it was our first time on it and we had no idea what it was like!

 

[AmyMac1109]

We took my newly 4 year old on this back in April. He wasn't scared, but he didn't enjoy it because it was too bumpy and he didn't understand it. As a result, I didn't really enjoy it either. We put my two teenagers in the pilot seats. My 4 year old son and wife were the gunners. I sat in the left engineer seat behind my 4 year old, the idea being that I could help him push buttons, as he couldn't reach all of them. It didn't matter though, because it was a very bumpy ride and he had no idea what was happening. So I was trying to push all of his buttons and my buttons, but I couldn't reach all of his buttons, plus I was reaching around to hold his hand since he was being knocked about. I never got to look at the screen. My wife and teenagers left saying that was one of their favorite rides ever. I left saying it was one of the most stressful rides ever. And my 4 year old left asking to go on SDD again.

When we go back in January, I'm planning to child swap this ride. I'm not taking the 4 year old back on until he's older.

 

[danceintherain]

I've been on it several times, so I'm not particularly concerned about my experience. I do want to go on it WITH my husband though to see his reaction. Maybe I'll see if any of the other adults in our group will hang out with him, while we do it with the 3 older kids.

 

[RoseGold]

My 3 year old was an engineer across from dad and thought it was hilarious to competitively push the buttons. In the end, she won by a few and still talks about it years later LOL

 

[danceintherain]

My 3 year old was an engineer across from dad and thought it was hilarious to competitively push the buttons. In the end, she won by a few and still talks about it years later LOL

Yeah....my kids are super competitive and obsessed with video games, so I'm sure they'll understand the concept. They've used VR headsets and such too...