3D movies - bugs Life

[ReadingMama]

Anyone seen Bugs Life at AK and in terms of potential scare factor for kids under 5, how would you rate it? Say, compared to Mickeys Philharmajic?
Last time my son was only 2 and was scared at Mickeys, now that he is 4 I think he will like it, but am worried about Bugs Life.

 

[Lesley Mahler]

Anyone seen Bugs Life at AK and in terms of potential scare factor for kids under 5, how would you rate it? Say, compared to Mickeys Philharmajic?
Last time my son was only 2 and was scared at Mickeys, now that he is 4 I think he will like it, but am worried about Bugs Life.

I personally have never seen Bugs Life yet, but I think we are going to skip it when we are there in June. My 2 cousins took their families there last year and all of their kids ranging in ages 10 to 5 were scared. I don't think I'm going to take a chance!!

 

[Mom2JoeyandBen]

We just did A Bug's Life when we went to AK in Feb. We took our two boys they were three and half and 12 months at the time. We have been before but for some reason the only thing we remembered was when they poke you in the seat. So we made sure our oldest DS sat on the edge of the seat. Well we forgot about the spiders dropping from the ceiling, the room filling up with fog, and the lights going totally out. Oh and the water being squirted at us too. Needless to say, our little one was freaked out. Our 3 year old did ok, but I think that had a lot to do with DH covering his eyes and holding onto him. We won't be doing that again for a couple more years.

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

I love the Bugs Life Show but it freaked out our 8 year old son this past December (check out TR below). He doesn't like dark places so he was already scared by waiting in the dark cave to enter into the theater. There is a loud, smoky part of the show that scared the mess out of our son. He started yelling, "MOMMY GET ME OTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!" On the other hand he loves Philharmagic.

 

[TheDizMom]

Skip the 3-D things except perhaps Philharmagic. My sister had to take her kids out of both Bugs Life and Honey I Shrunk the Kids because they not only are in 3-D, but they make you feel like bugs and mice etc are crawling on you. My kids won't even consider going.

 

[NJFabFour]

Disney has soooo much to do that you can easily skip anything with any kind of scare factor, especially at those young ages. We took DisTwins when they were 5 and skipped ALL potentially frightening features and still didn't get to touch on everything we wanted to do! SKIP IT!

 

[Colinsmom]

My 5yo loved Philharmagic but hated Bugs Life and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. And he normally loves bugs, snakes, etc - but not in a movie theater, I guess!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

Here is an excert from my Trip Report about our Bugs Life Experience................


"As we started winding around the line of The Tree Of Life, DS had this look on his face as if to say, "O.K. what's the deal with this tree?" The wait in the dark by the doors to the theatre did not help matters either because it gave DS's imagination too much time to wonder about all of the bad things that could be beyond those doors.

DS did fine until Hopper came out. For those of you who have not seen the show I will not spoil it for you but I have to tell you about this one part of the show. There was this one part of the show when the room filled up with smoke ( and DS thought it was something that was going to get him) and air was blowing , and lights were flashing, and..... "MOMMY GET ME OUT OF HEEEERRRRRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" DS put a G.I. Joe grip on my DW's left arm after he threw his 3D glasses across the auditorium and popped some other kid in the head! That kid started screaming because he/she thought Hopper did it! The kid behind us started swinging into the smoke trying to hit Hopper but hit DS in the back of his head which lead to DS swinging and................O.K. but DS did yell, "MOMMY GET ME OUT OF HEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and throw his 3D glasses off and G.I. Joe Grip DW's left arm.

One mom after the show said, "Disney ought to be ashamed of themselves scaring all these kids like that!" I personally thought the show was great but I guess it can be a little intimidating for younger kids."

 

[design_mom]

I am quite confident that my 7yo would be frightened by It's Tough To Be A Bug -- and he does fine with all the other 3-D movies, but ITTBAB is pretty intense.

There are lots of special effects, including loud noises, bright lights, smoke, water, things "touching" you, etc. There's also one part when they put you in total darkness, with only the sound effects, for longer than is really comfortable.

That's not to say it's not a good show -- because it is (and I love to think about all the Imagineering that went into it)...but if you were a young child who didn't fully comprehend the concept of special effects, it could freak you out big time!

If in doubt, I'd say to skip it. And if you've got a really brave youngster, I'd still recommend having one parent grab a Fast Pass and preview it before you take your child on. (I thought DS might be ready for it on our last trip, but I previewed it (had never seen it myself before then) and decided "definitely not" for him.)

 

[SmallWorld71]

It is WAY scarier than Mickey's Philharmagic. DD5 and I both kept our eyes closed through the whole thing. We knew it was going to be scary because my son had been on it before with his grandpa and told us all about it, but we wanted to check it out for ourselves. DD is very brave with attractions and she didn't cry or anything but neither one of us plan to make a return trip any time soon. DS9, DS12, and DH like it fine though. The special effects are good if you are not freaked out by scary bugs.

 

[CdnDisneyLuvr]

Hi!
I'm going to be 100% honest with you and say that this show is FREAKY if you don't like bugs. I remember when I was 7, I was dragged out screaming and crying. When I was 16, I started crying and sreaming "MOMMY!" when the spiders dropped from the ceiling [someone didn't tell me....].

As stated before, if in doubt, skip it.

 

[tinkerjess]

what is so scary about it? my 3YO loves dot!

 

[nancy drew]

what is so scary about it? my 3YO loves dot!

have you done bugs life with your 3YO? at that age they arent always able to distinguish between magic and reality. so all of the bugs and effects will be Real to a 3YO which could be extremely scary. also, some kids are much more sensitive than others. when i took dd (2.5 at the time) into philharmagic she was screaming and inconsolable within about 5 minutes. she was feeding off the other peoples reactions. she heard screaming, she sensed "great danger" or "fear" and she freaked. same reaction from watching the "disneyland fun" segment where the kids are riding thunder mountain, matterhorn, and other rides and screaming with delight. it completely overwhelmed her because in her mind the screaming was due to fear or danger.

even if a child is not emotionally reactive like that, it can just be a very intense and *real* experience. my friend brought her almost 4yo on it and she was screaming "GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!" within 5 minutes. most of what i have read online indicates that it is not an experience designed for kids under 5-7. and even that might be too young.

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

have you done bugs life with your 3YO? at that age they arent always able to distinguish between magic and reality. so all of the bugs and effects will be Real to a 3YO which could be extremely scary. also, some kids are much more sensitive than others. when i took dd (2.5 at the time) into philharmagic she was screaming and inconsolable within about 5 minutes. she was feeding off the other peoples reactions. she heard screaming, she sensed "great danger" or "fear" and she freaked. same reaction from watching the "disneyland fun" segment where the kids are riding thunder mountain, matterhorn, and other rides and screaming with delight. it completely overwhelmed her because in her mind the screaming was due to fear or danger.

even if a child is not emotionally reactive like that, it can just be a very intense and *real* experience. my friend brought her almost 4yo on it and she was screaming "GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!" within 5 minutes. most of what i have read online indicates that it is not an experience designed for kids under 5-7. and even that might be too young.

My son is 8 and was screaming the same thing. He still believes that Mickey Mouse is real and a lot of the Disney Magic is reality to him.

 

[design_mom]

what is so scary about it? my 3YO loves dot!

It's Tough To Be A Bug (the attraction at Animal Kingdom and subject of this thread) is *very* different than A Bug's Life (the movie). Honestly, the only thing that makes the two related is that ITTBAB is "hosted" by Flik...with a few cameos by other characters. I don't even think Dot is part of ITTBAB, is she?

ITTBAB is a 3D experience. Not only is it a 3D movie, with things flying at you from the screen. There are tons of special effects -- things dropping from the ceiling, smoke, fog, flashing lights, total darkness, things touching you, etc. It's cool, if you understand what it is...but IMHO, not for small children.

I would *not* assume that if your child loves It's a Bug's Life, that they will also love It's Tough To Be A Bug.

 

[stopher1]

NONE of my kids liked this one... and they were 2.5, 7.5 and 10.5 at the time. The 2 younger ones were scared by it - the oldest just thought it was too weird!!

 

[Snowhitelover]

I agree with the majority of the above posters...do not go to bug's life...my 13 year old and 11 saw it when they were 8 and 6...terrified!!!!
MY two little angels ran out of the theater when the show was over with red smoke steaming out of their ears...they were screaming and crying.
My children (including DD13 young teen) LOVE Mickey's Philharmagic though.

 

[hebbynan]

My sons were 3 and 7 when we took them last year. The 3 year old even sat on my lap and still hated it!! When we left the theater, he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, please don't ever take me to that again!" My 7 year old screamed the whole way through. Come to think of it, my father in law didn't like it either! I think he screamed a time or two also....although he won't admit it!

We're planning a 2009 trip right now and in the process of what we do an don't want to do....Tough to Be A Bug was the only unanimous "NO!".

 

[ReadingMama]

Thank you all so much. I didn't realize that it was more than a 3D movie with all those other special effects. My DS cries very easily and we will definately be skipping this one!

I am going to try Mickey Philharmagic again this year, as that I think he will like.

 

[kldmom2000]

While DH and I saw it numerous times before kids, we never bothered to take our girls on their first 2 trips to Disney... then we did it last August when they were 7 and 5. My 5 yr old DD LOVES bugs.... so I figured she'd really be into the movie... WRONG!!! OMGosh! She screamed hysterically and was terrified to death! I couldn't leave as we were smack dab in the middle of the theater so I had to block her ears with my hands and have her hide her head under my arm....

It kind of ruined the rest of the day as she was so afraid there would be other "surprises" on anything else we went on/in

We won't be doing it again