40" 3 Year old - Rides too scary

[AllJackedUp]

You know, just because a child is "tall enough" doesn't mean they should automatically have to go on rides. Many times, I think parents do it because it makes it more convenient for us. I wouldn't take a 3-year-old on any coasters other than Barnstormer or Gadget's Go Coaster. Sometimes milestones should be just that....

We are always in such a hurry to have children experience things beyond their years...and as a parent of a teenager who doesn't even remember any of his Disney trips prior to age 5 (of which there were several, including one with his now-deceased grandparents)...well, sometimes I regret even spending all that money, except that I now know I was creating MY memories, not his....

 

[fidoprincess]

I have to agree with Alljackedup. Each child is so different. Our first, ds was tall and loved everything the minute he could ride it and measure himself before each trip so he could finally ride screaming. Our dd was very tall for her age too and after multiple trips to DL, we could not wait for her to be tall enough to ride all the big rides.

Finally, she was big enough and we were all so excited to be able to stay together as a family and ride everything without someone sitting out. Our older boy who was so excited to have her go along with him and talked about sharing the seats and taking "care of her". Well, she did and did not love them and now at 7, she won't do anything so we are paying the price for it now! She tried them all but was so young that now they are just scary memories. We even bought the Splash picture of her first ride because I never saw such a terrified look on any childs face and that was it. Now, she will not do pirates, space, splash, btm, matterhorn, indie and don't even think about mulholland madness, TOT or Screamin...

I wish we had waited until she was really "ready", not just tall enough!! I have no idea how long it will be before she is ready to go on these rides again but I can tell you that we really regret it. Last trip over thanksgiving, she tried her hardest to get back on pirates. We waited the whole line and then had to walk across the boat and get off! I am sure had we waited a bit and done maybe one at a time each trip, by now she would probably be riding them all with us. We never imagined that we would still be taking turns sitting out with her at 7 years old! We let our APs expire because it just seems silly to be taking all those trips and not being able to go on so many rides. We are just going to wait a few years and try again when she is older.

 

[imaki]

My son is 29 months today... two weeks back he went on matterhorn for the first time. He was a bit scared of the "monsters" but he loved the ride. He asked to go again, so we ended up going on it three times. Now any time disneyland is mentioned he talks about matterhorn, the "nice monsters", and the splash into the water.

 

[Mtnman44]

I have a different perspective. I think kids learn a lot of their fears from the parents. I watch my nephews with their parents and disagree with a lot of the things they do and tell them, but it's their business I don't interfere.

however, I see these kids are treated like they should be scared before the kids have even had a chance to go on the ride. So right up front they have all these prescribed behaviors and fears so of course this expectation makes so many things more scary to them. In the end, they risk being overly frightened of stuff throughout their childhood years. I know this can happen because this is what my parents did to me. I was an adult before I discovered how much fun "thrill" rides really are.

For our sons, as soon as they are tall enough, they go on the ride at least once every trip. We don't give them a choice. We also do not speak of anything being scary or try to "warn" them about what might be scary. We just talk about fun and safe. This has been completely successful with two exceptions. My son did not enjoy the bugs life show the first couple of times (he was almost 3 years old) and he still is fairly scared of, and unhappy about riding, on the Jurrasic Park ride at Universal. Everything else has been great!!!! He is excited to go on California Screaming for the first time. No fear, no talking about what might be scary, etc.

 

[MATTERHORN]

I have a different perspective. I think kids learn a lot of their fears from the parents. I watch my nephews with their parents and disagree with a lot of the things they do and tell them, but it's their business I don't interfere.

however, I see these kids are treated like they should be scared before the kids have even had a chance to go on the ride. So right up front they have all these prescribed behaviors and fears so of course this expectation makes so many things more scary to them. In the end, they risk being overly frightened of stuff throughout their childhood years. I know this can happen because this is what my parents did to me. I was an adult before I discovered how much fun "thrill" rides really are.

For our sons, as soon as they are tall enough, they go on the ride at least once every trip. We don't give them a choice. We also do not speak of anything being scary or try to "warn" them about what might be scary. We just talk about fun and safe. This has been completely successful with two exceptions. My son did not enjoy the bugs life show the first couple of times (he was almost 3 years old) and he still is fairly scared of, and unhappy about riding, on the Jurrasic Park ride at Universal. Everything else has been great!!!! He is excited to go on California Screaming for the first time. No fear, no talking about what might be scary, etc.

I agree! Give the kid a chance to experience it first, then if they don't like it you never have to ride it again till they want to. But they'll never know if they dont' try. Unless my kids are really really afraid for a particular reason, I will let them go on if they meet height req. because they almost always end up loving it!!

Everyone knows there own kid and I don't think me taking my kids on all the rides she is able to go on is a bad thing because she LOVES them!!! That said, it really doesn't make it more convenient for me because I have two littler ones that we have to baby swap for regardless. So it is purely for her enjoyment just as it should be!!


She is always looking forward to the ride she'll be able to go on next time when she's tall enough!! Age is just a number, if they're ready, they're ready. If not, you can still have tons of fun on what they can go on!!!


Andrea