40" 3 Year old - Rides too scary

[abouley]

My son just turned 3 and we'll be going to disneyland in a couple of weeks. He is 40" now so that opens up a whole new set of rides he can ride. However, I'm not sure if we should take him on them or not. Have you/would you take a barely 3 year old on these rides?

Thunder Mountain
Matterhorn
Star Tours
Space Mountain
Soarin

Anything else I missed that has a 40" limit? Splash is closed so that's out.

Thanks,
Alison

 

[TwingleMum]

My son just turned 3 and we'll be going to disneyland in a couple of weeks. He is 40" now so that opens up a whole new set of rides he can ride. However, I'm not sure if we should take him on them or not. Have you/would you take a barely 3 year old on these rides?

Thunder Mountain
Matterhorn
Star Tours
Space Mountain
Soarin

Anything else I missed that has a 40" limit? Splash is closed so that's out.

Thanks,
Alison

My 3 yr old twins are very tall over 40" (DH is 6'8). I do not look at height requirements but my childrens temperment. One twin loves the roller coaster at Sesame Place so I'm going to let him go on Matterhorn w/DH because it looks like DS would sit in front of DH and he could keep an eye on DS. My other twin wants to go on with me. I'm not pushing him. If he decides at last minute not to go on its cool. We will be going back he can go on tomarrow or next year. I don't push my kids onto rides I think they might be too young for. I let them make their own decisions. I feel theres always next year. I'd rather have them wait then have them be a basket case for the rest of the day/trip. I'm iffy about Soar'n. Definately not Thunder, Space or Star tours. Plenty of other rides for them to go on.Plus my 5 yr old is very tall over 54". I won't let him on Space,Rockin Roll Roller Coaster , Thunder Mountain. Just because he meets the height requirement doesn't make it a good idea. Each trip I pick a big thrill ride and its the ride we let him try. He gets very excited about which one and he has rides to anticipate in the future so he looks forward to other trips when he can ride X. This trip DH and I decided he can try Thunder Mountain. DL has a big Bugs land area and Fantasyland and many other rides geared towards a 3 yr old. Its up to you only you know your child. Also I don't think a 3 yr old would brace them selves for a lot of the jerky movements some rides make like a roller coaster. Look at the Disney website they list rides recommended for preschoolers. Have fun. PS I took my kids to ITTBAB last year and what a mistake they were terrified (even the 5 yr old) They still talk about how scared they were. We never imagined they would react like that. They've seen the movie a couple of times so we thought it would be alright. Good Luck enjoy sorry sooo long.

 

[snoodledoo]

We went a year and a half ago, when our ds was 3.
Thunder Mountain - He loved it. Was his favorite ride.
Matterhorn - He liked it.
Star Tours - Didn't go on. but will next week.
Space Mountain - We're not ready for him to go on this. I think that the pitch-blackness would be a little too scary.
Soarin - They would not let him on. But he would have done just fine. He will be going on this next week.

 

[Mommy2SandB]

We did several with our three year old daughter a couple of years back. Most came out pretty well

Thunder Mountain-was one of her favorites
Soarin-she put her feet up on the sear half way through, but loved it
Matterhorn-she actually really hated this one. It was a lot rougher ride than BTM
Grizzly Rapids-She really liked this one as well
We decided against space, but she loved it at five
Star Tours- she was very entertained by this one
We waited on tower of terror as well and at 5, she still really did not like it

 

[spazzyjazzy]

Granted that it was 10 years ago but, my son was a little daredevil and he wanted to do everything at Disneyland when he went for the first time. He was almost 3 and just at 40 inches.

Thunder Mountain- Loved it and wanted to get on it again and again
Matterhorn-Loved it and growled at the Abominable Snowman
Star Tours-Loved it and still does
Space Mountain-All time favorite and still is his favorite. He talked about Space Mountain for a long time afterwards
Soarin-Not around at the time.

We took a set of twins a couple of years ago and they were not afraid of the rides either and they were a little over 3 years old. They loved Soarin' and wanted to ride it over and over again.

 

[Disnee]

I've got a tall boy, too!! We were just in DL in November, with our 3 year old who's 41". I agree that it's the personality of your child that should dictate your decision more than height!

In our case, we didn't hesitate to take our son on Soarin'. We talked with him about each ride before we went on so he had an idea of what to expect and felt some excitement - Soarin' wound up being one of the biggest hits of the whole trip for him! He absolutely loved it - it's so gentle, and your kids can see you the whole time and even hold your hand if they want.

We didn't so Star Tours because even I get dizzy on it - it's a bit "jerkier", IMO, and I don't think the extreme motion sensations are great for such little kids (compared to the "floaty" feel of Soarin'). We wouldn't take him on Space Mountain or BTMRR....but we also know that speed and all the ups and downs aren't something he enjoys. I wouldn't have worried about the Matterhorn, but it was closed when we were there.

 

[abby]

it so depends on the kid, I have a very timid 6 year old who will not do most of these rides (funny she went on Matterhorn and BTMRR at 4 and 1/2 but not now.....) go figure. Let them be the guide.

 

[flying_babyb]

ITTBAB what ride is this?

 

[tracer]

My almost 3 1/2 year old is not ready for these rides. He doesn't like the begginning of POTC, the drop parts, so I don't think he would enjoy these. Actually he would be scared out of his mind. We are going again in December and I think if he feels ready enough I will take him on Soarin'. He may surprise me this trip by wanting to go on BTMRR, but I really doubt it.

 

[Amy&Dan]

ITTBAB what ride is this?

Its Tough To Be a Bug. Its actually a 3D show at DCA with characters from the Pixar movie A Bug's Life. It can be very intense, its dark and creepy in parts. That is one attraction where I have seen plenty of very frightened, sometimes hysterical kids! I would suggest any parent with a kid much under five check it out first.

 

[tracer]

Its Tough To Be a Bug. Its actually a 3D show at DCA with characters from the Pixar movie A Bug's Life. It can be very intense, its dark and creepy in parts. That is one attraction where I have seen plenty of very frightened, sometimes hysterical kids! I would suggest any parent with a kid much under five check it out first.

ITA. We do this everytime and almost everytime we end up having to leave before it's over. The nice thing about this show is the CM's are really good about telling you how to exit in case you need to.

 

[TwingleMum]

Its Tough To Be a Bug. Its actually a 3D show at DCA with characters from the Pixar movie A Bug's Life. It can be very intense, its dark and creepy in parts. That is one attraction where I have seen plenty of very frightened, sometimes hysterical kids! I would suggest any parent with a kid much under five check it out first.

I mentioned it because I know quite a few families that were taken by surprize at their childrens reactions. I thought because they enjoyed the movie they would be alright but the spiders coming down the ceiling at them freaked them out One of my twins still a 1 year later is still mad at us for taking him on "that scarey bug show".

 

[tomshortridge]

My DD 3.75 is over 40 inches + now.

She loved Thunder Mountain - we told her it was a basic train ride to get her on it.

She loved Soarin once the chairs were up in the air and the movie started.

She liked the Buzz Lightyear ride too.

 

[Motherofafae]

I have a Dare Devil too! She was almost three when we went to WDW, but not tall enough for most of the older rides. She really wants to do Soarin and was upset they would not let her on. She was and still is 39 inches! She would love Big Thunder too. I know kids will love Soarin. Its really calm, I wonder why they cant go on, probably the chest belt. She loved every other 38 and under ride. But she loves carnival rides. If your child like Carnival rides they possibly will like the roller coaster rides. I'm gonna wait to take my DD on space mountain and the rough rides, shes not in to rough or too loud. She did however get on the Stich ride and she was fine during that ride and she liked the Bugs life too. I was freaked out but thats another story.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

My younger ran on Soarin, BTMRR, Matterhorn as soon as she hit 40" - she was 4. At 3 she was 36 inches and was ok on Matterhorn but was thrown around a lot so didn't like the bumps as much.

Each kid is really different though. My girls like rollercoasters but my older dtr at 5 wouldn't ride any of those "dark rides" at all or rides that spin that limited us a lot with Fantasyland. Neither one at almost 8 and 6 will do It's tough to be a bug. We did it once at 5 and 3 and they still talk about not liking it.

We waited on TOT which I think is also a 40" till last year at 5 and 7, I think it is scary for little ones.

I have rode BTMRR 5-6x a day for 2 years now when little one was 4 and 5. That and Soarin weren't scary for her at all.

 

[abouley]

I appreciate the feedback from everyone. This will be his 3rd time at DL and we have also been to WDW. He was 15 months, 19 months, and 27 months on previous trips. The dark rides scared him some on the last trip but he will likely be ok with that as his "afraid of the dark stage" seems to be over. No other rides have really scared him and he loved the last roller coaster he went on. I guess I worry more about the jerking or possibility of injury more than anything. I think we'll just have to work up to it. We've been watching a movie about disneyland and talking up Matterhorn and Thunder Mountain so hopefully he will want to do those. Wasn't quite sure about soarin - more that I was afraid he'd fall out or something

Thanks Again!
Alison

 

[MunkyMe13]

all roller coasters aside... i remember when I was young that the fantasyland rides were scary... maybe its cuz times were different but Monstro in Pinocchio and the evil witch in Snow White scared the heck out of me...

 

[Disnee]

Just a comment about falling out on Soarin' - there are these guide markers on the chair backs. Once you sit your kids down, you look to see if their shoulders reach the marks (my son was still miles away even at 41"). If not, then you run the seatbelt through a centre loop that comes up from the middle of the seat - it creates a very secure harness and there's no chance the kids can wriggle out from under the seatbelt. The seats are fairly deep, too.

Oh, and if you don't want to be as high on the ride once it's "up", just request to sit in the third (back) row.....it stays the closest to the ground (just a couple of feet off the ground).

 

[mamapenguin]

Matterhorn has a 35" height requirement, or at least it did last summer. My dd was 2 1/2 & loved it. My map is from our June 06 trip, we were there for POTC Premeir. We are going this June again, dd will be 3 1/2 & should be 40" by then, currently 39". I hope Splash is open by then, that's all she talks about. She loves all Roller Coasters & loves POTC.
Kristy

 

[BraMax]

We went to DL the first time when my youngest wasn't quite 3 and he loved the MH except the monster in the cave. Every time we walked by he would say there's a monster in there.

We just went back after he turned 4 (he's 41 1/2) and he did all the roller coaster that he could.
MH was a favorite this time
BTMRR was a huge fav
Splash mountain was closed and he was mad
SM was a huge hit, with them doing the Rockin' SM it is lit up for the most part and it isn't totally dark I could see the track infront of me so I knew what was coming.
Soarin' was another big hit too.

I would say if your child gets scared very easy then maybe the roller coasters aren't a great ride. What did he think of Gadgets in TT?