9 yr old daughter scared to ride......

[First-timer]

My Question is ........ are all of the rides where you get on the ride the same place you get off of the ride??? heres my dillema..... my hubby and 15 yr old daughter and i love rollercosters and the thrill rides..... i was wondering if we can all wait in line for the ride and when it comes time to actually get on the ride can my 9 yr old daughter just wait for us where the ride comes to the end?? at geauga lake in ohio here she can wait in line with us and then when the ride stops and we get off she is right there waiting for us and not far away either....... so can she wait with us and not go on the ride or does one of us (hubby or me) have to wait for those who want to ride the ride in the park??? not sure if i explained it right...... confusing question..... and yeah this is my first time to disney....... thanks vicki

 

[JohnnySharp2]

No, I am afraid the exits for many of the rides are located at different places than the entrance, some of the children's rides, Peter Pan I think is one are pretty much the same...you will find in many instances that most of the rides have a mini-store that sell products relating to the ride in question - often this is where you exit from the ride....

 

[tinkerbell6]

The rides mostly exit in different spots than the loading areas. I don't think I'd leave a 9-year old by herself to wait for you on the other end, but I guess it depends on your child.

For what it's worth, the coasters at Disney are mostly tame! I will not go on coasters at local fairs/theme parks, but I will go on any and all Disney rides! As a child, I wouldn't go on much either, even at Disney, where our own daughter goes on absolutely everything, even from a very young age (if she was tall enough, she did it!) Your own may surprise you and give one a try! Something like Thunder is fun, no huge surprises. Anyway, you never know!

 

[The Sweetness]

If you want to have your 9y old wait for you at the exit, just ask a CM at the ride where the exit is. Maybe there will be a CM at the exit as well... I think I remember this, but after 6 yrs, Im not so sure But the CMs will be glad to point you in the right direction, if its a shop that she can browse in, or if theres a bench with an available seat near-by

 

[bopper]

Another strategy is to get her to ride also....

http://www.mouseplanet.com/akrock/ak050614lp.htm
had a great article on this very topic.

My now 9 year old was scared of the big roller coasters. She enjoyed the smaller (think Goofy's Barnstormer) roller coasters, but wasn't sure about the big ones.
So first see if you daughter will go on the small ones.
Then see if you can get her to go on a bigger one...I told my daughter she would get a treat if she tried a bigger one. Eventually she did try them and loved them...but then she would say she didn't want to go, but when she did, she would say it was Awesome! Maybe you could get her a pin from every big coaster she goes on?

 

[tkd lisa]

You can also go through the line as a family, then let the 15 year old ride by herself while you go to the exit with the younger child. You know where the 15 year old will be, but I'd be leery of letting a 9 year old wait by themself.

I can sympathize though. My 12 year old DS hates thrill rides, while 13 year old DD loves them. At 12, my DS walks through and waits for me and DD, but at 9, I don't think I'd let him.

 

[Amyn1274]

You might find something about this on the family forum but I think they have a feature where you can get a parent swap ticket before the ride, not sure what it is called, I saw it on one of the shows they have on the Travel Channel. From what I understand though one of you gets to ride and then you give this ticket to the other person and they get to ride while the other person waits with your daughter. You would not be able to ride together but sure beats having your daughter wait alone and I think you only have to wait in the line once. At least that is how they showed it on the show. DW is just too big and too easy to lose someone especially if it is crowed when you are going. And as someone else mentioned, rarely do the rides start and end in the same place. Hope this helps

 

[LoveWDW]

Star Tours had a waiting room for those who didn't want to ride. I sat in it along with a two year old and her sitter. Even so, even though it wasn't asked, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving a 9-year old on her own.

 

[JRawkSteady]

Every ride has an "Unload dock." This is where the ride lets off. There is ALWAYS a CM there for obvious reasons. The "chicken exit" for every ride brings you directly to this "Unload dock." Don't be afraid to ask a CM, they will gratefully watch over your daughter if she does not want to ride.

You do not have to switch if you don't want to. Most thrill rides are only 2 - 5 minutes long anyway. (except Splash Mountain which is a little over 10)

 

[KathylovesPooh]

When my daughter was 9 (almost 10), we stood in line for TOT at MGM. Right before we were to go on, she "chickened out". I asked the CM what we could do and they said they would walk her out the "chicken out" exit and tell her where to stand to wait for us. As soon as we left the ride, we found her waiting there. Granted she was a mature 9 year old, but worked for us.
Make sure you assure your daughter that it might take longer than she might think for you to go on the ride and you'll find her as soon as the ride is over.

 

[tjmw2727]

You might find something about this on the family forum but I think they have a feature where you can get a parent swap ticket before the ride, not sure what it is called, I saw it on one of the shows they have on the Travel Channel. From what I understand though one of you gets to ride and then you give this ticket to the other person and they get to ride while the other person waits with your daughter. You would not be able to ride together but sure beats having your daughter wait alone and I think you only have to wait in the line once. At least that is how they showed it on the show. DW is just too big and too easy to lose someone especially if it is crowed when you are going. And as someone else mentioned, rarely do the rides start and end in the same place. Hope this helps

Unfortunately this won't work in the OP's situation . Baby swap or rider switch is only offered when you have a child who dosen't meet the height requirement for the ride. This is so that families that "can't ride together only have to wait once rather than twice.

A few of the rides do have a chicken exit, RnRc and TOT come to mind but honestly I wouldn't be comfy leaving my 9yo to take the chicken exit, yours may be fine however!

The best option IMHO is to use fast pass as much as you can and just split up for the "thrill rides". One parent takes the older child on a ride she likes but the 9yo dosen't want to ride, say Rock n roller coaster. At the same time the other parent takes the 9yo to do something she likes, maybe the beauty and the beast show. Then when the next ride comes up that the 9yo dosen't want its the other parents turn, maybe TOT while dad takes the 9yo do so something. This is what dh and I did for a while until my youngest started trying more rides. We didn't each ride everything (although you could) so we switched based on our fav's, he loves TOT and I love RnRC so we rode our favs with our older dd. I also prefered this because my 9yo didn't have to wait in lines for a ride she wasn't riding.


TJ

 

[Amyn1274]

Unfortunately this won't work in the OP's situation . Baby swap or rider switch is only offered when you have a child who dosen't meet the height requirement for the ride. This is so that families that "can't ride together only have to wait once rather than twice.
TJ

Thanks for setting me straight. I thought about it after I posted and remebered the people on the show did have a young child but wasn't sure if that was an option for anyone with kids. Good to know.

 

[First-timer]

wow thanks for all the fast replys..... i think the only one she isnt too crazy about is the tower of terror..... i recieved the dvd all about disney before we booked the vacation and that is the one she is deffinatly not going on ...... i would rather sit out a ride than let her go to the exit by herself .... i am a very over protective mom... (i just started letting her go around the block with her friends on bikes this past summer) so either i will sacrifice the ride or my 15 yr old will have to go on it twice.... once with hubby and once with me... i think she will ride most of the other ones... she likes the double loop and all the other roller coasters at geauga lake except power tower..... i think its kind of like the same thing where it drops you streight down.... so thank you for all the replys.... vicki

 

[First-timer]

Another strategy is to get her to ride also....

http://www.mouseplanet.com/akrock/ak050614lp.htm
had a great article on this very topic.

My now 9 year old was scared of the big roller coasters. She enjoyed the smaller (think Goofy's Barnstormer) roller coasters, but wasn't sure about the big ones.
So first see if you daughter will go on the small ones.
Then see if you can get her to go on a bigger one...I told my daughter she would get a treat if she tried a bigger one. Eventually she did try them and loved them...but then she would say she didn't want to go, but when she did, she would say it was Awesome! Maybe you could get her a pin from every big coaster she goes on?

thank you very much bopper..... that was a very interresting article... vicki

 

[poohs4me]

I am not sure that is true about not being able to use parent swap unless the child does not meet the height requirement. When we went last DD met the height requirement for ToT and was willing to give it a try, until she got to the preshow. When the lights went out, she decided no thank you. We were allowed to use the parent swap, no problem. She was only 5.

I am not sure if she was older, if it would have made a difference.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Before my daughter wanted to ride the biggies, we would use all four tickets to get four fastpasses, then my husband and I would take turns riding with our son. Worked beautifully. And my son sure was sorry to see little sister get brave enough to use her own fastpass!

 

[Schmeck]

Yes, Fastpass is a wonderful aid when one child doesn't want to ride. Also, a C) cannot be asked to be responsible to watch one child (or more!) while parents ride. They are at the exit of a ride for safety/security reasons.

 

[corinascot]

In our family, Dh (and sometimes me) are the ones who don't like TofT and RnR coaster. We make use of fastpasses. If you can, get 4 fastpasses and you can ride with one child while your dh waits with your 9 yr old and then your dh can ride with your other child while you wait with 9 yr old. I have to admit we did let dh ride by himself sometimes when he was 9, but I wouldn't like having him wait for us by himself. When he'd ride alone, usually one of us rode the ride with him the 1st time and then he'd use the other fastpass to ride again alone. With the fastpass, he'd never wait long. SOmetimes I'd walk in line with him.