age requirements for certain rides?

[mezzacca41]

Hi! I was wondering if there were any age requirements for any rides. My daughter will be shy of 3 by a week when we are in Disney. However, she loves rides. I was wondering about the use of fast pass and her going with us on the ride. Do we get any kind of ticket to swipe for her or can she go on? Can she go on all the rides if she meets height requirement? She is 37 inches. I know she is going to be very upset that she can't go on Splash Mt. because she goes on the one at Great Adventure and loves it!!! We are going to GA on Tues. and we all like that ride. Is there any other exciting things she can do while we go on it? How does the baby swap work? Could my 6 yr old son ride with the parent who waits with her again if he doesn't have a fast pass for the second ride? We are going on Aug 11-18th. We are so excited? Also, how strict are they with the height requirement? My son is 47 inches and he is a daredevil. I know that he meets most of the height requirements, but I am thinking more about the water parks. He is tiny for his age, but he can swim. Also, wondering about the Kali rapids at AK. When we went on the same type of ride at GA we put the hair up on top of her head and made sure she had her sandles with a bit of a heel on them when we went through in the beginning. Does someone stand in the beginning of the line to check height?
To get back to the other question about my daughter. If they will not let her on certain rides we were thinking of buying her a ticket for MK only.
Thanks!!!

 

[LWatson]

Age doesnt matter really just height. They are pretty strict on their height requirements for insurance reasons. I dont know about the child swap on the fast pass thing. I was wondering the same thing though because my 3yr old will hopefully be tall enough to ride the 40in rides (he is short...38in at 3.5) and we like to do the fast pass thing so he doesnt have to wait in lines.

 

[ireland_nicole]

Disney is extremely strict with the height requirement. If they do not meet it, they don't ride- ever. That being said, you do have options.

First, there is rider swap.(ask the CM at the entrance to rides w/ height restrictions.) This would allow one of you to ride with your son, and then you could switch and do it again.

If your DS doesn't want to ride it twice, you could keep one of you with DD while DS rides with the other (you could get 4 FP's from the machine, though and he could still ride it 2x if he wanted to)

There is a playground for littles just in front of Splash mountain in the shade; it's to the right of the entrance down into the exit a little (it's not as complicated as it sounds, I promise). Alternatively, you could split up for a little while as there are a lot more rides she can do than can't.

This is actually true of all parks. Dhs would have two rides w/ height restrictions, but lots more without; she could still do Voyage of the little mermaid, playhouse disney live, the backlot tour, great movie ride, beauty and the beast live on stage, muppets 3d, the honey I shrunk the kids playground, etc. In other words, LOTS.

There is plenty to do for at least a whole day in all of the parks even if you never rode the few rides with height restrictions.

My DD is almost 10 and only now has she hit 48 inches. When we have gone in the past, sure she wanted to ride things, but we just said, there's a height limit, not this time, maybe you'll be tall enough next trip. And her brother only just hit 44 inches, so he's seen big sis go on Mission Space, etc. without him. We just tell him the same thing and go do something different with him. That way, the experience is special and individual just for them.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We've actually had CMs hold down DD's shoes to make sure she wasn't standing on her tip toes, had a CM at the entrance of a line tell us she's tall enough and then been told when we are about to go on the ride that she's not (The measuring sticks aren't all exactly the same I'm sure), had them push down her hair after BBB, AND had them use a piece of paper between her head and the top of the measuring thing to make sure the paper couldn't slide between. THEY ARE SUPER STRICT!!! That's being said, they are smart. It's a liability to them if someone gets hurt so I'm glad they are so strict.

 

[Schmeck]

A child under the age of three does not require a ticket to enter the parks, and having a ticket for an under 3 year old does not get them on any rides they are not tall enough for.

The attractions with height requirements are listed somewhere on the WDW site. I believe the big one at MK is 40" - your 37" child will not be allowed to enter the ride queues, even in platform shoes and a beehive hairdo. I've seen a CM have a child step out of an ultra thick-soled shoe, and seen them measure beside the scrunchie on a ponytail. CMs know all the tricks, and it is their job to not let children under the height requirement on the ride.

 

[allyphoe]

wondering about the Kali rapids at AK. When we went on the same type of ride at GA we put the hair up on top of her head and made sure she had her sandles with a bit of a heel on them when we went through in the beginning.

IME, Kali was one of the strictest about height - my DD was 37.5" in bare feet, and could not ride Kali that trip.

Also, when she was just barely tall enough for the 40" rides (but tall enough that she was never turned away - she just got measured every single time, both at the entrance and at load), she got the most scrutiny when she wore a costume with a tiara. Her hair was down, so the hair itself didn't add any height, but "has something on head" seems to be a trigger for "might not be tall enough." Scrutiny of the "look at her shoes, hold down her feet, second CM scrunches down on her head and checks against the bar" variety.

No tiara, and the verbal instruction "Stand up nice and tall, with your feet flat on the ground, and hit the side of your head against the bar," and she breezed through every other height check.

 

[Colinsmom]

Hi! I was wondering if there were any age requirements for any rides. My daughter will be shy of 3 by a week when we are in Disney. However, she loves rides. I was wondering about the use of fast pass and her going with us on the ride. Do we get any kind of ticket to swipe for her or can she go on? Can she go on all the rides if she meets height requirement? She is 37 inches. I know she is going to be very upset that she can't go on Splash Mt. because she goes on the one at Great Adventure and loves it!!! We are going to GA on Tues. and we all like that ride. Is there any other exciting things she can do while we go on it? How does the baby swap work? Could my 6 yr old son ride with the parent who waits with her again if he doesn't have a fast pass for the second ride? We are going on Aug 11-18th. We are so excited? Also, how strict are they with the height requirement? My son is 47 inches and he is a daredevil. I know that he meets most of the height requirements, but I am thinking more about the water parks. He is tiny for his age, but he can swim. Also, wondering about the Kali rapids at AK. When we went on the same type of ride at GA we put the hair up on top of her head and made sure she had her sandles with a bit of a heel on them when we went through in the beginning. Does someone stand in the beginning of the line to check height?
To get back to the other question about my daughter. If they will not let her on certain rides we were thinking of buying her a ticket for MK only.
Thanks!!!

You have a lot of questions buried in that long paragraph!

She does not need a ticket (under 3yo) so cannot get fastpasses. However, if your party has fastpasses for a ride that she is tall enough for (Jungle Cruise comes to mind as one with FP but no height limit), they will allow her to ride with your party even though she won't have a FP.

At 37" she won't be able to go on most of the rides with a height requirement. I think that Goofy's Barnstormer is the only one with a height requirement that she meets. She will not be able to go on Splash Mountain (40" requirement) or Kali River Rapids.

For baby swap, your entire party approaches the entrance to the ride. You show the CM that you have a "baby" (someone too small to ride the ride) and they give you a baby swap pass, good for up to 3 people that day. Whoever rides first enters the line (regular line if you have no FPs, FP line if you have FPs) and when they get off, up to 3 people can use the baby swap pass to enter the FP line and ride again. Your DD will not be allowed to enter the line if she does not meet the height requirement at the entrance.

Regarding your last sentence about buying a ticket for her for MK only - as long as she is under 3yo, she does not need a ticket. There are fun things for her at every park.