Aggravated with IOA Parent Swap

[xplor144]

We just got home from our trip, and I must say this incident was the one thing that I did not like about our day at IOA. My hubby and I wanted to ride the Dragons ride, but with 4 young ones (8-6-4-3) that was impossible without the parent swap. We asked about how to do it, and the guy told us to take the kids with us through the line. Well, for all of you that have walked through that castle, you can imagine how hystericle the kids were by the time we finally got to the front. I can't believe that guy thought it was a good idea for us to cart the kids through all of that! At least there was no wait, and we were able to quickly walk past, I can't imagine if we had had to stand there with all the skeletons and whatnot!

Amy

 

[pathubia]

Sorry your kids were spooked by the castle. My daughter, 8, whimpered almost the whole way through. She did love the ride though.

p.s. I was born in Hinesville, at Fort Stewart.

Patty

 

[beattyfamily]

That does sound pretty annoying. At WDW, for most parent swaps, you go to the exit and wait.

I have a 2 and 5 year old and I'm a little concerned about this.]

Maybe we'll just take turns using Express Pass or whatever it's called for Hotel guests.

Thanks for the warning!

 

[gschmerl]

Beattyfamily,
If you use the express line, you don't have to walk through the castle. It will be no big deal for the children to go in the express line entrance---it saves a LOT of walking too.

 

[EUROPA]

I think the Express line still goes through part of the Castle, or it least it did when I was there.

 

[nhrenee]

When we were there a couple of weeks ago the express line by-passed almost all of the castle.

I understand what you mean about your kids being scared. When we went a few years ago, my then 5 year old was scared to death when we finally got to the baby swap area.

Hope the rest of your trip was fun.

 

[WebmasterBarry]

The Express line takes you though about the last 1/4 of the castle. If you need to use baby swap, you can enter through the baby swap doors and miss the entire castle completely.

 

[mloren]

Ummmm. What exactly is in the castle?

Will this scare DD(8)? She is fine with Haunted Mansion or
Pirates at WDW. Is the castle more than this?

 

[WebmasterBarry]

The castle is the queue for Dueling Dragons. It can get scary for little kids. It is dark and has a lot of scary stuff.

 

[lukelance]

My brother got a little freaked out in there too!

He wanted to ride it(he's 9) and I didnt(Im 17) and we had a rule with each other we had to ride everything the other rided(which was bad for me since I had to sit on CaroulSuessal, Cinderalla's Carousel, Dumbo, and Aladin.) Anyways so I had to ride the Dragon's with him as well as my 13 year old sister and my dad and they are both rollercoaster nuts! So we were about 30 seconds through the line(there was no wait) and my brother starts saying to me "This is kinda freaky" and then a minute goes by "I'm starting to get freaked out guys" and by the time we were on the front of the line he was like "THIS RIDE IS TOO FREAKY FOR ME GUYS" He didnt make a deal about it and neither did I. We just went on it instead of making a scene. He closed his eyes the whole time screaming his head off! It was really funny to me!

 

[LunarLady]

I got lost in the castle once or twice myself because it's very dark. I wound up coming back out the entrance. Tried it again and finally wound up at the "choice" spot (fire or ice) but even after coming back later on that day I got lost again.

(But, then again, I frequently get lost of the freeway and city streets as well)

Just a note that it IS rather dark and might be frightening to small children.

 

[mloren]

I still can't decide if the castle sounds okay for DD(8) or not.

Scary is okay, dark is okay, skeletons and monsters and spooky mood are okay. However, blood and gore would definitely *not* be okay.

As an example, the last couple of minutes of the Harry Potter movie were *not* okay (she kept her eyes shut).

Opinions?

Also, can you walk through the castle just to see it, but not go on the ride? Is there a "chicken" exit? (that would be for me, not for my kids )

 

[gschmerl]

There isn't blood and gore. It is VERY dark. I got lost going through it. Yes, you can go through the castle without going on the coaster. My friend walked up with me and didn't go on. After that I used the express entrance which is WAY easier.

 

[eetsoop]

I just want to say that if your kid can handle it then go through the castle. It is the best queue out there. It will tell you the whole story if you take your time and there is some really cool stuff in it. As you go deeper it starts to get dark and you enter what seems to be the dungeons or catacombs. It is not like a haunted house but just is dark and has ominous sound fx (lots of dripping noises w/ some chains thrown in". The walls have a lot of bones and skeletons, that is all. If you notice you can see some really great stuff (like the bones spelling the phrase "Don't Be a Bonehead"). If I am correct, Steven Speilberg supervised the theming and it kinda reminds me of that film "The Goonies" a
little. Basically if your chld is VERY confident that he/she can go on the coaster (the closer you get to riding the coaster the more that confidance fades ) than he/she can go through the queue. Anyway it is rarely crowded and the only part I've ever had to wait in is the line for the specific coaster (Fire or Ice) at the end which is not scary (unless you count anticipation). And there is an exit if you chicken out after the castle so you can see the queue and then leave. Here are links to pictures of some of the queue:

• PIC 1
• PIC 2
• PIC 3
• PIC 4

 

[mloren]

Thanks for all the details!

I think we'll try it. Worst case, we can always turn around in the middle and I'll walk DD back out.