Am I just being a crazy, paranoid mama?

[Missyrose]

How would she fall out? The coaster never goes upside down or even banks all that much to the side. You're sitting straight up most of the ride.

 

[asbyrneva]

I had the same fears as you, except I was a paranoid DAD. When she road, I reached both my arms over and held down both her shoulders. She loved the ride. I was extremely sore for 2 days afterward.

Was it necessary? From a purely logical perspective, no. For my sanity as a parent? Yes. She's bigger now and I don't feel like I have to do that any longer, but turn back the clock, and I would do the same thing again.

This is exactly what my husband did with my son! for the first 2 years he was tall enough, skinny kid slightly paranoid dad. Also DS at the time actually was a little scared himself once he saw it the first time and having dad's hand on his shoulder gave him reassurance. first time "sitting on his own" instead of one of us right next to him.

OP It will be fine and you will be fine and you aren't the only paranoid parent around

 

[Koz]

Oh, and that fierce wind you feel hitting you- courtesy of fans strategically placed throughout the ride. Max speed is 28MPH.

 

[moran66]

My middle daughter just turned 5 a few weeks ago. I just measured her today and she's right at 44 inches--just barely. We've got another month before our trip, so I'm assuming she'll grow a little before we leave. But...I can't even imagine her on Space Mountain. I can't imagine her not sitting right next to me. I'm not that worried about her being scared because she's a dare devil. But, I AM scared that she won't be safe. Am I being crazy? Our youngest is too short to ride, so I can do a rider swap without an issue. I'm just wondering if 5 and barely tall enough really is too short or I'm being a worry wart for nothing.

My daughter is a daredevil also I took her on when she was tall enough at 4 and I am sure she would be safe if I didn't do this but I reach over and put my hands on her shoulders. She likes the ride but doesn't love it I would call it the 2nd most intense roller coaster at DW Everest being the most intense she was on that also. So I would say if she is up for it do it.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Then there are moms like me....fingers crossed they they are tall enough (or their hair is sticking up high enough- though the hair thing never worked!) and then me yelling at them (in a fun way) to put their hands up! Falling out has never been a fear of mine. Luckily 3 of my 4 are daredevils and love the coasters- just like their mother. My 4 year old is proving to be a little more reserved!

 

[megster1123]

I vote for wait til you get there and see how you feel about it.
My daughter is 5 and tiny. There's been times where I've mentally made the decision to let her do something and then after seeing it in person it turns into a big NOPE. She's good about following my lead though, so we've never had a meltdown due to adjusting the plan. On the flip side there are things I've never brought up as a possibility but then once seeing in person felt better and allowed her to go.

 

[Pixie Dust ✨]

Honestly, if there was a force strong enough to throw a child from Space Mountain, your hands being on their shoulders would not make one iota of difference in terms of keeping them in the seat.

The good news is that there is no such force. If you insist on acting as a human restraint, all you will succeed in doing is potentially injuring your child and/or yourself.

I had some family members who were in a car wreck. The driver threw her arm out to keep a 12yo (who was wearing a seatbelt) in the passenger seat. The only injuries she sustained were from the force of being hit in the stomach by her mother at a high rate of speed.

 

[serenitynow]

Don't worry about it, you feel how you feel. My elderly mother still throws her arm across us in the car when the car brakes quickly or over rough railroad crossings. And yes, we have all been wearing seat belts religiously since they became available. And some of us have grandchildren of our own and mom is still "protecting" us from harm with her frail little arm. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

 

[IrishNYC]

So, what you're saying is I'm crazy? Ok, ok, ok. I get it. It's a mom thing. Sigh. I guess I can play it by ear because we have to do a rider swap anyway since my youngest is too small. Hubby and oldest daughter can ride, get the swap pass, and then I can ride with either my middle daughter if she's up for it and tall enough at that moment or oldest can ride with me again.

If you're crazy, I'm crazy! I didn't have any issue letting my 44" 5 y/o ride SM, until after the fact. When I saw the ride photo and realized she was behind me, all kinds of crazy things went through my head. EE was my crazy ride. DD and I rode it over and over, and in my head I kept picturing her flying out, whoosh! right out of her seat.

If you are second guessing yourself and your choice to let her ride Space Mountain, perhaps skip it this trip.....

Our family's rule is, if the sign says you're tall enough to ride, you can go on it. We don't let mom or dad's fears stop our child from riding.

 

[Klayfish]

You will have a better chance of hitting the Powerball lottery...twice...in one week...using the same numbers...than having your kid fall out of Space Mountain. As has been said, it doesn't go fast, doesn't flip and doesn't have any wildly banked turns.

As for not sitting right next to them, that's a personal choice. My wife isn't a roller coaster person, so she won't join us on those. But on the rides she will do, frankly we rather enjoy it when the kids ask to ride on their own.

 

[brooke789]

So, my husband had a scary experience on SM with our 5 year old son. DS is in the front seat (probably his 5th ride on SM this trip) and DH is directly behind him in the middle. Party way through the ride DS is yelling something to DH over and over again. The only thing he could think of was that he wasn't strapped in properly. So, DH is yelling to him to hang on and hold on as tight as he can. He couldn't reach him to make sure he was ok. DH says he was terrified. He thought DS was going to fall out. So, the ride pulls into the station and DS is just fine. He wanted to ask DH how many times they'd ridden the ride. DH was almost too scared to go on it again b/c it was that traumatic thinking DS was going to fall out of the seat and he couldn't help him or even see him. He said he was sick to his stomach after this happened for quite a while.

Honestly, if you're going to feel like that I don't think it is worth it.

 

[MelissaBee]

I agree that she will be completely safe and if you think she won't freak out over the dark or that she's not sitting with you and she enjoys rides like that, let her ride (as long as she wants to). I will let DD6 ride anything she wants to that she is tall enough to ride. At our local Cedar Fair park there is even a coaster that kids can go on alone at 44"--talk about a mama freak out, lol!! But she insisted and like PPs, I try not to let my discomfort stifle her independence and stop her from doing something I know is safe (as anything can be) and she wants to do.

All that said, I'm hesitating about SM for our Dec trip. She wants to do it, but I'm so worried she will freak out once we get in the ride. The ride-through videos are less effective for SM because of the dark, so I my usual go-to prep trick doesn't work for this ride. Oh well, I guess we will deal with the freak out if it comes.

BTW, I rode SM as a 3yo. Height limits were much more lax back then.

 

[Aeweddle]

I couldn't let my daughter ride Space Mountain. You are not alone! She's almost five and was tall enough. I let her ride Everest, ToT, Splash, BTMRR, 7DMT, but on all of those rides I could hold on to her! I actually still have bruises on my arm from doing the "mom arm" on Everest!

 

[BrianL]

Space Mountain is really not a very intense coaster, the dark just makes it seem that way. There are no loops or giant drops. I took my dgd when she was 5 and she got off begging to go again. That said, you still have to be ok with it. Have fun whatever you decide.

If you ever want to compare, ride Matterhorn at Disneyland, which basically uses the same ride system as Space Mountain at MK. It feels SO SLOW because most of it is in daylight. Space Mountain tops out at 28 MPH (Matterhorn is 27 because the track layouts are a little different). It does feel faster and more intense because of the darkness, so the sudden turns and drops are something we can't prepare for. I Love Space Mountain, but it really isn't an extreme coaster at all.

 

[Hikergirl]

OP, I don't think you are crazy, my kids are much older and way past the minimum height and I still worry about roller coasters LOL. Space Mountain is nothing, wait until they start doing things like Kingda Ka (that is a really high and really fast 6 flags coaster).

 

[BrianL]

BTW, I rode SM as a 3yo. Height limits were much more lax back then.

Was this before they changed the cars and the restraint system? The old version had seat belts, and you literally sat in someone's lap. Matterhorn still uses seat belts, and it's height restriction is 42" (though they changed the cars there too and you do not sit tandem with another person. Any change to the restraint system can affect the height restrictions.

 

[Day-Day]

So, what you're saying is I'm crazy? Ok, ok, ok. I get it. It's a mom thing. Sigh. I guess I can play it by ear because we have to do a rider swap anyway since my youngest is too small. Hubby and oldest daughter can ride, get the swap pass, and then I can ride with either my middle daughter if she's up for it and tall enough at that moment or oldest can ride with me again.

The rider switch pass is good for 3 riders to use together so middle daughter and oldest can ride with you.

 

[DopeyDame]

If she's 44" barefoot, with shoes she'll be fine. My friend's daughter was only stopped to be measured a couple times. Only once at Space Mt. With her normal sneakers on she was a good inch over the minimum. We had more CM's question her age than her height. She's 8 years old but such a tiny thing she looks younger. A few tried to tell us she couldn't ride with her 9 year old brother. We simply told them she was 8 and they let it go......surely believing we were lying.

I'm worried about this for my son. He's 7 but is really, really, really tiny - 5% for height and 3% for weight. I'm glad to hear that they took your word for it.

 

[DopeyDame]

Your not alone in feeling that way, although of course she'll be perfectly safe.
My dad still talks about how glad he was that I was too short to ride when he took me when I was five because he was having all sorts of internal angst about whether or not to let me ride.

 

[ktlm]

It stressed me out too when DD was small. DH sat behind DD and kept his arms on her shoulders during the ride, mostly for her to feel safer. She was not a daredevil, but she wanted to try it. I think he kept his hands on her shoulders during the ride every time she rode it until she was 9!