Any advice with dealing with kid who isn't tall enough to ride?

[MikeSF]

First and foremost, I am NOT asking how to get my kid on said rides. My soon to be 3 year old, the reason why we're going... because he's still a Free-year old , isn't tall enough for the "mountains" (Space, Thunder, Splash, etc) but he's seen the commercials and every time Thunder Mountain pops up he goes nuts, he's a boy, he likes trains, he is a bit of a thrill seeker, so yeah it hits all those checks.

Now when we go in May I almost almost 100% sure he won't be tall enough, and that's fine for us there is plenty to do. However, if he sees said rides I almost 100% sure we're going to be dealing with the mother of all quivering lower lips, and as much as I want him to grow up knowing that you can't always get what you want (I doubt he'll throw a tantrum) I'd rather not have his first visit to the park have a major sad part, and he's really at the age where the whole concept of "understanding" is a tad of a foreign concept.

So I'm not asking for parenting advice, and I doubt the other "mountains" really are on his radar at all, so really just wondering how people who have experienced this have dealt with it, I doubt I'm a unique case. Looking at a map of Disneyland it looks like it is absolutely possible to not even walk by the ride at all in which case great, but memory serves you can hear the train whistle from the ride from nearby... so the proverbial cat would be out of the bag eventually, and I'll be honest I like to just stroll through the park so I'll probably accidentally wander by it. Like I said he loves trains, and god help us he wants to ride the railroad all day long, but I do really want him to experience other things in the park as well.

 

[Tink_83]

Thunder mountain is at the edge of frontier land... I would just avoid that area. If your not riding splash the only other reason to walk down that way is for Tom Sawyer’s island (which is nice for little kids)... but if your not planning on doing that you could easily just keep him away from it and occupied by other things... we basically did that with DD6 when she was that age. That said she didn’t watch commercials and wasn’t asking about it... which helped.

 

[tjmw2727]

Its pretty easy to avoid BTMR and you can take him on the railroad instead if he likes trains. Honestly the parks are so overwhelming that I doubt he will be asking about rides he can't see/ride!

 

[MooseBucks]

FYI i think the MK railroad is currently closed for Tron construction - can anyone confirm?

Avoiding BTMR is easy unless you plan to visit TomSayers Island also it’s amazing how resilient our kids have been at WDW with not being tall enough at times (much to our surprise). There is so much to do!

Will He be tall Enough for SDMT?

 

[Tink_83]

FYI i think the MK railroad is currently closed for Tron construction - can anyone confirm?

Avoiding BTMR is easy unless you plan to visit TomSayers Island also it’s amazing how resilient our kids have been at WDW with not being tall enough at times (much to our surprise). There is so much to do!

Will He be tall Enough for SDMT?

MK railroad is closed, I know because I was going to use it to get from frontier land to fantasy and when I was working on my touring plan I realized that wasn’t going to happen...

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We told our kiddos it was like carseats and seatbelts...a safety matter and non-negotiable. Like a police officer thing (that always shuts them down).

Now, I didn't have to deal with begging and pleading because they do a decent job of self-regulating for intense rides. But, we explained upfront with our son that they measure twice sometimes, and if at any point he wasn't tall enough it was a safety thing and we had to listen (and we would get him a treat or do something else instead).

We often had "pairings" already set up for non-riders...think Space Mountain and Peoplemover (or Buzz lightyear)... Big Thunder/Splash and Tom Sawyer (although they ended up at the splash playground instead)... so instead of it being something they only missed (you don't get Space!) they got an extra ride or attraction. Maybe try to help him focus on what he does get to do...since there is plenty!

 

[MikeSF]

Thanks for the response, completely forgot about Tom Sawyer Island though. FYI this is DisneyLAND not Disney WORLD we're going to (west coasters here), so railroad is still a go and SDMT is a no-go.. also means the big Cars Land ride is a no go either but that's another story. Also equally great point about being overwhelmed with everything and maybe not caring at all, I mean would he know what he saw on TV was the place we were? Heck I remember when I was 5 years old I thought Disneyland was the castle shaped building in front of the cemetery we passed every week on the way to grandmas and always was disappointed when mom said it was too far to go .

I'm lucky enough to have a very "work from home" type of schedule, and trying to time some weekdays well after spring break, but before summer break to not completely overwhelm him with crowds (another worry), and overall it'd be nice to meander from one ride to another and hopefully he goes with that as opposed to wanting to ride the same ride over and over again. But again he's nearly 3 so it's that age where they say they understand things when you talk to them, but the reality is they usually don't understand. Another big worry is how he'll do with waiting in line... but I'll cross that bridge when we get to it, he seems to do ok waiting for the train at a park or zoo, but those waits are like 10-12 minutes max.