Anyone Have Tips For Calming Kids' Fear of a Ride?

[zaxmom]

We are bad parents and force them to ride everything they are tall enough for. DS 5 and DS 3. They are thrill seekers and will ride any roller coaster but get a little nervous about some of the dark, scary rides. They have loved all of them except for a show at Islands of Adventure, and that might have to do with the fact he had to stand.
I tell them that everything they see are toys. This seems to work the best. Maybe it ruins a little bit of the magic, but when they see the characters, they assume they are real. They are really big stuffed animals that move and talk and robots and such. I have also told them that people think it is funny to get scared. I point out how they may "scream" and the laugh. I point out how everyone is smiling and laughing when they get off the ride. I also make it a point to scream and laugh and get "scared" on a ride and tell them how much fun it is.
We give them sunglassed to wear, usually dad's. We say if you see something scary put them on. It has worked.
We have also bought the light up swirly thingys and let them carry them on most rides. This year I will look for those pins.
I am not against making them ride things I know they can handle. How will they ever not be afraid of it if they don't ride it. Maybe it is because I have boys, or maybe it is because I have a 3 year old who cried because he could not ride HULK at IOA.

 

[catwho]

I'm another "listen to your kids" parent. Our ds last year was finally tall enough to ride BTMRR, Splash and a few others. We were thrilled! Yay! No more baby swapping for our favorite rides. Yeah, right. He did do BTMRR but he didn't smile the entire time and when he got off he said, "That gave me a headache" and refused to do Barnstormer which had had done several times in the past. So when he said he didn't want to do Splash or RNR, we didn't push it and the girls got to go an extra time using baby swap.

My middle child I have discovered is my daredevil. It really surprised me when she wanted to go on "the big rides" 2 years ago. I had always thought of her as timid and she had said that the rides looked scary and she wasnt' doing them. Then when she saw how happy everyone was getting off and how excited people were about going on them she just had to go. She said they don't seem as scary in real life as they do when you are on them. She goes on TOT which even *I* don't do! LOL!! So you may get there and this may be a moot point. Just plan things to do while you are waiting for the rest of your party to get through and have the adults take turns being the one that goes "last" when using baby swap.

 

[fan_of_wdw]

My daughter was always unnerved by the clank-clank-clank as you go up the first rise on many roller coasters. Once, as we were going up one, I explained that the clanking sound was the machine that kept us from sliding BACKWARDS down the hill. She smiled in understanding and has never been bothered since.... amazing...

 

[yoko]

What worked for us with our DD5 last week was to start with an outside ride. She was not too excited about Kali, but once she got on, she LOVED it. In fact, we had to go back to AK on our last day just so that she could do it again. Then she did TT, which is a fast ride but the fast part is mostly outside and the indoor part is brightly lit. She was then totally OK with BTMRR, SM, and even SM.

The outcome would have been totally different if we started out with SM, though.

In fact, even after being confortable with all those fast rides, she was still scared of slow dark rides such as POTC and Hounted Mansion. She had her eyes close the whole time for both.

Good luck.

 

[mmgrdg]

IMHO, if there's hesitation about a ride, then skip it. My DS3 1/2 was terrified of the Winnie the Pooh ride. Personally, I think putting these big huge "monsters" (heffalumps) and a thunderstorm in a dark ride for little kids wasn't really the smartest thing. He STILL talks about WTP and how he can't go on it again. Just my $0.02.