Attractions to avoid with easily scared child...

[Luvin*Livvy]

We leave in a few days and we are going with my SIL and her family.....my (almost) 4 year old niece scares easily, my kids don't. I want to make this trip for her the most enjoyable and not traumatize her....but also want to make it the most fun for my 3 & 6 year old. Being that my kids don't scare easily AT ALL and have been on just about every ride.......which rides were your easily scares little ones, scared of and which did you skip?

I already know Snow White and Haunted Mansion oh and It's Tough to Be a Bug. What do you think about POTC and Winnie the Pooh? What about the ride in Norway? She's actually a bit of a thrill seeker when it comes to coasters, Splash Mountain...it's the characters and villains that freak her out. Any others I'm forgetting about?

Also....she's deathly afraid of Snow White Queen/Witch.....and has mentioned on many occasions that she doesn't want to see her. I know she's a rare character for M&G's and walking around the parks......BUT will she see her in a parade or show? I know she was on a float for Spectromagic...is she in the Electrical Light Parade? We are in WDW in 2 weeks. I told her I didn't think she'd see her, but I don't want to be lying to her, either!

Thanks!

 

[eliza61]

I would skip Dinasours in Animal kingdom.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

That is so so so tough. We took our oldest two kids when they were 4 and 2 years old. We figured that the trip would be more for our 4 year old than our 2 year old, but O-M-G we were shocked when our 4 year old was afraid OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I mean everything. It was very difficult for us because our 2 year old LOVED it all!

Anyway, our 4 year old just had to sit out a lot and one of us sat with her. We weren't going to "ruin" the entire trip because of her.

On a sidenote, we went back when she was 6 and 7 and it was a TOTALLY different experience. Things that scared her, she now loves. So they do outgrow it!

 

[MissStitch626]

Another vote for Dinosaur - it's one of my favourites but this can be terrifying for small children. It it very loud, very jerky, very loud, has dinosaurs chasing your car, did I mention it's very loud?

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

The 3 rides that scared DD age 7 at the time on our first visit were It's Tough to be a Bug (walked out in the first few minutes), Dinosaur and Snow White (to be fair I warned her it was a scary ride it scared me when I was a kid!)

Now she's 12 and will still hide behind me when "the bad guys" (especially Jafar) go by in the parade. She's a sensitive child To this day she won't ride the rides that scared her when she was 7 although she is considering Dinosaur.

Pirates is kind of scary to her - I think it's a combination of the dark and the pirates that never look happy. Maelstrom can be a scary ride with the whole go back thing - not sure I'd recommend that one.

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

We leave in a few days and we are going with my SIL and her family.....my (almost) 4 year old niece scares easily, my kids don't. I want to make this trip for her the most enjoyable and not traumatize her....but also want to make it the most fun for my 3 & 6 year old. Being that my kids don't scare easily AT ALL and have been on just about every ride.......which rides were your easily scares little ones, scared of and which did you skip?

I already know Snow White and Haunted Mansion oh and It's Tough to Be a Bug. What do you think about POTC and Winnie the Pooh? What about the ride in Norway? She's actually a bit of a thrill seeker when it comes to coasters, Splash Mountain...it's the characters and villains that freak her out. Any others I'm forgetting about?

Also....she's deathly afraid of Snow White Queen/Witch.....and has mentioned on many occasions that she doesn't want to see her. I know she's a rare character for M&G's and walking around the parks......BUT will she see her in a parade or show? I know she was on a float for Spectromagic...is she in the Electrical Light Parade? We are in WDW in 2 weeks. I told her I didn't think she'd see her, but I don't want to be lying to her, either!

Thanks!

Dinosaur!!!

 

[magicbob]

In addition to those already mentioned, the Great Movie Ride has a very scary "Alien" sequence.

 

[FunFamily]

Dinosaur, certainly.

As for POTC, I have found some to experience more fright around the ride when it is already dark outside. If you do it, you may want to do it during the day.

Enjoy!

 

[DisneyCrazy915]

I was a very easily scared child, so I'll give you my opinion on some the rides you might want to avoid.

HM and SWSA are a given.

The Tiki Room scared me to death as a kid! The storm and the tiki gods coming alive really freaked me out, so I'd say you might want to avoid that one.

The trolls in Norway kind of scared me. There's also a giant polar bear that roars at you.

As for POTC, the pre-drop portion is the "creepy" part. The rest shouldn't be too scary.

I agree with poster who mention the Alien scene in the GMR. There are also snakes and some zombie looking people in the Indiana Jones scene.

The Nemo ride has one scene with the angler fish from the film. If that portion of the film wasn't scary to her then the ride should be fine.

Universe of Energy is very loud and has some rather large dinosaurs.

I can't really think of anything others right now, but I would suggest watching some ride-throughs on youtube if you're unsure about some of the rides.

HTH

 

[WsPrincess]

The Norway ride freaked my DD3 out completely, to the point of not even wanting to go on It's a Small World since the both had boats. I have also heard some kids are bother by the thunderstorm in Winnie the Pooh but DD loves thunderstorms so we are hoping to get her to go one something this year. Last trip she rode exactly 3 rides at MK.

Oh, another one might be Buzz Lightyear but overall those things don't bother DD though a lot of things do.

 

[PSUGuy]

There's no telling, I saw a boy of about that age freak out on that lame Hydrolator at Living With the Seas. Not used now, it was a fake elevator that supposedly took you down to the aquarium, all it really did was vibrate in place.

Bill From PA

 

[pigletto]

The first time we went to Disney ds was 4. He wasn't scared of much at all but Tough to Be a Bug was awful for him. We scampered right out of there in the first five minutes. He's almost 8 now and still refuses to go back to it.

Dinosaur is way too intense for many kids as well.

ETA) Also things that my son loved when he was 4.. like Splash Mountain, are absolute NO! now. I can't figure it out. We must have ridden Splash Mountain 20 times on our first trip. He won't even try it in the 3 trips since then.

 

[pattibehan]

Do not go into Stitch !! It was way to intense for my grandson, who hated being strapped in !Also, every ride had an escape door for the kids, or adults, that get too scared at the last minute !!

 

[1971DBday]

Listen, every child is different.....my suggestion is a little different.

#1 - YouTube: My 5 year old scares easily, but we have been going to WDW every year since she was born. Each year brought different fears and we really didn't want to adjust our vacation to that if we didn't have to (stranger danger, spiders, bugs, characters, etc.) We went to YouTube instead and in the comfort of our home showed her shows, rides, character interactions to deal with the fear before we went.

This approach turned out to be successful. She would see happy and non-scary interactions and ask questions (here she will have the chance to do this with her parents versus her Aunt/Uncle a little more comfortable and approachable for her).

#2 - Try Once Rule: Try something once and if you don't like it we won't ask you to do it again is also a good rule and you can talk to her about this on the way and reinforce it at the parks.

We have a trip coming up in June in which we will have first timer nieces and nephews (Aunts and Uncles too) with all sort of scare levels. I have advised Moms and Dads to watch some of the scarier rides on YouTube and that it helped us. I also have started high-fiving (postive reinforcement) with my younger nieces and nephews that we are going to try all rides at least once that they are big enough to go onto....."Who wants to prove that all of the grown-ups are big chickens that don't want to go on Tower of Terror??? We do!!!!! All the little ones that are 40 inches and taller are going on with Aunt Kathy!!!!!! Yeah!!!!" (Please note my DD5 went on her first ride on ToT when she was 4 and LOVED IT! I have a fear of falling, but rode by her side all 9 TIMES we went on this trip....I am now numb to the fear of this ride thanks to my little one.)

#3 - Little Flashlight: Little flashlights are a good thing (as long as you can control it from not bothering others).

#4 - Hide By Me: Let the little one know that once their on, if at any point they can hide from the scary things by using me. They can put their face in your side or even in your lap and "hide from the scary" things if they get to nervous. This is great to use with #2 once you get them on. Also, it gives them something else to do versus screaming and disrupting anyone else.

Good luck, but I would start preparing her so she doesn't upset the trip for your two kids.

 

[1971DBday]

Here is my DD5 (then 4 in the yellow Belle dress) on her first ToT ride. Note the complete stranger giving her the thumbs up. He asked us before she went on if she was really going to do this ride. She thought she was to tiny and would be terrified. We replied "she is tall enough and we try everything at least once (wink, wink aka "don't freak her out"). She giggled and laughed the whole time! I am the freaked out one next to her grabbing for dear life, but happy my little one is enjoying herself.

FYI. The kid in front of her in the blue shirt is 6. Age isn't the issue.....

 

[Babbletrish]

We leave in a few days and we are going with my SIL and her family.....my (almost) 4 year old niece scares easily, my kids don't. I want to make this trip for her the most enjoyable and not traumatize her....but also want to make it the most fun for my 3 & 6 year old. Being that my kids don't scare easily AT ALL and have been on just about every ride.......which rides were your easily scares little ones, scared of and which did you skip?

I already know Snow White and Haunted Mansion oh and It's Tough to Be a Bug. What do you think about POTC and Winnie the Pooh? What about the ride in Norway? She's actually a bit of a thrill seeker when it comes to coasters, Splash Mountain...it's the characters and villains that freak her out. Any others I'm forgetting about?

Also....she's deathly afraid of Snow White Queen/Witch.....and has mentioned on many occasions that she doesn't want to see her. I know she's a rare character for M&G's and walking around the parks......BUT will she see her in a parade or show? I know she was on a float for Spectromagic...is she in the Electrical Light Parade? We are in WDW in 2 weeks. I told her I didn't think she'd see her, but I don't want to be lying to her, either!

Thanks!

First off, what 1971DBday said.

Funny you mention Maelstrom (the ride in Norway) as I find it a very good "test" attraction for young children. In the beginning it's dark except for Odin's giant eyeball, but it's more exciting than scary. There are monsters, but they are exaggerated and silly and really are only angry because they want to be left alone. There's a big polar bear who's likewise surprised to see humans in his home, but I didn't even notice him the first few times I rode the ride. All of these potentially scary scenes are over quickly and the ride itself is very short. (There is a sort of "aftershow" in a theater but it's possible to skip it if you ask a cast member.) Overall, it's much less daunting than, say, Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates are played-out anyway, who wouldn't rather be a viking?

Other good "test" attractions: Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Kilimanjaro Safari, Philharmagic, MuppetVision, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and Festival of the Lion King. They've all got some degree of scary stuff in them but they're over pretty quick and -this is important- the attractions do not put emphasis on the scary bits.

Things to avoid you might not expect include Fantasmic (the Queen initiates the whole, long villain portion), Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Ursula's scenes seem to go on forever), The Great Movie Ride (though they really toned down the Alien scenes) , Ellen's Energy Adventure (loud, really long, and confusing), and Stitch's Great Escape (dark, loud, weird, confusing, and who needs things touching them in the dark?)

A couple of "grey areas". Splash Mountain would be an awesome "test" if she's allowed on it as the only really bad part is the one big drop (and you can see it from outside so there is informed consent going in, though point out that the people coming back from the drop didn't actually go underwater as the effects suggest.) Thing is, she may be too short. Also, do not immediately take her over to Big Thunder or Space Mountain if she enjoyed this; they're whole different orders of life. A lot of people mentioned Dinosaur but she's probably too short for that anyway (and as I mentioned elsewhere, as the resident paleo-geek, you can probably guess what I think about this ride. No four-year-old needs to see that.) And kudos for knowing not to go anywhere near It's Tough To Be A Bug. Hoo boy, finally this generation gets it's Snow White's Adventures.

 

[mnkev]

I will also vote for Stitch in MK. You are strapped in too tight to hide in Mom or Dad's side. My 8 year old totally freaked out last year.

 

[ascwilson]

It's Tough to be a Bug scared my oldest DS so much it wasn't until he was 10 that we actually got to back and see it again. Our youngest doesn't like dark rides like Peter Pan & PoTC, but I usually talk softly to him and hold him tight. We also take a pair of shooting range head phones for him to wear if he's scared as it seems as if he can't hear it, then it loses its scariness to him. Oddly he loves Haunted Mansion so sometimes it is hard to tell. I will say we never forced either one to ride anything they truly flipped out over. Again, my oldest was 7 before he'd ride PoTC.

 

[Babbletrish]

This is as good a time to note that you never know with some kids. I was at the (awesome if you are ever in the area) Museum of Science earlier this week and saw a probably four-year-old girl acting totally nonchalant in the dark loud, and -uh- "lightningie" Theater of Electricity, but who clung to her mom and freaked out in... the butterfly garden (though to be fair, I can see where her thought process would be "Giant winged things flying around my face AAAAH!").

We also saw a little guy of about three maybe who turned the Charles Hayden Planeterium into his own private disco.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Ok...I LOVE WDW but they have a way of making so many rides scary. The stories that so many rides and shows are based on have an element of fear or evil to them sooo...

There really are not a lot of rides that have 0 fear factor. I have even seen small kids cry on pooh during the elephants and wuzzles part!

Most have already been mentioned but one I find scary, not mentioned is the Little Mermaid show.

I think you just have to test the water with your child. Support and Reassure them that even though it might be scary, Disney would never let them get hurt.

I advise you to watch utube but not your child. The lighting and sound of some of the clips make them seem scarier than they are and might turn your child off before you even get there.