Big Thunder Mountain RR

[studog100]

Is this ride to rough for my 42" just turned 4 years DS? These rides sometimes scare me. I'm afraid his neck might snap. Is that to harsh in my thinking. At that young of an age, the muscles in the neck aren't as strong as ours and one unexpected jerk.....

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

It is a VERY "Jerky" and LOUD ride. I really don't think anyone's neck ever snapped. Whether or not your child will like it will depend on how "brave" he/she is!! My 13 yr old LOVES is now, but not when she was younger. My oldest DD LOVED it at five and still at 15, yet my now 8 and 9 yr old DD's are very afraid of it; more because of how loud it is. They went on once and do not choose to ride it again . . . yet!! I'm working on them!!

 

[risy]

We have stuck with the Barnstormer...but my 5 yo daughter insisted on going when we let her 7yo sister go last year. Both LOVED it!

I will add, my husband hold both girls close to him to reduce the jerks.

 

[dopeyone]

My little roughian rode Thunder MT. when he was 2 (3 mos. shy of 3). He had no problems with it. Parts of it do get a little rough. He is a big kid for his age, he's now 5 and this is the 1st year he's tall enough for the Rockin Rollercoaster, so he's pretty pumped up for that. He went on the tower of terror last yr. at 4 yrs. old. If he meets the height req. and wants to go on a certain ride I will take him on it. I do always put an arm across him so he don't move around as much, I don't think I really need to but i'm overly cautious. I remember being 5 and crying my eyes out on a coaster no bigger than the barnstormer! He really astounds me at the rides he wants go on.

 

[pampam]

I don't like roller coasters , but decided to go on BTM. It was after the first Spectromagic Parade at Xmas time, many years ago. The park was very quiet. We had to walk through the empty que, and decided that since there was no line up for the ride we would do it again if we liked it. We sat in the first car. As the ride was ending, we looked at each other and agreed that the ride was not scarry at all. Anyway, to make a long story short, I geed when I should have hawed. I got off to my left. My girlfriend followed. I didn't notice everyone else exited to their right. Ahead of me there was a set of stairs. As I climbed the stairs I'm thinking "great! Now I'm going to have to shinny down a wall to avoid the que area. But instead of going outside, we ended up in the control room. The kid operating the ride jumped up and exclaimed "What are you doing here"?!! I explained that I got lost. The kid putting people on the ride dashed up the stairs and said "What are you doing here"?!! I'm laughing at my mistake by now, so I explained that I was sorry, I thought this was the exit. My girlfriend is crying by now. He said, "That's o.k. When the next train pulls into the station, just walk through it and exit to your left." No problem. When the next train pulled in, we got on, sat down and rode again. Sorry to whoever I bumped. I really wasn't thinking.

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Our daughter rode it when she was two turning three. (She is also tall for her age.) She did get a little scared when you go through the beginning in the dark with all of the "bats" and then again when it loops sideways one way then the other. But she was fine on all of the hills and absolutely loved seeing the pink-lit castle in the distance from top of the first hill.

She didn't want to ride it again right after getting off, but did ride it again three days later on the same trip and said it was much less scary to her then the first time.

There isn't a lot of "whiplash" type of stuff until you do the loop sideways twice. If you sit next to your son (and I think that you should) when you are on the bottom during the sideways loop the child will be on top of you, which is fine, but - you guessed it- when you go through the other loop you will be kind of sliding into them. There really is no way to brace yourself and stop yourself from sliding onto them because of the speed and centrifugal force.

If your child is adventurous they should be fine. I actually think that after the Barnstormer, this is a good "first time coaster rider" ride. Have fun!

 

[debbiedoo]

My daughter started riding this when she was 4. We sat her between us and now she is six and has grown!! She just rides with one of us and the other by themselves. I have ridden this since it has opened and is one of my favorites. It is just a fun roller coaster.

 

[bdcp]

No one's neck will snap, but it can be very rough and toss someone small around quite a bit. It's also hard to see a lot of the scenery around the ride. And sliding into each other happens with everyone, it's just more painful for the smaller person. Has he ever ridden a roller coaster or anything like one?

 

[disneygoof]

Can anyone compare how rough and loud it is compared to Goofy's?

 

[jtdl]

It is much faster than Goofy's Barnstormer. I took my daughter on it when she was 4 and she didn't talk for about an hour after we got off. It all depends on the child. She loved Goofy's but I think BTM was just a bit too fast for her at that time. This year my son will be almost 4 and I too am debating on letting him ride it or not. I will be sure to take him on Barnstormer first and then let him watch BTM before letting him make his own decision.

 

[AshClan]

My boys LOVE BTMRR. Our first trip, when they were 3 and 5, we rode it more than any other ride. They never complained about the jerkiness, and loved the "fast" ride. We did Goofy's that time, and have never done it again, but I think that's because it was by far the longest line we waited in, and I pretty much just stay out of Mickey's Toontown now. I found Goofy's very jerky for a "little kid" ride, but all the kids seem to love it. Just watch the lines!!

 

[Tbella]

To all those whose kids rode at 3 and younger, did you take your kids to splash mountain as well? My dd is 3 and we are leaving tommorrow morning and she wanted to ride these rides back in August but didn't meet the height requirements but she does now!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Can anyone compare how rough and loud it is compared to Goofy's?

Frankly, I found Goofy's to be rougher and just as loud. The only thing that made it "better" was that it was shorter.

 

[alacazander]

My son will be 3 1/2 when we go and is a thrill seeker! He loves roller coasters. He wasn't tall enough to get on any of them our last trip. He is 37" now and i'm hoping by the time we go he reaches 40" so he can enjoy all the rides. How strict are they?

 

[debbiedoo]

Tbella,

My daughter rode BTMM several times and would not get on SM. The next trip, My DH rode SM by himself while I took my daughter on BTMM twice to keep her busy. Then she got the courage to ride SM. At first she did not like it.(was 4 then)She was 5 1/2 on our trip last June and 6 on our trip this past Oct and she really enjoys it now!!

My theory here is let the child help make the decision. We always rode with our arm around her or in the middle, depending on which CM you get to deal with.

My daughter wants to ride ToT and she is tall enough, I just tell her that it is more for the teenagers. Which does not help on the Disney bus and the three and four year old kids are talking about it. I have been on Tot several times and know the ride and I feel like a small child should not go on it at a young age. I do not even let my daughter ride Space Mountain either. I feel that is she is frightened we can not comfort her in anyway. The old mobiles you could have, not the new ones. We just tell her that Mickey designed rides for the young and the old.

okay. . .i know the flames are coming. . . .

 

[disneygoof]

For the fast feedback! Definately helpful.

Have a magical day!

 

[eeyore0062]

Kids are much tougher than we give them credit for, and they don't carry the tension around in the muscles like adults, which actually means they are far less likely to get hurt on a ride such as BTMRR than we would be.

That being said... at 42 inches and 4 years old, if your child would like to ride BTMRR I think he/she should be given the opportunity. I was never one to hold my child back from doing anything she wanted to try, unless their was a height requirement set by the park for safetly reasons. She was riding the log flume at Busch Gardens at Williamsburg when she was 2 1/2 years old. My husband would have had a stroke if he had been with us (he is the overprotective one), but she wanted to go, there was no height restriction and she LOVED it. In fact, so much so, we had to put off her first trip to WDW because she didn't hit the magic 40 inches until she was 6 and all she had talked about was riding Splash Mountain, so we knew there would be a problem if she could ride the flume at BG, but not at WDW.

Anyway, let him/her give it a try. If you don't want to take her on it, let another member of your party. In fact, that may be even better, because if he/she senses any fear in you, it may rub off on her.

 

[studog100]

thanks all for the replies....that's why we love this site.

 

[pandamom]

My 40" dd4 loved it! She hasn't met a ride she doesn't like though. She loved splash mountain, dinosaur, tower of terror, test track any every other attraction she was tall enough to ride. My dd6, on the other hand, loved btmrr but hated the drop into the thorns on splash mountain and refused to try tower of terror. Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[ErinInCT]

It was my dd4's favorite ride. Personally I found it a bit boring. But she loved it. I thought Goofy's Barnstormer was scarier & faster!!!