Children riding rides?

[DaystarPearl]

My daughter is 7, first time to Disney and meets all height requirements for all the rides. Is there any ride that you wouldn't allow your child on regardless if they met the height requirements? She wants to go on The Tower of Terror and The Rock and Roll rollercoaster. At this point she is so excited she wants to ride everything, not that we will get to everything so she picked out the most important ones to her.

 

[Gillyrose779]

Every kids is different. If she is excited for all of them then let her go. Both of my kids did the Tower of Terror at 4 years old. We knew they were ready and loved the drop. My oldest just didn't like the lightning and my youngest didn't like the loud noise but they both wanted to do it again.

 

[mesaboy2]

From a safety perspective, there's no reason she could not go. The rest is a parenting decision. In our case, no for those rides at that age but she wasn't interested in trying those at that time anyway.

ETA: I should qualify, I somehow read "alone" into your question and that's where the "no" came from. If she wanted to ride with us, sure. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[moran66]

I have a 6 year old girl who has been to Disney a number of times and she goes on everything with tower of terror being a work in progress. I give her the option of picking to go on it or not so we will see if she wants to try in 2 weeks when we go again but by looking at the picture and what she said afterword it was scary for her. But Disney is very family friendly with rides so if your daughter wants to go on TOT then go for it but if I had to pick one ride that might be scary for that age range its TOT and dinosaur in animal kingdom. If she likes rollercoasters they all should be good with Everest being the "scariest". My daughter liked that ride though too.

 

[MissDisneyDora]

Agreed. I think this is totally subjective depending on your child. My 5-year-old is fearless and happy to ride any of the adult attractions. Though on this past trip I noticed that Dinosaur scared a lot of wee ones around her age that were riding with us. Each child is different. My advice, be cautious and start with some of the milder rides and work your way up. For instance at MK I would test out Barnstormer before Big Thunder Mountain etc. just to try and gauge it.

 

[DaystarPearl]

She hasn't been on many big rides yet. We have looked up each of the rides on youtube and I explained to her what was going was going to happen. She didn't seem to be scared but I'm sure it could happen once we actually get there. And that's ok with me. I'm just being a paranoid mom. A little nervous because I have read that the Rock n Roll rollercoaster goes upside down and TOT lifts you out of your seat.

 

[subtchr]

My daughter is 7, first time to Disney and meets all height requirements for all the rides. Is there any ride that you wouldn't allow your child on regardless if they met the height requirements?

I promise, this is merely curiosity on my part, not judgement at all, but what reason could a parent have for not allowing a child to ride something if he or she meets the physical requirements and wants to do it?

Now, if there is something about an attraction that you know as a parent will traumatize the child, that is different, but if that is the case, I wouldn't think the child would want to do it anyway.

I'm now a grandparent, and my now-grown kids would always ride anything they qualified to ride. My DH and I did the same, and still do.

 

[subtchr]

A little nervous because I have read that the Rock n Roll rollercoaster goes upside down and TOT lifts you out of your seat.

So you are worried that this means she would fall out? Or that it would scare her too much?

If it's the former, you have absolutely no reason to worry. The physical requirements are determined after extensive testing, with a margin of error.

If it's the latter, only you can decide!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

DD rode everything when she was that age. I may or may not admit to bribing her to go on Tower of Terror though (and she loved it just as much as I suspected she would).

 

[MischaOz]

My daughter went on 7DMT, BTMR and Splash at 2 years old. She is now 42 inches at age 3 years 4 mos. She loves thrill rides, but even if she had a major growth spurt by the time of our next trip (Dec) there's no way in heck I'd let her go on Space Mountain. With the aforementioned rides at least I can put my arm around her and make sure she doesn't bump her head or anything. We'll definitely give Soarin and Test Track a try this time. Gonna skip ToT not for height reasons, but bc I think the theming would be too scary for her.

 

[DaystarPearl]

So you are worried that this means she would fall out? Or that it would scare her too much?

If it's the former, you have absolutely no reason to worry. The physical requirements are determined after extensive testing, with a margin of error.

If it's the latter, only you can decide!

Yes this is all my worries not my daughter. I just need to set my mind at ease.

 

[subtchr]

Yes this is all my worries not my daughter. I just need to set my mind at ease.

I totally understand, not trying to minimize how you feel at all! I've somehow survived almost 30 years of parenting, and I'm sorry to tell you the worries don't ever end, they just change!

My only advice is to relax about whether a ride is "safe". Millions of people ride attractions at WDW and other parks, and the regulations and restrictions are carefully established and continually monitored. Injuries are extremely rare, and the few that happen are almost always the result of something intentional (and stupid) that the guest does.

Now, as for whether something will scare a child or not be fun for another reason, that is where your 7 years of knowing your daughter comes into play. It sounds as if she is up for new experiences and adventures -- that's great!

I hope you all have a wonderful trip!

 

[hakepb]

I'd almost suggest RnR before ToT because it seems ToT makes some people a bit more queasy (and then the queasy person incorrectly assumes RnR is worse 'cause loops)

You can sit next to DD on both of those rides. It's just Space Mountain where you cannot hold another guests hand.

 

[DaystarPearl]

I totally understand, not trying to minimize how you feel at all! I've somehow survived almost 30 years of parenting, and I'm sorry to tell you the worries don't ever end, they just change!

My only advice is to relax about whether a ride is "safe". Millions of people ride attractions at WDW and other parks, and the regulations and restrictions are carefully established and continually monitored. Injuries are extremely rare, and the few that happen are almost always the result of something intentional (and stupid) that the guest does.

Now, as for whether something will scare a child or not be fun for another reason, that is where your 7 years of knowing your daughter comes into play. It sounds as if she is up for new experiences and adventures -- that's great!

I hope you all have a wonderful trip!

Thank you...Sometimes you just need to hear this from other people.

 

[Trixie15]

Dinosaur scared the love of dinosaurs right out of my 7 year old daughter. It was so sad - she was so terrified after that.

 

[msb578]

Dinosaur scared the love of dinosaurs right out of my 7 year old daughter. It was so sad - she was so terrified after that.

Our (tall) 3 year old enjoyed Dinosaur. It really is so kid-specific I guess

 

[Kathryn777]

I worry all the time, so I totally get it. My 8 year old is tall enough to ride he biggest coasters in every amusement park now and it scares me to death. Our local park got a new super fast coaster and he and my husband rode in the first 2 weeks it was open.

I try reaaaally hard not to pass my fears on to my kids. If they want to ride and meet the requirements, I let them. Tower of terror did lift me and my 4 year old out of our seats a few inches until our legs were pressed down by the lap bar. It isn't a dangerous amount.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

From a safety perspective, if she meets the height requirements at Disney it is safe for her to ride. No necessarily so at the local fair (my oldest was tall enough for the zipper and wanted to ride it so my brother took him on. It turns out that when you put a kid who is so stick thin in with his adult uncle he can slip right on out because the restraints aren't individual. Thankfully my brother was paying attention and was able to pull him back down and hold him in so that he didn't get hurt). But at Disney the restraints are much better thought out, using individually adjusted restraints where necessary. He is tall enough to ride Rock N Roller Coaster this time and I am not worried because I know he can't slip out of the over the shoulder restraints. In fact, if my youngest grows and inch he will be tall enough too. I'm hoping so for his sake that he won't be left out of riding anything. He is about 47" so hoping he grows and inch in the next 6 months.

 

[subtchr]

Tower of terror did lift me and my 4 year old out of our seats a few inches

And that's the best part!

(Sorry, OP, I know that doesn't help, but it IS the way the ride is designed, and the restraints keep everyone safe!)

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mtn moments before midnight with her screaming "one more time daddy" all the way.

I think a 7 yer old should be fine on anything.