Crying tots!

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Just back from a fabulous vacation. The only thing we noticed that bothered us was the number of parents who would force kids to go on attractions while they were crying(screaming) not to go! I think there were more preschoolers this trip as many schools must not be out yet. Our kids are older but our youngest(8) still does not want to do certain rides. No need to make her ! We can take turns or do something else with her while the other one goes on the ride with DS. WHY do parents force kids? The strangest was a boy about 10 in the line to Buzz ! He was hysterical and saying "I don't want to go!" while the mother smiled and pushed/pulled him through the line. Thankfully we fastpassed through the line and therefore do not know the outcome(perhaps he had not been told Space Mt. was a coaster and did not trust the parents?) Another child about 3 cried going into Muppets and continued the entire time. There IS an exit there! The child, the mother, and the people around them surely could not enjoy the attraction. Another boy cried going into and during Ellen's Energy Adventure. A boy was hysterical in line for Journey into Imagination and thankfully the CM looked at our distressed faces and said loudly, "I never understand why parents make their kids go on rides when they are crying". The father heard and stepped back! CM gave us the thumbs up and said the worst was when a mother threatened the child that they would not see Mickey unless they went on the ride! A infant cried during WWTBAM, there IS an exit there too! I don't get it? Do the parents truly enjoy the ride with an hysterical child? Do they not know about child swap?? I hope that boy enjoyed Buzz if he made it on!

 

[cinmell]

I know what you mean! We took our daughter in September and she was 22 months old at the time. She loved Haunted Mansion and Pirates and went on the rides 3 or 4 times each. We went back last month and she was 2 1/2 and she started to get nervous on Haunted Mansion so my husband took her out. She also had no desire to see any pirates so we didn't take her on at all. I don't see the point of taking a child on a ride if it's going to scare them, never mind that you the parent can't enjoy it or the other vacationers around you.

 

[Tink]

Our little older DD is now 4. She used to do the Snow White ride, but now she won't even walk too close to it! She just tells us that it is too scary for her. So I go alone and DH waits with our girls. I could never force her onto a ride. I guess since we go every year, I know that as she gets older, she'll get braver.

I think that some parents want to get the "full experience" and forget that the kids aren't happy. So what if you did it all and your kids are freaked out?

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Our DD did not like Snow White when she was 3 1/2. So we have skipped it every single visit until this past week. She did it and likes it now! We also think it is different now?? Not sure since we skipped it so long! She finally did and loved Test Track this visit ! So we did it a few times ! She was hesitant of HM at 3 1/2 but wanted to try at that age. I helped her cover her eyes and we laughed at things. Now it is one of her favorites. BUT, if she had cried at 3 and not wanted to go, she would not have! Thing is, the lines were non existant on many of these attractions , yet the parents continued to push! Would have been easy to take turns on some of them.

 

[paperboy]

We saw a family in line for dinosaur. There was a little boy..my guess was 3 or 4..that was begging not to go on the ride. To my horror..the parents were yelling at him saying "If you don't want to go, go wait outside by yourself." The little boy asked his dad or mom to wait with him and they both siad no..if he wanted to be with either of them he had to go on the ride. I have to say..I wish now I had said to the father as politely as possible "You know this ride really isn't for his age group" but my husband frowns upon giving unsolicited advice. Needless to say, this poor boy was screaming crying and practically under his seat! The father turned after and seemed embarassed that his child was scared. I was extremely annoyed.

When I go anywhere with my children, I am always in the mindset that the children come first. If that means not going on a ride that I would like..oh well! I know not everyone has that same mindset, but since I do, I have a very hard time seeing a child be forced to do something they are exclaiming scares them. Especially when Disney makes every effort to accomodate kids that don't want to ride by offering the parent swap!

This will be our first trip to Disney with our kids. I know my Ds almost 3 is scared of alot of things...ie school buses, trucks..but he loves shows and characters...so we are already prepared that if he doesn't like a ride or is scared to do it..it's ok and not worth the fight!

Anyway, good thread..that incident has been eating away at me since Jan!

Thanks!

Paperboy's Wife

 

[disneymom3]

I have to say, I am one of the guilty forcers to an extent! I would never take my three yo on Pirates or Haunted mansion, but he cried getting on Pooh, loved it, and cried when it was over cause he didn't want to get off. I am sure the people in line behind us thought he had cried the whole time. We got right back in line and he was so excited to ride he could hardly wait the 5 minutes it took. Same with Peter Pan--didn't want to get on. loved it and talks about it all of the time.

Now screaming hysterically I wouldn't do, but I do make him go on some rides that he says he doesn't want to. I just use reasonable judgement. The rides he said he didn't want to do this year that we stayed away from were HM--which we wouldn't have let him ride anyway because it would freak him out--Buzz, the cars--too loud--Tom Sawyer's Island--he doesn't like the caves--Spaceship Earth and a few others. We did do Dumbo, Peter Pan and Small World even though he said he didn't want to. The only things he would not have objected to were the train, TTA, and the Safari at AK. WE also don't do rides where he might cry if we are seated with others. And we did leave the Living Seas movie immediately when he started to scream due to the volcano--who'd have thought???

 

[goofyernmost]

That is the very reason that I never took my kids to WDW until they were old enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality. They were 6 and 8 years old. They still had some they didn't like but they were never afraid of any of them. JMHO!

 

[>>^..^<<]

I guess some parents figure that their child is crying because of the unknown - and once they try it they will love it. But Dinosaur? and HM? LOL - there is no way they are suddenly going to start enjoying it if they were scared to begin with.

Maybe they are also thinking this is their one big trip to Disney and they may never be back.. better make their kids experience everything.

>>^..^<<

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

disneymom, coaxing your child to try is WAY different than what I and others saw-forcing and threatening ! DD thought she wanted to do Space Mt. this time, but as we started walking that way she changed her mind. I told DH and DS to go ahead and we would do Peter and IASW again. I "knew" her tension would build and it was not worth it. But we kind of talked her into trying Test Track and she was fine! I think as parents we know our children. These parents "knew", but were not giving in or backing down . To force an already hysterical child is wrong. To coax a non crying child to try is fine IMHO.

 

[undertheradar]

We experienced this at Sea World on Journey to Atlantis. There was absolutely no line, and the father in front of us "forced" his 10(?) y.o.DD to ride. This girl screamed and cried until they stopped the ride and took her off. The father did not want to exit, but security convinced him. My 10 and 5 y.o. kids could only talk about this the rest of the day. That screaming really left an impression on my kids.

 

[mrssalvaggio]

We have been going every year since our DD was 2 1/2 and she is almost 14. Now all our 4 yo DS (5 in Sept.) talks about is when we're going back (Dec. 6-14). As a first grade teacher I know that at age 6 some kids totally get the fantasy thing, while others are just starting to. I can't imagine waiting though to take our kids, because so much of the joy has been experienced when they are still at the precious age to "believe". I guess we've been lucky because our kids always want to do it all. Only one bad experience was before DS was born and our DD was 8. It was our first time on Alien and she came out crying. I felt awful!!! So this past March when DS wanted to go on, I said no way. DH, DD and DS would not stop begging. I almost refused to go on in protest. I kept telling 4 yo DS it was really scary, and his response was "Mom, it's all fake!". He absolutely loved it. When we were in the waiting area for ToT, everyone was looking at him and laughing about the little kid going on the ride (he's 45"). This was after Alien, so I agreed to let him go on. When we saw the photo, we had to get it. DS was seated between me and DH. We were both looking down at him. I don't think I took my eyes off him the entire time. Our DD was clutching her Dad with a look of terror (lol). We all laughed so hard. DS couldn't wait to go again, but we said next trip. I know he is an exception, and I don't think most 4 yo would enjoy these attractions. We are a crazy family though. Anyway, I think there are plenty of things for the little ones to enjoy. Just use common sense and you'll make lots of magical memories.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I am kind of surprised that the CM let a screaming child go on the ride. We were at BTMR once and there was a little boy about 6 that was crying and begging not to go on the ride. The parents were trying to" talk" him into it. The Cm asked him if he wanted to ride and he said no and the CM made the parents leave with him. They said they were not allowed to let a distrout child to ride because they may panick during the ride. We also saw this happen on SM. I have had to talk my DS into a few things that I knew he would love and have always been right that he would. Never forced the issue and by 10 he loves every ride there.


Jordan's mom

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Perhaps they did not allow the hysterical Buzz boy to ride. We fastpassed by them and when we were about to load I told the CM that a hysterical boy was approaching(the people around him looked scared! ). She said, "Don't worry, I have seen it all!" Perhaps she did not let him on? But they did let the crying kids on these other rides and attractions. Larger entry things like Muppets and Ellen's for CM's to notice I suppose. And the CM's words took care of the boy's Dad at JII! That big boy at Buzz was near hysteria crying and looking so scared as he yelled he did not want to ride . I will never forget that.

 

[ScarletIndigo]

I'll never understand the motivation behind the action of these parents. It comes across as very selfish when they're literally forcing their child to go on an attraction that may be too "scary" or "fast" or "intense" for their young age. What are you accomplishing by virtually scaring your child into going on a ride that they absolutely don't want to go on? Or worse, dragging them on kicking and screaming? Thank goodness some of the CMs step in and refuse to allow a screaming child to board the ride. Not only would a hysterical child likely panic while the ride was in progress, but he or she would probably ruin the experience for the other riders.

DF asked me when I was initially planning our trip why I wanted to return to WDW. "Isn't it mostly for little kids?" he asked me. I told him that it was for "kids" of all ages (including ones in their mid-20s who refuse to grow up!) and I said that it was important to me that we travelled and went on vacation and enjoyed ourselves as "kids" before we committed to marriage and raising a family together. After the children come along in a few years, we won't be taking a WDW vacation for quite some time, and when we do return, there will be no riding Space Mountain 5x in a row or staying out on Pleasure Island all night. It's best to squeeze all the thrills and "adult attractions" into our vacations pre-children, so that when we bring our kids to WDW, we can focus on THEIR happiness, and not our own desire to ride the thrill rides over and over again.

And hey, there's nothing wrong with taking an adults-only trip from time to time! But when you have children along, they need to be FIRST priority. There's nothing better than a child's happy face when they're truly enjoying a ride or attraction. People who force their kids onto intense rides before their time are not only selfish, but completely inconsiderate parents, IMHO!

[/End Rant]

 

[hookedup]

My ds is 3 and we have had AP's at DL since his first b-day. We go a lot and sometimes he is scared of stuff and sometimes he isn't. One visit he tells us "No Yo Ho too scary" Next visit he wants to do Pirates three times in a row.

Bottom line is though that we never go on anything he doesn't want to - we are there to have fun as a family.

 

[paperboy]

I agree with you 100%! If you are taking the kids to WDW it is all about them. However, don't write off going to Disney without the kids once you have them. For example, my DH and I went twice both right after our kids were born by ourselves. We left the babies with my mom and took off for 4 great days at WDW! We had a blast.

We are taking our kids Ds2 and Dd1 this October, but we also have a weekend getaway to "the World" planned for ourselves sometime maybe Jan or Feb next year (if I am not pregnant again ) If I am about 4 or 5 months after i deliver we will go by ourselves. It is important to take time just the two of you..like you said. But, like you said again, when you have the kids with you it is about the kids.

The picture of that little boy on the Dinosaur ride will always be with me. More than that..the parents telling him to go sit outside by himself and wait for them is just as disturbing!

On a happy note, I am sooo glad that the CM's have stepped in on certain rides. If the parents aren't going to listen to their kids at least someone will!

Disneymom3 - I think what you have done is totally different than what I am talking about. You knew your child would miss out on something he would really enjoy. Not the same as someone yelling and forcing their child crying! I have a coworker who took her 4yo on Alien..not knowing what it was. It took the child a very long time to go on another ride.and she really had to coax him. But eventually, he realized most rides are not like that and he had a blast. Like I said I don't think that is the same as what I saw at Dinosaur!

 

[Mrs.A]

In June of 1995, myDS was 18 months old, we did The Little Mermaid show, (what could possibly scare him in this show?) Well when Ursula the Sea Witch made her appearance, he started crying and screaming, so I did the right thing I got up and the very nice CM let us out very quietly. I did not want to ruin the show for the other people.


Now in June of 2000, my DD was 4, she loved the movie Toy Story so much, watched it 2 to 3 times a day. DS actually hid the movie.For some reason she did not want to go on Buzz ride. My husband and DS went on it (during a parade) they kept going on.

I knew she would like it if I could just get her to go. Well I was one of those parents who made her go on it. She was not screaming or crying in line. Well she got on and loved it, I don't know how many times we had to ride it.

She would not do HM, she made it to the round room and freaked out, so DH took her out to wait for us.

 

[jacksonsmom]

I can't believe some of these parents. How awful to FORCE a child on a ride. Where is the TRUST?????

Now, I think my child will be different & cry when I tell him he can not go on Space Mountain because he isn't tall enough! LOL

 

[WDWAurora]

I got upset about this several times on my trip in May too! The one that really disturbed me was when we were watching the statue lady at Italy in Epcot and this mom was forcing her daughter to go have her picture made with her...You could tell the statue didn't know what to do with her, as she did not want to do it and was clearly VERY upset...Things like that really stay with a child.

I definitely agree that there are differences though, that getting a child on a ride that you are certain they will love, just convincing them, etc. is completely different.

 

[dsnylndmom]

I don't understand forcing a child either. We go to DL at least once a year, my boys starting going at 18 mths and 12 mts (they are now 8 and 4) and they've never had a problem with the rides. I guess since they've ridden them since they were so young. My oldest was quicker to ride the coaster's and fast rides though he still won't ride the maliboomer, we've let him decide when he's ready to try them out. My 4 year old went on BTMRR for the first time last November(the day before his 4th birthday!)and loved it. When we went in April he did it again and said "now let's do the Matterhorn(while waving his Captain Hook sword)he didn't like it as much but was fine. When we went in May he did BTMRR again but skipped Matterhorn, no biggie he and I rode the teacups. He rode Soarin' Over California the last two times, but didn't want to this time, no problem hubby took him for ice cream. No need to force him to do something he doesn't want to!

BUT coaxing is another story! When we went in Nov. DS8 brought a friend who was scared to go on HM, we coaxed him and he loved it and couldn't wait to ride it again!! Which we knew he would.

Now, after hearing that Dinosaur story that's what I'll think of when we ride it the first time in August(without DS4 btw, I know he won't like it)that is just so sad, I feel so bad for that kid.

Tina