"Dare Devil" Five year old!

[4fordisneyworld]

Okay moms I need some advice. We went to the world for the first time this April. My precious timid then 4yr old ( was not tall enough to ride much anyway ) tolerated the laid back rides really well. However we are going back April 08 and now that she is 5 and has the extra inches she is begging to ride the BIG RIDES!! We showed the girls the planning dvd and she thinks she is ready for everything.
Looking for advice how kiddos handle things like splash mtn, and the other large rides. We don't want to let her ride one and then it ruin the rest of the trip because she is scared to death! How have some of your excited kids handled it once they were really on the rides?

thank you!
amanda

 

[momz]

my opinion is that the "mountains" at magic kingdom would be kiddie coasters at other amusement parks. my daughter rode them at age 4 (she was tall), and did just fine. Splash was her favorite and we rode it again and again. some of the other "big" rides at other parks are a bit more intense though. She was fine on the rides at epcot (did not try mission space). She was frightened on Dinosaur, has not tried EE. And at MGM, she rode tower of terror, and announced she was "not doing that again". And i don't think she is ready for rockin roller coaster.

 

[jeepgirl30]

My DD7 is afraid of everything. She makes DS4 go down new slides first and test them out for her. When we went to Disney last year she rode everything and loved every minute of it. We did BTM atleast 4 times in a row. She rode space mountain and said it was good but she didn't want to try it again right away.

 

[Mkrop]

DS10 has been a roller coaster junkie since he did Goofy Barnstormer at age 4. Has she done that? I would start there and as another poster stated I would start with the MK coasters first. Do BTM first and if she is ok then try Space Mountain bc of the in the dark thing. I also think TT is pretty mild. I told one of DS's classmates recently that it was just like Mom or Dad driving down the highway. He went on it and loved it and had always been kind of afraid of roller coasters and he is 9. Have fun

 

[ArmyMom23]

We went to the world last summer and my son(who was 2 wks shy of his 4th BDay) was exactly 40 inches tall with shoes. That meant he could ride the big rides. He cried all during dinosaur, I do not recommend. Tower of Terror, I did not want him to ride but DH took him anyway, I sat on the bench outside with younger brother, and ran every possible horrible senerio through my head, I knew it would scar him for life and I was a bad mother. Well it turns out he loved it and he rode three more times during our trip. It's all he talks about when we talk about WDW. He loves to tell his friends he rode Tower of Terror, like it is a badge of courage.
Bottom line I guess it depends on the kid and the ride. It is a fine line betwwen wanting a child not to be afraid to try new things and wanting to protect them.
Oh by the way DS4 is scared to death of crickets???

 

[SmallWorld71]

DD4's favorite ride on our August trip was Splash Mountain and she begged to ride it again. She also liked BTMR, Kali, Soarin', and Test Track. She did not go on Tower of Terror or Dinosaur.
Interestingly she did not like Goofy's Barnstormer. She said it was too fast.
She was only 42" so those were the only thrill rides she was big enough for.
I had been on all the rides before and told her exactly what each one was like. The only one she changed her mind on when we got to Disney was TOT.
I think the most important thing is to let them know what the ride is like and then let the child make the decision. Have a fun trip!

 

[ljhmom]

I August my 3 year old rode all the big rides he could and his favorite was BTMMR, he got mad that we wouldn't wait in line 40 minutes so that he could ride it two times in a row, he was also very upset he couldn't ride space mountain with his bug brothers.

 

[emma'smom]

When my dd was 4 we did BTMRR and Splash....they remain her most favorite rides!! She has also done EE, SM, and TOT...and found the theming of both to be a bit scary (mostly because of the dark), but the thrill factor was fine. She didnt' like Dinosaur (tossed all of us around too much) and wasn't much impressed with Test Track (says her Papa drives faster). We haven't done RnRRC or Mars....