Diary of a Mad 5 year old

[Kies99]

Wow, my daughters are 5 and 3 and had no real problems. The 3 year old said at the end she didn't like it, but she watched the whole thing. Best thing we've found is to keep laughing at the everything in the show. Laugh somewhat loudly and close to the child so that they hear you're laughing. You'd be amazed at what a difference that makes. We DID make sure they were sitting forward in their seats so they didn't get stung (my wife did about 6-7 years ago and it hit her spine and really hurt).

My 5 year old is a daredevil and went on everything at MGM, AK, MK and Epcot except for Rockin' Roller Coaster and Expidition Everest. She was upset she couldn't do those as she wasn't tall enough.

 

[kapeman]

It's Tough to be a Bug scared ME! I'm not taking my step kids to see that one b/c it is pretty freaky.

...

this was just our experience with the "fear factor" and how we dealt with it. Take from it what you will!

Good for you!

And for your DD too!!!


I really like the way you handled the situation, firm but fair and caring.

That attitude is too often missing these days!

 

[eliza61]

There are warnings that it could be frightening -- but there should be more, make you believe, warnings that it will scare your children. While the family saw Muppets, we got Buzz and Woody's autographs -- his smile made it worth it to not see Muppets.

Like what? With young children, it's hit or miss. The first year my 4 year old went, Nothing, nada zip. He went every where including the haunted mansion. Next year, same kid- could barely get him to do a character meal. Every thing scared him. Now they are a few years older, they love the scary rides TOT, mission to mars but still don't like any thing with the 3-d glasses.

 

[Keara'sMom]

We've had a similar experience with our dd (now 10). She was afraid of most things on our trip when she was 5--would really only ride "Small World" and the carousel. Unfortunately, one of the first things that we did was to go see the Tiki Bird show, which scared her pants off! On the third day of our trip, when she only wanted to stay in the stroller, we actually got angry with her for being scared--quite the bad parenting moment, I must say. She did love the characters and showed no fear of them.

We went again when she was 8, and she did much better but would not ride anything fast (leaving out all roller coasters). She did better with the dark rides.

When we went last year on her 9th birthday, her favorite ride was Haunted Mansion! She screamed in fear, though, on Goofy's Barnstormer! Go figure!

I'm thinking we'll plan a trip for next year--wish me luck in getting her to try Splash Mountain! If she doesn't want to ride it, though, I will not force the issue--I learned my lesson!!!

 

[pl'smama]

I have to add my laugh. We took dd, 3.5 last December and we had a great trip. But, she was terrified in ITTBB, but she did not cry. Any ride or show that came after that though, was a real test. She asked on everything, is it real like ITTBB?? I had to laugh by the end of it all. But the funniest part was when we went to see the Festival of the Lion King. She was fine until the lights dimmed. Then she crawled under the bleacher seat in front of us and would not come out! Talk about embarrassing. We could not pull her out because it is a tight fit in there and the man in front of me left his back pack on his back! She finally came out after about ten minutes and loved the show. Fortunately we could laugh about it later...

Suz