Dinosaur to scary for 5 year old?

[IcedMudd]

I have 3, 5, and 7 year olds. They are obsessed with Dinos. We've watched all the Jurassic Park movies and Land Before Time, as well as BBC Prehistoric Planet shows and Dinosaur World. We love dinos here lol.
They love the ride, although my rather timid five year old does hide her eyes at the big dino parts. We can ride Dinosaur back to back to back and they would be in heaven...although my ear drums would bleed after about the third time lol

 

[Disney845]

Hi, My sister took my 6 year old nephew on this ride, the problem was it was his first ride ever at Walt Disney World. He was on the floor boards trying to hide under the dashboard the whole time. It set the tone for any future rides the rest of the vacation and he's still not a big fan at rides in any park. I would suggest trying other rides first and see how she does on those. You could also have an adult go ride through first to check it out. Have a great vacation! Oh, by the way my nephews second attraction was It's Tough To Be A Bug, which can also scare lots of children. My sister thought it would be a mellow cartoon to watch and settle him down. He was through going on rides the rest of the day.

Don't mean to completely contradict your version of events when your nephew rode Chikita, but I just wanted to point out for other riders who may have never been on this ride and were concerned by your comments, that this is really just not possible.

The Time Rover vehicle in which you ride has seat belts (just like Test Track) with those yellow pull tabs on them that the CMs make sure everyone is safely strapped in before the ride begins. Since the ride is really very bumpy over rough "terrain" and jerks back and forth, sudden starts/stops it would be EXTREMELY dangerous for a child to be able to get out of his restraint and hide on the floorboard. Also, there is really no dashboard to the vehicle, at least not what we traditionally consider to be a dashboard with a forward opening which your legs could stretch out under (and thus allowing a child to hide under). The next seats forward on the ride vehicle are directly in front of you (with little pouches on their back to store your belongings) and even the front seats on the vehicle have no forward leg space carved out under the "hood" of the vehicle.

 

[TDC Nala]

I've heard of kids who refused to do any other rides at all after riding something that scared them... if you have kids who are sensitive dont' take them. There are kids who would love the ride though. Depends on their ability to process the darkness, the jolting, the noise, and the fact that the dinosaurs that pop out are not real.

 

[2forMe]

My kids,and I, have decided that we do not want toride dinosaur again..twice was enough. They are 6and 8. Ride is very scary, loud and hard on the body

 

[DisneyFive]

There are SOOOOO many rides at Disney, don't risk it if you don't have to. Scary things are one of the strongest lasting memories for a child.

Dan

 

[kidshop]

I wouldn't know; I go on the ride every time, but I never open my eyes! I hope someday to see the end of it, but I'm too scared.

 

[Mouse's Shadow]

I've had such a chuckle reading this thread! I guess I've never seen it as scary. I can understand how little children could be scared, but it never occurred to me that an adult wouldn't like it. We're debating taking my son on this ride. We didn't the last time we went, because he is in a wheelchair and I know it's jerky, and I'm not sure how his neck control would be. He has better neck control now, but I'm still not sure. We're going to take a neck brace with us, but I'm still concerned that it could hurt him. But for anyone who is frightened by any ride at Disney, just tell yourself, "It's Disney; there's always a happy ending"

 

[delgrec]

I've had such a chuckle reading this thread! I guess I've never seen it as scary. I can understand how little children could be scared, but it never occurred to me that an adult wouldn't like it.

I have to agree with this statement! You guys know that they aren't real dinosaurs right? LOL

 

[Buckeye Princess]

I'm 29 and it scares the tar out of me. Granted often on the ride photo there will be a young child in the row behind me pointing and laughing at the dinosaur as I am bent over covering my head with my hands. Tough to tell. Nothing else really scares me.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

I have to agree with this statement! You guys know that they aren't real dinosaurs right? LOL

Say it ain't so!

 

[Starlilly]

lets put it this way...

i rode this when i was 14 for the first time, and i seriously had to close my eyes through the whole last part after the CARNITOR, and the whole "chasing element" at the end was sooo scary! i know their robots but it didnt help me

i LOVE this ride, but it scares me no matter how much i try not to be! Id imagine a 5 year old would definetly get scared and possibly even cry!

your not a bad parent if you still let her ride . just be prepared for some cuddles and hugs afterward!

 

[bumbershoot]

Promising her she could buy whatever she wanted at the gift shop worked- we made it through and she picked out the bigges, scariest looking dinosaur and carried it around the rest of the week, training it to be nice.

That's just adorable.

Hate having to get on this soap box, but IT'S DISNEY, rides are made for the entire family. If the child is tall enough, it will be fine.

I wonder how you explain all the crying, sobbing, hysterical children I saw getting off of the ride while I was waiting with my son for DH to be done with the ride? Hmm.

The Time Rover vehicle in which you ride has seat belts (just like Test Track) with those yellow pull tabs on them that the CMs make sure everyone is safely strapped in before the ride begins. Since the ride is really very bumpy over rough "terrain" and jerks back and forth, sudden starts/stops it would be EXTREMELY dangerous for a child to be able to get out of his restraint and hide on the floorboard.

If the seatbelts are like Indy at Disneyland, and those seatbelts are like the ones on Star Tours at Disneyland, I have to tell you, my son has slipped under the ST seatbelts... It's as tight as it can be, but you get those rocking and rolling motions and a smaller, but still height-appropriate, child CAN slide.




Have an adult who knows the child well ride first. My husband nearly played the "you must ride this b/c you said you wanted to ride this" nonsense, and it would have been just awful if he had "won". Just walking up to the ride, with the sounds and sights (huge dinosaur skeletons!) creeped out my son (6 at the time, loves dinosaurs). We had to coax him into the line, and he Did Not Want To Go. I finally put my foot down and found a CM to let us out. She was so appreciative to have a parent go along with a child's concerns that she gave us "come back later" passes so I could ride quicker. And that's when we sat in the giftshop/exit area, watching countless crying children coming off of the ride...

When hubby came out, he nearly kissed my feet in thanks that I stepped up for DS, because knowing DS as he does, the ride would NOT have been good for him.



Some kids are super-easygoing...some kids aren't. Some kids can deal with POTC 1-4 (#4 in the theater!) but wouldn't be able to deal with some of the images in Indiana Jones...same kid might hate ET and won't watch it b/c of the fear that ET is dying... no fear of Orcs or UruqHai, but cries and cries when Gandalf falls... Kids like grown people, are infinitely different, and it's up to us to figure out, the best we can, what kind of kids we have, so we can best help them through whatever fears they may or may not have.

 

[Hollywoodsign]

It's my favourite ride at Disney! Are u able to ride it on ur own while someone looks after ur kids? Then u can judge it for yourself as none of us know ur kid.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I think my conversation would go something like this...

"oh yes, little Suzie...Dinosaur looks like a very exciting ride. We can ride that when we go to AK"

Suzie "Yeah!"

"Now, I have heard that the ride is a bit scary, so if you decide when we get there that you don't want to ride, we can just wait outside while Daddy and Joey ride"

Suzie "I won't get scared, Mommy."

"You are very brave, Suzie. I hope you will hold my hand while I ride in case I get scared! And, if we decide we don't like it, we know we won't have to ride it again".

 

[WantToGoNow]

This is the only ride in all of WDW that brought my dd7 to tears. She has been riding TOT, RnRC, EE and all the rest and loving them since she was 5 but said she would NEVER ride Dinosaur again. And she has always loved dinosaurs as well.

 

[waltskids]

DS was 3.5 the first time he went on it. He loves Dinosaurs so it didn't scare him. We didn't go to AK this past trip so I don't know how he would have reacted. He still loves Dinosaurs though!

 

[Lyndria]

MY 5 year old HATED it, as did I. MY 7 year old refused to go near the ride! LOL! We don't plan on riding it again.

It was loud and scary. We will stick to our coasters!

 

[WJD2011]

My DS7 went on this ride and didn't like it at all. Its pitch black and then you have dinosaurs coming up in your face. My DW didn't like it either.

 

[RMulieri]

Because some kids may become afraid to ride anything else the rest of the day... or the rest of the trip.

Exactly...My daughter was very timid and fearful of things, telling her that it is make believe or showing youtube videos didn't help.I was not going to risk terrifying her on something and then having her fearful of everything else for the rest of her trip..Some kids take things in stride and are not afraid of anything, others are.No shame in it

 

[c3363]

My take on Dinosaur is that it's one of the few rides at WDW that is geared for those who want a thrill. In other words, I don't think it was designed for young children any more than TOT of RnRC.

I've been on tons of thrill rides, roller coasters etc. I find dinosaur to be the top for special effects/animitronics. The dinosaurs look extremely real and it would be extremely scary for most children. The only ride that comes close to Dinosaur for animitronic effects is Forbidden Journey.