Dinosaur with a 4.5 yr old???

[Mickey's Apprentice]

Has anyone done this? How did they do?

I'm worried it's too scary. And I don't have much background to go on. The last time he went to WDW, he was 9.5 months old so, of course, didn't ride it. We've gone to the fair every year but he's never done any ride that's comparable. It won't be on our first day (4th day in the parks) so I would have some time to judge his reactions to other MK, DHS, and Epcot attractions but if we plan to do it, I would probably FP it. Leaning toward skipping it and using the FP for something else we can all do together (I've read that it worth it for Nemo).

Ditto on the pics are hilarious part.

My boys are 15 now and we rode it last month and they did a "reenactment" with the same face each of them made when they were younger.

You can't buy comedy like that.

 

[DavidNYC]

Is there a general consensus on which rides are the scariest or too thrilling for young kids (ages 4 - 6/7)?

I'm gathering somewhere along the lines of (ordered from worst to easiest - ignoring height restrictions):

- RnR
- Dinosaur
- ToT
- Space Mt
- P. Whirl
- Everest
- Mission Space Orange
- Test Track
- BTMR
- Haunted Man
- Splash
- Speedway
- 7DMT
- Carpets, Dumbo, Barnstormer


I think we will keep our FP+, and wait to see how the kids do on the rides at MK and adjust if they don't seem ready for scary, fast or thrilling rides, but it would be nice to have a vague concept of comparison.

I'd say no consensus. Obviously if you're talking about someone who is afraid of Rollercoasters, there'd probably be a consensus that RnR and Everest are more extreme than Barnstormer or 7DMT but you really can't compare apples and oranges. My 6 year old daughter was scared of Haunted Mansion but Tower of Tower was her favorite ride on the same trip. Try explaining that one . . .

But intensity of experience can come from speed, drops, theming, darkness, surprise, volume, etc. and different things set different people off so you just have to know your child.

 

[ArielSRL]

No, not really.

Ok, whatever.

 

[Mac30188]

I was originally no way, however one of my daughter's best friends (4.5) got back and said it was her favorite ride. My daughter is fearless and loves scary things. I have now moved from "no way" to "maybe." I certainly don't want to intentionally upset her, but at the same time, I am sure that she will want to go on the ride after hearing about it from her friend. I will probably evaluate her maturity state at time of trip, explain it is a scary ride, and get her feedback. If she really wants to ride it, I probably will say sure. If she says no or doesn't seem to care, we will pass.

 

[WDWRook]

Our kids watched and loved all the Jurassic Park movies and they are dino crazy (our zoo has the walking with dinos thing and they love it.) They would be disappointed to miss the Dino ride. I'll have them watch the youtube, volume cranked and lights off and see what they think. Generally, I don't want to spoil too much. We let them watch the RnR to see if the boy would be in for it, and he says he is, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[hookedonears]

The only people who get to believe this are people with kids who fall in line with it.

MY kid pays attention to the feeling of the queue, the props like big Dino skeletons, the music (I thought he was going to do something with music given how much he pays attention to it), the whole thing. Two measly parents telling him dinosaurs are going to play peekaboo with him would mean nothing when compared to the evidence assaulting his senses.

Any imagineer watching him in line would be proud of their work because he pays attention to it all.



They don't. Height reqs are based on the physical nature of the ride and I assume state allowances (given the lax height reqs between Dino vs Indy and Kali vs Grizzly). You've never ridden no-height-req Pinocchio if you think all their rides are for the family.

Have ridden all of the attractions mentioned except Grizzly, (Disneyland 2009 - WDW multiple years), don't see an issue with the lax or no - height requirement for any of them.

When designing attractions, there's no doubt in my mind that Disney takes into account that there will be a certain percentage of mamby pamby kids that will be riding and adjust the experience accordingly. Conversely, Universal does not.

 

[Corey127]

Has anyone done this? How did they do?

I'm worried it's too scary. And I don't have much background to go on. The last time he went to WDW, he was 9.5 months old so, of course, didn't ride it. We've gone to the fair every year but he's never done any ride that's comparable. It won't be on our first day (4th day in the parks) so I would have some time to judge his reactions to other MK, DHS, and Epcot attractions but if we plan to do it, I would probably FP it. Leaning toward skipping it and using the FP for something else we can all do together (I've read that it worth it for Nemo).

Nope. No way, no how. It kinda scares me and I'm 34 and love dinosaurs and thrill rides.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

Has anyone done this? How did they do?

I'm worried it's too scary. And I don't have much background to go on. The last time he went to WDW, he was 9.5 months old so, of course, didn't ride it. We've gone to the fair every year but he's never done any ride that's comparable. It won't be on our first day (4th day in the parks) so I would have some time to judge his reactions to other MK, DHS, and Epcot attractions but if we plan to do it, I would probably FP it. Leaning toward skipping it and using the FP for something else we can all do together (I've read that it worth it for Nemo).

Our 5yr DS just went on it a couple of weeks ago. Like we did with EVERY ride that was fast or dark was we gave him a heads up in line (most lines went really fast, so he didn't get to anticipate it for long). We would tell him that everything is make believe, that its for fun and that while it may be scary its scary FUN, its meant to make you laugh afterwards. We would always let him decide who he wanted to ride with (he rotated between mom and dad til the grandparents came, then he wanted to ride with them)! We also held his hand or wrapped a good tight arm around him. Whenever it got dark, like on POTC or Haunted Mansion....I would whisper to him or kiss the top of his head. He ended up loving every ride and he did them all (BTMR, Splash, 7DMT, Space Mountain, Everest, Dinosaur & TOT), except for TOT, that one he said he didn't like - but it might have been me screaming that scared him. LOL

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

Good thing I read this. We have a fastpass for Dino for our 9 and 5 yr olds. Other threads suggested space mt, Everest, test track, tower of terror all would be ok (well EE height restrictions prevent our 5 yo).

How do you all rate these for little kids as being the worst to the least problematic?

My DS5 loved them all except for TOT, but I honestly think the only reason he didn't like it is because it scared me so much.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

My now DS5's favorite ride. In December we rode 4 times straight (he was 4 at the time) and he was all for a fifth but it was time to go. He absolutely loves it.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

I was wondering the same thing for my 4 year old daredevil.. she loves big rides... loves scary thing
I am more worried about her being only 30 pounds (shes a bean pole) and he little body being jolted around by the "off-roading" vehicl, she has done the mine cart just fine though

I told GMA about maybe taking her on TOT with me, and GMA got kinda mad lol

DS5 weighs 34 at 5 years old. He first rode Dino back in May of last year...he may have been 30 pounds if he had just eaten a big lunch. He didn't have any problems with it at all. His first response "that really scared me...let's go again!"

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Is there a general consensus on which rides are the scariest or too thrilling for young kids (ages 4 - 6/7)?

I'm gathering somewhere along the lines of (ordered from worst to easiest - ignoring height restrictions):

- RnR
- Dinosaur
- ToT
- Space Mt
- P. Whirl
- Everest
- Mission Space Orange
- Test Track
- BTMR
- Haunted Man
- Splash
- Speedway
- 7DMT
- Carpets, Dumbo, Barnstormer


I think we will keep our FP+, and wait to see how the kids do on the rides at MK and adjust if they don't seem ready for scary, fast or thrilling rides, but it would be nice to have a vague concept of comparison.

DS5 has been on all that he is tall enough for so that leaves out RNR, Space, Everest, Mission Space, and Primeval Whirl. He still holds on really tight on ToT but has no issues with the rest of them.

 

[quagmire0]

It's an intense ride. Brought our DS, who was 4.5 at the time, and he didn't like it. He hid his head most of the time. Having said that, it didn't scar him for life. He enjoyed Big Thunder and is looking forward to riding everything on our next trip. Didn't scar DD when I brought her on ToT around the same age. She became a roller coaster junkie the trip we took about two years later. If the kids are willing to get on and you're not physically dragging them on, I say get them on the ride and let them hide their head if they have to. Once they ride it once, they'll probably want to ride it again. That same son who rode Dinosaur also caused his Mom to abandon ship with her on Haunted Mansion, just before they got into the buggy. So, kids will tell you when they don't want to go on something.

 

[xipotec]

Ok OP , HERE IS THE ANSWER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!

Our first trip we took the kids on Barnstormer.........tiny little coaster...which shut them down the rest of the day. It scared them so bad they didnt want to ride anything else....

Now I am an over protective Dad, and the last thing I want to do is traumatize my kid and make them scared for every other ride, as we did.

There are so many "safe" experiences at WDW, why chance it? They will be grown up enough soon enough to ride those wiThout fear or residual effects.

My 5 cents....2 cents of advise aint worth anything....

 

[RedStars]

I say "No" for purely selfish reasons: if they freak out on this ride, it could ruin the rest of your day (and night). Plus, they might he hesitant to ever go on it again (trust me... I still miss the HM )

I have a 7yo and almost 5yo: we're skipping Dinosaur because I want to enjoy my day (and not have 2 kids crawling into bed with me at night).

 

[hookedonears]

Ok OP , HERE IS THE ANSWER YOU HOPED TO BE LOOKING FOR!

We took our daughter for the first time at 2-1/2. We took great pains to have great poker faces not to show an ounce of concern on our faces about anything and be as positive as possible. We started her out very slowly, It's a small world, Dumbo, Snow White, tea cups, Carousel. Snow White had it's scary parts, so my wife went to great pains to keep her attention and talk to her with giant smiles during the scary parts. We then moved to Toontown and played on the ship. Buy this time our daughter had a great deal of trust in our judgment. We went on the Goofy Roller Coaster, our daughter stopped in the queue one time when she heard the screams, I looked at and said it was going to be great, she went on a little apprehensive. My wife again went to great pains talking to her through the entire ride with a giant smile on her face and at the end she wanted to ride it over and over again. We then moved on to the Haunted Mansion. My wife talked to her the entire ride again, telling here how stupid, fake and made a joke out of everything. Daughter had no problem. Same thing with Pirates, wife did all of the same things. In the end, our daughter rode everything she was tall enough to ride, without a problem. The whole key for us is that my wife did a admirable job of talking our daughter through everything that could have possibly been concerning.

 

[hookedonears]

Now conversely, one of my best friends relayed a story about when he took his 7 year old son and his son didn't want to ride anything. His son finally agreed to ride the carousel. Once he got up on the horse, he started screaming and trying to get down. My friend said that he held onto him as hard as he could and yelled at him through gritted teeth, you're going to ride it and you're going to like it. To this day, he will not take his son, who's in high school now, back to Disney. I still laugh about that.

 

[hookedonears]

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[Betty Rohrer]

not Disney but I remember when oldest daughter was young we went to visit granddad in Cal. we went to Magic Mountain before it was a 6 flags if I remember correctly. she loved the smaller coasters she had been on so made her ride one of the largest nonlooper coaster. she cried most of the 45 minute line until we got to the loading looked at the cars and got on still not sure but as we returned to the station it was that was fun lets do it again but the line was now over an hour so we didn't do again but she is the coaster nut of the family now and passed it on to her short for his age son. neither has meet a coaster they don't love. from what I have seen the hardest part is watching while waiting for coasters. for Dino if you are scared your child is going to be, if you go thinking you are having fun and have a fun time your child most likely will jump in fright at dino but will laugh about it later