Disney with kids who don't meet height requirements

[Dreamer8]

I'm curious how many of you traveled or travel to Disney eventhough your kids don't meet the height requirements? It seems like so much of a hassle if the kids aren't going to measure up rather than just waiting until they're tall enough.

 

[stargazertechie]

I was 40" on my first trip. There's honestly so much more to do that DOESN'T have a height requirement than things that do.


And for families with several kids, waiting until EVERYONE is 40/44/48 would mean that the oldest would have to wait a LONG time to go on their first trip.

 

[simba20]

Then I guess my daughter hasn't liked the past 7 trips she has taken, since she was 20 months old....she's now almost 4. While she still doesn't meet the height requirements for the Moutnians, EE, RNRC, or TOT....we all still manage to have a great time.

 

[lsenquiz]

There really is way more to do that does not have a height requirement then there is that does.

 

[satorifound]

My little guy is short and he was bummed he couldn't go on California Screamin' the last Disneyland trip, but it was the only ride he wanted to go on and couldn't. It wasn't bad.

 

[aidtrismommy]

There are many more rides that a small child CAN do than the ones they can't. For me, it isn't just about the rides, it is about the attractions and atmosphere. I brought my children as babies and continue to bring them every year. Each year it is a different vacation because we stay at a different villa and the kids are willing/able to do more rides. There is a ton to do at Disney, not just the headliners. So I would never wait until my kids met the 40", I simply couldn't wait that long to share one of my favorite places with my children. And they DO remember.

 

[TandLMommy28]

So few things have height requirements. My son was 38.5" and I think the only two things he WANTED to go on but couldn't were Soarin' and Test Track. He still had an amazing trip.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Here are all the rides, attractions, shows that younger children can go on and don't have height restrictions.

MK: Winnie the Pooh, Mad Tea Party, Snow White, It's a Small World, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Prince Charming's Carousel, Jungle Cruise, TTA People Mover, Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Country Bear Jamboree, Swiss Family Tree House, Tom Sawyer's Island, Carousel of Progress, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Numerous Character Meets and Meals, Wishes, Electric Parade.

And that's just for Magic Kingdom. It's so much more than just thrill rides, and unlike some of the other amusement parks, younger children can have a great time at WDW. Whether it's a hassel or not is such a subjective thing, each family will have to decide on their own though. We love Disney!

 

[danceintherain]

I took my 3 month old son to Disney last November. He couldn't ride any of the rides that had height requirements, and slept most of the day. We still rode some of the attractions with height requirements, we simply took turns by utilizing the Single Rider Line, Fast Pass, and/or Rider Swap. While planning the trip, we didn't plan on doing anything with a height requirement, but once there and our son was asleep a lot, we found that it wasn't that big of a deal to take turns, since we were simply waiting for him to wake up anyways.

Something that you should consider is that it is nearly, if not completely, impossible to do EVERYTHING at Disney in a single trip. By removing many of the height restricted attractions from our touring plan, the list of things to do became much more manageable, and we didn't feel like we were missing anything.

That said, both myself and my husband have been to Disney before. We knew then and know now that we will return again...often. We know which attractions we enjoy, and which we don't mind skipping until our children are old enough to enjoy everything.

If you consider Disney a once in a lifetime destination, then it might make sense for you to put off the trip until all your children are old enough to experience everything. However, the list of attractions with height restrictions is much shorter than those that anyone can ride. You could spend the entire day doing only these attractions. If you feel that the value of admission is directly related to the number of headliner attractions you can do, then again, it might make sense for you to put off the trip until all your children can experience everything.

Another consideration is if you have multiple children some of which who meet the height requirements and other who don't. If one child will be very upset if his big brother gets to ride, and he doesn't, then this, obviously, complicates matters. (I was only slightly shorter than my older sister, and she got to ride Space Mountain while I didn't as children, so I understand this dynamic)

If you decide to go, definitely familiarize yourself first, with the rides with height restrictions:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/height.htm

Second, familiarize yourself with the Rider Swap/Switch program:
http://wdwuntangled.com/fastpass.php

 

[las3888]

DS is over 48" and meets the height requirements for everything (I think?) but he is way to cautious to go on many of the "thrill" rides. He is 6--we have been going for over 5 years now with him. One of these days we will see the inside of Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and even Big Thunder Mountain. In the meantime, we are just back from a full week of fun and feel like there were still things we didn't see and do....there's always next time. I urge you to GO!

 

[Dreamer8]

I'm sure my kids would have fun but I'm wondering about myself and the mrs? We like to go on the more adventurous rides and if our kids can't, not quite ideal.

 

[lroger01]

I'm sure my kids would have fun but I'm wondering about myself and the mrs? We like to go on the more adventurous rides and if our kids can't, not quite ideal.

KIDS CLUBS! Spend the morning at a park collecting fast passes for the headliners the kids can't ride. After an afternoon break and dropping the kidlets off at one of the kids clubs, go back to the park and ride, ride, ride.

I did that my first trip with a too short 4 year-old and an adventurous 9 year-old. We did this about mid-way through the vacation. By then the 4 year-old was more then ready for a touring break. She really had a good time and didn't have any issues when we chose to do it again later.

 

[Dreamer8]

KIDS CLUBS! Spend the morning at a park collecting fast passes for the headliners the kids can't ride. After an afternoon break and dropping the kidlets off at one of the kids clubs, go back to the park and ride, ride, ride.

I did that my first trip with a too short 4 year-old and an adventurous 9 year-old. We did this about mid-way through the vacation. By then the 4 year-old was more then ready for a touring break. She really had a good time and didn't have any issues when we chose to do it again later.

hmm that sounds like a pretty good idea

 

[danceintherain]

I'm sure my kids would have fun but I'm wondering about myself and the mrs? We like to go on the more adventurous rides and if our kids can't, not quite ideal.

Honestly, the number of "thrill" rides at WDW is fairly low. I don't know how tall your kids are, but the list of thrilling attractions is fairly short, and you'll need to go to every park in order to pack in a truly thrilling day. My brother did this on one of our trips. On our last day, he went to all 4 parks and used the Single Rider Line to ride every "thrilling" attraction.

For this reason, the PPs idea of gather thrilling FPs in the morning isn't really feasible if you're going to want to ride all the thrilling attractions in every park. I guess it depends on how long your kids are in the kid's club.

 

[Dreamer8]

Honestly, the number of "thrill" rides at WDW is fairly low. I don't know how tall your kids are, but the list of thrilling attractions is fairly short, and you'll need to go to every park in order to pack in a truly thrilling day. My brother did this on one of our trips. On our last day, he went to all 4 parks and used the Single Rider Line to ride every "thrilling" attraction.

For this reason, the PPs idea of gather thrilling FPs in the morning isn't really feasible if you're going to want to ride all the thrilling attractions in every park. I guess it depends on how long your kids are in the kid's club.

Well it doesn't need to be thrill ride after thrill ride, but if I go to Magic, I'd like to be able to ride Thunder, Splash, and Space.

 

[Colleen27]

As others have said, there's far more that is "all ages" than that has restrictions, and most of the restricted rides have low height requirements (38" for Kali, 40" for Splash, Thunder, Soarin', Test Track, etc) compared to other amusement parks where 48" is the "magic number". And unlike other amusement parks there is a downside to waiting, at least for those of us with several kids - by the time the youngest is big enough for all the rides, the oldest is old enough not to believe in some of the magic.

Besides, Disney's baby swap system makes trading off on the rides that the little one(s) can't ride super easy. We have three kids and the older ones love baby swapping the things the youngest can't ride because they get to ride twice - once with DH and once with me.

 

[mb_uh]

Yep- I am sure I would if I had chosen to limit my family to one kiddo but since we have more then one we decided to take the kids and let them enjoy what they could

We did leave our youngest at home for the first trip since the other 2 were tall enough for almost everything over 44 which was great but we have decided to go back with all of them before the youngest could know he was "left behind" and almost 3 he loves all things Disney and he will love it- and before anyone starts the memory thing We want to see his reaction NOW not in 2 years when the magic may have dimmed.

 

[Dreamer8]

As others have said, there's far more that is "all ages" than that has restrictions, and most of the restricted rides have low height requirements (38" for Kali, 40" for Splash, Thunder, Soarin', Test Track, etc) compared to other amusement parks where 48" is the "magic number". And unlike other amusement parks there is a downside to waiting, at least for those of us with several kids - by the time the youngest is big enough for all the rides, the oldest is old enough not to believe in some of the magic.

Besides, Disney's baby swap system makes trading off on the rides that the little one(s) can't ride super easy. We have three kids and the older ones love baby swapping the things the youngest can't ride because they get to ride twice - once with DH and once with me.

Yes we've heard of the baby swap but don't really want to go that route...

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes we've heard of the baby swap but don't really want to go that route...

So many rides you can't really experience "together" anyway. Rock n Roller Coaster, you can't even look at the person next to you (nor should you, unless you want to seriously hurt your neck). Space at WDW you're one in front of teh other (and not even in a close "awww" way as you are at DL's Matterhorn). etc.

We never found that Rider Switch impacted our rides negatively. In fact it was actually more fun, and gave us twice as much stuff to talk about, by meeting other people while in line or at the loading zones...instead of knowing the other person's reaction already b/c you were there, you got to talk about it and compare rides. To us, lots of fun.

 

[danceintherain]

Well it doesn't need to be thrill ride after thrill ride, but if I go to Magic, I'd like to be able to ride Thunder, Splash, and Space.

That makes sense, but ultimately you'll have to skip something.