Disneyland w/ 3 1/2 year old

[nojenni]

Hi - my husband and I are taking our daughter to Disneyland for the first time at the end of July. She is 3 1/2 years old and has been on some rides in other smaller parks before. She is 40.5 inches tall. I'm just curious what everyones opinion and experience is on this

Space mountain says the height limit is 40 inches. Ive only rode it once and I loved it but I don't remember how aggressive it is. Do you think it's really ok for a 3.5 year old even if she meets the height requirement? I don't think she will be scared just worried it will jerk her head around too much.

Thought?

 

[skiingfast]

Don't base what she can ride on how tall she is and what other rides she has done.

Try starting off with outdoor rides like, the Train, Jungle Cruise, Mark Twain, Dumbo and Autopia. Then work up to indoor rides like Buzz Lighyear, Small World and Peter Pan. Then the dark rides which are more scary like Snow White and Pinnochio. Then the bigger scarier dark rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Then fast and dark like Splash Mountain, Big Thunder and Space Mountain. This way you can feel out how much themeing and other effect she can be comfortable with.

Don't forget Disney California Adventure, it has lots of great rides for little ones too.

 

[shannonkay]

It really depends on the kid! If she shows interest in going on the fast rides like Space Mountain, try out Gadget's Go Coaster in Toon Town and see what she thinks. It's a small little roller coaster that I remember at least one of my cousins loving it at about 3.

Follow your instincts about your child and what she likes and what she's afraid of. And ask if something sounds scary or fun. For example, I was not afraid of the roller coaster rides as a kid but I was afraid of the Haunted Mansion and I got really scared on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. My best friend growing up was the opposite.

Personally, Space Mountain is my favorite!

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Our 4 year old grand daughter wanted to ride space mountian so her mom and dad let her. I felt she was to young. Lilly did great on ride. Had fun -she said and felt riding with her daddy made it easy. She only went on Space Mountian one time as being in the dark was what made her not want to ride again. She did ride Matterhorn several times, using the old bobsleds. She did great on this coaster and would have ridden it 20 times in a row if we would have let her.


Her parents of course never let her ride alone -- this brings up the issue of the new seating config. of the new bobsleds. My daughter and son-in-law do not like the fact she would not be strapped in nor would they be able to actually touch her to make sure she was secure in the ride.

She wants to do tower of terror this year -- as a 5 year old. Grandson went last year said it was fun but has no intention of doing it again.

We showed the kids u-tube videos of the rides so they sort of knew what was going to happen and when.

Hope this helps a bit -- I guess best is to play it by ear.

 

[Xenorye]

I'm going next year, and my daughter will be 3 1/2 years old, so I'm wondering a lot of the same things. My daughter's pretty adventurous already at almost 3, but I'm still not sure. One that I would really like to take her on is Splash Mountain. Is the seating on Splash Mountain still bench-style (no seatbacks so I could bear hug her if necessary)?

 

[rtfelt]

Splash mountain has individual seats front to back, but the very farthest back seat is a double across you can request for you and your child to sit there together.

 

[Xenorye]

Splash mountain has individual seats front to back, but the very farthest back seat is a double across you can request for you and your child to sit there together.

Thanks so much!

 

[nojenni]

Update: my daughter rode everything she was tall enough to ride. She LOVED thunder mountain and didn't care for tower of terror (as I expected) and splash mountain. She got pretty wet and was not happy about that. She said space mountain wasn't too bad. She had the most fun meeting all of the princesses and collecting/trading pins.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Thanks for the update. I always like to hear back how things went.