Do any rides scare your children?

[ethansmommy]

I Will be taking family trip to disney this September and while my son (2.5) has been on all of the "kids" rides in disney I wonder if he is ready for more "adult" rides. By "adult" rides I mean Pirates of caribbean, Haunted mansion ...etc. My son will be 3 when we go in September and as of now not much scares him. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions??

 

[Wtinsler]

I think the only ride that would be real scarey is Dinosaur in AK. My DD got nervous in line so my MIL took her out and thank god she did that ride even scared me!! LOL I dont think Pirates or Haunted Mansion is that bad my DD's loved them.

 

[CTmommyx3]

Well we went when my kids were 3 and 4.5 and then again just in April when they were 5 and 6.5
They hated any of the rides that had lots of dark. Like the Winnie the Pooh ride, they would not go on Snow White again cuz last time they were too scared with the dark and the witch lady.
I am hoping next time in March they will want to go on the good ones. Like POTC and Peterpan.

 

[Magic Mom]

At that age DS was scared of the dark rides. We just played it by ear and took our cues from him. We went through the line an told him what to expect and that he could hide his eyes if he got scared...then right before he got on, we gave him the option to leave. He did well with that plan.

 

[caitty13]

My son was just shy if 3 when he went for the 1st time. He LOVED Pirates and was a little nervous with the HM the 1st time then loved it... Then again he even liked the bug show at AK, all he talks about is the stink bug that sprayed the room.

 

[Rylee]

As soon as my kids meet the height requirement... we take them on it!

We tell them, "Ya know how your favorite rides never last very long, they always seem too short... well, none of the rides last very long, if you don't like it... close your eyes, hang on and it will be over in a minute."

As soon as their head hit the mark, they rode Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Expedition Everest, etc. The only exceptions have been Space Mountain and RnRc, we didn't use height as a guide, rather, we waited until we thought they could handle those.

Of course, my kids really like thrill rides, but...

My 9 y/o DS has always been afraid of the Haunted Mansion, still is and all 5 of my children, HATE the Stitch attraction. I think it scared the little guys at the time, 4 & 7, but even the girls (older) never want to do it.

 

[jennifer293]

DINOSAUR is the only ride that my DD hates and refuses to ride ever again. DD4 has never got to ride it and would probably share the same feelings.

 

[karemore]

Just remember that no ride at WDW is worth ruining the rest of the day for your family.

Unless your child WANTS to go on a ride, don't try to convince them, force them or pressure them into going.

What seems silly to us, can cause nightmares for your child and sleepless nights for the whole family. It's not worth it.

Our daughter wasn't quite 3 when we were there in April. She got progressively braver during our stay and did go on POTC with us the last day. She asked to go on the HM, but we knew that at 3 she wasn't ready for it and it wasn't worth the risk.

If you aren't sure.....skip it!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

DD did them all (POTC, Haunted Mansion, etc) when she was two and was just fine...but that's her personality. She doesn't scare easily. If she did, I think I would skip them. A huge pet peeve of mine is 1) parents who force their kids onto rides that they are scared of and 2) parents who force their kids to go see Mickey (etc, etc) when they are obviously terrified for the sake of trying to get a pic of their child with the character.

 

[mommy2aprincess4]

My DD is off and on scared of a lot of rides, the first year we went she couldnl't wait to ride the winnie the pooh ride, last year she refused - said she was scared. She will not go on the snow white ride, haunted mansion, POTC. We don't push it. When she wants to ride them she will. I think a lot is the fear of the unknown with her, we've been watching a lot of videos on youtube, that's helped a lot, she's asking to go on splash mountain on our next trip

 

[ethansmommy]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! My son is pretty brave for the most part but I will defineatly follow his lead when we are down there. After all it is supposed to be the happiest place on earth, not the most frieghtening.

 

[puffkin]

Honestly, I hate the follow your kids lead stuff......when they are that small how can they know if they like something or not until they try it themselves?

We have taken my son on everything he is tall enough for and he has liked everything. The only ride I won't take him on when he hits the height is Dinosaur because I think that is a little too intense for him. He is very tall though at 2 years old.

When we had my seven year old niece down we forced her on everything. She was crying and carrying on for quite a few rides and ended up everything except ToT. One of her favorite rides ended up being HM and she would never have gone on had we not forced her. I am so proud that she tried everything and we would never force her to try ToT again unless she wanted to.

 

[ethansmommy]

Honestly, I hate the follow your kids lead stuff......when they are that small how can they know if they like something or not until they try it themselves?

We have taken my son on everything he is tall enough for and he has liked everything. The only ride I won't take him on when he hits the height is Dinosaur because I think that is a little too intense for him. He is very tall though at 2 years old.

When we had my seven year old niece down we forced her on everything. She was crying and carrying on for quite a few rides and ended up everything except ToT. One of her favorite rides ended up being HM and she would never have gone on had we not forced her. I am so proud that she tried everything and we would never force her to try ToT again unless she wanted to.

Wow...Hate is a strong word. Thanks for your opinion/advice....I dont think Ive heard that theory before!

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm taking DN in the fall and she'll be almost 5. Last summer she was very timid about the dark rides, but she did them. I'm still on the fence about doing POTC and HM. We definitely will not be doing Dinosaur!

 

[jennifer293]

I'm taking DN in the fall and she'll be almost 5. Last summer she was very timid about the dark rides, but she did them. I'm still on the fence about doing POTC and HM. We definitely will not be doing Dinosaur!

DD4 loves POTC and HM..she actually had us ride HM 6 times and POTC 3 times in a row this past trip. I thought she might get a little freaked out, but as long as we held her hand she was fine. She finally gets it that it is just a ride and that stuff is not real...Can't get it through to DD7 that the huge Dinosaur "with the bad breath" (as she calls him) is not real...hahaha I have to admit that ride really scared me too..haha

 

[brymolmom]

At about that same age, my kids disliked OR hated:
Fantasmic
Tough to be a Bug
Honey I shrunk the audience
Tower of Terror (my 6 year old still doesn't like it)
Haunted Mansion - this one is ok, but they don't love it
Oh and PHilharmagic - can you see a recurring 3D dislike theme??

By age 3.5 - dd did sit through Philharmagic

I'm not a huge fan of letting the child dictate the way either, but dh and I take turns on adult rides that we prefer to ride and let the kids hang out and get a snack or just sit and wait and take some pictures. No big deal - if they don't want to do it - WE STILL DO!!!

 

[ethansmommy]

At about that same age, my kids disliked OR hated:
Fantasmic
Tough to be a Bug
Honey I shrunk the audience
Tower of Terror (my 6 year old still doesn't like it)
Haunted Mansion - this one is ok, but they don't love it
Oh and PHilharmagic - can you see a recurring 3D dislike theme??

By age 3.5 - dd did sit through Philharmagic

I'm not a huge fan of letting the child dictate the way either, but dh and I take turns on adult rides that we prefer to ride and let the kids hang out and get a snack or just sit and wait and take some pictures. No big deal - if they don't want to do it - WE STILL DO!!!

I have never tried any of the 3d type rides with my son, maybe now that he can sit still I little longer we will try it. Do your children do okay on them if they dont wear the 3d glasses?? I agree with you that I wont let my son dictate what ride I do or do not go on, if my husband and I want to ride something we will use the swap. But I also wouldnt want to force a screaming child on a ride, thats not fun for you or anyone around you.

 

[blana]

DS (2 1/4 at the time) went on most of the rides he could. He got a little freaked out by HM, and asked to be held. But didn't get too upset, just asked not to go back on it. The only ride he really flipped out about was Journey into Imagination. Yes, it makes no sense, but every time there was a video screen he'd start crying & screaming.... The animatronics were fine, but NO VIDEO SCREENS! That said, we didn't even try It's Tough to be a Bug or Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

 

[DevilDuckie]

When we had my seven year old niece down we forced her on everything. She was crying and carrying on for quite a few rides and ended up everything except ToT. One of her favorite rides ended up being HM and she would never have gone on had we not forced her. I am so proud that she tried everything and we would never force her to try ToT again unless she wanted to.

Doesn't sound like a very fun day to me. I guess to each his own but making a child cry repeatedly as Disney is not my idea of a good time for either party.

 

[abcboys]

My 2 year old rode everything he could when we were there (he's 35") He wasn't scared of anything. But my 6 year old wouldn't even get on splash mountain or anything like that. He's a chicken and I wasn't going to force him and have a screaming child. He did ride dinosaur and wasn't scared at all so go figure?? I know some kids that are scard of mickey mouse so all kids are different.