Do you have trouble getting kids to go to the 'next ride' at Disney?

[Minnie824]

So, when I was 4 and went to Disney, apparently, like a lot of little girls, I loved Its a small world. DD1.5 loves the song, watches that video, loves it as well. DD4? Well, all she wants to see is the 'ghost ride'. We watch the Disneyland fun video, loves the haunted mansion, watched the planning videos, and souvenier videos....wants to see the haunted mansion...again...and again. (btw, this is their 1st trip so she hasn't actually been on it yet). So now I'm wondering though, how difficult it will be to actually get her to go on other rides, and not just this one again and again. Anyone have experience with this or advice?

 

[Priorityonecb]

On our first trip to Disney...our youngest daughter would have ridden Small World over and over for three days. If the line was short to nonexistent...we let her ride over and over. We logged 14 rides that trip! When we are at Disney, we let the children be our guides. Whatever they wanted to ride...we did. On our last trip to Disney, the Pooh ride and the canoes were the big ones for our youngest. We rode Pooh 6 times in a row at one point (no lines). Thankfully, we only have two children though so it's easy to split up so that both children can do whatever they want. I guess I can't help much because I am a softie for that sort of thing.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

Be careful with the Haunted Mansion. My DS5 watched the planning video (over and over again) and got really excited about going to the Haunted Mansion. He got his brother (almost4) really into it too. The first day in MK was his birthday and I told him he could pick the first ride. He of course chose the mansion. Both the boys were petrified. I could barely get them on anything after that! Anything that looked dark was skipped. I forced him to go on Big Mountain Thunder because he loves roller coasters (rode the Scorpion at Busch Gardens, a loop-de-loop, 6 times in a row). He thought it was scary because it went thru a tunnel . The younger one wouldn't go on anything at all for about an hour. We finally went over to Small World and got them back into the rides. They rode that 3 times in a row. After that it was a little easier but my son said to me yesterday just out of the blue that he was "never going in the Haunted Mansion again". Our trip was over 2 weeks ago!

I know other kids do well but mine did not. You may want to ride it first without your daughter.

But yes we do let our kids ride the same rides over and over. The trip is for them afterall.

 

[Priorityonecb]

We had a deal with our youngest, that she would try any ride we thought she might like...once! If she didn't like it, she never had to ride again. Of course, we only tried the ones we really thought she'd enjoy at least once. She too deemed Haunted Mansion a one time deal! (this was at age 6).

 

[HueyDewey&LouiesMom]

We had a similar experience with Test track. My 7 year old talked about it for 13months before going. When we went to Epcot, first park of the trip, it was the first place we went. We were almost the first ones in line and while we waited a test car came flying by...he literally ran across the park. Every single ride we went on after that was a challenge to get him on.

My advice...start with the ones you know will go over well and work your way up to the bigger ones...even if they WANT to go on...LOL.

For what it is worth I know he would love the ride itself...but standing under it totally freaked him out and he won't even try it now.

 

[Brygida]

So, when I was 4 and went to Disney, apparently, like a lot of little girls, I loved Its a small world. DD1.5 loves the song, watches that video, loves it as well. DD4? Well, all she wants to see is the 'ghost ride'. We watch the Disneyland fun video, loves the haunted mansion, watched the planning videos, and souvenier videos....wants to see the haunted mansion...again...and again. (btw, this is their 1st trip so she hasn't actually been on it yet). So now I'm wondering though, how difficult it will be to actually get her to go on other rides, and not just this one again and again. Anyone have experience with this or advice?

I bet your DD4 is trying to *conquer* her fear of scary things.... I might try talking to her about that first and possibly try to help with her fear myself... if it seemed right, I would let her go on it.

For the record, I was scared to death of the Hanted Mansion as a child/teenager, and refused to ride it again until I hit 42!

As for your kids wanting to ride things again and again. They will definately want to! and be prepared for having to tear your DD1.5 kicking and screaming away from some of her favorites. My DS1.5 is very well behaved generally, but even he refused to leave certain attractions!

 

[staci]

Well, HM is in the back of the park; I would not to do that one first. It can be scary for the little ones so I would ease them into it.

Personally, I never let ds ride anything more than once IN A ROW. Being only 24 months, I knew that once he found out we could do it again, we would never be able to get him to leave Most of the exits are not by the entraces, so I think he just thought that it was gone when we exited the ride. We did of course ride his favorites multiple times, but I didnt want him to get stuck on riding one thing and miss out on other things. So we would do IASW, then go on something else, and return to IASW later in the day.

 

[LauraAnn630]

My kids like Buzz and wanted to ride it over and over!! I told them all the rides are cool and we would come back to Buzz. On the last day we park hop and go on everyones favorite ride at least once.

 

[Stephres]

My son did the same exact thing with test track too! Don't be surprised if you get there and she wants no part of it! I have yet to get DS6 to try HM (or test track).

When I was 5 or 6 I went on HM and was scared half to death when the ghost sat down next to me. So don't push it if she backs out at the last minute.

 

[100AcreWood]

That is interesting! Dh wants to take dd on HM and she's only 3. I think she will find it scarey. I feel fortunate that she enjoys Pirates (dh's favorite ride).

The thing that amazes me is I hear the Snow White ride is really scarey. So we've always avoided it. It seems like it would be made for the smaller crowd.

 

[skiwee1]

My DD was only 18 months the first time she did HM and loved it. Now 6 y/o, HM is still her favorite ride. OTOH, she hates PotC. She doesn't like that dip the boat takes during the ride.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

I did a test ride of Snow White after the fiasco with the HM. My boys would be scared. They find "the evil peddler woman" to be the scariest of all Disney characters. I think it's because she is "real". Jafar turns into a snake, Maleficient turns into a dragon and has "evil pigs" as her army but the evil queen turns into an old woman. It freaks them out. I also think that may have been their problem with HM. Ghosts are very real to them at this age.

 

[Colinsmom]

My DS3 loved the haunted mansion last month and asked for it several times again! We let him go over and over again on certain rides if there was virtually no wait, but if there was a line, we encouraged him to go elsewhere. He was actually pretty agreeable - I guess that it didn't take long for him to understand that there were cool rides all over the park!

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We always have a two time in a row limit. DS tends to get motion sick and even with medication twice is about all he can do any ride and be ok. We also like to tour parks with friends and family and if others are waiting for some to do a ride, we try to limit the time they are waiting. Of course if there is a long line we make it a one time deal!!

I do agree that for some kids that repeating a ride is a sence of mastory and important to let them have at least some part of that.

Jordans mom

 

[MrsNick]

So, when I was 4 and went to Disney, apparently, like a lot of little girls, I loved Its a small world. DD1.5 loves the song, watches that video, loves it as well. DD4? Well, all she wants to see is the 'ghost ride'. We watch the Disneyland fun video, loves the haunted mansion, watched the planning videos, and souvenier videos....wants to see the haunted mansion...again...and again. (btw, this is their 1st trip so she hasn't actually been on it yet). So now I'm wondering though, how difficult it will be to actually get her to go on other rides, and not just this one again and again. Anyone have experience with this or advice?

Good luck!

I recall being four years old and insisting on riding Space Mountain over and over again. I think my mother rode it twice with me and my father rode it three or four times with me before they put their foot down and said lets move on!

 

[lark]

On our first trip to Disney...our youngest daughter would have ridden Small World over and over for three days. If the line was short to nonexistent...we let her ride over and over. We logged 14 rides that trip! When we are at Disney, we let the children be our guides. Whatever they wanted to ride...we did. On our last trip to Disney, the Pooh ride and the canoes were the big ones for our youngest. We rode Pooh 6 times in a row at one point (no lines). Thankfully, we only have two children though so it's easy to split up so that both children can do whatever they want. I guess I can't help much because I am a softie for that sort of thing.

It is a little difficult to overstate the wisdom of this advice.

The day when small world is no longer the wide eyed wonder that it once was will be here in a heartbreakingly short blink of an eye. Why rush it?

 

[PatricenPete]

Um.....my mom and granddad took me on Haunted Mansion when I was 7 and I was PETRIFIED. (bear in mind, I was a total wuss who was scared of Santa Clause and the Easter bunny... )

In any event, during DOZENS of trips to WDW I never went on HM again. I finally went on again at 23 during my honeymoon and I literally had a panic attack - i was crying and freaking out..... I am 27 now and I can go on it now without incident, but take head - somethings can scar a little kid for life.....