Expidition Everest with 6 year old?

[JFrey4240]

For those of you that have ridden EE...is it too intense of a coaster for a 6 year old? My DD wants to ride because of all the promotions on the Disney Channel and she is tall enough. She likes Thunder Mountain Railroad and has been on coasters at other parks near here but nothing like EE. Have kids that young been riding EE? Are they getting off crying or laughing?

 

[MiaSRN62]

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I'm wondering about intensity of this ride as well. Even though my kids are older now, my 14 yo had a bad experience on The Mummy coaster. I'm just wondering of those who have ridden both Mummy and EE, are they similar ? My 12 yo was fine with Mummy, but my 14 yo got off shaking and crying. Took us 20 min to console her. Now she loves BTMR and Space Mtn, but she's really hesitant to ride EE because of her Mummy experience. I read some of the reports on EE but not sure how much of it is in the dark and goes backwards as well. This is what really got her on Mummy.....when you go backwards in complete darkness. Is it completely dark in EE ?
Thanks for any advice and sorry to JFrey for jumping in with questions as well.

 

[crazy4dizney]

Bump

 

[LBKMAMA]

We have two boys who will be almost 6 and 7 at the time of our trip. They both love BTMR and have been on Space Mountain (not there favorite). They have high hopes for Kali Rapids (we missed it last year too cold) and EE.

Should I play it down or will they be okay....we've planned a whole day at Animal Kingdom for these two rides?

Also, what is the height requirement for EE?

 

[KarenW]

I don't know how much this will help, but my DS6 loved EE, but then again he is our daredevil child. He rides BTMR and Splash with his hands in the air the whole time and a big grin on his face. He did the same with EE. My DD9 did exactly what she does on every thrill ride - clung to me through the line saying "I don't know about this. I'm not sure I should ride it" and had her eyes closed for most of it - as soon as we got off it was "let's do that again!".

 

[jamal]

MY DS6 rode it last week and loved it. He likes the rollercoaster experience but is scared of, well, scary things. He will not do ToT (his brother has loved it since age 5). He did HM and was scared, didn't cry, but said he didn't want to do it again. He rode RnRC and liked it, but no thanks to doing it again. He closed his eyes for the Yeti on EE then on the second time he opened them and said he didn't like that guy. Overall, though, he loved the ride.

It's such a tough thing to say what another child will do; they are all so different. This was just our experience. As a reference, I have seen many more children scared after Stitch than I saw last week at EE.

Good luck; it's an awesome story/theme/ride and have FUN!
Jamal

 

[MiaSRN62]

Also, what is the height requirement for EE?

It's 44 inches.........same as Space Mtn. BTMR is 40 inches.

 

[essmom]

what about EE after a big breakfast-we planned Animal Kingdom on the day of our character breakfast- is that a mistake- should we do the breakfast another day- except each park has coasters that will be ridden after breakfast but this is our only BIG breakfast -which park do you recommend after a big breakfast- other days we pan to have cereal, bagels.

 

[formernyer]

It really comes down to the individual child. Our first trip to Disney was last week, but we've been to several Six Flags parks. My kids will ride on EVERYTHING at Six Flags (even though we have to sneak them only all of the thrill rides because they have a 54" height requirement).

The rides at Disney IMO were designed to give you an entire experience, not just a ride. NONE of the Disney rides are what I would consider "thrill" rides by Six Flags Standards (and everything at Disney is 48" or less...I think I saw one ride that was 51"). The rides which provided the most thrill were EE and Tower of Terror, but I think any child who doesn't have a weak stomach or fear or rides could handle those two just fine.

 

[Kath2003]

what about EE after a big breakfast-we planned Animal Kingdom on the day of our character breakfast- is that a mistake- should we do the breakfast another day- except each park has coasters that will be ridden after breakfast but this is our only BIG breakfast -which park do you recommend after a big breakfast- other days we pan to have cereal, bagels.

That depends on your tolerance....we ate lunch at MGM (burgers, fries, cola) and immediately afterwards rode ToT - there was no line. Youngest sister and Dad wimped out after one ride, I went on another 5 times making 6 consecutive rides (then I went and spent the next 10 minutes on the bathroom floor, feeling ill but I wasn't sick). My other sister rode another 2 times and then I joined her for our final ride once I'd recovered. My other sister didn't feel even remotely ill - and she's the only one of us who gets travel sick!

 

[IndyJammer]

We rode it for the AP Preview in January - and since DS10 is (and always has been) a roller-coaster addict, it's hard to gauge from him.

But, I can tell you that the ride did not seem to be all that "intense" to me - very similar ride to BTMRR IMHO. Just make sure to tell them that it goes backwards and in the dark - b/c that may influence your children. The Yeti is more Neat than Scary - and try to make it an adventure to "Find" the Yeti.

I would not worry about "losing your breakfast" on EE either - no loops or anthing - so enjoy Donalds! (That's what we did in January!)

 

[Cameo]

My scared DS6 and DD8 both went on it last month. DS6 was most scared of the part where the yeti comes out. I think he hid his face through most of that part. The thing is he LOVES Disney and is a serious addict. So, he had been watching the online video of the ride for several weeks before we left and I think that really prepared him to go. He sort of wanted to cry but decided to go anyway. He vows to never do it again until he's a teenager. We'll see.

I don't know the link to the online video, but maybe it would be good to watch it before going. I also don't think it's that intense, but everything unknown is scary the first time.

 

[cdpa4d]

My just turned 6 year old Daughter rode it with me last week during AK Evening EMH. She wanted to ride it because we both watched the video before we left for our trip. She was excited to try it after watching the video over the Internet a few times.

Well, she made it through the ride but she was a little frightened. Not terribly frightened, just a little. I think she closed her eyes most of the ride. After we got off she said she didn't want to ride again, but was not upset or unhappy. I think she was most scared of the backwards section in the dark; which, unfortunately, is towards the beginning of the ride. That part kind of set the tone for the rest of the ride.

I would suggest letting your DD watch the video over the Internet before riding to see how she will react.

 

[allaboard]

Before we went in March of this year we posted a picture of the large animatronic Yeti on our refrigerator. I did this to prepare the younger ones about what he looked like because I heard it's so real looking.... and that he "swipes" at the train.
Our youngest, age 6 declared loudly that she was in NO way going on the ride ... so we didn't make her go of course. But our 8 and 10 year old wanted to go and they loved it and rode it several times. They like Splash and Big T. My 8 yr old will not ride ToT or Rocking RC or Space ... but he loved EE. The backwards riding in the dark is different, that's for sure. But it's not long! And the kids never saw the Yeti on our first ride because it wasn't working I guess and the lights were just "strobe lights" instead of staying on long enough to see him. So they kept riding it to see if they could see him. It was working well the 2nd day we rode and we saw him perfectly. It's quick though. Don't blink or you'll miss him!

 

[3littleHalls]

My 6yr old DD rode EE in Feb. Space Mountain was her favortie, but she says that by far EE is her new fav. She was a bit scared of RnR, and terrified of ToT(after 2 yrs of begging to ride it, I let her). She can't wait to ride it again when we go later this year. I rode EE first to see if she would like it. It reminds me very much of BTMR, just smoother and a a bit more thrill ride to it.

 

[N&B'smom]

Does this ride go backwards for very long? I only ask because I've been on rides before that go backwards for a decent amount of time and I always end up with a headache.

I plan on riding this with my soon to be 7 year old when we go in late Sept/early Oct. He's a bit nervous but is one of those kids that likes to challenge himself so I KNOW he'll want to go on it. To be honest, I'm more nervous then he is!

Shelby

P.S. What ride is BTMR!?!??!!?

 

[formernyer]

Before we went in March of this year we posted a picture of the large animatronic Yeti on our refrigerator. I did this to prepare the younger ones about what he looked like because I heard it's so real looking.... and that he "swipes" at the train.

"Real-looking" is not how I would describe him. Disney does a great job with making things look real, but I think this one is the exception. I rode EE twice last week and I don't think anybody found it real looking. The shadow room got almost no reaction from anybody on the ride and the "real" part got mostly laughs and people shouting, "Look!" but it didn't get many screams.

 

[formernyer]

Does this ride go backwards for very long? I only ask because I've been on rides before that go backwards for a decent amount of time and I always end up with a headache.

I plan on riding this with my soon to be 7 year old when we go in late Sept/early Oct. He's a bit nervous but is one of those kids that likes to challenge himself so I KNOW he'll want to go on it. To be honest, I'm more nervous then he is!

Shelby

P.S. What ride is BTMR!?!??!!?

It only goes backwards for as long as it takes the coaster to fall down the hill...probably less than 10 seconds.

This ride is a lot more hyped up than it deserves. Was it good? Yes...like most other Disney rides, it's an "experience." Was it one of the best rides I've ever been on? No. It isn't very intense at all. You're riding it for the experience, not for the intensity. If you want intense, you need to go to Six Flags to find it because it isn't available at Disney.

 

[IndyJammer]

BTMR or BTMRR - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

 

[Raevyn_Wolfe]

maybe bad parent award should go to me -

Me and my husband are thinking of ways to make our 4 year old grow another 1/2 inch to ride it.
We rode it during the preview in January and did not make "preparations" that trip to make my son able to. . . because we wanted to try it first ourselves and see how he did on all the other "thrill" rides. This trip we've decided he's "big" enough because all last trip he rode the big kid rides no problem (other than space mountain and rock'n rollercoaster and mission space, because of height and worried mommy syndrome). . . his favorite was TOT, lol (which is the one I was most hesitant about ofcourse).

To me EE was so very smooth. MUCH smoother than RR, and about a mix of BTMR and Space Mountain. The backwards part was very short (almost too short to me). I tust my son on it.

Trouble is every kid and even adult is different. So there's no real way of knowing how you'll or your kids will do unless you try. Just do your kid a favor and if they protest to doing it, try and persuade them all you want, but please never MAKE them go on it.