Fantasmic - Age of your kids?

[Frozen2014]

Hi,

I've heard warnings that Fantasmic can be scary for a child. Some suggested I watch it on you tube to see if my younger one would be a good age (which is a good idea), but I'm just wondering for those that have gone....how old were your little ones? And how did they like it?

 

[RooRach0906]

DD saw it for the first time this past September she was a little over 3. She watched/watches Sleeping Beauty with out being scared so I thought she would be okay. For the most part she was there were some times that she got a little frightened but she never to the point of tears and we did talk to her whispering in her ear with excitement some of the show.
We have decided to wait until she is 5/6 to go again. It is my favorite show and I am bummed to miss it but I will wait until she will be more excited about it next time.

 

[RMulieri]

Mine was 4 when she first saw it..she liked it.

 

[Crystal824]

My daughter was 2 1/2 when she first saw it. I was worried she would be scared, but she loved it. I suppose it depends on the child.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

11 yearl old daughter - thought the water effects were great, theme of the show weird.
6 (just shy of 7) year old daughter - hated it, cried through the whole thing. She does not do well with "creepy".

 

[smitch425]

My kids were 2 and 4 the first time they saw it, and they both loved it. DS went to see ITTBAB when he was 5 and I had to cover his mouth with my hand to keep the screams from coming out. Apparently giant dragons and snakes are awesome at 2, but a talking ant at 5 is horrifically terrifying.

 

[IhrkeFamily]

Part of what makes it scary for kids in the unknown. For my youngest I knew when scary parts would come up and either snuggled him or told him what would happen. Most of the show is so full of magic that I didn't want him to miss.

 

[melglnh2o]

We went to HS in November and it was our first time seeing the show. My 3 year old DD did not like it (she kept hiding her eyes) but all 9 of us in our group thought there was too much villain and not enough hero. The concept is very cool but it wasn't really for any of us in our group.

 

[kmb584]

My DD was 15 months the first time she saw F! and it didn't bother her. She's almost 5 and has seen the show 8 times since.

 

[whitney37354]

DD was 5 the first time we saw F! I don't remember her being scared. She was more afraid of Haunted Mansion.

 

[Mousemommy1]

My kids were 3 and 6 the first time they saw it. It did not scare them at all.

 

[LSUfan4444]

My daughter first saw it just after her first birthday and most recently saw it after her fourth birthday and has seen it probably a half dozen times in between. She has never been scared and she watches a podcast of the show on our Ipad pretty frequently.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great...I was being scared away, but reading the ages of your young kids here, they were ok. It does seem like a neat way to end a day at HS.

 

[Missyk1124]

My 2 1/2 year old DD was terrified and my husband left with her. My 5 year old DD wanted to like it but covered her eyes and plugged her ears for most of it. We will be skipping it on our next trip.

 

[snorkelyn]

First time, my kids were 2, 4 and 6.
Second time they were 4,6 and 9.

My middle daughter is very sensitive. She doesn't like haunted houses or other scary surprises. She did fine.

My youngest and oldest (boys) loved it.

All 3 kids will admit that it scared them, but they just scooted a little closer to us. They liked the thrill of being scared.

 

[cel_disney]

My kids (7 and 3) have seen it a number of times...in their first few viewings each, i would coach them about what was coming. And explain the storyline about the bad dream etc...

They may have had some moments of trepidation those first few viewings but the beginning and end of the show are fabulous and always leave them in a good mood!

They had a harder time (still managable) with haunted mansion the first time because its creepy and not animated characters/bright colors/etc...

Disclaimer - my family is totally okay with villians and halloween and scary things etc....

Take some time on a magic kingdom day to watch the castle show - and see how your kids do with malificent and bad dreams etc. That might be a way to gauge if they will be open to F! Its no where near the same scale but it would allow you to explore the concept and maybe get an early read...

For our family F! Is a must see!

 

[aubriee]

We took my grandson when he was three. He loved it.

 

[Frozen2014]

Take some time on a magic kingdom day to watch the castle show - and see how your kids do with malificent and bad dreams etc. That might be a way to gauge if they will be open to F! Its no where near the same scale but it would allow you to explore the concept and maybe get an early read...

For our family F! Is a must see!

Hmm...come to think of it, I took my daughter to Disney on Ice show in December and she did scare away at the bad (octopus?) in Little Mermaid. Then again, she'll be almost a year older by October.

Question...if we start to watch it and it's too much for them, can we get up and go? Or is that difficult to do? If we go, am thinking of booking it with one of the dinner packages...so not sure if you can escape if needed.

 

[Sphinx610]

My DS was 6 and he was fine. Loved it. DD was 2, almost 3, the first time she saw it. She said it was a little scary @ the villain part, but never cried or asked to leave. I asked her later if she liked it and she said it was scary but she liked it. She had already seen it via youtube, so the shock was taken out of it for her. She knew it was going to be OK. I let her watch it and asked her if she wanted to see it. Now I did that with the winnie the pooh ride and she was like NO WOOZLES.
I totally agree with the people saying it depends on the kid though. I would heed the warnings if she scares easily and at least watch it on youtube. I have a friend w a DS3 and he scares easily so I would not recommend it for him, but at his age my DD was fine. Also, I have another friend w a DD8 whose daughter heard it from outside the ampitheatre and was terrified. You know your kid best. Good luck!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Our children have been to WDW every year of their lives. Our oldest always enjoyed this show. Our youngest was at least a little bit afraid until about age 6. By "a little bit afraid" I mean that he cried a bit and covered his eyes at times, but never asked to leave - and he always knew that if he asked, we would leave. To compare - he was horribly afraid of ITTBAB until age 8 or so - we couldn't get him to sit through a show - he asked to leave (and we did).