FJ/Gringots with a non-thrill seeker child?

[LibrarianBecky]

My son, age 9, is a huge Harry Potter fan. He is very excited to visit Universal soon...but I'm not sure what to do about the HP rides. He is not a thrill seeker/roller coaster person. At all. To give you an idea, the biggest roller coaster he has ever been on was Barnstormer at MK (two years ago), and he was frightened/did not enjoy himself. However, spiders/dementors/He Who Must Not Be Named wouldn't bother him. (He loves Haunted Mansion, for example, and has since he was small. Plus, he's read and seen all but the last HP book/movie.)

My problem is that I'm just not sure what to do about the Harry Potter rides. I'm pretty sure that he'll go on Flight of the Hippogriff without any trouble. It seems similar enough to Barnstormer that it should be fine. FJ/Gringots...I don't know if I should encourage him to try it or not. He's asked me if they are roller coasters, and I've told him that they really aren't. I've told him that you are on a seat that moves up, down, left, right and that you watch images on a screen throughout the ride. How else would you describe it to a child? I've tried looking for videos, but the ones I"ve found are very dark, and I can't really tell what is going on.

Any suggestions or ideas? Any have a non-thrill seeker ride the big HP ride and love them? Would it be better to try Gringots first, and then FJ?

I really, really don't want a bad experience on a ride to put a damper on our day.

 

[kohlby]

Has he done Spiderman yet? Spiderman isn't the same thing but I used that to explain it. I explained it as a more intense Spiderman ride and also made sure the child knew about the giant spider. My non-coaster kid who doesn't scare easily was more than willing to try FJ on our last trip - and he was 10. He said he liked it but didn't do it a second time so I'm not so sure. My thrill seeker coaster kid is the kid who is scared of Haunted Mansion so she didn't do FJ on our last trip - at 7. She says she wants to do it this trip though and she's 9. I'm not sure if she can handle it but I figure the worse that happens is that she closes her eyes. She has been on rides she didn't like before and handled them quite well so I'm confident her choosing what she wants to do. We've always let our kids pick if they want to ride. (If it's for intense/scary reasons). This way, they feel like they have control. It's worked quite well. They usually know what they can handle and when they don't, they aren't scarred by it and the rest of the day goes well.

We have not had a chance to do Gringotts yet but it looks much less intense than FJ. I expect all my kids will do Gringotts - even the 6 year old sensory-quirked kid. (That child will not be doing FJ though, even though he does make the height requirement).

 

[RMulieri]

My 11 y/o dd hates thrill rides but loved Gringotts.FJ scared her a little because of the scary elements( dementor attack, dragon, whomping willow, large spiders)

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

If your son does not like coaster elements, you should prepare him for the initial drop on Gringotts, right at the start of the ride. Its not a huge drop, but its fairly swift and in the dark.....and the cars tip forward and hold for a moment before the drop lets go, so you have that feeling of "anticipation" before the plunge.

 

[dixonsontour]

Hippograff is tame - tamer than barnstormer.

I'd do gringotts first. Warn him there is a small drop but it is not a rollercoaster. It is more like haunted mansion in that ride vehicle moves along and you see images. My 8 year old liked it and made no comments re it being scary at all.

FJ is definitely more of a thrill ride. My DD found it rougher and it tips you back. She wasn't scared but more of a thrill ride.

I don't do coasters - hulk etc but am fine on both hp rides.

 

[dixonsontour]

Mine would have gone on gringotts again (scuppered by breakdown) but didn't want to go on forbidden journey.

 

[nkereina]

Forbidden Journey contorts you every which way and at one point, it tilted so far backwards that I thought we were going upside down. Those elements may be scary, but I would say it's different from and wouldn't compare to a rollercoaster. Gringott's is more of a rollercoaster style but would have Barnstormer type of intensity, if that.

I believe there are POV videos on YouTube for each ride if he wants to get a feel for them before you go. If he decides against Forbidden Journey, you can enter a separate line for a castle tour only. You can still take in the greatness of the queue without waiting in it. At Gringotts, you can still go through the line to take that all in and exit before boarding the ride, but I don't believe there's a separate entrance.