Has anyone else ever noticed...

[MickeyFlirt]

My DD is 5 we have been going to WDW and other parks since she was very little and she loves all rides. the faster the better.
Anyway I have mostly encountered this at WDW. I have noticed that while standing in line with her I get evil eyes and glares from people like I am making this poor child go on this extremely way to scary for a child, ride against her will...if they only know she is making me or her daddy go on it against their will.
I guess it just gets to me. I hate to get the looks and I just feel like asking them if they have a problem which I have done a time or two.
I even had a lady once tell me that SM was too scary and dark for a child I shouldn't take her on it, I tried to explain to this women that my DD has been on it 3 times already that day.
Don't even get me started on the looks I get going through dinosaur b/c this cute little child could not possibly like this ride-it's one of her favorites.
Sorry for such a long post I guess I just needed to vent b/c I had someone ask me yesterday why on earth would I subject my child to such rides and it got me thinking about all the other ugly looks I have gotten

 

[ADisneygirl]

I am sorry that happens.

If she loves the rides and is within the size/height requirements, then just ignore the ugly looks. One of the things I have discovered in life is that there are always going to be people who feel strongly enough or are brazen enough to feel the need to inflict their brand of what is right and wrong on others around them, unsolicited. If it is not one thing, they will find another.

Do what is right for you and your family and know that there are many of us out here who know it is none of our business.

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

LOL- I've only got the evil looks once and that was on Rock and Roll Rollercoaster - MY DD begged to go on this ride and it was all she talked about for the whole month before our trip - we got in line and waited for about 30 minutes , she was measured a couple times and just made the height requirement - once we get up to get on the ride she started to cry!! I about died - I must have looked like the meanest mom because I knew she would love it - I did give her the choice to go stand with her uncle Lou , he wasn't riding but walked through the line with us or go on - even though she was crying she wanted to go on- the cm said she couldn't go on if she was crying. I told him to ask her if she wanted to ride and I had given her the choice to ride or go stand with her uncle - she was still crying and she shook her head yes that she wanted to ride and gave the CM a very Shakey thumbs up - I felt about 2 feet high with all the dirty looks -LOL Anyway she rode it and LOVED IT!!!! We rode it 3 more times that day!!!

On the flip side - there were a few people that cheered her when she got on and she got some high fives afterwards! She loved that!!

 

[goofy4tink]

I so know how you feel. When my dd was just turned 6 (she turned 6 while at WDW!!) I knew that she would love Star Tours. We had never been but many people had told me about it. Well, that child cried the whole time we were in line, and it was a looong line, about an hour. No, I didn't know any better...remember this was our first trip!!! She just kept crying..."But Mommy, I don't want to do this...please don't make me do this..pleeeeeaaase!" Well, long story short...we got off and the little twit turned to me and said.."Again...please Mom??!!"

Then when we went 2 years later, I thought she was old enough to do Test Track. So, off we went. This time however, my dh was with us. Of cours dd started whining.."Mom, this is going to be too scary. I don't want to go." and sobbing and just looking so abused. Again...many people looking at me and wondering what kind of mother would do this to a child. Even her father asked me.."Why are you forcing her to do this?" I thought he was going to report me the Child Services!!! And again...we got off and she says.."Well, that was pretty fun. Who wants to do it again?"

The only time this has backfired on me was on Dinosaur. I just didn't know how loud it is. Dd can not abide loud. Even moderate sound can sound loud to her. About 30 seconds into the attraction I knew I had made a huge mistake. The poor thing didn't utter a single sound the whole ride. Our ride photo has her, with her head between her knees, trying to block out the sound!!!

It just goes to show that you know your child best. While others may give you horrible looks, you really are the one to make the call.

 

[snappy]

Ignore the looks. Different kids have different tolerances. For example, my daughter ( 12 yr old at the time) refused to do any rollercoasters during our summer 2002 trip. She even refused to go on Splash Mountain. We went again at Thanksgiving and my husband actually insisted she finally go on Space Mountain It was like pulling teeth. After that ride, she has never looked back, she rides everything, RNR, Splash, Dinosaur. Now she gives DD9 a hard time for not wanting to ride Haunted Mansion and Dinosaur. I like to remind her of when she refused to ride.

The people standing in line with us the day at Space Mountain probably thought we were monsters.

She now has so much more fun going on rides with the rest of us rather than waiting, and I don't have to wait with her. It is so much fun to ride as a family. It's why we go there to begin with.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

On our last trip, my tall (then) 4 1/2 yo DD wanted to ride ToT and Dinosaur after having watched them over and over on the planning DVD. Since ToT is one of my favorite rides, I was pretty excited. We rode ToT first, and the whole time we were in line (10 minutes), I kept explaining to her that she didn't have to ride if she didn't want to. She was fine right up until the CMs out us in the lanes to get on the elevator. Then she started freaking out a little. I told her we could still leave, but she still wanted to ride. Then I looked at the diagram and saw that we were slated fro the first row of the elevator. I just knew that was going to be bad!! As we were climbing into our elevator, 2 teenage girls held up the works because they were supposed to sit on the third row, but they were trying to figure out how to get into the first row. As soon as I realized that, I "gave" them our first row seats and gratefully took their third row seats! DD LOVED the ride and wanted to go again. She is already begging to ride it on our next trip.

We were in the line for Dinosaur in front of a father/teen or preteen daughter duo. I was explaining to my DD that the seats for Dinosaur were like ToT where she would have to sit in her own seat, but I would be right next to her. The girl behind us was surprised that DD had ridden ToT and said so. DD just beamed and said it was fun.

This time around, she will be tall enough for Space and RnR, but I don't know if she'll ride them.

 

[G00fyDad]

I have gotten the same thing. DD has been an absolute coaster FREAK since she has been able to ride them. I had some idiot get on my case once because DD was just too small to ride the Racer at Kings Island. He got on me because DD was crying outside the ride and he thought I was trying to make her ride it. She wasnt tall enough. THAT'S why she was crying. Let's just say that he really felt about an inch tall when I got done with him. Other people seem to think they know what is best for your child and will go out of their way to tell you so. Just ignore them unless they say or do something to you.

 

[digskat]

Ignore the looks. We have a couple of dardevils in our house too. The only ride I may have reconsidered was the TOT, it scared the pants off us all!! However my daughter walked right off of it and went to the Rock'nRollercoaster and she absolutely loved it, mind you she was a little leary of seat belts after the TOT. But it didn't stop her from trying new things. This year we look forward to my son being able to try the rollercoasters he was tall enough for the TOT but not SM or RRC ~GO FIGURE? So just ingnore the on lookers and have a wonderful an thrilling time

 

[Tinkbell]

Your daughter is having fun. Who cares what the other people in line think? I think it's wrong to force children onto rides they are not ready for, but that certainly is not the case with your daughter!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We never got the "looks" but people couldn't believe it when I told them that the first time dd (then 5) went her favorite ride was Tower of Terror. She loves all the big rides. The only problem we have is that she's small for her age. Last year (when she was turning 7) she barely made it on SPace Mountain so ROck and ROller coaster is definitely years away. THe funny thing is the my other dd is only 15 months younger than her and scared of everything! She won't even go on Snow White's Scary Adventures. They are all different.

 

[Tinkim]

I agree. . . ignore the looks. My DD was 6 last time we went to WDW last year and she was the biggest daredevil of all. She loved RNR, TOT, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, you name it. The bigger and faster the better. Her two brothers who were 11 and 9 at the time didn't even go on some of this stuff. DS 11 (who is as tall as me) chickened out on RNR while in line. I would never force any of them to do any ride that they didn't want to do but it was DD7 dragging us along behind her to get in the lines for the "big rides." We did have a family friend with us who has two DD's (one was 6 and one 5 at the time) and they hesitantly rode a few rides and decided they didn't like them after but we definitely didn't force them to ride anything they were uncomfortable with. My DD had a great time and she likes to tease her brothers about being "chicken." In fact while waiting in line for TOT DD7 comforted a lady in line who was scared and DD told her "you'll be OK. This is my second ride in a row; it's cool!"

 

[Laurajean1014]

Why would anyone care what a person whom you've never met, never spoke to or would ever see again, make you think twice about something you did, do or the way you raise your children?

Worry less and enjoy more.

 

[eeyore0062]

I had the same thing happen with my DD on ToT... waited through the whole thing, got on the elevator and started to cry. The whole car was looking at my DH and I like we were abusive parents. She did fine, and now it is her favorite. It is a shame that others don't know how to mind their own business. Just ignore them!

 

[Disneyrsh]

Oh, yeah, I thought somebody was going to call child services on me when my three year old daughter insisted on going on Tower of Terror. She was exactly 40 inches at the time, had watched the elevators dropping for about 10 minutes and was like, yep, I want to do it. People were coming up to me going 'do you know what kind of ride this is?' and my daughter would go 'yes, it drops you reallly fast!' I basically let her do the talking. When we got on the ride I totally had a death grip on her because she was tall enough but she still had that fragile toddler feel to her that I miss so much (she's now a tall and sturdy 6 year old). And she went "woo hoo!" every time the elevator dropped. When it stopped she hopped off and yelled "that was great, let's go again!" and the woman behind us who had been hassling me about her could barely stand up from the ride she was so wobbly. I made her dad take her the next time, one ride on ToT a day is enough for me!

I've got a great picture of her proudly pointing at the ToT after she had ridden it but I can't figure out how to insert it here

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

Just ignore them. On our first Disney trip DD was 5 and wanted to ride ToT. I had a few "older" women ask her about it. She kept telling them she was ready. She was the only one in the elevator that was under 20.

She was great during the ride. Afterward, everyone was making over her and a couple asked her if she wanted to do it again. Her answer....

NO WAY!!!!! This year she's finally ready to try it again. Only 9 years later! DD will be 14 on our April trip.

Some people just need to pay attention to their vacation and not yours.

 

[Queenie]

I wish people wouldn't look like at you like that when you take a kid somewhere THEY don't think you should. Saying that I did tell my sister off for taking her daughter to WDW last year (in my defence she was only 1yr old and 8hr flights and 1yr olds do NOT mix!) I wish I was as brave as some of these kids above, I'm 18 and am scared to death of coasters, I was shaking before I went on the Barnstormer and almost chickened out of BTMR. I couldn't do Splash or Space mountain if you paid me, nevermind RNRC!!!!

 

[Martha7]

When my younger son was about 4 or 5, we took him on Thunder Mountain Railroad during a trip to EuroDisney. He loved it, but burst into tears the moment it ended! I was sure that people thought we had forced him onto the coaster! He was just at that age when they hate for the ride to be over! It never occurred to me to worry about what the other people thought, but then I was heading away from them, not standing in line next to them!

 

[Tink03477]

I saw this one mom with her young son, about 4 yrs old in line for Barnstormer and this boy cried the whole time that he didn't want to get on. I didn't say anything or give nasty looks, but I did feel really bad for him. It was his birthday (I overheard), so I thought, its' his birthday, let him choose. Anyway, she gets all the way up the ride, he's still crying, screaming by now; since she is trying to force him in the seat; finally the CM tells her to please take the crying child out to the exit side. Man, was I relieved! I felt so bad for that child. Granted, the ride is 30 seconds, but it's fast! He was still crying when we got off. Yes, parents do know their own children best so I stay out of it. I'm glad the CM took care of it. When my son was younger and scared of rides, I'd have to be the "ride tester" if he was scared to go on. So, I went on alone. I was crying when I got off TOT, so he knew that one was out for him. I told him next year would be good for him, and it was; that's one of his favorite rides now at 16. I still cry however. lolol but I go on it just to be with him. I tried out all the scary rides first and truthfully told him details and if I thought he could handle it. I tried Mission Space by myself too since he was worried. Way too many scary signs out there! I tried it and thought he'd be ok, but he still hasn't done it yet. I'm going to try it again in May by myself just to remember if it was as "safe" as I originally thought. He gets dizzy easy, which I know how much is too much; so I just have to go check it out again. It was fun so I hope I can report back that "it's a go"!
Kim

 

[gshanny]

My DS's first trip to DW was when he was 5 getting ready to turn 6. He hated all the 3-D shows and hid behind my shoulder during them. We still tease him though about some of his fears that trip. He got super scared as we were just about ready to get on IASM. He was scared and we convinced him by pointing out that there were no seatbelts and he calmed down. I didn't look to see if anyone gave us the eye for that.lol He wanted to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad and I was so worried about him. Little snot made us ride it multiple times and declared it his favorite after Buzz.
We just got back and he is ready to turn 9. He did more this time and even watched the 3-D shows. He did Test Track 2 times after refusing the last trip. He did RnR and wasn't overly excited about going back on it. He got in line for MS, but at the end decided not to go and we took the chicken exit. We snuck over to Universal since we had never been before(and will probably never go back). He wanted to go on the Dueling Dragons. He started psyching himself out, but he managed to go on it. He got off and said not again! Later in the day he was begging to go back on it. I cannot for the life of me figure that boy out.

 

[dan-tot]

I rode Dinosaur and it was to loud for me. I also think the flah strobes were a bit to much as well. I was scared about TOT but I rode it and it was great. Since I was by myself at the time I got the 5th seat on my second ride. Before they changed to all belts I always took the middle seat. It was fun being pulled off the seat and only being held on by a seat belt.

Dan-tot