Has you child FREAKED on a ride??

[Diamondintheruff]

Gillennj you are so right not to push your child. I have a very anxious 8 year old. He loves shows and occasionally will go on a ride but only and I repeat ONLY when he has decided he will. We have brought/borrowed many books on disney for him to look at, researched on the internet and have discussed back up plans like someone staying behind with him to coping strategies like carrying ear plugs and a bandanna to cover his eyes. He may never be a ride person and my husband and I have to accept that. Disney for him is not about the rides. However, he does understand that the rest of us want to do the rides and as long as we all get to plan together and include something that we all like he and we are happy.

 

[mjejj]

We took DS2 in October and he loved all of the rides and characters which really surprised me because he is very shy. However, he HATED the Lights,Motors, Action show at MGM. We had gotten there early and had a good seat so by the time the show started we were trapped by tons of people. When the cars started he started to scream. I tried to cover his ears but it was too loud. It was horrible, people were looking at us and I couldn't leave so I felt like parent of the year. We thought he might like it since he likes cars, but that was a BIG mistake.

He also got really scared in Mickey's Pilharmagic. We thought he would love that, but my DH put the glasses on him just as things started flying off the screen and it scared my son to death. He cried through that show too. We didn't try any other shows. It was too stressful. Oddly enough, he really loved the Malestrom and Goofy's Barnstormer. Go Figure!

 

[Becky2005]

Depends on what ride it is. My 8 year old at the time, freaked on Stitch!

It was all downhill from there. He refused to go on anything enclosed because he was afraid something would come out at him. We even had a difficult time in Philharmagic due to some unexpected thing (spoiler - scroll over here It sprays water at you & he HATES getting wet so he freaked. Especially after Stitch had already spit on him in Stitch.

However, my younger kids did great. DS-5 at the time did not particularly like Haunted Mansion. I didn't go on the ride because of the baby & 8 year old. However, he didn't say anything during it but that's his personality. If he doesn't like something he gets very, very, very quiet and basically doesn't move. He came off saying he didn't like it & from DH's description he was just really quiet but part of that was they got stuck on the ride for a bit, so he was a bit freaked out sitting that particular spot.

My 1 year old LOVED the characters! I had no idea how he was going to do but he absolutely loved the characters.

Good Luck, you pretty much just have to play it by ear and adjust once you are there. You just never know what will set them off, if anything. My 5 year old has some sensory issues, so I was fully prepared for him to freak out & not the 8 year old. It ended up being the other way around.

 

[Oceana]

My 3 year old is one of those steady types and usually is not afraid of much. I knew he wouldnt ride Goofey's barnstormer if I said what it was going in. So I didnt

He realized it after we were buckled in and just started mooving. He screamed a typical roller coaster scream the whole time and very politly told me when the ride was over.

"I didnt like that mommy?"

he wouldnt go on a ride alone with me again LOL. He wasnt scared or anything. It should all come out in his therapy when he is 30 though

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

My DD's both freaked out in the Tough to Be a Bug show. My 2 year old was scared in Haunted Mansion and Pirates, so last time we went we took a little keychain flashlight with us. We let her hold it in the darker rides, and she did fine. It was a great investment (from the Dollar store!).

 

[monorailsilver]

Yep, my dd didn't like the fireworks when she was 15 mo old (now she loves them).

She was a bit nervous about the Haunted Mansion but I took her on it-she didn't like when it got dark.

I can't remember if then or when she was 4 if she didn't like Snow White & Peter Pan (when we were flying).

But I do know when she was 4 she didn't like POTC but oh well we took her & my 22 mo old on it.

I try to make it fun for them & say "oh look at that" vs scary. But if she was screaming not to go on it, I wouldn't take her or him or now the new her (aka 3 kids).

 

[kstgelais4]

My ds (5) TOTALLY freaked on Stitches great escape. So much so, that they had to shut the ride down, and let us off... (good times, good times...lol) My older DS (7) wanted to finish (Dh was outside with the 2 little ones), and the CM said he could and she would walk him out to me after. That was really nice. Anyway, right after the harness came down over his head, he totally started screaming at the top of his lungs "GET ME OUT!!!!!!!" Oh, about 500 times. So they turned the lights on, and got us the heck out of there. The whole time I was trying to comfort him, knowing that I was stuck in there too (you know those uncomfortable harnesses I'm talking about). It was really uncomfortable for everyone on the whole ride I think I think it was just a confinement issue. After that he didn't even trust us to go into Mickey's Phillharmonic. lol...

 

[NotUrsula]

On Stitch, the key is to have them sit up as TALLLL as they can; that way the harnesses are very loose. I do it myself, because I don't like that squished-spine feeling.

On ITTBAB, have kids sit on the edge of the seat or on your lap, preferably with their legs folded indian-style. That will avoid the sting and the scurrying bugs effects. Also, having them NOT wear the 3-D glasses is a good idea the first time around.

One of the best things I've found for distracting nervous kids is to have them search for hidden Mickeys on the ride. I suggested it to a couple near us on HM a while back, their school-aged daughter was terrified. I told her how to look for the Donalds, and her Dad told me it worked, that she was so busy looking for them that she pretty much forgot to be scared.

You *can* get out of EEA in a true emergency. During the dark parts of the ride you are being observed by several CM's. If you call out that you have an emergency and signal for help, they will turn on the lights and get you out, but it is a very complicated process that will cause the ride to have to be shut down and recycled, which, if you've ridden it, you will realize is a time-consuming thing.

I was once on the Jimmy Neutron ride at US when a man in my row (seated next to DS) had a panic attack because of being confined by the lap bar. About 45 seconds before the end of the ride he started trying to climb out of the car. An employee saw him and hit the emergency stop, which froze the ride instantly and brought up the lights. The problem was, it also locked down the lap bars, because the cars were about 6 ft. in the air at the time. We had to wait until they they went through the entire safety check procedure procedure and re-set the ride mechanism; which meant that the man ended up trapped in the ride car for another 35 minutes, along with everyone else who was on the ride with him. He was sweating and shaking, and contorting himself in all sorts of directions to try to get out from under that lap bar. THAT experience freaked out DS (then 6) a bit -- he had never seen an adult fall apart so completely, let alone 6 inches from him.

 

[ksloane]

My daughter wanted to freak out on Soarin and POTC, but I talked to her the entire time and found fun things to point out and laugh at. She was proud when they were over and bragged when we got home that she had rode those "big people" rides. (She's very timid and doesn't like dark, fast, etc.)

 

[Becky2005]

On Stitch, the key is to have them sit up as TALLLL as they can; that way the harnesses are very loose. I do it myself, because I don't like that squished-spine feeling.

We DID use that trick but my DS still hated the ride. Luckily, I was able to talk him through most of it & thank goodness I'm a noisy person & had read all spoilers ahead of time. I actually read all spoilers thinking I might need them for my 5 year old. I just kept calmly talking DS-8 through it. He wasn't screaming to ruin the ride for anyone else but he certainly was in "panic" mode and he really, really, really wanted to get out of there. Luckily, I was able to touch his leg if I recall or something. Thankfully my oldest was fine with it (whew! I don't think I could have dealt with 2 of them freaking out at the same time, it was taking all my energy to get DS through it. I couldn't even tell you about the ride myself because I was so focused on making sure he survived. ).

The worst part was I tried to talk him OUT of it! I told him ahead of time what was going to happen and asked 50,000 times if he was really really sure he wanted to do it. We went ahead because of that (I've been known to think they won't like something & do in the past, so figured we would give it a shot, I could be wrong. My 5 year old LOVED Soarin' and I thought he would freak out on it. So, what do I know.)

It's all in my trip report (link in my sig) if your inclined to read about it.

 

[princesskimberella]

Well I am a little more at ease, DH was making me feel terrible about the fact that any one of the kids may freak out. They have scene movies in 3D so hopefully we will be ok on those. The only one I really would like them to go on that they are leary of is POTC, dont know why they watch the movie over on over.

We are staying far away form the stitch ride!!!! DH and I rode it on our honeymoon whenit was still Alien Encounter with a pg 13 rating on it. We were in the front row and I about freaked when the light went out, and was stuck in the harness.

 

[tmarquez]

My DD(4) totally freaked out on the silly teacup ride last time we went. It was really wierd because she's been on it a million times and goes on all the other rides with no problem. She got this blank look on her face, told me she wanted to get off and actually tried to get out of the cup. I just held my arm around her and kept telling her it will be over in a minute. She won't talk about it. I think maybe she got motion sickness and got scared because she didn't know what it was. After we got off she was a little quiet for awhile but then back to her normal self soon after. You never know!

 

[mom2grace]

I didn't read all of the replies, but DD 5 (at the trip) HATED all of the 3D movies, Philharmagic, It's Tough to be a bug, etc. Crying, we had to leave, the whole 9 yards, and she is not a dramatic kid.

 

[jeeperwy]

When we went to Disneyland last year my youngest was 3 and LOVED everything!! He's tall, so he went on Splash, BTMRR, etc... He cried when we had to get off. Fast forward when we went back this year he HATED almost everything!! The only things he liked were Buzz, Pooh, Astro Orbitors, Dumbo, and the boat. He flipped on Peter Pan, Soarin', Pirates and most anything else. So you just never know! I am hoping that next time he'll want to ride more, but if he doesn't oh well!

Kari

 

[aroyer]

On our trip this past August, DD (6) decided she could handle Big Thunder Mountain. She was tall enough to ride, so I thought, why not? I made her watch it several times and she was not afraid. So she and I stood in line, got on, went up the first hill and came flying down. I looked over at her and she was white as a sheet. She looked at me and said "I don't like this mama!!!!" I felt terrible! I put my arm tightly around her and just held her close to me for the rest of the ride. She never cried, but boy was she white! After that every other ride was measured according to "Is it as fast as Big Thunder Mountain?" She was a good sport. I bought her the Big Thunder Mountain pin for her lanyard.

 

[LaraK]

I forgot about one....my daredevil, rides adult coasters and loves things as fast as possible DD was TERRIFIED on test track. I live on the East Coast so I can only assume that it reminds her of her daily commute on route 95 and the Beltway.

 

[kaysmommie]

DD never freaked out was scared as s*** on EE. She wanted to ride and she just made the 44 inches. I guess one time was enough for her though . I was a bit freaked out on Alien Encounter, which is now Stitch's great escape. Never again and my kids have never been on it either.

 

[*MickeyFan*]

DS 5 freaked on everything. Somethings more than others. Even the Play House Disney show at MGM, during the home video you can hear him humming and whining. DD 2 did great, I think she would have done better if she wasn't looking at DS (didn't know if she should be scared or not). I am hoping when we go back this year he won't be quite as scared. On it's a small world he would look around for a few seconds and whine, so I am not sure what to think. If he seems to be scared this year I think I will just have him look through the pictures on the camera (when we are on a ride). If he still freaks out we will just stick with the Parades. Both the kids LOVED them!

 

[TMB1203]

My DS (3) does not like anything he has to wear the 3D glasses for. My 11 year old was the same way.

My 3 year old also didn't like the Goofy Barnstormer, he loved everything else, I just don't think he was expecting the speed of this ride.

 

[tzuhouse]

When we were there in 12/05, my DS (6) was freaking out about a lot of things. It started with Star Tours. I was peeling his fingers off the railings in the cue. He was crying and scared and I kept telling him that he'll love it. He CHOSE to ride it again, 3 more times that day. We did not force him to do it more than once. Next day at Dumbo, he was scared because it goes up high. We forced him on it and he loved it. Then we got to Goofy'd Barnstormer. He was completely freaking out. Once again, I was bad mommy and made him go. He's always been very dramatic and there have been way too many times when I forced him to try something and he loved it. He wasn't completely thrilled with Barnstormer, but he was okay with it. A few hours later we were at Big Thunder Mountain. My DS (4) wanted to go because it was a train. He was tall enough, so we all went. Once again, peeling DS 7's fingers off the railing. DS 4 was terrified. The minute it started up, he threw his face in my lap and never moved until it was over. But, DS 7, came of screaming THAT WAS AWESOME!! He immediately rode it again with DH while I stayed with 4 year old. That was the moment. The scrapbook page for that ride is him being a knight and slaying a dragon. A couple days later we rode Space Mountain and it is his favorite of the entire trip. He is no longer scared of roller coasters. He rode one at Sea World San Antonio a month or so ago with DH and wanted to go again. I told him I'd go. I was freaking out and he was having a blast. I wouldn't do that one again, but he loved it. He is so excited that we will be riding Big Thunder and Space Mountain in 8 months. So he now understands that I absolutely would not force him to do something if I didn't think he'd love it once he tried it. Mommy was right.

Mary