Haunted Mansion Advice

[MomPlanner22]

I am deciding which attractions we will take our 4.5 and 2.5 year olds on when we visit MK. I am wondering if other parents have taken young children on the Haunted Mansion? If so, did they handle it well or did it spook them? I always think of it as a tame ride and more fun and hokey than scary.

I'd appreciate your input!

 

[JenLoy]

We took our niece right after she turned four. She loved it and wanted to go again when it was over. I did prepare her a bit by telling her all the ghosts were friendly and were having a party and they wanted to invite us. She's just about 7 now and still talks of how nice it was for the friendly ghosts to invite us to their party lol

 

[WDWorBUST]

We took DD at 13 months and she did fine - I am planning on taking her on it again this year at almost age 3. We went to MNSSHP last year when she was almost 2 and I just emphasized that those people were dressed so silly (during the parade there were the villains, etc) and she was fine with that. We just didn't make it to the Haunted Mansion - I think she would have been fine with it then too. Good luck!

 

[GEM]

My little guy has ridden it at 12 months, 18 months, 26 months, and 32 months. He's never been scared. I will say, though, that he really isn't scared by much of anything. All kids are so different, it's hard to say how yours will react.

 

[rlrx]

Took our DS3.5 and he was scared more of the name of the ride than of the actual ride. We didn't tell him what ride we were going on and I would tell him that everything is just pretend or I'd laugh at the ghosts dancing and he did well. When the lights went out and all of the guests screamed, I just held him close to me and told him someone was trying to scare us but we wouldn't let them. I don't think he'd go again but he did fine the one time he went on.

 

[Savsmommy]

My DD6 and DS2 have rode it several times and never been scared. My DD6 is scared to ride Snow White though.

 

[jbdreamer]

Tell the kids they are friendly ghosts! My little brother was scared of dark rides years ago. He was even scared to go on Spaceship Earth. We made him go on Haunted Mansion and insisted the ghosts were nice. He was scared at the beginning, but realized after it was over that it wasn't scary at all.

 

[KTSMOM]

I agree with the OP, just tell them the ghost are friendly. Also, don't forget to warn them about the lights going out when you are in the room waiting for the ride. They turn the lights out for a second or two.

 

[christinadei]

Last year we took my DS who had just turned 5 and my nephew who was 2.5 and they both loved it!

 

[Stephres]

We went with two 4 year olds and one 6 year old. One 4 year old loved it, the 6 year old thought it was ok and the other 4 year old was terrified. The first thing she said when we got outside was, "Those were not friendly ghosts!" So it really depends on the kid.

 

[herodrx1]

My DD6 is very scared of "thrill" rides. She did fine on HM when she was 41/2. We told her that the ghosts were really "movies" and that nothing would jump out at her. We also made sure to say that there weren't any seatbelts needed. I know telling her this took some of the magic away but it a lot better thatn her screaming all the way through the ride!!!
I agree to watch out for the preshow lights out section. Whenever there were teenagers in there they always screamed!!!

 

[belle&beast]

My 4yo loved it and my 2yo screamed the whole time! We did not expect him to be afraid, but the holding room got him and he was miserable. In fact, DH happened to be standing by the CM when he snapped his fingers when the lights go out, and he snapped right in DS's face. I'm sure it was not intentional but it scared him really badly! He was more afraid of the dark than anything because after that he was afraid of any ride that was dark, when he hadn't been before HM.

 

[Bird-Mom]

My older dd has been on it at 6 months, 13 months, 23 months, 25 months and 3.5 years old. My younger dd has been on at 15 months old. Neither one of them was scared. They don't really seem to be afraid of anything. The other day my older dd (4) said that she was going to take Grammie on the haunted house in case Grammie was afraid. She would take care of Grammie. I was dying because Grammie will probably need some comfort!

 

[Suzanne74]

DD was barely 3 when she first went on and she was a little scared at first but then realized how harmless it was. We also told her they were friendly and just trying to play games with us. We also told her to start counting ghosts and ghouls too and sorta turned it into a game of who could find more by the end of the ride. It made it fun!

 

[minnie29uk]

I am deciding which attractions we will take our 4.5 and 2.5 year olds on when we visit MK. I am wondering if other parents have taken young children on the Haunted Mansion? If so, did they handle it well or did it spook them? I always think of it as a tame ride and more fun and hokey than scary.

I'd appreciate your input!

I took my 2 and half and 3 and half children at Easter.The older one was a little worried till we got on it-then he was fine on the ride.
I did find people pushing quite a bit just before getting on the ride though,

Lynn

 

[TinkerbellMama]

My little guy has ridden it at 12 months, 18 months, 26 months, and 32 months. He's never been scared. I will say, though, that he really isn't scared by much of anything. All kids are so different, it's hard to say how yours will react.

LOL, this is my son, too. He enjoyed it at 12 mos. and I'm almost positive he will enjoy it at nearly 2 years in October. He just isn't scared of anything. He LOVED the characters at 12 mos., although I had been warned that he'd probably be frightened. Nope. He loved them and laughed and even playfully poked out Piglet's eyeballs. Sorry, Piglet! We did get a funny picture out of it, though.

 

[PaulaSue]

My 2.5, turned 5 and 7 year olds LOVED it!

 

[Mr._The_King]

My kids would hate it. (7 and 4)

 

[disneyohana]

My nephew was 5 when we went on it and he was scared. He didn't want to go on any rides after that. He thought we were going to lie again and tell him it wasn't going to be scary. If you do go on it, I would go on all the silly rides first just in case. This was his first time at a theme park though, so he didn't know what to expect from any rides.

 

[pezheadval]

I was a little worried about the ghosts that pop up scareing my daughter. I told her ahead of time that some ghosts were going to try and jump out and scare us, but if we scare them then I bet they will go away. It became a great game. Every time one ghost popped up, my daughter said "boo" to them and they disappear. She thought that was really cool. It became one of her favorite rides.