Haunted Mansion too scary for 6-year-old?

[noopy]

This is my first trip to Disney, and I have always wanted to see the Haunted Mansion. However, I'm traveling alone with my 6-year-old daughter and I'm worried it may frighten her too much. She's more important to me than the mansion ride (but it also took years to save for this trip and I don't know if we'll ever be able to go again).
Advice?
Thanks!

 

[Kapp]

on it and never had a problem at all (and they scare easy!). It is done in such a way it is really ....well, not real! She will probably enjoy it as many smaller kids thinks its a grown-up ride and are proud of going through it!

 

[twinmomplus2new]

My threee year old twins Love the Haunted mansion. One is easily frightened for example does not care for Beauty and the Beast or Toy Story 2. Because of the Beast and becuse ( AL) is scary when he steals Woody. However he says the haunted mansion is his fave. We did it about 5 times this last December.

 

[noopy]

Wow! I'm feeling better already! I'd hate to miss it!
Thanks!

 

[HaleyB]

I don't think it is too scary. My kids have never been bothered by it at all. If she gets freaked out by the idea of it you can do a child swap (so long as you have another adult with you). I am much more familiar with the ride in California, where the only scary parts IMHO are the beating red heart in the attic, and the hand that comes up out of a grave (but there is somuch to look at my kids never focused on either. I can not remember seeing a child upset by this ride more than one or two times in the hundreds of times I have been on it. One of the only times I remember it was because of the hitch hiking ghosts (which my kids love).

The Unofficial Guide to WDW has a good section on rides and the scare factor.

 

[noopy]

Since it's just my daughter and me, I can't swap. That's my concern - I have to decide yes or no!
This forum is so incredibly helpful, especially for first timers like me!
Thanks for the advice!

 

[daystar]

Hi,
We just went to WDW over Christmas....My son who is five wasn't sure at first he wasn't crying or anything just kept telling me he didn't think that he would like it but i told him to try it and if he didn't like it he would never have to do it again...Once we gotten on the ride he still wasn't sure if he liked it but he seem to get a kick out of the ghost that was sitting in the cart with us...I don't think that he would do it again.....I think it's the darkness that scares young children....

 

[jacksonsmom]

My son first went on it when he was 3.5 yrs old.
At first he was nervous, actually he was fine until he walked out of the stretching room & saw the doom buggies.

But I said to him "remember it isn't real. It is all pretend. Come with me & we will wave to all the ghost together." He wasn't crying but I could tell he needed reassurance.

well, he went on it & the first thing out of his mouth when it was done was "Let's do that again!!!" I think we ended up going on it at least 5 times that trip.

Last December when he was 4 yr old he made sure he went on it again. He love that ride, which I am glad because so does his mommy & daddy

 

[stinkerbelle]

there are a few things that "pop up" that sometimes even frighten me.

but I do have to say this...when I was there last week a little girl, maybe around 5 (??) got off the ride with her parents bawling her eyes out. She HATED the ride...and her father had the video camera in her face capturing all this. poor kid...the parents were just laughing at her and the kid was just plain freaked out.

you'll know best with your child. good luck.

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Also, try it later inthe vacation when her confidence is higher. Don't freak her out the first or second day or she won't want to try anything!! And remind her that she can cover her eyes.

It's mostly dark, but not too scary. My kids have enjoyed it every trip at ages 2 and 4.

HTH! Enjoy!!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

At 6yo she should be old enough to understand pretend and "Disney magic". My kids have never been too bothered by Haunted House. I also would tell them to try something once and the they wouldn't have to repeat it if they didn't want to. Of course I'm bringing my 4yo on ToT unless he flips out in the preshow. He has seen my ride photo and I've explained the ride to him. His brother went on the ride at 4yo and lived to tell about it (he didn't go a second time on that trip, however.)

T&B

 

[texas8891]

My 6 year old daughter, who will ride the highest roller coaster (loves Rock N Roll Rollercoaster and Space Mountain) was a bit unnerved by the Mansion. She didn't scream or cry, but she wasn't standing in line to ride it again. In fact, she declined my offer to ride it on our next visit.

 

[lilallybean]

I think the worst part of the ride for the lil ones is the very beginning in the stretch room. It unnerves even me to seee the hanging body right above you. maybe best to have her look down during that part. Get her a glow stick to take with her. Allowing her to have that little big of light that she has control over and can not be taken from her may help tons. Give her the task of finding the hidden Mickeys during the ride. I know of at least two, my 4 year old DD had this job and she loved it. Let her see the new Haunted Mansion movie a few times before you go. Not all of it is directly from the movie, but you can also make it a game to see what scenes she can remember from the movie. Does anybody know right off if the "my pal Mickey" has a fun story or anything to go with this ride? Maybe that would help too. Enjoy and I personally think that you would both hate to miss the ride. It is a true classic and too much fun to miss.

 

[myboysmom]

My little guy was just a few weeks shy of 4 when he went on it. I had been on it as a kid and didn't think of it as being scary. I rode with my #1 son, and #2 son went with daddy. When I got a chance to look in one of the mirrors and see into their car he had his face buried into his dads shoulder! He looked more like he was asleep then scared When I asked him after the ride if he was asleep he said yes, but daddy said he thought he was faking it! I still don't know if he was really afraid.

 

[liznboys]

We took our boys on the Haunted Mansion ride on our last trip, they were 17 months and almost 3.5 at the time. Neither of them had a problem with it, and my 3.5 yr old asked to go on it again! He loved it!! I explained to him before we went on the first time that it was all just pretend, and it was a "fun" kind of scary.

 

[LDV]

I agree the stretch room with the flash/thunder in the pitch dark is a great time to be holding your child! We have also talked about trying to scare the ghosts. I don't know if other guests hated us, but my kids (6 & 4 last trip) yelled "Boo!" to all the ghosts. Also, I made sure I was sitting where the ghost hitches the ride so they didn't have to think it was on them. At least you get your own doom buggy so you don't involve the entire world in your games. We also seem to get stuck somewhere in this ride every time we go on it. Last time it was right when you turn and go downhill backwards.

I was thinking about the family from the earlier post laughing about how upset their daughter was. She will probably get back at them by getting them to go on Small World ten times in a row. What comes around goes around!

 

[Local_Girl]

In Nov. 2002, our (then) DS9 and DD6 were both spooked a bit by this ride. Strangely, DS loved TOT! They were still hesitant to ride HM in Dec. 2003, but tried it anyway. DS (now 10) liked it and wasn't scared at all. DD was still a little scared, but did okay. My feeling is you should plan to do it later in the trip, because if it scares her too badly, you may have trouble getting her on any other "dark ride" (even tame ones!). I agree with letting her have a little light of her own during the ride. You could also reassure her that if she tries the ride and doesn't like it, she won't have to go again. And finally, I (and fortunately most of the parents here on the DIS ) would never force a child to go on any ride, or belittle a child for their fears. Not to say we won't try to talk our kids into trying a ride we think they'll ultimately enjoy, but if they are adamant about not doing it, we won't push them further. Good Luck...hope you both enjoy the ride!!

 

[kbkids]

My 6 yr old DD has been riding it since she was 3, and it has never frightened her. She always ask to go on this ride every time we go. My DS was 18 months the first time he went, and it's never seemed to bother him either. He's now 2 1/2, and he's a bit more leery of things than his daredevil sister, so he just sits a little closer to me during the ride, but has never acted scared. It's Tough to Be a Bug - scared both of them to death! Neither of them will go back, and it's one of my favorite shows!

 

[HaleyB]

Me again. I have been thinking about it some more. First I stand by my first, not that scary post, however my 8 year old just reminded me about how I 'made' him go on a scary ride when he was 5. It was the Roger Rabbit ride in Disney Land. Not scary by most standards, not even really dark. It did, and this is what he hated, have a clown on it. We talked him into riding it, he really didn't want to. He remembered the clown and said it was too scary. We thought he must have been thinking of another ride, because we didn't think it was scary at all. Well he did recover fairly quickly (although I think it cost us a trip to the hat shop in Toon Town), but he never forgets to remind us that we made him go on a scary ride when he was five. He drags that story out at every family get together. Now we can not talk him on to anything (as luck would have it he wants to ride most everything now). But if I had it to do over I would not have talked him into it.
So I guess my advice is if she balks, skip it. Don't try to talk her into it. Learn from my mistake!

 

[crisi]

My five year old is obsessed with this ride. He's always liked ghosts and pirates and bad guys....

At 3 1/2 he had his first DW trip. We decided to try the HM. Mistake. First we wentabout 1:00 in the afternoon - he was tired - had we tried it first thing we might have got him on it. We didn't make it through the door.

Next trip he was five. He spent months before obsessing about the HM. Grandma was going with us and they had a pact to ride it together. We did all the websites and looked at lots of pictures in anticipation. (www.grimghosts.com)

He was frightened. He made it past the door and into the stretching room. My daughter (4) and I got into a buggy with Grandma, DH and DS right behind us. Grandma ended up riding alone. He didn't get into the next doombuggy...

But Dad talked him into one that followed in a few minutes (apparently, the bail out door past the stretching room isn't easy to do - the CMs were encouraging them to take the ride). He made it through and wants to do it again, next trip.

Both my kids decided that sometimes you do need to cover your eyes so it isn't so scary. Particularly when the ghosts pop out from behind the headstones.