Haunted mansion with toddler question

[Aussiedaisy79]

Hello! We are visiting Disneyland this Oct from Australia. We have already been to DL & WDW 5 times but this is the first trip with our toddlers! My son will be 2.5 & my niece 22 months. I was wondering how other peoples toddlers go on the haunted mansion ride? I can imagine the stretching room could be quite overwhelming & frightening for a little one....is there a way to avoid that part of the ride & go straight into the doom buggy loading area? Any other tips for toddlers & rides would be much appreciated! Thanks

 

[Misskitty3]

I would tell the kids what to expect (lights will go out, lightening etc) and that everyone will be screaming. When my kids were that little, we probably just covered their ears right before.....


Beware on Pirates, plenty of folks scream as you go down that first drop. Again, I would tell them the boat is going to feel like a roller coaster and let's scream together or something like that ....

 

[5ofus]

I would tell the kids what to expect (lights will go out, lightening etc) and that everyone will be screaming. When my kids were that little, we probably just covered their ears right before.....


Beware on Pirates, plenty of folks scream as you go down that first drop. Again, I would tell them the boat is going to feel like a roller coaster and let's scream together or something like that ....

Yes, both of these were a little scary for my 3yo and 16mo when we were in Tokyo. Actually the 16mo handled it better than the 3yo, but we tried to prepare them for the darkness and noise.

 

[lovedworld]

When we went to DL in February the Haunted Mansion was my 2 year old grandsons favorite ride. We were a little worried that he would be to scared to go but we tried to prepare him and he loved it. Went on it multiple times and still talks about it.

 

[Pinup Mommy]

My daughter at the age of 2.5 did well on the ride, the only reason we have not been back to the HM is because the elevator portion freaked her out. :-(

 

[nikkislaght]

You can watch all of the rides on you tube, with your little one to let them see what the rooms do etc.

You can let them wear a glow stick necklace in the darkened room, if they are standing,, at their height it should not bother too many people.. the glow stick will allow them a little light without being completely overwhelming for other people.

When we did the HM in April, no one screamed when the lights go out..so I think that is hit and miss as to screaming etc..

The only way you will ever really know if they will like the ride is when you do it..

I make sure that they are in a good mood.. well fed, and rested.. you can say that for most of the DL rides.. but there are a few that you would want to make sure they are in a good mood ..

Hope you have fun, and the ride goes well for you all

 

[Scribble Kitty]

In October Haunted Mansion is themed after Nightmare Before Christmas, and in my opinion not nearly as scary as usual. People still scream in the streching room and I don't know of any way around it.

 

[rms123]

We told our DD what to expect, watched youtubes and she had a glow bracelet. We also held her in the stretch room - she would have gotten trampled otherwise. She did fine.

 

[bumbershoot]

In October Haunted Mansion is themed after Nightmare Before Christmas, and in my opinion not nearly as scary as usual.

That's how my son feels, too. He absolutely refuses to go on it when it's normal. He's been on it at WDW, where they don't have the overlay, once because his cousin talked him into it, but since then, nope. Skellington makes it feel safe to him.



But it's the stretching room that does it for sooo many kids. And not even the room, but the behaviour of the so-called adults in the room. Kids trust adults, and if half the room is screaming in apparent terror, they'll pick up on that!

The first time we tried to take DS I got to take the chicken exit with him because he was so incredibly scared by the people in that room. And I'll tell you, the chicken exit was FAR scarier than anything on that ride....long, turning, and painted black. Hopefully things have changed since 2006, though! He was about 2.5 years old at the time, and he had just started noticing "scary" things around him. At 17 months old there was none of that.


So....try it, maybe bring some earplugs or headphones to block the noise of those "adults", but pick a parent who is willing to take the exit before being seated, so that at least one adult can ride it that time around.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

My approach is different from pps: Do not warn, say "scary" or "dark", or anything of the sort. Kids pick up on grown ups' cues amazingly well; if *you* act like it's a scary ride, you just set yourself up for a screamfest. Just treat it like any other ride, and distract here and there (point out what you want them to see) if you feel it is necessary. You can hold the kids during the elevator (beginning) too; they'll feel secure and be able to see better. I often see kids who are upset due to being squished into a group of tall people and cannot see anything; once a parent picks them up and they can breathe/see they are fine.
I have seen people freak their kids out unnecessarily so many times. My kids have been going on HM since 2 months and 34 months respectively; never a problem. The ages of the op's kids are great for HM; kids that small are rarely scared of what we traditionally consider spooky unless they have been conditioned to be.

 

[Angela72181]

My son who was 7 at the time was a little scared....well TERRIFIED waiting in the lobby to get into the line....he tried to run out when a cast member explained that it's not real and actually they are fun ghosts / ghouls having a good time.

After that he was fine and actually requested to ride it SEVERAL TIMES...my 5 year old daughter thought it was neat..

Although the one time that we were left sitting in the library for a few minutes they did get a little ancy...I think they were getting a handicapped individual on / off at the time...

Their favorite was the end where they saw ghouls dancing on our car and my favorite was when there was a baby next to my 10 month old son

 

[Heymy]

Both of my kids have been riding since they were a year old. They love it just as long as they can touch mom or dad. The only issue is the elevator because they still want to be held. That's not that big of a deal except when you have a 7 year old who's 4'9"

 

[anonymousegirl]

It all comes down to the individual child. My nine year old nephew (who has some special needs issues) was terrified. That and TOT were the only rides he refused to go on.

 

[figment_jii]

Hello! We are visiting Disneyland this Oct from Australia. We have already been to DL & WDW 5 times but this is the first trip with our toddlers! My son will be 2.5 & my niece 22 months. I was wondering how other peoples toddlers go on the haunted mansion ride? I can imagine the stretching room could be quite overwhelming & frightening for a little one....is there a way to avoid that part of the ride & go straight into the doom buggy loading area? Any other tips for toddlers & rides would be much appreciated! Thanks

To be honest, I haven't seen that many toddlers on the HM. I've seen a few, but not many. As others have said, the stretching room can be scary and that's at the start of the ride. For the NBC version, the stretching room is a little less scary because the hangman is replaced by a giant version of Jack's face (still it is a giant skeleton face). I don't think there is a way to skip the Stretching Room because that is the actual elevator that takes you down to the Doom Buggy loading area.

I would look on YouTube for Haunted Mansion Holiday ride through so you can get an idea what it will be like. In general, it's not as scary as the regular ride, but I think that's partially because it's brighter (the lighting is brighter and the NBC decorations are pretty colorful).

Personally, unless you know your little one likes scary rides, I would not take them on this ride. I tried taking a three year old on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and she was terrified and tried to climb out of the car. So after that, there was no chance we were going to take her on HM. Instead the adults alternated; half rode while the other half waited with the kids (we went to see the Winnie the Pooh ride and the little one like that).

 

[wdwrich]

It really depends on the child. We were on HM this past weekend with our 2yo grandson, and he had a blast. I've seen other older toddlers scared out of their wits in the stretch room.

 

[Purrkins]

I said "the lights are going to go out soon and people will yell. What do you want to yell?"

"Helicopter."

"OK. When the lights go out let's yell helicopter really loud."

And that was that.

Of course he yelled "helicopter" the entire ride.

 

[smarie82181]

Every kid is different. My son loves that ride and has never been scared on it. His first visit was at 9 months old and he has always been fine. He became 40" when he was 3 and was so happy because he could finally ride Tower of Terror. My kid loves all rides, but his 8 year old aunt (I know sounds weird) wont go on it and is totally scared.

 

[bumbershoot]

I said "the lights are going to go out soon and people will yell. What do you want to yell?"

"Helicopter."

"OK. When the lights go out let's yell helicopter really loud."

And that was that.

Of course he yelled "helicopter" the entire ride.

I like your kid. Can we swap?

If I said that, he would ask why people scream? Because they are pretending to be scared. How do you know they are pretending? Because it's not scary. They think it's scary. But it's not. How do you know? etc etc etc.

I'd like your kid please.

My approach is different from pps: Do not warn, say "scary" or "dark", or anything of the sort. Kids pick up on grown ups' cues amazingly well; if *you* act like it's a scary ride, you just set yourself up for a screamfest.

I never did with DS. However, he picked up on it being scary when the lights went out and he couldn't see me despite me holding him, and people started screaming their heads off. One lone parent isn't much compared to dozens of other adults who *obviously* know something mom doesn't.....

 

[Melidef3405]

You're going in October so it will be Haunted Mansion Holiday, YAY! In my opinion, that version is way less scary for the little ones than the regular version. It's so cute all dressed for the holidays. My godchildren only seem to be bothered by people screaming in the elevator but we always cover their ears & then they're fine.

 

[Melidef3405]

I said "the lights are going to go out soon and people will yell. What do you want to yell?"

"Helicopter."

"OK. When the lights go out let's yell helicopter really loud."

And that was that.

Of course he yelled "helicopter" the entire ride.

That is AWESOME!!!!