Haunted mansion

[taraaplin]

Is it too scary for a new 4 year old. This will be our third trip and we have never been through it. It is a must see for me! The standby lines are always way too long by the time we get through major Attractions. What is possibility to get a fourth FP with haunted mansion during spring break week.

 

[think-like-tink]

Is it too scary for a new 4 year old. This will be our third trip and we have never been through it. It is a must see for me! The standby lines are always way too long by the time we get through major Attractions. What is possibility to get a fourth FP with haunted mansion during spring break week.

Is it to scary for a 4 year old? My dd at 4 LOVED it. Me, at age 8 was scared. She still loves it. She laughs the whole time.


As for the 4th fastpass, I think that's hard to say. I hope someone with more Spring Break exp. can chime in fore you.

 

[JaymeC]

The scariest part is before you get on the ride when you're in the stretching room. Seriously. It's not jump out at you scary.

My kids at toddler/preschool age went through phases where they didn't like it and then loved it. By 5 I think they both loved it, but 4 was hit or miss. Two big things helped: 1. Go to Target and grab some glow bracelets out of their $1 bins. There's are *great* for dark/scary rides for the kids to have something light while not disturbing other guests. 2. Desensitize the kiddo. We watched a video with the song fro the graveyard scene (Grim, Grinning Ghosts) 50 bajillion times before our trip when my youngest was five so we could discuss that the ghosts (per the song) were only pretending the scare the kids and wanted to have fun. By the time we got on the ride the kids were looking forward to the song so much they were willing to go through the early stuff that was a little intimidating

Also, it's one of our favorite stand-by lines with the interactive graveyard. My kids won't use FastPass for this one now at 8 and 10, they insist on standby so they can play in the graveyard.

 

[Tomh]

It depends on the kid of course, but there isn't a whole lot of anything in the way of stuff jumping out at you, so unless the child in question is really easily scared, you should be ok.

Youtube videos are a fantastic way to familiarize your children with new attractions, get some bearing on their reaction, and prepare them for their adventure. I whole heartedly endorse the idea of watching quite a few of them with the kiddos!

 

[minnie mum]

My kids were evenly split on how they reacted to HM. DD1 loved it. DD2 was very frightened at 7yrs. I think that having your child watch a YouTube video of the attraction would be a good idea. And PLEASE do the same before attempting ITTBAB at AK.

 

[preemiemama]

I agree with the PPs opinions about you tube videos- it is a great idea for rides you are concerned about.

As for the FP+, when we were there in the summer we had no issue getting it as a 4th. MK is the easiest park to get a 4th, and the only ones I remember having an issue with were 7DMT, A&E, and Space Mt. ETWB might also go quickly. I would think it would be similar during Spring Break. If you don’t go in the middle of the day, though, it is not a long wait (15-20 mins) and the interactive graveyard is worth doing at least once!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Nothing really to add to the previous posts, other than to say our boys loved it when they were younger and our daughter, around age 4, was terrified by the stretching room. Had to exit with her as soon as that was over. Have been on other times and witnessed other folks' kids screaming as well. It isn't particularly scary but some kids are fine with it and some not. Our daughter wouldn't try it again for a few years but by age 8 or 9 was fine with it.

 

[Gillyrose779]

My boys went at 2 and 4 and again a year later. The first time my 4 yo wasn't sure but they both really liked it the second time. My 4 yo niece loved it BC of the dancing ghosts in the dining room- thought they were silly.

I tried to make the ride more fun and silly and that seemed to work. They also enjoyed the standby line. We had a 40 min wait by it went fast with the interactive sections.

 

[RebeccaRabbit]

It depends a lot on the kid and what in particular scares them. My DD went on it at 6 and was scared, especially by the dark part in the stretch room at the beginning. She didn't burst out crying or anything, but declared after getting off that she would NEVER do that again! (We'll see if that holds true...)

The ride itself is more funny than scary, but it is quite dark, and involves skeletons and ghosts, which might frighten some young children. Kids may not get the jokes. Most kids enjoy the silly interactive graveyard in the queue.

I personally love the ride and don't think it's scary at all.

 

[k5thbeatle]

Is it too scary for a new 4 year old. This will be our third trip and we have never been through it. It is a must see for me! The standby lines are always way too long by the time we get through major Attractions. What is possibility to get a fourth FP with haunted mansion during spring break week.

Versus an old 4 year old?

 

[davkata]

My kids were never scared of HM. They were in fact all fascinated by the stretching room. My DD however was horrified at ITTBAB and The Mermaid show at HS. Had to find our way out in the dark at both!! She was around 3 1/2 at the time. Stupid parents, we learned our lesson. On the other hand, she is also the kid that we had to take back to Disney as sooooon as she was tall enough for RNRC!!

 

[chiisai]

We had a newly turned 4 year old at the DL Haunted Mansion. In thinking about the ride, I figured that the stretching room would be bad, but that after that it would be fine. So, I turned her toward me and covered her ears in the stretching room. She enjoyed the buggies and thought the ghost rider at the end was funny.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

My son was 4 the first time I took him. I asked him what he wanted to do when we got there, and he told me hm. On the plane ride down I asked again, and he said hm. On the me bus to the resort, I asked. Still hm.

We check into the resort and I asked if he wanted to take a nap. Nope. Hm. We go to mk. Get inside. It's 1:30. I ask if he wants to eat. Nope. Hm.

We get in line for hm, he's jumping like a Mexican jumping bean on a stove. The doors open...

He plants both feet, spreads his arms and shouts "nnnnnnnnoooooooooooo!!!!!"

I wasn't having it. I threw him over my shoulder like sack of potatoes and carried him in.

During the stretching room, he was buried in my shoulder. After that, he loved it and wanted to go again right after.

 

[leahlefler]

We took my younger DS on it (at Disneyland) when he was 4-almost-5 and he loved it. The only part he didn't love was the screaming people do in the stretching room, but we had prepared him and he took out his hearing aids (it's quite nice to have removable hearing). He was fine with the actual attraction, and thought it was funny when we tried to pick the ghost's nose at the end of the ride. We also had an old DVD from Disneyland (made in the late '80's) that has songs and videos of rides at that park. It helped to acclimate him to the sights/sounds he would see at Disney.

 

[taraaplin]

Versus an old 4 year old?

Sorry, I work with preschool teachers! New four year old meaning he turns four literally five days before our trip. Preschool term lol

 

[alisigns]

My 8 year old niece was a little scared, but she sat between grandma and grandpa in the car and was OK.

UNTIL..... We got to the last area, the big graveyard area where ghosts pop up from behind the tombstones and all of the sudden, the ride STOPPED! They had someone getting on who had to transfer from a wheelchair, so we were stopped for a good 2-3 minutes in the scariest part. My niece was not happy, especially after we had told her it wasn't that scary, but 10 minutes later she was laughing it off and it ended up being part of her memory book.

But overall, when we laughed it off and didn't treat it as that big a deal, she didn't either.

 

[dwbrewster]

Before we went on it my DW explained to my DD(4) that everything on the ride was pretend so not to be afraid and while she "didn't like it because it was scary" she was fine on the ride.

 

[emnems34]

I wouldn't say Haunted Mansion by default is too scary for a four year old, but again, every kid is different. I went when i was four and loved it, wasn't the least bit afraid, but then again I was also never afraid of anything "haunted". I think the best thing to do is take your child on once, explain to them in line that nothing is real and can't hurt them. If the child doesn't like it, then that's that, but if they do, they may want to ride it over and over and over (as I did!) As they say: "You'll never know until you try" Good luck!