Have your kids ever gotten too scared during a ride?

[lostinyonkers]

Maybe some of you can help me....

My 3 1/2 year old daughter is now over 40-inches tall, which means she can ride Soarin Over California. I think she would really love it, but of course I can't be sure until I get her ON the ride. When she was younger, I remember taking her on the Haunted Mansion ride and she was scared in parts, but I was sitting right with her, and all I did was hide her eyes for her until we got to a less-scary part. I am worried with Soarin, there won't be anything I can do, should she start freaking out! hehe

I guess I really have 2 questions for all of you..
1) Have you ever had your child freak out badly on a ride, and if so, what did you do about it?
2) Have you ever taken a 3 year old on Soarin, and if so, did they enjoy it?

Any advice/words of wisdom on this subject would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[FWDisFan]

Our kids got really freaked out this trip on Indiana Jones (and we had even rented the movie before we went so they would have seen the large boulder, etc and KNOW that Indy saves the day....) Basically they just closed their eyes and covered their ears the entire time! They were fine on EVERYTHING else.

On Soarin' you are sitting right next to her so you could put your arm around her for security. There isn't much to spook her in Soarin' with the sights of California to see and smell! The dark rides in Fantasyland would be scarier.

PS you have a tall 3 year-old!

 

[jonestavern]

I am the big scareddy cat in our family. sit next to your DD, ask the CM for the middle row--for the feet hanging effect--that could make for a distraction for you but she might find it more stabilizing. Just have her close her eyes if she finds any of it disorienting. That worked for me
Years ago, I had DH scope out Alien Encounter, he said it was not at all frightening, so in I trot with DSthen7. DH sits between DS & I--well, let me tell you, most of the kids start flipping out including DSthen7!
I couldn't get to him & DH was just no help at all I was totally flipped because I couldn't reach DS
& could only hear him shrieking! I swear I was p*ssed at DH for at least 2 hrs after.
DS & I were so freaked we avoided even the entrance to AE for the rest of the trip. We still ocassionally will bust DH over 'traumatizing' us with his benign review of AE!
Fast forward,all's well, DSnow17 went on EE today--loves those wild rides!

Jean

 

[imjen]

Soarin' is great for the younger ones! My dd was 3, almost 4 when we went last spring and she is very apprehensive about scary rides. She loved this ride! She went on it 2 or 3 times. Her barely 4 yr old cousin loved it too. I didn't notice any of the kids around us acting scared either. You can't really tell how high up you are because it's dark. I highly recommend it! It's one of my favorites too.

Oh, BTW, the one "rougher" ride she went on was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She screamed and cried. I wasn't with her but dh was...she was a little shook up when she got off--fine after a few minutes though. I wouldn't recommend it unless your dd likes the wilder rides! My dd did okay on Splash though. She was a little scared and didn't want to do it again, but she said she liked it overall.

 

[tiggersis]

In Honey I shrunked the Audience and Its tough to be a Bug you can leave during the show if it get too scary for your child. This happened to us when my brother freaked in HISA. Not a good experience.

 

[Lori00789]

When my daughter was about 3 we took her to disneyworld. The first ride we went on was pirates of the caribbean. She got scared and was terrified to go on rides the rest of the day. So my advise is to start out with gentle easy rides and see how she does. Don't push more then she is comfortable with.

 

[lostinyonkers]

Thank you all for the replies!
Jonestavern, your story of AE made me laugh. I can't believe your DH thought it wouldn't be scary! That ride freaked ME out!
I think I will "risk it" and take her on it and see how she does.
I really do think she'll love it.

Thanks again, everyone!
I'd love to hear more stories if you got em!

 

[csw]

Yes - WDW my 9 year old DD completely freaked out in It's a Bug's Life.

We were seated in the dead middle of the row and the theatre was packed so we couldn't do anything. She buried her head in my lap and screamed when the bugs "exited" the theatre at the end.

I should note that this was on our first Disney trip, and Bugs Life just happend to be our very first ride. Nice introduction to Disney for our DD - but she lived and this year went on it at DL with no problems. I did have to use the "chicken exit" for TOT with her though.

 

[Vexorg]

I recall back on my first visit (years ago, she would have been about 5 at the time) my sister had some problems with the Haunted Mansion. I don't seem to recall too many problems with younger kids on the rides though (although I'm sure Captain Eo would scare small children these days if it was still around for different reasons...) Although I wasn't there at the time to see it, I was told that my aunt freaked out on one of the swinging ferris wheel cars over at DCA...

 

[fidoprincess]

My DD is 6 now and we have a whole list that she won't go on. They are Splash, Matterhorn, Space, Big Thunder, Indy and just recently Pirates. We stood in the pirates line and went so far as to get in the boat and then had to get right out this last trip! She has been on all of these rides before when she was younger and now refuses. I wish I had waited until she was ready because she is so fearful now and having a 10 year old it means we have to split up a lot. Neither of them love HM but I make them go-lol-and they won't do Snow White or Pinnochio. Ds 10-hates the gun on the jungle cruise but will go if forced
In CA, the list is Mulholland Madness, Screaming, Tower of Terror, Bugs Life and the big drop ride (too short anyway). She was finally tall enough to ride the orange stingers in Nov and although she was scared at first, has now decided it is one of her favorites.
Although the list is quite long, we still have plenty to do and DH takes turns with me riding with Ds because I love Indy and Space.

 

[fidoprincess]

My DD is 6 now and we have a whole list that she won't go on. They are Splash, Matterhorn, Space, Big Thunder, Indy and just recently Pirates. We stood in the pirates line and went so far as to get in the boat and then had to get right out this last trip! She has been on all of these rides before when she was younger and now refuses. I wish I had waited until she was ready because she is so fearful now and having a 10 year old it means we have to split up a lot. Neither of them love HM but I make them go-lol-and they won't do Snow White or Pinnochio. Ds 10-hates the gun on the jungle cruise but will go if forced.

In CA, the list is Mulholland Madness, Screaming, Tower of Terror, Bugs Life and the big drop ride (too short anyway). She was finally tall enough to ride the orange stingers in Nov and although she was scared at first, has now decided it is one of her favorites.
Although the list is quite long, we still have plenty to do and DH takes turns with me riding with Ds because I love Indy and Space.

 

[kuusimo]

My DH took our then 3 yr old on Matterhorn last year. Our DS did not do anything until AFTER the ride and to this day he will bring up the "Scary ride daddy made him go on." Sometimes he has too good of a memory. We are planning on going back in Feb and hope he does not remember. Every child is different. Isn't that what makes parenting fun?

 

[albianne]

My dd is 14 and dragged us on all the scary rides like Space Mountain (which you could not pay me to go on again!) so when I finally saw what I thought was a familiar looking ride - The Sun Wheel - to me it looked just like the Ferris Wheel of my childhood and I talked everybody into going on it. Little did I know that they have tweaked the good old Ferris Wheel and it now not only goes around in circles but it is on rockers which slide forward and back about 20 feet as it goes around. Well my daughter was terrified to the point where she started to sob and as we went past the bottom and the ride operator I called out for them to stop but they didn't listen or maybe didn't hear and it went on FOREVER. In the end my hubby was looking green and even though I didn't want to admit it because it was my idea to ride, felt like I was going to get sick.
Evidently you can choose between cars that rock or not but it's doubtful that we will rider either ever again. It's just really wierd that my dd who was not scared of anything else was so afraid on this ride.

 

[lostinyonkers]

Ok a few people have mentioned their kids being afraid of "A Bugs Life." Is this the Bug's Life MOVIE-thing or is there some type of ride? I have only seen that Bug's Life movie once...and it was many years ago at WDW, so maybe I am forgetting something (obviously I must be), but I don't remember it being scary at all?

What am I forgetting?

 

[albianne]

At the very end of Bugs life when it feels like the bugs are crawling under your seat the lady sitting beside me jumped up in terror and ended up standing on her seat screaming, then of course her whole party errupted in laughter and she had a good laugh herself. It made the whole show even better but I guess that could be scary for kids plus I think at one point there was a big bug type creation that pops out of the wall near the front right stage if I remember correctly and if a kid were sitting close that might scare them.

 

[kuusimo]

Ok a few people have mentioned their kids being afraid of "A Bugs Life." Is this the Bug's Life MOVIE-thing or is there some type of ride? I have only seen that Bug's Life movie once...and it was many years ago at WDW, so maybe I am forgetting something (obviously I must be), but I don't remember it being scary at all?

What am I forgetting?

It is not the Pixar cartoon A Bug's life. It is a live action where the bugs are as big as you on the screen. My brother was a bug sprayer one summer back east and then went to see this movie. He came home and told me to not take my children until they were AT LEAST teenagers. They play the movie right outside Bug's Land. I think that most parents assume because Bug's land is for children that the movie must be too.

 

[tink71973]

I took my DD to Disneyland when she was 3 1/2 and she seemed to really like everying.The funny thing is when we went back when she was 5 we got in line for Mr Toads Wild Ride she looked up at me and said "I'm not riding that last time I road that I got hit by a train".I can't ever tell you how hard I laughted.Mr Toad is now one of her fav's.

 

[MsYumiBr]

Yes, scared stiff. My daughter was about 4 or 5 at the time. She *finally* was tall enough to go on Space Mountain. I was so happy because we could all go on a fast ride together. My other daughter, about 8, had been on the ride and always liked it. So, the three of us were in the line, got up to the loading dock and suddenly I found myself in the seat in front of my two girls. I started to panic thinking my youngest was going to fly out of the seat. Through the whole ride I kept trying to look behind me to see if all was okay. My oldest I could hear screaming and my youngest was silent. I was praying and hoping all was okay and was almost in tears. Then suddenly, the ride ended. I couldn't see over the back of the seat so as soon as I could, I got up, looked behind me and there was my daughter, stark white, hair sticking up on end and I kept calling her name. After a few moments, the color came back in her face and she gave me a *big* smile. I laughed with relief and had to pry her hands off the bars. She loved it though and wanted to go again. Uh, no. The moral of this story, this ride is for one adult per small child.

 

[LucyKate]

My 9YO actually stood up in the middle of Splash and tried to climb off!

I had to turn around (which is not easy in those logs) and pull her back in.

She was scared by the 2nd drop, which occurrs in the dark. At the end of the ride she can be heard on our video declaring "Daddy I don't want to do that again!".

They were also a bit scared by Matterhorn but the 9YO did Indi and loved it, and both handled Bug's life. The 6YO thought it scary, held my hand tight and buried her face in me at one point, but stuck it out and enjoyed it.

They both thought GRR and soarin were sensational and not remotely scary.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

When my daughter was about 3 we were in line for the Matterhorn. It was night and dark. She started to get scared of it. I also had my son who was 5 at the time. Well she started crying and saying she didn't want to ride it. Since I was alone with the kids I couldn't do the kids swap. I told her she would be fine - I knew she would love it if she just gave it a try. She kept whimpering and we got to the front if the line. The CM told me she couldn't ride if she was crying. I said she would be fine and I knew my kid. I really knew she would be fine once the ride got started. We started the slow pull out of the start - where you stop and wait to really get going. The CM came over to me and said I have to get off the ride with the kids as they can't let my DH go on scared. I said this is my kid, I know her and she is fine. They said no get off. We did - I was not very happy about it after waiting in the long line. To this day though she LOVES this ride. In fact she really doesn't have a fear of any of the rides except Malaboomer in DCA and Screaming (though she did ride it once)