Height requirement differences

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We were doing the child swap way back on our first visit when our daughter was 2.5 years old and her older brother got to ride Space Mountain. She had no understanding of why she couldn't ride and told us, "I'm not little, I'm big". Neither one of us parents wanted to take her off somewhere and not get the chance to ride ourselves so it was a little tough.

I won't argue that it isn't tough. My little short girl was not happy.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

On our last trip 4 years ago, my youngest was 3. She was just under 40" and wasn't able to get on any of the 40" rides. We prepared her for it and she was ok with it, but it did make the entire trip much more difficult since my boys (ages 5 and 9 at the time) wanted to do whatever thrill rides they could get on. She never cried (at least not about that) and didn't throw any tantrums. With the exception of one unrelated incident she was great the entire trip. But it was clear that she really wanted to go on those rides.

For whatever reason, I somehow managed to get her on Splash Mountain twice and she loved it. The first time the attendant at the top felt bad that she was so close and let her through and the one at the bottom never measured her. The second time nobody at all measured her. If there was a harmless way to get her to be a half inch taller I definitely would have done it. She would have had a much better time and my wife (who insisted on staying with her) would have had a much better time.

This time around she's about 48.5-49 inches without shoes so Disney isn't a problem. She'll just have to miss a few rides at Universal. Having all your kids height eligible for the rides you want to do makes planning for the trip and the trip itself much easier.

I just don't see anything wrong with trying to get your kid that extra quarter to a half an inch so that he/she can go on as many rides as they want.

I agree with you except
That last paragraph.

We went to IOA when she was 2.5 and she could ride all of 3 rides. And we rode them A LOT. If I never rode Cat in the Hat again--I would not be sad.

Height restrictions are hard.

 

[cruisingtwins]

My son measures a hair under 40 inches at home without shoes and he's fine on all the rides. He doesn't want to ride most of them though.

 

[EEPETEZ]

When my youngest was just under 40" at Star Tours, he could not contain his disappointment and you could see it all over his face, even though he was trying to be very brave. The CM was so sweet. He took him on a "special" tour of Star Tours just for VIP's (really just the cue and the space where Vader would meet if it was raining), but our little one was thrilled. Then he walked us over to Indian Jones and said he had a very important guest that needed to sit in the front. It is one of our best memories. CM's are sometimes really so wonderful! Our son still talks about it, 4 years later.

 

[Gracie09]

That totally goes against the earlier statement in this thread that all sticks are measured and uniform

Once DD was tall enough we were fine. I guess we didn't go when it was close

I can measure my kids five times in a row and get five different heights. It depends on how they stand. Leaning one way or another different height. Standing tall and taking a deep breath taller. We've never had an issue where they were okay one ride and not the next. To the pp who said try a high hairstyle. Dd has big hair, almost a fro. They always without fail squish it down. When it's in a top bun they measure to the side.

 

[DVCcurious]

Put some napkins in her shoes to give her that extra height she needs to pass.

 

[maxiesmom]

Put some napkins in her shoes to give her that extra height she needs to pass.

I hope you are kidding.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I feel your pain. I think my child will legally need a booster until she is 16. Lol. She is still hovering around 3-4%ile for height. She is a small fry for sure. She didn't hit 40 inches until right at age 5. She is tiny.

Our 5 year old has dwarfism, so we had many missed rides. He just made it onto the Barnstormer. I keep hoping for our next trip, he'll be up to 40", but not likely as he's only 35" now.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

The measuring stations are definitely not all the same height. The tallest 40 inch one when DD was small was at Star Tours. She easily hit her head on the stick at BTMRR and Splash, but almost didn't make the second measurement at Star tours. There was at least an inch difference.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I feel your pain. I think my child will legally need a booster until she is 16. Lol. She is still hovering around 3-4%ile for height. She is a small fry for sure. She didn't hit 40 inches until right at age 5. She is tiny.

My child was barely 41 inches when she turned 5 and is now a 5' 1" twelve year old so there is hope. She started kinder in 5t clothes and size 11 shoes. She hit a huge growth spurt in 2nd grade and went through 3 sets of shoes and uniforms in a 9 month school year.

 

[Mamapapa]

The measuring stations are definitely not all the same height. The tallest 40 inch one when DD was small was at Star Tours. She easily hit her head on the stick at BTMRR and Splash, but almost didn't make the second measurement at Star tours. There was at least an inch difference.

I agree with this. They are NOT uniform height. I agree with some posters that in some cases the way the child stands can make a difference, but I saw over an inch difference on some of those sticks....

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

I was just wondering this same question!!
DD (4) is 39.5 inches without shoes.. She really really wants to go on splash and BTMR

We had problems in the past with measurements.. (7DMT)DD would pass the 1st one and not the 2nd. Or would pass early in the day butt not later..
She hates things touching her head, so it sometimes hardto explain why her head HAS to touch it.

My opinion on why ride differ in there measurements is I think the ground below gets wore down..
Think about it millions of children standing over and over in the same spot.. After a while the ground will start to wear down. And that doesn't even take into account weather or water erosion.

 

[Muskegon78]

I was just wondering this same question!!
DD (4) is 39.5 inches without shoes.. She really really wants to go on splash and BTMR

We had problems in the past with measurements.. (7DMT)DD would pass the 1st one and not the 2nd. Or would pass early in the day butt not later..
She hates things touching her head, so it sometimes hardto explain why her head HAS to touch it.

My opinion on why ride differ in there measurements is I think the ground below gets wore down..
Think about it millions of children standing over and over in the same spot.. After a while the ground will start to wear down. And that doesn't even take into account weather or water erosion.

I could see that happening, My daughter is almost 41" now without shoes so I'm hoping for no problems and will be quite disappointed if they are that far off

 

[IslandAdventure4]

Our last trip our DS was plenty tall for Splash, but my DD was so close your could have barely fit a credit card between her head and the stick. She wasn't allowed on. That went over like a fart in Church.... I let the DW take DS on Splash and I stayed back with her. Thank GOD Chip and Dale had a M & G right by the entrance. That helped in deflecting not being able to ride... All good