Height Requirement for Rides

[kellia]

How strict are they with the 40 inch requirements for the rides and how do they measure? I measured my twins tonight in shoes, Ryan is just above 40 inches tall, but Eric is only about 39.5. Do you think they'll let him on? Also, do they measure at every ride or just once?

 

[MSSANDRA]

I have always seen them be VERY strict and 39 1/2 would be denied. HOWEVER last week at dinosaur I saw them measure a little girl that was about an inch under the 40 inch mark and they let her own. Never saw that before so do not count on it. Heights are there for safety.

 

[cfknight]

My DS was an inch shy of 48" for the rock'n rollercoaster last year and we gave it our best shot to get him on, but they would not budge...DENIED

 

[twinsmomvj]

I am in the exact same boat!! I have boy-girl twins. Our son is a touch over 40 inches, and our daughter is a touch under... We leave in 9 days, and I am hoping she'll have a miraculous growth spurt!

 

[SueM in MN]

They do measure at the entrance to the line and again before boarding.
One hint I have seen that seems like it would make sense is to go on those 'borderline' rides early in the day. As the day goes on, the kids get tired and don't stand up as straight.

 

[CleveRocks]

I've seen parents try to get their shorter-than-regulation kids onto rides with heart-breaking and aggravating results. Even if shorties somehow get past the CMs at the ride's entrance, conscientious CMs at the loading area will measure kids, and if they don't measure up then they are out of luck. I saw this most often at Soarin', maybe because I rode it twice or maybe because it's such a L-O-N-G queue area. But each time I rode there were at least two if not more parents carrying crying kids away from the loading area. If they didn't use FASTPASS, then those kids (not to mention the parent) waited in line an hour or more only to get rejected at the last minute.

Funny but long story ....

Our first day in MK 2 months ago, our first ride with a height restriction was Splash Mountain. Our 6 year old son rode it 18 months before, but our 4 year old daughter was a newbie. We tried to just glide by the CM at the FASTPASS return entrance, but he stopped us and measured our girl. As we knew, she was about 4 hair-widths too short. She was crushed. She cried and cried. My wife offered to stay with her while my son and I went on the ride.

When we met up with the girls afterwards, my wife told me that while my son and I were on the ride, she told our daughter the "real reason" she and my wife didn't go on the ride. My wife told her "the truth" that it wasn't because our daughter was too short but that my wife was too fat (which couldn't be farther from the truth). Anyway, my daughter bought it ... well, kind of bought it, as we'd find out later. In any event, it calmed her down.

A week later, on the first morning we woke up at home after our trip, our daughter bounds into our bed and wakes us up, all excited. She told us she grew taller overnight and that if we went back to Disney World that day she'd be able to ride Splash Mountain. My wife mirrored our daughter's excitement and told her how happy she was that all 4 of us would be able to ride together next time.

Our daughter gets this concerned and sad look on her face. She tenderly patted my wife's shoulder, looked her in the eyes and told her, "Sorry, Mommy, you still can't ride, you're still too fat."

Priceless.

 

[kellia]

LOL at too fat! At least it wasn't the truth!

Thanks, I did just look at the list again and I guess it won't be that big of a deal if he can't make it to 40 inches in the next 4 days! I thought the list of rides that he needed to be that height for was longer, but it looks like there are only about 6, and most of them would probably be too scary anyway.

 

[barkley]

i have to echo that they are realy strict. i've seen cm's tell kids to take off shoes that look like they've worn them to meet the height requirement, and i've seen them flatten hair that was obviously done in such a way as to make the child appear taller. we saw one couple get into a horrendous shouting match with a cm over the fact he would'nt allow their child to board some ride at ak. ended up with a manager intervening and telling the parents 'the height rules are for your child's safety-even if you don't care to ensure your child's safety-DISNEY DOES'.

i have to say my ds was thrilled to FINALY meet all the height requirements on our last wdw trip-it took him over 8 years, but he finaly did it (and while it was little consolation to him, i did point out each year when he was unable to ride the ones he wanted to that the rules apply to people of all ages, and there are many 'little people' who will never be able to ride them).