Height Restrictions for rides...

[paulfoel]

Our young son is now 38"" with no shoes on. I notice a LOT of the rides have height restrictions of 40"".

OK. So add a bit for his shoes....

What do you reckon his chances are of getting on? How fussy are the operators? Would they make him take his hat off for instance ?

 

[Becky_Boop]

Sorry, they're REALLY picky. If his shoes are huge, they'd probably make him take it off, and they'd definitely make him take off his hat. Try child swap if you still want to enjoy the attraction, and have fun at other rides!

 

[shadonjenon]

The height restrictions are there for a reason. Im sure you wouldn't want him to ride an attraction that wasn't designed for someone his size. Also I beleive that the restrictions have more to do with where the safety restraintes fall on him. So even if he appears to be tall enough once he sat down on a ride the safety belts might not fit him properly.

 

[fizz13]

Just to give you a bit of hope I thought my DS was 38" until I took him to WDW and found he met the height requirement for Splash and Big Thunder, so either their measurements are slightly off (I doubt it) or I had measured slightly innnacurately. Shoes can make a difference though. Try and see, you never know.

 

[susykt4]

My son was 39 inches without shoes our last trip. He easily got onto Big Thunder 8+ times, Splash once (that's all DH and I could take.) He got onto Soarin' once right at open but when we went back to use our fastpasses he was denied. Test Track was closed during our trip and we didn't even try Dinosaur because we thought it'd be too scary. Didn't try Tower of Terror or Star Tours.

If your son is a coaster nut and can't get on the big rides, get to ToonTown right when it opens (usually an hour after the rest of the MK) and ride the Goofy coaster over and over with minimal waits.

 

[mattsdragon]

This is a hot button topic, which usually ends up with people calling other people bad parents, and those people calling the other people some form of nazi.

 

[traviesojmt]

We were at WDW at the end of August. Our DD3 was right at the 40" mark with her shoes. They were regular tennis shoes. The CMs measured her carefully at the beginning of every ride with the 40" requirement. There were times that she was also measured right before we got on the ride as well. On one occasion, the CM at the entrance of Soarin' said that she was tall enough and we got into line. Right before we were to get on the ride, a second CM measured her and said that she was not tall enough. He sent us back down. In the end, she rode Soarin, Splash Mt, Big Thunder Mt, and Test Track mulitple times. All of this was with her tennis shoes. She wore flat sandels one afternoon and did not meet the 40" requirement. She was just a fraction of an inch too short with her sandels. They would not let her ride. From our experience, they are very strict with the height requirements.

 

[Hannathy]

2 inches is a big difference! Your child would need 2 1/2 inch heels to make it. I would not attempt this much. They will take off hats, push down hair and look at shoes if they look outragous which 2 1/2 inch shoes would. My son measured just 48 at home without shoes and made the rides with normal shoes but was measured at least twice each time but at TL on gusher his head only touched the bottom of the "L" and they would not let him on they said it had to be above the line. If your child is close they will pay even more attention. If it was 1/4 of an inch I would say maybe but 2 inches is stretching it IMO.

 

[M 'n C]

We were just there last week and noticed the CM's measured children twice when they were close to that 40" mark. I think the children we noticed them measuring twice were above the 40" mark so I am unsure what would have happened if they were under that mark.

 

[Ashlind2]

Is the height policy still enforced for people with dwarfism ?