How do they measure height for rides?

[cedarparkgirl]

Last night I measured DD (4) with her normal shoes on, and these shoes do not have much of a sole. I took out of ruler.. laid it level on her head, marked up the door and measured. She measured 40.5". with her other sneakers that have a little more cushion, they measured 41". And with some boots she has, she measured at 42". The rest of our group is at least 45 inches.. and I know she would feel left out if she could not do Grizzly Run. Can someone tell me how they measure small children for the height restriction rides?

 

[PlazaPavGal92]

They have a pole at the attractions that have a height limit that the CMs use to measure kids. They are at the entrance of each ride so you can see if your child is tall enough.

 

[hrhlaurie]

It's designed to move quickly so the cast member will have your child step up to the line and they are either tall enough or not. I haven't seen them pull off shoes to measure but if you have 5" heels on your small child they may make an exception!

Basically, the rules are there to protect the safety of the child. You may want to prepare your daughter and let her know that she may have to miss out on some rides like Indiana Jones or the rapids.

Our grandaughter is going to be almost 4 when we go and although she is already 40" she already knows there are rides she can't go on. We won't make her wait in those lines, one of us will just go hang with her somewhere else.

In a year or two they will both be tall enough because they do grow so fast.

 

[DisQueen]

At the entrance to each ride with a height restriction, there is a bar at the restricted height. The CM asks the child to stand under the bar. If their head clears, they are not tall enough. Your daugher may be disappointed, but the height requirement is there for a reason. If the child isn't tall enough, the safety bars, belts, etc. won't fit properly. My suggestion is to check ahead of time and have a back-up "treat" if your daughter can't go. When DD can't go on a ride, we'll watch the parade, visit a princess, check out the ice-cream cart...

 

[hlbtimes2]

See my tag? Make sure when they measure her that she stands up really tall! Kids seem to want to scrunch down a bit when getting measured, then they look shorter. Also, people are taller in the morning then the evening. So, if you think she is close go early in the day. After walking all day our spines compress a bit and make us shorter.

 

[XTinabell]

I found this, I hope it's accurate because it should help you
http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/dlparks/heightrestrictions.shtml

 

[RMH]

There are a few tricks you can use to gain 1/2 and inch or so if your DD is not quiet tall enough. Tall shoes (like her boots) help, having her stand on the heels of her tennis shoes, or putting socks under her heels inside her shoes. Making her hair puffy can also help but you don't want to overdo it. I won't comment on what values that teaches her about cheating, etc., but I agree that missing out on a ride with everyone else for a lousey half inch is a bummer.

 

[sallyjane]

We ran into this problem during our March trip. The first day my son wore his crocs and a hat and had no problem getting on California Screaming. The next day my son had on his crocs with no hat and he was not tall enough to go on the ride? My DH was with DS so he probably didn't make sure that DS was standing straight or something?

 

[TSRE]

We had the same thing happen - our son was 40" one day, and not the next, apparently. The only thing we could figure was that his newish shoes had compressed a little in the sole over the day of walking. It was a bummer for him, though.

I would suggest waiting for a castmember change if it is really close and you happen to get one who is very picky. We ran into one at Space Mountain that seemed to take pleasure in turning kids away. 10 minutes later there was someone else there and he got on fine. Go figure. He was within 1/8" - really close.

 

[earthflower]

Disneyland® Resort Attraction Height Chart

Disneyland® Park
• Gadget’s Go Coaster – 35”
• Matterhorn Bobsleds – 35”
• Space Mountain – 40”
• Star Tours – 40”
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 40”
• Splash Mountain – 40”
• Indiana Jones Adventure – 46”
• Autopia – minimum age 12 months, minimum height 52” to drive alone

Disney’s California Adventure® Park

• Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies – 36”
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 40”
• Jumpin’ Jellyfish – 40”
• Soarin’ Over California – 40”
• Mulholland Madness – 42”
• Grizzly River Run – 42”
• California Screamin’ – 48”
• Orange Stinger – 48”
• Maliboomer – 52”
• Redwood Creek Challenge Trail – various height and
age requirements for certain challenges

 

[beckanoah]

I think I read somewhere yesterday, you can measure in guest services, and get the child a bracelet stating their heighth... to save from disappointment at the ride. Has anyone ever done this???

Then it'd be a "one-size" kinda day!

 

[hlbtimes2]

I think I read somewhere yesterday, you can measure in guest services, and get the child a bracelet stating their heighth... to save from disappointment at the ride. Has anyone ever done this???

Then it'd be a "one-size" kinda day!

That was a trial program a few years ago. It didnt work well so they stopped offering it. They had problems with people putting the bracelets on kids that were shorter, as well as some other issues.

 

[DangerMouse]

We had the same thing happen - our son was 40" one day, and not the next, apparently. The only thing we could figure was that his newish shoes had compressed a little in the sole over the day of walking. It was a bummer for him, though.

I would suggest waiting for a castmember change if it is really close and you happen to get one who is very picky. We ran into one at Space Mountain that seemed to take pleasure in turning kids away. 10 minutes later there was someone else there and he got on fine. Go figure. He was within 1/8" - really close.

This seems to occur often. It happened to us as well. My son rode one day, then rejected the next. We couldn't believe it. We measured fine at the front, then they rejected us at the loading area. The CM at the front suggested we try taller shoes! I took my socks off, put them on my son, and we got right on.

 

[Luvmy2Js]

What is frustrating about Disneyland is that your kids can measure 40 inches in the doctors office and yet get to Disney and they are too short. We had this happen our first trip for DDs birthday. She is pretty tall for her age and we were at the doctor for her 3 year appointment the day before we left for Disney. They measured her at 40.5. We were sooooo excited. Got to Disney and she was too short for everything but Matterhorn and Go Go Gadget Coasters. Our next trip a few months later I measured her again and once again she is more than fine. We get there and she is fine this time for the rides. I know part of it was the flip flops she was wearing that had a wedge heal but I figured I was fine with that since she was actually the height required. We rode Splash Mountain together and then went to parent swap with DH and a new ticket taker made her take her shoes off and told her she couldn't ride it. This as she is standing there soaking wet obviously just coming off the ride. I was so very irritated and felt like pulling out her vax certificate I carry in the diaper bag and showing the guy where the darn drs office said she was more than tall enough to ride the ride. It is the inconsistency that makes it hard and the fact that they have the height checkers on moutains and stuff so I just don't feel they are very even. Good luck and I would definately do the extra socks or the wedge heal tennis shoe. Try to stay away from the flip flop in case you get someone like we had at Splash that made Jaedyn take her shoes off. If she would have had tennis shoes on I would have refused to take them off as that is just way to much a pain in the *** and its not fair to make one child measure barefoot when all the other ones are measuring with some type of shoe on.

 

[minmate]

I am always so nervous as it is with my kids on the "bigger" rides that even though Jayleigh brought along some flip flops with a heel that made her 1.5 to 2 inches taller, I would've been scared to death that by "cheating" the system something awful would've happened to her -- bad karma you know! With that said, it IS frustrating to be so borderline and I did measure dd several times at home and she was clearly over 42 inches -- barefoot but there were some rides where it looked like she was just barely making it at 40 inches! I guess my suggestion is to prepare her for the possibility that she may miss out on a few rides but that just means another disney trip will be needed in the future!