How Do Ya'll....

[ashleendanny]

Try to coax your kiddos on a rides that they aren't to sure about. This is going to be our first trip and I want my boys to at least give the rides a shot, we have went online and watched videos of the rides on youtube, told them that the worst it would do is scare them a little, but it wasn't going to hurt them. I just don't want to scar them for life, KWIM, but on the same hand I want them to at least give the bigger rides a try before they decide, nope I don't like that.

So for instance, would Mickey's Rockin Roller Coaster be one to scary for them, I guess is that the worst one there (not that that will be the one we start off on, haha)? One of my boys (the 9 year old) says he is going to go on everything with me, the other one (10) says he is not to sure, he is the more hesitant one. I mean is there anything there that is going to absolutely scare the daylight out of him, like I said I just want them to have fun, but not be to scared to try anything...

Thanks for your replies,
Ashlee

 

[Lightgician]

I let the grandkids watch the people coming off the attraction. Tell them to see if anyone did not have fun. It has worked everytime and they have a ball on it.

 

[everylastbreath]

I wouldn't push them, if they are unsure, I would skip the ride.

 

[Marionnette]

I wouldnt push a reluctant child to do something he is afraid to try. There is nothing to be gained by forcing, weedling, bribing or shaming a kid into getting on an attraction that he has misgivings about doing. A disney trip is supposed to be fun. Not riddled with anxiety. If your asking about the rock n roller coaster then you might want to know that its dark, loud, very fast and it goes upside down. You can let him decide if thats going to scare the daylights out of him.

 

[ashleendanny]

Thank you all for your replies...

I would never push them to do anything they don't want to do, I just don't want them to just absolutely decide before we get there that , nope they don't want to try it.

Yep, it sounds like the rockin roller coaster is not for ANY of my family, I didn't know it went upside down, so thanks for that info.

Thanks again for all your replies.

 

[skelooch]

There's no explaining why some kids are afraid of something that others their age have no fear of. My youngest granddaughter now 7 was absolutely terrified of the characters from age one to five and even to this day is not totally comfortable around them maybe it has something to do with their size that is intimidating.
Some have no problem with the roller coasters or other fast rides but are scared to death with Haunted Mansion.
I believe they should never be forced to do something they are not totally comfortable about. It will definitely ruin their vacation, and probably yours too.


I hope you all have a great time.

 

[winnie 38]

Many years ago I paid my son $20.00 to go on splash mountain because it is my favorite ride and I was sure he would love it also, He was around 12 and has always had a problem with heights, he was not a happy person when he got off the ride did not enjoy it at all, I learned my lesson and would never try to push anyone to ride something they are not sure of again. He is now 30 years old and still reminds me of that trip every time we go to Disney and we have been over 41 times.

 

[Best Aunt]

told them that the worst it would do is scare them a little

If you read the guidebooks, when people write in to describe how their child reacted to particular rides, they often end with, "He was shot for the day."

I wouldn't assume that someone would be scared for a few minutes on a ride, and then the minute they walk through the exit everything is fine again.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

HI!

I would take my kids to talks to the kids their age coming off the ride.....................it wasn't a perfecr fix.....but we got them on alot attractions that way!

AKK

 

[disneyjunkie99]

We made our first trip when my daughter was turning 6. We did like you and watched videos of the rides on youtube so that she would know to expect. But one other thing that we did was we packed earplugs. I got the soft molded ones and just kept a couple of pairs in my pocket in case one gets lost on the ride. When we went on a new ride, we put them in her ears so that she wasn't on sensory overload. She could still hear everything but it wasn't at the normal deafening level. This helped to decrease her anxiety. Now, she loves every ride at WDW except ToT. She hasn't been brave enough for that one yet!

 

[sam_gordon]

My DS was VERY brave during our last trip. He would have been 5 at the time. He willingly went on HM... HATED it! He was scared the whole time. We talked him into trying Space Mountain (he LOVES BTMRR) and he also came off that ride crying. Makes a parent feel || that small. The good news for both rides was after about 20 minutes he was fine (didn't want to go on the ride again, but it didn't ruin the day).

Each child is different.

 

[Fantasmic23]

[QUOTE=Marionnette;38505380] I wouldnt push a reluctant child to do something he is afraid to try. There is nothing to be gained by forcing, weedling, bribing or shaming a kid into getting on an attraction that he has misgivings about doing. A disney trip is supposed to be fun. Not riddled with anxiety

I absolutely agree. This was done to me as a child and as a result, I hate most fast rides. I vowed never to do that to my kids. I had no idea, of course, that I would give birth to one daredevil (DD 12). DS (8) is more like me and DH. He'll intently "study" a ride (be it at WDW or elsewhere) and ask questions, particularly about speed and height. If he's not "feeling it", he doesn't ride. DS and I have "chicken-exited" quite a few times. He always apologizes profusely ("I'm sorry, Mom") and I always tell him there is no need.

 

[SmallWorld71]

One suggestion is to build up the intensity of the rides you go on during the day/ week. If you start out with the less scary, kids will often become braver as the day/ week goes on.

This worked well for my daughter who wanted to try Space Mountain, but kept changing her mind back and forth. We grabbed fast passes in the morning and at around 7 o'clock she decided she wanted to ride. She loved it.

This also worked well for my nephew (11 years old, Asperger's) on his first ever WDW trip this past April. The first few days he would only ride things he was 100% sure of. By the end of the week he chose to ride Soarin, BTMRR, Splash, Mission Space, Dinosaur and Test Track. He loved them all except Dinosaur and Test Track turned out the be his favorite ride of the whole trip. He also new enough about Disney by then to know that just because he didn't like one ride, it didn't mean that they all would be scary.

Be careful of starting with the scarier rides with timid children as they may refuse to ride anything else after that!

 

[PHXscuba]

My kids also do better with the "outside rides" when they are new experiences. It's much easier to judge what is going to happen on Thunder Mountain than on Space Mountain, even with a YouTube video beforehand. It even applies to Fantasyland rides! Let them look at a rollercoaster first before they ride it.

PHXscuba

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

My kids collect the Disney pins for Pin trading. They can get a new ride pin when they go on the ride for the first time. My daughter,8, will never trade her Space Mountain or Tower of Terror pins because she was scared before her first ride!(now its "no big deal", of course) They are a symbol of her "accomplishment" of facing her fear.

 

[cuches]

Funny thing....my DD 11,who has autism, is super afraid of characters (will absolutely not go near them) but loves the scary rides...Rockin' Roller Coaster is her favorite! She went on ToT when she was only 4 and was laughing so hard she couldn't stand up after the ride. We have the snapshot they sell from that ride and it is our fav picture from that entire trip. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do to get them to get on a ride but if you start with the easy going rides first then try to work your way to the bigger ones that might help. I like your idea of 'interviewing' the exiting riders...you know, seeing all the excited faces may entice them to go on the ride. Also, some of the magic we find at Disney is not even in the rides but just walking around and enjoying the sites.

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

I just have to share this story....

Please read all the way thru this before making any judgements about my parenting skills... then please keep your judgements to yourself

Our last trip as an entire family was fall of 2007: vagueness is intentional to protect the identity of the parties involved. Dh was at the hotel with the baby for naptime, so I was at the park with the other 3 kids. One of my twins (then just turning 8) kept saying she wanted to ride the big rides(of course the ones with the longest lines), and when we would get to the front of the line...she would chicken out. I would exit the ride with her, and the oldest child would ride with the other twin. Upon seeing how much fun the siblings had on the ride, chicken child would then begin whining that she wanted to go on the ride now....so we would sometimes hop back in line and wait another 30 minutes and she would love the ride (usually), or I would tell her the line is too long now...(over an hour) and she would proceed to cry that she did not get to ride.

This happened everyday at every park while DH was at the hotel for naptime. Finally, our last day, we were on ToT. We had waited in line for about 45 minutes. We were standing AT the elevator door. She starts showing the signs...gripping my hands, stepping from side to side...I hear a tentative "Mom?" and my other 2 kids groan....I try to ignore her....she says she is scared. The lady next to her says she is scared too and does her best to distract dd. Chicken child says she wants to leave. I say she is not doing this again. Everything will be ok. It is just like every other ride we have been on. She starts bawling...tears streaming down her face. I explain to everyone around me what we have been thru over the last 3 days. My other 2 kids back me up, and are laughing....we talk about EE ...even chicken child laughs about that one....then starts bawling again. CM at elevator just stares....lady next to chicken child says they can have a screaming contest on the ride....chicken child cries even louder....grabs my leg and starts begging....elevator opens...I drag her on...buckle her in....everyone is staring at me...I know what they are thinking, but I just don't care at this point....

The ride starts, she is still bawling....
Then, all of a sudden the elevator drops, chicken child throws her arms in the air and yells...

WHOOO HOOO! WHOOOOOOO!!!!!! HOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEE WHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lady from the top was scared and screaming all the way down and when we got off she asked me where my little girl was that was crying? I pointed to her and she could not believe it! She was laughing with her siblings saying what a BLAST it had been, can they do it again? When we looked at the picture she was smiling and having a blast!

We got off and I made her ride it again just to show the cast member at the top how much she loved it!!!!

When we got home, I was telling SIL about the whole experience about a week later, and she told me she thought she read about me (some horrible mother forcing her crying child to ride ToT) on the internet....


Now, I normally am against forcing kids to ride against their will, and had I not been thru this same thing at LEAST 5 times already (BTMRR, Space Mtn, EE, Kali Rapids, TestTrack), having waited in lines that were at least 30-45 minutes long EACH time....twice for each ride, because she was changing her mind, I would not have done this....but it was getting REALLY old...and when DH was with us, it was different, because one of us was always waiting with the baby....I think I was more traumatized than she was....It was a tough lesson for me to learn

 

[momtotaryn]

This thread was really good reading for me. My DD (who is 10 now, turns 11 next July) doesn't like fast or scary rides much, and I know she may not be willing to try some of the rides at WDW when we're there next year. She does like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland, though, so perhaps I can talk her into trying some of the others. Which are similar to Thunder Mountain or less intense?

 

[SmallWorld71]

I just have to share this story....

Please read all the way thru this before making any judgements about my parenting skills... then please keep your judgements to yourself

Our last trip as an entire family was fall of 2007: vagueness is intentional to protect the identity of the parties involved. Dh was at the hotel with the baby for naptime, so I was at the park with the other 3 kids. One of my twins (then just turning 8) kept saying she wanted to ride the big rides(of course the ones with the longest lines), and when we would get to the front of the line...she would chicken out. I would exit the ride with her, and the oldest child would ride with the other twin. Upon seeing how much fun the siblings had on the ride, chicken child would then begin whining that she wanted to go on the ride now....so we would sometimes hop back in line and wait another 30 minutes and she would love the ride (usually), or I would tell her the line is too long now...(over an hour) and she would proceed to cry that she did not get to ride.

This happened everyday at every park while DH was at the hotel for naptime. Finally, our last day, we were on ToT. We had waited in line for about 45 minutes. We were standing AT the elevator door. She starts showing the signs...gripping my hands, stepping from side to side...I hear a tentative "Mom?" and my other 2 kids groan....I try to ignore her....she says she is scared. The lady next to her says she is scared too and does her best to distract dd. Chicken child says she wants to leave. I say she is not doing this again. Everything will be ok. It is just like every other ride we have been on. She starts bawling...tears streaming down her face. I explain to everyone around me what we have been thru over the last 3 days. My other 2 kids back me up, and are laughing....we talk about EE ...even chicken child laughs about that one....then starts bawling again. CM at elevator just stares....lady next to chicken child says they can have a screaming contest on the ride....chicken child cries even louder....grabs my leg and starts begging....elevator opens...I drag her on...buckle her in....everyone is staring at me...I know what they are thinking, but I just don't care at this point....

The ride starts, she is still bawling....
Then, all of a sudden the elevator drops, chicken child throws her arms in the air and yells...

WHOOO HOOO! WHOOOOOOO!!!!!! HOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEE WHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lady from the top was scared and screaming all the way down and when we got off she asked me where my little girl was that was crying? I pointed to her and she could not believe it! She was laughing with her siblings saying what a BLAST it had been, can they do it again? When we looked at the picture she was smiling and having a blast!

We got off and I made her ride it again just to show the cast member at the top how much she loved it!!!!

When we got home, I was telling SIL about the whole experience about a week later, and she told me she thought she read about me (some horrible mother forcing her crying child to ride ToT) on the internet....


Now, I normally am against forcing kids to ride against their will, and had I not been thru this same thing at LEAST 5 times already (BTMRR, Space Mtn, EE, Kali Rapids, TestTrack), having waited in lines that were at least 30-45 minutes long EACH time....twice for each ride, because she was changing her mind, I would not have done this....but it was getting REALLY old...and when DH was with us, it was different, because one of us was always waiting with the baby....I think I was more traumatized than she was....It was a tough lesson for me to learn

My parents used to have to do this with me. I would tell them ahead of time to make me go on, no matter what. Then I would often cry through the whole line, but I ended up loving the ride of course. The things I put the whole family through. I'm sure my parents got lots of stares and comments because of me.

 

[BelleRocks]

Last week DD11 went on Space Mnt, Thunder RR, Expedition Everest, all no problems and loved them. She rode Space Mnt our last trip, but this time she was kind of hesitant. I knew she would be ok, so I pretty much ignored it. She got on it and was fine, she loved it.

So then we get to Rockin Roller Coaster she wants to back out. Since she did so good on the other rides, I just kept telling her it'll be fine.

It wasn't! She was shaking when she got off and couldn't do anything else the rest of the day. I felt terrible!

There is a fine line....