How to get a child on rides.

[Ndusmama]

so planning second trip to WDW and I'm trying to come up with a plan on how to get my six year old on some rides. Any ride really. At dca she will do Ariel, monsters inc (ride), heimlich, and redwood creek challenge. At dl she will do buzz light year, Astro orbiters, autopia (one of her favorites), storybook canal, small world, the carousel, dumbo, and her favorite tea cups. Occasionally I can get her on Alice.

Now I don't want to fly across the country to have her tell me she won't do ANYTHING. So any suggestions on how I can get her excited to try the rides? I don't care about the big rides. But before she turned three she liked the haunted mansion and pirates. But she turned three and it wasn't a jack skellington overlay and she hasn't gone on anything since. I got her on the jungle cruise last year by showing her ride videos on YouTube. I was going to try it again for a few rides and maybe a trip to dl one more time before WDW to see if she will do anything. Last resort she stays home with grandma.

 

[Shanti]

so planning second trip to WDW and I'm trying to come up with a plan on how to get my six year old on some rides. Any ride really. At dca she will do Ariel, monsters inc (ride), heimlich, and redwood creek challenge. At dl she will do buzz light year, Astro orbiters, autopia (one of her favorites), storybook canal, small world, the carousel, dumbo, and her favorite tea cups. Occasionally I can get her on Alice.

Now I don't want to fly across the country to have her tell me she won't do ANYTHING. So any suggestions on how I can get her excited to try the rides? I don't care about the big rides. But before she turned three she liked the haunted mansion and pirates. But she turned three and it wasn't a jack skellington overlay and she hasn't gone on anything since. I got her on the jungle cruise last year by showing her ride videos on YouTube. I was going to try it again for a few rides and maybe a trip to dl one more time before WDW to see if she will do anything. Last resort she stays home with grandma.

Wait until she's a few years older. If she needs to be cajoled/convinced/comforted to get onto rides, she's just not ready yet.

 

[Ndusmama]

Wait until she's a few years older. If she needs to be cajoled/convinced/comforted to get onto rides, she's just not ready yet.

That's just it though, she loves the ride when she's on them even wants to do them again. I wouldn't try to make her do something I know she isn't ready for (roller coasters). The one time we did go to WDW she wanted to do barnstormer and loved it. She did it 4 times in one day she loved it so much.

 

[Capang]

Let her watch the YouTube videos of the rides and see what she thinks.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I don't see any reason to force her onto anything. Offer to let her ride, if she refuses, utilize like Rider Swap and don't worry about it. If she wants to ride then she eventually will decide she's missing out on too much and start participating . If she really isn't comfortable then forcing her own to rides is no way to spend a vacation. I think I would be miserable trying to spend my whole vacation forcing a child onto a ride they don't want to go on. There will be frustration, conflict, and melt downs. Just let go of the control and let her have fun how she wants to have fun, not how you dictate. It's OK if she doesn't want to do everything you think she should.

 

[Jhondy210]

Could you bribe her? if she goes on the ride she can get a pin of the ride afterwards?

 

[jediteacher]

My DD was way into rides until she got scared on one. Then she wouldn't try anything new. She would not listen to anything we said. Before our next trip we showed her YouTube videos of any ride we thought she might like. Knowing what to expect made the rides fun for her. It helped her to be even more excited for the trip. Not everybody likes surprises. ☺ Hope that helps!

 

[holtrp]

We had the same issue with our 4 year old last year. He loves the rides once he is on them but he is very apprehensive about getting in line and says he is scared on a lot of them. Basically, bribery was the extreme method I went with. I told him if he just tried it once and didn't like it, I would take him to the DTD store and we would look for stuffed animals. As soon as we got off both space and everest, we were running to get back in line again and we never even looked at DTD.

Some of the other rides though, we also asked the cast member outside the ride to briefly explain that it wasn't scary. Some of the cast members are really fun and mention something that they really like on a certain ride and ask the child to to look for it, say hi to it (Yeti on Matterhorn). Other times we might try and just get in line behind a child that is a little older so my son can ask another child if the ride is scary or not.

I hope by the next trip he is more comfortable with the park.

 

[tami82]

I wouldn't force her like above poster said you can do ride swap if worst comes to worst. I guess you can also bribe her and tell her that if she goes on the rides she can pick up some goodies in the gift shop at the end of the trip but I wouldn't force her to go on anything she really doesn't want to. I wouldn't stress about it too much. Maybe try half days in the park from morning to early afternoon and then pool time or whatever she would like to do so it won't be so much that she gets cranky and has a meltdown. Or you could wait a few years to go back so she would be old enough to remember it, would appreciate it a bit more and have more interest in the rides.

 

[thepicklebee]

I think there's a distinct difference in "forcing" a kid on a ride, and helping them work through the anxiety about trying something new.

I think since YouTube videos have helped in the past, definitely try that! Also, I would make a game out of it - something that appeals to her. A PP mentioned pins would be a great idea - albeit pricey. When my daughter was younger she was super into stickers. If I were in your situation, I would make a little map with all the rides in a park that I would think she would enjoy - and then have a coordinating sticker she could put on each one when she finished it. Then have a special reward at the end. Since your's is older... stickers may have no appeal.

 

[AZMermaid]

My kids watch them on You Tube too. I don't push the button- for example, they are afraid of the dark and bad guys- so I knew Haunted Mansion and Space Mt and Matterhorn were off the table. We have kind of a standing "try it once" rule with lots of things (usually food at dinner for example) so they are used to it. They know they are expected to try each ride once a trip and if they don't like it, well that is fine. Maybe next time. My son hated anything remotely fast at 4, loved it at 5, then I pushed it and he HATED Tower of Terror. I congratulated him on trying and we agreed maybe it is a ride for 6 year olds and we could try it again next year. My 4 year old daughter didn't love Thunder Mt but did (reluctantly) agree to do it a second time since her brother loved it and he had done a lot of princess stuff for her. I may have pointed that out to her- haha. Had she really stuck to her guns about not riding again, I would have sat out with her- since she had ridden it once that trip already. She hated it less the second time....

 

[brooke789]

My DD (who just turned 6 this week but was 5 on our trip last month) is not a daredevil. Before our trip she wasn't sure she'd do: Everest, Space Mtn or ToT specifically. She ended up riding all except Space Mtn. She didn't want to go in the dark. She loved everything except said she wouldn't ride ToT again. At the end of the day she did it she said it was her favorite part of the day! She says she'll try again when she's 8. She did not love Everest but rode it 3-4 times. Each time deciding about at the last minute to go on after all!
Definitely do the ride videos (that's what we did to help the kids figure out what they wanted to ride) but don't force anything once you get there.

 

[Jonas_Swe]

so planning second trip to WDW and I'm trying to come up with a plan on how to get my six year old on some rides. Any ride really. At dca she will do Ariel, monsters inc (ride), heimlich, and redwood creek challenge. At dl she will do buzz light year, Astro orbiters, autopia (one of her favorites), storybook canal, small world, the carousel, dumbo, and her favorite tea cups. Occasionally I can get her on Alice.

Now I don't want to fly across the country to have her tell me she won't do ANYTHING. So any suggestions on how I can get her excited to try the rides? I don't care about the big rides. But before she turned three she liked the haunted mansion and pirates. But she turned three and it wasn't a jack skellington overlay and she hasn't gone on anything since. I got her on the jungle cruise last year by showing her ride videos on YouTube. I was going to try it again for a few rides and maybe a trip to dl one more time before WDW to see if she will do anything. Last resort she stays home with grandma.

Of course she shouldn't be forced to anything but I do believe that you as a parent know your child the best, so you wouldn't even be in that situation.

What is it in particular that catches her interest, and especially at Disney?

If it's the characters, as an example; Focus a little storytelling around that. Like telling her that she can get to see what the characters are up to here at this ride.

And just imagine if you could get a meet and greet afterwards?! She has something direct to relate to in interaction with that character. And remember, the characters are trained to handle it all, even a six years old's direct questions! (like, how did you get out so fast?)

Or is it music and song? Then make it a fun activity in advance to learn the theme song of the ride together. And she can sing along on the ride!

Either way, I also think that YouTube clips can be a lot of fun to watch in preparation.

And at six years old, she would grasp the concept (not understand the complexity of course!) that this is another Disneyland (sort of). And once again, regarding the familiarity of the characters, This is a place Mickey Mouse visits often to see his friends from all over the world!

Has she met Mickey before? Imagine how happily surprised he'd be to see her in Florida!

Make it fun, and in that age many kids are eager to learn new things. So don't shy away from letting her know that she will learn something very special by visiting there as well.

 

[Hezzy04]

I defense nicely think YouTube is a great idea! Also, just talk about the rides you think she would like, and be excited! The all to others about it so she can overhear, too

We got my 4 and 5 year old to try Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, and Dinosaur simply by talking about them. In our case we talked about how it's fun to pretend we are scared in rides. We talked up how they could scream on ToT and Dinosaur (if something silly/scary happened).

In your case obviously it wouldn't be scary/thrill rides, but you could kind of use the same tactic.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

My DD is a chicken with the heart of a daredevil. Once she experiences something, she loves it, but getting her to try it the first time can be a challenge. When she was 8, we bribed her to try everything. She sometimes looked terrified before the ride, but she always wanted to do it again right away. Our mantra became, "It's fun to be scared!"

 

[Ndusmama]

I think there's a distinct difference in "forcing" a kid on a ride, and helping them work through the anxiety about trying something new.

I think since YouTube videos have helped in the past, definitely try that! Also, I would make a game out of it - something that appeals to her. A PP mentioned pins would be a great idea - albeit pricey. When my daughter was younger she was super into stickers. If I were in your situation, I would make a little map with all the rides in a park that I would think she would enjoy - and then have a coordinating sticker she could put on each one when she finished it. Then have a special reward at the end. Since your's is older... stickers may have no appeal.

That's a great idea about the sticker map!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I agree with there being a balance between forcing a child onto a ride and convincing them to go on. Let her watch some YouTube videos, ask her what she would like to do, but if she absolutely doesn't want to try something, then don't make her. My family forced me onto Splash Mountain at Disneyland when I was 9 years old, and I wasn't ready for it. It wasn't until I was 15 that I was able to try it again, and I cried, because my first experience on the ride was just so horrible. I have a lot of anxiety over trying new things and unfortunately this was something my family was not privy too. I ended up enjoying myself on a lot of rides but I was really uncomfortable for a great deal of my trip and if given the option I would've done it differently.

 

[Aliceacc]

I think I would start with outside rides-- rides where she can see the whole thing ahead of time, and realize there's nothing to be afraid of. I know WDW, not DL, but I'm thinking of rides like Aladdin, Dumbo, and so on.

After that, try youtube. You can find most of the rides there.

Beyond that, though, I would back off. I'm a firm believer that there are some fears you need to get past-- like fear of needles when it's time for a vaccination, or fear of the dentist. But fear of rides? Nope.

 

[Ndusmama]

I agree with there being a balance between forcing a child onto a ride and convincing them to go on. Let her watch some YouTube videos, ask her what she would like to do, but if she absolutely doesn't want to try something, then don't make her. My family forced me onto Splash Mountain at Disneyland when I was 9 years old, and I wasn't ready for it. It wasn't until I was 15 that I was able to try it again, and I cried, because my first experience on the ride was just so horrible. I have a lot of anxiety over trying new things and unfortunately this was something my family was not privy too. I ended up enjoying myself on a lot of rides but I was really uncomfortable for a great deal of my trip and if given the option I would've done it differently.

I am not the type of paint to force something on my daughter that she isn't ready for. I'm sorry your family had you on splash. That's not fun to be in a situation you aren't ready for. I'm mostly looking for how to get my daughter on rides I know she can and handle and would love. For instance I know my daughter is not ready for roller coasters at all but I don't see why she can't go on something like the jungle cruise. You can't baby swap the jungle cruise as far as I know.

I think I would start with outside rides-- rides where she can see the whole thing ahead of time, and realize there's nothing to be afraid of. I know WDW, not DL, but I'm thinking of rides like Aladdin, Dumbo, and so on.

After that, try youtube. You can find most of the rides there.

Beyond that, though, I would back off. I'm a firm believer that there are some fears you need to get past-- like fear of needles when it's time for a vaccination, or fear of the dentist. But fear of rides? Nope.

That's a good suggestion to try outside rides. I know dl but not WDW. I just want to find a way to get her excited to go on any ride even Aladdin. I know she's not ready for some rides and those I won't even show her videos of because I know they are out, but they have baby swaps for me to ride.

 

[happymommy]

If you really want to go, then I wouldn't worry if she doesn't like many rides at all. Lots of folks go with babies to Disney, and they still enjoy a lot of other aspects of their vacation!

What about concentrating on the really amazing shows?

For our family, it was a fear of characters when my DD was 2. We pretty much avoided them (she was a shy little girl). The kids never really got into the whole character meeting anyway, but did meet up and get photos with a few over the years. I never pushed it.

I think you could still have a fun trip! There are lots of folks that aren't comfortable with some rides, so I wouldn't worry too much. I wouldn't push it; that may just make her anxious.

Not sure if you are single or have a partner/spouse, but if you're not alone then you can take turns sitting out with her (do the child swap). Maybe then she'll feel like she's missing out and want to try a ride?