I just warped my kid

[clever girl]

My daughter and I are going to IOA in the middle of the month. The main reason for the visit is WWOHP, but I decided to go ahead and put a couple of relevant movies on my Netflix queue so she could appreciate some of the other lands.

We got Jurassic Park tonight. We started watching. Up until the time the T-Rex broke free of it's paddock, daughter was interesting, excited, and entertained. Now she's a crying mess, telling me she doesn't even want to go to the Jurassic Park area.

So I turned the movie off. Looked at the rating....PG-13. Daughter is 7.

I'd like to nominate myself for mother of the year.

 

[t-and-a]

Don't kick yourself, my kids were little when they saw the movie too.

 

[Planogirl]

DS was about that age but he was a pretty rough and tumble boy. Just explain to her that it's fake like the Yeti.

 

[JulieWent]

Might want to skip Jurassic Park River Adventure. (But she'll enjoy the rest of the Jurassic Park area.)

Julie

 

[mjohnson96]

Don't feel to bad, man of us have done the same thing. The first time DD now 7 went on the Dinasoaur ride at WDW she freaked out. But last year she went on JP River Adventure and loved it, she just made sure to close her eyes when the T Rex showed up.

She is really looking forward to riding the mummy this year. We have watched some of the movies and she just asked if that could really happen and I tell her no

 

[toonaspie]

How many of the Harry Potter films has your daughter seen? Cause I thought those films started getting really creepy with the third one (with the introduction of the Dementors).

I too have parents that tried to introduce me to films I shouldnt been seeing as a kid (on account of their popularity)

Oh well...at least you're owning up and not blaming the movie like most parents would

Would it help to tell her that all dinosaurs are extinct?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We've all done it. My ds10 has loved Titanic for years, even with having cruised 8 times.
My parents took us to see Jaws while we were on vacation at the Jersey Shore back in the 70's. The theater was right on the boardwalk and I was probably 6 or 7. Needless to say, NO ONE wanted to go back in the water after watching. My older sister was hysterical crying through half of it.

There are so many movies I recall as being "good", such as Gremlins and Terminator. Of course that wasn't watching them with a mom's eye. We rented both and my kids were scared after Gremlins and I didn't remember the begining scene in Terminator when Arnold arrives buck nekked.
I could only recall the cool special effects. They were much younger then. I think ds13 would love it now.

Oh well, we meant well....

 

[Albytaps]

My daughter has been a Jurassic Park fan for a couple of years now and she is only 8. She can't wait to ride the River Adventure!

After showing her what rides are at Universal she's begging me to let her watch Jaws. I'll probably show it to her, but I'm sure it'll scare her from the ocean. Not sure if this will be a good idea....

 

[brenda1966]

Great! I already terrorized my 8 year old with the classic Jaws. I wonder how she'll react to Jurrasic park. LOL.

I really want her to be familiar with all these different movies and characters before we go. She hates the Harry Potter film with the big snake, so it's hard to even get her to try some of the others.

 

[themilesfamily]

Don't feel bad. You just never know what it is that's going to bother kids. My DD, age 5, will watch things I won't, (shows about pest exterminators full of rats, bats, etc.)

And then last night she sat down and watched Masterpiece Theater with me, (it was a Miss Marple mystery), and she was up numerous times during the night with nightmares.

My first nightmares as a kid were about the Planet of the Apes. I watched one Planet of the Apes movie and dreamed for months that I was being chased by apes.

You just never know.

 

[brenda1966]

And Planet of the Apes was one of my most favorite movies as a kid! Yes, you just never know what is going to freak them out.

 

[keri125]

From the ages of 18 months to about 4, my son LOVED Thomas the Tank Engine. We're talking obsession! And c'mon, it's Thomas... what is there to be scared of, right?! Well, there was one 15 minute episode where one of the engines has to go into a tunnel but then backs out b/c the circus elephant had gotten loose and was in the tunnel. Gave my son nightmares for YEARS! I never could figure out why - the elephant wasn't mean and it was presented in a lighthearted manner, but for some reason it freaked my son out! Like all other posters have said, you just never know!!

 

[Dollyrar]

Heh heh, better to toughen her up now, than when she see's it IN THE FLESH on the ride!
Seriously though, the effects in that film are still absolutely incredible in my opinion. Considering it came out in 1993, they still hold up better than some recent movies today!! Awesome movie!

 

[pantherlj]

My 7 yr old daughter has loved dinos for 2 years. I thought she would be over the moon for the JP ride. Scared her to death She wouldn't go on it a 2nd time. She loved the area though - the girls would have played in the playground area and done nothing else all week if I let them.

Turns out one of the things that scared her the most was the "high voltage" sign. She didn't know what voltage meant so she was really worried

Mummy ride scared her really bad too. She loved all the other rides though.

 

[katybugsmom]

Don't beat yourself up! We let our then 3 year old DS ride TOT because he was tall enough two years ago! He didn't cry, but said he didn't like going up and down. When we went back last year he wouldn't ride anything in the dark, even Pirates of the Carribean!!!! Hopefully he will ride it this time around!
There were so many things I said I would never say or do as a parent and I've eaten my words on most of those things! Live and learn!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

My ds4 was absolutely terrified by "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of Mexico". He thought El Chupacabra (the Monster of Mexico) was going to come and get him -- and he was the intended audience! You just can't predict what will make them scared. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense. This same kid, at 11, rode the Hulk with no problem, but refused to ride Jaws in the dark. If you are going to the Jurassic Park area, do the Pteranodon Flyers first -- they line backs up like crazy, and it's a big wait for not much -- that is, if you do it at all. It does sound like you'd better start out in SeussLand!

Maria

 

[Squidgyness]

Yes, I watched things like terminator, cop movies like lethal weapon, and many gritty movies from the 80's as a kid. Wierdly, I was born in 1991.

2 movies gave me dreams.

Titanic - frozen bodies. dunno why, saw a heck of a lot of shootings as a kid...

Jurassic Park: The lost world. Had a dream where my family was being chased by velociraptors, they ate my sister (subliminal message? ) but I got away into a control room, then they started coming through the doors, so I grabbed an old bike and left out the back way through a forest...

for some reason that dream really stayed with me. Apparently I had to be woken up.

 

[Magpie]

Have her watch one of the "Making Of" documentaries - particularly the parts where they talk about making the dinosaurs. Once you see them stripped of flesh, just sketchy computer models, they're not so scary anymore.

FWIW, we did the exact same thing to our son when he was 6.

My son was dying to see the LOTR movie when it came out on DVD in 2002, mainly because some friends of ours had bought him the action figures. So I read him the photo book and showed him pictures of the Nazgul and tried to prepare him for the scary stuff. But unfortunately I forgot to warn him about the pillow-stabbing scene. Poor kid - we practically had to peel him off the ceiling of our living room!

The "Making Of" documentaries really helped calm him down.

However, my daughter sobbed inconsolably after seeing The Fiddler on the Roof at the ripe old age of eleven! The whole father/daughter split was devastating to her, and she kept crying about it for days after. "But see, hon, he forgave her!" "But they all moved away! They'll never see each other again! Why did you show me this awful movie???"

So, don't feel bad - you really can't always tell which movies are going to traumatize your kids. Your daughter will be fine!

Eventually.

 

[TwingleMum]

My daughter and I are going to IOA in the middle of the month. The main reason for the visit is WWOHP, but I decided to go ahead and put a couple of relevant movies on my Netflix queue so she could appreciate some of the other lands.

We got Jurassic Park tonight. We started watching. Up until the time the T-Rex broke free of it's paddock, daughter was interesting, excited, and entertained. Now she's a crying mess, telling me she doesn't even want to go to the Jurassic Park area.

So I turned the movie off. Looked at the rating....PG-13. Daughter is 7.

I'd like to nominate myself for mother of the year.

I guess you didn't read my post a few weeks ago where I warned I did the exact same thing to my 7 yr old twins. I tried to warn you.... So get in line for the Mom of the year award. They still talk about that I let them watch "that scary movie".

 

[dvcdisney]

My son was almost 9 and since we were going to US, and he was so excited about riding The Mummy, my husband thought it was a great idea to let him watch the movie (although, I didn't agree). Well, needless to say, my son did not like it and spent most of the time . He never did finish the movie.

When we were ready to ride The Mummy, he was so scared he refused to go on it for days. We knew he would absolute love it. He loves roller coasters and we knew that if he rode this, it would become his favourite ride. So, after 3 days of this, I decided that I have been waiting to ride this for a long time (last time we were at US, they were just having a soft opening and the line was too long for us to bother) so I said that they can wait in the child swap area and I'll ride it first then my husband would take a turn. We decided not to talk about it anymore since it was getting annoying. So when we got to the front, he said he would try it.....Needless to say, he loved it and couldn't get enough of it...so for the next 4 days we were at US, he wanted to go on it constantly. When we moved over to Disney, he spend the week talking about how much he loved that ride.....

But I will admit that he was glad to have seen the movie Jurassic Park before going on the ride...he said that he enjoyed it a lot more since he knew the story....but The Mummy --- not so much.....he still won't watch it....