I just warped my kid

[iwrbnd]

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

Julie

I took my 6 year old son on that thinking it was just a nice and quiet boat ride! Yep, he's still warped from it and that was over 10 years ago!!!

 

[Magpie]

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....

I remember a few years ago, walking into the living room to find my eight year old son hiding behind the couch, while the "Lost Boys" movie played on the TV. "Is this movie too scary?" I asked. "I'M FINE!" Pause. "Are you gonna watch with me?"

P.S. I always encourage my kids to watch to the end of any movie that scares them, even if we have to fast forward through some parts. I think it's a lot scarier to just stop at the worst part and never see the happy ending, where everyone you actually care about is okay. I also sometimes warn them if a character isn't going to make it. "Don't get attached to that guy. He's just going to die!"

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thanks for the warning! We are prepping for our trip in Aug. by watching the movies and that one is on my list. I never would have guessed PG-13, just PG and have been thinking it would be perfectly fine for DD7. I'll give it some more thought now; at least watch it again without her so I remember it clearly.
We just watched ET this past week. DD was a litle scared in the beginning, but ended up loving it. Of course, she burst into tears when it was over because of the sad ending. But, she is dying to watch it again and can't wait for the ride.

 

[dvcdisney]

P.S. I always encourage my kids to watch to the end of any movie that scares them, even if we have to fast forward through some parts. I think it's a lot scarier to just stop at the worst part and never see the happy ending, where everyone you actually care about is okay. I also sometimes warn them if a character isn't going to make it. "Don't get attached to that guy. He's just going to die!"

I absolutely agree. We explained to my son that it's best to see what happens at the end. He still refuses to watch it. Even after we told him that the "good guys" win at the end.

 

[marivaid]

Reminds me of the time I let my 8 year old cousin watch Jaws the night before we left for the summer at my grandparents' beach house.

Let's just say we didn't see a whole lot of water that year.

 

[texaschick]

My dad took me to see Twister when I was 5 years old, and the opening scene when the father it blown away created a deep fear of tornados for me. I was always scared to go on the Twister ride every year when we visited Universal. My dad tried to help me get over my fear by forcing me to go on the ride, but that was just torture and made things worse.

Unfortunately, I had to face tornados all the time growing up so the fear never really disappeared, but I am happy to say at 19 I can go on ride without too much fear now.

So if your daughter wants to ride River Adventure take her but don't make her ride if she doesn't want to!

 

[Amandaj0831]

Different kids can handle different things. I was freaked out by jaws at 4 (watched at a neighbors house) but my brother watched Jurassic park at 7 no problem. My girls will in no way be able to watch it at 7 maybe it is a girl thing. LOL

 

[JLVermillion]

As everyone has said you never know. My Dn 6 and Dnf 5 love scary movies , well we took them on the Simpsons ride all was fine until the giant angry Panda part. The flipped had nightmares and still do want anything to do with Panda Bears ( even at the zoo ). They are still both fine with everything else. They love Halloween.... might have to check Ancestry.com and see if we are related to The Adams Family

 

[JLVermillion]

As everyone has said you never know. My Dn 6 and Dnf 5 love scary movies , well we took them on the Simpsons ride all was fine until the giant angry Panda part. The flipped had nightmares and still do want anything to do with Panda Bears ( even at the zoo ). They are still both fine with everything else. They love Halloween.... might have to check Ancestry.com and see if we are related to The Adams Family

 

[bumbershoot]

Of course that wasn't watching them with a mom's eye.

I could only recall the cool special effects.

Oh definitely. DH and I now have a pact that we WATCH the movies we start talking about "oh I think DS should see that, it's a good movie and he can handle it"...thank goodness we did that with Indiana Jones. Neither of us could remember much of it, and at the last moment we decided to preview it. OH thank goodness. Some gross stuff!

And right before the PACT, he insisted on having DS watch Lord of the Rings...gah. DS is very sensitive to orchestral "scary" music...it REALLY works on him, and LOTR is very good at getting the mood across with music!

So now we actually have to *watch* the movies with our parent eyes, before letting him see it.


Strangely enough, he has seen all three POTC movies (apart from the crow pecking scene and the end of the hanging scene in 2 and 3), and LOVES them. Strange!

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!!!!

Probably an age thing...Ds stopped riding stuff at DL he loved in his year of being 3. Then at 4 it was all his faves again. Though at 4 he rode TOT...he liked the drops, but the storyline scared him! He really feels that we disappeared...can't persuade him that we didn't, and he's 6 now, still thinks we will disappear on it.

Have her watch one of the "Making Of" documentaries - particularly the parts where they talk about making the dinosaurs.

Absolutely! DS loves that stuff.

"Don't get attached to that guy. He's just going to die!"

*whispering* What did you do about the HP books then????

Just thinking about the last book makes me cry...DH reads very slowly, so I read him most of the books. When I read I kind of look at the middle of the paragraphs and see the words like that, so I know what's at the end of the paragraph before I've officially read it...some of the scenes in the HP books....augh..... WE actually had to take a year and a half long break in the last book. Couldn't do it! Too sad!

 

[clever girl]

When I was around her age, I absolutely loved Poltergeist.

Anyway.....We were in the car yesterday morning and I asked her why she was so scared of the dinosaurs when she wasn't scared of the Dementors. She paused and said, "well, mommy, there isn't a spell to shield you from dinosaurs."

Duh!!!

I love my brilliant kid. I think she's ok with going on the ride now. Maybe not too much damage....

 

[Magpie]

*whispering* What did you do about the HP books then????

Just thinking about the last book makes me cry...DH reads very slowly, so I read him most of the books. When I read I kind of look at the middle of the paragraphs and see the words like that, so I know what's at the end of the paragraph before I've officially read it...some of the scenes in the HP books....augh..... WE actually had to take a year and a half long break in the last book. Couldn't do it! Too sad!

My daughter read the books on her own, long before I did, and spoiled it for all of us! Honestly, she thought it was sad, but she wasn't traumatized (like she was by Fiddler on the Roof - she STILL talks about that!).

It may have helped that I'd been predicting for years that he'd have to die - I'm a writer and a classicist by training, so I'm very familiar with the structure of heroic myth. Rowling had stuck to every other convention so far, so I was quite prepared for this particular death. In a heroic tale the father figure has die, in order to allow the hero to emerge into full independent manhood (think Simba's dad!).

However - while she claimed to enjoy the last movie... I think she doesn't like that scene. We were re-watching the whole series a couple months ago, and she actually left the room for the last half of the movie. Her dad teased her a little, and she denied it, but she still walked out.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

My DD is 5 and CHEERS for the dinosaurs! You just never know with kids. Of course, I wouldn't have let her see that movie, but her 17 and 13 yo brother were babysitting and thought it was a good "family" movie for all of them to watch together. She cheers for Jaws too. That started at about age 3. Teenage boys idea of "family" is not mine, but who am I to complain when all 3 of them are snuggling on the couch together?

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Oh and Jaws is rated PG! Granted before they changed to adding PG-13 as an option...but still scarry and gory!

When we are at the beach (live next to Atlantic Ocean) my DD wants to play "Jaws and Chrissy" She is always Jaws, and all the rest of us have to be Chrissy who gets eaten.

 

[happy4tac]

I have two sons 6 and 4. Nothing scares the 4yr but the 6yr is scared of the wolf in Never Ending Story and HP 3 because of the werewolf. Since then we preview all movies we think the kids would like to see. I do tell them to close their eyes and fast forward thorugh parts. They've seen the beginning of Jurassic Park, the dragon part of HP 4, and most parts of the Indiana Jones movies. It's been over a year and the older one still gets freaked out just talking about wolves or werewolves.

 

[superwy]

Found this thread searching to find out if there are werewolves on the FJ ride. Me, also "Mom of the Year," have scared my DS (7). We read the HP books, on per summer, and read #3 this summer. I decided after we read it he could see the movie. Who knew the werewolves would frighten him so much he won't go anywhere in the house alone. I guess we are all imperfect parents in some way. Does anyone know if there are werewolves on this ride? If so, I know he won't go. Dementors don't scare him (me, not him!). Thanks.

 

[damo]

No werewolves.

There are dragons, serpent skeletons, spiders, dementors and whomping willows.

 

[indimom]

We destroyed our DD when she was around 5 by showing her Twister. She already was a little timid of thunderstorms, but it didn't cross our minds. We thought the movie was funny/action, not SCARY. She still is scared of storms: tornados in particular.
We went to Universal in 2008 and left it up to her whether she wanted to do the Twister attraction there. We weren't going to force her when she has a genuine fear of storms. She went, but closed her eyes in the preshow where they showed real tornado footage. She said the "fake stuff" didn't bother her.

Our son started having dreams about wolves after watching Harry Potter III. Didn't expect that either since he hadn't had any problems with movies/bad dreams prior to that. But in retrospect, he really was too young for that. He still doesn't like movies with wolves, but handles it well. Just last night, my hubby suggested watching a movie that he knows has wolves in it and he replied "You guys can watch it, I'll just go upstairs and play." So he makes pretty mature decisions regarding what he will watch and what he will not. He will still watch Harry Potter III, but not in the evening before bed. (FYI-We opted for Star Trek instead. We wouldn't even have suggested the first movie at 7 p.m. if we had remembered his aversion to wolves.)

I'm sooo glad my kids are growing up. The bad dream stage was NOT fun.

 

[minniejack]

That's what parents are for!

Your kids can go to therapy when they're older to complain about you...

I'm becoming more like my mother every day

 

[shoppgirl]

I did this to my DD when she was 4. We took her to see her first 3D show, Mickey's Philharmagic. This experience totally ruined her to this day even (at age 6) and she will NOT go to any 3D movies in the theaters. So many great movies are out there in 3D format, but she refuses to go!!!! She was OK with the 3D images, but she was NOT OK with the blowing wind, and mist that Disney used in that theater to make it more realistic. She now associates anything 3D with that one experience. It seems at this rate, she will never outgrow that memory!!!!

Plus many of Disney's rides are dark, and she would not go on any of them. I ruined her in the Pooh and Peter Pan rides the first year, and has not stepped foot in one since!!