Is Haunted Mansion too scary for a 6yr old?

[GroovyArtMomma]

Oh my goodness! Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride in MK. I agree that it depends on the child. Our oldest (now 23) rode it at age 9 and was frightened. Our youngest, (now 9) rode it at age 5 and was fine. She's a little spookier than the oldest, so she kinda likes ghosts. As long as you prepare any children that may be a little scared, they'll do fine. Ride through videos, listening to the soudtrack and such.

 

[beck00]

Funny side story my husband loves to tell...our 6-year-old daughter would not go on Haunted Mansion trip before last (but did try Space Mountain for the first time....lol). The CM working at the front of the Mansion, before you enter the queue, attempted to help us persuade her with the line of argument, "Have you been on It's A Small World?" When she replied "OH YES!", he fired back "Now THAT'S a freaky ride! Did you LOOK at those dolls?!?" We appreciated his effort, but she was not convinced.

She did ride it at 7-years-old on our Thanksgiving 2015 trip, and was fine. She is usually easily spooked.

 

[Pinkos]

My 2 have ridden it at 9 months, 18 months, 2, 3.5, 5,6. Never an issue

 

[gschon]

Make sure she doesn't pick up any hitchhikers!

 

[MichiganScott]

Like others have said, depends on the child. Ours have been exposed to Halloween/scary stuff their entire lives, so they had little problem with it...

...until it broke down in the graveyard when the boys (7 & 10) decided to ride alone. They were not a fan of being right next to the head that jumps up from behind the gravestone for 5 straight minutes.

Anyway, small issue, it's good family fun. Point out neat stuff to them too (like the dueling pictures in the ballroom) if they get scared to distract them and show them it's all for fun.

 

[Dis703]

I rode this for the first time around age 10 or 11 and honestly, I was terrified, lol. My kids are much braver and they rode it at all ages from 2-6 without any issues. Well one of them I did have to let him know up front what was going to happen and I described it as "like the ghosts in Harry Potter" because he was a little nervous. But he loved it.

 

[Lulubelle17]

My kids are 8 and 5 and love it! It is my favorite ride

 

[BostonEd]

I skipped the stretching room and my kids both loved the HM and still talk about it.

Skipping the stretching room was easy, but not exactly as smooth or easy as I thought it would be. First, you step aside while everyone goes into the first waiting room. Then you go through a door and walk down a very ordinary hallway. Then you wait on the side again for someone to get you. Not a big deal, but I thought maybe you just walked down a shorter hallway directly to where the doom buggies pick you up. It's a little more involved than that.

 

[xipotec]

Best ride in MK. BUT to get to it you have to go through the scariest part...THE LINE!

Its the build up that's scary and the initial room. Most kids are fine with the actual ride...but that first room, when the lights go out, and you get that first scream and see the hanging skeleton......thats the worst part. There is a way out after that room if they decide not to ride...

 

[got15]

My 2 and 5 year old DS LOVE the Haunted Mansion. We called it the Spooooky Halloween Ride- and they were SOLD! And every time they were scared I told them that laughing at the ghosts would chase them away. We even listen to the song in the morning- its their "jam". But, we did travel with a 6 year old girl on one trip- and she was totally Freaked! You call, you know your kids- but the game worked for us- and now we ride it at least 4x every trip.

 

[mshanson3121]

[QUOTE E="nycdisneygal, post: 54147289, member: 269271"]My daughter has never been scared on it. She was much younger than 6. Rent the disneyland sing a long. DD loved the grim grinning ghost song--made the haunted mansion seem more fun for her.[/QUOTE]

That's one of our favorite DVDs here!

 

[fla4fun]

I first went in the HM when I was 8 years old, and although I wasn't scared through the whole ride, a few things did scare me. One was the floating candlestick in the hall way for some reason, and the biggest was the graveyard (the pop-ups behind the tombstones really freaked me out). I didn't really get comfortable with it until I was a teen, and now it's one of my "not to be missed" attractions that I hit every time I'm at MK. I agree that every child is different, and I think if I had seen a video of the ride in advance so I knew what to expect that first time, I probably wouldn't have been scared. The stretching room didn't bother me because my parents told me it was just an elevator to get to the ride.

 

[abnihon]

My son rode it twice at age 3 and loved it!

 

[jacrazy]

Well I made the mistake of taking my daughter when she was 5 yo on her first trip and it was one of our first rides because I had loved it so much. Scared her to death. Then she afraid to go on a lot of other rides. She wouldn't ride 20000 leagues under the sea. I tried so hard to tell her that it wasn't scary, but no. I wanted to ride it so badly. She said she would go on it next time, but there was no next time because it's gone now. But, my granddaughter rode Haunted Mansion at 3 yo and it didn't scare her at all.

 

[HM2012Butler]

The scariest part is going to be the stretch room. Its really not bad. In my opinion, Snow White's Scary Adventure was 3 times as scary as this portion of the mansion. You can ask the CM who lets you in the front doors if you can skip the stretch. They should walk you out and around. But it is a ride everyone should see, they're "friendly ghosts".

 

[DavidNYC]

Definitely not too scary for "a" six year old but you have to know your six year old. My twins rode it from age 5. It's more spooky than scary. Haven't read all thread yet but I'm sure others have mentioned watch it on you tube. It's a slow ride so you can always close your eyes.

 

[goofy Jr. 88]

This was our 3rd family trip to Disney with our kids. First time trying HM. If we had known you could skip the stretching room I think we would have been fine with our 2 girls ( on this trip now ages 9, 8).
We did prep them about the ride but forgot exactly how frightening the stretching room can feel to a kid. With the thunder and lightning, the skeleton and the sound of Vincent Price it got to them and I'm sure they were thinking where the heck are those happy ghosts. They were done. So when the doors from the room opened we asked to be let out of the attraction.

They had been fine with everything we rode up to that point. You just never know for sure.

They did ride it on the next trip just fine.

 

[LSUfan4444]

My daughter is 6 .... i am wondering if haunted mansion will be too scary for her. we are going as a family of 5 her older brothers are 9 and 10

I'm sure some might get scared, but mine has been riding it since she was just over one with no issues.

 

[RedStars]

It's my favorite ride and my kids refuse to go on it. We went on it when my oldest was 4 and he's 7 now and still refuses to go on it.

I wish I knew you could skip the stretching room!

 

[DiannaVM]

My friend's nephew will be six next month, and on their trip last month was his first time going on it with her. When I asked him about it (its my favorite ride) I could tell he was twisting his story because of my enthusiasm lol. He also kept repeating to me how the ghosts were only make believe, but laughed when I asked him about the ghost on the doom buggie.

When I asked my friend how he was, she gave me a different story lol. Although he didn't cry or anything, she had to keep reassuring him because he was a little spooked, by telling him they were make believe. Whether he would go back on it again will remain to be seen.

Then again, this is the same kid who got freaked out by Zootopia and swore (at least to me) that he will never watch that movie again So it really depends on your kid. I had a feeling this boy was going to be spooked by Zootopia, and apparently I wasn't wrong, so you know your kid and you know her limits. If you think she would be able to handle it, I say go for it. Its worth a shot. I definitely think that skipping the stretching room might be a wise choice though.