MNSSHP- how is it for young kids?

[Mrs~Incredible]

Trying to decide if we should plan a night at the party- we have a 4 year old DD who is very sensitive and can scare easily. I know it's not supposed to be scary (hence the title ha ha), but wondering what your experiences have been?

Wondering if we should wait a few years or take the plunge this year.

Thanks!

 

[Quellman]

The parade has some scary-ish figures particularly with the Haunted Mansion grave yard diggers who run their shovels on the ground emitting sparks. The end of the parade with the villains. The fireworks score is quite "pop" style of Disney villain music. Decorations are largely fall like in terms of pumpkins and scarecrows, not ghouls and ghosts. The new stage show with Hocus Pocus is driven by the villains in song.

The toughest part may be getting a 4 year old to stay up late enough to see it all. I know my 2 year old was passed out in the stroller before we got to the fireworks last year. It was fine and still lots of fun.

 

[alliecat523]

It's lots of fun and I think she would enjoy it. Definitely not scary. I would probably stay away from the Haunted Mansion as the CMs have scary makeup on and one snuck up on my daughter in line and made her jump. We laughed hysterically at it, but a younger child might not think it was so funny.

 

[KateP85]

We took DS for the first time last year, he was 2 months shy of turning 3. He didn't find any of it particularly scary, although he kind of climbed into my lap during the grave diggers in the parade. The actual atmosphere isn't too scary though.

The issue we encountered was more that it was late, and DS got tired. He tried so hard to stay awake, but by 9.30pm he was passed out in the stroller. We picked a terrible night, it poured with rain on and off all night so he was wet and exhausted and just plain done. I don't think we'll take him again until he can stay awake a little later and get more out of the experience.

 

[FeralCatRogue]

There are videos of the parade on line maybe you could do a pretrip check to see if shes okay with it, would also let you show that its not real ghosts and what not in the parade.
My costume (wicked witch) ended up scaring a kid by mistake that was probably about 2 or so years old, but by showing them it was makeup and talking with them with their parents we were able to calm him down. Just have a plan in case someones costumes frightens her though I doubt they would let in any really scary costumes.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Thanks all- checking out a YouTube video is a great idea! I would love to go, but had second thoughts this weekend after Zootopia was too intense for her!

Ah well, if not this time, then definitely the next!

 

[notrub98]

My kids (6 and 4) just could not handle the late hours so it turned out to be a complete waste of money for us, unfortunately.

 

[laura3773]

We went when my daughter was a little over two, and will be going again this year (she'll be a little over 4). She loved the party, though we mostly used it to ride rides with no wait. And Zootopia was a little scary for her too.

 

[FeralCatRogue]

You actually can completely avoid the parade if you time your rides right if thats the only thing you think may scare her.

 

[Tara1988]

We went with my son and nephew when they were around 4, my son had been once before before he turned 3. They did fine even though my nephew is afraid of his own shadow. You may want to show her YouTube videos of the parade and show to determine if you think she can handle it. Our boys didn't recognize most of the villains, so they weren't afraid of them. The parade music is so upbeat and fun that it is hard for it to be scary. But even if you decide to skip the show and parade, she will still have fun trick or treating and seeing characters in costume. Our boys did the monsters inc dance party for over an hour.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I was an easily scared kiddo at age four and I would not have enjoyed MNSSHP. That's just me, personally, but it really would not have been something I could have handled until age 8 or 9. I only started appreciating Haunted Mansion at the age of fourteen. It's definitely doable with young kids and it can be fun, though.