My two year old on BTM?

[herprettiness]

OK not really, but I have to smile imagining my 2 year old on BTM. He's a big boy, Tall 41" and weighs 40 Lbs. We'll be going in March two days after his 3rd Birthday. Maybe Splash, NAW... LOL

 

[ujpest_doza]

OK not really, but I have to smile imagining my 2 year old on BTM. He's a big boy, Tall 41" and weighs 40 Lbs. We'll be going in March two days after his 3rd Birthday. Maybe Splash, NAW... LOL

Yes, i can't imagine my daughter on BTM (although she has no fear of anything).

She is 20 Months old and will be approaching 22 Months when we travel.

She is 36" tall now and weighs 2 Stone 7lbs. I don't know whether there is a difference between English lbs and US lbs, but if there isn't then she is 35lbs.

I know Disney recommend that children be 3 years old to ride the Goofy Barnstormer, but what do people on here think?

 

[TiffJ]

I think BTM would be a bit much for a 22 mo. old. It is a pretty fast & jerky ride. I would wait until next time for it.

 

[Stimpy]

DS is very tall for his age and very adventurous. He went on Goofy Barnstormer and loved it when he was 2. It's a really quick ride, a little jerky though. By the time you get "into" it, it's over. The first time he rode he went on about 10 times in a row. He rode BTMRR and Splash Mt when he was almost 3 and loved it. He also loves the Kali River Rapids. You really need to make your own decisions for your child. For example, although he really wanted to try it, we told him no ToT until he's older. He was tall enough at 3 but we weren't comfortably letting him ride it at that age.

BTW, he just rode Mission Space and Space Mountain at age 5 and loved them too! Thank goodness we had 6 adults who could take turns re-riding everything with him

 

[Lollipop Mom]

My 2 year old (2 2/3 years actuallY) was tall enough for BTMRR and Splash on our Christmas trip. He was EXACTLY 40" tall with shoes and 2 pairs of socks on. Our first MK day we had him measured and depending on how he held his chin his head would just brush the bottom of the measuring bar so there was always a debate with the measuring cm (although all let him through) the 2nd day he wore 2 pairs of socks and there was no debate. I know people who saw me carrying him off of BTMRR thought I was horrible for taking him. He was kicking, screaming and crying but what they didn't realize was that he wasn't crying b/c we made him ride it....he was crying because we made him GET OFF of the ride at the end! He LOVED Splash! ADORED it! Begged to stay on it. DH finally braved riding in the front seat with him just for the ride photo. Every time we'd ride it in one of the back rows you couldn't see him b/c he is so small. With him in the front you can see him and he is the littlest looking guy on it but with this HUGE grin on his face at the drop. It was priceless!

Each kid is differnt though. My 4½ year old thinks the Barnstormer is too fast and will not even think of riding BTMRR. On our trip in May of 2004 he got on Splash happy and waving and got off sobbing and screaming. After his little brother rode splash 3 times and was begging for more he decided to try it again. We stood to the side letting bunches of people walk past us at the loading point while he went back and forth deciding if he wanted to really do it before he decided he'd try it "just one more time" with the promise of a Mickey bar and buying a Splash Mtn. pin for his lanyard. He was OK with it but not as high on it as his little brother. He did ride it a couple more times before we left and by the end of the trip said he "liked it but didn't love it."

 

[Ahrizel]

Let him try Barnstormer. If he likes it and wants too, go for BTMRR. My nephews rode it at 3(yes, big boys!) and were both fine with it. The older one would cry when taken OFF Barnstormer, he wanted to ride it again and again... Big Thunder is a pretty mellow coaster, if he wants to and your comfortable go for it.

 

[alacazander]

My DS will be 3 1/2 when we go in September. He is 37" now. I'm so hoping the little scamp makes it to 40" in the next NINE months. He is such a thrill seeker and loves roller coasters. He begged and begged to go on big thunder mountain last year but wasn't tall enough. :jumping4:

 

[crisi]

There are some questions about very young kids, roller coasters and brain development. Particularly jerky coasters (like BTMRR or the Dinosaur ride) as opposed to smoother riding coasters (Barnstormer). I don't think any studies have proven there is a problem, but the fact that people who study brain development think their might be is reason enough to give me pause. From what I understand (and I am certainly NOT a neuroscientist - although my FIL is) brain structure changes sometime in the toddler/preschooler range (yep, right around 3 - though obviously there is nothing magical about the third birthday) making them suspect coasters are more dangerous until that change happens. What they suspect is the same sort of damage you get from "shaken baby syndrome" only on a much less dramatic scale.

 

[disneychick05]

BTM was the first ride we took DS on in Oct. He was days away from turning 3 but was 40' so he could ride. It traumatized him for the rest of the trip. After we got off he said he never wanted to ride it again, but he never cried. Every time we got on another ride he asked it it had a drop or if it was really bumpy. He was hysterically crying as we were boarding the Main Street train..he thought it was going to be like BTM. So it really depends. Personally I wish we would have waited until he was older to ride BTM.

 

[disneychick05]

There are some questions about very young kids, roller coasters and brain development. Particularly jerky coasters (like BTMRR or the Dinosaur ride) as opposed to smoother riding coasters (Barnstormer). I don't think any studies have proven there is a problem, but the fact that people who study brain development think their might be is reason enough to give me pause. From what I understand (and I am certainly NOT a neuroscientist - although my FIL is) brain structure changes sometime in the toddler/preschooler range (yep, right around 3 - though obviously there is nothing magical about the third birthday) making them suspect coasters are more dangerous until that change happens. What they suspect is the same sort of damage you get from "shaken baby syndrome" only on a much less dramatic scale.

Wow..that was interesting..thanks for sharing that. :

 

[disnutt]

"He was EXACTLY 40" tall with shoes and 2 pairs of socks on."

I do hope the 2 pair of socks were being used to prevent blisters and not to try to gain a height advantage.

I was at WDW for the marathon and was amazed at the number of parents I saw arguing with the cast members measuring the height. Height limits are set to protect children from falling out of restraint systems not to protect developing psyches.

Every parent must judge for their own children if the child is developmentally ready for a ride. However, I'm going to go with the Professional Engineers and the insurance company judgements when it comes to if my child is tall enough for a ride. I'm not going to bet that an extra pair of socks or really thick shoe soles will keep my child from sliding under a restraint bar in a sudden stop or crash.

Please keep your children off a ride until they are at least as tall as the minimum requirements. They don't offer booster seats at WDW yet.

Kiena

 

[kldmom2000]

When we went in December, my youngest DD was 25 months and she insisted she ride it along with her 4 yr old sister-she loved it!!!

 

[clutter]

My dd rode it the first time at 37 months. She LOVED it, it's still our nostalgic favorite. We first rode Goofy's Barnstormer, then went to BTMRR. But she could not swing high enough as a baby, she loves motion, so I figured she'd like it.

 

[lindaso]

My DD did Barnstormer at 2, BTMRR at 3, Space and RnR at 6. She's always been a really tall kid, thank goodness. Now her brothers won't go anywhere near any roller coaster. But neither will my DH so the girls go coaster-ing and the boys go do...whatever!!! She refuses to do ToT and I'm glad. I know she can handle the drop but she couldn't handle the theming and we'd be dealing with the nightmares...no thanks!!

 

[Lollipop Mom]

do hope the 2 pair of socks were being used to prevent blisters and not to try to gain a height advantage.

Let me clarify that. I would not have been trying to "put one over" and sneak him on if he wasn't tall enough. As I said in the previous post, depending on how he would hold his head, it would either just bump the bar or be just a hair below it. Not a slip a finger below it, more like a slip a piece of paper below it. If we held his chin to make him hold his head up rather than the slightly shy chin down look he had at being measured then the CMs thought we were trying to "stretch" him up to the bar. At one point getting on Splash a cm stopped us to measure him. There was a supervisor there (a CM who was dressed in a suit and tie and had a walkie talkie) who watched her measure him. She was going through the "hmm...he's right there at it but I'm not sure if his head is bumping it" routine. The supervisor looked and said "I could slip maybe 2 sheets of paper in there and he's not even standing with his feet together and chin up, he's fine." We put 2 pairs of socks on him initially not for blisters (he rode in the stroller 98% of the time) or for height but for warmth. It ended up being that with the 2nd pair or socks he bumped his head on the bar every single time no matter how his head was held. They were lightweight cotton socks so it's not like they added more than a really really small fraction of an inch.

 

[herprettiness]

When I intially posted. I did not think I would take my 3 year old on any of the 40 inch rides. I've been really surprised to hear other kids his age on these rides. He is a very outgoing ruff and tumble kind of kid. I talked this over with my husband and we have decided to try barnstomer and see how that goes and then maybe splash. My biggest concern is that he gets scared and never wants to go on anything again. He trusts us and that might be tough to earn back if he walks away from a ride terrified. Thanks everyone. I hope we can go on Splash together, but more importantly I hope he likes it. If he does not go on these rides this year it won't change a thing for us. We are going to just be together in the family.

 

[PaulaMurf]

He was actually tall enough for some of them our last trip, did Barnstormer at 2 yo (about 15 times) LOL, this time BTMRR and TT at Epcot. He LOVED them. We skipped Dinosaur bc it is so herky jerky and at his height, I was a little concerned about head banging. He Rode BTMRR with my DH and DH kept his arm around him so his head would not hit anything (as we are a bit neurotic) He also LOVED the waterslides at TL. Went on a couple that I was a bit scared of. LOL.

I agree with the try the Barnstormer 1st, and then BTMRR.

Also, what helped was I told him EXACTLY what the ride would be and then le him decide if it was going to be too scary - this worked like a charm. He felt a bit in control, and then I think that even if he got a bit scared, he felt like a "big boy" bc he made the choice to ride.

Enjoy.

Paula in CT