Nat the Little Commandette hits 40 Inches!!!

[All Aboard]

Sing with me! (to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus)

Foooouuurty Inches! Foooouuurty Inches! Fourty Inches, Fourty Inches, Fourteeeeey Inches!


After 20 trips to WDW, countless measurements at Splash Mountain and our homemade Splash Mountain growth chart on the wall, Natalie finally hit the mark this weekend!

So, I guess my measuring tape goes back in the drawer for a while.

One note, though. She barely missed Test Track. The measuring stick is a bit taller than the cutout of the child that is against the building. She was tall enough vs. the cutout, but not the stick.

Ok, another note. She barely skimmed Splash, but made Big Thunder by a bigger margin. Out of curiousity I measured the Big Thunder sign. Get this, it was slightly LESS than 40 inches. How about that?

Oh, but the way, Natalie flat out loved Splash and Big Thunder!

 

[Dawna]

WOOHOO...Glad to hear she made the cutoff! We have measured both our girls for our upcoming trip and they should make it too! Can't wait....16 days!

 

[kinlaw6450]

For the first time both my kids are making the height requirement!!!!!

I am singing right along with you!

 

[UrsulaFan]

Congrats! My 7yo DS just hit 54". the magic number to be able to DRIVE the bumper cars at Six Flags St. Louis. I totally understand your joy!

 

[koswalt]

via your posts and am thrilled she's finally going to be able to do all the things she's been denied in the past. YOU GO GIRL!

 

[jwfla422]

GCurling, Boy NAT is a real "thrill" rider!! I've been looking for your posts, wanted to get the dates that your going up again. Something happened with my email box and I lost your messages. And, how many signatures does she have in that autograph book now??? New pics on the website yet? I have to work on ours.

We just started ours last weekend, Jessi now has 4--Four signatures (gotta start somewhere!), I can't believe Nat is 40"...poor Jessi probably won't reach that until she's 4 or 5, but no matter, she's not much of a "thrill rider"...can't tell you how she grabbed onto me in the "Journey Into the Imagination" ride, they sure changed that, I miss Figment, he was barely there this time. Anyone going on this with a little one, bring a flash lite (and ear plugs!) for that ride. It's not what you remembered it to be.

3 months to go until the next trip!

 

[Mic]

I can relate! My youngest DD, who is the biggest daredevil of all(comes from being the youngest of 4, and being dropped on your head, knocked down,bitten, etc. more than anyone else!) finally made the mark to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster last month, to everyone's surprise. Of course, she BARELY made it, and was measured at each point until we got on the ride, but she stood really tall with a big grin on her face! I am officially done with "baby-swapping" at Disney!

 

[All Aboard]

Wow, a four year old girl at 48 inches high. I thought Natalie being 40" at 3yrs, 4mos was tall. Geez, I don't know that I am any where near ready for Nat-sprat to go on Rock n Roller, figured she would be about 7 years old before I had to make that decision. Of course the question asked most often around our house these days is "Am I tall enough for Space Mountain yet, Daddy?"

JWFLA, here is the remainder of this year's schedule:

1) Aug 17-19 (Music)
2) Aug 31-Sep 3 (Movies)
3) Sep 21-26 (Dixie)
4) October weekend near Halloween (not booked yet)
5) After-Thanksgiving weekend (Fri-Mon) [this is the weekend that Nat and I made our first Daddy-Daughter trip in 1999, Nat was 20 months.] (not booked yet)
6) Dec 15-18 (Pop Century debut!)

Knowing me, I'll end up adding one or two more to that lineup.

 

[padams]

still waiting for younger DS to hit 40". Congratulations! I know what a thrill that is for Nat to be growing! Hope you're saving for her Magic WDW wedding someday! Have fun this summer, and post reports on Nat and Dad's adventures. Trevor's mom

 

[Pooh93]

That's great! Part of the reason I'm waiting to plan another trip to WDW is I want youngest DD (3 1/2) to grow taller so that she doesn't feel left out on some of the rides.

 

[MNT568]

My son just hit the 40 inches mark and he will be 3 years 5 months when we go in October for his first trip. We were definitely planning on Splash Mountain, in fact he keeps telling me that he wants to go on it. But I was debating Big Thunder Mountain. Although he is a little daredevil and isn't afraid of anything, I was wondering if BTM would be too much. Any opinions?

 

[All Aboard]

OK, gcurling's MK EE attack plan. It's pretty simple actually, for the most part it follows a geographic flow once a few bottleneck attractions are completed. This is the pre-40 inch plan. For the 40 inch plan, substitute Splash and Big Thunder for Toon Town. But wait, a caveat... I'm not sure how well this would play-out during heavily traveled times (i.e. the summer) The times included below are for the most recent time I used this - Saturday April 28th. The times represent when we arrived at each attraction: (I'll go ahead and play out the entire day for everyone's enjoyment)

6:30 wakeup
7:00 bus to MK
7:30 gates open
7:34 park stroller adjacent to Dumbo (it will stay there for awhile)
7:35 Dumbo
7:43 Pooh
7:54 Pan
8:06 Small World
8:20 Snow White (get stroller afterwards)
8:31 Astro Orbiter
8:40 Buzz Lightyear
8:53 Mad Tea Party
9:00 at entrance to Toon Town Fair for rope drop
9:02 Barnstormer
9:10 Banana and Apple Juice at Toon Town Fair Market
9:20 Character greetings in Hall of Fame
9:42 Haunted Mansion
10:10 Enchanted Tiki Room
10:26 Pirates
10:50 Lunch at Casey's
11:20 Monorail to TTC
11:32 Bus to AK (had to make a special trip, Kali height requirement had recently been reduced, Nat's 1st time)
11:58 Get Fastpass for Kali
12:00 Flights of Wonder
12:35 Kali
1:00 Ice Cream
1:30 Bus to AS Sports
2:00 Pool
3:00 Nat begins nap
5:00 Nat ends nap
5:30 bus to Epcot
6:10 Spaceship Earth
6:45 Dinner at Garden Grill
8:10 Tapestry of Nations
9:00 Reflections of Earth
9:35 Nat plays around on the lights in walkway outside Innoventions
10:00 Bus to AS Sports
10:30 Playground
11:20 Bedtime

So goes a typical day for me and Nat!

PS, she woke up at 7:15 the next day and we were at the Studios of part of EE. We did Muppetvision, Star Tours, Mermaid, Great Movie Ride and Hunchback before Lunch Hollywood and Vine. Then it was over to Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground, Doug Live, saw some characters at the exit, headed home at 2:45pm.

How do I recall all this, you ask? Believe it or not I make notes of our actual itinerary (hardly ever in this much detail, though.) Helps me remember what works and what doesn't. Many of our trips are up after work on Friday and back on Sunday afternoon. I like to maximize, this helps.

 

[Mic]

Nooooo, g, you misunderstood. DD is the YOUNGEST of 4 (kids, that is) and is 7 years old. She was the only 1 of the kids to be baby-swapped at Rockin' Rollercoaster for the last year, since DS, 8, reached 48 inches last year. She is, however, catching up to the brother that is 15 months older than her. By my best calculation, she will be able to keep him in line within a year! His older sisters(11 and 12) have failed miserably in this department!

 

[msvlwb]

My problem is my kids are too tall. My just turned 5 year old is 49 inches tall and my 2year 9 month old is 40 inches tall! So physically they realize they are tall enough. But emotionally the little one gets scared about mid way through the ride. Then gets mad at us for taking him on a"beary scarey ride" The five year old has been right at four ft most of his 4th year. So he wants to do all te rides. He is a real trooper. We all went on BTMRR lst week. The big guy loved it the little guy was again"beary scared" Although he doesn't act that scared.no crying,so who knows!