"Piretes of Caribbean" & "Haunted Mansion" too scary for 6 year old?

[oceanmarina]

Hi all. My husband got annoyed with me because last year I would not let my DS (who gets spooked easily) on Pirates or Haunted Mansion.
My son will be 6 this trip, do you think either or both of these rides are too scary for a 6 year old? I really don't want to scare him, like I said earlier he does scare easily.
Thanks so much for any feedback/advice,
Marina

 

[laughinplace199]

Depends on the kid. My 5 year old loved both of them, but he doesn't scare easily.

Maybe find videos of both rides on youtube and have him watch to see what he thinks?

 

[21hearts]

My DS4 gets spooked easily but loves both HM & POTC.

I agree with the PP let him watch a video of the ride on youtube. I would also tell him up front what to expect. We've found that helps with our son when he's scared.

 

[KB'sMom]

My kids (6 and 2.75) scare really easily and had no problem with either - they claimed that POTC was scary, but neither acted scared while riding. They both loved HM.

 

[asmit4]

Pirates is less scary than HM. Do Pirates and if he's scared skip HM.

 

[suzyqsam]

When my boys were 4 they rode POTC with no problem. I held them back from the HM, not so much for the ride but because of the room going dark before the ride. They are now 6 and if we were there I would let them go. However, every child is different. If you think yours will get upset then I would wait.

 

[SweetMissy]

Depends on the kids. I'm not into sheltering kids on rides....I let him/her be the judge on if they like it or not and the only way is to let them ride it. Last year we went a couple weeks before our son turned 7 and our daughter turned 4. They went on these rides (we kinda had to push our son to ride) and he liked most of the rides me made him go on. However, he cried (only for a few seconds) on the tower or terror while my daughter was laughing her butt off, lol. He's 8 now so I'm expecting him to not have to be pushed as much, lol. Anyway..just depends.

 

[mirage0306]

Yes, depends on the kid. My son had just turned 5 when we went and he was fine with both. HM creeped him out more than POTC, which turned out to be his very favorite ride.

 

[starsweeper]

My two older kids rode both of those at 2.5 and 3.5 years with no fear. In POTC, we sang along with the music and made fun of the pirate scenes to lighten the mood. I think HM with the intro and total black out before the ride is creepier, but we distracted them and on the actual ride we kept it light as well. We also remind them it's make believe if need be. They were actually terrified of Peter Pan.

 

[PJHuntleyCO]

My DS loves both these rides. If you are concerned about fear factor, maybe have him watch the DisneyWorld attraction site and show him the ride clips, or go to youtube, where folks have recorded the ride and review those and find one you like and share with him. My DS has been on each of these since he was a baby, and loves them each time, when we go.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We didn't get to do HM on our trip last year, but my youngest two children were 2 and 4 years old at the time and they both did POTC without any problem

 

[i_love_stitch]

My girls are daredevils, for the most part, but my son can be afraid of new experiences. We let him watch videos of others riding POTC on u tube. It let him judge just how scary it was before we even got to the park. By the way, he loved it!

 

[quigs3]

I definitely don't think POC would be an issue, but I've seen many kids throw fits in the stretching room of HM. They seem to be fine, but then they get spooked just as the door opens into the loading area. I agree with the PP to find a video to show them if you can.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Our 5 year old HATED HM. The only tears he shed the entire week were over this ride. Not sure what it was. He was fine on Pirates and pretty much EVERYTHING else but really freaked out on this one. He however lived and was not scared for life!

 

[goofyredraider]

My son (5 at the time) loved both. My 8 year old FREAKED at HM. His favorite is POTC.

 

[bumbershoot]

DS has always liked POTC (apart from a one year period from 3-4 years old), but doesn't much like HM. He only went at MK because his cousin was going. He only enjoys it at Disneyland when Nightmare Before Christmas overlay makes it feel safe and fun for him.

He's 7 now and went on DL's HM because DH begged him to, but he still doesn't care for it.

But I think if we could just skip the stretching room it would all be different. Why do grown adults who have been on it enough times to know the lines have to scream? Why?

 

[Sgt Mickey]

The twins were 6 the first time I took them on it. They did get scared when the lights went out. I hadn't been in sooo long I had forgotten all about what happened. BUT that was the only part they thought was scary. After we went back on it a few more times. I don't think they were scared at all on Pirates,

 

[RachaelA]

We took my 4 y/o niece on pretty much everything she was tall enough to ride. The only one she didn't like was Tower of Terror. In the HM, we just covered her eyes when the room went dark. We let her decide afterwards what she didn't want to ride again (just Tower of Terror)

 

[NYEmomma]

My 2 year old was fine on both rides... in fact, she LOVED Pirates! But there's a big difference between 2 and 6. She doesn't really have a concept of ghosts and monsters and things in scary stories that 6 year olds probably do.

 

[jenjifer]

My 5 year old LOVED POTC, but is still mad at me for not taking him out of It's Tough to Be a Bug. Each kid is a little different, but I agree with the YouTube advice. I couldn't get him on the Haunted Mansion when we were there, but I plan on showing him video clips before we go again!