POTC and HM - 18 month old

[KrazeeK120]

I'm hesitant to take my will-be 18 month old on POTC or HM as I think they might scare him. Anyone have advice?

 

[Marthasor]

It will just depend on your child. I took DS on POTC when he was 1 and 2 and he was fine. He was actually more scared of Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh ride! He is 9 now and has never been on HM. I gave him the option of riding on our last trip and he still doesn't want to go. On many of our trips, I simply didn't know what would scare him until we were there. There were some rides he was fine on at 1 and then scared of at 2. Same thing happened with the characters. And, at 3, he was terrified of Fantasmic. You will probably just have to play it by ear.

 

[westie55]

My DS went on both of these rides at 8, 11, and 16 months. In my opinion, Pirates is more intimidating for that age than HM because of the drop. HM is dark but my son doesn't realize ghosts are scary yet, and the dark doesn't bother him. I did ask to skip the stretching room (a tip I got on this board) because when the lights go out sometimes everyone screams. I know I used to (for fun) before having a baby! Other than that, HM isn't that bad in my opinion. There aren't crashes, sirens, or loud bangs and noises. POTC is really only intimidating in the beginning during the storm and the drop, but my son was unphased. My cousin's son hated any ride that was dark when he was 2. I think it depends on the child. Characters were another story! At 8 and 11 months DS was fine, but at 16 months he wanted no part of them! If you are really uncomfortable taking him, don't. If you want to try it, do one and see how it goes.

 

[jvz82]

I've taken my kids on both those rides at many different ages. This past trip I took my almost 2 year old on both and he wasn't scared at all.

Now my 4 year old on the other hand ended up being terrified of HM. He hated it from the minute we walked in. He was fine on it when he was 1! I think older kids may get more scared just because their imaginations are better than a toddler. My older kids went on the rides when they were younger and weren't scared though, so it's just his personality.

None of them have ever seemed scared by potc.

 

[Lvsdisney]

DD was 18 months on both rides and did fine. Fast forward to 2.5 years and she did NOT like HM. I think at 18 months they don't really know what you're supposed to be afraid of.

 

[ravenanne]

My 1 year old year old didn't mind either ride - she fell asleep during HM lol They have full ride-through videos on Youtube, maybe have him watch them first and see how he likes it?

 

[KrazeeK120]

My 1 year old year old didn't mind either ride - she fell asleep during HM lol They have full ride-through videos on Youtube, maybe have him watch them first and see how he likes it?

Maybe I'm just a clueless first time mom, but can 18 month olds really "get" the feeling of a ride from you tube? Right now, I can get him to watch videos for about 30 seconds. He really isn't into videos/TV.

 

[ravenanne]

Maybe I'm just a clueless first time mom, but can 18 month olds really "get" the feeling of a ride from you tube? Right now, I can get him to watch videos for about 30 seconds. He really isn't into videos/TV.

Well it's worth a shot just to see if the imagery is too much. DD loves to watch Disney videos with me, so it just depends on the child. We prepared for our trip with movie nights which gave me ideas of what she was into and what didn't interest her. That helped with the planning, too.

 

[alex9179]

The stretching room in HM terrified my kids at ages 8,7,&5 and we had to exit with 2 of them before riding. POTC was fine. Every kid is different and sometimes you're surprised by how the react. My youngest refused inside rides throughout a good portion of that trip and loved the coasters. The older two didn't like fast rides.

 

[DisneyLove2015]

The stretching room in HM terrified my kids at ages 8,7,&5 and we had to exit with 2 of them before riding. POTC was fine. Every kid is different and sometimes you're surprised by how the react. My youngest refused inside rides throughout a good portion of that trip and loved the coasters. The older two didn't like fast rides.

For future reference- you can ask to skip the stretching room right before you enter it. Ask a CM and they will walk you through a different way and it comes out in the line waiting to get onto the doom buggies. We used that when my son was 3-5 and easily scared of that but not the ride.

 

[alex9179]

They're older, now, so it's ok. This happened on our 2012 trip Good info, though!

 

[Tigger1221]

My son at 17 months was terrified of Pirates. After we took him on that and the new Frozen ride he refuses to ride anything else! Even the ride at places like chuck e cheese he freaks out on now. He was totally fine before Pirates and enjoyed the other rides.

 

[Dis703]

Our oldest rode at 26 months and our twins at 22 months. They enjoyed both. Ironically, just before my twins turned 3 we went back again and rode Peter Pan as one of our first rides. One of my boys almost leapt right out of my arms and out of the boat when he saw the Tic Toc Croc. He was completely terrified. Yet POTC and HM were fine. You just never know.

 

[HopperFan]

You know them best.
My kids started riding everything they were allowed on their first trips.
DS1 12 mos
DS2 3 years old
DD 4 months

 

[KrazeeK120]

You know them best.

I know, but my son hasn't been on any kind of amusement park ride other than a carousel and I wanted to see if other people take their toddlers on these rides and what their experiences were. I'm not really the best at predicting my kid's behavior.

 

[HopperFan]

I know, but my son hasn't been on any kind of amusement park ride other than a carousel and I wanted to see if other people take their toddlers on these rides and what their experiences were. I'm not really the best at predicting my kid's behavior.

My oldest and youngest had never been on a ride either until they went. Middle one just kiddie rides on boardwalk. The younger they are the least likely they are to be afraid I think because they haven't been taught so much what is scary. An 18 mos old would not know to be afraid of ghosts, skeletons etc in HM, but if they are afraid of the dark it might be scary. They wouldn't know to be afraid of a pirate ship, pirates and fire but maybe being in dark parts, loud parts would be scary.

I wouldn't focus on the content but more about the physical aspect of the attraction to know if in every day they are afraid of those parts.

 

[Kerriowl]

I would say that you can't really know what will set your child off ahead of time. It almost has to be a watch and take cues kind of situation. When I took my almost three year old, he was scared of all the dark rides. He thought the animatronics were real, even though I explained that they were robots. That same trip, he loved anything that was any kind of a thrill (goofy coaster). We went back at almost 5 and dark rides are still hit or miss, while he loved Space Mountain. He may never make it through "Its Tough to be a Bug."

 

[WhispyPixie]

Our 16 month old....LOVED both of them! It really depends on the personality of your child. We constantly spoke in her ear calming and laughing encouragement.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our DS has been on both, at ages 3 months and 15 months. No issues.