Preparing Kids for "scary rides"

[DisneyMama811]

As a parent of two children, they are now grown up, don't take kids on scary rides. If you consider the ride to be scary why put them through that.
A trip to Disney is supposed to be fun. Unless they enjoy being scared don't do it. If it is a ride you just have to go on, switch off with your spouse
and each ride as single riders.

obviously I wouldn't take them on something that would terrify them, I'm just more thinking that I don't want to be TOO overprotective and discourage them from trying something more intense. I'm pretty certain my youngest will not even attempt ToT but if my 7yr old wants to try it I don't want to discourage her but also don't want to scare her if that makes sense? Of course if neither of them want to do it, DH and I will take turns

 

[MickeyWaffles]

obviously I wouldn't take them on something that would terrify them, I'm just more thinking that I don't want to be TOO overprotective and discourage them from trying something more intense. I'm pretty certain my youngest will not even attempt ToT but if my 7yr old wants to try it I don't want to discourage her but also don't want to scare her if that makes sense? Of course if neither of them want to do it, DH and I will take turns

This is exactly right.

Our policy has always been to not force our kids on anything they are afraid of. If they want to do it, we won’t discourage them.

Last year my 5 year old was confident she wanted to ride Tower of Terror. I could tell she was slightly nervous as we were waiting to board the elevator, but she insisted she wanted to go on it, walked right into the elevator and sat down. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go - she hadn’t been on a thrill ride like that before.

After it was over she was laughing and yelled “I WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN!” and the other guests in the elevator cheered for her. And she did ride again with my husband right after (thanks to rider swap.)

My vote is if they want to go on something, let them. If they are stressing out about it, or decide they don’t want to after waiting in line, I would definitely not force them to ride. I’d follow their cues.

 

[pjacobi]

Haunted Mansion was way too scary for mine when they were 7. Tower of Terror too.

The real fun is coming back when they are older and embarrassing them about how scared they were on the last trip!


-Paul

 

[DisneyByMarriage]

I’ve got three boys, 9/7/5. I’ve accidentally terrorized all of them. My oldest doesn’t like drops (Thanks POTC). My middle one loves 7DMT but not Big Thunder. My youngest is scarred from Splash because he had been napping in line and missed eating ice cream. He thinks it’s the worst and nobody can change his mind. That same trip, he told me he didn’t like Slinky Dog (he was just shy of 3 when we did it) but it’s the only ride he talks about riding on our next trip. They all love HM. We don’t force them to do anything, but we do watch all the POV videos to try and prepare them. I think the videos and talking about it in a positive way is all you can do.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

My 10 year old is still terrified of big rides..
As we waited to ride exploration Everest we talked about Disney imagineers and what force perspective is. I always have them looking for it Disney. He noticed when the first car is at the bottom on the big hill the last car is at the top. He did try it, does not care for it and it will be awhile before he gets on it again. The point I am making is making it your kids idea is the best way for my boys. Sometimes just noticing that other kids there age or size are also in the line. We always stand together and they can cross over at the last minute for parent swap So there is no pressure.

 

[Bete]

This is so subjective. We have 7 year old twin, great grandsons and they are very different about thrill rides. One likes it and one not so much. I have used logic like the ride won't kill you if necessary. Disney doesn't want to be sued. Usually, you can see it in the kids face; they are mortified while waiting in line if they are scared.

I heard some parents using a reward system like ride three thrill rides and get a souvenir.

Keep in mind some kids can get sick from doing thrill rides. The up and down motion of roller coasters can make some kids sick. Simulator rides especially with strobe lights can affect some kids. Ask some questions to make sure this not the issue.

 

[amyg1]

It is all based on the kid, I agree. We took my now teen and then preschooler to WDW. We were walking past Splash Mountain and his eyes lit up. We tried explaining that he was too small. To prove it, we walked by the height marker. Wouldn't you know, he was exactly the right height. We did a parent swap and let him ride twice. Highlight of his day!
The next day, we went to Hollywood Studios. We took him on the Great Movie Ride. He freaked out and buried himself in the foot well for the second half of the ride. We were struggling to get him on rides that day. So I kept telling him to remember that everything was pretend. He calmed down. We went to get pizza for lunch. Sitting down at lunch he looked at me and said "Mommy, you lied!" "You said everything here was fake, but this pizza is REAL."
So for my kid, roller coasters were fine, but the animatronics were problematic.