Question about rides for 4 year old

[SwanVT2]

Has anyone taken their 4 year old on tower of Terror? My DD loves the Haunted house and she is a huge fan of dinosaurs. would she be OK with the AK Dinosaur ride?

 

[Koz]

I have 3 daring children who will ride anything they fit on. My oldest, who was probably 6 when we brought him on Dinosaur, had his head buried in my chest/shoulder for the entire ride. It's definitely sensory overload as the dinosaurs are right in your face. I'd say that TOT, outside of the drops, is a little less traumatic.

 

[NinjaCat]

My 4 year old begged me to take him on our last trip. I had my doubts, but brought him anyway. He loved the whole thing and he had a huge smile on his face for the ride photo. It obviously depends on the kid. My 6 year old decided to skip the ride altogether. I would imagine you know your child better than anyone else. It is definitely scary. They dont put "terror" in the name for no reason.

 

[ebradley23]

I took my son last year when he was 3. He didn't scream or cry, but he said he didn't want to go on it until he was bigger. Fast forward to planning our trip this year, and he says he's going to ride ToT.

 

[Heidi K]

My 4-year-old insists that she wants to ride everything she's tall enough for on our upcoming trip--especially Tower of Terror. Then we took her to Finding Dory last week and she buried her head in my shoulder the whole time and kept begging to leave! I'm hoping the whole "will she find her parents" plot was the reason and doesn't mean she'll be scared of more concrete experiences/rides.

 

[karalecia26]

When we went 2 years ago my then just turned 4 DD went on TOT with me and her 2 older siblings. She was a little scared but had a lot of fun while the 7 and 9 year old were scared out of their minds. The only thing that bother my 4 DD was that her legs went up and couldn't touch the ground. We leave in 2 weeks and she is so excited to go on it again, but oldest DD who is 11, not so much!

 

[Lynne M]

Yeah, problems with kids on rides are generally more due to theming and story than the ride movement. Dinosaur is all about the scary, and it terrifies some adults. It's dark, it's loud, the ride vehicle bangs and shakes. Very large, very toothy, very realistic dinos lunge out of the darkness at you.

Is it possible she'll still have fun and not be scared? Sure, lots of kids her ago do. But I just wanted you to know that it's not cartoon-y, cute, friendly dinosaurs. It's big nasty gonna-eat-you dinos.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

It really just depends on your kid. I probably would have loved Dinosaur at age 4, but at almost 18, I'm still too scared to ride Tower of Terror, and the first time I went on Haunted Mansion at age 9, I cried. I would show her some ride videos on YouTube and give her some descriptions about what is going to happen and let her decide for herself.

 

[DavidNYC]

You need to watch a video and know your child. There is really no magical answer for any ride based on age. I will say the main thing with ToT isn't the haunted house element but the drop.

My daughter loved ToT at 4. Her twin brother did not. He liked Dinosaur. She did not. He loved haunted mansion, she did not. If a child is hesitant - I suggest showing them something online before the trip. Many of the rides my kids didn't like the first time they ended up liking once the fear of the unknown was over.

 

[IrishNYC]

My 5 year old loved both ToT (and begged to go on it again, but Mommy's legs were shaking too much to do it again), and Dinosaur. I myself wouldn't go on ToT voluntarily, but I am ok with going on it for DD's sake. Dinosaur? Nope. I'm never riding that again. I don't like being shaken out of my skin.

 

[TWK]

On the rides I wasn't sure about I just looked up videos on youtube and showed it to them, and asked if they wanted to do it.

 

[Accident]

It really depends on your child and what they are ready for. as others have said, make sure they understand the ride and what's going to happen. some rides actually have a not for children rating and while they are safe to be on it, doesn't mean they are ready for it....

Also are you up for going on it a lot? you might turn them into a thrill junkie and 4 years old isn't old enough to ride without you.

Skip dinosaur, that's not really a small child ride and it's the scary side of dinosaurs, being chased and driving really fast for your life.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You need to watch a video and know your child. There is really no magical answer for any ride based on age. I will say the main thing with ToT isn't the haunted house element but the drop.

I think that is a great example of how kids are different as my daughter has not problem with the drop but hates the "ghosts" part of it .... they really due up the theming with the boiler room, etc. so I'd be cautious if that type of thing gets to your child

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Totally depends on the kid. I personally think ToT would be pretty intense for a 4 year old, but I'm sure some kids would be ok with it. My 7 year old is more daring than my 10 year old when it comes to rides.

 

[EllieBride]

My 3-year old twins LOVE Tower of Terror. I didn't make a big deal out of it or show them any ride videos beforehand, I just asked if they wanted to ride it. My son said yes and my daughter initially said no (and we would never force her). My son rode it and wouldn't stop talking about it!!!! That was enough to convince my daughter to try it when we returned a few months later and now she loves it, too. This is the same daughter that hated the Haunted Mansion on that earlier trip.

For both trips, I've watched our ride video on Memory Maker/Photo Pass and you can clearly tell that they are both scared, but in a fun way. They still talk about it all the time and ask when are we going back.

 

[henry72]

We showed the kids the video for Dinosaur before we went in 2014 (kids 9 and 6). They were fine with the video. We talked about the ride and how it was all fake and they would be safe. Went on the ride and both were in tears. They each vowed never again.

And neither has rode ToT either. It doesn't appeal to them though I think DD when she was 4 would have gone on it. At 3 she was such a little daredevil and is returning to those ways so we will see what she will do in November.

 

[FigmentFinder]

I took my 3.5 year old on TOT, Dinosaur, Splash Mt., Thunder Mt, Star Tours, Soairin, etc. She loved it all.

 

[ArielSRL]

We just took our 4 year old two weeks ago. He rode a "roller coaster" at our local fair ans was fine with it so I scheduled him FP for all the "thrill" rides he was tall enough for. We did 7DMT as our second ride of the trip and he said never again. Therefore, I changed his FP and didn't take him on another "thrill" ride the entire vacation and he was good with that. So there's that perspective.

My 2 year old is my daredevil so he'll be good in a few years. We are going again in June 2017, so we'll see if my then 5 year old will try again.

 

[Micca]

Dinosaur is just obnoxious to me, loud, bumpy, and uncomfortable. But I'm neither a 4 yr. old, nor a fan of dinosaurs in general. TOT on the other hand, is a favorite attraction. I think the scariest thing about TOT for a kid might be hearing all the adults screaming when the drops happen.

 

[Reese'smom]

My son went on TOT the day after he turned 4. He loved it and rode it three times afterwards. Our 7 year old girl refuses to go on it. I would say let them try it.