Rides and Anxiety

[Megali]

My family will be going to WDW for the first time in January and I'm reading at least a little each day about the parks or the dining plan or something about Disney!

My older son, age 8, is on the autism spectrum. He is high functioning and verbal, but one of the keystones of his ASD is different perseverative behaviors. Occasionally, this will also be linked to an anxiety, which pops up randomly, and on which he focuses incessantly. As an example, one anxiety, that he has overcome, was a sudden fear of high ceilings. We were entering a museum atrium, that we had been to several times, and he was petrified to walk into the area because he thought he would float to the top of the roof. Another one, that we are working on now, is a newfound trepidation of bathroom vent fans, as he thinks they sound like a ghost.

I wanted to ask what rides you or your families, regardless of diagnosis, found scary. I don't expect that you'd be able to warn us away from every ride that could potentially create a new anxiety, but I want to be as prepared as possible. He has been to local fairs and on small roller coasters at a kid-oriented amusement park and done just fine. I also know that if a ride had to do with his favorite thing in the world, dinosaurs, he would fare fine.

I'm super appreciative of any insight!

 

[lizard1]

Have you looked at any of the ride videos on YouTube? There are many that people have taken during the rides. You could watch them to see if you think anything might trigger issues for your son. You could also have your son watch them so that he is prepared for what might happen on the rides so that he doesn't come away with any new fears.

 

[aaarcher86]

Highly recommend YouTube videos. HM stretching room may be a bit scary. ToT is scary for my kids, but they close their eyes until we are about to drop.

Those are really the only ones I'd perceive as outright scary, but obviously ASD kids see things a little differently

 

[2tinkerbell]

YouTube videos are great. I am sure you realize that there is no way you can anticipate everything that may bother your child. I have resorted to knowing how long each attraction lasts and have learned to respond with, "Close your eyes and hang on. It will be over in 2 minutes." Noise cancelling or reducing earphones are also a great item to take along. My DD walks around the parks now with just her earbuds on her iTouch in all the time - nothing going on her iTouch.

Just to share an experience. My DD didn't think that she would like Space Mountain, but, was peer pressured (there with friends and didn't want to separate) to trying it. As we took off, my DD yelled at me, "Mom stop this! I want to get off!" I just leaned forward and told her, "Close your eyes and hang on. It will be over in less than 3 minutes." Well, the ride stopped in the middle. We heard the announcement several times instructing us to stay in the ride vehicle. I let go and put my hands on her shoulders and kept telling her she was "okay and I was right there." Eventually they turned on the lights. My DD exclaimed, "Mom, we are on a track!" I guess she thought we were just free flying in that mountain She was totally fine with the lights on and soon a CM came and rocked us until started to move down the track to the end. I share this because even with all the preparation possible, sometimes our kids get something in their heads that create anxiety for them.

I hope that you and your family have a great time in WDW.

 

[angeladcp]

Don't go on It's Tough To Be A Bug in Animal Kingdom. I'm a grown 22 year old and I can't do that ride. It terrifies me when parts of rides have the ability to physically touch you.

I believe Stitch's Great Escape is the same way, I heard it was, but I'm not positive, I refused to go on it while I was there for that reason.

On Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, near the end of the ride, you go through a hallway type area and the screens where you shoot up at the Zurgs look like they are expanding, which might frighten him.

If he loves Dinosaurs, I recommend The Boneyard in Dinoland in DAK, it's a huge playground with a fossil excavation site where you can actually dig in gravel-like sand for mammoth bones, and lots of dinosaur bones are everywhere throughout the playground with slides and rope climbs... That's where I worked when i was in Attractions.

& I will second what the others said about youtube videos, I do that a lot if I'm not sure about a ride. You could even let your son sit down, and watch them with you so he knows what to expect as well.

 

[Amanda999]

Good responses thus far by PPs.

Wanted to add re: TSMM. The FP+ and stand by queus feed into a staircase (up stairs, then down stairs) that can be claustrophic feeling if you are there at a busy time. The staircase is steep, all closed in, dim lighting, and not alot of air flows.

You would ask a CM at the 2nd FP+ check in/Mickey Head area (even if you do standby, you will walk past this area) - they can send you to the wheelchair entrance at that time. To make it easy, you could say "DS cannot do stairs." Be aware that you will likely wait longer to board a vehicle - the people who wait at the non-stairs area are in a different area than the regular post-staircase queu.

Oh - and, FWIW, BTMRR's line (both FP and standby) are kind of dark, dim, stairs, and poor air flow too. Don't know about alternative/wheelchair entrance for that ride.

 

[KisanMcG]

I second finding Tough To Be A Bug scary. After that one, I had to sit on a bench in a quiet area and cry it out, but was still so upset that we had to leave for the day.

Stitch is similar - there are periods of total darkness where a harness presses down on your shoulders while sounds and smells go on all around, and when the lights come on they have scary animatronics going. It's intense.

I also have had issues with the "Aliens" section of The Great Movie Ride being scary, and think Dinosaur is scary-loud and very jerky (though it sounds like he'd be more excited about that one than I was!)

In lines, I don't like the merge points. The ones that seem the worst are at the Haunted Mansion and Kilamanjaro Safari. The large group has to smoosh themselves into a single-file line, and no one does that well. The HM merge is worse because it's such low lighting, too.

 

[scrapshappen]

I'll agree with It's Tough to Be a Bug. The spiders falling from the ceiling did in my younger DS a few years back and he won't go anywhere near that thing now. (He's never been to WDW, just the one at DL). He generally does well on thrill rides because he loves the adrenalin rush of them. He does not have ASD, but a different neuro disorder.

Just following the topic to see if there are WDW rides to be wary of. My older DS is a bit obsessed with Stitch, so I'll have to check that out to see if it's something maybe he should go on without younger DS.

 

[sookie]

Just from what you have described, I would avoid the haunted mansion - there are many large areas (the dancing ghosts banquet area) and the stretching room would be scary.

 

[Schmeck]

At MK:

BTMRR - the boulders in the tunnel can freak kids out.

Splash - two drops in the dark, the long ramp up into the final drop

Pirates - cannon 'blasts' right next to the boats

At EPCOT:

the lift off at Soarin' - you can go up pretty high, so maybe ask for the bottom row if heights are an issue?

Figment - the train blast

Livin' with the land - thunderstorm area

Test Track - break fail section

AK:

Dinosaur - lots of scary moments, strobe effects too, I think?

EE - yeti, broken tracks, the backwards part is pretty intense