Rides for a 4 year old?

[jmccoy18]

On our upcoming trip DD1 will be 5. Right now at 4 she is 42in, so she can get on most rides (minus some of the big ones.) If they have never been on rides before, I suggest you start with something you can see from the outside like Dumbo or the Tea Cups. Here is our list for our upcoming trip:

MK
Dumbo
Barnstormer
Enchanted Tales with Belle
The Little Mermaid Ride
Ariel's Grotto
Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh
It's a Small World
Tea Cups
Carrousel
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
People Mover
Buzz Lightyear
Tomorrowland Speedway (usually skip, but would ride if little to no wait)
Jungle Cruise
Aladdin's Carpets
Haunted Mansion (this is a maybe, we will see how she feels about it when we get there)
Disney Railway

EP
Spaceship Earth
Nemo and Friends
Living Seas
Frozen Ever After
Soarin (another maybe for her)

HS
Disney Jr Show
Toy Story Mania
Frozen Sing a long

AK
Kilimanjaro Safari
Any and all of the trails including Rafiki's PLanet Watch
Triceratop Spin
Boneyard Playground
The Festival of the Lion King

 

[ArielSRL]

Just got home yesterday. My 4 yr old son's faves were the Speedway, Pooh, Under the Sea, Magic Carpets, PeopleMover. He also liked Nemo, the tanks inside Living Seas, Splash (but not the drop), it's a small world, Peter Pan, Soarin, Triceratops Spin, Toy Story Midway Mania, meeting the characters, Lion King show, the nighttime entertainment, Muppets, Tough to Be a Bug, the Safari, Spaceship Earth, Disney Jr show. He DID NOT like the Mine Train, so I didn't try any other "thrill" rides. Maybe next year.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

I apologize for posting and abandoning this thread. I have been so busy I have not had a chance to get back. I really appreciate all the suggestions. This gives a really good starting point for looking at rides. I want to plan carefully because I'm assuming, since she's only 4, that we will only spend half the day at the park and the other half at the pool. Luckily we are going for a long trip. 7 full days so we have a 7 day ticket, which gives us loads of time to visit MK. But the last thing I want to do is find ourselves wandering around the park and finding nothing but long lines with no plan and feel we wasted a portion of our trip trying to figure out what to do. Last year we went on a very budget vacation (which honestly wasn't as cheap as we originally anticipated) that was just awful. It was our first in 4 years. This time we are spending because a crummy vacation isn't worth it no matter how inexpensive.

I measured DD yesterday and she is 44 1/2 inches tall! My husband is 6'4 so that explains it. Does that mean she can go on most of the rides as long as she can handle it? She is a super daredevil and I think she will have a blast on a roller coaster, so long as its safe. And of course we'd work up to that. I like the idea of watching youtube videos with her. We have been planning to surprise her the day we are leaving, but maybe I will do it a couple days before. I just think the surprise would be really fun. Plus, we aren't going until the end of October and if I tell her now she will simply explode and then bug us about it all summer long complaining she doesn't want to wait. LOL

 

[ArielSRL]

Yes only a couple things are 48" (I think Rock n Roller Coaster and Primevil Whirl). Try the YouTube thing if you think that will help. And maybe start with the smaller ones first (Barnstormer, 7DMT) once there. I really wasn't sure about my 4 yr old and we did 7DMT as the 2nd ride and he let me know immediately those rides are not for him! Lol.

The surprise part sounds wonderful! I couldn't do it though bc I have a big mouth! I had a countdown that my 4 yr old turned the numbers on everyday so he would have some sort of idea of when the trip was.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

And... Princesses! Take fast pass for Anna And Elsa, the stand by is way too long.

Take the train at Magic Kindom to have less walk. And it's fun!

I'm replying to this way late, but what park are Anna and Elsa in? Is that a meet and greet type thing? My daughter MUST meet them. LOL

 

[linzbear]

I'm also wondering if there are little kid rides that she can go in alone?

This is a very "other theme parks" thing that is the very reason why Disneyland exists - Walt was sitting on a bench, watching his daughters ride a carousel alone and was frustrated that he couldn't join them. So he built a park that wouldn't have that problem.

For that reason you'll never find a "send your kid alone" kiddie ride in Disney parks. (Of course, there's alcohol in MK now, so never say never I guess)

 

[nllarson]

Really there are very few rides that a 4 year old can't ride. I wouldn't stress about any of it really.

Our first year going we had a 2 and 4 year old. Their favs then (and mostly still now).

MK:
Pretty much everything except the mountains (Big Thunder, Splash, Space), but favs included:
Goofy's Barnstormer
Haunted Mansion
Tomorrowland Speedway (They loved to drive!)

Epcot:
Loved everything!

AK:
Everything but Everest, Kali, and Dinosaur. (We did ride Kali, and they loved it until we got soaked, it startled them a bit. We also rode Dinosaur, but that was a bad idea as it was just a bit too much jerking around)
Safari
Flying Dino thing


HS:
Everything except RnR. (Oldest still doesn't like ToT much, but they did ride it. Having the gift shop at the end made them forget about the drops!)
Toy Story (FP+ this one) was great!
Star Tours (a bit shaky, but they love the movies and the characters, plus anything with the 3d glasses they thought was cool)


Enjoy your trip!

 

[SadieDawn90]

My 4-year-old (still 3 on our last trip, but almost 4) loved everything she was able to ride, except for haunted mansion. She was right at the 40 inch mark. Soarin' and 7dmt were her very favorites but she also loved BTMR, small world, dumbo. She loved all the shows and meeting the characters. It's such a fun age because the magic is still real to them but they're old enough to enjoy a lot of the experiences. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[DalmatianDad]

I measured DD yesterday and she is 44 1/2 inches tall!

She can go on almost everything at 44 inches, and everything at Magic Kingdom. My recommendation for Magic Kingdom is to go directly into Fantasyland. This entire area is great for young ones and she can ride everything there without much fuss about being scared of anything. See how she does with Barnstormer and 7 dwarfs mine train. If she does good with those, she can do all 3 mountains at Magic Kingdom which is as intense as it gets at that park.

For a first timer at that age shes going to have a great time! If she doesn't dig the more intense rides there is plenty to do that isn't as extreme. When my daughter was 4 she LOVED Enchanted Tales with Belle. The Disney Magic in that attraction is very real for all ages!

Don't forgo the Haunted Mansion. It's almost like a rite of passage for little ones!

 

[bopper]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/m...nontheme/experience/preschool/heightChart.pdf

 

[siskaren]

I'm replying to this way late, but what park are Anna and Elsa in? Is that a meet and greet type thing? My daughter MUST meet them. LOL

There is a meet and greet at Epcot now (at the Norway pavilion) that doesn't have FP, nor does it need one, because there are three sets of sisters. There is also the new Frozen Ever After ride that replaced Maelstrom, but that definitely needs a FP.

 

[Karl66]

My 4yo rode everything that she was tall enough to. Including ToT.