Rides too scary for my almost 4 year old?

[ksheridan14]

Thank you all for your feedback. This is all very helpful. I think that watching some of the rides on YouTube is a great suggestion.

 

[GWhitten98]

DD rode everything she was tall enough for and the only thing she would not ride a second time was dinosaur

 

[Kathryn777]

My DS did Dinosaur and Tower of terror at 40", definitely don't recommend either. He still gets a but freaked in the haunted mansion, we have to keep reminding him it's silly. He was fine with btmrr, pirates. Didn't do Epcot with kids yet

 

[Kalea]

Last October, my 3-almost-4-year-old daughter was 41", and she wanted to ride EVERYTHING. We rode PoC, Splash, Thunder, Tower of Terror, Test Track, Soarin', etc. Everything she was tall enough to ride, she did.

ToT scared her. BUT she now lists that as her favorite ride of the entire trip. And she claims she can't wait to ride it again.

DINOSAUR scared her. I don't think she would choose to ride it again.

But out of the entire trip, the only thing she says she does not ever want to do again is It's Tough to be a Bug. That show scared the bejeesus out of her!

 

[joannamet]

If she's used to roller coasters those should be fine. The rides that scared my 6 year old were Pirates, Dinosaur (which DH made her ride even after I, who had done all the research, said it would be too scary. We left after the into.), and Haunted Mansion. My DD loved all the rides you listed.

 

[Haley]

It really depends...

My 2 year old LOVED Barnstormer, Pirates and the Haunted Mansion ("i love that ghost party!") and was super upset because she wasn't tall enough for Everest.

BUT - she hated the Little Mermaid & Peter Pan dark rides !!

 

[SpringSprite]

it's so hard to tell until they actually get on it! My 4 year old was fine last year on a TALL drop ride at our local water park, but freaked out last night on the buccaneer swinging boat thingy at a local carnival. (He's 5 now) I thought he would be used to the drop stomach sensation.

The three year old started getting upset on an up/down carnival ride (the trabant) but calmed right down as I talked him through it - which surprised me since it was a little crazy even for me, and I love rides.

I plan on bringing my 4 year old on everything you mentioned, but I haven't been on GMR or 7DMT. From what I've seen 7DMT will be fine.

Good luck!!!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Actually there are TWO "jump-out scares" in the Alien scene.

One coming at you from the CEILING.
One coming at you from the right SIDE.

Do you remember what scene this is after? Want to be prepared to have my kid "Look at these pictures on my phone"

 

[KB'sMom]

I think they would all be fine for a 4 year old - assuming about the mine train as we haven't been since it opened. My kids scare easily (from theming - not thrills) and my oldest didn't have an issue with any of these rides. My youngest went on all but Soarin', TestTrack and BTMRR when he was under 2. We covered their eyes during the Alien scene on GMR. The only rides that my oldest wouldn't go on that she was tall enough for where Dinosaur and Tower of Terror (the queue scared her too much).

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks for the post. I am subscribing as we are similar....DS9 and DD5, so similar ages. My DD is tall as well and so physically will meet height requirements but is also a matter of being too much or not.

In my research (reading and asking here), from your list we only have Soarin marked for her, but my daughter gets scared easily. In place of Maelstorm, I believe Gran Fiesta is also a boat ride but good for younger ones.
And this is just for pre-planning...once she see the ride she can always let us know. Have a fun trip.

 

[Robo]

Do you remember what scene this is after? Want to be prepared to have my kid "Look at these pictures on my phone"

It comes after you go thru the large electric-opening doors following the "western town" Scene.

By this time, your vehicle will have just been hijacked by either the 1930's bank-robber or the western gunslinger.

 

[Cals dad]

My son finally hit the 40" mark on our last trip Memorial Day weekend. He turns 4 at the end of this month. He rode Splash Mountain, BTMRR, Star Tours, and Tower of Terror. He loved them all. While his mom and I were holding on for dear life on ToT, he just looked over at me when it was over and yelled, "Whooooooo! Lets go again."

I think it really depends on the child. Ours is a thrill seeker, and has had multiple trips to the emergency room for a various assortment of injuries(broken leg, fractured skull, etc), while my nieces when they were his age wouldn't go on anything this was the least bit thrilling. Heck, I remember bawling like a baby when I was 4 every trip when my parents took me on BTMRR, and after the first ride, all I wanted to do was ride again. If I went back a 2nd day in the trip, I'd be scared again until I rode it. You just have to know what your child can deal with. I have to calm my son down from a full on fit because he's too short for Summit Plummet, so I know he'll ride anything he's tall enough for, and my parents knew me enough to make me go on the ride I was scared of, because they knew I'd love it once I rode it.

 

[Woodmnky]

Each kid is so different that it is truly hard to say. My son is 3 although he has been tall enough for most of those ride since his 1st visit at 2. He is OK with the roller coaster type rides, but ones like Maelstrom and Pirates that have a lot of darkness are terrifying for him. He also can't handle TT because of the noises associated with the ride, especially the semi truck that comes out of no where. I would really try to arrange it so that you take your kids on the less adventurous rides first to get an idea of how they might do on the bigger rides.

 

[BlueHippo]

Agree that all kids are different. We've been with our DS (now 7) and DD (now 4) several times. DS can get scared easily. We took him on GMR when he was 3 and we haven't gone again- it wasn't just Alien but also the gunshot and even the witch. He went on SM when he was 4 and he won't go again. He won't get near TT (although says he'll go on that when we are back in Oct), ToT, BTMRR...he won't even go on Barnstormer! He's always done fine on Maelstrom, POTC, HM, etc. DD was 3 our last trip and just hit 40 inches. She went on everything and loved it all.

 

[DisGirl819]

My family is going on our first WDW vacation in October. My kids will be 8 (boy)and almost 4 (girl) years old. My girl is pretty tall for her age- she will be 40 inches". This is great bc she will be able to ride a lot of rides, but I am wanting some feedback on if some rides will be too scary for her... In general, she is pretty adventurous, but I don't want to freak her out on a ride especially since this will be my 1st time and I don't know what to expect.

Opinions needed on the following:
Soarin
Test Track
Maelstrom
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Great Movie Ride
Pirates of the Caribean
7 Dwarfs Mine Train

Thanks for your input!

Highly depends on your kiddo's personality. My daughter will ride any and every ride. My son...well in April (he's 4) I could ONLY get him on Living with the Land, Finding Nemo, Dumbo, Flying Carpets of Aladdin and the Jungle Cruise. We spent a lot of time re-riding the same rides over and over...I hope he outgrows it soon. He was scared of riding on Winnie the Pooh I took him on Soarin (he'd been on it once before and loved it) and he SCREAMED during the ride and refused to get on it EVER again! Its not really scary so I'm not sure what triggered him. My kids are terrified of pirates so we avoid POTC, GMR would scare my son, 7DMT should be ok for them, BTMRR was "too fast" for my son, but my daughter (she's 6 now) has ridden it and loved it since she was 3. My daughter loves TT, haven't taken my scaredy cat son on it yet, going to try in a couple weeks. We haven't done Maelstrom yet just because wait times are always long when we walk by so we just keep going, but I think it would be ok for them. I honestly thought he would ride more rides than that but I am not going to force my child on a ride (not after that experience on Soarin!), its just not worth it. Happy kids, happy trip.

 

[DisGirl819]

I know this isn't on your list, but Dinosaur at AK can be scary to some.

It terrified my DD, who is a major thrill seeker. She HATED it and still (two years later) talks about the super scary dinosaur ride that she will NEVER get on again!

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

It depends on the kid. DD was 4 our first trip. She loved all f the rides she could ride with her favorite being tower of terror. At 4 she had her hands up in the photo, so of course I bought it. 7dmt is really tame, nothing scary at all on that ride. Try it once, ride it again if they like it, if not don't. That what I go with, no wY to know unless you try.

 

[Kristie911]

My DD will turn 4 while we are at Disney in September. I anticipate her loving all the "thrill" type rides because she's very adventurous (probably more than I am because we are not even going to try ToT...I totally refuse!!) but my son who is 10 is not!! I'll be shocked if I can even get him on Big Thunder Mountain!!

 

[cubuffalo36]

When my son was 4, he didn't like ToT or Dinosaur, everything else was ok, we also took a trip to Disneyland when he was four and he didn't like space mountain, was able to ride space mountain at DL but not at DW, when my daughter was four, she loved them all, including ToT

 

[DisneyWisher]

When my daughter was 3 (she'll be 21 next Sunday, where did the time go) she rode Splash, Big Thunder, ToT and all the non height requirement rides...what scared her Pirates...she literally came off that ride stuttering. It lasted for 2 years. Though she loves the Pirare movies she is still not a fan of the ride...it's the Skelton scene before the drop....one ride I would absolutely
suggest not doing is Dinosaur. Between the dark, loud sounds and jerky ride it's not a must do..when my granddaughter was 2 (4 weeks shy of 3) she was 41" we took her on everything she was tall enough to ride (not Dinosaur) she had no problems. The next year just after her bday she was afraid to ride Splash but once on she loved it. This year she turned 5 and allowed me to hold her hands up during the drops. All my daughters (3 of them ages 30, 28, and 20) they are all daredevils, they started going to Disney and riding rides at young ages. My sister never took her kids to Disney and one of her daughters (28) refuses to ride the rides but gets her kids to ride with their dad and us. My 28 yr likes to talk about how I bribed her to ride ToT when she was 9, now I refuse to ride it's everything I hate (heights, dark, and closed in spaces) when we were there in March she tried to bribe me to ride promising me a stuffed Nola (Lion King, what I got her) I explained but I'm gma now and I stay with the babies while everyone else rides