Rides Your Young Daughter Didn't Like/Was Afraid Of?

[pokee99]

I am trying to plan in advance what rides my daughter won't like or will be scared of. She's 5 1/2 and generally is fearful of scary villians. She's tall (about 44"), so there's only a couple of rides she will be too short for, but I know she's too young for rides like the Twilight Tower of Terror and Grizzly River Run. My son's 7 1/2 and would likely go on most of them, so we'd be looking at possibly getting Rider Switch Passes for the ones my daughter wouldn't like.

The rides I am not sure about are:

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion (pretty sure this is too scary, but feedback would be nice)
Pirates of the Carribean
Snow White Scary Adventures
Space Mountain
Jumpin Jellyfish
Mulholland Madness

Thanks for any advice!

 

[nana50]

jumping jellyfish will be fine. I have a houseful of wimpy grandkids. None of them were scared of the Jellyfish ride. TOT goes without saying. Peter Pan is dark and can be scary, splash mountain is a little scary toward the end. I suggest going online and looking for videos of the rides. Look at the ones that have the most "hits" These are generally better. I suggest you look first, since cameras can't see as well as our eyes a lot of them look darker on video.

 

[sonnyjane]

My first trip to Disneyland, I was about 6 or 7 years old and my mom made me go on Haunted Mansion even though I was scared. I closed my eyes, covered my ears, and rode through crying the entire time. I didn't know anything about the ride prior, I was just afraid. Now, as an adult, I can't believe I was afraid, as the ride isn't scary, but at the time I was terrified.

One thing that gets suggested around here a lot is searching for the rides on YouTube and watching the entire video with your daughter. That way, she can know what to expect, and decide at home what might be too scary before you have a traumatic experience at the park lol.

 

[ashpinoza]

i guess it depends on the child, boys and girls have their own personality and fears. for my 3 year old he LOVES scary rides and his favs are pirates, and mansion. he says ghostsss the whole time! hes too lil for the bigger things yet but is infact tall enough for matterhorns this year. hes definitely a fearless brave child though. when i was 3,4,5 i VAGUELY remember going on everything, and my mom attests that i was NEVER afraid of any of them and things that were scary were my favorite rides, so i think it really depends how fearful the child is of things.

 

[nana50]

Yes, all kids are different. Since my grandkids rarely see anything on T.V. but the occasional PBS show their fear level is quite heightened as they haven't been exposed. You will know your child best. If they get scared easily it is best not to take chances and ruin the entire day for them. They may never trust you again and be afraid of ALL the rides. Go gently into this good disneyland.

 

[pokee99]

Yes, all kids are different. Since my grandkids rarely see anything on T.V. but the occasional PBS show their fear level is quite heightened as they haven't been exposed. You will know your child best. If they get scared easily it is best not to take chances and ruin the entire day for them. They may never trust you again and be afraid of ALL the rides. Go gently into this good disneyland.

Yeah, I hear you. I must err on the side of caution with DD, as this could be the case for her. If DS is slightly traumatized (and it takes a fair bit to achieve that), he bounces back rather nicely.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

I have a timid six year old that is indeed terrified of Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. This is our first trip to Disneyland, and I plan to avoid everything on your list. Although maybe we'll need to see Jumpin' Jellyfish first. It looked pretty scary on YouTube!

 

[6Smiles]

The rides I am not sure about are:

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion (pretty sure this is too scary, but feedback would be nice)
Pirates of the Carribean
Snow White Scary Adventures
Space Mountain
Jumpin Jellyfish
Mulholland Madness

Thanks for any advice![/QUOTE]

In June when we went my daughter was 5 and she has some issues with the dark and loud noises. While all children are different my daughter's absolute favorite ride 5X in one day was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She was fine with Haunted mansion because we spoke about how all the ghosts were friendly. She was fine on Pirates until my DH told her jokingly the pirates were coming to get her. To smooth things over the woman chasing the pirate with the rolling pin was me chasing DH for making such a comment . Space was too dark/scary. She liked Mulholland Madness but I sure didn't. Jumping is fine unless she is scared of heights or elevators it doesn't go too fast. Snow white was okay because she knew the story. Like I said this is what my DD thought of the rides but all kids are different. Have fun.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

I wanted to add that my daughter also HATES "It's Tough to be a Bug." You may consider adding that to your list, as well.

 

[WannaseePooh]

I will second "It's tough to be a bug" as scary. My two are fearless. They rode every ride, including California Screaming and loved them all. But that movie scared my then 8 year old so much that he is just now, 3 years later, going to see 3-D movies with a lot of convincing. The muppet 3-D was fine, they loved that one, it's just the bug one that is scary.

 

[Brady's Mom]

I am trying to plan in advance what rides my daughter won't like or will be scared of. She's 5 1/2 and generally is fearful of scary villians. She's tall (about 44"), so there's only a couple of rides she will be too short for, but I know she's too young for rides like the Twilight Tower of Terror and Grizzly River Run. My son's 7 1/2 and would likely go on most of them, so we'd be looking at possibly getting Rider Switch Passes for the ones my daughter wouldn't like.

The rides I am not sure about are:

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion (pretty sure this is too scary, but feedback would be nice)
Pirates of the Carribean
Snow White Scary Adventures
Space Mountain
Jumpin Jellyfish
Mulholland Madness

Thanks for any advice!

I have a timid (now) 8 yr old and when he was that age we wouldn't have considered - HM, Snow White, ITTBAB, and TOT. He did ride Space when he was 4 (he was tall enough) but it scared him and he wouldn't ride it again until he was 7 and my other DS (then) 5 wanted to ride it. He did it with some brother peer pressure and discovered he liked it.

We did ride Pirates together since they end up sitting in between DH and I and we talk quietly about what they are seeing and how cool it is and all of that. They both like it and love to look at the "fire".

Both of our DS's like Mulholland Madness - but not in the dark. If you are going to take your DD on BTMRR be sure to ride it in the daytime first - my DS 8 says it isn't scary in the day - but he still won't ride it at night.

The best advice we got when our boys were littler was to ride the open rides first - Dumbo, all the open rides in Bug's Land - to get them used to how the rides work and what happens and to introduce them to the magic of make believe.

We can take them on most everything now (they are 6 and 8) and they love them. They still won't ride ToT, but we just switch for that and my 6 yr old can hardly wait until he is tall enough for Screamin', especially since his brother can ride it.

 

[ironpig70]

Last trip my twins where 6 and my oldest was 12. I didn't tell the little ones about any of the rides. Figured the best way was to do it and if they liked it then fine and if not then fine. I didn't wanna scare them because what scares one kid doesn't scare the next.

Case in point we did The Tower of Terror. Me, my wife my kids and also my brother and his kids who are 7 and 12 also. After the ride was over my wife, brother both 12 year olds and my 6 year old did not want to ride ever again. My son wanted to ride again and him and I did so.


To me that says alot about age not mattering. And if I told the kids what the ride was like I doubt I would have gotten them on it.


Closing I told my kids they could scream there heads off if need be. And the rides are all safe and they would not get hurt but there tummys may tickle and that is fine.

 

[danceanddisney2010]

When I was little the one ride that terrified me was definitely Snow White!!!

 

[skiingfast]

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted MansionPirates of the Carribean
Snow White Scary Adventures
Space Mountain
Jumpin Jellyfish
Mulholland Madness

Thanks for any advice!

On my kids 4th birthday didn't like the bolded because it was dark. At almost 5 loved every single one.

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't like ITTBAB.....the kids love it, DBF loves it, I sit on the edge of my seat and try not to look at the huge spiders that fall down......lol I really do not like that show. lol

OP DD11 was 6 when we first went to DL, she rode everything and nothing scared her. I highly suggest you preview the rides on you tube, then you can see what she thinks.

 

[heather_sue_98]

My daughter has been to Disneyland at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, and when we go this April, she will be 5. She's pretty brave, but even she has limits.

At 2 1/2, she was okay with Snow White, but a heads up, when the evil queen is looking in the mirror, when she turns around she'd the old hag, and she's pretty close and scary. Also did POTC, but we talked about how the guns and cannons aren't real. Was scared of the thunder and lightning in the stretching room on Haunted Mansion (or it could have been all the people screaming) but did fine on the rest of it. She LOVED Matterhorn, even though she was barely tall enough to ride it!

At 3 1/2 She was fine on all of the above, and LOVED Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Run, so don't count that one out!

We've watched some youtube videos for our upcoming trip, and she's planning on adding BTMRR and Star Tours, and has nixed Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror, and I'm not even thinking about Space or Cali Screamin' for her.

We've never done Mulholland Madness or Jumpin' Jellyfish. Not because she's scared of them, but because they don't look that fun to the mom!

The It's Tough to be a Bug show (ITTBAB) is kind of scary as previous posters have noted.

Have fun!

 

[tinkerbellandeyor]

It is tough to be a bug I get so scared during that show that I always jump in a persons lap

 

[coaches24]

The rides I am not sure about are:

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion (pretty sure this is too scary, but feedback would be nice)
Pirates of the Carribean
Snow White Scary Adventures
Space Mountain
Jumpin Jellyfish
Mulholland Madness

Thanks for any advice!

My 2 year old daughter enjoyed POC so much she asked to go over as over. She also did just fine with Haunted mansion. She also liked snow white. She did not like the spinning rocket ride near astro blasters but loved dumbo which is pretty much the same thing. She didn't go on any of the others you asked about. My 2 YO favs were pirates, Winnie the pooh (she walked around the park saying "wake up pooh"), and the carosel. And everything in toontown.

 

[JH87]

I can only speak from my point of view as a 5 year old and last year I took my mom's coworkers daughter to the parks while our parents had a conference in Anaheim, so I know what rides she was afraid of too.

When I was 5 I disliked Pirates a lot. Mainly only becasue of the big drop in the beginning. The pirates didn't scare me, just the drop!
But I loved Thunder Mountain.... so, not sure what my problem was!

The little girl I took was hesitant with Snow white & pirates, but after she got on she liked them.
She didn't want to do any of the 'big kid' rides. But her mom later said when they go as a family she rides everything, so maybe since she wasn't with her mom she didn't feel as safe?

I think it all depends on the kid. I've seen really young kids ride Tower of Terror, other times I see parents having to drag their children on Storybook Land ("no mom! the whale is gonna eat me!!!")

 

[tink2dw]

I am a middle age lady who use to have to ride all the rides with my teeny tiny little girl, who was tall enough, but didn't weight anything!
[I didn't trust the rides so I had to hold, her and me in! I know...] so I had to buck up and ride the roller coasters, that scared the dickens out me!!! This little teeny tiny girl would cry on the Merry-Go-Round because it was too boring and laugh with absolute Joy on the wildest Disney Coasters and love it!!

Matterhorn Bobsleds - a roller coaster with sharp turn and slanty banked tracks, I have only ridden it 1 time. And I didn't like the vehicle at all, but they have change the cars 2 times since then!!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-A real fast roller coaster that goes up and down and it banks left and right. i have ridden it 1 time I can recall.

Haunted Mansion - Does your child know Casper The Friendly Ghost cartoons?? not the movie it sucked. Are they afraid of ghosts? I totally adore this ride! But I'm fascinated by the imagineering of it takes!!

Pirates of the Caribbean - Even though there are 2 short drops[shorter than Splash Mountain] I love this ride but it took me a few trips to know that when the boat jerks to a stop, that means it's getting ready for the drops! I always brace myself before the drops. Then I'm Fine.

Snow White Scary Adventures - this one suckers small children and their parents onto it and it is very much like a roller coaster, it is not gentle, it is rough, sharp turns, with all the Scary Scenes of Snow White!! I don't ride it because it is sooo very jerky!

Space Mountain - I hate this ride!! This is one I have ridden too many times with said teeny tiny Dd, but I have never seen any of it! My eyes are tightly closed, my mouth tightly closed, my arms wrapped tightly around Dd. Braced for death!! Trying not to get car sick and hurl or swear, my way though to the end!!

DCA to me is Soaring Over CA. and TOT[I know... but I love Tower of Terror and how you float up off your seat!! Fascinates Me!]

Of these two I know nothing. I have never ridden either.
but Dd say.....
Jumpin Jellyfish - goes up high

Mulholland Madness- is a Roller coaster

If like me, your child gets car sick, that could make them fearful, too. Ask your Dr. about an anti nausea medicine, in that case. I asked my docter and after I starting the anti nausea medicine not only were the
rides more fun and the plane no longer made me air sick!!