Scary Haunted Mansion Question

[goofyernmost]

Can someone tell me in great detail what happens in the Haunted Mansion so I can prepare my son (almost 5) for what to expect? Please add any tips you have on encouraging him to see it as funny-spooky-pretend but not scary. He's afraid of the dark but will have a mini flashlight and Mama on hand. Any good websites with pictures, etc. to show him first? Thanks.

Sorry, I didn't have time to read all the posts on this so if I repeat, I didn't mean to! My thought is to leave it as like this. There are a bunch of make believe scary things. They are not real and they are just to make you laugh. And leave it at that. Except for a couple of seconds in the stretch room it is never complete darkness. The light is subdued but not out.

Watch carefully because once on the ride, as the ghost host says, "there's no way out". Years ago when I took my 6 year old on it, she never made a sound. It wasn't until years later that I found out that she had her eyes closed all the way through. She always was (and still is) the cutest thing!

 

[debbie in Seattle]

If your son if afraid, don't take him, wait til he's older.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

My DD6 is very afraid of this ride. She doesn't like the graveyard scene where the heads pop up and there are loud screams. I don't remember that happening when I was a kid or I know I would have been afraid. I was (and am) a big chicken.

DD4 loves the HM! She is not afraid of any of it. Actually, DD6 used to love it, too, until she was about 5.

My DS7 (4 at the time we first went in the HM) did not have any problem with the ride until that head popped up in the graveyard and screamed. He didn't cry after he saw it, but I covered his ears for the rest of the ride and tried to look ahead for anything else jumping out at us (it had been about 15 years since the last time I had ridden it!) . DS5 (2 at the time) slept through the whole thing. Now I can't get either of them to try it again....

This year I am going to try bribing them with a HotWheels car or something, I know that once they go in they will like it....

One thing I would suggest to the OP is to refrain from using the word "Haunted" when referring to the ride. Maybe call it the "Big cool house", or something like that.


Wish me luck, we leave in 13 days, and my objective is to get them to go on at least 3 rides that they flat out refused in the past because they were scared....

Good luck to the OP, I know how it is to try to get the kids to go on rides that you love, and they refuse!

 

[vanessat]

My dds (4 and 6) tend to easily scare, so I prepared them long before our trip last October: I told them that the haunted mansion is actually a joke that Mickey Mouse is playing on everyone and it is very funny, told them that it is filled with happy ghosts who are funny, like to dance, make music, and that they have to look carefully for funny things, like the head without a body and funny faces, etc.

It actually worked, they covered their eyes sometimes, when something was a little too scary, and I was hugging my younger daughter throughout the ride. They loved it and wanted to ride it again and again.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My almost 5-yo has ridden it twice...when he was 3 (almost 4) and two months ago; he will be 5 next week.

He isn't crazy about it, but he will ride, as long as he gets to sit by me. He says it's scary but it would be ok if they didn't turn the lights off at the beginning. I've ridden it the same two times he has, and I didn't notice the body dangling at the end of the stretching room. This year when we rode, he got really scared when they closed the door after we were in the stretching room and he cried a little, but I didn't know there was a chicken exit or I probably would have taken him out. I picked him up and he stopped crying and after that he was ok. We did talk about Mickey's magic, and how he wouldn't let anything bad happen to us on the ride, and it's just pretend for fun.

I don't know if he'll ride next year or not if we go.

 

[Cinderella94]

Yeah, as many people have said here, it all depends on your child.

Good luck!

 

[LadyDulcinea1]

Honestly, the pitch black stretching room STILL bothers me I just grab onto whoever I'm with and shut my eyes right before the lights go out, this way it doesn't seem dark to me (the lights go out immediately after the "ghost host" says, "To find a way out!") DM took me on it when I was five and I was TERRIFIED after I left the room, however both DM and a very nice CM who broke character assured me that the ride was funny, and honestly if you look at it that way it really isn't scary. But again, like everyone else said, you know your child better than we do, so its really up to you. Good luck!

 

[zzammmi]

Thanks to all! I showed him the website pics and he seemed a bit intimidated. I think he'll have to skip it this trip. He wants to go but I don't want to take the chance of scaring him.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Has the hanging always happened in the stretching room? I have been in the HM in excess of 30 times in my life and do not remember the hanging and body thump onto the floor. Did I block it out?

I think a lot of guests don't even realize it unless they see someone else pointing up to it, or looking straight up.
The banging to the floor is (to me) not that noticeable because it is preceeded by a scream and is usually noisy in there anyway.

Kind of like a possible and slight cable snapping sound at ToT (right before the first drop). You hear about it, and REALLY listen for it. But wonder if it is there, or you just thinking it might be true because you have heard about it.
The sound is maybe there for a few seconds.

Depends on how much imagination you have and how intently you listen I guess.

 

[Wendy1953]

If your child is already afraid of the dark, why chance making his fear worse? Skip the HH this trip, or if you want to go see it, take turns staying outside with him on other rides while everyone in your party gets to see it but him. We're going down in January, and my 83 year old MIL is afraid of scary things...we're skipping the HH this time, next time when she doesn't come with us, we'll go on it.

 

[katedrew94]

I live in MD too and we have a video. PM me if you like, I can send you a copy and he can see it before you go. It doesn't quite do it justice but really might help him get the gist of it.

 

[Melora]

Ive been on the Haunted Mansion so many times I can't count but truth be told it creeps me out and lately I just dont do it except for the one at Disneyland when its done up for Christmans with Jack and friends.. then it so much more light hearted.

I dont make my kids go on anything they dont want to. I know we can explain to them that its OK and it won't hurt you. I used to try the "look at those people coming out of the ride.. they are fine, see?" but as I got older and became more (um how shall we say) "Cautious" of the larger thrill ides, I realized no amount of anyone telling me to look at the people coming out of the rides and how they are smiling would get me to go on certain things. I imagine if one of my kdis feels as scared as I do about something (for me it's TOT) then I wont push it.

 

[hockeybabe]

We took our dd 7 and ds 8 on it, and dd 7 was so scared, she was sweating and shaking, it was so sad. She had thought it would be ok, but she got real scared when on it. Now, she will never go on it again, probably not until she is an adult if then. The thing about taking little ones on scary rides, is that even though they get older and might be able to handle it then, the memory is of the terrified way they felt when they were young, and it may be very hard to overcome that feeling, even years later. Same with some rollercoasters.

One idea is to take him on Snow White. It is less scary, but still a little scary, and if he doesn't do that well, skip HM this time.

Good luck!

 

[bytheblood]

My 7-year-old was scared to death until we actually got on the attraction. Once people screamed in the stretching room, it went down hill from there. I think I had bruises on my neck and secureity was thinking I was almost a murder victim.

Some parts of the attraction scared her, but I had to cover her eyes most of the way.

 

[goofyernmost]

I think a lot of guests don't even realize it unless they see someone else pointing up to it, or looking straight up.
The banging to the floor is (to me) not that noticeable because it is preceeded by a scream and is usually noisy in there anyway.

Kind of like a possible and slight cable snapping sound at ToT (right before the first drop). You hear about it, and REALLY listen for it. But wonder if it is there, or you just thinking it might be true because you have heard about it.
The sound is maybe there for a few seconds.

Depends on how much imagination you have and how intently you listen I guess.

This may sound silly but I never realized that there was a body hanging from the top until I saw the movie, then on my next trip I looked for it. Until this very moment I have not been aware of a scream and a thud. Guess I will have to be listening for that on the next trip.

 

[TiggerXx]

Personally I dont think you need to worry... when I was around 5 I wasnt scared, I acctually loved it! I think I get scared more now than I did then and Im 15!

 

[zzammmi]

I live in MD too and we have a video. PM me if you like, I can send you a copy and he can see it before you go. It doesn't quite do it justice but really might help him get the gist of it.

Kate, that is very kind of you to offer but the more I think about it the more I think it's just not worth the risk of freaking him out. We'll just skip it this time but thanks again.