Selfish question:?

[waterm]

This is our first trip to WDW-myself and dd 7 1/2. I know she is not tall enough for certain rides but I am-Would I be able to ride a ride while she waited for me or no???? There is one ride in particular I want to go for! I know this sounds awfull.....

 

[kors]

There is no way I would leave a 7 year old alone outside a ride at Disney World. I think it is very selfish. Sorry if I get flamed, but that is how I feel.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I agree with kors....my 7-yo ds would be terrified if I left him alone at WDW, or anywhere else, for that matter.

How tall is she? I think my 7-yo is tall enough to ride everything now, but there are several things he won't ride.

 

[pyrxtc]

My DS is 6 (almost 7) and he was tall enough for every ride in the park. The only ride she may not be tall enough for is RnRC or MS. Even my 4 yr old was tall enough for all the other rides. I would not leave my child alone though to go on by myself. I think you can wait til someone is wiht you to ride those two rides if she isn't tall enough.

 

[twooley2]

You could hire the fairy godmother babysitting thing/ child care for a couple of hours and that may work for a break to do a cpl of adult things you want whilst they are having fun.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I agree that I wouldn't leave my 7yo alone, but I don't think your being totally selfish - there are thing everyone wants to do. I think some people need to chill and realize that just because we are moms and are usually totally selfless, doesn't mean we can't reward ourselves every once in a while. I think the fairy godmother idea is a good one.

 

[livndisney]

Trying not to flame here, but I will say I was surprised by your post.

My DD is almost 7 and has been tall enough for most rides at WDW for a few years. You can go to Disney.com and find a list of height requirements for the rides. You may be surprised, I can only think of a few rides my DD is not tall enough for. That being said, there is NO WAY I would leave my child so I could ride a ride. You said this is your first trip-so I will explain there is no "waiting room" or anything like that for your child to wait in. You would have to leave your child unattended in a strange area with thousands of strangers! What if your child needed a restroom? What if they wandered off? To say nothing of anything else that "could" happen.

Like another poster suggested, you can hire someone to go into the parks with you. Or there are several onsite Kids programs where you could leave your child. I took my neice years ago to the "Cubs Den" at WL and she REALLY liked it (wanted to go back the next day LOL)

 

[Harlie]

Well I can atest to having children that are not "tall enough" for all the rides My dd is 8 and only 48" tall and my DS is 7 and only 49" tall and my younger son is 3 and only 36" tall. My kids are little and the older two are too short for a few rides at DL where the height min is 52" for a few rides. So not every ones 7-8 year old child is "tall enough"

I do agree that you should not leave your child alone at that age. If they really have a sitter service as pp mentioned I would look into it or just skip out this time around (till dd is tall enough)

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

You could hire the fairy godmother babysitting thing/ child care for a couple of hours and that may work for a break to do a cpl of adult things you want whilst they are having fun.

I agree with this one- or see about one of the kids programs going on at the resorts (my sister tells me there's alot, you have to pay but they are well managed) It'd give you a break - i think as moms we deserve one, especially if travelling alone with kids- and it would give your daughter something fun to be doing.

We're a family with 4 kids- one is too short for everything (18months) one is too short for nearly everything (a TINY nearly 4 year old) one is tall enough for nearly everything (our huge nearly 5 year old) and my 10 year old meets all the height requirements I do (she's tall!) but i have the bonus of travelling with several other adults (husband, my parents, some extended family) so we can swap the kids around if needed.

 

[Tinkermommy]

As far as I know, the tallest height requirements is 48" for Rockin Roller Coaster. Kids do vary in size, so not sure how tall your DD is or if she is the "adventurous" type to do thrill rides.

My daughter is 6 and has ridden all the thrill rides expect ToT. That said, if I did not have someone responsible to watch her, I would never, ever leave her alone - even if that meant missing out of rides. It's just not worth it.

I don't know if all the rides you are wanting to ride are in one park, but here's what I suggest. If you are staying on property, find out the late magic hours for that park (or parks if you can do multiple days). They are three hours after the park closes. Hire a sitter to come to the hotel room about an hor before the park closes. The kids are ususally beat and fall right asleep. Then you can go to the park and do all the rides you want. My husband does the late magic hours while I stay with the kids (and get some sleep!). He gets to ride the thrill rides several times each!

We plan on eventually doing a sitter so we can both go and do the late hours, but my littlest is still 1 and I am not ready for that yet!

Good luck and you'll have fun with your daughter either way!

 

[waterm]

Oh gosh-I never meant to say I would leave her alone outside a ride. I was wondering is she could wait kinda of like the switch off thing without another parent.-maybe wait right there with a cm I was just curious.-I was just thinking of the rnroll coaster-I know she is not tall enough. I did not mean to get people upset! I WOULD NEVER LEAVE HER UNATTENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[waterm]

PS how much are these babysitters?????

 

[Not so Dumbo]

Most of the wait times for these rides exceed 30min most of the time. So there is no way that you could just quick hop on and say wait here I'll be right back. I'm not saying that's what you were thinking, but if you were that's not likely to happen.
Like others have said, most 7 y.o. meet the height requirements. If she comes close then (okay flame shield on) we have made lifts before for DS's shoes to give him an extra .5-1 inch.

 

[budbeerlady]

If that is what you want to do I would look into a child club for an evening. A cm isnt going to look over you kid for an hour. They are $11 an hour and can be found at all the deluxe resorts. DD loves to go, she plays with all the other kids for a few hours. Dh and I go for dinner and do any adult rides and whatever while she plays there.

DD is 7 and has been able to ride RNR for the last 2 years. It is without a doubt her favorite ride. (I worry since she weight 49lbs but she loves it and is easily tall enough!)

 

[pednurse]

Oh gosh-I never meant to say I would leave her alone outside a ride. I was wondering is she could wait kinda of like the switch off thing without another parent.-maybe wait right there with a cm I was just curious.-I was just thinking of the rnroll coaster-I know she is not tall enough. I did not mean to get people upset! I WOULD NEVER LEAVE HER UNATTENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if they would do this with her obviously not tall enough to ride (don't know if they would let her go through the line with you or not), but this is what we ended up doing with DS9. He was tall enough to ride, wanted to ride, but chickened out at the last minute at RNR. He was there alone with DH (DD5 was too short to ride so she and I had gone over to ride the GMR instead so DS couldn't have just waited with me). They let him just wait over by where DH would get off of the ride...he waited there with the CM who was working the ride. So he went through the line with DH all the way up until loading, then waited for DH to ride. You could at least ask the CMs at the ride about doing this (but ask your DD if she would be comfortable waiting with the CM first).

 

[waterm]

Thanks pednurse-that is what I meant by her waiting. (in other words stand in line with me and walk through and stand there while I rode) She is 44" tall which does not meet the height requirements. I think I will save it for next time or do a kids club! This trip is really for her not me-I have just heard so much about this ride-it was the only one I was thinking of. I did not mean to cause so much fuss!

 

[lntsmom]

I wouldn't go to Disney without it, but if you don't want to purchase it, you can browse the info at your local Barnes and Noble. There is more than one company. Most charge a minimum number of hours. Most will go in the park with you. You could arrange for a sitter to go with you at park opening one day and have her take your daughter to the kiddie rides while you do the grown-up gig.

Another option is the sitting services at various resorts. They seem like they would work fine if you wanted to leave her one evening and go back to the park alone. The only problem would be if you are staying at a Value Resort. It probably wouldn't be worth the time you waste making a bazillion transfers to get to and from another resort.

BTW...I let my 9 year old wait outside several times on our trip to Disneyland. At 9 I figured he was okay sitting on a bench outside the ride or going to get a soda and coming back. He had his walkie-talkie if he needed me. Mind you, he has always been very responsible. My younger son will probably be well into his 20's before I trust him on his own!

 

[java]

There are kid camps at many of the hotels. You could drop her at a camp for a couple hours and have some "me" ride time. She would have fun too!
I don't think I would trust the switch off at RNR. There really isn't a baby swap area. It empties into a store and there really isn't a place for her to wait at the beginning of the ride. There isn't a cm just "hanging around"
There is a wall right outside which seems to be the waiting spot, although I have not seen children alone there.

Best bet- put her in the kid camp imho. I would head to mgm with her. Spend the day- get a fastpass at some point. Take her over to the camp at Beach club(by boat) hop back on the boat and head back to ride your ride and walk around a bit.

 

[tjmw2727]

Thanks pednurse-that is what I meant by her waiting. (in other words stand in line with me and walk through and stand there while I rode) She is 44" tall which does not meet the height requirements. I think I will save it for next time or do a kids club! This trip is really for her not me-I have just heard so much about this ride-it was the only one I was thinking of. I did not mean to cause so much fuss!

The CM's will not watch your child while you ride. In addition if the child is not tall enough to ride then they may not enter the ride queue at all. This is to be sure that a child dosen't accidentally get on a ride they arn't tall enough to ride. Almost all of the queue area of RnRC is inside leaving the child out of sight and with the preshow prior to the actual ride even with a walk on can take quite a while.

I think your going to have to skip it this trip or send her to a kids club one evening. FWIW my dd's asked to spend a night in a kids club every trip, #1 favorite was the one at the Polynesian.

IIRC there are only three rides that have a height restriction over 44". RnRc at DHS and Everest and Primeval at AK.

Have Fun,
TJ

 

[waterm]

Thanks for everyone's input. I did not realize they could not stand in line with you. In some non-DW parks-she chickened out but they let her walk through and wait and me ride. Since we are on a budget, I will save that for my next trip and when she is taller. In my guide book, Everest shows 44"-so this is not so... I have the unofficial guide book to Disney.