Snow White and Sleeping Beauty

[Kritlyn]

I am planning on showing my daughter some of the classic Disney movies prior to our trip. I have not seen either film. Does anyone know if Snow White and/or Sleeping Beauty are too scary for a 4 year old. I know that each child is different but can you tell me how your children of similiar ages found these two movies. Thanks.

 

[DebIreland]

I'd suggest you watch the movies first and take note on the dvd (or vcr) counter of the potentially scary parts and skip ahead. That's what I did when my boys were younger and even now with some movies (they've 'seen' Austin Powers cause they love Mike Myers but they've only seen the bits I deem suitable. lol!). When my eldest son was 4 he *loved* Snow White and just adored the seven dwarves. Having never uttered a word in speech or song up to then, the first time he *really* used words was when he learnt off 'Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work....' etc.! He just loved the movie - it touched him and touched me that it opened him up so much. *BUT* the scene where the huntsman follows Snow White into the woods just terrified him so I had to take note of that part on the vcr counter and skip forward. It was worth it cause after that scene we were home and dry. lol!! I do think that scene is scarier than they'd put into a similar film now but the movie is great though!

Can't remember Sleeping Beauty.

Good luck. Overall I think it's a great idea to build up a familiarity with Disney before your trip.

Oh yeah, just remembered my other son couldn't handle the 'whale' scene in Pinochio *at all*. He found it terrifying! So there I was with my finger on the fast forward button for that one too!!!

 

[rhiansmom]

You know your own child the best but last year before we headed to WDW we watched Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland with my then 4 year old. She wanted me in the room the first time but after that she would watch them on her own.

 

[KerriMc]

I haven't shown my dd who is almost 4 the Snow White movie yet. She finds it hard to watch the Little Mermaid as she hate Ursula (sp?) the sea witch. (although the first few times she made it only to the shark chasing Flounder!!) She has finally watched Aladin, but sat closer to me during the changes at the end with Jafar. We don't have Sleeping Beauty so I'm not sure about this. I do know that I have shown Snow White at school with my kdgn class in previous years and some are VERY afraid of the witch, and others are like "whatever" ... these are usually kids that see a lot of things on tv that they probably shouldn't . Maybe if you watch it with her and talk about it normally, she will be ok.

Julia watched The Wizard of Oz today with her dad and she sat right next to him. She was ok until the flying monkeys and then came back again, but wanted it turned when they were trying to catch Dorothy. Then we switched it back for her to see the happy ending. I though this was pretty good as previously she would only watch until the cowardly lion appeared and then she'd had enough!!!

Good luck with whatever you do ... you know your dd best !

Kerri

 

[Deesknee]

all 3 of my kids were scared of snow white. (DD, DS, DS) They are almost 14 now and still have not watched it all the way thru. lol They didn't mind sleeping beauty though. I think the witch in SW might be a little to real. But, as other post have said each child is different, & I agree you should probably watch them first you know your child best.

Good luck & have fun on your trip.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I'm glad my DD is not the only movie light-weight. She is now 8 and just this past year, is she able to watch scary movies without freaking out. I'm talking ANY Disney movie. They all have a scary part, some more than others, and she just couldn't handle it. She has seen more movies this year than all other years added up. Oh well. We are trying to cram in as many as possible before our next trip.

Jackie

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

My daughters had trouble with Snow White's witch and the huntsman parts too.

As for Sleeping Beauty - they get scared when Malicifent (sp) turns into the dragon and fights the prince - they won't listen to the story tape while in bed because of that "scary part" -- so I would sit close to your daughter during that one as well

 

[lemondog]

I recently bought both of these movies for my 3.5 year old DD. She is fearful of a lot of things, but these movies don't seem to bother her. Sleeping Beauty not at all, and Snow White only the first time she saw it. However, now she makes it through both with no problems. I think the non-scary parts must outweigh the scary ones to her.

 

[Allabtprincesses]

It really depends on your child. I have a 5 year old DD who became obsessed with Disney Princesses when she was 3. She loved watching the movies, but I'd say she was 4 1/2 before she stopped running out of the room when the "scary parts" were on. She wasn't quite 5 when I took her for a quick weekend trip to Disney. We had breakfast with the princesses at the castle, but she was scared when we walked in to the castle like room where you wait to be callled. She was even scared of the Heffalumps on the Pooh ride. We decided not to go back until she's definetly over that stage!

Pam
Mom of two (5) and (2)

 

[DeniseD]

I agree that every child is different. My girls never had any problems with either of those movies. I always read them the book first. Somehow the characters in the book aren't as real to them. They got used to seeing the witch in the book so they weren't scared when they saw the movie.

 

[Kritlyn]

Thanks for all the advice. I will re-read the books to my daughter before showing the movies and I will watch the movies with her and fast-forward through the tough parts. I bought a bunch of disney movies from one eBay seller and am looking forward to watching them all with my daughter over the next few months. We just saw Peter Pan. I had never seen this movie and I just loved it . I think, perhaps, I enjoyed it more than my daughter.

 

[mom2kazkids]

My 4 year old LOVES Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. She does get a little worried about Sleeping Beauty touching the spinde, but gets over it quickly. We will be driving to WDW in two months, so we need all of the WD movies that we can get. The kids are currently watching Bambi.

Barb

 

[G&J's Mom]

I too agree that it depends on the child. My 4 year old loves both these movies and has no problem watching either and has showed no fear. But, she is a little apprehensive of some of the rides at WDW, Snow White being one of them. Regardless of the fearlessness with these movies, I am guessing the witch may have a bit of an impact on her decision not to ride. I do not push it.

Denise

 

[MrsBanks]

My DS (3y/o) asked for Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland for Christmas 2004 - I searched them out and bought them, he absolutely loves all 3 movies - he had never seen any of them before we bought them so I was unsure about how he would react but he didn't have any problems - and no I don't let him watch just anything on TV (he hardly watches TV at all), he was more "scared" of Randall from Monsters Inc. - we just bought Bambi yesterday and he loves that one as well

 

[kpk89]

My dd 4 has been watching Sleeping Beauty for quite a while now, and is not afraid of Maleficent. We talked about her when she first came on and how she's mean and nasty and that the good ones (Prince Philip and the fairies) will win. I think she's not bothered by Maleficent (or Melissafant as dd calls her!) because she doesn't look at all real, and she's working with magic spells.

Snow White, on the other hand, we still skip the scenes with the huntsman. It's just too real looking and too heavy to talk about for a 4 yr old.

I agree with other posters that it depends on your child, and depends a lot on how you approach it before watching. It's definitely not worth it to set them up to be afraid of Disney characters!

Have fun,

 

[princesslulu]

My daughter is 3 and we do a bedtime movie, I thought she would be afraid of the scary parts, but since I was with her constantly reminding her that it is all pretend she did great and now she watches them all the time. It's funny that my blonde haired-blue eyed princess thinks she is Snow White instead of cinderella.

 

[BAYSIDE MOM]

My now 5 year old is still terrified of Snow White but does'nt mind any of the other movies, including Little Mermaid or Sleeping Beauty. Just one note, she insisted on going on Snow Whites Scary Adventure at WDW, had a tantrum in the middle of the park until my DH said take her on it, she was terrified of it! Took about an hour to calm her down afyerwards. She also freaked when Ursurla came out during the Little Mermaid show at MGM, even though Ursurla does'nt bother her in the movie or book.

 

[larsson7]

One of my earliest memories was cowering in fear in the cinema, scared of the "bad witch" in Snow White

Having said that my own DD now 5 loved all the Disney Princess videos from a very young age ie probably before she was 2.

However she won't watch Finding Nemo...no, not scared of the shark bit, but doesn't like the bit where Nemo is caught by the divers

I think as previous posters said it just depends on your own child and you should probably watch the DVDs through with her the first time so you can pause/fast fwd any bits she doesn't like.