Soarin' Over California height requirement

[pearl12970]

DS is 39" and Soarin' over California's height requirement is 40" . Will they let him ride?
How do 3 year olds handle Soarin' ? Are they scared ?

 

[Disney Dreams]

If they feel that his height is questionable in terms of being tall enough, they will have him step up to their measuring "stick" that is in place at the queue. If he is not 40" tall on THEIR measuring device, he will not be permitted to ride. If he is a 1/32" off (for example), he will not be permitted on. Due to the fact that height requirements are for safety reasons, they are extremely strict about it. If a piece of paper (literally) can be slid between the his head and the measuring marker, the CM will not allow him to ride. It makes no difference what he measured at home (or even 1 hour earlier at the same attraction). If he does not measure up when a CM measures him, he will not ride.

FUN FACT / TIP: We are all a wee-bit taller in the morning - especially before spending the day on rides that push us downwards due to gravity.

- Dreams

 

[sonnyjane]

If they feel that his height is questionable in terms of being tall enough, they will have him step up to their measuring "stick" that is in place at the queue. If he is not 40" tall on THEIR measuring device, he will not be permitted to ride. If he is a 1/32" off (for example), he will not be permitted on. Due to the fact that height requirements are for safety reasons, they are extremely strict about it. If a piece of paper (literally) can be slid between the his head and the measuring marker, the CM will not allow him to ride. It makes no difference what he measured at home (or even 1 hour earlier at the same attraction). If he does not measure up when a CM measures him, he will not ride.

FUN FACT / TIP: We are all a wee-bit taller in the morning - especially before spending the day on rides that push us downwards due to gravity.

- Dreams

Ditto this! Plan for him not being able to ride, but you can always hope for the best.

 

[PineapplePrincessCA]

He may meet the height requirement w/ shoes on. Earlier in the year, my DS measured 39" at home and he met the Soarin' height requirement (with shoes on, obviously), no problem.

For shorter riders, there is an additional strap that they use.

My DS is 3 now and he likes Soarin' OK. Not his favorite, but he doesn't hate it. My 4 year old and 6 year old, love it!

My biggest concern was that I didn't realize how high we went! I thought we'd only be a few feet off the ground. You're up there high. Really high. I had hands on my kids the entire time.

 

[Mom2aJessieGirl]

My DD4 was tall enough to ride it when we were there in August. There is an extra center strap for the lap belt to pass through to prevent "submarining" under the lap belt. It essentially turns it into a 3pt lap harness. They would NOT let her sit cross-legged in the seat. (I told her to criss-cross-applesauce and a CM immediately came over to politely remedy the situation.)

I took my flip-flops off and made her take her crocs off so I didn't have to find them after we "landed". It was much more fun barefoot anyway!

Definitely try it first thing in the morning. Good luck! I hope your little one is tall enough!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Last year my daughter was right at 40" & on Soarin' she got measured before we got in line, measured at the half way point & measured one more time before being put in line for the rows......so if its close, plan on getting measured multiple times.

 

[pearl12970]

Let's hope he's tall enough to ride. If not - probably next time he can enjoy other rides for now. These rules are for safety reason after all , so if they decide he can't ride , so be it. Specially after OP said it goes pretty high and she was holding her children !!!

Thank you all! I was trying to figure out how stringent they are with the height requirement .

 

[Minuet888]

Their height requirement sticks (though placed there by the state and OSHA) are off. My son measured 46 1/2" both at home and at the pediatricians office before we left for DL. Before getting in the fastpass line on IJ the CM said my son was tall enough after measuring him. (the height requirement is 46") It was a long fastpass line and my autistic son started to have problems with the crowds and dark areas but didn't want to leave. Right before we were to get on the jeep the CM measured him again and said he wasn't tall enough and didn't let him ride. That pissed me off. Waited in a difficult situation for what! So I went back to the front where the CM said he was tall enough and asked for a lead. The lead tried to measure and said it was questionable, by then my son was in a meltdown mode and it was very difficult for him to stand up straight let alone have a stranger touch his head to get him to stand up straight. Never did go on Indiana. But if it is slightly questionable they won't let him on because it is their job and the customer's safety in the end.

BUT back to my original point my son is in fact 46 1/2" and they still didn't let him on. They could barely stick a piece of paper between his head and the stick. The sticks aren'r correct but that is what they go by.

 

[bumbershoot]

We are all shorter as the day goes on than we were when we woke up. And if kids are being squirmy, they aren't going to measure the same as when they aren't squirmy. We've had DS stand still and just move his head like he's nodding, and his height changes by quite a bit just by doing that!

So who knows if the sticks are off, but if a child won't stand straight and tall to be measured, they simply cannot and will not take a parent's word for it.

DS was booted from Star Tours at the second measuring because the CM could put a piece of paper between head and measuring stick. The CM was pushing down on DS's shoulder, and DS was little and thought he was supposed to crouch a bit...so that was REALLY sucky, but since DS didn't measure up at that stick, he didn't go on it.

 

[tdashgirl]

Does anyone know why the height requirement for Indy is so high? I've gone on it many a time and don't quite know why my DD6 can go on ToT, Soarin', BTMRR, etc. but not Indy? She is just hitting 46" (she's a peanut ) and I'm crossing my fingers for an early morning ride in October, but as posters above have said ... at DLR they go by the sticks which is not necessarily the measurement.

 

[nunzia]

My DGS was 6 the last time he went..Soarin kind of scared him because he thought he would fall...just an FYI..of course he also thought he'd fall on Peter Pan

 

[Minuet888]

I don't think the height requirement was always 46" for IJ.

My son turned 5 while we were there and he is tall for his age at 46 1/2" (I don't care what DL height stick says). However I remember my nephew going on the ride when he was younger than that (3 1/2 or 4 maybe) and he was average height for his age. They placed him on the end in the drivers seat and I remember going around a sharp corner and centrifical force was pulling his upper body outside of the jeep. I literally remember pulling on his shirt because I was nervous.

Does anyone know if the height requirement for IJ was always 46", I too feel it is a bit odd because besides Mailboomer and California Screamin my son can (and does) ride everything else. I was shocked to see he was tall enough for TOT, Matterhorn, TM, and Space Mountain.

 

[Mom2aJessieGirl]

My biggest concern was that I didn't realize how high we went! I thought we'd only be a few feet off the ground. You're up there high. Really high. I had hands on my kids the entire time.

Yup. I kept my hand on my daughter's leg the entire time! Not that I could do that much about it, but it make me feel a bit more secure!

 

[pearl12970]

So sorry about your experience. I would be very pissed
I would understand if ALL the CMs were in agreement that he was not tall enough but this is really annoying that you stand in line and get bumped off at the end arrggghhh

Their height requirement sticks (though placed there by the state and OSHA) are off. My son measured 46 1/2" both at home and at the pediatricians office before we left for DL. Before getting in the fastpass line on IJ the CM said my son was tall enough after measuring him. (the height requirement is 46") It was a long fastpass line and my autistic son started to have problems with the crowds and dark areas but didn't want to leave. Right before we were to get on the jeep the CM measured him again and said he wasn't tall enough and didn't let him ride. That pissed me off. Waited in a difficult situation for what! So I went back to the front where the CM said he was tall enough and asked for a lead. The lead tried to measure and said it was questionable, by then my son was in a meltdown mode and it was very difficult for him to stand up straight let alone have a stranger touch his head to get him to stand up straight. Never did go on Indiana. But if it is slightly questionable they won't let him on because it is their job and the customer's safety in the end.

BUT back to my original point my son is in fact 46 1/2" and they still didn't let him on. They could barely stick a piece of paper between his head and the stick. The sticks aren'r correct but that is what they go by.

 

[tdashgirl]

They placed him on the end in the drivers seat and I remember going around a sharp corner and centrifical force was pulling his upper body outside of the jeep. I literally remember pulling on his shirt because I was nervous.

Does anyone know if the height requirement for IJ was always 46", I too feel it is a bit odd because besides Mailboomer and California Screamin my son can (and does) ride everything else. I was shocked to see he was tall enough for TOT, Matterhorn, TM, and Space Mountain.

I had a feeling it was something like that - the jerky-ness of the ride - making it so a smaller person could get pulled outside the vehicle. If the stick is kind to us, she'll go on it, but we wouldn't let her sit on an outside seat BTMRR is the same ... we always ride with her in the middle of me and DH ... since that ride can be so bumpy and jerky, it seems very possible for her to fly outta that seat.

Like you, I do think that 46" requirement is odd considering the lower height req's for everything else but Screamin' and the now defunct Maliboomer.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The sticks aren't all that accurate. Also the ground underneath the stick outside the queue may not be even, making it more inaccurate.

 

[Heymy]

DD3 was measured at her 3 year dr. appt. 2 weeks before our trip at 39 1/4 inches. I was so sad because she was so excited to ride everything with her big sister. But wouldn't you know, she passed every height stick in the parks. Shoes really made a difference (or a major growth spurt in 2 weeks ) She absolutely LOVED Soarin, definitely her new favorite ride. Yet everytime she rode, she was measured multiple times. Good luck!

 

[Mugglemama]

Despite having gone on Soarin' probably close to 100 times over the past 8 years, I never noticed until this last trip in July just how HIGH up you are when you're on the top row! I only noticed because my DS5 was trying to lean forward to look down and my husband panicked and instinctively yelled at him to sit back (it really frightened my husband - now he insists that my DS5, who is our youngest, sits next to HIM on that ride so he can keep hold of him). The thought really scared me after it was all said and done, because I'd never even given a second thought to the possibility that one of my children could actually fall from the seats (the harnesses are so flimsy, they seem useless, so I think I always subconsciously perceived that to mean that there really wasn't any possible danger).

As far as INDY goes, I don't ever remember the height requirement being less than 46", personally. My oldest daughter, who is now 18, had to wait until she was 46" to ride it, more than a decade ago. Also, I have personally NEVER seen them load a smaller kid on the outside of the jeep...they are always seated on an inside seat. As far as I've personally seen, anyway.

IJ is too intense for *most* kids who aren't yet 46", anyway.

 

[nunzia]

Despite having gone on Soarin' probably close to 100 times over the past 8 years, I never noticed until this last trip in July just how HIGH up you are when you're on the top row! I only noticed because my DS5 was trying to lean forward to look down and my husband panicked and instinctively yelled at him to sit back (it really frightened my husband - now he insists that my DS5, who is our youngest, sits next to HIM on that ride so he can keep hold of him). The thought really scared me after it was all said and done, because I'd never even given a second thought to the possibility that one of my children could actually fall from the seats (the harnesses are so flimsy, they seem useless, so I think I always subconsciously perceived that to mean that there really wasn't any possible danger).

As far as INDY goes, I don't ever remember the height requirement being less than 46", personally. My oldest daughter, who is now 18, had to wait until she was 46" to ride it, more than a decade ago. Also, I have personally NEVER seen them load a smaller kid on the outside of the jeep...they are always seated on an inside seat. As far as I've personally seen, anyway.

IJ is too intense for *most* kids who aren't yet 46", anyway.

I never really thought of it either, then I saw an Imagineer talking about how he had designed it (erector set) and I'm thinking..hmm..that really goes up. Then on our Adventures by Disney we got to go backstage and watch some in our party ride while we stood under the screen (then they did the same with us) HOLY COW you are WWWAAAYYY up there....

 

[tdashgirl]

IJ is too intense for *most* kids who aren't yet 46", anyway.

Oh, I totally agree. ToT is also pretty intense though, IMO