Space Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad for 6 year old? Advice please : )

[eblarios]

We are going to our annual Disneyland Trip. By we I mean my hubby, I and my two kiddo's ages 11 and 6. This year my 6 year old son is really excited to be tall enough to ride on Indiana Jones, i know he will love it. Hubby and I were wondering if we might try him out on one of the roller coasters. He loves small kiddy roller coasters, but has never been on Space Moutain or Big thunder Railroad coasters. I won't try the Splash mountain because of the big drop, I know that really scares him.

Please parents that have taken your kids on these rides. Which do you think is less scary/intimidating for a 6 year old boy? or are they about the same?

 

[eblarios]

Sorry meant Big Thunder Mountain.

 

[skiingfast]

Big Thunder should be easy. Space maybe harder because it dark. Won't he want to do anything big brother can do?

 

[lapdwife]

My 6 year old does Space Mtn without a problem. I don't like him on Thunder, always feel he'll fall out

 

[princessaw]

I think Big Thunder is definetly the more tame one of the two. It doesn't go very fast, and there few drops. Space Mountain on the other hand, is totally in the dark, so you can't see anything that is coming up. So all of thise drops (and I do recall a couple on space mountain) are a complete surprise. My 7yo son loves both rides, but he is quite the dare-devil. Good luck and HTH!

 

[itechsolutions]

Big Thunder would be a calmer ride then Space mountain. I seen a lot of kids ride both and have fun but also seen some others not enjoy it to much. Maybe have him ride Big Thunder and if he likes it then try space mountain.

Space mountain can get fast towards the end.

 

[eblarios]

I think I will test him with Big Thunder first and see how he does. He loves space and stars that is why we were thinking of taking him on Space Mountain too. But testing him on Big Thunder would probably be best.

When he was smaller he was afraid of Pirates I think because it's so dark. Not to mention all the menacing looking pirates. But he is better with that now.

 

[DizNee Luver]

My daughter rode both at age 4 & those are her 2 favorite rides!!!! It really just depends on how adventuresome your kid is. My daughter loves thrills, so she can't wait to ride them. She started on BTMRR (with me holding her super tight) & she screamed the whole time.....but it was happy screams with giggles & a huge smile. So we tried her on Space Mtn & she liked it, but loved it after going on it a couple more times. I think the dark thru her at first.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

My 4 year old enjoys both of those rides.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

My 4 year old enjoys both of those rides.

mine too.

 

[DisSarahK]

Both of my children went on BTMRR starting at age 4. My daughter loved (and still loves) BTMRR. My son didn't like it at all--he also tends to be a more cautious child. Neither of them has been on Space Mountain yet.

 

[frijolefrito]

My kids went 6,7. They'll surprise you what they can do. Talk em up and psych em up and see if it works. My son wanted to try EVERYTHING so he did.. even splash and tower of terror... he's was 6 then 7 now.

 

[eblarios]

Oh wow, splash mountain and tower of terror at 6! Even I am scared of tower of terror. Okay I will definetly start with Big thunder mountain if he does well on that then we will go for Space mountain.

Thanks for the advice everyone! Hearing many others have taken their kids on these rides makes me think mine can handle and like them too.

 

[Caroline NZ]

My daughter did Splash, Space, BTMR when she was 4 and loved them all( but we didn't take her on TOT).
She will be 6 for our next trip and I am interested to see if she will be more timid this time round ( apparently they can become so as they get older).

 

[BC Disney Lover]

This February we took our kids who are 5(DD) and 6(DS) on Big Thunder and Tower of Terror and the 6 yr old on Space Mountain. Space was okay but he found it too loud for him. Our first ride on Big Thunder they clung to me for dear life but by the end of the trip they only let me put my arm around their waists as they had their hands up the whole ride. We were very honest with them about the whole ride before hand and then would talk them though everything while riding the first few times. They also did splash many times and loved it. There's so much more to it then just the drop that I think they get distracted and aren't worried about it.

 

[DahliaRW]

SHow him videos on youtube so he sees what they are like. I know there are some that are POV of the front seat rider.

My 6yo loves both, but then again he went on his first bigger roller coaster when he was 3 1/2 (he was tall) and LOVED it. He's bummed that he's 1" too short for screamin' still. The first time we did space with him he was nearly 4, and we told him to look for WallE and Eva. That kept him busy enough he wasn't scared, and then he wanted to go again and again.

 

[DnA2010]

We went at the end of February and DD6 did everything including California Screamin and loved them all. We just kinda did them and she ended up liking them all- space was her fav!

 

[twopeasonepod]

My twin 5-year-olds have been on BTMRR since they were 3 (they are tall) and also love Space Mountain. TOT since they were 4. It really depends on the kid, and their perception of the entire experience, not just the "ride".

 

[briggscreek]

My 6 year old had never been on any rides before Disneyland, and he loved both Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mtn. My 4 year old also loves BTMRR, it's her favorite ride. She does make me hug her the whole time though LOL.

 

[WannaseePooh]

When we took my 5 almost 6 year old, we started with the smallest rollercoaster and worked our way up. First we did Gadgets, then Matterhorn, then Big Thunder, Space, and lastly Screaming. His favorite ride was Screaming, he cannot wait to go back this summer to rde his favorites again. So I would try BTMRR first, then Space, you never know, he might like Screaming too.