Splash Mt. for a 4.5 year old?

[tidoublegger]

I have a dd who will be 4.5y when we go to WDW in May. I am wondering what your thoughts are about taking someone this age on Spash Mountain? She meets the size requirements and is a very active/outgoing child. Should I let her see the drop and make the decision, baby swap, or just go for it? Any opinions would be appreciated!

 

[catheren]

Has your child enjoyed other roller coasters. Like thunder mtn railroad, right next to splash mtn?

If this is a first, I would take your dd over to see splash mtn and if she's comfortable w/ it take her. If she backs out prior to getting on the ride, let her back out.

We have never pushed our dd's on a roller coaster ride; eventually they will grown to like them or hate them but its there choice.

 

[BounceyOne]

DD turned 4 on our december trip, she LOVED splash mountain!! We went on 5 times in a row one rainy day when there was no line. She also loves BTMR and ToT.

 

[sherrycurl]

Let her decide. After she sees it and the people coming off laughing she will probably want to go to.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

It's a fun ride ... I've been on with young nieces and nephews and they loved it!!!

Just make sure you let them know there will be a drop and they might get wet. Kids don't normally like surprises. If you present it in a fun way and say, I'll hang on to you, there won't be a problem with the first time. After that, they'll want to keep riding it!

 

[DisOrBust]

Thre problem with splash is the drop looks worse then it is and can be scary to look at. I would try Barnstomer first,she will love it then Splash. If she is big enough for Splash she can do BTMRR. My 4yo loved them all!! My other DD when she was 4 freaked on Spaceship earth. Each one is different.

 

[keithomas]

My DD was not only 3-1/2 last summer when she rode it. It turned out to be her favorite ride at ANY park. We made sure to let her ride Barnstormer first, and moved up from there. She also loved BTMRR!

My son was 6 last year, and will be 7 this June when we're there. He rode ToT with me then, and is hoping to grow the extra 1/2" to ride RockNRoller Coaster! I hope so too, then I won't have to go it alone!

 

[elemusing]

My DS 4.5 has been riding Splash since he was 2 (going on 3). (Actually the picture at the bottom of this post was taken when he was that age.) He loves it!!! He knows the drop is a bit "scary" but he thinks the rest of the ride more than makes up for it.

I also disagree with the poster who said to let her judge this ride based on the Barnstormer. My DS (nor I and I like coasters!) like this ride because it is a bit rough in the way that it jerks you around. It really is no comparison to Splash. (That is just my respectful humble opinion.)

Don't push her on it. Just let her take a look and explain that there is alot of fun inside that you can't see on the outside during hte boat ride. And then let her make the decision.

Angie

 

[susy]

I would definitely not point out the drop to her. If you do that , you are "showing" her that there is something to fear. If she likes other coaster type rides , she will love it. Just put you arm around her and tell her to "duck" her head before the drop- my son does great on this ride. It took a lot of convincing , though, since on our first trip we made a big deal out of it. I WOULD NOT take a small child on Space Mountain because you sit one behind the other or on Alien Encounter (way too scary).

 

[KellyJ]

I had made careful plans to take my 4 yr. old son on Barnstormer first, planning to follow that with BTMRR then Splash, then Space Mountain if things went well. Well, he took one look at the Space Mountain building and said "Cool! I want to do that first"...

While I was very hesitant about it (his sister wasn't nearly as thrilled with this when she was 6) my husband said "Let him do it". I explained that he would be seated in front of me. It is still possible to reach around the seat and touch the person in front of you so I told him I would be holding his shoulders at all times so he'd know I was there. Well, as soon as the ride was over, he looked at me with this HUGE smile on his face and said "Mom, can we do that again? Only this time, would you please not hold onto me!" Figures!

Splash also got the "Cool! Let's do that now!" and he would have done it over and over again if we could've (4 times in a row was my limit)... Ditto for BTMRR... we never did make it to Barnstormer...

Kelly

 

[dahess]

My daughter who was almost 4 loved it. But then, my daughter who was almost 6 hated it. We just can't win sometimes.

 

[Kallison]

DD's first ride was SM when she was 4 1/2 also. In fact she went back and convinced her older brothers to try it. Now when she went on TOT she told them - Don't do it!

 

[jenjie]

My 4/12 year old ds who is afraid of everything, loved it! He had been begging for weeks ahead of time to go on. I'm not even sure how he knew about it, he just knew he wanted to do Splash Mtn and a rollercoaster. We were going to start him on Goofy's barnstormer but it was closed. So we showd him the splashdown part of Splash Mtn, he still insisted he wanted to do it. And of course he loved it! He went on that twice, and BTMR 3 times - after the first ride, he had an arm up in the air, yelling "faster, faster"! He also liked ToT and Test Track.

 

[momsully]

I say go for it. My son who will be four in April has ridden Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain (CA only as he does not make the height requirement for Space Mountain in FL). He loves these rides and they are something he always talks about. He also really likes Tower of Terror. He finds most rides "boring" and prefers the excitment of these.

 

[Tagrel]

Our 3.5 year old loved Splash Mountain last August. It is her favorite. Our 5.5 year old will ride, but is a bit scared.

I would show your DD the ride and let her decide yes or no.