Stop Forcing Children On Scary Rides!!!

But what about the other people in line who have to listen to your kid's tirade? Don't they deserve some consideration, or is it all about you? I could care less what you do in the park until it starts infringing on my family's trip. And hysterical, loud children do. It isn't about MYOB. It is about consideration for others.
 
VSL said:
Well, fair enough :)
But what about those parents (and we all know they exist unfortunately) who really would have no qualms about making their children go on something like M:S/SM/ToT/RnRC just because they were tall enough, even if that child was beyond terror at the thought?

I think that I'm going to go with the whole 'talk each ride through with child before even leaving for the airport to see what they wanna do' thing.

Ok, I'm guilty... :guilty:

See DD8 rode Splash mountain, loved it. Then we went to the paid late night, and we got all the way over did BTM... got back to do SM, because our pics didnt turn out the first time, and dd really wanted a pic, this way we'll have our own car...

and then she got hysterical! Completely! :confused3 I decided she was being Ms DramaQueen and ignored it, and then I decided to 'guilt' her into the ride... she just kept getting worse, luckily for dd dh recognized it as being a panic attack of sorts... so dh rode the ride by himself and I exited with dd... I cannot imagine what the CM's thought, she was hysterical, but not loud screaming, shaky crying,

Then later on in the night, when she calmed down, she realized her only chance for the perfect SM pic was ending, she demanded to ride the ride...

and long story short, she rode, and I still feel guilty!! :confused3
 
Everytime until our recent trip in May 2005, we have taken kids to Disneyland. It was our 2002 trip of this very same thing "forcing kids on rides" that made me never want to take kids to Disneyland again. I was there with some close family friends (2 girls, 5 and 10 years old, and their mom). It was actually a birthday trip for me, in that my dad had bought the tickets for all of us as a birthday gift, but we were not actually celebrating the whole birthday thing, like we did this year at Disneyland. The 5 year old loves roller coasters and would go on anything fast (Gadget's Go Coaster, Big Thunder, etc) but she hated everything in the dark. We could not get her to go on any of the Fantasyland rides, except the Carousel (which we had to wait in line for twice), Alice in Wonderland (which made her swear off every other ride that was in the dark, she hated the dark), the Tea Cups (which she loved), and the Matterhorn (we told her she would like it because it was fast, we left out the part about the abominable snowman, we didn't lie, we just failed to mention it. Needless to say she loved the ride, but at the abominable snowman part, she was sitting near me, and she dug her nails into my arm and screamed "Oh my god it's going to eat us". It was a moment we all laughed about afterwards, including her, because like everyone on the ride heard it.

After morning arguments about rides, and having to skip so many rides for so many different 5 year old excuses (It's A Small World, because it went in the dark; Storybook Land Canal Boat, because it went through a scary whale's mouth; Winnie The Pooh because the line was too long) we pulled her, literally begging onto Pirates of the Carribean (which she complained about the entire time); Splash Mountain which she loved, and the face was classic coming down the mountain when it took the photo; the Disneyland Railroad (which she hated because of the whole Grand Canyon in the dark thing); and her mom took her on Dumbo (which was over an hour wait) while her sister and I went on Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones.

I can see, after that experience why so many parents beg children to go on rides. You pay over $40 to get a child into the park, and they want to go on hardly anything, including the kiddie rides. I don't even want to count the times we waited in line to see characters (an hour and a half to see Winnie The Pooh and his gang; 15 minutes to see the Princesses; etc). I think a lot of parents feel like they have to miss everything if they can not convince kids to go on a ride or two. I don't think 5 has any business on some rides: Space Mountain at Disneyland; Mission Space in Florida; etc. But there are some, come on now, that the kids just don't know what the rides are about and use their everyday assumptions to say I'm not going on that. I get why parents do the arguing and coaxing thing, and I've definately dealt with my share of screamers, not just at Disney but other places too. But some kids have this spoiled attitude where they will not go on anything they do not want to go on and spoil the day for everyone. My advice: Do what my mom and I did this year in May, leave all the kids at home. LOL It was our best Disneyland trip ever.
 
eeyore45 - Don't feel guilty now! You now KNOW for if this happens again (and, for the record, I am well aware of how clever children can be and how difficult it must be for a parent).

noodleknitter - You make an excellent point. 'A Bugs Life' and 'Countdown To Extinction' were ruined for me on my second trip because two sets of parents would just NOT accept that their child did not want to be on these attractions. I KNOW that WDW is for everyone, but maybe a bit of consideration sometimes would be nice?

dzneprincess - I'm talking about the petrified ones (not the nervous ones), and when their parents really do have that attitude of 'you're at WDW, this cost a lot of money, you're tall enough, I don't wanna miss this because of you, you're going on it'. Hopefully there aren't any of those here (and I genuinely don't see any on this thread, thankfully*). You know, the ones who really don't care about their children?

Look, I can accept a bit of coaxing if a child is just nervous. And I know that parents know their children best.
It's the really frightened children I worry about.

Maybe it's just not some childrens idea of fun?


*I would hope that anyone on this thread/board would take a step back and say 'OK, you don't have to' if their child genuinely was scared.
 

With the exception of verbal or physical abuse of a child at Disney :sad2: :sad2: :sad2: , I think everyone should just mind their own business! And let's not get into where those lines are drawn, let common sense coupled with the parents' personal opinion dictate that.

I am much more bothered by obnoxious, self-absorbed, inappropriate behavior of both adults and children than I am by whether they eat ice cream for lunch (which we make a point of doing at least once each trip), let their 8 year old lounge in a stroller, breastfeed outside the playgrounds on a bench, or use their refillable mugs when the rules say they shouldn't.

Now how's that for a debate-stirring post :rotfl2:
 
Lollipop Mom said:
Now, I will say that if you see a parent at the END of a ride with a screaming kid...don't assume that kid was forced. I got a LOT of dirty looks from people leaving BTMRR over Christmas week last year. I was carrying my SCREAMING not quite 3 year old off the ride. People were giving me that "What a horrible Mom forcing that little boy to ride a roller coaster" look.

Lollipop Mom, I hear ya. We took our 3 year old on TofT. The standby line was 75 minutes long and we wanted to skip it, but DS insisted we stand in line and we did. He didn't complain or whine while we waited either. He was ok until the very end of the ride, when he said VERY LOUDLY, MOmmy I want to get off this ride. You should have seen the dirty looks we got that day! But you know what? He still talks about riding TofT and is willing to give it a try in July with his cousin, who's going with us!

So while I'd never force him, I would definitely encourage. And I might even try the "reward" system. Hey, maybe I could get someone to give me some cash to get me on RnR!!!!
:rotfl:
 
Thanks, VSL. You said that so nicely. I don't want to hear and see a hysterical child. All of us who are moms know how your heart cringes for the kiddo and for the mom in those situations. It isn't being a busy body, it is just being a person who cares about others that makes this so disturbing. I mean, of course, hysterics, not a bit of surliness or pouting.

Gin
 
Add me to the list of moms who looked like a bad mom because their child was "still" crying at the end of the ride.

Oh, but the thing is, he wasn't "still" crying. He had stopped for the whole ride and had a tantrum when he had to be done. I am sooo glad I am not the only one this has happened to!

And if we didn't get him onto some of the rides crying, we literally wouldn't ride anything. Rides he has cried about include, but are not limited to; IASM, Dumbo, Pooh, Peter Pan, the Safari ride, Spaceship earth (which he now loves and says is his favorite ride) TTA and more. ONes he did not want to ride and we didn't make him are Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Jungle Cruise. We didn't even ask him about Pirates, Snow White or any of the ones that could be remotely classified as thrill rides.
 
I look at it like this...I don't like being lied to or being forced to do things I am afraid to do, so why would I subject my kids to that?
I have a tendancy to be sensitive to some things and my friends talked me into going in a haunted house when I was 17. I wasn't "forced" but it really wasn't an option for me not to go either (at least in my mind back then). I freaked out when a man dressed like Freddy Krueger jumped out in front of me. I got hysterical and punched him in the face and he went down. They had to turn the lights on and help me out. Luckily this was back in the days when you didn't get sued for something like that, but I couldn't help it. I was completely terrified.
I can't comprehend forcing my kids on to a silly theme park ride that they are afraid of because I wouldn't hate it if someone did that to me. As far as lying to them about it being scary or not, it is important to me that my kids trust me and understand that I am looking out for their best interests everyday everywhere including theme parks. They are fairly timid about "big rides" and have just started riding a "grown up" roller coaster at Six Flags near where we live and they love it, but they decided to go on it in their time. We have season passes for their so it's different I know. I love coasters but I wouldn't dream of forcing one of my kids to ride just so I could have the fun, I don't think it would be fun for anyone. When we go to WDW, it is for the kids and we enjoy their enjoyment. We ride family rides and enjoy the themes and the shows and parades and fireworks.
What other people do with their kids short of abuse is their business, to the extent it doesn't interfere with enjoyment of others around them.
 
Lizzybee said:
I look at it like this...I don't like being lied to or being forced to do things I am afraid to do, so why would I subject my kids to that?
I have a tendancy to be sensitive to some things and my friends talked me into going in a haunted house when I was 17. I wasn't "forced" but it really wasn't an option for me not to go either (at least in my mind back then). I freaked out when a man dressed like Freddy Krueger jumped out in front of me. I got hysterical and punched him in the face and he went down. They had to turn the lights on and help me out. Luckily this was back in the days when you didn't get sued for something like that, but I couldn't help it. I was completely terrified.
I can't comprehend forcing my kids on to a silly theme park ride that they are afraid of because I wouldn't hate it if someone did that to me. As far as lying to them about it being scary or not, it is important to me that my kids trust me and understand that I am looking out for their best interests everyday everywhere including theme parks. They are fairly timid about "big rides" and have just started riding a "grown up" roller coaster at Six Flags near where we live and they love it, but they decided to go on it in their time. We have season passes for their so it's different I know. I love coasters but I wouldn't dream of forcing one of my kids to ride just so I could have the fun, I don't think it would be fun for anyone. When we go to WDW, it is for the kids and we enjoy their enjoyment. We ride family rides and enjoy the themes and the shows and parades and fireworks.
What other people do with their kids short of abuse is their business, to the extent it doesn't interfere with enjoyment of others around them.

Very well said. I feel exactly the same way. DD is 17. We live minutes away from WDW and have visited the parks alot. DD has never gone on TOT. She is afraid of the idea of dropping. I have not nor will I ever give her a hard time about it. We do what she feels comfortable doing. I don't like Space Mountain. She doesn't insist that I ride it with her. We respect each others likes and fears.

I admit that I don't like listening to upset children. Having said that, I don't know all the circumstances behind each occurance, so I try not to judge. Only those cases where I hear parents telling children that they've spent to much money for them not to do everything tend to really get to me.
 
I have two boys. My older son is 6 and my younger one is 3 1/2 (and autistic). On one of our first trips to MK my older DS didn't want to ride anything except the carosel. No biggie, we were there for the kids, not us. But later that day he started talking about riding other things. It was warm so I suggested Splash Mountain. He was cool with it until we got on line. we were lucky in that the line was only, believe it or not, 5 minutes long! Sort of, we ended up waiting nearly 40 minutes. For some reason shortly after we started walking up the queue my DS started pitching a fit. He was crying and fussing. I didn't let him go easy. I got some bad looks, I know. What I did was, since there wasn't a line to speak of where we were, was pull my DS to the side and we sat down. He cried and fussed and calmly told him there easiest way off this silly mountain was to ride it. I didn't tell him he had no choice, I just omitted telling him so. If he had been truly panicked or hysterical I'd've walked off the line w/ no recriminations. As it was I could tell he was just afraid of the unknown. I didn't want to give in to his fears, how else could he confront them? what convinced him after a loooong wait was the sight of kids smaller than he getting on and smiling. I asked him "Now, do ya' think Mickey would let those little folks on if this ride was too scary? And if they can do it do you think YOU could?" He nodded and onto the ride we went. Well, guess what, he loved it!
funny thing, he didn't have any qualms over Test Track. Not a one, maybe because he loves cars so much.
He even rode the TofT w/ me that trip. I had just ridden it, for the first time confronting a personal fear of mine, and we were planning on going to the Great Movie Ride. For some reason DS didn't want to do the GMR, *shrug*. I said "Well, it's that or you can ride Tower with me instead." I didn't expect the little guy to pick the Tower! He says he liked it, he was giggling at the end, but he won't ride it again, and I sure won't force him. We offer him stuff but ever will we drag him kicking and screaming.
As for MS, I wouldn't take him on it... it looks to intense for him I think.

Sara
 
Brightsy, it sounds like you came up with a nice happy medium! I am glad things worked out for you. It is nice to see people be respectful of one another, and still get their own things worked out!
 
BringBackTapestries said:
Nice points on both sides of the fence, though some are a bit rude. Disneyjunkie. NO 4 year old is old enough for tower of terror or MS.

I disagree that NO 4 year old is old enough for ToT or M:S. My dd went on ToT for the first time when she was 4...her request, not ours. It is still her favorite ride (and she is almost 12 now). My ds was 6 on that first trip and wanted nothing to do with ToT, so we did the kid swap with him. He finally tried it when he was 13. He has no desire to ever do it again. All kids are different. I don't feel that I take too many risks with my kids, and I felt that she was perfectly safe riding ToT at 4. If she is the right height/weight to ride, and she understands how to ride safely, she is as safe as the next person on the ride.
 
I agree with you on the MS ride. I am 38 years old and I was so nervous about going on the ride. I was sweating and wasn't sure if I would go. I get very nervous in closed and conifined spaces but once I got in there I noticed they had the air blowing but still it was a harsh ride for me. And I like most fast moving rides. Tower of Terror love it. Would go on it 4 or 5 times.
 
Well, I do have the "benefit" of having my special needs children. If nothing else raising an autistic kid and an ADHD kid teaches patience and tolerance. I don't get anywhere with the boys w/ a lousy attitude on my part. The trick is figuring out which battles are worth fighting. The other thing I've developed thanks to these wonderful boys of mine is a tough hide. My skin is so thick dirty looks and glares just bounce off me! :-)

Sara

noodleknitter said:
Brightsy, it sounds like you came up with a nice happy medium! I am glad things worked out for you. It is nice to see people be respectful of one another, and still get their own things worked out!
 
:)
disneyjunkie said:
I guess you missed the part of Pyrxtc’s post that said her daughter cries when going onto the ride, but is giggling and ready to ride again when it's over. I think she knows her child better than we do.

I did the same thing with my son when he was 9. He was afraid of many of the rides, and would have passed them all up had I not pushed him to try them. Of course he loved them all.

I'm sure some nosey, busy body saw us going on the rides and may have had plenty to say about me "forcing" my son onto a ride. I'm willing to bet the person wasn't around at the end when he was begging to do it again or to see him happily ride the same rides several more times during our trip.

Maybe we should start a theard asking people to stop passing judgment on others. Go on your vacations, enjoy your trips, and learn to mind your own business.

If someone wants to put their 10-year-old in a stroller, that's their choice.

If someone wants to use a leash to keep up with their child, their choice.

If someone wants to encourage their child to ride a ride they are nervous about, their choice.

If someone wants to feed their children ice cream, burgers, fries, soda... during their trip, that's their choice.

If a people want to walk around eating turkey legs, more power to them.

We complain about so many things that don't have anything to do with us.

We all go to WDW to enjoy ourselves. We shouldn't have to worry if we're going to do something that will piss someone off so much that they just have to start a thread about it on the DIS.

My son and I are returning to WDW September 29-October 5. I'm sure we'll give the busy bodies, plenty to talk about. :earseek:

I'm a far cry from a size 4 and I can't wait to get my hands on a turkey leg. ( and several other yummy snacks)

I'm sure my son will force me ride TOT at least twice during our trip. :rotfl:

My son's birthday is the last day of our trip, but I plan to celebrate the whole time we're there. :rotfl2:

I think we should all just enjoy our trips and not worry about what the next family is doing. :wizard:




:) Disneyjunkie....you have the right idea. People are often quick to judge others parenting skills, when they don't have all the information. I'm sure when a child is screaming, kicking etc...it "looks" like an awful thing to do, but we sometimes don't have all the details of why that child is upset. :)

My neighbors child screamed for three weeks every morning before getting on the school bus...yes, it's necessary to educate your children, but are we going to criticize that mom for "forcing her child on the bus?"

BTW - What is this thing about turkey legs? My dh and I love them...as barbaric as I'm sure it looks to eat. :) Do people ACTUALLY complain about this???? Please say it isn't so....
 
I had a deal with my 9 year old DD that she should try everything at least once. If she didn't like it, then the ride would be over soon and she'd never have to ride it again. If she liked it, she could go on as many times as she'd like. There were several times in the lines where she would be nervous and asking for reassurance. She was afraid sometimes, but never crying or hysterical. Actually, the fear was all part of the excitement and she was aware of this.

That said, she rode Test Track numerous times, but will probably never ride RnR, ToT, M:S, or SM ever ever ever again :rotfl:
 
Just a different take on this topic if you will......
While I understand that nobody wants to make their kids terrified by forcing them on a ride, not all kids are crying becasue they don't want to go on. We just came back last night from Disney and my kids love it there (3 and 1). Neither one of them wants to wait on line for ANYTHING!!! Doesn't matter if it is only for 15 minutes. They both want to ride but cry while waiting. They are hot and my daughter (1) wants to run with wild abandon instead of being carried (so she won't take off). So to many it may look like we are forcing them to ride but that is not the case. They love the rides and often don't want to get off. Now let me also pint out that my kids are not wild and crazy when we are home and go anywhere, but on this particular trip this was how they felt.
Just another take on this. ::MinnieMo
 
When my DD was 4 she begged me to go on HM. She said she wouldn't be afraid and would love it. Well, once we got in the stretch room, she changed her mind and cried the whole time. What could I do? Once we got on the actual ride, she did love it and now loves this ride. I felt horrible in that stetch room the first time, like everyone's thinking I'm a horrible parent forcing my child on a ride she's afraid of, but I really wasn't. It all ended well.

Try not to judge all parents based on some crying children. There could be SO many different reasons they are crying...
 
...force their parents on rides? There needs to be a thread about how kids should appreciate that their parents even take them to Disneyland and WDW and not force them on rides with terrifying drops like Splash Mountain and those swinging cages on the Sun Wheel at California Adventures.

I am the terrible parent who lied to her 4 year old daughter that she wasn't tall enough for TOT, she's 42".

I love loops and corkscrews and flying around in a bobsled on the Matterhorn, but drops oh no,no,no,no,no! I make myself so nervous and my little girl is the one telling me I'll be okay and she'll protect me and even laughs at me, the meanie. I have a great kid who held my hand when Splash Mountain at WDW brokedown for 5 minutes right before the drop.

If my daughter was tall enough for Mission Space, we probably would have gone on it, she loves thrill rides, she can't wait until she is tall enough for the new Space Mountain here at Disneyland.

I was surprised when a couple of other tourists saw my happy, dancing, singing (not crying) little girl in line for attractions like Stitch and Bugs Life and felt it necessary to tell me I shouldn't take her on because they are so scary, huh? People passed judgement on me even though my kid was in a good mood and met the height requirements. I even received the "glare" from people at 11:00pm while at the pool, we are from LA, it's only 8:00pm for us. I am not surprised there are so many that would pass judgement on parents with a crying child without knowing the circumstances.

My judgement is as follows, Disney spends millions of dollars creating rides and testing those rides for safety, they have experts that determine height requirements, who should and shouldn't ride the attraction and they post these restrictions prominently. Disney is primarily a money making machine, how much money would they make if people routinely were injured. I am not advocating the forcing of a kid on a ride they are scared of, we walked away from Haunted Mansion at WDW because the entrance made her nervous, according to her it was scarier than the Disneyland version.

I looked forward to having a great time on my vacation, there isn't any time designated on my itinerary to judge, criticize, complain and/or look for problems with other people. Thankfully most others had the same itinerary.

Props to Disneyjunkie!
 












Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE







New Posts







DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top