strict on height?

[littlelaura]

going to disney in a few weeks. my ds will be 4 and we reckon he will just about be tall enough for splash mountain etc (40" req), but only just. are disney very strict about height, or do you think if we smile nicely we'll be ok

 

[DukeStreetKing]

When my daughter was justthisshort of the height requirement, she was not allowed to ride. Same deal with my GF's son. I guess it depends on who is manning the height bar. For what it's worth, the height requirements are there for a reason, mainly safety.

If your son is just the right height, I don't see why he wouldn't be allowed to ride.

 

[Laura22]

When we went in February my son was exactly 40 inches and 3.5 years old. They were very strict at the one ride we tried (Test Track). They measured him over and over again - he was RIGHT on the mark of 40 inches. They told me to go ahead, but if he was a hair shorter he could not have ridden. He ended up hating Test Track anyway LOL.

He's 41 inches now, but it doesn't matter because since riding Test Track he is scared to death of anything fast so we won't be doing any big rides with him!

 

[buckler]

If your child doesn't meet the height requirement then you should skip the ride. The requirements are there for safety reasons! We don't want to hear about you in the news.

Plus, if you skip the ride this time you will have an excuse to go back!

 

[wifey]

Try buying him some trainers with thicker soles we did this for our DS as he is small for his age and he was still measured, and met the height requirements. There are yellow pins in the parks with a child standing at a height checking sign which say "I meet the minimum height requirement" might be cool to get one!

 

[wifey]

You can always do a kid swap, ask the CM at the entrance queue then you can take turns and not miss out if he's not tall enough .

 

[fireman17]

Originally posted by wifey

Try buying him some trainers with thicker soles we did this for our DS as he
is small for his age and he was still measured, and met the height requirements. There are yellow pins in the parks with a child standing at a height checking sign which say "I meet the minimum height requirement" might be cool to get one!
This is not a good idea the height restrictions are there for the safety of your children. You have to remember some rides do not have lap protection. Case in point Splash Mountain has no harness system so at the end of the hill your child could slide off the seat and strike their face.
Just my two cents

 

[graygables]

On our last trip, the CM insisted on measuring DD before RnR even though she had ridden everything else and passed muster, so to speak. He kept putting his hand on top of her head and pushing her down so she appeared too short. There was no convincing him to step back and let her stand her full height, so he refused to let her ride. She was sooooo upset, cried for an hour, and it ruined the rest of our day. I wish they would come up with a wristband that they measure once, officially, then give them their "clearance".

 

[tjmw2727]

In my experience they are very strict with height and will often measure a child who looks close to the height more than once. I have seen CM's ask the child to remove a hat as well as obviously high shoes and they will measure to the head not the hair. If your child is borderline then be prepared not to ride and avoid unnecessary problems.

I have also seen a family sneak by the first CM (intentionally and unintentionally) only to have the child measured at boarding and denied the ride.

Hopefully your child will meet the heights but if not there are only a few rides at each park with a height restriction so the # of can rides greatly outnumbers the # of can't rides. You can also do the height restricted rides with FP or rider swap to minimize the wait for a non-riding child.

TJ

 

[ksc37]

Last year my 3 year old son was exactly 40" in barefeet. With his sneakers, he was probably about 40 3/4".

He was only measured once, the rest of the time, he wasn't even given a second look. And the time he was measured, he passed with about 1/2" to spare.

 

[becca011906]

we were worried about my dd a few weeks ago when i did some first time measureing of my older to kids... DD was only 39 1/2 inches with shoes on and i was so sad for her... but sure enough we measure again with her new school shoes and she is 40 3/4 inches so i'm pretty sure she'll make it. We didn't get "thick sole" shoes but did let her pick what she wanted. Her only hits about 40inche even in her sandles so she'll be wearing her tennis shoes anyways when hat the parks for comfort not just to make it on the rides. She's a very tall girl at only 3 years and 3 months old but i know she loves rides so i'm sure she'll do good on anything she's tall enoughf for.

 

[littlelaura]

thanks, i'll keep my fingers crossed. he is 101cm in shoes at the mo, so hopefully he'll grow 1cm in six weeks and just make it. he loves fast rides.

 

[becca011906]

Oh my if you have 6 weeks i wouldn't give it another thought!!! Kids grow so fast!

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

We had a problem at Space Mountain. If my DD was in the fast pass line, she was tall enough, but if she was in the regular line, she was too short by 1 inch-go figure! I think there must be a slope there, 1 inch is a hugh margin. But, both of my twins have been measured numerous times over the years at various rides at WDW and they are very strict.

 

[becca011906]

I think there should be somehwere to get the child measured for the park, it's just going to be a mess if dd is able to ride one time and to short the next... i mean small kids can't understand that...

 

[CA Disney Fans]

I agree with you becca011906. I have been to an amusement park where they measure the kids at the gates and give different wristbands to kids that meet the two height requirements.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

omg, my dd is so tall. At her 3 yo well visit, she was 42 inches!!!

 

[poohguys]

They do check. Sometimes better than others. We took two pair of shoes when we went down last time in 2003. My DS was a few weeks shy of his 3rd Birthday-with one pair of shoes he was fine, with the other pair he was a little too short. He was too short to go on Dinosaur in AK the measured him twice. He rode test track fine, splash mt and ToT. When we went on ToT they did not even measure him the CM just asked us if he was 40 inches. Which he was in his one pair of shoes. The shoes were not anything special, just two different styles of Stride Rite sneakers. He loved all of the rides and this year cannot wait to go on Space Mt. He is 45 1/2 with out shoes so he will be fine.

 

[44disney]

About 5 years ago my son was right at the 40" mark with shoes. He was able to get on Big Thunder Mtn several times with no problem, but at Splash Mtn the CM doing the measuring was standing on a bit of a slope, and she held the stick a little uphill, and with my son a little downhill he measured too short. I pointed this out to her and she didn't care--she still would not let him ride. We were planning to try again later in the day, hoping for a different CM but never made it back to that section of the park.

He was a little disappointed but he loved Big Thunder so much that he got over it pretty quickly.

 

[kimatigger]

My son will be 2.5 the end of September and is almost 40 inches without shoes. of course I would never put him on anything that he could possibly slip out of . I know we will skip BTMRR but what about soaring or Test Track. I have never been on Soaring so I don't know if it would be safe or even good for him at this age. Test Track I know he would love.