Tell me about rides w/ your 4or 5 year old!

[chrisrunty]

How did your 4 or 5 year old do at Disneyland/ California Adv. and the rides?

We are heading to Disneyland with our 4 year old in early December. We've not been since he was 18 months old. (We done 3 Disney cruises instead) But now that he is over 43 inches he can ride pretty much all the rides except 2. However 4 year old's can be unpredictable at times, so I'm trying to prep/prepare as much as possible. He loves rides generally, we go to a few local amusement parks/ fairs and he goes on all the rides. But lately he has expressed to me that thing are "scary" or he's scared with a movie etc. (like Ursula) Disneyland rides are often dark rides, so not sure if he'll love them or say he's scared. Thrill rides, roller coasters he likes a lot, and he is generally very adventurous. But the dark rides I wonder?

Any advice or experience? Thanks!!

 

[sonnyjane]

Advice?

Just about EVERY ride at DL has a ride-through video on YouTube. Have your son watch the clips on YouTube and decide if it looks "cool" or "scary"

 

[Mel522]

My niece, who is 4 and also scared of Ursula, did pretty good on the rides. We did not take her on Snow White, and I would recommend you avoiding that ride as well. It is scary to kids. She found Pinocchio to be scary and didn't care for Mr. Toads (more so because she didn't know the story). She didn't make it past the stretching room on Haunted Mansion. When I was 4 I loved that ride. My dad took me on it because he knew me and knew I would love it. We suspected my niece would get scared on Haunted Mansion and were right. You'll have to judge for yourself if your son will find the stretching room fun and the ghosts neat, or be scared of both. The rest of the dark rides she loved. Particularly Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan.

She found the part of Splash Mountain before the final drop scary the first time that she went on it. She was with her dad who was telling her not to be scared, which made her scared. My dad used to do the same thing to me when I was young. The second time she went on it, she went with my mom who was goofing around through that part so she wouldn't be scared. From there on out it was one of her favorites.

She loved all of the roller coasters. She even loved Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy which I was surprised about. When you go it will be normal Space Mountain. If he loves roller coasters, he might like it even if he is a little afraid of the dark. My niece who is only a little afraid of the dark, didn't seem to mind that or the ghost chasing us (which won't be there when you go, it will just be space out there) because she was having so much fun on the roller coaster.

The only other one we had a problem with was Tower of Terror. She went on it twice, the second time was to make sure she didn't like it. She wasn't scared with the scenery or the ghosts that you see, she was scared about not knowing when she was going to drop.

 

[asc72]

With our 5 year old daughter we worked our way up to the more scary rides. In turns out she loved pretty much everything there. For rides like Space Mountain, she was a little scared the first time, but was willing to do it again and then loved it (hands in the air, huge smile).

The only ride she didn't like was the Haunted Mansion--and it wasn't the theme as much as the volume/noise. I covered her ears for most of it, which helped.

You'll probably be able to assess how he is doing on some of the tamer rides or different themes. We agreed before we went that we wouldn't push her too far (the trip was for her and we didn't want her traumatized), but encouraged her to try things once.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I find it really depends on the child. My 3, almost 4 year old just hit 40 in and went on everything he was tall enough for and loved every minute of it. That included Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, Splash, Tower of Terror, etc. He has always loved all of the dark rides. However my 8 year old hates Space Mountain, but loves Screamin'.

 

[coaches24]

My DD (4 now but 3 when we went last in may) is scared of going fast but loved almost all the rides we got her to go one including BTMRR and splash. We started her on gadgets go coaster. It took some talking into before she would agree to go it but once we did she loved it. We had to bribe her for BTMRR but she ended up on it twice and said how much fun it was as we got off each time (we call it the fast choo choo). But if you ask her does she want to go on it she says no. We didn't take her on space even though she was tall enough because she is scared of the dark and we figured that along with going fast would be too much. But she does great on all the FL rides, though she held my hand pretty good in Snow White. But her favorite rides were HM, POC, Star tours, AIW and Winnie the Pooh. She also loved SOC, GZ, and Ariel's. anytime we go in a ride we know isn't scary we tell her it's slow or not scary and she usually is ok. We make sure not to lie to herso she feels confident in what we are telling her. Oh and on splash make sure to ask to sit in back with DS so you can sit next to him if he's scared. DW and DD got soaked in the back by a rogue wave but DD still liked it and wanted to go again. She got off proud of herself saying "see daddy, I wasn't scared, I'm a big girl".

 

[scrapshappen]

My younger DS has a really hard time telling the difference between pretend and real. So a lot of the rides and shows were a lot scarier to him at 6 than they were to my older son at 4 & 5. So it does depend on the kid.

But don't make the mistake I made and take him on Haunted Mansion first thing through the park. I like the advice of working your way up to the scarier rides.

And the best piece of advice I heard about whether your child liked the ride or not is to ask them if they want to go on it again. If they say yes, then you know they really liked it. But if they hesitate or say no, you know that it might have been too scary for them.

 

[ten6mom]

My not quite 4 year old nephew loves everything he is tall enough for (including Space and Splash. My almost 6 yo son is terrified even of Pirates because of the drop. You just never can tell!

 

[smiles33]

I agree w/PP's suggestions to show YouTube clips. My then 5 year old refused to go on any dark rides when I showed them to her on YouTube--INCLUDING IASW. I was shocked. Yet she wanted to go on Goofy's Sky School repeatedly because it was outdoors and she could see the entire ride (even though that ride lurches and has some steep hills and sudden drops). You just never know with kids!

Have a great time!

 

[scoker]

When my daughter was 4 she was scared of almost all the dark rides. Even Winnie the Pooh. She is a dare devil when it comes to roller coasters and stuff but a huge chicken with anything dramatic. I would start with Its a small world and if that works maybe try Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh. On her next trip at age 5 she did better and was willing to try more things. Definitely just don't push. The way we look at it is that while we might not be able to do every attraction we want it leaves us with something new and different for the next trip. It will take us a few more trips before we have seen them all.

 

[MamaChelle]

We have gone when my son was 4 and 5. He loved autopia because he was able to steer the car!!! That one was a big hit. He was never scared of the dark calm rides. Got bored on IASW. Didn't want to do HM when he was 4 but LOVED it when he was 5. He isn't a fan of roller coasters at all. We did BTMR when he was 4, he hated it and didn't want to go on it again. Tried again when he was 5 and still hated it. We are going to try again this year. So the other roller coasters were out of the question. He loved exploring Tom Sawyer island. Obsessed with Buzz and TSMM.

Again every child is different, my son isn't much of a thrill seeker at all, but still has fun on all the other rides

 

[chrisrunty]

Thanks everyone so much for the replies and tips!!! It really helps. We went on almost every ride we could when he was 18 months, pirates, haunted mansion etc.... but at that age he was cool with everything as long as I was holding him. We had a crazy 3 hrs in Walt Disney World after our Disney cruise this May so we did splash mountain 3 times... he loved it. Haunted Mansion and Pirates are "Moms" favorites so well see how he is at 4 with the darker rides. I will for sure work up to the scarier rides. Good advice! I think/ hope once he is having fun he'll go on to all of them.

 

[firefly87]

When my youngest was 3, he didn't care for most of the dark rides. If he got scared, I just had him bury his face in my side til the ride was over. He wasn't thrilled about going on HM but we dragged him on it anyway! fortunately, the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay was up when we went (as it will be for you) and it is much more colorful than the regular HM. When we were in the doom buggies, the ride stopped for about 5 mins and we were stuck in a room. We started looking around and pointing things out and that seemed to help make it not so scary.

I highly recommend looking at YouTube for ride videos. That might help him to know what to expect and you can make it into a game by looking for something that you know is coming up on the ride.

 

[Pesky]

I agree with the youtube suggestion. I started doing that already and by that have figured out that DD (who will be 6 when we go) will be fine with about anything. I also figured out that DS (who will be 4.5) will not be quite as fine and so we'll have to tell them earlier than we intended to help him prepare and make sure he'll be okay with the rides. Like not sure he'll make it through HM but know DD will love it. Both will adore IASW. Their reactions to the youtube ride-throughs make it much easier to predict. I would recommend perhaps starting with a fun and light dark ride first. IASW, RSR, Peter Pan. Having a positive backdrop can help with the rest.

 

[kristenm514]

I SO wish we would have worked our way up to Splash -- we went on it first, and 4 year old DD did not have a good time. As our trip went on, though, she enjoyed Space, RSR, and other "big kid" rides, so I think she was just very overwhelmed with Splash being her first ride after a long trip.

The dark rides were a little tough for her. She wanted to do them, but would get scared at Ursula, some parts of Alice, the door room in Monsters inc, etc. She knew it was pretend, but I think the AAs sort of freaked her out. She was fine, though, and got over it quickly, usually when the story turned happy again.

 

[jkattk]

Can anyone comment on whether California Screaming would be good for a thrill seeking 5 year old who loves being scared? He's tall for his age, but only just right at the 48" mark so might be a bit dicey with their measuring sticks anyway.

 

[mrslamb]

We went last November when DD turned 5. She loved Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Star Tours, Matterhorn, Mickey's Fun Wheel, and most of the other rides.

She was OK on Splash Mountain and TOT but didn't like them as much as the other big rides.

She did not like Snow White, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Mr Toad, and Pirates was closed but I don't think she would have liked that, either

 

[DisneyMommy403]

I totally agree with working your way up to scary rides. In 2006, I went to DL with my brother, SIL, and my nieces. The oldest was 4, and the baby was 8 months. I went as the babysitter, so my brother and SIL could take the oldest on all the "big rides" without rider swapping. The VERY FIRST ride when we got to DL was Snow White, because we just thought to handle Fantasyland in a counter clockwise pattern... and now lemme give you a lil history... my brother and SIL used to be CMs. They met and fell in love while working on Autopia in the 90's. You think they remembered how scary Snow White is? Nope. After that first ride... EVERY SINGLE RIDE LINE we entered was questioned by my niece with "Is this going to be scary like Snow White?!"

She did great on Space, and all the others. She loved Space Mtn, and BTMRR... but she was terrified of Snow White.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I have friends (who are not planners or Disney freaks like I am) who winged it on a 3 day trip with their 8 year old. 1st ride? BTMRR! Ummm... They told her it was just a little train ride... Neither of them had ever gone on it. Needless to say it took most of their trip to talk her on to anything else.

 

[crystal1313]

My oldest went on Matterhorn when he was 2 (old seats, where we could hold him in our lap) and TOT when he was 3. He's been on every ride he can go on for his height 43 inches.

What we try to do is talk really positive the entire time in line. We tell him how much fun it will be and how much he will love it, and how much of a big boy he is for going on it.

The first time he attempted TOT he got scared in the first part, where they show the video. 2 days later he asked to try it again. He went on it. We also gave him a reward for trying TOT. The first time after the Matterhorn, he cried after the ride was over, but asked to go on it again the next day. He asked all on his own. He loves BTMR, Splash Mtn, Goofy's Sky School & Star Tours are his favorite. He's been on Space Mtn, but it wasn't his favorite because it's dark. I always make sure to tell him that we will always be right there with him and that he will be safe. We started him out on the gadget coaster in Toontown then worked our way up from there. Have fun!