Tower of Terror and a 3 year old?

[suziespice]

My 3 year old (will be 4 in March) wants to go on Tower of Terror.... would you let him? I don't want to scar him for the rest of the trip.. lol. (we did let our 5 year old thrill seeker go on it last time and she LOVED it! (went on it twice cause we switched off)

 

[Mousemommy1]

My 3 year old (will be 4 in March) wants to go on Tower of Terror.... would you let him? I don't want to scar him for the rest of the trip.. lol. (we did let our 5 year old thrill seeker go on it last time and she LOVED it! (went on it twice cause we switched off)

If he's tall enough and you think he could handle it, why not? You know your child best, so you're the best judge.

 

[madthemouse]

My daughter was 6 years old back in 1997, the first time she tried this attraction. she was a bit apprehensive the first time. Then we proceeded to ride it 5 more times in a row. Only you know the emotional state of your child.

I can not wait to take my grandson on it. Right now he is 16 moths, but 33.5" tall. As I tell my daughter he may meet the height requirement when we take him to WDW. But may not be ready age wise to handle it. That will depend at what age we take him. Good luck in your decision.

 

[Crystal824]

If he is tall enough, I would let him. My daughter is 4 and tall enough but says she doesn't want to ride. While I wish she would give it a chance, I think she would like the drop, I'm not going to force her. She loves most thrill rides. I do think she might be a little scared in the preshow and in the start of the attraction. I think kids kind of know if it is something they want to try.

 

[Pookasaurus]

My son was 3 the first time (4 the 2nd time) he rode it and loved it. He was 7 turning 8 this last trip and was okay with it, but didn't want to ride again.

 

[MandiC]

If he is tall enough I'd let him try it.
With our kids as long as they are tall enough we 'make' them try a ride once. If they don't like it they don't have to do it again (I will say if I *knew* my kids were terrified of a certain something in the ride I wouldn't make them). My then 7 year old didn't want to do Tower of Terror but I think she was mostly afraid of the name. She was fine during the ride (and actually the ride picture caught her at a good moment where she was looking out over the park ) but did say she didn't want to do it again.

 

[ktlm]

If he really really wants to try it and is tall enough, I would probably let him. I would try him out on some other thrill rides first though. I also would probably show him a video of the ride on you tube before the trip as in my opinion it is probably the scariest WDW ride. However, we met a family with a 3 year old on our last trip, and her favorite ride was TOT. Her Mom couldn't believe it. They rode it multiple times because the 3 year old kept begging to ride it again. My 8 year old has never ridden it at WDW and took the chicken exit at the last minute on our last trip, even though she had ridden it earlier in the year at DL and claimed to like it. You just never know!

If you are worried about it scaring him the rest of the trip. I would just emphasize with him that this is his choice and you aren't sure if he will like it. That way he won't blame you for "making" him ride it and will still trust your opinion on other things when you tell him they are not scary and he will like them. When DD was 4, she begged to do Tough to be a Bug. This is the kid that screams her head off when a tiny gnat gets anywhere near her and I knew she would absolutely hate it. I told her, I'm not sure you will like it, but if you really want to I won't say no to it. She walked out and looked at me and said "Well, I'm NEVER doing that one again!" That was 4 years ago and she hasn't set foot in it since.

 

[MommyMK]

We took our youngest on it and almost 4 and it terrified her, like shaking in pure fear as we were bouncing up and down. She's a thrill seeker and loves coasters and such, but TOT was too much for her. She was fine after the ride and rode it again this year at 4.5 (again not a fan, but not as bad of a reaction), but I felt like a horrible parent for taking her on it in the first place. I did not enjoy that ride as I was trying to comfort her as she was quaking in absolute terror.

 

[disney world dreamer]

if the child wants to go on and is tall enough then there is no reason not to let him go on.

my niece was 3yrs4mos when she went on for the first time.
everyone in the group beside my mom was going on and she did not want to "miss" what we were doing.
we explained the ride to her and she heard the screams and still wanted to go.
she was perfectly fine for the entire experience.
her face has a look of concern in the pic like "am i supposed to be feeling this in my tummy and is this what everyone else is experiencing?"
when we got off she said she wanted to do it again.
we got right back in line and for some reason she freaked out about the pre-show even though she just saw it 10 minutes before so my sister did end up leavign throught he chicken exit but no harm was done.
she was fine the rest of the day.
she went on it again she was 5.5yrs old and even though i was not there to witness it she apparently was "doing it for aunt Dee" (me) lol.

 

[ribollita]

My 3.5yo went on every ride. His favorite is Space Mountain. He did ok on ToT but didn't want to ride it again- not because of the drop or darkness but because of the "ghosts".

 

[MommyMK]

My 3.5yo went on every ride. His favorite is Space Mountain. He did ok on ToT but didn't want to ride it again- not because of the drop or darkness but because of the "ghosts".

Your 3.5 year old is 44 inches tall? My very tall (like one of the tallest in her class) 4.5 year old is only 43 inches tall.

 

[disney world dreamer]

Your 3.5 year old is 44 inches tall? My very tall (like one of the tallest in her class) 4.5 year old is only 43 inches tall.

some kids are very tall for their age.
my niece was 40 inches tall when she was 2yrs4mos and went on test track, soarin, and splash mountain that trip.
she could have gone on TOT that trip but we did not even consider asking her if she wanted to although the next year is when she herself wanted to on it.

at 2 she looked like she was 4 which was difficult for other adults and children to understand that she was only 2 and could not communicate nor do things as a 4 year old could.

she's now in 1st grade and will be 7 in 3 months and is about 51 inches to my 66 inches. she'll probably be taller than me by the time she is 10!

 

[ribollita]

Your 3.5 year old is 44 inches tall? My very tall (like one of the tallest in her class) 4.5 year old is only 43 inches tall.

Yes, he is. He rode Space Mountain, Mission Space, and Everest.

 

[tzolkin]

Well, my DH hasn't gone on ToT for the last 7 years since he took our almost 4yo on it.

We just booked a trip for this summer and I made the suggestion that we should ALL ride together as a family this time. (Kids 16,11,9). DH still seems hesitant, but maybe we can convince him while there.


DD was so excited and ToT was all she talked about before the trip. We had a baby so had planned to do rider switch and DD would get to ride twice. I, however, made the mistake of letting her ride with DH first. She was a tiny thing (still is the smallest in her class) and DH just freaked out on the ride and was convinced that she was going to fly out. He held her seatbelt tighter and held onto her. They both refused to ride again after that, but DH was definitely more scared. (He is a super-rational person and knows this is completely ridiculous, but remains convinced that he was responsible for keeping DD alive on the ride )

 

[SweetMissy]

Every kid is different and you know best. My daughter was a couple weeks shy of her 4th birthday and we took her on it and she LOVED it and still does....she was laughing during the ride, lol. Her almost 7 year old brother at the time was crying, I don't think he has been on it since.

 

[finny1981]

Different kids are going to handle things different. When my youngest was 4 we went on our first trip to WDW and that is all she wanted to do, we watched ride videos and she kept insisting that is what she wanted to do first. Well our first day there we went to HS and DH and the other three kids went on RR while we waited and DD was begging to do TOT. While we were waiting we met another mother and daughter who was only 4 who had just gotten off TOT and loved it so they were talking. After RR we all went over to TOT and got on, the ride started the dropping sequence and DD yelled "get me off this crazy elevator". It was months before she would ride a real elevator and the next 3 years we went to WDW she would not even go close to TOT let alone ride it. This year she will be 11 and is still VERY apprehensive, she says she wants to try again, but we'll see.

So what I am getting at is each kid is different and even if you and they think it will be ok, it still may not be, but the reverse is true sometimes as well. You just need to make the decision and go with it. If I knew what I knew now about her I would not have let her ride it then, but she did and hopefully is over it now.

 

[amyren]

Every kid is different. My DD rode it at 3 and hated it but she sure loved bragging that she rode it

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I'm so apprehensive about letting a young kid ride thrill rides. DD will be 3 our next trip and I'm not sure if we will let her ride Barnstormer. All the other "big" rides are out of the question, even though she will likely be tall enough to ride some.

 

[leahlefler]

My younger son hasn't done TOT yet, but is extremely excited to ride it. He LOVES thrill rides. As soon as he could make the height requirement, he rode Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Journey to Atlantis at Sea World, etc. (he was 4 that trip). He loves the dropping feeling!

I, however, do not. I have enlisted my dad to ride it with him, lol - so Grandpa and Grandson can scream and fall, and I will have a nice coffee and people-watch. My DH is still undecided as to whether he will ride or not.

 

[MikL99]

I went to Disney World for the first time in my left last year. My sons were 3 and 10. My 3 year old was tall enough and i didn't know much about the ride.

He now doesn't want to go back to Disney because of the Tower of Terror . I have explained that he doesn't need to go back on that ride. During the ride when i realized everything about it i had my hands over his eyes. We have a nice picture of the look of terror on his face.

If i had to do it again i would not.