Tower of Terror - Too young to ride?

[tebookie]

Going with some friends next month. They have a 4 year old daughter.
Mother wants the daugher to go on Tower of Terror.
Father does not.

Is 4 years old too young to ride? She is tall enough, so height is not the issue.

 

[jandk95]

I think it all depends on the 4 year old. My younger son is fine with riding it at 4 years old but when my older son was 4 he made me take him out of the line because he was afraid. They could try it but just be prepared to have to leave the line if their daughter suddenly changes her mind.

 

[MomofKatie]

Some 4 year olds will do fine on ToT, and some 40 year olds hate it! It depends so much on the person. If the 4 year old is tall enough, okay with darkness, spooky stuff, and thrill ride type experiences, they will be fine. If not, they won't. My DD is 7, and she won't ride it- just seeing the height of the ride, and the spooky facade (and seeing and hearing the screaming riders) makes her stay away.

My best advice is, if the child doesn't want to ride, don't force him/her. The rest of the day, if not the trip, will be ruined- it will be practically impossible to get that child back on any other rides if they are scared out of their minds on one!!

 

[mrsmom]

My youngest was 3 1/2 when he rode it for the first time and loved it!! Now two of my other kids then 7 and 9 would not ride it at all. so i said it depends on your child, . My now youngest 8 loves all rides he is going to ride rocknroller coaster this May, He can't wait.
Kim

 

[LilMamiBella]

We took my 3.5 year old daughter in December. She rode big thunder mountain railroad 4 times, splash mountain 2 times, and tower or terror once. She didn't cry or scream. I think it scared her just because we were in the dark. My 6.5 year old son hated tower of terror. The best thing that we did was not make a big deal out of it.

 

[julia & nicks mom]

I think it really depends on the child

but the age is not really the issue

I have a 4 year old daredevil - we have always had the philosophy with her that we try everything once and if she doesn't like it - she doesnt have to ride again - she wanted to ride dinosaur and then she cried as we got on and now tells me that it was a great ride!!!!!!!

Because I know that she will love the rides once she tries - I really do everything I can to convince her to ride with me - if I knew that she would be terrorized by it - I would never do that to her!!

 

[knebel22@frontiernet]

As with anything it depends on the child. Eleven years ago my son was 4 and went on the TOT. He still talks about it today and can't wait to go again in April when he is 15.

Denise

 

[Darth Sidious]

I think it depends on the 4 year old, depends on how easily she gets afraid of things. My sister is fearless so she was fine at 4. But like I said, I think it depends on how scared she gets of things.

 

[andromedaslove]

My son went on TOT the first time on his 3rd birthday and Loved it!! However, when he asked me what the ride was like I told him that we went in and it went up and down real fast but that it was REALLY fun. When we went on everytime the elevator dropped we would scream WEEEEEE really loud, and he loved it. This past year when he turned 4 he told me he had to go on it 4 times because he was 4 years old now. So we did!! As long as she isn't afraid to go on it I don't think there is a reason she shouldn't.

Dana

 

[Marseeya]

JMO with my own kids, but I never exposed them to thrill rides when they were little. They have plenty of time in their lives to experience thrill rides without having them become desensitized at such an early age.

YMMV

 

[beattyfamily]

I agree it totally depends on the child. I have a 6 year old and a 9 year old and my 9 year old first rode it age 5 and was very nervous...the darkness and the ghosts. She likes the drops. Sometimes after that she doesn't want to ride it or isn't sure but she has rode it several times since.

My 6 year old will not ride it. She's come close twice now. Once got to the entrance and changed her mind and last trip got to the elevator and changed her mind. A CM asked what was wrong and we told him and he offered her a pin, free photo and a back entrance if she would go on and she refused.

My best advice though is to start with fun, kid-friendly rides first and work your way up. If you start a child at WDW with a scary ride or a ride that 'might' be scary, you could ruin the whole trip. It will affect the rest of the rides for them. Trust me.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I've seen lots of 3 and 4 year olds go on TOT and they love it.

When I was a kid my parents would look at thrill rides and say oh my gosh this is scary, its horrible, etc.- so that freaked me out.

Then when I would go to themeparks w/my friends when I was older like 12 and 13 all my friends would want to go on thrill rides and I would be the only one in the group freaking out and refuse to go on b/c of years of my parents saying how terrible rollercoasters/thrill rides were.

I remember being in line for Space Mt with my friends at 12 years old and having sweaty palms and almost making myself sick from being nervous. After I rode it- I LOVED it!! And I've loved all thrill rides since- I've been on TOT probably 50 times. And I've gotten my parents on thrill rides and they now love them.

Rides are designed to be FUN. When I have kids some day I will tell them that thrill rides are a blast! The worst possible thing that can happen is you don't like it and its over in 2 minutes. Try rides once and if you don't like it then don't go on it again. Make it fun- not this big deal that makes kids anxious.

 

[kfeuer]

Some 4 year olds will do fine on ToT, and some 40 year olds hate it! It depends so much on the person. If the 4 year old is tall enough, okay with darkness, spooky stuff, and thrill ride type experiences, they will be fine. If not, they won't. My DD is 7, and she won't ride it- just seeing the height of the ride, and the spooky facade (and seeing and hearing the screaming riders) makes her stay away.

My best advice is, if the child doesn't want to ride, don't force him/her. The rest of the day, if not the trip, will be ruined- it will be practically impossible to get that child back on any other rides if they are scared out of their minds on one!!

I totally agree. My 5-year old was nervous just walking by TOT (I don't want to ride that, mommy!). I would never force him, but we did gently encourage him a little beyond his comfort zone (we got him to ride Star Tours, which he liked). I don't think age is the main readiness indicator, it depends on the temperment of the child. My almost 3-year old is alot more fearless then his older brother, and I could see him doing TOT at a young age.

 

[BTown]

I just got back from a trip with my four year old niece. She was tall enough and eager to ride ToT, so we took her on it. She ended up hating it and cried by the end. So, we didnt take her back on it, obviously. Point if your kid is willing to ride it, let them ride it. It wont kill them, it wont emotionally scar them, and it wont ruin thier trip. If they love it, then its one more ride they have to ride. If they hate it, they hate it. But, if you kid doesnt want to ride, please dont make them ride. I remember on that very trip, we were riding Soarin', and this lady was bringing her little kid on the ride, and he was screaming, pleading, and clawing at the seat to get out, before the ride even began. He was genuinly terrified. Finally a CM, I think at the request of many other riders, asked the lady to take her kid outside. But yeah, the point is, if they seem eager to want to try it, let them try it, and have a great time.

 

[DisneyGeek2000]

Is 4 years old too young to ride? She is tall enough, so height is not the issue.

Only the parents can make this call, after considering all options, and the emotional and physical health of the child.

The boy that died on Mission:Space in June was 4 years old, AND he was tall enough.

Michael

 

[Hanover]

Without a doubt you have to know the child.
We have a 4 year old that rode it for the first time last week. He loved it. He loves anything fast and isn't afraid at all of dark places or ghosts. My 8 year old rode it for the first time in August, and kept telling our younger son how great it was. I thought in August that my 4 year old may be too scared to ride it. He did Dinosaur and was fine, so I thought we may try TOT on this trip.We never even thought of taking our 8 year old on it when he was younger because he is much more sensitive (scared of things) and didn't care one way or another about going on it. We have a small hill near our home that gives you the same drop feeling in your gut when you drive over it and we told him it was like that. He loves the hill and the fact that he could get that feeling over and over on a ride had him wanting to go there first thing at opening. We also took our 8 year old on Rock n Roller Coaster for the first time and he loved it. Our 4 year old is too short to go on RnR and was so disappointed.
I think it's up to the parents to decide if their child can handle the rides and should really try them out first before taking their child on them.

 

[Hanover]

Just had to add....

My husband just picked up my 4 year old from pre-school on his way home from work and our son's teachers told him that he kept building "the Tower of Terror" out of blocks and they couldn't figure out what he meant!

 

[scubamouse]

depends on the kid.

my 3.5 y/o DD loved it and rode it several times. she's fearless! my DS5 stood in line and chickened out. we didn't force either of them to do it. for DD, she'd seen TV shows and knew what it was about so she wasn't scared.

 

[mjkaferle5]

.............It wont kill them.............

I'd say even if your child is eager to ride you still have to make a judgement call. I'd say if one of my 5 y.o.'s wanted to go on ToT, that would be ok. But if he wanted to go on Mission: Space I'd say no. I wouldn't advise putting 3 g's on a little body. We all know what happened last June.

 

[beattyfamily]

Oh my goodness. Mission Space didn't kill that 4 year old, his undetected heart condition did.

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