What age for haunted mansion?

[3princesses+aprince]

I LOVE the haunted mansion , it is mine and dh's favorite. That was the first ride we ever went on(before we had kids) I can't wait until we can all go on together! We are going next year and my kids will be 11( dss10 has already been on and loves it too) 8, 6, and 4. I know all kids are different in what they are afraid of , but what were your kids ages. my dd8 is sort of a scaredy cat, and my younger two, i'm not too sure yet. I know the ride itself isn't that scary, but it's the first part that makes me say no way will they like it.

 

[Hannathy]

My DS was 2 and didn't have a bit of a problem. We always emphasize everything is pretend and Disney made. When he was a bit older he thought it was funny to point to a real animal or something and say wow Mom Disney did a really great job with that one. Neither kid has had a problem on HM at 2,4,5, and on up.

 

[macmahony]

My kids have been on it forever, (it is my middle daughters FAVORITE ride!!, she is only going to be 5 in September). She even walks in the stretching room saying the whole "please move to the dead center" then laughs in her wicked scary laugh. She even had one of the CMs who work the haunted mansion crack a smile at her!!! They love it. I always tell them right before the lights go off to shut there eyes, and they are fine. I kneel by them once everyone is in place, and when the lights are getting ready to go off, I say okay shut your eyes, and they are fine after that. But, I think that ride is so completly up to different kids, and what they like and are used to.

 

[bellarella]

My kids are 'fraidy cats at loved the haunted mansion at ages 4 and 6. I find the key is to talk them through the ride with a lot of "how do you think they are doing that" type questions. With my younger DD, my DH told her that if you screamed at the ghosts *they* would get scared. She had a blast randomly screaming during the ride. I actually felt bad because on her 4th or 5th time, she got the timing down just right on the stretching room and right as the lights went out she let out the perfect hollywood stage scream. She made a bunch of adults jump and when the lights went back on there was another little kid her age that looked like he got really spooked. We had her tone down the screams after that.

 

[!HereWeCome!]

I LOVE the haunted mansion , it is mine and dh's favorite. That was the first ride we ever went on(before we had kids) I can't wait until we can all go on together! We are going next year and my kids will be 11( dss10 has already been on and loves it too) 8, 6, and 4. I know all kids are different in what they are afraid of , but what were your kids ages. my dd8 is sort of a scaredy cat, and my younger two, i'm not too sure yet. I know the ride itself isn't that scary, but it's the first part that makes me say no way will they like it.

WHAT'S THE FIRST PART????????!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ModestMouse]

Our oldest DS first rode it when he was 7, I was convinced he'd be scared but he begged to ride it, so we did and he loved it, it's one of his favorite rides.

 

[LilGMom]

It really depends on the kid. My kids have been going on it since they were 6 & 10 months old with no problem. My youngest (now 2) clings to me a little tighter when the lights go out before you actually get in the doom-buggy but after that he is fine. We have always told our kids (mainly our oldest since the youngest is still somewhat clueless) that what you see, hear and experience in the rides was created by imagination and can't harm them in any way.

 

[badblackpug]

WHAT'S THE FIRST PART????????!!!!!!!!!!!

The 1st part is the outside in the queue area. They play alot of ghost noises, loudly, and then when you get in the ride prep area they do a thing where the lights go out for a few seconds and it's pitch black, then you see a dummy hanging.

As for ages, it will depend on the kid. My oldest rode it first at age 5 and loved it. My present 5 year old (oldest is now 13) rode it and was terrified. My 11 year old thinks it's a "baby ride" and my 10 year old is scared but will ride to show off to the 5 year olds. My other 5 year old loves it!

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

We went last week. My DH and I both love the HM. Our almost 7 y.o. was really excited to do it--the HM was what she talked about most before the trip. She is a daredevil when it comes to rides, so I really wasn't concerned. Not a good move! She was really quite frightened by it, despite the fact that we'd talked about it all being pretend, yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm sure there are younger kids who aren't bothered by it at all, but it sure got to her!

Kerri

 

[crisi]

I think it sort of depends on timing. My son wouldn't go near it at 3 1/2 - but his sister was game then (she was 2 1/2). I think if you hit it early enough "its just a ride" - after that if they are afraid of ghosts and the dark, you might have problems.

Our kids rode it at 5 and 6 - although the six year old almost bolted. But they still (at 7 and 8) put their hands over their eyes during certain parts (the graveyard is particularly scary to them).

 

[poohbearrocks]

I took my dd 6 and ds 2 I just held ds and then had a hand on dd and had kinda warned them...dd LOVED it and we rode it about 5 times in 2 days! heheh

 

[karenTX]

My Dd went on it on her first trip at 18 months...and LOVED it!! It probably helped that we had watched the Disneyland Sing-a-long dvd a lot before the trip. It shows some of the ride. She always giggled at it while I sang along to Grim Grinning ghosts, she called it the silly ghost song. It was the one ride she wanted to go on again and again. But then again, she has a slightly twisted sense of humor...just like me!

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds5 is not the bravest little guy but his only problem with the Haunted Mansion was the first part when you're in the shrinking (or is it stretching) room -- he looked up just in time to see the hanging corpse. He was fine with the ride once we boarded but talked about that ghost coming with us for hours afterwards. My dd2 had no problem whatsoever -- she didn't on any rides/shows - however, she was scared senseless of the characters and ds5 loved them all.

 

[laughinplace199]

DD first went on it when she was 4 and she did not like it. She just got the guts to go on it again a few weeks ago. She is now 7 and DS is 5. They both did fine. We just explained that it's all pretend and if they don't like it they can close their eyes and/or cover their ears. The baby (6 months) fell asleep during the ride.

 

[tonya_leigh73]

My kids rode it at 2.5yrs, 6 & 8..never had a problem, they all look forward to riding it again in less than 2 weeks!

 

[disneyfreak74]

Well. . .DS has rode since he was 2 (his first trip). . .Now my step daughter was 6 and she screamed soooo much that the CM asked if she needed to leave!!! DD has rode since she was 6 months. . .In fact I have one of the Disney CD's that has the Haunted Mansion ride on it and she know s it WORD for WORD!!! (She IS her MOTHER's CHILD!!!) So it really depends on the child.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Our oldest DD was only 3 when she went on it for the first time and she loves it. The other 2 still don't care to go on it more because they don't care for the dark attractions than anything.

 

[belle&beast]

When my DD was 4 she loved it! My DS was 2 and was really afraid in the stretching room when the lights went out and cried through the whole ride. Now he wants to try it again because he understands that it is all pretend, he is just over 3.

 

[tanyaandallie]

At 3.5 my dd was very scared. DH warned me he didn't think she would like it b/c she wasn't that hip on any of the rides that were in the dark. I insisted saying she would be fine and boy did I regeret it. No only was she scared and crying the ride malfunctioned and we kept getting stuck!!!! Isn't that just my luck!! My 20 mos old was so tired he zonked out in the cool dark and was fine. I do think that it didn't help that it was much later in our day and my dd was really really tired. I think if she had not been so tired it would have been easier to reason with her.

Needless to say dh got to tell me I told you so!!!

 

[eeyoregon]

As I am sure other's have said, it's totally child specific. Oldest son had to escape thru the "chicken exit" 3 times between the age of 5 and 11. At 11.5 he finally made it thru and really enjoyed it.

Youngest son was just shy of his 4th birthday and rode it 3 times in a row and told everyone it was his favorite ride.

NO laughing, but I was 28 before I was brave enough (had a BAD haunted house experience as a child!).