What attractions do your 6 & 7 year olds NOT like?

[foreverdis]

I'm taking DGS, age 7, and DGD, age 6, for their first trip in October! It's been many years since I've had kids that age at WDW and I'm trying to map out our days, to some degree. DGS is fearless and will probably love it all, but DGD is much more cautious and I'm not sure of her limits. Are there some attractions that your kids feel strongly about, either love or hate? Please help me out!

Thanks, Lisa

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If you DGD is cautious, I would show her Barnstormer and see if she is interested in riding. That's sort of the "starter coaster" at Disney and is a good way to introduce a roller coaster to a child IMHO. If she is willing to ride and likes it, I would then "graduate" to 7DMT. If that goes well, show her BTMRR and see what she thinks.

We did this with DS7 and he will now ride 7DMT, BTMRR, Splash and Space Mountain. He also likes Test Track, Soarin' and Star Tours. He does not want to ride Everest, ToT or RnRC. We haven't attempted Haunted Mansion yet.

All the other rides are a go for him - he even loves Peoplemover and Swiss Family Treehouse! I think the wonderful thing about WDW is there is still so much to do for those who aren't exactly thrill seekers!

 

[JessicaW1234]

My DS did not like Dinosaur in AK.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Do they have any theme park or ride experience outside of WDW? Like at a Six Flags or even a local carnival/fair? The likes and dislikes from those can often translate to attractions at WDW.

Ultimately, you could start with Barnstormer or SDMT for the more cautious one, but our kids...even our more cautious one...loved BTM from their first ride. She also loved Everest, but wasn't a fan of Space Mountain. She was really unnerved by not being able to see.

 

[nherbert]

My DS6 at the time loved barnstormer (warning we had to do it 10 times in a row as no queue he was in heaven).
Loved Bttrr and splash mountain, hated space mountain. Loved any kind of shooting game like TSM or Buzz. Actually liked haunted mansion. Terrified on ToT, did not go on RnR, loved star tours eventually, but was hard to get him on to start with. At Epcot Loved test track, hated soarin. At AK hated EE, Dinosaur but loved Kali Rapids. My son was a real mixed bag. I suspect you are just going to have to try it out, start our safe and build them up.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Youngest DD draws the line at anything "creepy". With that in mind, at age 6, we skipped Haunted Mansion, Dinosaur, & POC. She was less than thrilled with Bug's Life, and was absolutely horrified at Fantasmic!

 

[teea]

My dd was just turning 7 last time - she refused Haunted Mansion, Everest, Space mountain. There is a book that we borrowed from the library - possibly fordor's guide with kids, that has scary ratings - we used that and found it to be accurate for her. There were a few ones I didn't expect - possibly a ride with snow white? We avoided anything with a very scary rating

 

[ktlm]

My DD hates BTMRR. At age 6, she was a pretty big ride chicken. She liked Soarin, Star Tours, and Barnstormer, tolerated Test Track under protest, but hated any other coaster we got her on and the big drop in Splash. At age 9, she likes Everest, but still hates BMTRR. She hates Dinosaur. Bribery worked well at that age. We did a lot of if you ride it, you can have a Mickey head ice cream bar or that toy you wanted in the shop. We would tell her if she really didn't like it, she didn't have to ride it again that trip.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Stitch....when my oldest was 4 she went on it and crawled out from under the shoulder harness and went running to the exit..luckily caught by a cm because it wasn't as easy for us to crawl out...imagine that sight it was years later and multiple trips later at age 12 that we finally got her to try it again...rode coasters did tower of terror but stitch who is and was her all time favorite freaked her out.

 

[tink9702]

DS is adventurous and refused to do ToT. He hated Splash (but likes log flume rides in general?!) so we can't figure out what's up with that. Otherwise he loved them all. Rode Everest twice, Space, BTMR, TT, Soarin'. His favorites were Star Tours, Test Track, Soarin' & Big Thunder.

 

[JerseyGirl]

It's a Bugs Life freaked out both my kids..scarred them for life with that show and any type of harmless insect.

 

[superchime]

When my oldest was 6 he loved the Barnstormer, but that was about it for "thrill" rides. Dumbo and IASW all the way, baby! Ride that carousel over and over! No Haunted Mansion, no "big" coasters, no POTC or Splash. He's not much better now, at 9. He'll ride Mission Space (green) and POTC but still wont get on BTMRR.

My youngest (now 6) will ride anything he's tall enough to ride (except Tower of Terror, he doesn't want to do that again). His favorite thing is riding BTMRR at night!

Can you show her ride videos beforehand so she can see what to expect? I think with a lot of rides it's unnerving to not know what's coming. Test Track can sound scary when you're standing outside and it roars by, for example. I'm a big ride chicken myself, so I understand. Luckily, it's Disney, so she can still have a ton of fun even if she doesn't want to go on the bigger rides.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our 11 and 8 yr olds both hate Dinosaur, and they are not ride chickens...they go on everything else (space mountain, tot, RnR) they just hate dinosaur.

Also, my 8 yr old doesn't like It's Tough to be a bug

 

[leahgoogle]

My 7-yr-old refused Dinosaur, Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror, but loved Everest, Splash Mountain and Rockin' Roller Coaster. She was a mixed bag also....lol.

 

[Pesky]

Okay, this is judging from when my kids were 4 and 6. DS was a little more leery of some of the rides. Luckily we had watched some ride through videos so the kids were prepared for the dark rides and pretty cool with them. Anywho, some rides to watch out for:
* PotC -- DD was totally cool with it but the drops freaked out DS a little. They are milder in WDW so you might be fine. I'd probably gauge with a ride through video so the kids don't freak out with the dark, skeletons, and drop.
* HM -- DD LOVED this one with a deep puffy-heart love. I was so glad I'd prepped DS for this one, for the lights going out in the stretching room and so on, and just talked him through it so he did fine.
* Star Tours -- DD was not as keen on Star Tours as we had hoped and I didn't even try DS with that one.
* Soarin' -- they were just eh on this one. DS was a little scared with the feeling of being up high but not horrible.
* ToT -- we aren't fond of drop rides so didn't even try much to DD's dismay.
* Kali River Rapids (kind of same as Grizzly River Rapids) -- DS HATED this ride because he didn't like being wet. DD loved it and wanted to go again. DS has declared he will go on it again if in his swim suit and goggles.
* Splash Mountain -- another thrill-seeking DD loved but didn't even bother with DS both due to the big drop and the water feature.
* Indiana Jones in DLR (similar to Dinosaur in WDW, same ride vehicles and motion) -- DD HATED this one. I mean it terrified her. Whoops. DS was too small. Now DS is huge into dinosaurs so is all over trying this one in WDW.
* Space Mountain -- wasn't sure with either kid so we didn't try.
* ITTBAB -- heard about this one from so many folks, I didn't even bother with this one either.

 

[Ennazus8810]

We are going in 5 days, and hopefully my kiddo's still love the rides! When we were there in October my girls were 4 & 5. Favorites were TOT, Barnstormer and Test Track. They liked Splash and BTM, but were too short for Everest and SM. They are tall enough this year, so we are going to give them a shot.

The only ride we had a small freak out on was Soarin'. My youngest did not like it at all.

Each kid is different, and if yours are like mine they are different from day to day! Let them look at the ride and base it on their reaction. Start small and work your way up.

 

[valerie160]

Mine just turned seven and will not do: Space Mountain, ToT, Soarin'

She's already ridden these and they just scared her too much. However, roller coasters like BTM she'll do over and over and over.

My older kids will do anything; with her I find it's trial and error.

 

[ErinInCT]

My wimpy 11 yr old made it onto the car at Space Mtn and then had to get off, lol. Refused RnRC and ToT. Last time (6 yrs old) she hated Test Track and BTMRR but did them once (which was how she knew she hated them). This time she loved both! And we both were scared for Splash Mtn so we sat up front where I heard it is not as scary and we loved it. 7DMT was actually a bit boring and Barnstormer lasts all of 90 seconds so if they are scared it is over in an instant!! Even my 15 yr old didn't want to do Space Mtn and ToT more than once! The rest were fine, if not "boring" according to the kids. (They found iasw "scarier" than HM lol!!!)

 

[Cadiewampus]

Another vote for Tough to be a Bug. I know when we took my now 22 DS to it when he was about 5, he was screaming and trying to climb over everyone and everybody to get out. I thought it was funny. Him and the lady next to us not so much. Then this past May when we went with him and his brother (15) they liked it. All the other little kids in there, not so much.

 

[Lsyves]

Another vote for Tough to be a Bug. I know when we took my now 22 DS to it when he was about 5, he was screaming and trying to climb over everyone and everybody to get out. I thought it was funny. Him and the lady next to us not so much. Then this past May when we went with him and his brother (15) they liked it. All the other little kids in there, not so much.

I am 42 and I react the same way lol. Now I shop while my husband takes the kids in while they all laugh at me! I actually enjoy those few minutes to myself, bug free

Last trip, my 5 year old whooped it up on Space Mountain (LOVED IT) while my 9 year old asked me a hundred times how much longer the ride was going to last (both boys). Both hated Splash Mountain. Both LOVED Star Tours (we had to go in many many times). 10 year old loves Mission Space but 5 year old won't go near it. I don't know if this is helpful now that I read it - they were both unpredictable and maybe it was more about their moods that day. We are going back soon and they will be 7 and 11 and want to go on Everest. I guess they all grow up and try new things. Have a great time!!!