What is Disney policy on intervening when children panic?

[Feckless]

Not the poster you quoted, but I agree with that person 100%. It is not discriminatory. Having special needs or a child with special needs does not give one the right to infringe upon the rights of others. It is not appropriate to be "working through" a meltdown if that could in anyway endanger the safety of those around you. It is also not appropriate if it, beyond a very mild level, infringes upon the enjoyment of the ride for others around you. The other people on the ride paid admission, waited in line, etc, not to hear/watch your child scream, kick and/or throw a fit (whether that's a behavioral problem or a special needs issue), but to enjoy the ride/attraction. Anything that infringes upon the other guests' right to enjoy that attraction is inappropriate (flash photography, yelling or screaming by anyone of ANY age). Now of course, sometimes things happen DURING the course of a ride, and I think most people understand that is beyond the parents' control, and just appreciate anything they can do to minimize it. And I don't think most would be bothered by some (SOME) crying, loudness before the ride starts. But if it is an escalating situation, whether the reason is intentional or not, that is the parents' responsibility to deal with while eliminating/reducing the impact on all other guests. That might mean skipping the ride. All parents make sacrifices, those who have children with special needs, often have to make many more..that's life. Other guests should be accepting and kind, of course, but special needs is not an excuse for "anything goes and everyone has to just deal with it no matter what" (I'm not saying that you said that, just making a point). And CM's should be empowered to deal with these situations to ensure the safety, comfort and enjoyment of ALL guests.

This.

I rode HM a few times during our last trip, and there was at least one parent with a screaming, protesting child each time. I'm not talking about a child who is nervous, or unsure, but flat out FREAKING and not wanting to be there. We could barely hear what was going being said in the stretching room and I spent the time feeling bad for the kid rather than enjoying my ride. However, I also felt terrible for the screaming, moaning and utterly terrified child behind me on TOT who turned out to be a grown woman!!!!

My son did not want to ride any rides where things "jump out at you" or anything spooky during our trip when he was 6. He and DH went to Hall of Presidents while DD and I rode HM and DH rode alone later. Dinosaur wasn't on the agenda for either during that trip. For this trip, DS and DD were a go for everything except Dinosaur. I told DD I planned to ride, and she didn't like the idea of missing out, although she was nervous. I suggested she watch the YouTube video of the ride before we left, and she realized it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Both kids rode it fine, prepared by the ride videos. If she said she didn't want to ride, whether or not I thought she SHOULD, it would be up to her. It's her vacation too.

 

[goofy4tink]

I am the first to admit that I have an issue with parents forcing or coercing a child onto a ride "for their own good". I only tried persuasion with my younger DD once. I talked her into riding HM when she didn't want to. She didn't cry or scream or fuss in the queue. But she spent the whole ride with her head in my lap, shaking. It was almost 20 yrs before she went on it again. I felt like the world's worst mother.

But fine. Parents will do what they think they must. However, in this whole thread I've seen so many parents talk about how the child screamed, cried or whined or fussed the whole time. And not once have I seen a single person who felt bad about the negative experience they were inflicting on everyone around them. Does anyone ever consider how their families issues affect the other people in the queue, ride or theatre? At what point would you remove yourself and your child for the benefit of the other guests who are trying to enjoy themselves and the attraction?

I don't give a flying Tinkerbell if you know what's best for your child or not. You have no right to cause a scene that infringes on the enjoyment and possible safety of the other paying guests getting on the ride. It's selfish and inappropriate, and a CM ought to be empowered to intervene.

My dd didn't 'meltdown', she wasn't kicking and screaming and I wasn't physically grabbing her or shoving her. She was crying..and yes, sometimes it was a bit on the loud side. And no, I seriously doubt that she negatively impacted anyone else's experience. We were in line for crying out loud. Once seated in the attraction, she was fine. She tends to build things up in her imagination...still does at 18!!! And I never took her on something that I wasn't familiar with. I knew, before hand, if she would enjoy it.

In all reality??? I would rather listen to a crying, worried child (no, not screaming and terrified) than to those out of control kids who are yelling for the sake of yelling and screaming. Or, how about the teens who feel that they can start screaming as soon as the doors to ToT close on them??? Talk about ruining the fun for everyone else.

If you ask my dd if she was scarred, emotionally, from my 'forcing' her to ride with Star Tours or TT, she would tell you no. That she was glad I stood my ground and 'made' her do them. I knew that she would enjoy them once she got in...and she did.
But if her crying and sobbing upset those close to us, I'm sorry. But, there are much worse things to worry about when in WDW!!!

 

[kathy884]

The situation described by the original poster is over the top. I really feel for the child

******************************************************

I want to make another point though too. I think WDW is the kind of place where it's very easy for a well meaning parent who truly has the best interests of their child at heart to make a mistake.

Maybe I'm making excuses for myself, but when DS was little (I wouldn't have even picked to go to WDW, but we came down to Orlando to be with extended family) and brought our little guy to the MK. To prepare for the trip, I got a Disneyland fun video and watched it several times with him. He was delighted with the music and even memorized the two verses of "It's a Small World" I also got a subscription to the "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World", and read the ratings of things that appealed to toddlers that the Unofficial Guide said were not scary at all to anyone and were big hits with toddlers. There weren't that many things (only a few attractions like this at the time), and the biggest hit to the majority of toddlers for sure per the guide was the resort swimming pool.

OK we get to the MK. We split up with the rest of the family as DS doesn't want to try rides/attractions they want to do. He loves the castle, he loves watching Dumbo go up and down (so intrigued by Dumbo), but doesn't want to go on. We ask a few times, but he says no so we skip it. He is a cautious little guy. For example his day care had a special messy play event. We went two days. The first he just watched everyone and didn't do anything. The next day we went again, and he tired all sorts of things, had a great time. Next we meet up with Extended Family at "It's a Small World", something we assume will be fine for everyone. On top of my video preparation and unofficial guide research (It's a Small World" is toddler approved), I have fond fond memories of enjoying this ride with my grandmother when it was at the World's Fair. We are all in line together and almost up to the boat, and DS says, "Mommy, I'm really really scared. Please don't make me go." DS is acting pretty calm, but telling emphatically not to make him do this. I'm, though, too into having him ride something, thinking about the great times I had with my grandmother on this and my total delight, how much he likes the song and how he even knows both verses, and thinking he will love it. And I say, "No. You need to try this. You know both verses of the song and it's not scary at all."

So what happens next. DS is totally freaked out my the dancing dolls and screams non stop on the ride. I feel so bad for DS, horrible about the decison I made, and embarrassed too. This literally feels like the longest ride I've ever been on. I don't know how lolng thie ride is, but boy was that ride long. A kind gentleman about 50 when we get off (getting off DS immediately calms down and is find again), probably just looking at me sees a mother feeling bad/embarressed and wants to lighten up the situation says, "I always feel like screaming during that whole ride too. It's just not socially acceptable to do at my age.". Anyway, I appreciate his talking to us, the humor / comment.

We go to Mickey and Minnie's house which DS loves. There isn't anything else he wants to do at the park. He definatey doesn't want to get near any characters, so after that we leave the park (We smartly anticipated a short day and brought our own car). We say goodbye to extended family. My dad laughs about how much we spent to get in, we take the monerail over to the Polynesian and look around, and then we go back and play in our condo swimming pool (a big hit).

DS bythe way was totally enamoured by SeaWorld, loved absolutely everythng there (huge marine mammal /fish fan). It still is his favorite park.

We didn't go back to the MK until DS was six, and lol he loved "It's a Small World" then. I like to think I've gotten better at taking what DS says very seriously and doing things at his pace when he is ready. There are other rides that I've said I wanted him to try at least once that he agreed to try and ended up liking. And as he's gotten older, he's wanted to try things like TOT he avoided before, that he really found to be a hoot.

Anyway, I sympathize with well meaning parents who have made mistakes with their children at the World. We spend all this money, we have these visions of what a great time we'll have with our kids on these rides, we have memories (sometimes back to when we were little of wonderful times on these things), and then we hear or don't hear our child say, "No I'm not ready."

 

[Hannathy]

Not the poster you quoted, but I agree with that person 100%. It is not discriminatory. Having special needs or a child with special needs does not give one the right to infringe upon the rights of others. It is not appropriate to be "working through" a meltdown if that could in anyway endanger the safety of those around you. It is also not appropriate if it, beyond a very mild level, infringes upon the enjoyment of the ride for others around you. The other people on the ride paid admission, waited in line, etc, not to hear/watch your child scream, kick and/or throw a fit (whether that's a behavioral problem or a special needs issue), but to enjoy the ride/attraction. Anything that infringes upon the other guests' right to enjoy that attraction is inappropriate (flash photography, yelling or screaming by anyone of ANY age). Now of course, sometimes things happen DURING the course of a ride, and I think most people understand that is beyond the parents' control, and just appreciate anything they can do to minimize it. And I don't think most would be bothered by some (SOME) crying, loudness before the ride starts. But if it is an escalating situation, whether the reason is intentional or not, that is the parents' responsibility to deal with while eliminating/reducing the impact on all other guests. That might mean skipping the ride. All parents make sacrifices, those who have children with special needs, often have to make many more..that's life. Other guests should be accepting and kind, of course, but special needs is not an excuse for "anything goes and everyone has to just deal with it no matter what" (I'm not saying that you said that, just making a point). And CM's should be empowered to deal with these situations to ensure the safety, comfort and enjoyment of ALL guests.

Yep. Your right to do whatever you want stopped when it infringes on my right to hear and enjoy what I paid for. And I don't care what the reason for it is.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't read all the replies but the fact is no one DOES know what the family in question is going through. Perhaps that kid needs a nap or is acting like a spoiled brat or has some kind of disability which triggers a breaking point. Maybe the kid was a hesitant one to try anything. When I was a kid, if my dad hadn't forced me on the "upside down" rollercoaster, I may have never ridden one. So, perhaps this family knew they needed to push this kid to try things because they know he would like them. There's a myriad of possibilities. My point is that it's no one else's business to be intrusive or try to rectify a situation. If I was the family, I may have barked at OP too. The only time it's acceptable for Disney to butt in, IMO, would be if the person was being disruptive to other guests as well - ruining a show or something like that. Otherwise, mind your business.

 

[goofy4tink]

The situation described by the original poster is over the top. I really feel for the child

******************************************************

I want to make another point though too. I think WDW is the kind of place where it's very easy for a well meaning parent who truly has the best interests of their child at heart to make a mistake.

Maybe I'm making excuses for myself, but when DS was little (I wouldn't have even picked to go to WDW, but we came down to Orlando to be with extended family) and brought our little guy to the MK. To prepare for the trip, I got a Disneyland fun video and watched it several times with him. He was delighted with the music and even memorized the two verses of "It's a Small World" I also got a subscription to the "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World", and read the ratings of things that appealed to toddlers that the Unofficial Guide said were not scary at all to anyone and were big hits with toddlers. There weren't that many things (only a few attractions like this at the time), and the biggest hit to the majority of toddlers for sure per the guide was the resort swimming pool.

OK we get to the MK. We split up with the rest of the family as DS doesn't want to try rides/attractions they want to do. He loves the castle, he loves watching Dumbo go up and down (so intrigued by Dumbo), but doesn't want to go on. We ask a few times, but he says no so we skip it. He is a cautious little guy. For example his day care had a special messy play event. We went two days. The first he just watched everyone and didn't do anything. The next day we went again, and he tired all sorts of things, had a great time. Next we meet up with Extended Family at "It's a Small World", something we assume will be fine for everyone. On top of my video preparation and unofficial guide research (It's a Small World" is toddler approved), I have fond fond memories of enjoying this ride with my grandmother when it was at the World's Fair. We are all in line together and almost up to the boat, and DS says, "Mommy, I'm really really scared. Please don't make me go." DS is acting pretty calm, but telling emphatically not to make him do this. I'm, though, too into having him ride something, thinking about the great times I had with my grandmother on this and my total delight, how much he likes the song and how he even knows both verses, and thinking he will love it. And I say, "No. You need to try this. You know both verses of the song and it's not scary at all."

So what happens next. DS is totally freaked out my the dancing dolls and screams non stop on the ride. I feel so bad for DS, horrible about the decison I made, and embarrassed too. This literally feels like the longest ride I've ever been on. I don't know how lolng thie ride is, but boy was that ride long. A kind gentleman about 50 when we get off (getting off DS immediately calms down and is find again), probably just looking at me sees a mother feeling bad/embarressed and wants to lighten up the situation says, "I always feel like screaming during that whole ride too. It's just not socially acceptable to do at my age.". Anyway, I appreciate his talking to us, the humor / comment.

We go to Mickey and Minnie's house which DS loves. There isn't anything else he wants to do at the park. He definatey doesn't want to get near any characters, so after that we leave the park (We smartly anticipated a short day and brought our own car). We say goodbye to extended family. My dad laughs about how much we spent to get in, we take the monerail over to the Polynesian and look around, and then we go back and play in our condo swimming pool (a big hit).

DS bythe way was totally enamoured by SeaWorld, loved absolutely everythng there (huge marine mammal /fish fan). It still is his favorite park.

We didn't go back to the MK until DS was six, and lol he loved "It's a Small World" then. I like to think I've gotten better at taking what DS says very seriously and doing things at his pace when he is ready. There are other rides that I've said I wanted him to try at least once that he agreed to try and ended up liking. And as he's gotten older, he's wanted to try things like TOT he avoided before, that he really found to be a hoot.

Anyway, I sympathize with well meaning parents who have made mistakes with their children at the World. We spend all this money, we have these visions of what a great time we'll have with our kids on these rides, we have memories (sometimes back to when we were little of wonderful times on these things), and then we hear or don't hear our child say, "No I'm not ready."

OH man...I can sympathize. My dd had been on HM many times. The first time, back when she was 5, turning 6, really got to her. But as she got older, it became a non-issue. Well...there we were, she was 13. We had gone to WDW with another mother and her dd to celebrate the two girls' turning 13, in WDW!!! Well....we were about half way through HM when dd starting sobbing. She said she had no idea what the problem was but she suddenly had gotten fearful!!! Of a ride she had done about 20 times!!! No way of telling what set her off...but she couldn't wait to get off that ride!!! She's done it again, with no issues at all.

Now...there was that one time I was 'that' parent. We had arrived in WDW on Thanksgiving Day. My dd had previously seen a sweatshirt she really wanted at RnRC..but it was in August and I was not paying for a sweatshirt then. Told her we would get it in November. Okay...so we go to DHS on Thanksgiving afternoon..head right to RnRC. Well..do you think they had that darn sweatshirt? Nope. But, they had a ton of teeshirts. The CM very nicely offered to check in the back room area, and then to call around to see if there were any to be found elsewhere. Nope...none to be had. Well....as we walked out of the RnRC gift shop, my dd started to sob. Then it turned to out and out crying. She was probably 12 at the time. I was hot, overtired, and cranky. So, after many requests to my dd to please settle down, it wasn't my fault there were no sweatshirts, I just snapped. I yelled at her, right there beneath the overhead RnRC arch!!! I told her to shut up, and stop screaming. That as far as I was concerned, I was done. I was going back to BW and she could stand there and cry to her hearts content if she wanted to. And I started walking away, alone. Dh was horrified, dd was horrified. There were other guests just whispering and staring. Yep...I was soooo 'that' parent that everyone writes about. I sat down on the stone wall just before you get to ToT, over on the right as you exit the RnRC area. The tears started flowing. Dd was so upset to see me crying. I felt like an awful mother..yelling at my child like that, out in public.
But, in all reality??? I was tired, hot and my dd had really pushed all the right buttons. Sometimes, you just don't realize how you will react in a certain situation. I now feel so badly for those parents screaming at their children. Perhaps they need a rest, or some time just relaxing somewhere!!! I try not to judge anymore.
Yes, I still think it's horrible to yell and scream and shove your child around. There are those parents that feel that because they have spend thousands of dollars, they are going to go from sunup to sundown and get their money's worth....doesn't matter if the kids are wiped out or over stimulated!!! God forbid those kids need a break...'we have spent $5000 on this trip and we are not sitting on a park bench for 20 mins, doing nothing..so get up and get moving!!!'

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Umm no- I am a parent of two incredible kids who have special needs, including autism. I am always conscious of the rights and needs of others, not just my kids. If my kids have a meltdown at an Inopportune place or time, we leave. I always have a exit strategy- always. I would never ever choose to enter a ride while my child melted down. And I always have tools for them to utilize to deal with anxieties etc while In a queue or even on a ride. For instance, dd started to lose it a bit on HM- during the ride so not much I could do to exit. I immediately got her iPod on and also gave her a penlight to shine into her hand (on her hand, in her lap, so it wasn't disturbing others). It is my job to teach my kids how to function in society, not to always expect society to change for my kids. Now I do get comments occasionally from people regarding why my 12 y/o is in a "stroller" at wdw- it's actually a pediatric wheelchair, but we utilize it because it's an accommodation that allows her to cope with the overstimulation of Disney. I have chosen to incorporate any tools possible to prevent meltdowns in the first place. And if they happen anyway, we stop and deal with it.

I also have a dd with Autism and agree with this post 100%. I always have an exit strategy and my dd has had meltdowns in queues, at which time I removed her from the situation and found a quiet place out of public view (ie the family bathroom) to let the meltdown subside. I do not want to infringe upon the enjoyment of others and my dd doesn't want to be gawked at.

 

[miami305]

Didn't read all the replies but the fact is no one DOES know what the family in question is going through. Perhaps that kid needs a nap or is acting like a spoiled brat or has some kind of disability which triggers a breaking point. Maybe the kid was a hesitant one to try anything. When I was a kid, if my dad hadn't forced me on the "upside down" rollercoaster, I may have never ridden one. So, perhaps this family knew they needed to push this kid to try things because they know he would like them. There's a myriad of possibilities. My point is that it's no one else's business to be intrusive or try to rectify a situation. If I was the family, I may have barked at OP too. The only time it's acceptable for Disney to butt in, IMO, would be if the person was being disruptive to other guests as well - ruining a show or something like that. Otherwise, mind your business.

So your life would've been ruined had you never experienced an upside down coaster? Why force someone? I didn't like sweet potato pie or cheesecake until I was a teen. Everyone else in my family loved those desserts. Should they have forced a slice down my throat every Christmas so I could share in the dessert experience?

I love coasters and couldn't wait until I was tall enough to ride The Beast at King's Island. My sister never had any desire to ride them. The thought of dragging her or bullying her onto a ride was never a consideration. Our family was there to have fun. There were no mandatory rides. Encouraging a child is a great way to overcome fears. Forcing a child into something is all about the parent's envisioned day at the park. The parent wants the child to love thrill rides and by golly the child better love them too or else!

Relax Momas. Your children are unique individuals. They will not enjoy everything you enjoy. Let them enjoy Disney their way.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

This is what happens when Jack and Diane have saved and scrapped and yard sales everything for a trip and then don't spend time showing videos and making sure kids are ready for rides. Just because they are tall enough doesn't mean they are mentally able to handle a ride. Especially one like dinosaur. This is awful and I would have been upset for the child and those around.

 

[Glennie5]

Now...there was that one time I was 'that' parent. We had arrived in WDW on Thanksgiving Day. My dd had previously seen a sweatshirt she really wanted at RnRC..but it was in August and I was not paying for a sweatshirt then. Told her we would get it in November. Okay...so we go to DHS on Thanksgiving afternoon..head right to RnRC. Well..do you think they had that darn sweatshirt? Nope. But, they had a ton of teeshirts. The CM very nicely offered to check in the back room area, and then to call around to see if there were any to be found elsewhere. Nope...none to be had. Well....as we walked out of the RnRC gift shop, my dd started to sob. Then it turned to out and out crying. She was probably 12 at the time. I was hot, overtired, and cranky. So, after many requests to my dd to please settle down, it wasn't my fault there were no sweatshirts, I just snapped. I yelled at her, right there beneath the overhead RnRC arch!!! I told her to shut up, and stop screaming. That as far as I was concerned, I was done. I was going back to BW and she could stand there and cry to her hearts content if she wanted to. And I started walking away, alone. Dh was horrified, dd was horrified. There were other guests just whispering and staring. Yep...I was soooo 'that' parent that everyone writes about. I sat down on the stone wall just before you get to ToT, over on the right as you exit the RnRC area. The tears started flowing. Dd was so upset to see me crying. I felt like an awful mother..yelling at my child like that, out in public.
But, in all reality??? I was tired, hot and my dd had really pushed all the right buttons. Sometimes, you just don't realize how you will react in a certain situation. I now feel so badly for those parents screaming at their children. Perhaps they need a rest, or some time just relaxing somewhere!!! I try not to judge anymore.
Yes, I still think it's horrible to yell and scream and shove your child around. There are those parents that feel that because they have spend thousands of dollars, they are going to go from sunup to sundown and get their money's worth....doesn't matter if the kids are wiped out or over stimulated!!! God forbid those kids need a break...'we have spent $5000 on this trip and we are not sitting on a park bench for 20 mins, doing nothing..so get up and get moving!!!'

I think this happens a lot at Disney. I find myself chanting in my head Happiest Place on earth over and over again to keep from snapping. A lot of times when I see kids lossing it while waiting in lines and the parents apologise I say no worries been there myself a few times.

 

[MissManda]

On two separate occassions, I have seen cast members intervene on behalf of a crying/panicked child. Both of these were several years ago. On our most recent trip last month, we didn't see any instances of kids being panicked so I don't know if the cast members would have done the same thing.

Instance one was a child that was in line for RnR. She was fine the whole way through the line until she say the "launch". She started having a meltdown right away. The adult with her (assuming it was her father) was making her get in the car. She was still crying and a little hysterical at the time. The cast member said that they could not start the ride until she calmed down or left the ride. If I recall, she left the ride.

The other instance was in Haunted Mansion. A kid freaked out when they turned all the lights out and was crying through the whole rest of the line. Her parents were physically pushing her through the line, while she dug her heals in not wanting to go. We all tried to reassure her the ride wasn't that scary. When they got close to the front, a cast member told that person she would have calm down some in order to ride. I can't remember if she rode or got out of line.

 

[photo_chick]

I don't need to know if the child in OPs post had special needs or not. Any time a patent is literally dragging a child around by an arm, telling them they're ruining their vacation and forcing them to ride when they're hysterical has clearly lost some valuable perspective an common courtesy and may or may not be engaging in abusive behavior. And I think people have a right not to have to ride with kids or adult who are completely losing it and being a safety hazard. And that does not make the PPs discriminatory, etc in any way.

Again, you're reading a recounting of a situation by an uninvolved third party. You weren't there. And the OP saw what looked to her like one thing and it could have been something different. You really have no idea though since you weren't there and aren't that family.

 

[Hannathy]

I really don't care if you make your kid ride a ride they don't want to ride, your kid your right, it isn't going to kill the child, so go at it.

I DO care if doing so impedes on my enjoyment of the ride. The ride I have the right to experience in it's fullest. If you can't force your child to ride without having that child pitch a fit that will make it unsafe or unenjoyable for me and my family then you have over stepped your rights and the CM's should have you leave for the other guests.

 

[deegack]

I really don't care if you make your kid ride a ride they don't want to ride, your kid your right, it isn't going to kill the child, so go at it.

I DO care if doing so impedes on my enjoyment of the ride. The ride I have the right to experience in it's fullest. If you can't force your child to ride without having that child pitch a fit that will make it unsafe or unenjoyable for me and my family then you have over stepped your rights and the CM's should have you leave for the other guests.

Yup

 

[LongLiveDisney1]

I have read that Disney does have a policy, one that I have seen used, but not applied here.

The Policy is to ask the child if he or she wants to ride, if they say no they are let off the ride usually with the parents screaming bloody murder behind them.

Never happened to me but if that did happen, I would ask the CM to escort my child out while I continue riding. They might able to tell the child to leave but they can't tell me that.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

That's how you handle your kids needs. Not all kids have the same needs. My son has ADHD and Aspergers. When he has a meltdown nine times out of ten I can get him moved on to something else rather quickly so there is no need to remove from the situation. That one time in ten that I can't get him to move on we remove him from the situation. This is based on the advice I've been given from his occupatioal therapist and doctors and it works for him. It's not the right thing for all kids but don't judge what I might do by what you would do. Everyone has to do what is right for their children.

I also think there's a misunderstanding here. I wouldn't put a kid on a ride to scream the whole time and that's not what I'm saying here at all. My point way back at the beginning was that you can't know what's going on with someone elses kid. The OP saw a situation she read one way and in truth it could have been very different from the parents perspective. We simply don't know because 1. only the OP was there. And 2. we are not those parents.

OP here. I would like to clarify that these people were VIOLENT with this child, jerking him forcefully by both arms, leaving red marks. There was no mercy, compassion or anything other than ugliness in their expressions or in their words. To be perfectly clear: this child was bodily forced on the ride, with his father pressing down on him in order to set the lap bar, as the child both kicked and flailed with his arms. He had been screaming since we descended into the load area, and crying since the first doorway to the attraction.

I am sorry, but I WILL judge this behavior. If a child has special needs, he deserves special, caring, compassionate treatment, not abuse. I do not accept that a child's special needs would justify violent, threatening and abusive treatment. Period.

And I would also like to add that I continue to pray for this child, because if he endured this horror in public, what must it be like in private?

Since when is going on an amusement park ride such a high stakes activity that parents will create such cruel situations for their kids? Is it really worth it? I have three kids, and each one has chosen what rides to skip. I can't see why that's a big deal. It's not like there isn't anything else to do at Disney if we don't go on Everest, and it's not like it's hours and hours out of our lives to do a child swap.

 

[Glennie5]

I really don't care if you make your kid ride a ride they don't want to ride, your kid your right, it isn't going to kill the child, so go at it.

I DO care if doing so impedes on my enjoyment of the ride. The ride I have the right to experience in it's fullest. If you can't force your child to ride without having that child pitch a fit that will make it unsafe or unenjoyable for me and my family then you have over stepped your rights and the CM's should have you leave for the other guests.

I agree.

 

[LongLiveDisney1]

Since when is going on an amusement park ride such a high stakes activity that parents will create such cruel situations for their kids? Is it really worth it? I have three kids, and each one has chosen what rides to skip. I can't see why that's a big deal. It's not like there isn't anything else to do at Disney if we don't go on Everest, and it's not like it's hours and hours out of our lives to do a child swap.

I've seen this question asked over and over and the answer is obvious. The parents, I repeat the parents, not the kids, are shelling out an incredible amount of money for a Disney trip. They want to ride what they want to ride and sometimes a CHILD just needs to be told no and it doesn't matter how much crying or jumping or jerking they do.

 

[flortlebap]

We have the same rule.

So do we, which we enforced on all but ToT, EE and Space Mountain. Mainly because they're the rides which I thought could genuinely scare them. Of the four kids, 2 chose to ride ToT (the youngest 2, they hated it) and my 6 y/o only chose to ride EE. My main issue is that if a ride isn't genuinely terrifying and 5 out of 6 in the family want to ride, the other one can try it. It won't kill them, and they don't have to do it again. There were no tantrums or crying though, so we were lucky. If two people wanted off, we'd do a FP switch as I figured it was clearly scarier than I was thinking it was

The one time I did get annoyed was in relation to EE. My DD6 was adamant she really wanted to ride "next time" (I rode alone the first time). So, we changed our plans to revisit AK, got FPs for EE (on a very high crowd day), had to let the other kids down by not getting Kali FPs (everyone else's favourite ride, for some unknown reason!) and trekked over to EE for our FP return time. And yep, having altered all our plans, my DD had a screaming, tantruming meltdown screaming "I DONT WANT TO GO ON IT" and had, for some unknown reason, kept up the pretence that she did for three whole days. Convincingly, as well.

On a day of rain, where all I'd had was whining and pouting over everything from 4 grumpy, over tired kids (and over tired parents) I was hugely unimpressed and let her know that. Not my proudest mummy moment. However, 2 minutes later she had a complete change of heart, we went back, rode it, and she loved it it was very frustrating to see (yet another) tantrum when I knew all along shed love it.

Unfortunately Disney can be a very stressful place with young children. It's easy to blow things out of proportion when you're tired, not helped by the "I've paid thousands for this trip and now were not enjoying it" mentality some people have. Plus, the disappointment as an adult when your kids dont want to ride anything and you'd planned this "perfect" trip. I think nearly everyone is guilty of it, even if only for a few fleeting seconds. But get over it, you move on. You don't hold down and strap in screaming kids though who are obviously terrified - that's just wrong, however much you've paid for the vacation

 

[GBBTomorrow]

So your life would've been ruined had you never experienced an upside down coaster? Why force someone? I didn't like sweet potato pie or cheesecake until I was a teen. Everyone else in my family loved those desserts. Should they have forced a slice down my throat every Christmas so I could share in the dessert experience?

I love coasters and couldn't wait until I was tall enough to ride The Beast at King's Island. My sister never had any desire to ride them. The thought of dragging her or bullying her onto a ride was never a consideration. Our family was there to have fun. There were no mandatory rides. Encouraging a child is a great way to overcome fears. Forcing a child into something is all about the parent's envisioned day at the park. The parent wants the child to love thrill rides and by golly the child better love them too or else!

Relax Momas. Your children are unique individuals. They will not enjoy everything you enjoy. Let them enjoy Disney their way.

Amen!