What rides to avoid with 5-year-old?

[nannyz]

I think the important thing is to not transfer any of your apprehensions onto the child. Tell her which rides she is big enough for and let her decide. Everyone has their preferences. For example, I totally dislike It's A Small World -- I find it very boring; but most people love it. But I've heard people say they think Soarin' is boring, but I could ride it all day.

 

[Shakthi]

You know your daughter so go on the ride first and determine if that is something she would really enjoy or not.

 

[sahbushka]

Like others have said, I think it totally depends on the child, my dd is 5 and in normal life is rather chicken but on our trip in April she couldnt get enough of Space Mountain. You might want to watch some of the YouTube videos of the Fantasyland rides to see if you think she will like them, I personally dont find them all that fun (except Alice and Peter Pan).

Same here...my son is normally a chicken and even on our trip to Disney is September we took him on the Winnie the Pooh ride first and it totally freaked him out! However, as the week went on and he started to understand that it was all pretend and all for fun he became a complete daredevil...even going on rides my husband wouldn't go on (TOT!!!) I am so proud of him! Good luck on your trip!

SarahMay

 

[briggscreek]

My four year old loved everything, but her favorite rides were the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

 

[iheartdisney]

It really just depends on the child...and sometimes the child just doesn't make sense!!!
Best example is my DD7...At 4 my DH dragged her onto Tower of Terror...she loved it, and still does. But will not go on Haunted Mansion.
Oh, and last trip she figured out she is big enough for Screamin, so DH is going to go with us after school gets out so she can *finally* ride it!

 

[Mugglemama]

My advice would be to check out the videos on YouTube, so that you can get a feel for what your daughter may/may not do ok on.

At 5, all of mine would go on everything they are tall enough for (my youngest will be 5 on this trip and there is nothing at DLR he is afraid to ride).

HOWEVER, I will say, that even though my kids will all go on all the rides, I know that it makes them jump when the crazy-loud Harold on Matterhorn screams, and that my 9 and 5 year olds are still nervous in the first room of Haunted Mansion when it gets dark and the screaming body dangles from the ceiling. The rest of the ride, they're fine....but they really don't love that first room.

 

[DisKatrina]

Thanks, everyone. This is great information. I appreciate it.

There are a few rides I just wouldn't have thought of (like Soarin') without this thread. I told my DD about that one, and she thinks it sounds great. I don't know if she'll really like it, but she wants to try it.

We've actually started explaining a lot of the rides to DD and showing them to her on Youtube. I think that will help her with her expectations. So far she says she's game for anything, so I'll start out with mild stuff and work my way up to the scarier ones to see how she does.

Thanks, again!

 

[Queen Elisabeth]

Just don't start her out on Pirates like I did with my 5 year old daughter (for some reason I didn't remember there being so many skeletons and creepy voices, lol!). She didn't trust any ride or queue that was even a little bit dark after that for like half of our trip. She ended up loving Buzz and Peter Pan, though!

 

[PHXscuba]

I think a lot of it has to do with trust and building that up. We know the rides/lines/dark won't hurt them, but they don't!

Despite what the "touring plans" here say, don't try to do all the Fantasyland dark rides first! Ride Dumbo, teacups, the ToonTown coaster, etc. (things where they can see the line, view the ride) then see how they are. Work your way up to the bigger things even if it means spending a slower first day. When they trust you (and Disneyland) that dark doesn't necessarily mean bad and that it's OK to be scared for a split second on a drop, then they can relax.

We have taken all our kids for their first visit as each hit about 4.5. The ONLY trip we had trouble was when I saw the short line for Mr. Toad and made it DD's very first ride. Although usually fearless, she howled through the line and the ride and it took all morning to coax her back into a dark line/ride. Then she did pretty well the rest of the day. With the next two, we started with the rides I listed about and they were happy on everything, including Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, etc.

Before you go, consider a few discussions about pretend vs. reality, and that it can be fun to be surprised/scared on a ride.

PHXscuba