What to do for our in between children

[disneynewbee]

My 11yo dd is at an in between time. Too cool for baby rides and too scared for the big rides. With a little motion sickness problem that I hope to treat with medicine. My sister was supposed to go with her 5&6yos but had to cancel. This is bad for my daughter because when they are around she will get on the baby rides (which she still likes but won't admit) and pretend she is doing it for them. She is a real scardy poo so what rides will be good for her. I am planning on doing every show I can because I know she will love them and she still enjoys the characters. Any help would be greatly appriciated. I was going to let her read my disney planning book and mark the rides that interest her but to her the trip seems a million years away and she can't get motivated to read it yet.

 

[jordanyosh]

Test Track is always a good one to start with. We went with friends and their daughter hated (still hates) thrill rides. We finally convinced her to ride TT. We told her it was like riding in a car. She actually liked it.

Buzz is a great ride for kids and grown ups alike.

Those are the two that come instantly to mind

 

[kathmzh]

As far as getting her on the "baby" rides, ask her to do you a favor and go on with you, because you want someone to go with on Peter Pan, Pooh, etc.
Once she gets there, and sees kids and adults of all ages in line for all rides, she will probably get into the spirit of things. Good lucK and have fun!

 

[ncbyrne]

I wish I had your dilemma - I will be going with my 2 DGDs Nov 3-8. Both of their birthdays are coming up which is the reason for the trip. One turns 7 and the other 11. The 11 year old simple will not have anything to do with the "baby" rides and wants to hit every thrill ride over and over - she'll go on anything. RnR has been her favorite since she was tall enough to ride! The 7 y.o. won't admit to being scared in front of her older sister, but then when we get in line for a thrill type ride she chickens out at the last minute! The biggest problem with this trip coming up is that the little one is now JUST 48" - the height requirement for RnR. I wish I could take them on two seperate trips so they could each go their own way, but alas, that's not possible.

 

[NMAmy]

Originally posted by kathmzh
As far as getting her on the "baby" rides, ask her to do you a favor and go on with you, because you want someone to go with on Peter Pan, Pooh, etc.
Once she gets there, and sees kids and adults of all ages in line for all rides, she will probably get into the spirit of things. Good lucK and have fun!

I always do this with DD (13). She wants to go on them as much as I do but she can always use me as an excuse! (Oh, my silly mom MAKES me go on Peter Pan, etc.)

Now she's getting to think it's retro to go on these rides.

 

[stacilee]

Go to the local library and check out the book called Disney World For Kids By kids (or maybe that's for Teens by teens?)
here I found it at amazon:

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids, by Kids 2005 (Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids By Kids)
by Birnbaum


That helped one of ours when he was that age. It has lots of photos and quotes, tips, fun facts and a rating for each of the rides.
Don't worry, it seems all the kids loosen up once they get there and enjoy ALL the rides. Even the "baby" ones. I tell them, "Well, I'm going on it, just come and keep me company." They always do!

 

[stacilee]

OOps! just saw that the above poster posted almost exactly what I said.

Brilliant moms think alike!

 

[eeyore kelly]

what about gettong her the 3-D roller coster imagineer computer game at the disneystore.com and let her expose herself to rollercoasters at her pace where she is in control.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I was going to suggest the shows. She'll love that.

Also, I think that a lot of the 3D movies are cool, the safari and everything at AK are cool.

The Haunted Mansion is good, not too scary but not babyish. Buzz is great. Thunder Mountain is probably the tamest coaster.
Test Track only has one fast part. Splash Mountain and the Maelstrom are mostly not scary, Splash just has the one big drop.

 

[webmomom]

Originally posted by kathmzh
As far as getting her on the "baby" rides, ask her to do you a favor and go on with you, because you want someone to go with on Peter Pan, Pooh, etc.
Once she gets there, and sees kids and adults of all ages in line for all rides, she will probably get into the spirit of things. Good lucK and have fun!

I was going to suggest the same thing. Hopefully she will see that ages don't matter at WDW

 

[JoeyzMama]

Check out Fodor's Walt Disney World for Kids 2004--they have a list and a description of the rides--including a "Don't miss list" for pre-teens, and the scare factor of each ride.

A list of the more adult, but good for anyone rides from my reading:

Pirates of the Carribbean (scariest part is the first five minutes)
Haunted Mansion--never goes fast, just dark.
Alladdin's Magic Carpet
Mad Hatter's Tea Party
Peter Pan's Flight
Dumbo
Astro Orbiter (you go high, but you stay pretty still)
Tomorrowland speedway

Also don't forget, there's a big difference between talking about going to Disney and being there, in the midst of the excitement--your dd might suddenly get adventurous and decide to go on some of the bigger rides--or decide--when she sees the number of adults riding Small World (don't we all do that one? Even if we don't have kids!) that some of the baby rides aren't so babyish after all.

Hope this helps!
Cris

3 days til we meet the Mouse.

 

[disneynewbee]

I never thought to make her get on with me. I know that will work with her. What a brilliant idea. She knows how psyched I am about this trip so she will certainly believe she is doing me a favor by getting on with me. My younger dd is 2 but she is wild and crazy so I cannot let my poor 11 yo try to handle her on a ride. Since my 2yo favors her daddy and my 11yo favors me it will work out perfectly. I also plan to get her the disney book for kids by kids since she is a book worm. Hopefully when the time gets closer she will put down her other books and read it. I do have the Disney with kids by foder and I have read it several times I tried to read it with her since we still like to read books together but she said it was too far away for her to get interested, I was boring her (can you imagine someone getting bored talking about disney I started planning forever ago and I am not bored). Of course this was about 4 months ago now the trip is not as far away so mabe now she will get interested. I'm going to make up one of those calenders then it will hit her how close it really is. THANKS

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

Right before my son went to Marine boot camp he requested a trip to Disney as his last fling. Like I would say no, LOL! He was 18 at the time and he rode every ride in the park "baby" or not. And this kid is "macho man".

I would agree with some of the others.... see if she will accompany you cause you want to ride those kiddie rides. She'll probably roll her eyes and have a ball!

Have a great trip!!