Which Rides Do Your Kids Refuse to Try

[Adkeesee]

My kiddo (11, been to Disney before at age 7) refuses to ride the Tower of Terror, even though he has ridden everything else at Disney and had fun. I think it's solely based on the word "terror" in the title. My 8-year-old loved Haunted Mansion at age 4, but is freaking out based on the word "haunted."

Do you push them? Or just let them skip?

I say let them skip the rides they are scared to get on. Especially ones that might actually be scary. (Tower of terror definitely fits that catergory). We went to Disney for the first time when I was 13 and my brother was 8. My dad pushed him to ride the TOT. He refused to ride another ride at all and to this day, won't ride rides. He's a little on the extreme side, but everyone has their own preferences. Even the kiddos.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

There are rides that I don't enjoy. Why would I force a child to ride anything?

No way would I force a crying child onto a ride, and anyone that does, should be stopped by the CM.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I'm must be horrible. I make my kid go on almost everything she's tall enough for. She went on TOT at DLP at 4. Last year she was 8 and I got her on the hulk at IOA and she loved it!! Once she gets off she's always really glad I persuaded her to go on, I guess all kids are different though.

Edit. Obviously I'm talking gentle persuasion in my case, if she was crying then no I wouldn't make her.

It's one thing to "force" a child on by not giving them a choice and telling them they have to go on it. That would have worked with my DS. Even if he didn't really want to, if I told him he HAD to go on something, he would have grudgingly gone. Not DD though, she would cry and kick and scream bloody murder if I tried to force her on. I've tried some pretty big bribes (like anything she wanted in the gift shop after the ride), but she absolutely refuses.

 

[AngiTN]

We didn't force DGD to ride anything. But we did ask, encourage her to give them a try. Explaining that she's perfectly safe on rides, that she's not in any danger. That if she didn't like it she sure didn't have to ride again but how could she possibly know she didn't like something if she never tried it at least once. We never gave up, would ask each day of our trip, each trip. If she said yes, we rode. If she said no, we moved on. If there was a single rider option, DH and I would take turns and ride.

 

[TXDisneyFan1]

I think it depends on the child. We, as parents, know our children. My son will not ride Tower of Terror either and it is because of the name. He rides everything else, but he hates to be scared. (He didn't like Haunted Mansion either.) He's happy to do something else while we ride.

My daughter couldn't wait to ride EE until we were boarding; she hesitated and stood up as if to get off. I told her to sit back down because I knew she was a daredevil and would love the ride. And....she did!

There was no screaming or crying involved; I wouldn't ever force my child if they were dead set against it. Sometimes kids need a little reassurance from us and a little push to take a chance. (That doesn't mean a drag and shove for anyone confusing this with child abuse.)

 

[ucfknight]

It's Tough to Be a Bug.
Still the only attraction my 11 and 9 year old girls have yet to experience at WDW. Just the mention of it has them shrieking.

 

[anneboleyn]

The first two times I took my daughter, she refused to ride anything but Dumbo, Aladdin's carpets, the carousel, and the teacups (as long as I did not allow them to spin AT ALL). Then the third time, we went with my brother and his family, which includes my niece who is my daughter's age. My niece wanted to ride Splash, so my daughter begrudgingly agreed to go in it. She LOVED it, altho you cannot tell by her face lol:



Now she will happily ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and even let me spin the teacups! Next time she has agreed to try Expedition Everest, so I am looking forward to that picture!

 

[maxiesmom]

I consider that to be abuse. It is horrible to witness.

Sometimes things look worse than they are. And you really need to give the parents the benefit of the doubt, that they know their child better than you.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

My daughters mom won't go on TOT and no amount of pressure or bribery will get me on it!

But I'll stay on Rock N Roller Coaster (my fave) or Everest until they kick me off.

When we started hitting theme parks I let my DD decide what she would and wouldn't go on. I didn't want her to be stressed out. That's not my idea of a good time for my child. On that note, that's my version of parenting. It's not necessarily what's right for someone else.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

My husband and daughter both refuse to ride Tower of Terror. Also, my daughter begrudgingly gave Haunted Mansion a try and now refuses to ride it again. I think she is easily impacted by words. If it were called Tower of Fun, I could probably get her to go on it with me.

Edited to change the word unwillingly to begrudgingly. We didn't force her on HM, but neither did she joyfully agree. She also rode it with her eyes closed the entire time.

We are fine with her skipping what she doesn't want to ride.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

DS19 was 4 for our first trip. He rode all the "scary" rides with enthusiasm.

However, we were in DHS/MGM, and I mentioned to DH (who was pushing DS in one of those low Disney strollers) that we should head over to see the Muppet show. DS overheard, and flatly declared that he was not going see the "Muffets." We asked him why on earth not, and he couldn't give us a logical reason. When DH started heading that way anyway, DS put his legs on each side of the stroller and dragged his feet on the ground to put on the brakes. We tried throughout the day, but he never relented.

We couldn't even go past that Miss Piggy fountain without him suspiciously asking why we were in that area.

Subsequent trips had the same results. It eventually became the family joke. Umpteen trips under our belt, and I think it's probably the only thing we haven't experienced in DW, lol.

Thank you for sharing this story! It made me laugh. What a great memory!!!!

 

[Cuchman]

I have a funny related story. I made the mistake of encouraging (not forcing but definitely encouraging) my kids to all ride ToT as soon as they were all tall enough. I think they were probably 6,8,and 10. The 10 year old had ridden it once, but not the others (nor my wife).
We all rode it together - and they were basically terrified. Apparently, they were so terrified that NONE of them have ridden it since. They are now 14,16, and 18!!. They can't get over their younger impression of the ride.
On a positive note, we have a trip in September and they are all convinced they will ride this time. We'll see

 

[allsaintsatx]

My kiddo (11, been to Disney before at age 7) refuses to ride the Tower of Terror, even though he has ridden everything else at Disney and had fun. I think it's solely based on the word "terror" in the title. My 8-year-old loved Haunted Mansion at age 4, but is freaking out based on the word "haunted."

Do you push them? Or just let them skip?

We learned the hard way to let him skip.

We begged and pleaded for him to try Space Mountain - he liked BTMRR and we thought he wouldn't mind it. No upside down, roughly same speed/intensity as Big Thunder. WORST experience ever. Nothing like watching your child scream and cry in terror because of something you personally asked him to do. He just was not ready for it.

Luckily, Disneyland had the Star Wars overlay on SM and that tempted him to try it, just about 2 years after the Ride of Death and Misery. Now? Loves it! We went on it about 4 times in one day and now space mountain is on our must do list.

They'll be ready when they are ready. In the meantime, luckily there are plenty of other rides to enjoy!

 

[DLgal]

Sometimes things look worse than they are. And you really need to give the parents the benefit of the doubt, that they know their child better than you.

And sometimes, it's as bad as it looks.

I was on the Tower of Terror with a family who forced their 4 year old son on it, crying and pleading the whole line to not make him ride it. He was so scared. The jerk parents were laughing at him and berating him for being a "fraidy cat" (their words) and his older brother was joining in as well. This poor little boy was SO scared he THREW UP just after the ride started (before any drops) and we all had to endure the ride with the smell and the parents yelling at the boy for vomiting. It was the worst thing I have experienced at WDW. I told the first CM I saw what those parents were doing to that child and it bummed me out the rest of the day.

 

[eastendlights]

I hate to say it but I am raising a couple of chickens. My 21 year old daughter and almost 17 year old son refuse to even try ToT. My son will also not ride Space, EE, RR or Splash. They take after the chicken I married, apparently. I dragged him onto EE once and he HATED it. Despite all of my attempts to change the three of them, I have failed to convert a single chicken completely-my daughter does love EE, Space and Splash now but I still can't get her on ToT.

 

[KristyBox]

I would NEVER force them. However, I feel certain it's the words and not the actual ride they are scared of. I guess I just wondered if other kids did that. If it was called "Terror of Star Wars," my kiddo would be all over it, drop or no.

 

[ashleyann31]

Nothing is worse than seeing a parent force a crying/scared child to stay on a ride they don't want to be on. It makes everyone else feel very bad for that child and awkward around the parent.

Two women behind us in line for Dinosaur last week were carrying a little boy (maybe 4) who kept saying he didn't want to go on it and was sobbing. They just laughed at him and carried him on. I felt so bad for him and had to bit my tongue from saying something. I know I shouldn't tell someone else how to parent, but that little boy was so scared.

 

[Klayfish]

My kiddo (11, been to Disney before at age 7) refuses to ride the Tower of Terror, even though he has ridden everything else at Disney and had fun. I think it's solely based on the word "terror" in the title. My 8-year-old loved Haunted Mansion at age 4, but is freaking out based on the word "haunted."

Do you push them? Or just let them skip?

I would, and absolutely have, push them. If they've been on similar rides, or even other thrill type rides, before and liked it, I would make them try it. Did this with all my kids, but mostly DD9. I've told this story before in other similar threads...she was terrified of anything that was a "coaster" or "fast". I think she was 7 at the time. First, I forced her onto Barnstormer...tears and all. Through the tears came a big smile. She realized it wasn't going to kill her, and I made sure to make a big deal out if it being fun. So next step was BTMRR (I think, I forget exactly if that was first, or Space). Same deal...tears, being afraid, etc...but same result...huge smile. Last hurdle was RnR. She just didn't want to go, she was afraid of flipping. Again, I told her "Let's go. You're going to try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to ride it again, but you won't die trying". So with more tears, she went on with me, squeezing my hand as hard as she could. Screamed like a banshee the whole time. But when the ride stopped, I could practically see the white of her teeth in the neon lights. She was still shaking a little but had the biggest smile ever. Now, it's probably her favorite ride in WDW. We're also Six Flags passholders, and she drags her brothers onto all the coasters.

Not everything is a success like that. I forced all three of my kids to try ToT. The boys were really scared, but I wanted them to at least try it. As with DD, I reassured them that the worst thing that's going to happen is they don't like it. They won't get hurt, they won't die. So they all went. DS9 was lukewarm on it DS13 said he didn't hate it, but didn't like it. Fine, no problem. I'm glad they tried, and if they don't ride it anymore...assuming DD9 doesn't drag them on ...then great.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I hate to say it but I am raising a couple of chickens. My 21 year old daughter and almost 17 year old son refuse to even try ToT. My son will also not ride Space, EE, RR or Splash. They take after the chicken I married, apparently. I dragged him onto EE once and he HATED it. Despite all of my attempts to change the three of them, I have failed to convert a single chicken completely-my daughter does love EE, Space and Splash now but I still can't get her on ToT.

I won't ride ToT either. Sorry, not doing it. I don't like a falling feeling.

I also don't ride RnR. It just beats me up. I don't want to have to spend an hour recovering.

 

[Roxyfire]

Two women behind us in line for Dinosaur last week were carrying a little boy (maybe 4) who kept saying he didn't want to go on it and was sobbing. They just laughed at him and carried him on. I felt so bad for him and had to bit my tongue from saying something. I know I shouldn't tell someone else how to parent, but that little boy was so scared.

Yeah that's going beyond trying to convince them. I definitely think older kids should at least try rides. But you never know what will give them anxiety. Why add to it? I even had bad dreams from the randomest stuff as a kid. I can only imagine being that upset and then having nightmares because of it.