Which Rides Do Your Kids Refuse to Try

[Minnesota!]

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.

Probably one of the cutest stories I have ever read on here! LOVE me some Muppets, though!

Think back to your childhood. Would YOU have ridden Tower of Terror at 11? I certainly wouldn't have. I braved my first drop rode at a Six Flags (remember Freefall?). I was 14. I didn't even do a loop coaster until I was 12. I didn't get on Space Mountain until I was 10.

I would never push my kids to go on any ride. I always respect their boundaries in that area. Fears are very individual.

Hell yes, I would have ridden. By 11 I was well-seasoned on thrill rides, and was at ValleyFair here in MN at any opportunity. The bigger, higher, scarier the thrills, the better. My kids are the same way!

For me, it's got nothing to do with respect. It's about making the kids try things in life and experience things, even if they "think" they're afraid of it. If I always abided by my kids wishes, they'd have never eaten vegetables...and yes, to me this is somewhat similar. I could argue that what's the worst that's going to happen in a WDW ride? They don't like it. Very absolute disaster case, they throw up. Not the end of the world. They won't be hurt, they won't die. And I don't see them being "emotionally scarred for life" from a WDW ride. What's the worst that happens when they try a new food? They don't like it, they "gag" (real or fake). Heaven forbid, they have an allergic reaction. If I had abided by their choices, DD9 wouldn't be a lacrosse player today (and she now loves it and begs for a personal trainer, camps, etc...), none of our kids would be running 5ks, DD9 wouldn't be riding a scooter (not motorized, one you push), etc...

Each to their own, but if in our judgment we think our kids may like something, we make them try it whether they think they're scared/won't like it/whatever. If they don't like it, fine. If they do, they've just expanded their world.

We still poke fun at DS13 about Stitch. We made him try it when he was about 5 or 6. It frightened him pretty good. He kept saying for the rest of the trip "I don't want to go on it again". And we didn't. Fast forward 4 years and he decided to try it again because he had conquered much scarier rides than that. He to this day laughs at himself and says "What was I scared of?"

AMEN! If you don't push the child a bit (towards anything in life) they might never take the step, and miss out on a hell of a lot in life.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

I think you have to use your judgment based on what rides your kids have liked in the past. Our last trip the girls were 6 and 7. While there we discovered our youngest was afraid of all 4D rides. We unfortunately tried It's Tough to be a Bug first. I could never convince her the other 4D movies would be fine. We did them but she was so scared. This upcoming trip (2 years later) I will let her decide if she wants to ride any. Both girls will not ride Haunted Mansion. The ghosts scare them. They can't even watch previews for movies that might be slightly scary so I don't see HM going well. I do encourage them to ride thrill rides that don't have scary elements. If it is something I'm almost positive they would like, I strongly encourage them (maybe even bribe them- lol).

This highlights the fact that you have to just know your kiddos. If they normally get scared and end up liking stuff, maybe you push a little harder. Otherwise, if it's going to ruin them for the trip, you just leave 'em alone. I was a giant scaredy cat as a kid. My parents left me outside the Haunted Mansion and that was cool with me. Same with SM, Splash, and a host of others. I regret not doing those things back then, but it was cool that my parents were like "Fine, just wait here by this CM and we'll be back in a few." Worked out for everyone.

 

[momimouse27]

My son refuses to get on POTC, which just happens to be my favorite ride. He says the 'dip' scares him. He's 14, but he has ASD, so little things like that to him seem bigger than they are. I remember my daughter who is now 24 was scared of it when she was small, and then when she got older, she finally went on it, and she looked at me after and said, "that was it??" She said it seemed so much scarier when she was little.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

My son refuses to get on POTC, which just happens to be my favorite ride. He says the 'dip' scares him. He's 14, but he has ASD, so little things like that to him seem bigger than they are. I remember my daughter who is now 24 was scared of it when she was small, and then when she got older, she finally went on it, and she looked at me after and said, "that was it??" She said it seemed so much scarier when she was little.

The Disneyland version of the hill on POTC scared me to death back when I was about 6. Wouldn't go on the WDW version until I was 18 even though the hill is nowhere near what the DL one is.

 

[DLgal]

My son refuses to get on POTC, which just happens to be my favorite ride. He says the 'dip' scares him. He's 14, but he has ASD, so little things like that to him seem bigger than they are. I remember my daughter who is now 24 was scared of it when she was small, and then when she got older, she finally went on it, and she looked at me after and said, "that was it??" She said it seemed so much scarier when she was little.

That dip scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid. I used to shut my eyes and hang on to the bar for dear life. I loved the rest of the ride, but that part...no.

 

[twoplustwins]

My kids won't do the Tiki Room. They are creeped out. They did IASW once and won't go again. I don't blame them. I hate that ride. That song gets stuck in my head and the dolls are weird.

 

[MischaOz]

I wish I had that problem! My daughter is not afraid of anything. I'm a little nervous for our upcoming trip because her dad isn't coming and as much as I'm looking forward to "girl time" - I can usually get out of ToT by making her dad go on with her, and now I'm going to have to go on again...

Kids go through phases. My daughter used to love meeting princesses when she was 2 & 3, but when she was 4 she wanted nothing to do with them and got super shy all of a sudden. So we skipped that and did other stuff. So I'm echoing the others that say don't force them, and if you go back, maybe they'll have a change of heart.

Also, you could have them watch a video on YouTube first. Yes, it takes some of the "surprise" fun out of it, but maybe they'll watch it and decide to give it a try.

 

[Smilelea]

ODS (5) will not ride anything that resembles a roller coaster. He tried barnstormer but hit his head so refuses to do it or anything like it again. He also won't ride Splash. He did not want to do many of the shows last trip and still says he doesn't want to do them this time. I'm hoping he changes his mind because we want to do Lion King & Beauty and the Beast. We did do Its tough to be a Bug and that was a disaster. He rode Haunted Mansion and loved it. I was shocked.
The only "new" ride I really want him to try on our upcoming trip is Pirates but he still says no. He loves pirates and pretending to be one.

 

[angierae]

I will push when my kid is nervous. What I hate seeing is kids screaming and crying in terror and parents forcing them onto rides (I see this at Cedar Point at least once a summer, and it makes me want to scream. Sometimes, the ride attendants will very gently suggest they don't ride, but I don't think they're allowed to refuse, which I wish they were.)

There's "I'm a little nervous" and there's "My kid is terrified and I am forcing them on." This isn't something like trying new foods, or whatever. It's an amusement park ride that is completely voluntary in life. Might they miss out on something they'd enjoy? Absolutely. Might they also learn that their feelings are not taken into account and they have no control over what they experience in life? Absolutely.

I won't even make kids hug me. I'm not going to force them to ride an amusement park ride.

 

[marx]

My kids have visited DW since they were toddlers. My now 11 year old rode everything as soon as she was tall enough. My now 14 year old went on Tower of Terror as soon as she was tall enough and was traumatized (she didn't expect a drop - I really thought I told her about it before leaving home). She didn't ride again until last year. Now she loves it.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

I will push when my kid is nervous. What I hate seeing is kids screaming and crying in terror and parents forcing them onto rides (I see this at Cedar Point at least once a summer, and it makes me want to scream.

Disney is no CP when it comes to ending childhood in the span of 2 minutes. So true, though. Nail marks outside every queue at The Point.

 

[elle21]

I don't think parents should push/ make their kids ride anything. We encouraged our kids if we thought they would like it (and a great tip we learned was to say "That was fun!" after each ride, especially with younger kids who will take their cues from you), but if someone seemed nervous or responded with a definite "No" we let them skip. Making a scared child ride something can ruin a day, or a trip, or trust between parent and child.

 

[Tinkerbell8956]

My cousin growing up would build rides up in his head to these terrible things. Every time in line the first time he rode something, he would freak out and cry. Even for rides like Winnie the Pooh. If he couldn't see the whole ride he didn't trust that it didn't go upside down or wasn't scary. We probably looked like the worst family ever, because we dragged him on all the fantasyland rides. We knew him though, and as soon as he got off every ride he absolutely loved them and wanted to ride again and again. Now, I really try not to judge other parents who appear to be dragging a child on a ride. Yes, there are instances where the parent really shouldn't, but I think most of the time the parent knows what their child can and can't take. Just my two cents.

With my 2 year old last year who was 40 inches tall...she wanted to ride everything she could and her favorite ride was Splash Mountain. This year she's trying to convince me to let her ride Tower of Terror, I'm still not thinking I'm going to let her. I'm on the fence about it.

 

[bebec22]

My DS was almost 3 on our last trip. The only thing he flat out refused to ride was the carousel but he happily rode 7DMT and loved it!!

 

[PrincessofPrideRock]

Think back to your childhood. Would YOU have ridden Tower of Terror at 11? I certainly wouldn't have. I braved my first drop rode at a Six Flags (remember Freefall?). I was 14. I didn't even do a loop coaster until I was 12. I didn't get on Space Mountain until I was 10.

I would never push my kids to go on any ride. I always respect their boundaries in that area. Fears are very individual.

My parents tricked me into riding Freefall At Six Flags and they paid for it dearly lol Somehow they convinced me that it would be a "slow ride down, and how cool would it be to see the park from that high up?!" Well, 8-year-old-me trusted my parents and agreed to get on. The second we dropped I realized I had been duped, and I started hysterically crying. I didn't stop for over an hour. Moral of the story: don't make your kids ride rides they don't want to ride, and definitely don't lie to get them to go on

 

[wonderstruck88]

I always tell my kids that regret tastes worse than being terrified and lasts longer. DS isn't for ToT but we'll try again in September. Generally we ask them to try anything and if they don't like it, never again.

I don't really understand the term regret when it comes to not riding something that looked scary and I didn't think I would enjoy. I never, not once, regretted skipping a ride. On the other hand, my dad does regret the way he would turn a fun trip into a guilt trip when I didn't want to ride something.

I guess I just don't really get the whole "they have to at least try it" mindset. It's not a vegetable or something...it's a theme park ride. What could it possibly hurt for them to not have to ride things they don't think they could enjoy? Sure, they could be wrong. But they could also be right. And it's their body/experience - why should they be forced to endure something that could potentially terrify them because mom and dad like that ride? That's what rider swap is for - although my dad continued this battle with me long after I was old enough to use the "chicken exit" at the end of the line and wait for them, which I never minded doing.

 

[wonderstruck88]

For me, it's got nothing to do with respect. It's about making the kids try things in life and experience things, even if they "think" they're afraid of it. If I always abided by my kids wishes, they'd have never eaten vegetables...and yes, to me this is somewhat similar. I could argue that what's the worst that's going to happen in a WDW ride? They don't like it. Very absolute disaster case, they throw up. Not the end of the world. They won't be hurt, they won't die. And I don't see them being "emotionally scarred for life" from a WDW ride. What's the worst that happens when they try a new food? They don't like it, they "gag" (real or fake). Heaven forbid, they have an allergic reaction. If I had abided by their choices, DD9 wouldn't be a lacrosse player today (and she now loves it and begs for a personal trainer, camps, etc...), none of our kids would be running 5ks, DD9 wouldn't be riding a scooter (not motorized, one you push), etc...

Each to their own, but if in our judgment we think our kids may like something, we make them try it whether they think they're scared/won't like it/whatever. If they don't like it, fine. If they do, they've just expanded their world.

We still poke fun at DS13 about Stitch. We made him try it when he was about 5 or 6. It frightened him pretty good. He kept saying for the rest of the trip "I don't want to go on it again". And we didn't. Fast forward 4 years and he decided to try it again because he had conquered much scarier rides than that. He to this day laughs at himself and says "What was I scared of?"

The key thing I think you're ignoring here due to your own positive experiences is that it can legitimately be damaging to the parent/child relationship to force them to do things they don't want to do. It's not like eating their vegetables. Some people just don't enjoy thrill rides and are genuinely terrified by them. Forcing a child to go through that because you think roller coasters are some kind of horizon-opening life experience seems selfish to me. Gentle encouragement is one thing, but telling a child they HAVE to go on something they actively do not want to ride? I think the big difference is what we associate that with. You put it with expanding their world. I put it with not teaching them that they are ultimately in control of their body/choices. As a teen going through these arguments with my dad it made me really resentful that I wasn't allowed to make these decisions. I did eventually go in the thrill rides (when I was older and went with my husband who didn't pressure me at all.) I enjoyed them, but saying it expanded my world is quite an overstatement. My dad not respecting my choices and my fear made a much bigger impact than my eventually enjoying roller coasters did. (Although readings the rest of the thread, I'll note that our worst arguments were at Cedar Point, not Disney. Who tried to pressure a pre-teen who won't ride BTMRR onto Millenium Force?? Clearly not going to happen. Although now it has thanks to my husband.)

 

[Klayfish]

The key thing I think you're ignoring here due to your own positive experiences is that it can legitimately be damaging to the parent/child relationship to force them to do things they don't want to do. It's not like eating their vegetables. Some people just don't enjoy thrill rides and are genuinely terrified by them. Forcing a child to go through that because you think roller coasters are some kind of horizon-opening life experience seems selfish to me. Gentle encouragement is one thing, but telling a child they HAVE to go on something they actively do not want to ride? I think the big difference is what we associate that with. You put it with expanding their world. I put it with not teaching them that they are ultimately in control of their body/choices. As a teen going through these arguments with my dad it made me really resentful that I wasn't allowed to make these decisions. I did eventually go in the thrill rides (when I was older and went with my husband who didn't pressure me at all.) I enjoyed them, but saying it expanded my world is quite an overstatement. My dad not respecting my choices and my fear made a much bigger impact than my eventually enjoying roller coasters did. (Although readings the rest of the thread, I'll note that our worst arguments were at Cedar Point, not Disney. Who tried to pressure a pre-teen who won't ride BTMRR onto Millenium Force?? Clearly not going to happen. Although now it has thanks to my husband.)

Different strokes for different folks, right? You think it's selfish. I have no clue how you'd draw that conclusion, but great. We're talking about WDW rides here, not making them juggle fire sticks. I never said it was all positive experiences, in fact I pointed out some things that my kids didn't like. If it would legitimately be damaging to the parent/child relationship for you, then perhaps that's the nature of your relationship with your child. By saying that I'm NOT AT ALL implying it's worse (or better) than the one I have with my kids. Just different, and that's OK. You pointed out how you had some issues with your father not respecting your choices, so that may taint your view on it. Maybe it doesn't, I don't know.

To me, my kids can't say they're "terrified" of something they've never actually experienced. Just as with everything in parenting, you have to make a judgment call. I don't see a WDW ride as anything truly threatening to them...as I said before, worst case scenario is they don't like it. I don't bribe them, lie to them or sugar coat it. I tell them what the ride is and that they need to give it a try and if they don't like it, then they can say so. They trust me on those things. So even if they "think" they won't like it, we're going to try it. Like I said, some were successes...like DD9 and coasters, others weren't...like DS13 and ToT (and me for that matter...it's OK, but don't have a strong desire to do it).

Every parent raises their children in their own way. DW and I are quite confident in how we're raising ours, we have very strong relationships with them, and see absolutely zero harm in making them try a ride at WDW...or other things in life. If you don't, that's up to you.

 

[kangamangus]

We just don't talk about the ride over and over. Big Thunder mountain we said was a train ride all the kids loved it. Haunted mansion we said was Mickey using his magic the kids loved it. The less detail the better for our kids. I would never drag my kids on to something but then again I'm not standing next to splash Mountain saying look how big and scary that drop is. We just got in line and said it was a boat ride . Afterwords only one kid said they did not want to do that again and we respected that and they never went back on that trip. I find diversion in lines work to lessen anxiety especially if the name might imply something more than it really is. Things change year-to-year what my six-year-old would not go on in 2014, she at eight years old loved in 2016. We just keep it low key and have not any issues thus far.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My son refused to ride some rides until our 2011 trip when DD was 5. He was 11 and was afraid of some of the rides. She has no fear and couldn't wait to be tall enough to ride everything. I think he didn't want to look like his little sister was "braver" than him. Now he loves all the rides.