Which rides too scary for 6 and 9 year old's?

[famograham]

Another question...lol!

My kids have only been to small local fairs/carnivals, so I'm guessing they may be a little sensitive. The Disneyland portion of the trip is also going to be a surprise. What order would you suggest we work through the attractions in order to kind-of build up "immunity" so to speak?

Are there rides that will most likely be too much for more apprehensive/overwhelmed/inexperienced kids?
DS is 9 and quite sensitive, and DDwill be 6 this Wednesday...and is quite sensitive to scary sounds in particular...

Any advice?

Thanks,
Linda

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't suggest going on Snow White or Pinocchio right off the bat (or ever, IMO)...I'm older than you (figured out from your earlier post about age at earthquake time, LOL) and I was freaked out after those two rides!

If they are really skittish, be sure you read the reviews of Nemo that include "spoilers"...the movie alone is a little bit scary, and it sounds like the ride has included at least one of the surprising moments.

That's all I have for ya. Mr Toad and Peter Pan have been closed each time we've been there, and I didn't even KNOW there was an Alice ride until we got back from our SECOND trip there...so I'm NOT an expert on Fantasyland, which is what I would otherwise suggest to you!

 

[biolabetty]

The carousel is a good starter, plus Small World is pretty kid friendly. My 2 children both like Mr. Toad, but there is a part where you are supposedly hit by a train and end up going to Hell, complete with little devils. My 6 year old doesn't like Pinocchio because of Monstro the whale, and Snow White because of a crocodile that I can't even see, but the witch always scared me as a child.

The Casey Jr. train is good, and so is the Storybook Land boat ride. Pretty much hanging around Fantasyland will be your less intense rides. Peter Pan is good, but sometimes my daughter gets a bit nervous when we swoop down a bit going over the town. Alice can be a bit scary when the Queen of Hearts yells "Off with their heads." My kids will go on pretty much everything, but my daughter absolutely refuses to do Pinocchio again.

 

[melbarkwith]

We took our 4 and 5 year old DD's to DL in May.

The first ride we took our girls on (including our 1 YO) was the Astro Orbiter. We thought that starting with a short wait and a fairly easy ride would be the best way. After that, the carousel, Dumbo (depending on the line), Pooh, the Jellyfish, Golden Zephyr (4YO loved that!) we all good starters.

Our 5YO DD absolutely stunned me and went on pretty much everything at least 4 times. (including Indy, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror and Screamin'). She is definitely what I would call 'sensitive'.

The only ride we deliberately didn't take the girls on was Haunted Mansion. I did not feel like dealing with nightmares while on holiday!

On the other hand, our 4YO (and the one we would have thought to be a daredevil) refused to go on any ride that was dark, or in a dark building. She would line up for Monsters and then refuse to ride just as she got near the front of the queue. We could not get her to go on Pirates, Pinocchio, Snow White, Buzz etc. But, she absolutely loved Splash Mountain (I can't figure it out!)

Hope that helps a little. Your kids may completely surprise you when you get there. My quiet 5YO keeps asking when we can go back to ride the 'upside down Mickey Mouse rollercoaster'? (not soon enough.....)

Mel

 

[DLR29]

Scary as in intense: Space Mountain, Indy, Star Tours, Matterhorn, Splash, California Screamin, ToT, Maliboomer, Mulholland Madness.

Scary as in has scenes of scariness: Haunted Mansion, Snow White, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, Matterhorn, Indy, Pirates, HISTA, It's TOugh to be a Bug, ToT

 

[abby]

Start slow as other have suggested. My dd is also well (OK a whimp) when it comes to rides. We have a deal, I won't make her go on anything that scares her, we have actually stood in line, to have her change her mind at the last minute. Let them get the feel of things and see how it goes. The pooh ride is a good "inside/dark" ride to start those type of rides because it is not at all scary....

 

[JadeDarkstar]

wow hunted manision is scary..my son loved it every time hes been, we started going when he was 3months old. he rembers moor from his dw trip (3/12 old.. He wants to go on startours. he likes pirets I dont think he would like tot or space mountin..we are gona go on splash mountin

 

[4bugzinarug]

On our trip last September our DS was 4, and DD was about to turn 6 in 3 more weeks. DS is very sensitive to loud noises and "scary" sights ... but likes fast moving things. DD is pretty much up for anything except drops that make her tummy hurt and scary sights. We took them on the train that goes all around the park to let them see how big Disneyland is prior to going on any other rides. That gave them a good opportunity to talk about anything they wanted to do right away. Another thing that we did while in line was tell the kids that if they wouldn't really know if they liked the ride until they tried it, and if they didn't like it we wouldn't ride it again ... but if they DID like it, we would go on it as much as we could We avoided the words "scary, spinning, roller coaster, dark" and used "fun, goes as fast as xxx" and kept everything very positive.

Honestly, if we had to do it again I would have waited to take them through the Fantasyland rides until we had pre-screened them ourselves. For the most part, the indoor rides scared the boogers out of BOTH kids (very dark themed, especially Mr. Toad and Snow White). Peter Pan was a favorite (five times!!) and so was the Casey Jr. Circus Train (3 times!!). The only other rides they enjoyed in Fantasyland were the carousel and the teacups.

They both really enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride, Jungle Cruise, It's A Small World and the train that goes around the entire park. They did not care for the Roger Rabbit car ride in ToonTown (it didn't scare them, but was kind of lurchy/jerky), but DD absolutely LOVED the coaster in Toontown. We did Pirates, which they *expected* would be scary ... and they actually wanted to do it again! No telling what they will enjoy.

All of that said ... when push came to shove, they both absolutely LOVED California Adventure! I am glad that we did Disneyland first, but on this next trip we expect to spend more time in CA than at DL. If your kids are used to carnival rides, there is a section of CA that has carnival type rides on a larger scale (do head for the line on the RIGHT as opposed to the line on the LEFT for the ferris wheel - they will probably like the fixed cars better than the sliding ones). These rides are a lot of fun, not enclosed in the dark, and will likely get them in the right frame of mind to try new and different things at DL.

If they liked the Monster's Inc movie, be sure to do the ride at CA. We did that one FOUR TIMES, LOL!

My kids liked CA better than Disneyland, if you can believe that. The shows, the water play areas, the "kiddie" section with whimsical themed rides (like the "smell-o-ride" caterpillar). We are heading straight there in September!

GL with your trip!

 

[4bugzinarug]

One more thing ... my husband said that the Fantasyland storybook themed indoor rides were not originally built specifically for children, so it is not suprising that some kids find them frightening. I am not knowledgeable on Disney history but can see where this could be true if you think of the time period when Disneyland was built.

 

[joeysmommy]

I think every kid's first ride on their first DL trip should be Dumbo!

I eased my kids in with non-dark rides.

We started with Dumbo, carousel, tea cups, Storybook canal boats, carousel, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Astro Orbiters.
We didn;t even hit the dark Fantasyland rides until the next day and they were fine.
My 5 yr old is tall so he went on Indy with my DH, mistake!!
He should have gone with me so I could warn him about what was coming next.
My DH hadn't been on Indy in 10 yrs so he didn't remember.

On POTC I whispered in his ear what would happen next and it helped ease his fears. Also, I brought a little flashlight for the dark rides and that was great.
I just made sure he aimed it down at the floor on POTC so not to disturb our boat mates. Also, we were in the back row so nobody even knew he had it.

 

[blackjackdelta]

One thing I have noticed is that if the parent may think or act as it maybe scary, the child picks up on it. When my kids were much younger we protected their thoughts as much as possible and gave them the information about what the ride actually was..if they did not want the experience then we switched off. Now that they are older, mid to late teens, they fear nothing in the parks..just an opinion.

Jack

 

[famograham]

WOW!! Thanks you SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate all the feedback
I'm glad that so many of you are so much more experienced...I never would have thought about Pinocchio, or Snow White...etc...as being ones to wait on..that's some very useful information!

Is there any place where you can see video of the rides?

Again, Thanks!
Linda

 

[DangerMouse]

Is there any place where you can see video of the rides?

Again, Thanks!
Linda

Yes! There is a website called visionsfantastic.com that has downloads to most of the rides at DL and DCA. You will need to register to view them.

Also, most of them are on youtube.

 

[joeysmommy]

I second youtube.
My son loves seeing different people's videos of the same ride.
Right now he likes watching the Matterhorn. It was down for refurb last time and this year he is tall enough, so he's mustering up the courage to ride it by watching the video.

 

[mannyd]

the only ride that was rough for my 5 year old was space mountain, he did not like it at all when we got off, all the other ones he loved

 

[SunDevilDaddy]

We just took our DD5 and DS6 for the first time to DL in June. My DD often plays the scaredy-cat and although I was preparing for the worst she went on everything in DL except for Space Mountain and Indy (too short for Indy). In DCA she avoided Mailboomer, Screaming, and ToT. We started on an EE day in FL and started with PP, Dumbo, so on and so forth... Dumbo really got her into the Disney spirit.

By the time we hit the Matterhorn her apprehensions had faded a bit and she bravely got into the line. In the line there was another little girl that was just about her age/height and so my wife introduced herself and our daughter to the mom and girl. My wife explained that our girl was a little nervous to ride Matterhorn because this was her first time and found out the other girl had been to DLR a few times before and Matterhorn was one of her favorite rides. So, between the poor woman my wife recruited and my DW they convinced the girl to tell my DD all about it. Coming from a peer seemed to help my DD to determine that Matterhorn was rideable. By the time we hit the ride cue my DD had no more fears and actually enjoyed it. Later on she bounced her way thru the line for BTMRR and upon exiting proclaimed it her favorite ride in the park.

The only ride she did not particularly enjoy was Splash Mountain. But, she noted that the drops didn't bother her even though they were scary. She for one reason or another was very upset by the storyline of the ride.

My DS6 rode everything with enthusiasm and was even noted by a CM as being the smallest rider on ToT that she had ever seen. He shook all his fears and really enjoyed himself. In fact, he was really upset at us because he wasn't able to ride Screamin.

My recommendation would be to discuss expectations with your child before getting to the park. The deal I made with DD was that I wouldn't force her to ride anything I thought was too big and scary if she promised to try everything else just once. If she didn't like a ride (for any reason) she would not have to ride it again. That seemed to help because she put her trust in me and at the same time knew that she did not have to experience something she didn't like more than the once.

Start with the slow mover dark rides and work your way up to the bigger more intimidating stuff. Let them know that you expect them to have a certain level of bravery but also that you respect their fears and concerns. I think that way you will be able to experience the park inside the comfort limits of everyone.

Good luck!

 

[kiwitravel]

In 2004 my DS was 7, the first ride we went on was Splash and it totally freaked him and my 12yo DD. The good thing was that he had no problems with the FL rides or anything else but the BTMRR and Matahorn. It took my daughter till the last day to get up the courage to go on those then we couldn't get her off them, my DS never went on them that trip. So in 2006 kids were two years older, one of the conditions of us going back was that DS was to ride Splash once to try and conquor his fear. Once again we did Splash first to get it out of the way for DS, he totally freaked out while he was on the ride but once he had done it he came to realise it wasn't as bad as he thought. End result was it became his favourite (we rode it over a dozen times) and as we explained everything else wasn't as scary as Splash he rode everything including ToT and CS. His holiday was so much better because we made him ride it that first time, even now we use Splash as an example to get him to try scary things... At the end of the day only you know your kids and what worked for our DS may have the opposite effect on other kids.

 

[famograham]

Really great insights everybody...I appreciate this so much!

Linda

 

[Master Mason]

you want something harder than getting a little kid on a ride that they think might be scary, try getting a 15 year old on the Pooh ride....

 

[famograham]

LOL...true enough!!!

I just worry because this is not something we can do often...and so I want them to get as much out of it as possible!