Will Haunted Mansion terrify my (almost) 2-year old?

[LaurenT]

We took my daughter when she was 2 and she thought it was funny. Now that she's 4 she's afraid of it, lol.

Exactly! I think two is too young to be afraid of spooky. My daughter didn't mind it when she was little, now she's twelve and she gets spooked out by it but loves RnRC and EE.
I see a lot of very young kids riding it - and I see parents holding babies on it.
If he is a fearful child in general, I'd say skip it, otherwise it should be fine.

 

[famy27]

I suggest working your way up to HM. Try a few other dark rides of increasing scariness first, and if those go well, move on to HM. Older DD was an absolute no for HM until she turned 8. She freaked out on Imagination at EP because of the loud noises when she was a little under two. She wouldn't even get on PotC becasue the queue freaked her out too much, from age 2-6. The gunshot on JC also caused her quite a bit of distress. Now, she loves them all. She was willing to ride every outdoor ride from one year old onward, but the dark rides were not her thing. AT ALL.

Enter younger DD. There is literally nothing that scares her. If you jump out and yell, "Boo!" at her in the dark, she will laugh in your face. We tried her on a few dark rides at 15 months, and she loved them all, including HM and PotC. At 20 and 27 months, she still had no issues. She cried when we got to SDMT, because she was too small to ride. She wanted to go on that ride more than anything.

So, as mentioned, it definitely depends on the child. I think trying mild rides and working up to HM, with a video viewing or two is good idea as well.

 

[bwang123]

daughter a 2 hated it (still does at 9)
son at 2 loved it (still does at 5)

I don't think you will fully know until you take them on. I set it up for my son that the ghosts are funny and he laughed the whole time.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

We took our our daughter, age 23 months at the tine, and my niece, age 7 at the time, on haunted mansion in july. Our toddler daughter loved it. My niece started crying after we got into the ride cars and cried pretty much the whole ride, when it was too late to bail. Afterward she giggled at herself proclaimed it wasn't so scary after all.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

We took my son at 9 weeks and 15 months and both times went fine. We are going again in a few weeks and I think/hope that he will do fine again at 21 months. That age is really too young to understand ghosts/death/graveyards. As others have mentioned, the one thing that may bother her is if she is startled by thunder claps, sudden darkness, or people screaming.

I think if you could skip the stretching room that would help, but no one has said yet whether you can actually do that. But we went through the stretching room both times and my son did fine. Maybe try Peter Pan first to get an idea if darkness is a problem? And you should know from your experiences with her if storms/loud noises usually scare her. If she cries at thunder or loud noises at home, I would skip. Otherwise, I think she would do fine.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

@MrsDuck that is a great piece of advice! I'm going to try that myself. My 2YO DD tends to be pretty relaxed so I'm planning on taking her on the ride since my DH and I will both be on there with her. But showing her the YouTube video id a great idea!

 

[ttintagel]

Does anyone know if you can ask to skip the stretching room? If so, how does this process work?

Well, you can ASK, and I have heard stories of some people being told yes, but personally I've always been told no. And I have a physical reason for needing to (I'm visually impaired, and the chaotic rush of crowds in the pitch-dark (I mean, once the lights go down I can;t see an inch in front of my face) isn;t really safe for me or for the other guests around me. But still, the CM's always say no.

HOWEVER, everybody at WDW seems more inclined to accommodate a child when they won't do the same for an adult, even if the adult's need is actually greater, so there's always a chance if you ask.

If you do luck out and get told yes, you'll be directed around to the exit and wait there until a CM ushers you in.

 

[Princess Olivia]

Well, you can ASK, and I have heard stories of some people being told yes, but personally I've always been told no. And I have a physical reason for needing to (I'm visually impaired, and the chaotic rush of crowds in the pitch-dark (I mean, once the lights go down I can;t see an inch in front of my face) isn;t really safe for me or for the other guests around me. But still, the CM's always say no.

HOWEVER, everybody at WDW seems more inclined to accommodate a child when they won't do the same for an adult, even if the adult's need is actually greater, so there's always a chance if you ask.

If you do luck out and get told yes, you'll be directed around to the exit and wait there until a CM ushers you in.

You are correct. I have two boys on the autism spectrum and we were allowed to skip the stretching room and taken to the exit and CM ushered us to the ride. Last time they were 2 and 4. In a few weeks when we go they will be 4 and 6. I'm not sure they'll ride this tIme. The 6 year old will watch a you tube video and he just says "no"...lol. We'll see...