Would you take a 3 year old on HM?

[peterpanandwendy]

I love Disneyland, (obviously, I found myself here on the Disboards!) and I have been there 9 times without kids (coming from Canada). This summer i'm finally fulfilling my dream of bringing my own little family to Disneyland.

So, would you take your 3 year old on HM? My husband says yes, but I'm not so sure. I love HM, but I don't want to give him nightmares....

 

[jkolkemo]

I think it really depends on your child. We took my youngest on it when she had just turned 3 that month. She was fine, a little nervous, but held hands and cuddled on the ride and no problem. Joked about the funny things we saw. However she had been exposed to more scary type of shows at our house. I have a friend who has a 10 year old who is prob. too scared to go on it, but then she won't even do sleepovers at friends houses, etc. You know your kid and what they can handle. Start with a few of the dark rides, like snow white, etc. and see how they do, you will know if it is right for your child after that.

 

[tiffjoy]

It depends on your child.

That ride is my DD4's favorite. She's been riding it since she was one. But she loves all the rides and doesn't scare easily for that kind of stuff. It's just part of her personality.

My DD2 is so-so on it. Not scared but not exactly a fan either.

Every child is different, and I think you have to gauge your child for yourself because you know him best. You can try it, and tell him that if he's scared, he can turn his face into you and cuddle. That's what I did with both my kids the first time we rode it.

 

[Malcon10t]

Yes, I've taken my granddaughter on it since she was 6 mos. She is 3 now and enjoys it.

 

[figment_jii]

This question comes up periodically and it usually ends up with a split answer. Some people think it's fine, others warn against it. In the end, you know your child the best and what is their tolerance for potentially scary situations.

Here are a few links to pretty much the same question:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3133878
http://ww.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3107518

 

[GatorChris]

Shoot, I took my two oldest on Tower of Terror when they were 3yo. They were both at 40 inches and begged us to go on it and everything else that would allow 40 inch riders. Yes, they're thrill junkies, and my youngest probably won't ask to go on it because dark rides scare her, but Haunted Mansion is no sweat.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Oh gosh! I don't realize it was such a divided topic! I think the idea of trying other dark rides first, like POTC maybe, and seing how it goes is a good call. Obviously that makes sense, and we will just play it by ear

 

[figment_jii]

Oh gosh! I don't realize it was such a divided topic! I think the idea of trying other dark rides first, like POTC maybe, and seing how it goes is a good call. Obviously that makes sense, and we will just play it by ear

Actually in some way, I would suggest Snow White...it's actually pretty scary with the witch/queen featuring pretty heavily in it. It's also pretty short, so if it doesn't go well, it's over soon.

 

[momof4fans]

We took our 3yo on HH a couple years ago. I don't think she really got some of the scary stuff. She was fine. She went when she was 5 and was fine too. But every kid is different!

 

[ForeverAlice]

I was very worried about this too! My dd is almost 3 and I was very worried she would be scared but we asked her if she wanted to go and told her its a little spooky and scary but not real. She wanted to go and when I thought parts were a little scary for her I just would smile and talk to her and say thats silly isn't it? In the stretch room she was a little nervous so dh held her and told her if she didn't like it she she could close her eyes and she did. When we were walking out she asked if she could go on Mickey's spooky ride again! So we did three more times! But each child is different.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I always laugh when I see this question because I remember our first visit to Disneyland. My boys were ages 3 and 5 at the time. We rode Winnie the Pooh first to ease them into the experience since at that time Winnie the Pooh was pretty much the only Disney character they were familiar with besides Mickey Mouse. DH wanted to ride Haunted Mansion so as we were walking by, he suggested we go try it out. The boys looked at the outside of the house with some trepidation but followed DH. I lagged behind. They got up to the outer room and barely stepped inside. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, if it was just the dark or being overwhelmed by the new experiences or the CM there spooked them, but they both came running back down the path yelling and grabbed my hands and told me they would not be doing that ride! I just shrugged and said ok, and DH went ahead and rode it. I didn't ride HM until our 3rd trip to Disneyland. Lol.

I think you just go with the comfort level of your kid. Try it out and see how far your kid gets. Even once you get down into the room with the actual ride, you can still bail out if you ask the CM. If you're on the ride when he decides he's not happy, then, yes, you've got to stick it out, but it's only for a few minutes and there are ways you can attempt to comfort and distract including suggestions to put his head down, close his eyes, hold your hand, etc. The first time my older son rode Pirates he was fine until about 5 minutes into the ride and then burst out crying. We comforted him and he made it through the experience and understood nothing bad happened to him. It took him a while to be willing to go on the ride again, but he did eventually, of course. It's one of his favorite rides to this day.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Or Mr. Toad! That was my sisters fave ride when she was a little kid.... It is so messed up!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Just a comment regarding Snow White. That ride can be pretty scary for younger children. You might want to try Mr Toad's Wild Ride and Pirates of the Caribbean before Haunted Mansion.

My kids had no problem with Haunted Mansion, but they remembered the dark tunnel on Pirates, so it took another year before I could get them on that attraction again.

 

[HollyL]

Kids are so different. I took my son on his 6th birthday. He was very excited to go on the HM, and was actually fine with everything UNTIL we got to the moving walkway to get into the Doombuggy, then he freaked out. Call me mean or whatever, but I dragged him on the ride. Turns out, he loved it, said it was his favorite ride and made us go on it again right away.

My 3 year old daughter would absolutely love it, she loves darker things. Her favorite Disney movie is Frankenweenie, and she also love Nightmare Before Christmas. I hope I can take her to Disneyland this coming December, because although she has been on the NBC version of HM several times before, when she was a baby, she would actually be aware of it now.

With 3 years between them, my daughter isn't afraid of anything, but her big brother was too afraid to go on the Toy Story ride. I also couldn't get him to go on Space Mountain or the Matterhorn, or Splash Mountain. I almost didn't get him on Soaring, but after he went on it, of course that was the best ride ever. Oh, and he was afraid of meeting Winnie the Pooh. All of the other characters, he was very excited about, but something about Pooh freaks him out. I have a very strange child.

 

[Epek]

My 3 yr old likes all the dark rides now, but the first time he went (at a week before 3) Mr Toads, Snow White, and the castle walk through freaked him out. Pirates never did and only the stretching room of HM did. We did a lot of talking about what to expect and telling him what is and isn't real beforehand. Like the screaming in the stretching room- I told him it was the other people just trying to have fun. I would suggest starting with non-dark rides, then judging your kid's reaction, moving on to the dark rides. We started with the castle for my ds, at his request, and that did not go over well! But, he got over it and it didn't ruin the trip. As everyone said, though, it depends on the child!

 

[YukonMommy]

I'm going to agree with the consensus that it depends on your child. Our kids all love it and over our 3 holidays the age ranged from 1-11 years old.

You are not going to know until you go! I always suggest going on everything your child is of height for as you never know until you try. The great thing about Disney is that if they didn't like one, odds are they will like the next one with so much to see and do!

Have a magical time!

 

[mikana876]

All kids are different. DS loved it when he was 3

 

[O2H O2H]

My boys were 1 and 3 the first time I took them to DL. The 3 yo started out the ride very scared, but my husband kept making everything sound silly, and kind of whispering in his ear during the ride. By the graveyard scene, DH was talking about the ghosts that pop up from behind the tombstones, saying, "so silly! Look at those peekaboo guys!" and from then on, he was never afraid. Of HM. Now, half of the OTHER rides, he would flip out, but HM was the "silly peekaboo ride" ROFL. The only thing I had to do is during the preshow when there is the loud thunder/scream and the lights went out I would cover his ears and then the light flashes back on, and I would go, "oops!!" like I didn't mean to cover them, or pull him into me so he couldn't really notice it was dark, lol.

 

[Kristina4109]

I did this with my 3 year old girl. I assured her that the scariest part of the whole thing was in the stretch room, and that the rest was more silly than scary. After the stretch room she told me she wanted to leave. I said sure and started to look for a CM so we could exit. Then she took a deep breath and said she changed her mind. She LOVED the rest of the ride.

 

[letthembelittle]

Like others have said it totally depends on your kid, we have taken our kids on it when they were all little and they have done fine (though alot of our trips it has been overlayed with the Nightmare Before Christmas which I think makes it less "scary"). My youngest was a few months shy of 3 on our last trip and she LOVED it, my almost 9 year old not so much...