Yes, I made my son ride POTC.

[RDawn]

My son was 6 years old when we visited WDW. He has a long history of imagining that things will be scary to him. We have found that we have to hold his hand & let him cry as we lead him onto hayrides, POTC, the Boneyard... and many other adventures that he ends up LOVING and wanting to repeat. He was sobbing while we waited in line at Pirates & MANY people would NEVER make their child do this, but in our case, at the end of the ride he had a huge smile, said, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!" I said, "I am so proud of you for being brave." To which he replied, "I'm proud of me too." I will not make him ride ToT, HM or EE, as I am sure that he really would be frightened on these rides. I just wanted to add some perspective to our reality of life with a nervous, imaginative child.

 

[amandajune]

I agree! You know your child- we have a DD5 that is scared of anything new. When we took her last year we didn't give her a heads up about any of the rides and she LOVED them all. Even POTC and HM. So obviously there is a line between doing what's best and maybe pushing too hard- but again- you know your child and look how it paid off! Brilliantly! Good for you!

Now next month we will square off against the roller coasters and see how that goes... Lol!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Years ago, when visiting Disneyland, my husband took our son (then aged about 7) to ride Big Thunder Railroad. He did not want to ride and started crying when my husband tried to get him to get in the car. A CM told my husband not to make him ride and wouldn't let them on! (I had no problems with this).

I agree that you need to push your kids a bit, but I wouldn't be too thrilled waiting in a long ride line listening to a child sobbing the whole time because he/she didn't want to ride. I would be wondering what was wrong with the parents.

 

[powellrj]

Years ago, when visiting Disneyland, my husband took our son (then aged about 7) to ride Big Thunder Railroad. He did not want to ride and started crying when my husband tried to get him to get in the car. A CM told my husband not to make him ride and wouldn't let them on! (I had no problems with this).

I agree that you need to push your kids a bit, but I wouldn't be too thrilled waiting in a long ride line listening to a child sobbing the whole time because he/she didn't want to ride. I would be wondering what was wrong with the parents.

I agree, I would be ticked if I had to listen to a child crying in line the whole time because they didn't want to ride.

 

[North of Mouse]

I, too, have heard children crying, saying they did not want to ride. I can't understand any CM that would board a child crying like that. They can't discern who will stop crying, and love it, and who will spend the entire ride making life miserable for themselves and everyone else.

I have also heard parents lying to their children and saying a certain ride is not scary, when actually it is to children, so it's no wonder some children are scared of all rides and don't trust their parents.

(Not saying this is what the OP did, but it does happen and 'too' often.)

 

[MandiC]

I was one of those crazy parents who stood in line at ToT with a crying child. Our motto on most things is if it isn't dangerous you don't know if you don't like it until you try it (mostly with food but with some experiences too). She didn't cry during the ride actually. She did say after that she didn't like it and I said that is okay, you don't have to ride it again if you don't want to...end of story. I don't judge other parents for doing the same. Obviously if a child is hysterically crying it might be a different story than just whining about not wanting to do it and I'm sure it might not have been pleasant for some people but some of the loud inappropriate conversations we heard in line with our kids standing right there were not pleasant for us either

 

[msmama]

My son overthinks things and I have to force EVERY ride, even the ones he has been on before and loved. Now if he was actually crying, I probably wouldn't force it.

And I don't force new rides (which he is actually a bit more open to). Last trip we rode the safari and he loved it but when it came time to ride again (with grandparents who came later) he was terrified. Turns out that he was terrified of the shaking bridge again. In his mind we were on that shaking bridge for 10 minutes. In reality it's over in 30 seconds.

 

[mommyrulesx3]

To each their own, but I have a complex personally about scary movies. When I was young a babysitter thought the same thing (try it). I was 6 and had to watch Nightmare on Elm Street. I hid my face in a pillow the whole time, but still heard the sounds. Scary movies scare me to death to this day. To parents that "push " choices on their children. Are u doing it for them, or you (ie. u want to go on the ride)? Really what are u hurting to let them mature naturally , and try new things as they are ready. I realize this is a very polarizing subject. Just my 2 cents. I would never feel comfortable pushing my sobbing child on something trivial like a ride. There are things that we cannot avoid that cause children anxiety, like starting school, etc. That is where you reassure, and then support them through it.

 

[MandiC]

Making a 6 year old watch Nightmare on Elm Street is very different than having them go on a ride they say they don't want to go on at Disney World my 10 year old hasn't even ever seen a movie rated above PG...a murderous, scary movie is far different than even Tower of Terror.
Like I said, if it was genuine sobbing/hysterical crying, I'd probably feel different. I can't say because that is not how my daughter was. She was whining about not wanting to go on it and as I suspected she didn't cry at all when we were actually on the ride (and actually the ride photo caught her peaking over the ledge curiously )
We do this for her, just like when she whines she doesn't want to eat broccoli or salad (both of which she now loves) we still made her try them. Just like when she insisted she didn't want to go on a horseback ride when she was 6 we made her and she LOVED it. Just like when she got so nervous she didn't want to go to her first dance competition we made her and her team won and she now has countdowns to the next one. I have seen so many people say they never tried certain things until they were adults and then they loved them, I think that is sad.

 

[set1208]

I have a negative DS8 who "knows" that he hates things before he ever tries them so I'm always making him do things too. Good for you for making him go and not backing down just because other people may make comments. It sounds like he is building up his confidence by trying new things and facing his fears.

 

[DopeyDame]

My son was 6 years old when we visited WDW. He has a long history of imagining that things will be scary to him. We have found that we have to hold his hand & let him cry as we lead him onto hayrides, POTC, the Boneyard... and many other adventures that he ends up LOVING and wanting to repeat. He was sobbing while we waited in line at Pirates & MANY people would NEVER make their child do this, but in our case, at the end of the ride he had a huge smile, said, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!" I said, "I am so proud of you for being brave." To which he replied, "I'm proud of me too." I will not make him ride ToT, HM or EE, as I am sure that he really would be frightened on these rides. I just wanted to add some perspective to our reality of life with a nervous, imaginative child.

I'm proud of him too! Good for him, and good for you for knowing your kid well enough to know how to handle a situation.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

I've had so many kiddos look at me and ask if a ride is scary. Often it is the Dinosaur ride at AK, or HM. I tell them if a part seems scary I close my eyes, because the ride isn't scary itself. But, I tell them I'm not a roller coaster person, I only have done Space mountain and EE. SM was very vary fast and bouncy, EE wasn't bad.

My dgs only hated the monster on EE, he closed his eyes for that part last time, but peeked.