Children on Rides

coleandrachel

coleandrachel

Active Member
Original Poster
Hello Folks!
My wife and I are going in December with our 3 year old (almost 4) daughter. Last night we looked up the height requirements for most rides at all the parks and for the most part they are 40"... Our daughter is just a hair over 40", now what we are wondering is what rides to take her on (other than the rides that are specifically for kiddos). Have you ever taken your kids on rides that they were barely able to get on? Which rides and how did it turn out? :)
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
Yes! My 49" tall son did Expedition Everest, Space Mountain and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster (48" requirements I think) and Mission:Space (44" requirement) and he and my four-year-old daughter (42.5") did Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (40" requirement, I believe).

My son didn't care for the big coasters (although he insisted on trying them) and felt they were too "rough." He LOVED Splash Mountain, however (little sister loved it up until that last drop, which she felt was too scary for her to repeat), and Mission:Space, and both kids pronounced Big Thunder Mountain to be one of their top favorite attractions. My daughter screamed herself hoarse on Big Thunder, whooping and yelling, "This is greeeeeeeat!" Haunted Mansion, which I had been worried would be too scary for them, was also a big favorite. We did not even attempt Tower of Terror, which I would deem too frightening for any child under the age of 10.

For a 40"+ little girl, obviously the more intense attractions I just mentioned would be out of the question anyway. If she hates being jounced around too roughly, I would avoid Dinosaur and simulators like Star Tours. (Goofy's Barnstormer, a kiddie coaster, might be a good ride to "test" how she feels.) Also, if she is easily frightened, there are moments in the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, It's Tough to Be a Bug, and Captain EO that she might find too scary or jarring. (You can preview all of these on Youtube to check.) And I would definitely not take any child on Stitch's Great Escape, where they'll be forcibly restrained and forced to see, hear and even smell crappy entertainment. They should rename that thing "Walt Disney's Clockwork Orange." ;)

Have a wonderful time! Whatever your daughter's tolerance for thrills, I'm sure you'll find there's more for her to do than you'll have time for.
 
W

wiigirl

Well-Known Member
When our kids were that tall I took them on everything I could....my kids turned out to be little dare devils. :P
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HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
My older one was pretty much 40" on the dot on her 5th bday trip. She rode BTMRR, Splash, StarTours, Test Track, and Soarin. While she was tall enough to ride Dinosaur and ToT, they would have been too scary for her.
 
awoogala

awoogala

Well-Known Member
coleandrachel said:
Hello Folks!
My wife and I are going in December with our 3 year old (almost 4) daughter. Last night we looked up the height requirements for most rides at all the parks and for the most part they are 40"... Our daughter is just a hair over 40", now what we are wondering is what rides to take her on (other than the rides that are specifically for kiddos). Have you ever taken your kids on rides that they were barely able to get on? Which rides and how did it turn out? :)
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depends on the kid. My 6 year old daughter lost her mind on many of those rides, my son would go on all of them. My niece went on everything the second she could. My daughter is still traumatized by goofy's barnstormer and tells me, at 8, she will never ride splash mountain ever ever ever again. :pSo start small and check how she is. My daughter likes teacups, carousel, all the shows, toy story, many of the dark rides (though still leery about peter pan). Some kids are just not thrill types!
 
s&k'smom

s&k'smom

Well-Known Member
My son wouldn't go on anything his first trip (and he's always been tall enough-nearly 6 feet now), my daughter loves almost everything, the rest of us our scared to go on say TOT but if I could find someone to go with her she'd love it. You could go on youtube and check out rides as well, that actually helped my son. Have a blast!
 
Clyde

Clyde

Active Member
I made the mistake on our last trip to WDW to the TOT for our first ride of the trip. He was just turning 4 and he met the height requirement so I figured how bad could it be? I have never been on the ride before. I was on that ride with him and knew in moments that it was a mistake. As soon as I heard "why did the people turn into lightning daddy?" I had a bad feeling.
Every single ride over the next 3 days that had even a moment of darkness, he was waiting to drop. He cried in more than one ride and lost it in Pirates of the carribean. Height restrictions mean nothing. TOT is ENTIRELY too scary for a 4 year old. =)
 
B

buseegal

Active Member
my 4 year ol grandson's favorite ride is TOT but he loves the tower drop rides at our local parks. i ha to drag him off each of our 8 rides this past summer. only problem is he has to sit in an upper row so he can see over the wall when window opens. he id not get the story, did not pay attention to that part, he just loved the bounce-drop and looking out the window. he still talks about that most when he talks about trip
 
Clyde

Clyde

Active Member
buseegal said:
my 4 year ol grandson's favorite ride is TOT but he loves the tower drop rides at our local parks. i ha to drag him off each of our 8 rides this past summer. only problem is he has to sit in an upper row so he can see over the wall when window opens. he id not get the story, did not pay attention to that part, he just loved the bounce-drop and looking out the window. he still talks about that most when he talks about trip
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HAHa! That's fantastic. YOu have a little daredevil on your hands there. My son caught on to the story immediately and so began the freakout. The drop got him too. It was too intense for him.
Whenever I say to him "Ya wanna go to Disney world?" He replies.. " Not the tower of terror right?"
lol
 
B

buseegal

Active Member
the little daredevil can not wait to return and ride again. his second favorite is Dinosaur. least favorite is haunted mansion. what can i say, mad he could not ride space mountain
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
Pull up videos of any questionable ride and watch with dd.Let decide what to try no judgement. Children are ready when they are ready. Watch lots of Disney movies and explain just like movies all the scary stuff is just Disney magic and won't hurt you. Good luck!!! Have a magical trip
 
Sumrdog

Sumrdog

Well-Known Member
We took our daughter on Dinosaur when she was barely tall enough, I think she was four at the time. Big mistake. She was terrified. I really didn't think it would scare her that much. But in hindsight the enormous Carnotaur bearing down on the back of the ride vehicle is quite intense...
She is ten now I don't believe any permanent damage was done. She happily rides everything and loves TOT and EE, but for a couple of years she didn't quite trust me when I would promise her that a ride wouldn't scare her. After that I realized that the height restriction might be as much about maturity as it is about safety at times.
 
T

Tishypops

New Member
My eldest who will be 7 next week has decided she wants to ride 'a real roller coaster' when we go to Alton Towers for her little sisters birthday in July. I am a little nervous as she has never really done any big rides before but she really wants to do it. I remember riding them at her age but she just doesn't seem as confident as I was at that age.
I think the easiest 'big ride' at Alton towers (for anyone in the UK) is nemesis. I have been on it several times and I know it is not bad. I have shown her videos from people on it and we have talked about if she gets a funny feeling in her belly then she should just scream but I am really nervous about it. At what point have you all taken children onto the next step of coasters?
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
Tishypops said:
My eldest who will be 7 next week has decided she wants to ride 'a real roller coaster' when we go to Alton Towers for her little sisters birthday in July. I am a little nervous as she has never really done any big rides before but she really wants to do it. I remember riding them at her age but she just doesn't seem as confident as I was at that age.
I think the easiest 'big ride' at Alton towers (for anyone in the UK) is nemesis. I have been on it several times and I know it is not bad. I have shown her videos from people on it and we have talked about if she gets a funny feeling in her belly then she should just scream but I am really nervous about it. At what point have you all taken children onto the next step of coasters?
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I have a little daredevil who was 2 and tall enough for his first loop coaster!! He was fine me not as much!!
 

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