7 year old and Sapce Mountain

[ASTERIX]

I have been to Disney thirteen times, but this one trip I am taking my seven year old daughter to Space Mountain. I was nine when I first rode it, but I wanted to get some input from my you, my Disney friends, on whether she is too young to ride it yet?. Thanks for your comments


Disney Forever!!!!!!! Adults are kids deep in their hearts, it's just a matter of finding themselves in the magic of DISNEY!!!!!

 

[Dwarful]

Is she big or small for her age??? My 8 yr old niece loved it when we took her in May..but our daughter who was a few weeks shy of 6 didnt even get the chance to go on it...she is small for her age..height wise she could have gone but since there was no way for us to hold on to her...like the Space Mountain at Disneyland where you go two by two not singlefile, we didnt let her go. You might start off on some other thrill rides..see how she does on the others and go from there..you dont want to force her on and ruin it for her...good luck!

 

[Kellylynn322]

Maybe a good way to start would be to take her on the People Mover (TTA) that goes through SPace Mountain and let her look as the cars go past. If she seems scared of that then I would suggest to wait. If not I think 7 is ok. I went on it when I was around that age. Mom just held on tight, not sure if she was trying to keep me safe or if she was just scared.

 

[bearboysnc]

there were some good posts on this thread regarding the same issue... take a look.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10646

 

[2much2do]

Depends on your daughter. Is she a daring girl? Has she ever been on any other of the big rides? BTM? Splash? How about something like Primeavel Whirl? Or even Star Tours? How she handles these will clue you in to how she'll handle Space. My advice, though is: Don't rush her into something she doesn't feel comfortable with. She'll resent you for it and if she doesn't like it it may turn her off to those kinds of rides for a long, long time. Why rush it anyways? WDW will always be there!

 

[monorail256]

Just tell her there are no loops :animwink: That always helped me!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Depends on your daughter, on her second trip to WDW my 7 year old loved Big Thunder. She still avoided Space Mountain when she was 9 - I think it has something to do with the dark

 

[wannabeBelle]

well I went with my sister and her hubby and the three kids In August of last year. my nephew was 7 at the time and he was SSSSOOOOO Looking foward to doing Space Mountain. Then when he got a look at the dumb thing up close he was like NO WAY!!!! Well Mom and he had a little chat and he went on with me and his Dad. He really liked it after that and went on again almost immediately!! I dont know if the People Mover helped or hurt. I think the amount of time you are in SM on that ride is longer than the coaster itself!! I Am convinced the People Mover scared him more. Also be sure to point out that the asteroids are movies of chocolate chip cookies. It helped my little guy!!! P.S. Kids who are too short (my niece) arent even allowed in the structure at all and must wait outside so arrange the riding party accordingly.

 

[Disneynutcase]

Is 7 years of age old enough for SM? Yep. Unless she's unnaturally short, she should be plenty tall enough to ride the thing, too.

Whether or not she should ride depends on what kind of a kid she is--how she handles fast and dark rides.

My eight year old has been on everything but Alien Encounter, SM, and RnRC. She's just now working up the nerve to give SM a try (as in "next time we go..."). What helps is that several of her friends have been on it but haven't done things like ToT. The peer thing helps a lot (although one of her friends insists that SM has loops and it's taken A LOT to convince my child that it doesn't loop).

On the same note, on separate trips I've been with four and five year olds (1 girl, 2 boys) who rode on every thrill ride they could get their little butts on who loved each and every ride. When they were told they were "not tall enough" to ride SM, were these kids crushed. And I have no doubt in my mind that if they were given passage to ride, that they would've loved every minute.

Monitor your kid's enthusiasm. If she's excited to go on SM, then there probably won't be any problem. If she's trying to drag you out of line, she's probably NOT going to enjoy it. And if you notice that she has problems on other dark or fast rides, then you're either going to torture this child with SM or you'll be totally pushing your luck.

 

[stepharoni]

I rode SM when I was 8 and it was brand new! I had to drag my grandmother on it with me. I loved it. She didn't. No ride ever scared me, though. It all depend on the kid. I say go for it.