LAM378
Well-Known Member
So I get to make my FPs tomorrow and I'm wondering if I should let my son ride EE. He is over 44" tall and turns 5 the week after this "birthday trip" in August.
There's a big backstory here, but if you don't feel like reading it, please feel free to skip it and just read the last paragraph. I will understand.
Before we went to WDW last month, Max was a chicken. But he quickly tired of princesses and "baby stuff!" and went on Barnstormer. Loved it, but found it too short. Loved Splash and BTMRR and rode them repeatedly. I didn't ride because I don't do mountains. I dread the drop on PotC.
Anyhow, a few days in, Max started begging to do Space Mountain. He'd seen it on TTA. I didn't think he'd be tall enough, so I told him he could ride it if he was. He was like 1/8" over the height limit, and after much high-fiving with the CM who measured him outside, he was in.
So I'm sitting outside with my dad, who hasn't ridden it in 13 years, when he suddenly remembers Uncle Chris can't sit next to Max on this ride. And I start sweating because I just sent my baby into Space Mountain and my brother can't hold him and I'm having horrible visions of Max flying out of the ride vehicle because he doesn't know how to brace himself, he just rode his first roller coaster 3 days ago and WHAT HAVE I DONE. It was like a sick joke that I couldn't even call my brother to stop them... because I was holding his cell phone.
I waited at the ride exit shaking and reminding myself how much my brother loves Max, how he'd find a way to hold onto him, that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. The proof is in the ride photo:
My brother leaned out of his seat the whole time so he had a good grip on Max. (I don't know the guy in front of Max.)
I was really shook up. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd taken a big risk letting him ride. I was "off" the rest of the day, couldn't sleep that night; I kept thinking about the things that could have gone horribly wrong. My brother was a little shook, too--he hadn't remembered how rough and jerky Space is, how you're not ready for the drops because it's pitch dark. He said he was actually holding Max's head sometimes because otherwise his little peanut head was whipping around too much. He said that even though Max intensely loved it, there was no way he'd take him back on it anytime soon. It was too wild for Max, even if Max didn't think so. That nauseated me, made me feel even guiltier. All day I kept checking him over, checking his pupils, asking him how he felt. He was fine. Space Mountain was his favorite part of WDW. Every time he saw it thereafter, he'd scream, "I CONQUERED YOU!" at it.
Which brings me to EE. We didn't hit AK last month, but we will when we go in August. Max is fixated on EE because he saw it in a planning video. He loves watching the on-ride videos of it. "ANOTHER MOUNTAIN!!!!!" he has to conquer. "I'VE GOT TO SEE THE YETI!!!" He'd be riding with his father, who has never been to WDW (and isn't a huge fan of coasters, but will do anything for Max, and will definitely hold him tight).
TL;DR: I'm worried because when I read comparisons of Space Mountain and EE, some people say they're similar, or that EE is actually worse. Jerking and whipping and g-forces (I don't even know what they are because again, I'm a chicken). I feel terror when I watch the ride videos. The thought of him riding EE is even scarier (illogically) because it's outdoors and I picture him flying out of the ride through the air
. So what would you do? How rough is it? Would you put a Space-Mountain loving 4-year-old on it? Or should I tell him it's being refurbished while we're there? 
There's a big backstory here, but if you don't feel like reading it, please feel free to skip it and just read the last paragraph. I will understand.
Before we went to WDW last month, Max was a chicken. But he quickly tired of princesses and "baby stuff!" and went on Barnstormer. Loved it, but found it too short. Loved Splash and BTMRR and rode them repeatedly. I didn't ride because I don't do mountains. I dread the drop on PotC.
Anyhow, a few days in, Max started begging to do Space Mountain. He'd seen it on TTA. I didn't think he'd be tall enough, so I told him he could ride it if he was. He was like 1/8" over the height limit, and after much high-fiving with the CM who measured him outside, he was in.
So I'm sitting outside with my dad, who hasn't ridden it in 13 years, when he suddenly remembers Uncle Chris can't sit next to Max on this ride. And I start sweating because I just sent my baby into Space Mountain and my brother can't hold him and I'm having horrible visions of Max flying out of the ride vehicle because he doesn't know how to brace himself, he just rode his first roller coaster 3 days ago and WHAT HAVE I DONE. It was like a sick joke that I couldn't even call my brother to stop them... because I was holding his cell phone.
I waited at the ride exit shaking and reminding myself how much my brother loves Max, how he'd find a way to hold onto him, that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. The proof is in the ride photo:
My brother leaned out of his seat the whole time so he had a good grip on Max. (I don't know the guy in front of Max.)
I was really shook up. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd taken a big risk letting him ride. I was "off" the rest of the day, couldn't sleep that night; I kept thinking about the things that could have gone horribly wrong. My brother was a little shook, too--he hadn't remembered how rough and jerky Space is, how you're not ready for the drops because it's pitch dark. He said he was actually holding Max's head sometimes because otherwise his little peanut head was whipping around too much. He said that even though Max intensely loved it, there was no way he'd take him back on it anytime soon. It was too wild for Max, even if Max didn't think so. That nauseated me, made me feel even guiltier. All day I kept checking him over, checking his pupils, asking him how he felt. He was fine. Space Mountain was his favorite part of WDW. Every time he saw it thereafter, he'd scream, "I CONQUERED YOU!" at it.
Which brings me to EE. We didn't hit AK last month, but we will when we go in August. Max is fixated on EE because he saw it in a planning video. He loves watching the on-ride videos of it. "ANOTHER MOUNTAIN!!!!!" he has to conquer. "I'VE GOT TO SEE THE YETI!!!" He'd be riding with his father, who has never been to WDW (and isn't a huge fan of coasters, but will do anything for Max, and will definitely hold him tight).
TL;DR: I'm worried because when I read comparisons of Space Mountain and EE, some people say they're similar, or that EE is actually worse. Jerking and whipping and g-forces (I don't even know what they are because again, I'm a chicken). I feel terror when I watch the ride videos. The thought of him riding EE is even scarier (illogically) because it's outdoors and I picture him flying out of the ride through the air
. So what would you do? How rough is it? Would you put a Space-Mountain loving 4-year-old on it? Or should I tell him it's being refurbished while we're there? 
