Has your child been afraid of rides or characters at WDW?

[durangojim]

Read on another thread about a woman who's 4 y/o has been really afraid of the rides and characters. I'm wondering if others have experienced this and if you have, had they been to WDW without being afraid before. If the child hasn't had any problems, what age did you start taking them to WDW?

 

[shoppingnut]

Yes, we experiened the fear of characters with my nephew on his second trip to wdw, but we worked on it slowly, by walking by a character who was out signing autographs and just pointing out, hey look it's tigger and he's saying hi to all the kids. We also did the character meals and while he was afraid at the first one and didn't want to get out of his seat, we all took pictures with the characters and by the end of the trip he would let the character come stand next to him at the table. Little steps helped him adjust to the characters.

We never experienced fear of the rides, so I can't comment on that.

 

[Laura]

Oh yeah, my son has at one time feared just about everything at Disney. :lol:

When he was 3 he was afraid of the characters. By his next trip he was ok with the characters, but then began to really fear silly things like the drop on Pirates and the scream in the Haunted Mansion lobby. The next 3-4 trips he was absolutely terrified going into those 2 rides and would be hysterical as we approached them. We brought him on anyway because on Pirates as soon as the drop was over he'd ALWAYS say "that wasn't scary!" and then proceed to enjoy the rest of the ride. On Haunted Mansion after the scream was over he'd be thrilled with everything else. I'm sure everyone thought we were horrible parents dragging a crying child onto both of them, but he always exited them with a huge grin on his face, wanting to go on again. I've been taking him to Disney every couple months since he was a baby and I have no idea why in between the trips he'd get a renewed fear of those 2 things.

After he stopped being afraid of them he reached the magical 40 inches and then began to fear anything "fast". It would take me months and months of bribery and youtube videos to get him to go on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, but again, after all was said and done he just loved them. On our most recent trip in June he was nearly 7 years old and once again terrified of Splash and Thunder Mountain. Well by the end of the trip he decided Thunder Mountain was his very favorite ride and we went on it about 5 times in a row and was sad when we had to stop.

My daughter, on the other hand, is fearless. She's been riding Tower of Terror since she was 3. :lol:

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I was FREAKED out by the Mirror in Snow White.That was when I was 2 1/2:lol:

 

[Ilovewishes]

Not my child, but when we took my brother to WDW for the first time when he was about 6ish. He spent most of his time either with his head up the back of someone's jacket or with said jacket wrapped around his head and his fingers in his ears!!

We found he was worse if he knew what was coming and I'm afraid, we were guilty of telling him that, no, of course there were no drops in Splash Mountain! That big drop? Don't be silly! It's Zip a Dee Doo Dah! What's so scary about Zip a Dee Doo Dah?

He was fine when we were on it. Although the look on his face on the photo we got really is a picture...:lookaroun

 

[mouselvrmom]

My second oldest daughter went for the first time when she was 3 years old. She is our biggest fearing child. She was afraid of some of the characters and a few rides. She would do the rides, would just cuddle with me. She made my son who was almost 2 afraid of some of the characters too.

However our youngest child has been going since she was 11 months and she LOVES the characters and all the rides. She's four now and is just hitting 40 inches, so hopefully this trip she'll be able to go on most of the rides. She can't wait.

I think sometimes the younger you acclimate children the less fear they show. Of course, sometimes it just depends on the child. Some kids may have no fear when younger but may grow into fears when they are older.

 

[disneymyway]

No, my daughter didn't go to WDW until she was 5 and was not afraid. In the thread that the woman was asking for help with her 4 year old nephew that was afraid and the vacation was in trouble, I was describing something a little different but I still think relevant.

We were there with some friends who had not yet had kids and my husband and they went off and did things that my daughter was just too short for, or things that were too boring for a 5 year old.

I just didn't get to see much of EPCOT that trip - and I rode the teacups about 5 times :lol: but my point was, sometimes it has to be about the kid. We had so much fun and I just loved that trip. It would be a shame if the child felt pressure or guilt that they were somehow ruining a vacation because of them.

 

[Cattman96]

my little girl just turned 1 so I haven't been with her yet, however I was there on my honeymoon and while we wer getting on dinosaur a man was literally dragging his son down the queue. He was holding on to the rails screaming.Finally the father gave up! When we were boarding the ride i mentioned to my wife how cruel that was. Unbeknownst to me, I said it in front of the kids mother. She in turned ripped me a new and said that they had to do it on other rides as well and he in turn loved those rides. Wasn't buying it but I bet he will hate Disney when he grows up...

 

[Raven66]

Our DD was 5 (now 11) the first time we went. She was not afraid of anything. She did have a few moments when she wasn't sure of something. Before we left home she wanted to ride ToT. Well when we got in line she changed her mind. We just told her to ride it once and if she didn't like it she never had to ride it again. She agreed and that same day we must have ridden it 10 times in a row. She loves it now.


When we were planning the trip we just told her that the characters would be bigger then they are in the movies or in her books.


I don't remember off hand which character it was, but she ran right up to him and hugged him. The lady standing next to us, asked how we got her to do that because her kid refused.

When planning that first trip we just did a lot of reading and reading to her. Watching the planning vids, ordering the books and looking at the website. She knew what to expect. She was actually mad that she wasn't tall enough to ride RnRC and Space Mountain. The next year she was and I was more scared to let her ride them then she was going on them. :lookaroun

 

[coltow]

4yo was never afraid of anything, this past trip the only things he was a little scared of were the stretching room in HM and the thought of riding ToT made him cry.

17 mo son was very afraid of the characters the first few times he was near them. He's look at them and smile and wave, but when they cam close he freaked. After watching his big bro and cousin around them for another couple of days he realized it was fun. Our last 2 days we have pictures of him standing with characters, where the first few days we only have character pictures with the older kids.

 

[Pens24]

It's not my child but when I was 5 yrs old I was afriad to go on body wars becuase I thought that you were actually going inside a human body:ROFLOL:

 

[YodaGirl]

This isn't at Disney World, but...

There is a theme park near my hometown called Holiday World, and they have a character named Holidog. He kinda looks like Pluto, I guess.

Anyway, DD went this past June (she was about 17mos). She absolutely loved him from a far, pointed, waved, and yelled "Doggy!". We went to get a picture of them, and she FREAKED! She screamed, she cried, and she tried to climb over my shoulder to get away from him as quickly as possible. Needless to say, we didn't get a picture. She also does the same thing with the Easter Bunny and Santa at the mall. Loves 'em from a distance, but forget about approaching them.

Hopefully she'll grow out of it by next May.

 

[Dragonrider1227]

AS a child, I was scared to death of mr. toad's wild ride. I also refused to ride haunted Mansion and had my head down during the entire run of POTC. My little brother when he was REALLY little was often overwhelmed by certain rides but the characters were the one thing he always loved. Never once was he scared of them.

 

[Cole'sMom]

He looooves all the characters, especially Pooh. We have been taking him since he was 10 weeks old-we are starting him early on our favorite traditions!

 

[Coree]

We took DD for her first trip at 14 months and she wasn't afraid of anything at all. Well, she was a little suspicious of Goofy, but he's really tall. For her second trip at 2 1/2 she feared everything--the parking tram, the monorail, characters, rides, the swimming pool. It was NOT the best trip ever. We're taking her back in two months at just over 3 years old and I THINK she's going to be much better. She's talking about swimming in the pool and getting characters to sign her autograph book and tonight I think I even made a breakthrough in getting her to say she'd try "boat rides" (like IASW, not Splash). :lol: So we'll see what happens.

 

[kcw]

Yes, we experiened the fear of characters with my nephew on his second trip to wdw, but we worked on it slowly, by walking by a character who was out signing autographs and just pointing out, hey look it's tigger and he's saying hi to all the kids. We also did the character meals and while he was afraid at the first one and didn't want to get out of his seat, we all took pictures with the characters and by the end of the trip he would let the character come stand next to him at the table. Little steps helped him adjust to the characters.

:sohappy: Good for you!!

There are way too many people who try to force their children to see the characters- crying, screaming, and kicking. I just don't understand why on earth you'd do that- that makes for a terrible picture anyways! For anyone out there who has kids who are scared of characters, this is exactly how you need to handle it. Trying to force them will only make things worse. Sometimes characters will try to win scared kids over, and many times they'll succeed, but sometimes there's just no calming little Billy and you just have to walk away (yes, even if you've waited 30 minutes in the sweltering heat!)

So just to reiterate.... please please please please please please do not force your kids to meet characters if they don't want to!!!!!

 

[sublimesting]

My cousin cried and cried in POC....he was 15. HA HA

 

[MattyFresh]

To this day I still think back and laugh, but for the longest time I was soooooo afraid of Space Mountain. I am not sure if it was the darkness or it only being one person to a seat. Year after year I would make several attempts, walk all the way up to the loading area, and then take the walk of shame off the loading dock and to the embarrassing door in the back.

Every time my dad would walk all the way with me, knowing that I was just going to back out when it came down to yes or no time. Never once did he try to force me to get on or talk down to me about chickening out.

Once I finally got on, and realized that it was really nothing to be scared about, for some reason little ol Space Mountain gave me all the courage in the world to get on any and every ride I have seen since then.

 

[Disneybub]

i was terrified of ToT for years!! i refused to go on it! i went on when i was about 10 and hated it.

so last year we went, my parents went on 3 times and then when they come off i said come on, lets go on, ok im nearly 25 now, but i came round to it - eventually.

 

[H20Babie]

I couldn't really find an option that fit so I didn't vote. My son is 7 and has 6 trips under his belt, with his 7th coming up.

He was never afraid of characters, but he is hesitant to go on specific rides, namely HM, ToT and EE -- nothing else. Now that he is over the 48" height requirement, he is really looking forward to riding RnRC this year. He is thinking that he'll try HM, ToT, and EE this year, as we are going with another family and he doesn't want to look "like a baby" (his words, not mine). I've never pushed him to ride anything he didn't want to, but I know that he would love HM and EE once he gets past the theming.