HM, POTC and Tiki, Country Bears with Children 3 & Under?

[mickeymatt]

My daughter is 4 and will be 5 next trip. I still haven't taken her on HM because I don't know if it will cause nightmares. I just didn't think it was worth finding out. But hey.... I enjoy my sleep...lol.

 

[pcarathers]

as others have said, it really depends on the child. we took my niece when she was 2 and again when she was not quite 4. She was terrified the first trip of the characters, but loved the attractions. Second time around, she was perfect. She had been there and seen nothing was going to harm her. And she remembered things about the attractions that we did not! Unreal! IF you want to test them out, I would do the TIKI room, that way, you CAN walk out if you need to. On the rides, you'd be stuck with a crying/terrifed child.

 

[polynesiangirl]

My first WDW trip was in the mid 1980s, when I was 3. I saw all of the attractions you list with the possible exception of HM (I can't remember seeing it, so that either means I wasn't phased by it, or my folks didn't take me on it.)

I was a little freaked out by the darkness (and the little drop :animwink on POTC but I do also remember liking it and talking about it a lot after we got home. For what it's worth, I had a Disney Singalong tape that featured the Disneyland POTC on it and watched that incessantly around that age so perhaps I sort of knew what to expect.

 

[clee687]

My son's first trip was at 22 months. We watched the WDW planning DVDs all the time before our trip and his favorite part was the Country Bears but would not sit still for it once we were really there-we had to walk out-I hope we did not insult the bears!!!! He rode Pirates 3 times and loved it and rode HM once-he did not fuss or cry-was just VERY quiet and looked concerned. We did not attempt TIKI since we had already learned he would not sit for shows. His 2nd trip was for his 3rd birthday and he loved Tiki, would not even get in line for HM due to the spookiness of the building, rode Pirates once but with his eyes closed and says now (at 4 1/2) that he will not ride it next time because of the small drop. We did not try Country Bears last time-not sure why now-I'm sure he would've loved it. Remember too that if they get scared during the line waiting you can exit before the actual ride and you can leave the shows too. Last year when we went into any show we made sure to sit closest to the exit doors since we didn't know if he would do better on that trip. Thankfully he did. Good luck and have fun!

 

[durangojim]

To me, the younger the better. We took our kids on these rides when they were around 8 weeks and multiple times there after. They know everything is pretend and "fun scary" not "scary scary". Don't force your child to do anything that he/she isn't comfortable with, but tell them how the silly ghosts and pirates will be acting and that it's all just pretend.

 

[fireworkz]

Besides those rides, watch out for the 3D movies. If your children haven't experienced 3D before, you might be in for some fear at least from your older child. Despite trying to prepare her for it my 3 year old spent most of her first viewing of Philarmagic in my arms. (Simba freaked her right out!) However after that one, she started to understand how it worked, went back again and loved it, same with Muppets. Never did Tough to be a Bug though, she already has a big fear of bugs and heard from many that movie usually scares young children.

Every child is different, when I was young I remember being terrified of that talking skull on the top of the drop in PotC, but my daughter at 3 loves Pirates. (of course the skull is gone now!) She also loves stuff like BTM, but hates HM.