The Mountains, appropriate for a 6 year old?

[AlwaysaDisney]

Okay, I don't want to sound like the most horrible parent in the world, but I really want our DS6 to go on Splash Mountain and BTMRR, and lead up to Space Mountain. I showed him pictures of BTMRR and he was like No, I'm not doing that one. My heart sank and I know I can't force him to go on these wonderful rides, but I just wish I could some how convince him that he would really love these rides! Its hard to explain the "don't judge a book by its cover" thing to a 6 year old. I just feel horrible about it. He is even freaked out about Barnstormer. I don't know what to do. I'm not going to force him to go on any of these rides, because that would just ruin his entire experience here. But if anyone has any suggestion as to how I can maybe convince him these are fun rides, I'd be glad to hear about it!

 

[Nemo14]

Okay, I don't want to sound like the most horrible parent in the world, but I really want our DS6 to go on Splash Mountain and BTMRR, and lead up to Space Mountain. I showed him pictures of BTMRR and he was like No, I'm not doing that one. My heart sank and I know I can't force him to go on these wonderful rides, but I just wish I could some how convince him that he would really love these rides! Its hard to explain the "don't judge a book by its cover" thing to a 6 year old. I just feel horrible about it. He is even freaked out about Barnstormer. I don't know what to do. I'm not going to force him to go on any of these rides, because that would just ruin his entire experience here. But if anyone has any suggestion as to how I can maybe convince him these are fun rides, I'd be glad to hear about it!

Personally I think if he's not ready, he's not ready. My son was very intimidated about "thrill" rides til he was in his teens. He survived and is a fairly well-adjusted adult now. JMHO

 

[Lucky]

Let him watch the rides and people exiting the rides - he'll see a lot of kids his age and younger who aren't freaked out by them. He might change his mind. But I agree if he's really not ready you don't want to force it. My kids were/are a lot more adventurous than I was when I was a kid.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

I agree with above if he doesn't want to go on Just wait im sure next year he will want to go on for sure!

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

Personally I think if he's not ready, he's not ready. My son was very intimidated about "thrill" rides til he was in his teens. He survived and is a fairly well-adjusted adult now. JMHO

Yeah I can understand that. My DH is very intimidated by thrill rides himself, he refuses to go on any outdoor rollercoasters, so I'm thinking our DS is possibly taking after him? Me on the other hand LOVE LOVE LOVE rollercoasters. We have our DS excited about Dinosaur out of all the rides! My DH loves Space Mountain and the RnRC surprisingly though. So I don't know. I think I'm alone on this one.

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

Let him watch the rides and people exiting the rides - he'll see a lot of kids his age and younger who aren't freaked out by them. He might change his mind. But I agree if he's really not ready you don't want to force it. My kids were/are a lot more adventurous than I was when I was a kid.

I was thinking about that too. I mean there is NO WAY I'd expect him to go on Everest, but BTMRR is not really that bad, and Splash's drop isn't too bad, but I'd understand if that is just too intimidating for him.

 

[jimbo mack]

Every child is so different. My seven year old niece was petrified of thrill rides but loved snow white's scary adventures. My six year old nephew loved splash mountain but cried for 10 minutes after snow white's scary adventures.

 

[Lucky]

My daughter used to go back and forth about Splash when she was little, and about RnR Coaster more recently. I just gave her time and eventually she'd decide to go on it. Now (14) she's more adventurous about coasters than I am or ever was.

 

[LondonGopher]

So I don't know. I think I'm alone on this one.

You are not alone! Our rule is: If you're tall enough to ride, you must ride ONCE. Obviously, start small and work up. My kid had just turned six when we went last year - he was 47" tall and did everything he was tall enough for (including EE). He was SO PROUD of himself and of course I praised him to the skies after each ride. This technique also works "backwards", so Dad and Mom must go on Dumbo, waterslides and anything not specifically forbidden to adults. My kid loved sending us on the kiddie rides alone as "revenge".

You know your kid best, OF COURSE, so you know if he's the sort for whom this would be OK. But if you Fastpass+ the ride and can just breeze through the Q, he'll be on before he has time to have a nervous collapse.

We got talking to some Florida-bound folks on the Underground on Sunday, and my son even said (to strangers), "I was nervous to go on some of the rides, but they were AWESOME!" I was so proud (and relieved)...next time it's The Hulk for us!

 

[kelknight84]

Every kid is different. My 4 year old will ride all of them but my 10 year old niece won't get near them. Just don't force it or they won't ever try it!

 

[Minthorne]

My friend's daughter was 6 in August when we went and she rode all 3 mountains and loved them!

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

Yeah I don't want him growing up being petrified about these rides. If he ends up not wanted to go on them, then we always have the option of the rider swap. I've seen horrified children come off of Space Mountain and I just don't want him to be like that. I want him to have fun, but not immediately rule out a ride just because it looks like a scary rollercoaster.

 

[RandomPrincess]

My 4 yo DD went on Splash and Thunder this past trip. She was all in for Splash she had seen the drop and everything in videos and really wanted to ride it. She was iffy on Thunder. She has been on Flight of the Hippogriff and kiddie coaster at Dollywood and loved them. I knew she would like BTMRR is she gave it a chance I made sure to get FP so the line time would be less and she had already been on Splash and TT. We talked about it and I explained we would not make her go on anything too scary for her but that Thunder was not too scary and she had been on rides similar before. She didn't protest but wasn't excited. We also got the first car so the ride wouldn't have as much of the whipped around feeling you get in the back. It ended up being her favorite ride and she can't wait to go again. If she had been crying or fighting us I wouldn't have had her go. Not worth the stress to both of us in that case.

I like to build up the rides. We did Goofy first, TT on previous days since she wasn't scared of Splash we did that one next. Each ride gave her more confidence she could handle the next one. We didn't push our luck with TOT though in theory and in videos she wanted to ride but the horrified look on her face when she saw it in real life we knew she wasn't ready to handle it yet.

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

My 4 yo DD went on Splash and Thunder this past trip. She was all in for Splash she had seen the drop and everything in videos and really wanted to ride it. She was iffy on Thunder. She has been on Flight of the Hippogriff and kiddie coaster at Dollywood and loved them. I knew she would like BTMRR is she gave it a chance I made sure to get FP so the line time would be less and she had already been on Splash and TT. We talked about it and I explained we would not make her go on anything too scary for her but that Thunder was not too scary and she had been on rides similar before. She didn't protest but wasn't excited. We also got the first car so the ride wouldn't have as much of the whipped around feeling you get in the back. It ended up being her favorite ride and she can't wait to go again. If she had been crying or fighting us I wouldn't have had her go. Not worth the stress to both of us in that case.

I like to build up the rides. We did Goofy first, TT on previous days since she wasn't scared of Splash we did that one next. Each ride gave her more confidence she could handle the next one. We didn't push our luck with TOT though in theory and in videos she wanted to ride but the horrified look on her face when she saw it in real life we knew she wasn't ready to handle it yet.

Oh I'm not even thinking of trying to get him on ToT, my DH won't even go on that. I love it thought, of course lol. I think if I can get him past the Barnstormer, I should be able to convince him to ride BTMRR, I don't think I'm going to get lucky with Splash Mountain, even though it really is a great ride.

 

[jimbo mack]

Yeah I don't want him growing up being petrified about these rides. If he ends up not wanted to go on them, then we always have the option of the rider swap. I've seen horrified children come off of Space Mountain and I just don't want him to be like that. I want him to have fun, but not immediately rule out a ride just because it looks like a scary rollercoaster.

However a child should not be forced to go on a ride just because mummy wants them to. It usually ends up in tears and spoils the enjoyment for others. It's ok for a 6 year old to be scared of thrill rides

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

However a child should not be forced to go on a ride just because mummy wants them to. It usually ends up in tears and spoils the enjoyment for others. It's ok for a 6 year old to be scared of thrill rides

Oh I completely agree, I'm not going to force him to go on anything. If he doesn't want to go, there is nothing I can really do. I want him to see it in person, observe it, if he still doesn't want to do it, then that's fine. I don't want to traumatize him. I don't think I'd ever forgive myself lol. I just wish there was a way I could show him the ride is not that bad without traumatizing him, you know? And I just want him to enjoy them too. But if he is not ready for them, there is always next time.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Let him watch the rides and people exiting the rides - he'll see a lot of kids his age and younger who aren't freaked out by them. He might change his mind. But I agree if he's really not ready you don't want to force it. My kids were/are a lot more adventurous than I was when I was a kid.

THIS!

My four-year-old daughter wasn't sure she wanted to try Splash or Big Thunder Mountain. We made it clear to her that she was free to make her own choice about whether she'd go on these attractions, and we told her about them in detail ahead of time and let her "watch" the visible portions of them for awhile, so she could make an informed choice. She decided to try both. She LOVED Big Thunder and was screaming the whole time, "THIIIIIS IIIIIIS SOOOOO GREEEEEEAT!" She loved Splash Mountain up until the final drop which she did NOT enjoy, but she was glad she'd tried it. (Space Mountain was not an option due to the height limit).

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

My DS is more concerned about rides going "fast". I told him we go this fast when we drive in the car or something like, and he looks at me like I said the most dumb thing in the world.

 

[GoofGoof]

My kids are 3 and 6 and both love Splash and BTMRR. The 3 year old is only a tad over 40 inches so he wasn't big enough for space, ToT or EE. We held the 6 year old back from EE and RNRC even though he is tall enough. The height restrictions are for safety, but they don't take into account fear factor. When my oldest was tall enough we took him on Dinosaur since he loves dinosaurs. It terrified him. He cried hysterically and then refused to do any dark rides the rest of our trip. It was a huge, huge mistake. He is 6 now and still hasn't been back on Dinosaur.

 

[RandomPrincess]

My kids are 3 and 6 and both love Splash and BTMRR. The 3 year old is only a tad over 40 inches so he wasn't big enough for space, ToT or EE. We held the 6 year old back from EE and RNRC even though he is tall enough. The height restrictions are for safety, but they don't take into account fear factor. When my oldest was tall enough we took him on Dinosaur since he loves dinosaurs. It terrified him. He cried hysterically and then refused to do any dark rides the rest of our trip. It was a huge, huge mistake. He is 6 now and still hasn't been back on Dinosaur.

Yeah we didn't do Dinosaur or TOT with my 4 yo even though she was tall enough. I didn't want to scare her off of any other rides. My DH and I both agreed she wasn't ready.