Trying to get my 9 year old to go on RNR..Help?

[dixiegirl]

This is why the West has gone soft, too much pandering to juveniles. Tree hugging hand wringers..........

LOL...And God has spoken!

 

[Phonedave]

I agree w/lebeau. No pressure or it's no fun for anyone. You get stressed, the kids are stressed... yuck!

Also, though, just FYI - you really don't need to "switch off" for any rides unless you are uncomfortable leaving a young child. For the past several years we have left DD w/the cast members while the rest of us rode the ride together. In some rides where you end somewhere diff. from where you start (SM, RNR, TOT), they take her to wherever we end up (chicken exit) and wait there w/her, while in others (TT, Dino), they stand with her until we get back to the starting point. I guess this has been since she was 8-9 or so. Younger than that, we switched off.

A couple times the CMs tried to bribe her w/fastpasses good for any ride to try to get her to ride. She stuck to her guns, and both times they wound up giving her the FPs anyway!

This year, at 13, she decided to try EE - could have knocked me down! She did it and hated it, but she did it -- in her own time, on her own terms, and we're all proud of her accomplishment. It's a good memory rather than an ugly one, because we don't have to hear for the rest of our lives how "we made her go on that horrible ride that time."

Good luck, but try not to stress too much about it. This is something that your child can be in control of, and really, who cares one way or the other? Save your "have to's" for when it really matters, like the seatbelt in the car on the way down.

I am a single parent, so switching off is not a problem

My now 8 y/o LOVES ToT, and my 10 y/o DESPISES it. It is ironic (and a royal pain) that ones favorite ride is the only one the other absoutely refuses to go back on.

This year I started letting my 10 y/o wait while my youngest rode with me. The CM's were great, and they waited with her just like you said.

-dave

 

[_Scar]

Maybe tell them you made a mistake and there are no loops. I'd think that th worst part would be seeing that train zip so fast. She's pretty awesome for going on EE at 9. I woulda been scared!

 

[Jim L Clifton]

Few yrs.ago I was in line for RnR ,young girl (10 -11)was in line with her Dad & brother.She was stating how shw HATED RC's & was only doing this for Dad!I smiled when she said this.I said,You will love this ride & when it's over want to do it again!Her response..Mister,I don't THINK so! Sooo...BUCKLED IN...COUNTDOWN....WE'RE gone...LITTLE SCREAM....behind me...ride ends! She stands on the seat to get out...yells...."awesome"...Dad...can we get in line & do it again!! I looked at her & laughed,her Dad,smiled at me...said sure honey!!
Jim

 

[Philo]

My first proper rollercoaster ride was when I was about 9. I was at a theme park with my dad and sister. My dad really wanted to go on the ride but my sister and I were too scared so he told us just to wait at the exit till he came out. Being too scared to be left alone we followed him on and loved it - been a rollercoaster fanatic ever since.

For the record, I very much doubt my dad would have left us at the exit, he just knew that saying that was a way to get us to try the ride out.



My wife was quite similar. She hatred all roller coasters (although she had never been on a 'proper' one). A couple of years into our relationship we went to DLP and I made it quite clear that I was running to Mission Space, BTMRR, RnRC etc and that I wasn't going to go on them alone. One Mission Space ride and a BTMRR later and she was hooked too. Now when we go to WDW I can't get her off EE.

It just goes to show, everyone loves roller coasters really......

 

[Philo]

We were in DL (well CA actually) earlier this year sitting on a curb eating ice cream when a young girl of about 5 years old came to talk to us. I asked her if she was having a good day and what she wanted to ride next. She told me that she wanted to go on the "bouncy bouncy ride" because that was the most fun. I looked rather confusingly at the girls mother who told me that she meant the ToT (I guess it does bounce). Sadly the mother didn't look quite as excited about that particular ride...

 

[magicmaya]

I rode it when I was 9, but I was a pretty tall 9 year old too...

the CM's thought I was 11 when I had a childs ticket :lol:

 

[Disneybub]

my dad forced to to go on ToT when i was 9, and i was sooooo scared. I cried all the way through it. i hated it for years and shuddered at the sight of the building, Dont force them to go on - they'll go when they're ready. :animwink:

It took me 12 years to ride it again, after being gently persuaded.... But i rode it 3 times and got over my fear

 

[Philo]

Damn, no edit button on the mobile interface...

A few posts back I said Mission Space where I meant to say Space Mountain... hangs head in shame...

 

[Ariel484]

Sometimes you gotta make kids do things they don't want to do, for their own good. But I don't ever think a rollercoaster is one of those times.

I completely agree. I'd have them stand in line with me and take the chicken exit if they choose to do so. I personally wouldn't push them into something they're terrified of.

Sort of off-topic...I'm fine with the loops, it's that intial blast-off in RNRC that makes me nervous :shrug: Anyone else feel this way?

 

[ann0d]

I have the completely opposite problem. My eight year old has to talk me into getting on the rides!~ :ROFLOL:

 

[DisneyLeo18]

Funny story....I am waiting in the ToT queue and behind me there is a group with one guy that was intending on using the chicken exit. He was not afraid of the drop but he was deathly afraid of elevators. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out the chicken exit was an elevator.

I once went on the ToT with a friend who knew one of the CMs and he said he would take us through a shortcut to skip the line. I found it totally ironic that the chicken exit/shortcut up to the boiler room was an elevator :ROFLOL: