Top Rides to AVOID for Children under 5

[sm4987]

Wow. I never thought of any of this before I took my children last year. They were 3 and 6. I took them on everything I thought they could ride. I skipped HM, TOT, AE, All the roller coasters only because they weren't tall enough. They loved everything. DD may have grabbed my arm during the scary times, but then she was fine. She was like can we go again. She didn't close her eyes to anything except figment which scared the mess out of her at the beginning. This year they are screaming to go on SM and BTM and everything else they can fit on. I take them to six flags often so they can get used to what a roller coaster is like.

 

[pointandshoot]

As for the 3D movies, if yor child gets scared, taking the glasses off can help for the Muppets. As for Bug's Life, the special effects are pretty intense with Hopper in the theater and bug spray like a green fog. We had some tense moments with my DD during that part of the performance!

 

[disneymom3]

I have to add that The Great Movie Ride completely flipped my dd out when she was 3. She is one of those kids that can't watch Disney movies either and that bad guy jumping on the car with guns blazing completely terrified her! She screamed through the rest of the ride, "I want to go home! This is a bad ride. I don't like it here!" Man, I really felt like mother of the year at that point!!

Also, if you have scared kids, I would not even attempt the Snow White ride. What's the use of scaring them about other rides when that one is not really all that spectacular? DH and I went on it in Dec by ourselves and I tell ya, that witch is popping out all over the place!

 

[Jen D]

The problem, of course, is your child may vary--- my daughter (just turned 4 at the time) was bound and determined to ride TOT and Dinosaur, had seen them on the planning video, and wasn't to be deterred. She was a little scared but professed to like them and did TOT again. It's Tough to Be A Bug, however, ruined our entire day at the Animal Kingdom, she didn't want to do anything after that (she barely spoke for 45 minutes after it was over) and we could barely get her to sit in a theater the rest of the week. Beware this attraction!

Snow White no prob, Goofy's Barnstormer we rode 15 times. Trouble is, its hard to know what will push the buttons until you do it.

 

[PixieTink]

At Epcot, your kids may be tall enough for Test Track. This was our 4 yr old son's fave ride! It is very fun, but it has some sharp turns, and near the end they spray green "road grime" stuff at you, and it almost looks like you will collide w/ some objects during the ride. However, we prepped our son, made a joke out of the road grime, seeing how loud we could yell "EWWWW! GROSS!!!!" He was laughing so hard from that, he hardly noticed much else.

Also, the maelstrom ride in Norway has a Troll and the boat gets turned around in a storm. Maybe take them on the boat in Mexico first (very slow and sedate). When you go to Norway, show them the wooden carved Troll in the store, and the toy trolls, and ask a cast member to tell the kids about the trolls. You may be able to get them on the boat!

Oh, and there is a storm in the Tiki Bird room in MK. Iago the Parrot upsets the Tiki gods, and sets off a storm, etc. It can get a little loud.

Come to think of it, if your kids are at all noise sensitive, pick up the foam earlplugs they sell at the pharmacies. They are inexpensive and relatively comfortable, and may save some parts of the trip. Music from the parades can even be a bit muh for sensitive ears.

PS if you an get it, there are a couple corny Disney sing along tapes that take place in WDW: Beach Party & Camp out. They give a good idea just how much bigger the characters are, compared to the kids. Especially Goofy! He's SO tall compared w/ the average 4 year old.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

I agree with what everyone has said on this thread already.

I wanted to reiterate the idea of taking off the 3-D glasses. My youngest NEVER wore them (she's 2.5) and my son would alternate taking them off, putting them on, etc (he's 5) and he did okay...... never got scared because he could take them off and feel better about things EXCEPT for the Honey I shrunk the Audience one. He didn't flip out or have to be removed from the show or anything- but it scared him more. He was doing fine with just not wearing the glasses but at the point where they had "air" around your feet coming out in bursts to pretend to be all the mice running around- he no longer liked that show. LOL He just hid his face in the crook of my arm around him though/into the side of my chest and he was fine then.

It really depends on the child though. For instance, the first time we rode Dinosaur we have a lovely keepsake pic of both of my children with me hiding their faces (eek! I didn't realize it would be that scary) but then later in the trip when "we" decided to ride it again- my SON wanted to ride it again but my daughter (who was almost 9- she's 9 now) did not want to ride it again. So we didn't do the parent swap and I just sat out with her and my youngest daughter. Go figure.. the 5 yr old wants to do it again and the seemingly fearless 8yr old didn't. She wasn't scared of any of the 3-D shows or any of the other rides (including RnR, BTM, etc- but not ToT... she wouldn't have anything to do with haunted houses of any form. LOL)

On this last trip I saw Fantasmic (something we weren't able to do on our "family" trip) and I really think the kids would enjoy it for the most part (meaning my kids ofcourse- I can only speak for my children) EXCEPT FOR a few parts of the show probably would have really freaked out my 2.5yr old and 5yr old. Short parts of the show- but it still would have scared them bigtime. So I'm kinda glad they haven't seen it yet.

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

Oh and to answer your question- Beauty and the Beast is WONDERFUL and beautiful... not in the least scary in my opinion. I don't think my kids would be scared at all- not even the 2yr old and I didn't see anyone else with scared children either.
The Little Mermaid also didn't scare my children- but might scare others in some small parts of the show. There's almost always a villain you know.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

The theatre for Little Mermaid is indoor/enclosed and dark, if that makes a difference, but I wouldn't think most small children would find it scary.

Beauty and the Beast is in a large, open air theatre and is definitely not scary. Great show!

 

[PixieTink]

"The Little Mermaid also didn't scare my children- but might scare others in some small parts of the show. There's almost always a villain you know"

Oh yeah, the large Ursula that comes on stage near the end is pretty intimidating for easily frightened little ones. If they can handle watching the video at home, maybe hiding their eyes when Ursula comes on, you might be able to do this show. It really is very cool how he use puppets and live actors and movie segments for this!

 

[Jen D]

My daughter was terrified by the Ursula--- We had to do 90 minutes of character greetings to get over that one. Voyage of the Little Mermaid took me by surprise because I heard it was nothing but light and fun. Over half of it is a huge gigantic looming Ursula.

And again, some other supposedly terrifying rides she loved. Go figure.

I do recommend looking at the planning video with them over and over. It gives the kids an idea what to expect. For instance, I think the reason Dinosaur didn't send my kid to the loony bin is that she had seen that T-Rex in the planning video dozens of times. She first time she saw it she said "Oh No!" And then "I don't want to ride THAT one." But after countless more viewings of the video, that turned into "I can't wait to ride that!"