Adding a half inch...

[melser13]

Okay...here's my question...

We are going on our first family of four trip to Disney (we've ALWAYS gone with grandparents in the past) My son is 43 and 3/4 inches with his crocs on and my daughter is 39.5 with her crocs. We are going to buy them both new tennis shoes for the trip since their current ones are VERY run down...

How do you boost your child's height so that they can experience the rides? We know our daughter will try the rides because of her brother, but any particular shoes that can get them over the edge? If they don't want to we won't force them, but the idea of us all riding "splash" or "thunder" is a great one! Thanks for the advice!

Mel

 

[JeffGoldblum]

How do you boost your child's height so that they can experience the rides?

Let them grow? Rules are rules

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Not all of WDW's height restrictions are related to safety. If your child reaches 40 or 44 inches with the help of normal tennis shoes, then you're good.

No disco shoes though, that's overdoing it.

 

[princess.chell]

I've heard stories from my relatives that my brother, my cousins, and I wore like three pairs of socks to make it up to height. Now whether it actually works is something else. Hahah

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

1. If they're too short, they're too short. It's ridiculous to risk your child's safety because you or they can wait until you next trip to ride a ride.

2. Many CMs are very strict about not letting kids on who are not tall enough because it's there job to do so.

3. They may make you take your child's shoe off to measure, they may not. I think if they're wearing shoes that don't look like they are only worn to promote a child's height, you might be ok but I wouldn't bank on it. Have the CM check for the height BEFORE you get your FPs.



And just as a warning: get you flame suit on, DISers are going to go after you for compromising your child's safety to get on a ride

 

[Cinderella94]

Okay, let's take bets. How long do we give this thread?

OP: I certainly don't mean to sound rude, but this is a very hot button topic here on the DIS. I see you're new though, so it's understandable as to why you wouldn't know.

 

[mom2val]

Not in a million years would I try to increase my kids height so she could ride a ride. In fact she's really skinny and some rides she tall enough for scare the crud out of me because she is so thin- when she rides with an adult the lap bar is so far from her she can get in and out of the seat no problem. I make her ride with Daddy (he's skinnier than me) and he has a death grip on her.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Okay, let's take bets. How long do we give this thread?

OP: I certainly don't mean to sound rude, but this is a very hot button topic here on the DIS. I see you're new though, so it's understandable as to why you wouldn't know.

I bet we'll get to page 6.

 

[wdwfreeksince88]

I say don't worry about it. If they are not tall enough then let it be. There is plenty of stuff to see and do without trying to cheat the system.

 

[Cinderella94]

I bet we'll get to page 6.

I'm just waiting for a mod to come in...I can see it now: "Discussions of how to get around Disney policy are not permitted on the DISboards."

*Just to be clear- I'm not making fun of our mods! They're great!*

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

I bet we'll get to page 6.

Shoot, at this rate, we will get to 6 by tomorrow.

To those who say "I would never, ever, in a million years question the height restriction of any ride", explain why Stitch has a height requirement. If you get it correct, I'll give you a bag of popcorn.

 

[Cinderella94]

Shoot, at this rate, we will get to 6 by tomorrow.

To those who say "I would never, ever, in a million years question the height restriction of any ride", explain why Stitch has a height requirement. If you get it correct, I'll give you a bag of popcorn.

Something about the things that you pull down to feel the bouncing being able to reach you, right?

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Something about the things that you pull down to feel the bouncing being able to reach you, right?

While it may be true that the arms don't reach the young'uns, there is a sillier reason.

Hint: After soft opening, they raised the height requirement from 36 to 40 inches.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

While it may be true that the arms don't reach the young'uns, there is a sillier reason.

Hint: After soft opening, they raised the height requirement from 36 to 40 inches.

Why then? Edumacate me

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Why then? Edumacate me

Everyone is familiar with what was changed to make Aliens into Stitch. When Stitch had an AP preview, the height requirement was 36 inches. They did something I had never seen before at WDW. They had CM's at ride exit, some with hand puppets, to cheer up the children that were absolutely freaked out. DD had just turned 36 inches, so she rode. While a little nervous, she was not too scared. But other small children came off bawling. The CM's used the puppets to distract the children, while other CM's asked the parents their opinion. Enough small children were terrified, that they raised the requirement to 40 inches at opening a week later. we had to explain to DD why, even though she rode a week earlier, she was not tall enough to ride for 18 more months. She was devastated, so we whisked her to Buzz to cheer her up.

It all goes back to my point from my earlier post. Not all height requirements are for safety. Some are designed more for maturity, to minimize the number of folks upset enough not to return. For instance, there is nothing inherently dangerous for folks shorter than 44 inches riding Mission Space. But, both Stitch and MS are too intense for younger people. The height requirement is the means Disney uses to weed out the youngsters.

Everyone gets popcorn anyway.

 

[Leajess99]

Everyone is familiar with what was changed to make Aliens into Stitch. When Stitch had an AP preview, the height requirement was 36 inches. They did something I had never seen before at WDW. They had CM's at ride exit, some with hand puppets, to cheer up the children that were absolutely freaked out. DD had just turned 36 inches, so she rode. While a little nervous, she was not too scared. But other small children came off bawling. The CM's used the puppets to distract the children, while other CM's asked the parents their opinion. Enough small children were terrified, that they raised the requirement to 40 inches at opening a week later. we had to explain to DD why, even though she rode a week earlier, she was not tall enough to ride for 18 more months. She was devastated, so we whisked her to Buzz to cheer her up.

It all goes back to my point from my earlier post. Not all height requirements are for safety. Some are designed more for maturity, to minimize the number of folks upset enough not to return. For instance, there is nothing inherently dangerous for folks shorter than 44 inches riding Mission Space. But, both Stitch and MS are too intense for younger people. The height requirement is the means Disney uses to weed out the youngsters.

Everyone gets popcorn anyway.

Very Interesting. Thank you for sharing that. I know my youngest loved all the rides she went on last year to include Haunted Mansion while her older friend hated HM. It is interesting to see how some kids react to the same thing but unfortunately for some kids it gest ruined by others.

ETA: For the OP, I would not try to push their height either. Some rides are for safety and for my child, I would not be comfortable letting them ride a ride they truely are not tall enough for.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Give them 80's hair for a day.

Seriously, she is only trying to gain .5 of an inch....not 2 or 3 inches.

If you can find "normal" shoes that do the trick then do it. It would be no different then a separate family who bought the same shoes for thier kids and unknowingly made them able to ride the ride. Just make sure, whether they ride the rides or not - that their shoes are comfortable....or you'll have alot more to worry about than their height.

In the end, its the CM's decision anyway.

 

[klofan]

 

[RabFlmom]

It all goes back to my point from my earlier post. Not all height requirements are for safety. >>>>>

Personally, I think my child's mental health is something to think about safety wise when riding a ride, too. If that truly is the reason for height requirements on some of the rides I say Bravo to Disney and the ride designers for doing their job and letting parents know that the ride might not be safe for a child's mental health when they are so young that they have not reached a certain height that an average number of kids reach by the time they are 7 and have a better concept of real and make believe.

What is wrong in this world that we rush to do everything, have everything, before we hit 10 now. When did it start hurting so much to wait till we are older to do things. Part of the joy of things growing up is the anticipation of seeing something and waiting until you were the appropriate age to do something. Maybe if parents didn't push kids to grow up so fast we wouldn't have so many kids becoming parents at 13 instead of waiting. JMHO

 

[disneynut67]

I can't believe people actually do this. Trust me I have been in the same situation when both of my kids who are 17 months apart wanted to ride Primevil Whirl, both in tears freaking out because their older sister and cousin went on. Sure it was an awful 10 minutes but guess what they got over it eventually, I distracted them and said no. This year the only thing my son was excited for was that he was finally tall enough to ride. Why is it that parents are in such a rush and can't explain to their kids rules are rules, instead of teaching them to disregard the rules?