Is Soarin' appropriate for a 6 year old?

[angelmav]

Iv'e been having this same struggle as you OP. We will have a small 5 year (turning 6 during trip). I have been trying to gauge what she will be up for, as she has never been on anything bigger/faster than a carousel. When I show her youtube videos of certain things, she tells me, "maybe when I am older" lol. Test track is out of the question. We really want to do Frozen (I stop the video before Elsa blows you into the next part) and Soarin we are so/so about. I talk it up and laugh when we watch the video, and I think she picks up my que's. I am planning on building her confidence up with smaller rides first before we try this at some point on day 2.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My DS has loved it since five years old, and I've never felt like any of us would fall out!

 

[dwheaton]

My daughter rode Soarin' last March right after she turned 4. She was great with it but also did fine with 7DMT and Big Thunder. It really depends on the child. I think Soarin' is one of the safer picks, but it's hard to say how each kid will react.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Thanks for this Sorry, just to clarify, when you say "They can get the person who remains with your son the ride" does that mean that a CM waits with him while DH and I ride? or do you mean a CM will help us take turns riding?
Thanks again for your help

The cast member will help you take turns. There are many options, they will come up with some way such that your son isn’t alone and you can both ride taking turns. I haven’t needed to ask on soarin, but cast members have been very helpful when my son has either chickened out or needed to pee after waiting through the tower of terror and rockin roller coaster lines.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

My 3 and 6 year old loved it! We had to ride it a few times.

 

[columbusdizfan]

My 6 year old daughter, who dislikes heights intensely (as in when we are driving up a hill says we are too high up), loves Soarin’.

 

[SanderMC]

My 5 year old hates it and refuses to ride it. To give you perspective she loves SDMT, Big Thunder, Splash, Test Track, TOT, and Expedition Everest.
For her she does not like how the film transitions from one location to another. It's too abrupt for her; almost in her face. However as others said many kids go on this without issue and frankly I'm surprised my little adrenaline junkie doesn't like it but it is what it is.

 

[ktlm]

Soarin was the only thrill ride my DD liked when she was little. She started riding it at age 3. We have been to WDW or DL or both every year since she was 2 (she is 11 now), and she was not a thrill ride kid until she was around 10. Just don't put him on the end seat if you are lined up where one of you sits on the end. That is not the place to be for someone afraid of heights as you can look over the side.

Really, at age 6 he is fine for anything he is comfortable with. All kids are different, but just for perspective, at age 6, DD pretty much only liked Soarin and Test Track as far as thrill rides go. DD refused Expedition Everest until about age 9, and she loves it now. I think we bribed her onto Space Mountain at age 6 or 7, but I don't think she liked it much until age 8 or 9. She hated BTMRR until this year at age 11 at DL. 7DMT was not around when she was really little, but she always really liked that one. She does not like TOT or Splash. She refused to set foot on Rockin Roller Coaster until she was 10, then she panicked at the last second, begged not to ride it, and screamed at the top of her lungs the whole time. I'm pretty sure people around us thought we were awful parents for not letting her chicken exit. Of course, within 2 minutes of getting off, she was asking to ride it again.

I would kind of take his lead as to what he wants to do. For DD, we would bribe her to get her on things once because she was a big chicken in regard to new things--- but after she had at least tried them on one trip if she didn't like them she didn't have to ride them again until she wanted to. I think of all the thrill rides, Soarin is the mildest.

 

[minijenny]

My four year old tells everyone who will listen about what an awesome ride Soarin is. Each time we went her smile was permanently plastered on her face and she was either shrieking with laughter or gasping at the scene changes during the ride. I spent a lot of time checking and rechecking for FPs during our trip and we ended up going three times. Her seven year old brother, on the other hand, went once and that was enough for him. He liked it, but not enough to go again. I think it's certainly worth it to give it a try.

 

[Burgermom]

Anybody have any advice on how to prepare him for it?
I showed him a video and he thought it was funny that you can see feet dangling and this made him feel more secure about it.
Any other advice. Like maybe reminding him that there are seatbelts so he can't fall out?
The biggest challenge in planning this trip is trying to figure out what he can handle and how to prepare him for things that I am on the fence about.
Soarin is planned for our first day at WDW (and it's our only Epcot day) so I don't have much opportunity to prepare him for it.
Oh well, can't plan everything!

 

[scrapquitler]

My son was tall enough to ride at 3, and he loved it. We sat him in between me and my DH, and we made sure he had the strap between his legs, and we held his hands. There was never any moment of worry that he would fall out or anything like that. If there was any danger, Disney wouldn't allow young children to ride.

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

This was our experience:

1st Child (4 years old): Didn't like Soaring. It was the "original" version at DL. Scared of the flying part right at the beginning and wanted off. However, no screaming or crying because we discussed the following "before" we got on the ride:

* It's pretend ... not real
* If you get scared CLOSE your eyes for the REST OF THE RIDE. Do NOT open eyes until we tell you ride is over
* We held hands throughout the ride
* We ended up using "Rider Switch" for future rides

2nd Child (5 years old): Loved Soaring. Adrenaline Junkie. "New" version at DL which, in our opinion, is "scarier" than the "original" version. As others have mentioned, there's images that "jump" out at you. There's more a feeling of speed and movement and a greater chance of "motion" sickness for certain scenes.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[dragonfly57005]

My 5 year old loved it! So did my 7 year old.

 

[tink89]

DD first time on Soaring she was 5 almost 6. She loved it and still does. Probably one of her favorite at DCA.

 

[Carla1183]

Agree with others, its a crapshoot! My 6 year old hated it, My 4 year old LOVED it. Same with Flight of Passage! She just doesnt like that feeling of flying. If they truly freak out, tell them to just close their eyes and they wont feel like they are flying anymore because it's all just a screen. (Breaks my heart that my daughter closed her eyes for 75% of flight of passage and wasted a fast pass!)

 

[mcjaco]

My kids at 4 1/2 hated it. They were terrified. And that's from one that made go on every spinny ride in all the parks multiple times.

Each kid is different!

 

[Tara D]

My two older kids have both been on it at that age and younger. DD didn't like it the first time but she used to be scared of a lot. Second time and after that she loved in. Ds is on th spectrum and thought it was amazing. He is not a roller coaster kid at all. So it really just depends on the individual kid but they were never worried about falling.

 

[ajwolfe]

Any other advice. Like maybe reminding him that there are seatbelts so he can't fall out?
Oh well, can't plan everything!

So for the most part my kids are ride junkies. As with anyone they all have their favorites and least favorite at different amusement parks. I'm going to possibly sound crazy here but I always found that over preparing a kid can stress them out. If you feel the need to remind him 30 times that he won't fall out, he might start thinking hey could I fall out of this thing or why does she keep saying that.
We always kind of gave a brief description of what a ride was (if they couldn't see it) and that was it. Kind of like with food and kids, they've got to try things to see if they like them.

 

[NotUrsula]

FWIW, I'm not afraid of flying, but most motion-style video games make me ill even if I'm watching on TV, as I have balance problems. I am, however, deathly afraid of FALLING. I do enjoy Soarin', but there are tricks to reducing my issues, I find.

I like the ride, but I have to be a bit careful about how I sit. The primary trick is NOT to sit forward in order to look down at what is passing by under your feet; sit back and focus your vision slightly upward, so that those feet above you are just barely in your line of vision. The upholstery of the seats is strong mesh fabric, and over time they have developed a wee bit of sag in the seat. If you are a smallish person, this enables you to comfortably sit back into the seat and even fold your legs up criss-cross, which young kids very often do because it's more comfortable for them. I would advise that if you feel dizzy, don't close your eyes, but rather look right at your lap, because your lap won't move in relation to your eyes. The seat belts fit snugly, so feeling a sensation of falling OUT of the seat shouldn't happen if you are sitting back. (All of the seats in a single row move together, so you don't move away from or toward others in your party. The row does tilt slightly down in front at times, but if you are sitting well back in the seat that won't put you leaning forward, only level.)

Truth to tell, because it's a film, the only thing really under your feet is a motionless concrete floor, but that floor is pretty darned far away; the seat rows lift to 45, 30, and 15 feet off the ground, respectively. (For reference on another ride you may know, the long drop on Splash Mtn is 49 feet high.) I once made the mistake of sitting in the end seat of my row, and looked down to the side. Whew, that was a long way down!, but as soon as I sat back and put my eyes back on the screen, I was fine again. IMO, on Soarin, the best "view" is from the middle seat of the middle row, because that is the row pushed furthest forward into the horizontal curve of the screen, but you'll feel less grounded there than in the bottom row, which has that lovely view of feet!

How is your child in IMAX films? You might want to try going to see one locally to get a feel for the way the screen looks. (It's not quite the same because a regular IMAX doesn't curve in at the bottom much, but the top does.)

Also, my final trick isn't really of any use to me, but I find that it works really well for apprehensive children: search for hidden Mickeys. If a child's mind is busily engaged with hunting for them in a "scary" ride, they almost always forget to be afraid. (Hint: there are two hidden Mickey images in the new Soarin', both much easier to see than the one in the old film was.)

 

[wedowdw17]

My 4 and 5 year olds went on it for the first time last month. It was the first simulator ride they ever went on, so I made sure to tell them that we were going to watch a big movie screen, and because Disney creates magical rides it will FEEL like we are flying, but we really weren't, so there was no reason to be scared. I also told them if they ever did feel scared during the ride to close their eyes for a few seconds and then open them again. It's really a wonderful ride, and we ended up going on it again on our second day in Epcot. Enjoy!