My crazy tall Toddler still makes the height requirements.... Any experience?

[disneyfan2kids]

My 3yo (almost 4) is really tall and still makes the height requirement for many of the "big" rides (Thunder, Splash, TOT, Soarin', Star Tours, Dinosaur, Test Track, and Mission Space-Green) Is height requirement enough for me to be comfortable letting him ride? At 3yo he is still a toddler and I'm trying to think back to each ride and decide if there are other variables I should remember that would make me NOT let him ride. He seems REALLY young (to me) for some of these - but if he meets the height, maybe I'm overthinking? I remember taking my 4yo on Dinosaur years ago and I would NEVER take my 3yo on there (too much head/neck rocking for my taste) what else am I forgetting?

Thoughts - anyone have experience bringing young kids (3yo) on any of the above and how did it go?

 

[Klayfish]

That's a decision only you can make. Does he want to ride them? Do you want him to? My kids tried every ride as soon as they were tall enough, because I wanted them to try. There weren't really a lot of variables involved. Most rides they liked, some they didn't and that's OK. If you feel comfortable putting him on the rides, go for it.

 

[smiths02]

My kids are on the shorter side, so I never had to deal with it.
I can tell you that my 6 year old son (the shortest of the bunch, poor guy) would have loved any ride you put him on. Honestly, I feel that the coaster type rides adequately strap them in and most kids have enough sense on a ride like that to stay put...it is IASW and POTC type rides that I worried about my kids standing up, etc.

My other kids do not enjoy rollercoaster rides. I didn't ride Space Mountain until I was a teenager, so I can relate. I would start off with some of the smoother and less scary things like Kali River Rapids, 7DMT, Goofy and then work up to other things.

 

[marymoo86]

Soarin' would be fine - you are mostly swaying back and forth as long as no issues with motion. Splash Mtn was fine for my tall 3.5yo.

 

[Calee]

My youngest was a small 4 when we went for the first time. He went on and loved Splash, Soarin, Star Tours and Test Track. Those aren't fast or scary (except Test Track is a little fast at the end). Big Thunder and Mission Space were closed on that trip, but he would have probably enjoyed them (he did on our next trip when he was 5).
Dinosaur and TOT have a little bit of a scary factor that my kids aren't a big fan of, but that would totally depend on the kid. TOT non of mine have even been willing to try. Dinosaur they have tried but don't love.

 

[MischaOz]

My daughter is super tall and went on all of those rides except Mission Space at age 3 (and she may have been 4 for EE). I just put my arm around her while riding, mostly for my own peace of mind.

 

[disneyfan2kids]

Thank you all for your responses about your own experience!

 

[mjkacmom]

My oldest son was always in the 95th in height, and he was a huge chicken on rides. My youngest son was average height, and at 4 went in any ride (he conquered every coaster at Hershey by 5).

Actually, 3/4 year olds are preschoolers, not toddlers, if that makes you feel better!

 

[KPeterso]

My nephew hit the 40 in mark at a little past 4 (and he has always been on the short side). We started trying 1 ride at a time. We live near Disneyland and go all the time, so we just gauged them.

• Racers - loved it!
• Big Thunder - hated so much! Although, his biggest complaint was about it being dark since we took him on at night - kept trying during the day and he would not budge!
• Star Tours - loved loved loved it! One of his absolute favorites.
• Space Mountain - said he liked it, but honestly am not so sure that he totally did. Was proud of himself for riding though.

As far as I recall, he still has not been on Soaring (his Mom does not think he would like the flying part), Guardians (no way - he is not ready for it or ToT), Splash (not been in that area when it was warm enough). Their passes have lapsed so I guess he will wait for those awhile. And hopefully, we can get his shorty brother to 40 in to get him on some of them.

I have friends whose kids hit the 40 in magical number while still 2 and were riding some of the above (not all though). Not too long ago I rode Star Tours with a 2.5 year old who was tall enough and he loved it. Honestly, you need to think about your child and what might bother them. I would not take a 3 year old on Dinosaur as it scares me to death (I cannot imagine the nightmares of a little one - my nephew would NOT be riding). Same with ToT, but I have met 4 year olds that tell me it is there favorite ride.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Basically you know your child better than us so you really have to think about it and decide based on your child.

I can tell you that my niece was 40" tall at 2yrs4mos and that trip went on TT, Soarin', and Splash Mountain.
She cried at the end of TT because she didn't want to have to get off and wait in line again to go on.
The next year at age 3yrs4mos and I can't recall how tall at that point she went on the ones above plus TOT.
We did not intend for her to ride it but she would not let my sister and BIL go unless she went on too.
She was ok with it and the ride photo she just looks like "um... are we sure this is normal?" She did say she wanted to go on again but once we got to the library she didn't want to so my sister and her took the chicken exit.

 

[JKCDA]

Took my five year old on tower of terror years ago. She loved/hated it, and proceeded to barf everywhere about 10m later. She’s nine now, and we have a major roller coaster park where i am, and she wanted to go on ALL THE RIDES (thank God she was too short by an inch for the two huge ones). It’s really up to the kids personality.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

On our last trip my son had just turned 3... he was 3 years, 3 months old. And he's a tall boy (95%+) so he made the height requirement for the 40" stuff handily. (Also note, he has a big sister).

He rode: Big Thunder, 7DMT, Star Tours, Test Track. He did not want to ride Splash, and we did not offer TOT, Dinosaur, or Mission Space for various reasons. We would watch ride videos on YouTube in advance to get an idea if something was fun scary or bad scary. I also set up days so we could ease him into things (first ride ever at Disney should probably not be a challenging ride...)

He LOVED the rides. All the pics of him on the ride itself he has this funny serious face... but when we got off the rides he would shout about how BRAVE he was to pretty much everyone. It was adorable.

We let him decide ultimately, but between his big sister and his desire to ride, he wanted to go and he enjoyed them very much. He can't stop talking about riding 7DMT again on our next trip and is crazy excited about Slinky Dog.

 

[jvz82]

On our last trip, my son was 3 (turning 4 in a few weeks) and just barely hit the 44" mark to be able to go on lots of the bigger rides.

He absolutely adored Soarin' and Thunder Mountain. So then when he was super excited about Space Mountain, we agreed to let him go on. He was pretty nervous during the ride and said he didn't want to go on it again. Then he seemed to avoid rides the rest of the day and chose not to go on anything fast so I think it did scare him a bit. But ultimately it was important that the choice was his all along.

He'll be tall enough on our next trip for pretty much everything but I'm choosing to not let him ride a couple things like Rock n Roller Coaster just because of our experience last year and he seems fine with that. But he wants to try Space Mountain again so we'll see how it goes!

 

[Beth33]

My DD is super tall too. In May, she was over 40 inches despite being only 3 so we had lots of options.

In terms of safety, if the kid makes the height requirement and doesn't have some unique restriction (ex. neck injury), I don't think it's a concern. WDW doesn't want the liability of a kid getting hurt on a ride, so I am confident that they make the rides safe for anyone who could conceivably end up on it.

We took DD to a local amusement park to try some kiddie rides, kiddie coasters, etc., to get a sense of what she'd like. We also had her view videos of some of the iffy rides before we left. That gave us a good idea of what to plan for her to ride. There were still some surprises, though. She refused to go on 7DMT, and she was scared of Soarin'. Conversely, she was excited about Test Track and she loved TOT. I don't get it. Sometimes, you don't know what they'll like/want until you try!

 

[jaceraden]

Hmmmm. Maybe I'm using a weird height measuring thing. My then preschooler turned 4 on our last trip and was tall enough for all of those rides - I considered him very small for his age.

 

[brockash]

My 3yo (almost 4) is really tall and still makes the height requirement for many of the "big" rides (Thunder, Splash, TOT, Soarin', Star Tours, Dinosaur, Test Track, and Mission Space-Green) Is height requirement enough for me to be comfortable letting him ride? At 3yo he is still a toddler and I'm trying to think back to each ride and decide if there are other variables I should remember that would make me NOT let him ride. He seems REALLY young (to me) for some of these - but if he meets the height, maybe I'm overthinking? I remember taking my 4yo on Dinosaur years ago and I would NEVER take my 3yo on there (too much head/neck rocking for my taste) what else am I forgetting?

Thoughts - anyone have experience bringing young kids (3yo) on any of the above and how did it go?

It's really up to you and your kid, but I don't think being 40 inches at almost 4 is all that uncommon; all 3 of mine were and for the most part went on all 40 inch rides. My youngest even did Tot at almost 4 - she's much more of a daredevil, than my other 2 (they didn't go until 5/6.) My middle one is not as adventurous and didn't do Thunder until she was 5 either. We did do Dinosaur, but none of us were thrilled with it so we haven't been on since my middle one was 4.

I'd have no problem letting a height meeting 3 year old ride any of them at Disney if they wanted to.

Eta: Only my oldest has ever done mission space and I believe he was 5ish. We just didnt like it and my other 2 have never asked about it so they've never been.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I would worry about spinal stability, but ask your pediatrician.