"Young children may be frightened"

[Yzma and Kronk]

I had to laugh when I read jsfein's post........I can relate!
We are just back from our third trip in a year (gotta love those AP's)
Before the first trip I read everything, checked the "scare factor" on all the rides, etc.
Here's our list:
DS4/5 - Totally freaked: Fantasmic, Tough to be a Bug (litterly shaking had to leave after 5 minutes)
OK after awhile: Tiki birds (many small children left), Peter Pan, Muppet 3D, Spaceship Earth, Goofy's Barnstormer
Totally loved: Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Muppet 3D
DD7 - Totally freaked: Tough to be a Bug, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Wouldn't go on ride at Norway!
OK after awhile: Peter Pan
Totally loved: Thunder Mountain, Goofy's Barnstormer, TeaCups, Muppet 3D, Primevil Whirl (her Fav!)
We didn't go on: TofT, RocknRoll, TestTrack, SplashMountain, Snow White, Star Wars, Dinosaur and a few other "older kid rides".....We'll try those when they are older
......you think you know your kids, but you never know until you get there!!

 

[erinch]

when my brave DD was 4, she did great on everything, took Space Mountain and ITTBAB right in stride----until my nearly executed right on the spot DS (then age 12) rode beside her on Jurassic Park at IoA. That was when the taurannasaurus (sp????) spat water directly at riders right before going down the drop.

My dear little DS grabbed his eye and yelled "the dinosaur spat in my eye. I'm blind! I'm blind! He'll get you next, Meredith!" As she started to scream, we went down the hill and she banged her lip bloody on the hand rail.

After that, it was curtains for anything scary. I made him ride It's a Small world with her 6 times.

Now he's age 15, and looks like he may turn out okay.

 

[tmanykids]

I don't really have anything to add, since our upcoming trip will be the first for my little ones....

I have been cracking up at these stories (I know they weren't funny when they were occurring). Between the 9 yr old climbing over everyone to get out and the DS freaking out little sis, I have no idea what to expect. I guess I'll expect the unexpected and go with the flow!

Thanks for the laughs!

 

[crazymomof4]

the characters. This weekend we went to a local minor league ballpark (Campbell Field in Camden) and the mascot (a shark) came over to us for hugs, pictures, etc. I had prepared both DS 6 and DD 2 ahead of time and they were both fine! I'm so glad because my other DS was petrified of all the characters in WDW when we had him there at age 3. When they approached us we had to wave them off!
I plan on taking everyone's advice and starting off on the really tame rides in each park. I know Small World in MK and The Land in EPCOT are good. Since we've never been to the AK can anyone make a suggestion for the most kid friendly attractions there?

 

[mommystieg]

It rained really hard the day we visited AK last year so we didn't get to see much but my DD's (9 and 2) LOVED Kilamanjaro Safaris. They also liked Tarzan Rocks!(mom thought Tarzan rocked, too )

 

[edie w]

Definitely read the Unofficial Guide - more accurate than other books in this respect.

Went to WDW etc. when DS was 8: terrified of ITTBAB and HISTA. Refused to go on any rollercoasters except kiddy ones. Thought Spiderman was OK. Loved BTTF. Loathed Dinosaur (then Countdown to Extinction), but so did I.

Went again with DD (10), niece(10), nephews (6 and 2) in 2001.

DD and niece went on every rollercoaster as often as possible.

Everyone hated ITTBAB, including self and sister in law. Everyone loved Spiderman but 2 year old too small.

2 year old loved winnie the pooh, Small World and the water play areas, especially When I Ran the Zoo. Don't underestimate the appeal of these to the little ones. Get an ice cream, relax in the shade and let them run wild.

My advice is forget the 3 D ones, except Muppets, which is funny and benign. Even the 2 year old liked this one.

DD (10) scared of HISTA - possibly because of the snake - but 6 year old completely un-moved.

Only DH and brother in law brave enough for TOT!

I took 2 year old "by land" to the Wild Arctic, while the others went "by air". He screamed very loudly as the lights went down ("are there fireworks?") and so the CM let us go straight through to the animals. Fantastic! We spent ages just the two of us watching the polar bears. Doubt I'll be able to repeat the experience this year as he's been watching the promo videos and wants to do Spiderman!

 

[erinch]

Originally posted by crazymomof4
Since we've never been to the AK can anyone make a suggestion for the most kid friendly attractions there?

Start with It's Tough to Be a Bug and go on to Dinosaur.


Seriously, the Jungle Trails are just wonderful. They give you laminated cards to find the different animals and birds.

My kids just loved the train ride out to the Conservation Station, which has a petting zoo.

They will also love the Bone Dig Area.

 

[edie w]

Forgot to say 6 year old nephew totally freaked by dinosaur roaring in the Bone Dig!!

If your kids like animals, then the two walking trails - Africa and India - (too tired to find names in guide books) are indeed fantastic. Gorillas, hippos, bats (lovely and cute, I thought ) and tigers playing like cats. Don't miss it.

 

[3darlingirls]

I'm laughing pretty hard, because I share your pain.....on one trip the youngest was in a full body scream during every character meal. You know the one kid that everyone is staring at? That was her. Last trip she and the 7yo were shaking head to toe in Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but DH very quickly left with them...even still, later in the trip the youngest started screaming when she saw the 3D glasses for Muppets, and confused "Shrunk" with "Small" and had a melt down and refused to do Small World. We all survived...but the family can only do the tame things for sure. No ITTBAB, or TOT, or HM, or Dino, or Snow White, Indiana Jones (noise/stunts/fire) or Great Movie Ride, .....you get the idea. We really try to avoid the scary stuff, and if something becomes scary try to help them (and us!) get through it with minimal psychiatric damage. Even so, DDs all love AK...Lion King show is terrific (but there is some loud music and fire, which temporarily alarmed one DD), Pocahontas is very calm and kids can sit up front, the character meets, KS only has one very small part where the bridge pretends to fall down, but its really quick and not scary at all, boneyard is lots of fun, too.

 

[erinch]

ON AK I forgot to say the bird show is spectacular; try to sit towards the front so the kids can see really well.

The other thing is get there as early as you can in the am; while things are still fresh and new. When you go in, take your time at the front of the park--there are wonderful, strange "tree characters" and CMs with really unusual animals to look at. Everyone else is charging up the trail to get to the safari, but the trail winds in multiple directions with fish, and flamingoes and hidden treasures nobody stops to look at. Last time we took time to stop and "smell the orchids"....and it was the best time we had all day.

 

[crazymomof4]

erinch ~ Thanks for the info. I've copied it to my file that contains all the tips I've gotten off of the DIS boards. When I sort and organize that file I will probably have the equilavent of a WDW Guidebook!

 

[JetMom]

On our last trip, DS was 3 1/2 and was totally freaked out on the Great Movie Ride when our car got hijacked. We talked him through it by telling him the man was an actor and it was all pretend.

For the rest of our trip, before every ride he would ask , "Are there any actors in there?"

So, I guess I have the only pre-schooler in America who is afraid of Actors!

 

[Jen D]

Kids go through different phases too. My dd had been to DL as a toddler and was fine on everything she was allowed to ride. We went to WDW for the first time right after her fourth birthday. She was very ambitious about what she wanted to ride--she insisted on and rode TOT, BTMRR-- which freaked her out a bit-- but the deal killer were "show" attractions-- all the 3-D movies (she didn't speak for an hour after ITTBAB, we ended up just leaving the park and going to the hotel), she hated water splashing on her and she hated explosions. The hard thing is that one really bad ride experience can blow the whole day. We could barely get dd to sit in a theatre at all after a while. She did end up doing TOT twice, though.

We went when she was 5.5, though, and generally she was okay with everything, although she still isn't crazy about fire and explosions (Indiana Jones was a mistake). She loves thrill rides and doesn't mind getting wet. She insisted on ITTBAB just to prove she could do it-- I think she still hated it but we got through it with no trauma.

WDW is a very intense place for the little ones, no doubt.