Kiddos and Haunted Mansion

[AspenLL]

When you took your little ones to the parks for the first time, how did they do with the Haunted Mansion when they went on it, especially the first room prior to the ride? We are taking our then 13mo at the end of next month. Thanks!

 

[Thing 1]

Avoided till DS was 5.I really thought it would be ok and told him it was a silly house where they tried to make you think it was scary. He HATED it. SCARED him to death. Still will not go on it at 8. Now this is the kid that loves anything Star Wars, rides the mountains and just about anything else (except TOT) without issue. No clue why it scared him but it really did. Just our experience....many kids do fine and even love it!!!

 

[deedeew80]

I have been wondering this as well. My kids are DD5 & DS3. I have showed DD5 a youtube video of HM, but it's not the best quality since the ride is dark. She was a little skeptical at first but then started laughing at it saying it was Casper the friendly ghost. I just went with it! LOL! Haven't showed it to DS3 yet though.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our youngest daughter 1st went on at age 3, and the stretching room scared her but she was fine on the actual ride. She's 8 now and it's one of her favorite rides but she still holds on to me or DH tight when in the stretching room.

 

[msmama]

My son has been going on since he was 10 months old. He's a little apprehensive in the stretching room but it's not like he's alone, I'm usually holding him (or now have him snuggled close to me since he is too big to hold). I also explain things (quietly) to keep him from being scared. Especially for super little ones, they don't know enough to be afraid so they will feed off of you.

 

[lillyshula]

I have taken my three girls each between the ages of 2.5-3.5 and what I did was hold them in the stretching room and talked lightly to them the whole time about what was going on and when the lights were about to go off, I told them to close their eyes. During the ride, I would tel them about the "Disney magic" and "silly ghosts". I also gave them a key chain or glowing bracelets for most of the dark rides. They all did very well on the ride. The Haunted Mansion is now one of their favorite rides.

 

[Kim H]

13mo will probably be fine since he/she won't understand any of it. Volume of sound effects (on all of the rides) was the biggest issue for our DD at that age--holding our hands over her ears worked pretty well for that. She hated HM from ages 4-8'ish.

 

[WhispyPixie]

Our 14 month stayed snuggled in our arms and loved it! We talked soothingly through the entire thing and giggled instead of screamed and had NO issues! Honestly, whatever you think your child can handle...you know there personality best!

 

[klo1335]

I just showed my kids (7 & 4) the video this weekend. My oldest thinks it looks cheesy while the youngest seemed a bit apprehensive. She said that she will be "brave" and ride it. But not going to force her if she doesn't want to.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

have a grandson who at age 4 years loved Tower Of Terror but hated Haunted Mansion as it was "too boring"

 

[kteeter]

We took our 13mo last year, she had no problems. There was another family that had a little one apx 4yrs that was scared so I shared a glow bracelet with them and that took the edge off, she loved it you could hear her laughing and holding it out when the ghost came. We got stuck in the cemetery scene for 3 mins so we just played peek-a-boo with the ghost behind a grave marker.

 

[Southern Bell]

My grandson was a little scared at 4. Not to the point that he was crying but..we had to tell him the ghost were not real. Then he got through it. Needless to say he didn't do it again! LOL!

 

[sbeaulieu]

13 mo is a good age bc they are too young to know to be scared. We took our 18 month old on everything he could go on, but this year, when he will be 2.5, I'm a little worried. When my middle one was 2.5 he was afraid of pirates, the darkness on Spaceship Earth, and The Great Movie Ride (We finally went back on that after 3 years of refusals). We didn't even attempt Haunted Mansion.

 

[TempleOT]

Took our daughter on it when she was 4 1/2 and it freaked her out. Last year when she was 7 she wouldn't go near it.

 

[AlexisMaxMommy]

I hope all goes well for your kiddos. I'm planning on taking mine the next time we go, and I've showed them videos on YouTube to try and prep them.

 

[Angeejoe]

I took my just turned 4 nephew & worried he'd be scared. He loved it, but his biggest concern was how dirty it was. He kept telling me they needed to clean up the spiderwebs & dust! He was not scared.

 

[starsweeper]

My kids were at least 2.5yo when we took them the first time. The stretching room is the worst part of the ride. We tended to distract them as much as possible and quietly make fun of how it was trying to be spooky, etc. All 4 of my kids have been fine with it.

 

[Buttrcp16]

My 4 year old LOVED it. It's his favorite ride, but he is pretty fearless and loves ghosts/zombies/etc. My almost 2 year old got pretty scared in the stretching room when the lights went out and there's screaming/thunder. But the rest of the time he was fine. I did end up nursing him one time (we rode it 4 times that week) because the first time we rode, the ride STOPPED for a good 5 minutes and he decided he'd had enough! That wasn't good, but as long as the ride was moving and he had things to look at he was okay. I made sure to "narrate" for him in a happy/soothing voice so he wouldn't be scared.

Honestly you know your child's temperament best. If you think they can handle it, try it!

 

[shelbyf31]

The first time the kids were 4 and 22 months. No problems. The second time they were 5 and 3, again no problems. The 5 year old then declared it her favorite ride. Planning on riding it many times on our next trip, the kids will be 7 and 5.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

My little one went in it at 15 months old. He fell asleep!! He was too little to be afraid. It was a great age because nothing rattled him - not loud noises, not dark rides, not large characters. I am interested to see how that will change on our two trips this year. He will be 21 months and 27 months.