What rides/shows scared your toddlers?

[soccerchick]

Hi, we leave in just over a month! I've been reading about the specific rides and recommendations for little ones. My daughter isn't a fan of loud noises, but witches, etc. don't phase her. Anyone willing to share their experiences? Any rides surprise you with your toddlers' reactions? Thanks!

 

[lab001]

We were very dissapointed with the offerings for preschoolers at MGM. The Muppet 3D Movie and The Little Mermaid were terrifying and extremely loud!

 

[padams]

It's Tough To Be a Bug at AK upset my DS greatly. I think the 3d stuff is tough for some kids to handle (things jumping at them from the screen), but others seem to do fine. I suggest that you try Muppetvision as it is the tamest of the 3d movies. If you child enjoys it, then see Bug and HISTK at Epcot. If not, then skip those attractions.

 

[MinnieGi]

I'm not sure how old your toddler is, but our DD was 14 months when we took her this past Nov. She wasn't too keen on many of the rides, but absoltely loved the characters. Her favorite place was Toontown. Not only meeting the characters but playing in their playground and exploring the houses and buildings.

We were most surprised and had a good laugh that even the carousel she was not enthused about when it was moving. However she wanted to always go on it to sit on the horses - she just didn't like it to move!! She would repeatedly point to it and was all smiles when we got up to the horse and she would pat it and pull the reign and was all smiles till it started moving!

Our DD seemed to not like anything slightly dark or loud even parts of Winnie-the-Pooh spooked her.

Her MK Favs:
Small World - could have ridden this all day!!
Grand Prix race cars
Toontown

Of course watching the parades and doing character meals were very fun for her. Just the sights and sounds going around her thrilled her.

She did not like any of the movies. We tried Muppet vision and left right away even the country movies in Epcot she wanted out of right away.

I really think it depends on your toddler though as to what they can tolerate.

Have fun!

 

[ahutton]

Our almost 2 year old loved Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney and most of the live shows. She was a bit scared at Festival of the Lion King - there was a lion roar at the start that spooked her - but she did get into it a few minutes later. She loved Pooh, Small World, Peter Pan and the Carousel. We did not go to the Lion King show at MK because it is just too loud from our experiences. The worst experience we had was the Journey into Imagination ride, we knew it as a family friendly ride prior to its remodel. I don't recommend it for those who get spooked by the combination of dark with very loud noises. She loved Living Seas, and was even calm during the opening movie. She was very shy about characters - she loved to see them but got scared when the got too close or began to approach her. Have a great time!

 

[docswkids]

When my oldest son was almost 3 he was absolutely scared out of his skin by a part of Honey I Shrunk the Audience when a house cat turns into a lion or jaguar and looks like its coming after you. After that show he wouldnt ever put on the 3d glasses again. Surprisingly, though, he loved the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (now gone), and Peter Pan. His brother who is going on 4 may be more timid than he was, we will see how it goes next month.

 

[disneyandme]

Watch out for Peter Pan. When the ship you are riding in comes to the end and reattaches to the track, the bump and throw a small child forward. Even with my husband hold our DD tight, she almost hit her face on the bar. Be prepared. SHe loved the ride otherwise.

 

[BethC]

Well, it really does depend on your child's individual personality.

My daughter at almost 3 years rode anything and everything, she couldn't get enough and was just mesmerized by the whole experience. She was upset that she wasn't tall enough to ride some of the rides!

Now my son was a different story. This was very surprising to us after our daughter's experience, and especially knowing his love of all the Disney movies/characters. At 3 years old he was quite scared of the dark rides, especially Snow White, Peter Pan (now his favorite at age 6!), Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean. We had to take him kicking and screaming on Winnie the Pooh and he did do fine on that one. He even held on to me tight for Spaceship Earth! I knew better than to try Honey I Shrunk the Audience but he did fall in love with Muppets - we went on that one 3 times in a row. He was pretty scared on The Great Movie ride in the alien scene, and was afraid when Ursula came out in the Little Mermaid but handled it okay. After all of this I thought he would have a problem with Fantasmic and I was ready to leave the theater with him if I needed to, but he ended up loving it - go figure! He also loved all the parades, fireworks and character greetings.

We didn't make it over to the Animal Kingdom until the next year, but at that time he DID NOT like It's Tough To Be A Bug. Really, even today, both kids don't care for it - it's very in your face and it does take you aback. The one ride my daughter does not like, even today at age 9 is Dinosaur, although she rode it back when it was Countdown to Extinction and a little darker/rougher. Nevertheless she won't get on this one today.

Still, just because children are afraid of a ride when they are younger doesn't mean they won't grow to love it when they get older. My son will be 7 in a couple of months and laughs now at many of the things he was scared of back then. We even got him on Tower of Terror on our last trip and he loved it!! Next trip he's going to try Space Mountain and he's thrilled about it!

Have a great trip!

 

[zulaya]

Odly enough, my son was deathly afraid in Spaceship Earth - but it was louder than I remembered. The second time we went to the world...he ASKED to go on SE! You just need to take into account your kids' personalities and sensitivities. Read Walt Disney World With Kids by Deb Wright Wiley (I may have her middle name wrong) - this was my first guide book to prep for the kids and they give good ratings for children and what may scare them.

 

[BevS97]

Last year, when my daughter was 3.5, we went to Florida for 2 weeks. She had no previous experience of theme parks at all.

We started at IOA and my daughters very first ride was the Cat in the Hat - she absolutely hated this, and wouldn't go on another ride all day, in fact even a few days later she was still spooked, however, when we got to Disney I managed to convince her to try It's a Small World (and it was tough to get her on there) and she really liked this - we did a day of really easy rides, Pooh was about the scariest thing we tried, and slowly she got a little braver. She quite liked the Lion King show at MK. She also LOVED Belles storytime - this was one of the best things we did.

Epcot: She liked Spaceship Earth, and was ok with Imagination on our last day (but would have hated it earlier in the trip). She also liked The Land, and the Norway ride (but wasn't too keen on the Troll). In fact, I think she was fine for most of Epcot, we didn't take her on Ellen's Energy Adventure, but other than that we didn't do any swapping and she came with us on everything. (We didn't do Test Track, HISTA or Body Wars)

At MGM she was OK with Muppets 3-D, but we sat near the door just in case, and also managed the Little Mermaid (although she wasn't too happy about Ursula), and was quite happy in Backstage Pass, and Who wants to be a Millionaire (in fact she still talks about that), her favorite was Bear in the Big Blue House.

AK - she was fine on the Safari - loved the Pocohontas show and the Lion King show (this was a highlight) and was quite happy walking though the animal walks.


Katie was really really nervous of rides, and a couple of things that helped were getting a light-up Pooh bear which we took into all the dark rides ( this was a big help), and also having Katie asked the CM at the entrance to each ride if it was scary, and what would happen.

All the CM's at Disney were lovely and quite happy to explain to Katie exactly what might happen, this was how she ended up doing the Imagination ride, after the CM explained that it would be dark and you would be able to hear a train coming, I asked Katie if she still wanted to go on, and she said 'that will be ok mummy, Pooh will make it light for me' and she was perfectly fine. (I however jumped out of my skin at one point!)
We did encounter one CM at Universal who was a bit hopeless - we asked her if the HannaBarbara ride was scary, and she said No - it;s just cartoon characters , so in we went, and we sat at the front in the non-moving seats. Well, after about 2 seconds we had to come out as she was absolutely terrifed. It was very fast (the image) and loud, and she was still quite nervous from Cat in the Hat and she just didn't like it at all.

if you want to read my trip report, I tried to describe which rides we found to be ok and which were too scary.
It's here.
My trip report

Bev

 

[figment95]

I do not recommend "It's Tough to be a Bug". We did it on our first day with my 4yoDD and 6yo DS. They are not afraid of anything. It scared the pants off them! They would not go in any theatres for the whole week we were there. They also weren't crazy about Spaceship Earth. The beginning of the ride is VERY dark. I've heard it helps sometimes to bring a tiny flashlight for the dark rides.

 

[beattyfamily]

My daughter was 14 months her first trip and she didn't like the characters at all but like most rides/shows.

This last time, she was 26 months and still didn't like the characters and now was afraid of most shows and some rides. She's like your DD in that she's afraid of loud noise and she's also afraid of darkness so unfortunately, she didn't like Little Mermaid or even parts of Winnie the Pooh. She didn't like Spaceship Earth at Epcot either. Terrified at Fantasmic!

She did love It's A Small World, Dumbo, parts of the Pooh ride, the Carosuel, The Beauty and the Beast Show because it wasn't dark or too loud; and Playhouse Disney Show.

She LOVED the parades too!

Every child is different, though, cause my older DD has been going since she was 2 and she LOVES the characters and loved all the shows even the 3-D movies.

Good luck!

 

[chelsea&austinsmom]

MY dd when she was 5 didn't like It's tough to be a bug or the Muppet 3d. Last year at the age of 7 she loved them both and my ds who was 2 wasn't afraid of anything.

 

[MosMom]

The only ride that ever scared my daughter so much that we've never even considered going again was the Honey I Shrunk The Audience 3D show. It scared her BIG TIME!! She rides Tower of Terror and it doesn't scare her but this did. She enjoys other 3D shows though...I think the snake biting out at us is what did it. It was *very* realistic.

 

[Super Mom]

I have one DS who absolutely loved the "Yo Ho Pirates" when he was 3. He rode it 4 times. I have another DS that did not like the pirates at all.

We did Snow White when our older boys were 5 & 3 and they did not like it. My oldest is now 9 and he likes it, but we did not even take the little one who is now 3 on the ride because the past experience was so bad.

The Haunted mansion was definitely too much for 3 yr. old Shane. He needed a quick trip to the "Teddy Bear Show" to get him over the shock.

On the other hand, my DS's all enjoy Splash Mountin, Thunder Mountain, kali rapids and Goofy's BarnStormer. Only the dark, loud, jumping out things need monitoring.

 

[punkin]

I want to mention that when my older daughter was 3 we went to see "the making of me" in Epcot which is a really nice tasteful show about where babies come from. Well, it scared her to death. For the next 2 years (I'm not exagerating) she was scared that "God would give her a baby and it would hurt" No amount of explaning and reassurance helped. So be aware that some very ordinary and seemingly innocuous things can scare children. By the way, she loved all the so called scary rides and shows so go figure. I guess it's because even at that age she could tell the difference between reality (having babies) and fantasy (snakes comming at you in 3D).
This year we went and my younger daughter was 3. We steered far away from "the making of me".

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

In 1999 we took our DS who was then 5 1/2 to Honey I Shrunk The Audience . . .and he absolutely FLIPPED out . . .we got up and left my DH and DD who was 9 at the time inside . . .I swear we were in there only a few minutes . . .the beginning of the show when the "rats" escaped into the audience . . .as soon as he felt whatever was under our seats by our legs . .he had enough . . He still has no desire to go back and try Honey I Shrunk The Audience . . .