While many of us love spending time in Disney theme parks, sometimes our littlest family members often find experiences in the theme parks overwhelming. Whether it’s characters with large rubber heads, fast rides, dark slow rides, the loud noises, or something else entirely, some of our children feel fearful, even at the Happiest Place on Earth! This week we asked our Parenting Panel: What have your children been afraid of at Disney theme parks?
Jen, also known as *Nala*, is an engineer, a Disney fan, and a MouseAdventure fanatic. She lives in Southern California with her husband and two future MouseAdventurers, ages 3 and 5. Jen writes:
“I no like this ride, Daddy. It’s scawy!” – Our then 2-year-old daughter on her first ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.
What is scary to a little kid is very subjective, but also very real. To my 5-year-old son, Darth Vader is not a guy wearing a black costume; he is the actual bad guy from Star Wars. Although our son spent his own money to build a lightsaber, and very nearly knows the Jedi Training Academy combination by heart, he is, to date, scared enough of Darth Vader that he hasn’t yet decided to try to become a Padawan as part of Jedi Training.
What is scary is also unpredictable. This same kid will happily ride Mission Space, Expedition Everest, and Space Mountain and declare that he “wasn’t even a little bit scared” (although the PhotoPass picture from Everest tells a slightly different story.) Our 3-year-old daughter is currently the opposite of her brother. She says that she likes Darth Vader, but that Goofy’s Barnstomer in the Magic Kingdom is “too fast” and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is “too dark.”
What is scary is always changing. Both kids have gone through fears of Disney characters, though that phase lasted a bit longer for our son than our daughter. They always liked the idea of meeting Mickey or Stitch, but seeing the very large character up close often resulted in a 2-year-old hiding behind our legs or saying “no.” And sometimes, things that weren’t scary last month are now on the list thanks to a friend at preschool or an active imagination. Our daughter had no problem riding Pirates of the Caribbean as a baby, but even though she loves the song she now tells us that she “no like that ride.”
I’ve had little kids long enough to know that most little kid fears don’t last. For that and a few other reasons (who really enjoys those pictures of a screaming, terrified kid meeting Mickey?) we don’t force our kids to do scary things at Disney parks. It won’t surprise me at all if, in a few years, California Screamin’ isn’t fast enough for our daughter, and I’m looking forward to the day when our son conquers his fear and shows Darth Vader who’s boss.
Chris Salata, also known as GusMan, is a Disney-inspired author and photographer, and loves to help people get the most out of their Disney vacation. Chris writes:
I've had the opportunity to watch both my kids experience Walt Disney World while they were still in their younger years. Generally speaking, they both love going to the parks and there is pretty much nothing that they don't like doing. However, they do share a common trait, of which my oldest outgrew, but my youngest has not: They were both scared of the thrill rides.
I recently watched some older home video of when my daughter and I rode Space Mountain for the first time. I knew she was nervous, but I was hoping that the experience would help build her courage and open her up to wanting to go on other thrill rides. The video proof shows that I was wrong. Not once – but at least twice. Not only was Space Mountain a ride that she disliked for a number of years, but she really didn't like Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I think I had my “dad of the year” status suspended for a while after that.
While my daughter grew out of being afraid of thrill rides, I am now going through the similar situation with my son. While he will ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, he still is not a fan of other rides like Expedition Everest, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, or the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Quite simply, I recently found out that he does not like heights and he does not like going upside down. At the same time, he does not like Mission: Space simply because of the enclosed ride vehicle. Of course, I would end our conversations on this topic with “maybe someday.” He responds with “maybe not, dad.” I just have to smile at a response like that.
I am the kind of dad that wants my kids to experience a lot of different things in life. Attractions at the Disney Parks are no different. I will admit that I try to encourage them both to try new and different things, but I also want to be sure I understand why they don't want to try something. To them, an attraction might seem too fast or possibly too scary. I don't have an issue with such fears, but I do want to understand such fears before we get to the parks so that I don't make the same mistakes in trying to convince them to try a ride.
I learned through experiences that it is better to bypass an attraction, event, or character that makes your child uncomfortable than to try to negotiate, force, or bribe them into doing something they don't want to do. Over time, their tastes will mature and they will most likely get more adventurous. While doing a bit of pre-trip planning will certainly help work out preferences beforehand, the key here is to head the cue's from your child and always have a backup plan in place.
Sheena also known as Mermaid, teaches first grade in Arizona where she lives with her husband and two children, Matthew (3) and Katie (2). She visits the Disneyland Resort as often as she can and has passed on her love of the parks to her little Mouseketeers. Sheena writes:
I just returned a few weeks ago from the Disneyland Resort. We had a wonderful vacation and it was so much fun now that my children are old enough to really get into the magic. But with that awareness comes opinions! I thought I knew my kids' fears well, but as it always is with kids, they surprised me.
My son is 4-years old and 43-inches tall. At home, he is afraid of the dark and loud sounds. In physical arenas, he is fearless. He is the child who will climb to the top of the playground equipment and jump off backward. We went to Sea World over the summer before he was even 4 and he loved the Shipwreck Rapids Tube Raft Ride and liked Atlantis enough to do it twice, but then no more. He liked every ride he went on at the state fair last fall–although most were similar to Dumbo or the Mad Tea Party. I knew dark rides might be tough for him, but decided ahead of time to try out Alice first and gauge his response from there for other attractions. I was sure he would love Gadget's Go Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Radiator Springs Racers (Splash Mountain was closed for our trip, but add this one to the list).
Well… my brave boy stayed home this trip! He hated Gadget's. He was almost crying and said he did not want to ever ride it again. This really surprised me, but after consideration, I decided that it started out so fast that he must not have been totally prepared for it—despite watching You Tube videos ahead of time. He is very into trains, so I was sure he would love Big Thunder. Nope. He very pitifully yelled, “when is it going to stop?” the last third of the ride. He said he didn't like the feeling of leaning to the side and felt like he was going to fall out. OK. I can appreciate that. But Radiator Springs Racers, that's basically like driving with Daddy, right? Add Lightning McQueen… this is going to be a hit! Wrong again. He did say he might re-ride with me later using our Rider Switch Pass, but I dropped it somewhere along the way, so he was saved. I was truly floored that he did not like these attractions.
He tolerated dark attractions, including Pirates of the Caribbean, much better than I anticipated. I was more prepared for this fear and was able to explain to him ahead of time where the dark parts are and how long they will last. I think he was able to enjoy these rides more because he knew what might be scary and how to handle it.
My daughter was a week shy of 3 on this trip and 37-inches tall. On previous trips, and every trip to see Santa, she has had a fear of the characters, but I had noticed at outings where there was a mascot present, she was starting to grow out of this. So I was hopeful for good character interactions, but still expecting some fear. Before the trip, she told me she wanted to meet Minnie Mouse and Elsa. Everyone else I mentioned she deemed as “too scary.”
The first character we encountered was Doc McStuffins. She hid behind us and did not want to go see her. After her brother visited with Doc, she wanted me to take her up there. I stood with her while she visited Doc and by the end, she was hugging her and posing with her on her own. This happened a few times throughout the trip, but for the most part, she was happy to meet everyone—including Flik—who scares me a bit as a giant ant! Again, I was pretty surprised how quickly and easily she warmed up to the idea of meeting various characters.
My take away from this visit to the parks was while I could prepare myself and my children for some fears, others will catch me off guard. All I could do was be flexible and adapt to their fears. We still had a wonderful trip and, one day, we will ride those big kid rides all day and I will long for a spin on Casey Jr. Circus Train.
MousePlanet columnist Chris Barry, his wife, Diane, Samantha (15), and twins Casey and Alex (12), live on Long Island and are all major Disney and Walt Disney World fans. Chris writes:
For a young child, there are a whole lot of things to be afraid of at Walt Disney World. There’s a ton of people, loud fireworks, scary elements to shows and attractions, and let’s not forget about 7-foot tall mice. Most of it is pretty harmless, but there’s always that one thing that scares the pants off of your kids and ruins that part of the day. Hopefully, it doesn’t sour the entire day. Some of them are obvious. My kids still have no interest in the big drop of Splash Mountain. My daughter has only recently, at 15, accepted the darkness and craziness of Space Mountain. Up until then, she spent 11 years swearing she would never venture into this Tomorrowland favorite of mine. The darkness and subject manner of the Haunted Mansion was a tough egg to crack for them, as well. These fears all make sense.
But it was a fearful experience with our young sons in the most surprising of places that made realize that you have to look at Disney attractions differently.
My daughter’s first Disney attraction on her very first trip was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in Fantasyland. It was a great start. She was a big Pooh fan and it was the perfect first ride for her to experience at Disney. She loved it. We figured the same would go for our boys on their first trip. She was 4 closer to 5 on her maiden Disney trip. Our sons had just turned 4 the week they arrived at the Magic Kingdom for the first time. They were equally big fans of Pooh and his pals, so we made our way back to Fantasyland. They were excited to get going and climbed aboard the honeypots quite enthusiastically.
Everything changed as soon as we got into Owl’s shaking tree house. They freaked! They continued to freak all through the ride. Bouncing, trouncing Tigger scared them. They were terrified by Pooh floating up and into his nightmare. Forget about the Heffalumps and Woozle room and the flooded rain, rain, rain room. We couldn’t understand what went wrong. Plus, if they couldn’t handle Winnie the Pooh, then the rest of the week was going to be a disaster. We thought we were doomed.
What we came to realize was that they had no frame of reference for what a ride was. They had gone to local carnivals and things like that and loved going on kid rides. However, a Disney ride with its sensory overload is a huge leap from a little fire truck going around in a circle. They just didn’t expect so much to be going on and for everything to be so huge and for everything to be moving…sometimes at them! My daughter handled it on her first trip, but she was a bit older. I just don’t think they were prepared.
We immediately took them on “it’s a small world” and Peter Pan's Flight. It was then that they began to realize that, “OK, the animals and singing people didn’t hurt me and Hook and the crocodile didn’t either.” They soon realized what to expect and when we went on Pooh the next day, all was better. As a matter of fact, they wanted to ride it over and over again.
It just goes to show you, though, that a Disney attraction isn’t like anything else that a child may have experienced. The simplest most harmless thing like Winnie the Pooh has the potential to scare a kid. You have to be prepared for the possibility that hey might get overwhelmed by the whole experience. Choose carefully, maybe show them some ride-through videos on YouTube and be ready for the possibility of fear, but don’t give up. We didn’t. We dialed things back a little and turned the whole experience around for them and all was well.
It's your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
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