now how about favorite ride?

My dd's LOVE POTC!!!! My oldest, will go on it, with her eyes shut...but once we hit that first drop, it is eyes wide open, from that point on!

well...being 18 months old..she pretty much just LOVES Small World..sometimes when we go during the week..and there are no crowds, we will go like 3 times w/out getting OFF!! UGH!
But I do have to say that since the re do inside, I find it a lot more enjoyable.
We also finally got onto HMH this weekend, and she enjoyed that to my surprise, seeing as all the OTHER rides that are dark.. (POTC, Pan, etc) make her cry!

They haven't been to WDW yet, so they only have their many trips to DL and the many shows and video to pull from, but here's what they THINK their favorites will be at WDW:

My son (11) is easy: Test Track

My daughter (7) changes like the wind in Pocahontas. Here is a typical conversation:

Me: So, what attraction do you think will be your favorite?

DD: Oh, Splash Mountain! Definitely!

Me: But what about Winnie The Pooh?

DD: Oh, I forgot about that one! Winnie the Pooh is my favorite! Definitely!

Grandpa: But I thought you liked my favorite - It's A Small World.

DD: (Crestfallen that she forgot about Grandpa's favorite attraction) Sorry, Grandpa! It's A Small World. Favorite. Definitely!

DW: I thought we were going to ride Dumbo together?

DD: Oh, we will, Mommy, cause that's my favorite favorite! Definitely!

DS: Hey, what about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? Putting our hands up and screaming?

DD: Ooh, yeah! That's my favorite-ist! Definitely!

(a second later, to the side...)

DD: Daddy?

Me: Yes?

DD: Can I have all of them be my favorite?

Me: Definitely! ;)

hmm favorites....hands down the Matterhorn, followed closely by Indy, then Splash, the Thunder....for Brandy....

Mine.... Peter Pan tied with Matterhorn, then the same order as Brandys :)

Matthew (4)- Trains: DLRR, (actually, he calls it Walt Disney's Railroad,) and Casey Jr. He also loves Small World. Oh! And the tea cups! He loves the tea cups.

I don't know what Spencer's favorites are ;) He likes Small World. He seems to be a bit braver than Matthew so I think over time he'll be more willing to go on the rides Matthew avoids.

Adrienne K

Nickolas will try anything once... His DL fav is prob Thunder Mtn.
He liked Indy, even tho he wasnt too sure of it at the beginning.

There are only 2 rides my little daredevil isn't fond of: Space Mtn and Snow White's Scary Adventure.

In DCA hands down the winner would be GRR. He also really enjoyed Soarin' and MM.

I can't wait to get him on Screamin' this year. He will most def be tall enough, and last year we didn't spend too much time at DCA because he wasn't tall enough to enjoy it.

My son has a major obsession with IASW. he doesn't even have to go on the ride, he can just sit outside and watch the clock and things spinning outside.

He also loves the Monorail (we have the toy one here at home), the DL railroad (that's one of his Christmas presents), and the teacups.

I have yet to take him on HM, i don't think the ride will scare him so much as the elevator with people screaming. We may try HMH this weekend.

lisap will have to confirm this but I'd have to say:

8 year old girl - Big Thunder
5 year old girl - Peter Pan

At DCA I think it would be Soarin for both, although the 5 year old really likes SuperStar Limo.

Originally posted by SoCalSnowWhite
I have yet to take him on HM, i don't think the ride will scare him so much as the elevator with people screaming. We may try HMH this weekend.

Personally, I think that the HMH is a bit spookier than the regular version. I don't have a problem really encouraging Matthew to try regular HM but I wouldn't even try to take him on HMH just because I know he can't handle it.

I don't know your child, obviously, you'll know him better than I would, but that's just MO. I'd try regular mansion first if I had a concern, though.

Adrienne K

Originally posted by adriennek
Personally, I think that the HMH is a bit spookier than the regular version. I don't have a problem really encouraging Matthew to try regular HM but I wouldn't even try to take him on HMH just because I know he can't handle it.

I don't know your child, obviously, you'll know him better than I would, but that's just MO. I'd try regular mansion first if I had a concern, though.

Adrienne K


When you talked about HMH last year and there were suggestions that smaller kids may not be able to handle it I made sure that I told Nickolas what to expect. I already had the movie, so we watched it. He looked at the pictures that Sue Kruse put up and we talked about it.

He loved HMH, but again, he is a little daredevil (Thunder Mtn at 3, at night, in the rain and he couldnt get enough of it). He is aware of real life and make believe.

If there is any doubt that a child is too young mentally, to understand that this isn't real, I would avoid this ride. Maybe use a rider switch pass so the adults can see it, but really know your child and don't "think" the child can handle it, "know" the child can handle it. It is just a ride and not worth the trauma it can cause.

See, it's not so much the "scenery" in the ride. He knows it's not real. it's more the screaming people. I doubt we'll take him on. I don't think I even went on HM til I was about 7 and my mom kept scaring my cousin and I, but we ended up loving it!!

Originally posted by mousey_girl
He is aware of real life and make believe.

Seems to me that's really the key. That they understand the difference. You don't want to rush this, as it's also the key to the innocence of childhood. But when they do understand it, you can use this to diffuse potentially "distrurbing" situations.

For example, our kids really want to go on Alien Encounter when we're there in a few weeks. Now normally, I keep all information about an attraction a surprise so they can be, well, surprised. But having been in this attraction, and the fact my kids are 7 and 11, I knew this had "disaster" written all over it.

So here's what we've done. I found a video of the attraction on the Internet - the whole thing, sound, darkness, etc. And we watched it together.

I explained about the special effects, and what was happening all around. When it was all over I answered any questions they had and asked if they still wanted to go on it.

The answer was a resounding "YES!"

So we're going to give it a shot, reinforcing "Mickey's Magic" and how this is all just a show and that Mickey would never let anything happen to them.

We'll see..... :eek:

My just turned 4 year old, fell in love with Splash Mountain, over the week we were there, he went on that ride at least 30 times!

And here a week later, its all he still talks about!

My 2 year old, loves Autopia!

And my 1 year old, loved The Tiki Room

At DL my 5yr old loved POTC.
At DCA he loved SOC until we got off and he realized it scared his dad:eek:
Last time we were there we couldn't keep him out of Muppets 3d, he must have done that at least 10 times in 3 days:D

Ok, Gabe didn't do HMH this time. I went on and realized it would have been a little too scary for him. I was able to take him on Dumbo because the line was short so we can add that to our list!

Originally posted by SoCalSnowWhite
Ok, Gabe didn't do HMH this time. I went on and realized it would have been a little too scary for him. I was able to take him on Dumbo because the line was short so we can add that to our list!



Yeah!!!! I don't like Dumbo, the going in circles thing, but The Boy loves it, so the Hubby takes him.

Did he enjoy? How old is he? As for HM there will be many other times. For his first ride you may want to pick a day with light crowds so that you can try to have as few people in the stretching room as possible.

Even with The Boy being a HM and HMH veteran the screaming teens still bothers him. It doesn't scare him, but with his ears being a bit sensitve (due to ear infections) the noise can be a bit much.

He'll be 4 in December. We had been on Dumbo when he was one and he liked it, but everytime we went back, the lines were too long or we just got distracted by other things.

When i went on HMH this time, there was no screaming until the hitchhiking ghost room, when some obnoxious boy screamed at the top of his lungs. The exact reason we haven't ventured on the ride yet.