I've taken my kids on HISTA and just took off their 3D glasses during the scary scenes. When it's all blurry and 100 feet away, it's not so scary anymore. ;)

Also, there are other ways to get your son on Pirates besides dragging him kicking and screaming. I had the same problem with my son. We bribed him. :D

I'm also in favor of "you have to at least try it." I would never "force" my kids to ride Space Mountain or even Thunder Mountain, but Pirates?

Here's the thing...I used to be ultra scared of Pirates too. The reason I was scared was because of a false memory. I thought the drops were perfectly verticle. Hey, I was young, it was dark, my perspective was way off. Even at age 11 I was too scared for it until I was "forced" to go on it. I sure was glad they forced me. :)

But while trying to persuade, do not belittle the child. Don't make him feel bad for not doing it. Just try other methods. We finally got my son to ride it by telling him we'd buy him some jewels from the Pirate store of he is brave and goes on it with us. He's no longer afraid of it, but still talks about the drops, always reassuring himself that it's not that scary. "There's 2 of them. The first one is dark. The second is a little light."

My daughter, however, is not good at being forced onto things. If we make her ride a ride she is scared of then she'll still be scared of it afterwards and will also not ride anything else for the rest of the day. She has overcome most of her fears by herself though and even rode Thunder Mountain last month (under her own free-will and choice) and loved it. She's 4 years old.

Well, as someone who is still a bit of a chicken, I want to yell at those of you who have made your kids go on something that they didn't want to- but I won't. Instead, I'll give you the reasons why I've balked at many rides as a child.

For example, Big Thunder Mtn: I had read in the Disneyland Today brochure that it was really fast. "The fastest ride in the west!" I think is the slogan. I'm not a big roller coaster fan as it is, but as a 13 yr. old that made me more averse to riding it. It wasn't till we were in line and I could see just how fast it was and some of the layout, that I relaxed a bit. It is now my favorite ride in the park.

It's not knowing what's going to happen, or too much darkness, or things jumping up at you that have always frightened me- and they still do. There are rides that I was forced on that I now enjoy, and there are rides that I'm still angry about being forced on. It wasn't till I started going on the net that I actually felt that I wouldn't mind going on the Matterhorn. Why? Because I saw the walkthrough of the ride and when I found out that the abominable snowman doesn't jump out at you I felt more at ease. My only knowledge of POTC was from the Singalong video. I was really nervous about the cannonballs that "fly" over your head. But when I went on it with my family when I was 13, I found that my fears were really silly. The only thing I hated was the two drops, but now that I know about them it doesn't bother me as much. I hate log flume rides and I have a fear of heights, and after being dragged on Splash Mtn. I still don't want to ride it.

I really think that video taping the rides and looking at ride walkthroughs on the net, are a great way to help a child overcome some fears. Give him time and I'm sure that he'll want to do more rides. :)

Originally posted by ralfrick
Since you haven't been to see HISTA, there are 2 scenes you should be aware of. One is when an innocent looking cartoon cat turns into a ferocious lion and strikes at the audience, another is a similar scene with a snake. Since the movie is in 3D, this appears to be happening inches from your face. True, nothing like that in the movie. It's was enough to keep my 7 year old from a repeat visit, and this is a kid that wants to go bungy jumping and Skydiving! I say this without judgment in the spirit of good fellowship and information.

I am sitting here doing an evil snicker :~) . This is something we have never taken the time to go see. After reading this post I am WANTING to take The Boy (who will turn 6 during our visit). This kid is going thru a "BOO! Did I scare you?" phase. Since I am probably the one who started it, this is a perfect revenge for me. Of course, I know that he will love it, and laugh about being scared.

During last year's trip, we went on Matterhorn 3n or 4 times during the day. When it came to going on it at night he did a major balk. He refused to go on it (in the typical Nickolas fashion he refused in a sweet, delecate way as to not hurt anyone's feelings). No matter what we said he politly refused. So we walked right on past. The little twerp then turned around and begged to go on BTMR. :rolleyes:

We have recently discussed our upcoming trip (3 weeks left). We talked about certain rides. He said he is willing to try anything as long as if he doesn't like it we won't "make" him ride it twice. He then said he would even ride "Snow Mtn" in the dark. Poor kid teared up when I told him it wouldn't be open. I am still not sure if it was tears of relief or disappointment.

OK, I'm not gonna sit here and say what you did was horrible. Or if you did that to one of my children I would probably beat the tar out of you. Just a little protective of my younguns;) .

I think for a lot of children, the fact that most, if not all, of Disneys rides take place in a building where you can't watch what is going on makes it scary.

Maybe you can desensetize him to the fear factor if you, WITH YOUR WIFE, take him to a local kiddie park. You know, the kinds with the little roller coasters and the dumbos. Because I am such a ride nut, I have tried to reinforce my likes onto my kids by starting out SMALL and making places like Disney and 6 Flags somthing to look forward to.

My girls are 5 and 6 and as soon as they get handed the glasses at any of the 3-D movies, they are immediately stressing. So some day they will be old enough to stand out side the movie while I go in alone. But untill them, I just face the fact that it's not gonna happen. Hopefully because of that, I have my kids trust.

But then again, my sister and I grew up with the same parenting at home, and she HATES rides.

So I think my advice to you is, get your son a babysitter so that you can enjoy Disney with less stress on everyone.

Originally posted by WildGrits
But then again, my sister and I grew up with the same parenting at home, and she HATES rides.

I think everyone has different motivations. I've been looking for an opportunity to share this particular story:

We have a family friend who hated roller coasters for YEARS.

One day, my mother-in-law said to her, "What if a boy takes you on a date and he wants to take you on a roller coaster?" The family friend asked my MIL to help her go on her first roller coaster and get over her fear! LOL!

Adrienne K

Speaking of fears of coasters...let me say I never rode the ones in Disneyland until 9th grade. We went at least 2 times a year there but I was afraid of them. My sister (who is younger) loved them. She is more the daredevil type. So her and my dad would go while my mom and I would wait or more then likely shop. LOL My mom can't deal well with them anymore at that point. But that 9th grade class trip got me on it. What helped was that one of my friends had never gone on them either. I swear I remember that nerves feeling waiting in line for Space Mt. still. LOL Of course once I got on them I loved them. But I still won't do ones that go upside down or are to high. I have a horrible fear of heights and I don't do well with really high drops (don't get sick but shake really bad..very odd..lol). My husband always tries to get me on Screamin with him cause he lovs coasters but I know what I can do and can't when it comes to that stuff. Thankfully my 4 yr old has become a little daredevil. He loves riding Thunder Mt. and says how its our favorite ride (which it is). Still haven't done Space yet with him cause he hates the dark so I'm not sure how he would do on it yet so we will wait. But he also loves Mulholland and can't wait to be tall enough for Screamin. I can just hope the youngest is that way when he gets older as well.

We just returned from 2 weeks at WDW with our 7 and 11 year olds - their first trip to the World.

I've read through all the posts in this thread and can find many similarities to what we went through. And while every child is different - as is every parent - I cannot offer specific advice. Only share what we did and how it worked for us.

The deal we made with the kids was "try everything you're tall enough for one time - that's all we ask..."

Did that work every time? Nope. But it did work out most of the time. Some examples:

Alien Encounter at MK: My daughter (the 7-year-old) actually picked this for our first ride of the trip. In advance, I downloaded a video of the attraction and explained exactly what happens. She was still insistent on all of us going. She was fine through "Skippy", but once we got inside the chamber, I could see she was getting concerned. I told her to just close her eyes, hold onto my arm and remember this was all make believe. My arm is still numb....but she made it through. She doesn't have any desire to go on it again, but is glad she did. Especially to see Skippy.

Tower of Terror at MGM: Both kids nervous about it. As we started out of the Library, my daughter started crying and asked to skip it. My wife took her on the "regular" elevator, while my son and I went on. He loved it. My wife and daughter were waiting by the pictures they take when you ride. She saw it and said, "Let's do it." So back on we went. She's ridden it three times now, but she does so in a unique way. She wraps her arms under the lap bar, then puts her fingers in her ears. When she first did this, we asked her if she really wanted to go on this again. She said, "Oh yes, I just like to ride it this way." We bought the picture on the next ride as we were in the front. You can see my son and I laughing, my wife screaming and the very tip top of my daughter's head....

Rock N' Roller Coaster at MGM. Daughter too small (by an inch) so I took my son. He was rather anxious, but wanted to stick to our "try it once" deal. He was getting more and more nervous as we got in line and saw the launch. He turned and looked up at me, saying, "Dad. I don't want to do this." I looked back at him and said, "One time - just one time. Close your eyes if you want, but I bet a Mickey Ice Cream bar you're going to love this." We finally got into the limo, and the harness came down. He gulped hard and shut his eyes. We hit the launch and I started whooping it up with a bunch of "yeahs!" and "Woo hoos" - more than I usually would. I laughed aloud during the whole ride, hoping he would open his eyes and see the ride.

When we got off, we got out and I looked over at him. I have never seen a bigger smile. He was pumping his fist in the air, saying, "Dad that rocked!!!!" Knowing his mother was waiting outside for a possible child swap, he wanted to freak her out. So I acted very disappointed and he put on his pouting face. We walked out, and - concerned - she asked me how he did. Disgusted, I threw a thumb at him behind me and said, "Ask him."

At that point he lost it and started jumping up and down, screaming "woo hoo" himself. He's ridden it 10 times over the course of 4 different days at MGM and now makes us wait for the front row.

Bottom line: know your child. Talk it over with them. You can occasionally push the issue, but know when too much is too much. If they want to bail out (like my daughter on Tower), then let them. They might just surprise you.

We had a great time and they've ridden everything at WDW. Not many kids can say that.... :)

Sounds like everything worked out well and everyone had a great time. Thanks for posting the story.

Originally posted by MouseWife
Wow, I think that part about throwing your kid on the slide is what got everyone pretty much upset.

What I was thinking is what got your son scared in the first place?

I mean, something, somewhere must {may} have gotten him spooked........

...Anywho, what I am getting at is it could be anything that has him spooked about the Pirates. I mean, anything that you don't know about. They don't tell us every little thing.

My older son was freaked about the Jungle Cruise. I think {now, 12 years later} that it was the noise of the boat.

I think that the idea of not making him go with you, telling him that you are going without him {some may think that is mean} might make him think about what he is missing. I mean, you sound like you aren't forcing him on rides he would regret {don't take him on Indianna Jones!!! } so I maybe when he is sitting there thinking of you at Disneyland he will remember that.

Oh, okay, {as I am envisioning him sitting there sad on a day you would be with him} maybe you should do it during the week or go at night or something like that. Does that make sense?

Okay, Here I go with my 2 pennies :) I spend at least 40 to 50 hours in the parks a month and previously worked "inside the park" and my wife currently works full time in the parks "helping" Donald and Daisy Duck -- She and I have come to this conclusion Many Many parents "check their brains at the gate" What I mean by this is that we have witnessed so many parents doing things that they probably would not do in a normal situation, such as forcing a terrified child to take a picture with (from a childs perspective) a huge mouse or worse someone like goofy who is one of the largest, as well as placing a child on a ride that worries the kid like the gentleman who started this thread.

I think that parents will sometimes get themselves "lost in the magic" :) of the park and forget about 'being a parent' This is where good cast members come into play to help. Sometimes kids are so afraid of simply being "made" to do something they don't feel comfortable with. Having a talk before entering the park to let the child know that a.) They won't force them b.) There are lots of people who work VERY hard to make SURE they stay safe... :) :) :)