Comments from people make It's Tough to be a Bug! sound worse than Alien Encounter. It's not. It's intense like Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but mostly funny. The bugs are cartoonlike, and sort of (dare I say) cute, instead of realistic and icky, so I can't understand what all the fuss is about. Disney has conditioned us to think of rodents as cute, so kids think nothing of walking up to a mouse the size of a port-o-potty, but go nuts over some cartoon bugs. Get a grip!!

the general idea behind this thread has been covered ad nauseum in other threads, especially Peter Pan Returns

Well actually I must disagree Lacrosse BOy. Most of it is not very scary, BUT the few things that are scary are extreme....a child could get very scared and have nightmares from the dense fog effect followed by the black widdows....and hopper might be scary as well!!!

Alien Encounter can frighten kids much more than It's Tough to be a Bug! ever could.

Originally posted by Lacrosse Boy
Alien Encounter can frighten kids much more than It's Tough to be a Bug! ever could.

Here's the kicker:

A first time parent to a Disney park....

You see "Alien Encounter," and just the name alone describes what you're going to get yourself into! ALIEN!! ENCOUNTER!!! Not a lot of thought process...

Now you walk by "It's Tough to be a Bug." Hey a family movie that my kid really liked and will have familiar "kid-friendly" characters. Lets go see it.

20 min later, you bring your crying young one out of theater wondering what happened. I've seen this happen more then once...

So most first time Disney'ers dont really have a specific clue what the attraction will contain...They might know the general story/idea, but not any major effect. The first time I went on "Its Tough" at WDW, I was more suprised/scared then I was on Alien Encounter. ITTBAB, has more "physical" effects which can hurt/scare kids and even me!!!

Just because you might not think it's scary does not mean a younger person will not...Unless you're a really brave five year old Lacrosse Boy???:eek: ;)

I didnt reply to the Peter Pan one, so this was as good as a soapbox as I get!

-JRob

When I went to DCA, I heard many MANY bad/scary expereiences people had with the show. Especially the "stinger" of some sort and termites on your back, which led me to steer clear of the attraction the whole day. I felt odd doing this because I would go on ANYTHING!!! ANYTHING in the world I could go on, and yet I couldn't get myself on this. I could, IMO, do some of the things that occur on FEAR FACTOR!!! But couldn't go in this show because I'm petrified of bugs. It just goes to show you who can and cannont go on the ride. (Though, I'll end up going on my next trip to DCA now that I know all of the FX and how yo avoid them :D )

I've always believed that knowledge is power. This discussion has given me the knowledge that on our next visit to DL, I will have my husband and teenager visit this attraction first-to see if it would be appropriate for our younger one. Without this, I certainly wouldn't have had a second thought about having Jack experience what I would have thought was essentially "A Bug's Life". And possibly ended up with a very upset boy!

I'm going to agree with EandCDad on this one. We've covered this topic over and over again. It all boils down to this:

Be aware that this attraction may be scary. Know your child. Check out the attraction and decide for yourself.

I certainly hope, Lacrosse Boy, that in 10 to 15 years, when you are a parent of a young child, you will keep this in mind. Parenting is a difficult job at best. I'm sure you'll discover this when it's your turn as others of us have already.

Adrienne K

Lacrosse Boy, I'm with Adrienne on this one, mostly in that at 13 my world was also white-and-black... as I grew up and matured, I learned that the world is actually made up of shades of grey, and that such concrete views are seldom that -- concrete. When you are in your 20s, you'll probably look back and chuckle at all the silliness.
:p

Lacrosse Boy:

I think you are missing some vital distinctions. I'm sure that 99% of older children and adults would agree that Alien Encounter is scarier or more thrilling than ITTBAB.

However, that can easily be reversed with children. Bug's Life works on a level that is more available to a three year old. Alien Enounter tells a story that is going to go over the head of your average three-year-old. This doens't mean that they won't be scared, but they will be responding to the lights and noise, not necessarily the story.

For most three-year-olds the concept of a giant bug that is about to hurt them is much more realistic. For this reason, ITTBAB can be a scarier show than Alien Encounter.

However, the relative level of scariness is completely irrelevant. That fact that a child will be scared more by Alien Encounter than by It's Tough to Be a Bug doesn't mean you force your child to see ITTBAB if that will scare them as well.

Nobody is preaching absolutes, here. All anybody is saying is that you have to know your own children, know their limits, and trust them when they tell you of their fears.

The reason that the previous thread made ITTBAB sound so bad is that people were describing those elements of the show that could reasonably frighten a child. If the discussion had been about Alien Encounter and a 3-year-old, I'm sure you would have seen a similar accounting.

As I said before, fear is irrational - particularly in young children. I know someone for whom the most frightening attraction in the Disneyland Resort is Tarzan's Treehouse.

Originally posted by Alex Stroup
Lacrosse Boy:

snip
However, the relative level of scariness is completely irrelevant. That fact that a child will be scared more by Alien Encounter than by It's Tough to Be a Bug doesn't mean you force your child to see ITTBAB if that will scare them as well.

snip

I agree with this 100%. Just because there is something scarier than ITTBAB, doesn't mean that it wouldn't be scary for a child. Heck, it sounds scary to me, I hate bugs.

Things bring absolutely no points to the discussion, but I found Its Tough to be a Bug scarier then Alien Encounter!!! And I'm 19 years old...

Like I said, it proves nothing, but I was just puting some perspective on things!

-JR