DS is 2 yo and my wife thinks that the haunted mansion may be too scary for him. I told her it was a holiday version and probably was not scary at all. I have never been on HMH but have seen pics. Can you share your thoughts?

It's your call. Ride it by yourself once and then decide.

For me, I would never, ever let my 2 year-old in the Haunted Mansion, holiday or not.

When my daughter was 3 years old she freaked out just at the entrance to the HM, while her 2-y.o. cousin went right in and enjoyed it. The CM at the entrance told me that this is very common. According to her, at around 3 years old, kids seem to develop a sense of their surroundings and an imagination. A 2-y.o. may see a cool looking white wavy thing and think it's neat. At 3 or so, they see it as a ghost and have some understanding of what it represents. On top of all that, I'm sure each kids will respond differently.

My advice would be to give it a try, but be ready to bail out if necessary. If you make it to the buggies, you'll probably be fine from there on out. I think the lights going out and everyone screaming in the elevator (er, stretching room) is probably the scariest part, and that's at the very beginning.

Good luck!

My son was two the first time he was on HMHoliday, the first year, and he was fine. But now, he still wont ride HM regular.
It's your child, and ultimately your call.

Fastpass the ride, go through the que, and I say try it in the day time too.

Every child is different. Gauge his reaction on other rides first, like Mr. Toad, Snow White, and POTC. The HMH version is pretty intense sound-wise for a lot of kids. My daughter is more nervous about HMH than the original version. She does not like the breaking glass sound at the start of the stretching room, and she hates the Christmas Scarols in the queue. Either version was out of the question until this year, and she is eight.

Well, I've never been to Disneyland and the HMH, but, in Walt Disney World, I went on The Haunted Mansion about 5 times (I'm 14).

In all of my experiences, at least 1 child would be very scared, but only (as stated) in the stretching room. I suppose you should try it, then bring your little one.

It all depends on the child. :)

*mm

I didnt even attempt it with my 5 year old nephew. He was scared on PoTC. Poor guy :(.

I personally would not take my 2-y/o on the ride.

If the child is anxious about regular HMH, I wouldn't attempt it. I do think it's scarier than the regular HM. I think it's louder and more aggressive and bolder. I don't know how to articulate it well.

My 4-year-old still doesn't want to go on it. My 7-year-old just decided to try it for the first time last year.

Adrienne

I won't take my almost two year old on it. Go with a friend. Get fastpass and use child swap if you have to.

my 3 year old cousin is terrified of regular HM but absolutely loved HMH... even tho the elevator scene is almost completely dark, she laughed the whole way through... she cried before on regular one

I personally would not take my 2-y/o on the ride.

If the child is anxious about regular HMH, I wouldn't attempt it. I do think it's scarier than the regular HM. I think it's louder and more aggressive and bolder. I don't know how to articulate it well.

My 4-year-old still doesn't want to go on it. My 7-year-old just decided to try it for the first time last year.

Adrienne

I agree -
My son stopped wanting to go on both HMH and HM when he turned 3. He's now 5 and still will not go on. I know that when he did go on a few years ago - he freaked out when the elevator stopped and it got dark and everyone around us (teenagers) scream at the top of their lungs. He says it's too loud.

IMHO I would wait....

my dd now in her 20s was so scared about Mr Toad and terrified in Snow White but would laugh loud on HM... i heard that at 2year old , u r still in what shrinks call autistic stage but when u reach 3, normally u reach a reason stage where u r aware of adults fears and u can become fearful of things that would make u laugh the year before... every child is different but u need to becareful to protect his mental that young
hope this helped
David

My son wasn't afraid of the ride itself when he was younger, but he totally freaked out in the elevator because we ended up with a group of severe screamers. Everyone was screaming so loud and so long, a few of the kids were bawling... mine was one of them. I had intended on asking the CM if we could get on the ride but bypass the elevator part on our next trip, but it turned out he was able to understand by that time that we could have fun screaming too, or he could plug his ears, so it all worked out in the end.

Thank you all for your feedback. We'll probably skip it. He gets scared at the halloween super store from those simple effects on display. It just looked like from the pictures to be not really scary.

From as far back as I can remember growing up, HM never scared me POTS and Snow White did though!

The skull at the first drop of POTS and the old hag witch from SW.....

My daughter rode it when she was 2 both HM and HMH, no problems at all, I never would have taken her on it , but my mother swore up and down that I always loved the HM (which I did) and my daughter didn't seem at all apprehensive. But then................she turned 3 and will only ride the ride with her favorite auntie and a glow stick.

I took my son on it when he was 22 months he was fine. That was almost 2 years ago. I wouldnt take the same child on it this time at 3 1/2- it would have been to much for him. I almost think the under 2 age is easier because they dont understand as much. This trip almost every thing scared the poor kid. It was not a great time for him!

I've been taking my kids on this since they were little, including youngest daughter who was 4 at the time. My 11 yr old dd who still really doesn't like HM. We've never done HMH, so we are pretty excited. I plan to show her the video from Visionsfantastic.com to prepare her. I tell my kids that if they are scared, they can cover their ears and hide their eyes (either by closing them, or by burying them in my side or daddy's side). My 13 yr old dd used to be afraid of the HM, until she ended up in a car by herself last year. Now she only wants to ride it alone.

We are going in November and taking our 23 1/2 month old son and I plan to take him on the ride, too. I think he'll enjoy it, but who knows.

Good luck!

Why take the child on a ride they don't like? Just cover your eyes/ears is not going to make their fear go away.

If your child isn't scared by things that pop out at him, then he should be okay. Another poster said the screaming in the elevator is the scariest part and rightly so...however, in the attic and the graveyard pumpkins, cats, and ghouls still pop out from behind tombstones and out of boxes. If that doesn't scare him, then you "should" be okay...but each child is different.

Totally depends upon the child. My boys have been going on HM since the were babies. They hang onto my arm while on the ride but beg to go on it every single time. They like the Nightmare Before Christmas version better than the regular version.

Totally depends upon the child. My boys have been going on HM since the were babies. They hang onto my arm while on the ride but beg to go on it every single time.

Same here. My boys are now 5, 3, and 2 and we've been going to DL regularly for three years now. No problems on any of the rides...but maybe that is in part because the younger ones are still at that age where they don't know to be scared.

We never play up the scariness but rather distract them with the cool stuff in the ride. In the beginning we used glow sticks but now don't even have to. The only potentially scary part for ours is the elevator. We only had a problem once, because a group of teens really played up their screaming and scared my kiddo.

Dh takes a child or two, I take whoever's remaining. We hug them close if we sense they're getting frightened, talk them through the ride ("look at that! isn't that neat?"). In a way, we as parents don't get to experience the ride maybe as intended. But we do get to experience it, as a family. To the kids, HM/HMH is the next best ride to Pirates.

All that said, it really does depend on the child.

I don't know if it's possible for HHM, but before I took DD to Disneyland this year, I got the music for HM and POTC, so when she went in, there was something familar to her. Helped ease her mind a lot!! She was bopping along to the music, just like we did in the car, instead of focusing on anything scary that was around her.

Course this is the same girl who went to the Halloween superstore, and told another shopper that there was "nothing scary, it's all just funny."

my parents took me on when I was 9 months old and I pouted all the way through. They were wlaking out holding me and the people behind them were saying, "awe, that poor baby." My maother just said, "I guess she didn't like that one..." and they continued walking. I know it used to make me really nervous when I was small. The anticipation of riding it, but once I was on it I loved it...:)....so I thik it depends on your child. My child freaked out about riding dumbo, peter pan, and potc, but she loved HM...go figure...LOL

Why take the child on a ride they don't like? Just cover your eyes/ears is not going to make their fear go away.


Actually, it works quite well for them. I didn't say it would take the fear away, but it helps them deal with their fear. I absolutely hate the drop in Splash Mountain, but my daughter and I trade off. She rides HM with me and I ride Splash with her. We both get a chance to face our fears and by covering her eyes/ears, she feels some sort of control. My 13 yr old now loves to ride HM-in her own DoomBuggy, at that.

My 11 yr old dd may never learn to love HM like the rest of the family, but she's learning that nothing bad will happen to her on the ride and that it is tolerable. She's actually looking forward to trying HMH this trip.

My almost 5 and 2 year old love HMH, but hate regular haunted Mansion. HMH is much brighter and more neon, then normal HMH. The elevator also doesn't black out, and its just (jack? the white faced guy) looking down. They really like it, so much that we've bought the movie for them to watch. My two year old will ask to get put down so he can look at the elevator and the pictures slower then everyone else. With the normal one, he hides his face. I'm a big fan of taking them once, and if they like it, great. If they don't, they don't. It never hurts to try (and I would never put them on something I myself have not been on or if its not safe to me). It's up to you and your child. Maybe take them around the line and look at the outside, and if they seem ok, go inside.