I have a 2 year old and 5 year old and the rides/attractions I was wondering about are:
would the muppet 3-D be something my 2 year old would watch? Is the haunted house too scary for my 5 year old?
Any other tips or info on what rides are good for kids very appreciated!

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2006 has an excellent section on children in the parks. Each ride has a rating of interest for each age range of child (preschool, grade school, teens, young adults, as well as over 30 and seniors.) It also has a "Scary Rating," rsting the ride on a scariness of 1-10. It also includes stories from parents proving and disproving the ratings. It's an excellent source for exposure to rides you may not be sure are ok for your little ones so if you need to, you can bypass them altogether to prevent disappointment. I say it's definately something to get; I am a preschool teacher and I recommend it to all my parents, and they said it was a great help to them, and it helped them keep their children very happy! :) Hope this is a great help to you too!! :D

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764583425/sr=8-1/qid=1149444269/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8948973-0167362?%5Fencoding=UTF8

*Nicki*

lol i have that one...read it through like three times already. But its hard because it says preschoolers as the youngest age and then goes on to grade school kids. I dont know how they can lump them all together, I consider preschool like 3-4 year olds and the grade school, well thats 5 years to like 12 since the next group is teens! I dont know how they expect to get the same rating from a 5 or 6 year old as from a 12 year old. YKWIM? also was hoping some parents could maybe clue in how their own kids were..Thanks.

It really depends on your kids. 3D movies freak my 7 year old son out, they didn't when he was 4. Actually it really not the 3D part he doesn't like, but the water squirting at him. However he loves all the wild rollercoasters. Both my daughter and son have been on HM and have been going on it since they were not quite 2. It's really mostly the beginning in the elevator that makes it seem so scary. Once you get down it's not bad. So I just would tell them that it's just a little scary at first but then it's not that scary. See how your 2 year old reacts to Snow White, if that freaks her out then don't trying HM if she loves it, then maybe try it.

It really depends on your kids. 3D movies freak my 7 year old son out, they didn't when he was 4. Actually it really not the 3D part he doesn't like, but the water squirting at him. However he loves all the wild rollercoasters. Both my daughter and son have been on HM and have been going on it since they were not quite 2. It's really mostly the beginning in the elevator that makes it seem so scary. Once you get down it's not bad. So I just would tell them that it's just a little scary at first but then it's not that scary. See how your 2 year old reacts to Snow White, if that freaks her out then don't trying HM if she loves it, then maybe try it.
Even I'm scared of Snow White and I'm 16! :eek:

Love the HM though:)

My two girls are 2 and they didn't like any rides at first but after 4 or 5 rides, they loved them. We started with Peter Pan and worked our way up to scarier rides until they could do Pirates.
The only 3D one they didn't like was Honey, I shrunk the audience because it was a little too real.
Their favorite was Pooh, IASW and teacups.

I can't speak to the 3D movies or Haunted Mansion because we did not go on those when we were there in March with my 5 year old and 2 year old. I will say, however, that I showed my kids videos of the Matterhorn and Pirates rides from http://visionsfantastic.com and this made it possible for them to enjoy these rides. My daughter loves fast rides but is easily scared by monsters and things so it helped that she knew that the abominable snowman was coming and that he would only show up 3 times. Same for pirates and my 2 year old. I really think it would have been too much for my little guy except that he knew some things (specific pirates) to look for and some of the storyline.

Have fun!

My girls are 7 and 9. My 7 year-old still will not go into 3-D attractions. Don't know if it is too real or intense for her. This is the first year that she has tolerated HM--she likes the HM overlay but not the original HM. It took some coaxing to get her on the ride--I cover her ears during the elevator ride and make a point to show her all the funny stuff in the ride. She hates the coffin with the hand sticking out. She rides TOT, Screamin', Indy and all the other thrill rides but not the 3-Ds.

I would suggest you start with a dark ride and see how your little one handles it. That should be a good indication on whether or not HM is a good idea. I do know that a scary experience will spoil a ride/attraction for YEARS! My 9 year-old went on Bug's 3-D when she was 7--absolutely hated it. Went on it again for this year for the first time since then.

I have a 2 year old and 5 year old and the rides/attractions I was wondering about are:
would the muppet 3-D be something my 2 year old would watch? Is the haunted house too scary for my 5 year old?
Any other tips or info on what rides are good for kids very appreciated!


Both my kids enjoyed Muppet 3D, I believe they were 3 and 1 when they first saw it. It is a bit loud so if either of your kids are scared by loud noises, you might want to forgo the show.
I have yet to take either of my children on HM. My 4yo just announced to me that he is sure he wants to go on it on our next trip. He wanted to when we went in early March, but it was closed. We shall see if he changes his mind come December.

My DD was 22 months when she first experianced HM and the three D shows, at first she was a little unsure I talked her through it and explained what was happening and it was not real. Now we go on them many times plus space mountain and TOT.( she was 4 her second time and tall for her age) Plus I bought her the Disneyland sing along video to get her familiar with a few things including the characters:)

Is the haunted house too scary for my 5 year old?

Some will say yes, others no.

I say yes, Haunted Mansion is too scary. I'd also say there's no rush, everything in good time. What age? 8 years old.

My .02.

We just took my 2 yr old son for his b-day at the end of April. He went on Haunted Mansion w/o any problems. He did like the Muppets 3-D movie, the first movie we ever took him to! Really, he wasn't that excited about any of the rides. What he liked most were places he could run around a lot. Two favorites were Tom Sawyer Island and Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

My one year old absolutely loves Haunted Mansion. She bounces to the music and really likes the gargoyles in the elevator, the portraits and Madame Leota. She also really likes Pooh, Pirates and It's a Small World and the fireworks (although she's not thrilled by the earplugs I make her wear). Nothing impresses her at California Adventure though. 3D movies will have to wait until she will keep glasses on. I'm sure it depends on the child. I first rode Haunted Mansion when I was 6 and loved it, but there was no way I was getting on Space Mountain back then.

We took a group of 5yo girls last April. Haunted Mansion was a hit. They also liked Soarin. Two enjoyed TOT, one wasn't thrilled. The same 2 enjoyed Space Mountain, the third (who rode with me) got off and said "That was NOT fun!!" But their absolute favorite ride of the whole trip was "The Stroller of Doom" (driven by their 17yo cousin, and my son...) They all wanted to ride on Papa's lap in the wheelchair, and no one wanted the "baby" stroller, until it was revamped into the "Stroller of Doom". And no Disney guest was injured and no toes or ankles ran over during the soft opening of "The Stroller of Doom".

Our kids love pretty much all of the rides. Our 5 year old loves Space Mountain and the 6 year old's favorite ride is ToT. Neither one of them like the 3D movies. We have been taking all three of our kids since they were 3 years old. Our rule is you have to ride everything once and if you don't like it you don't have to do it again.

Age is quite irrelevent on rides its more about likes and dislikes which as any parent knows children are fickle. The ride they loved and you couldnt get them off last trip may scare them the next trip. Our daughters pretty much went on everything at an early age , if the wanted to do it and met the height and age requirements we went on it. If they were scared and were going to cry we didnt. My 20 year old daughter who is a mommy herself will NOT go in HISTA or Bugs Life , she cannot stand being touched by "bugs" or having anything like air poke her in the back. Her hubby had never been in Bugs Life , he the , baby and myself went to watch the show while she waited lol.