I know that people have asked similar questions before but I thought I would ask this specifically for my situation and get some opinions from the experts who visit the park often. We are going to be at DL on the 27th of June, I just measured my 3 ½ year old and she is exactly 40’’ in her tennis shoes that she is wearing to the park. I want to know 2 things-

1. Will the CM on both Soarin’ and Splash Mountain be ticky tacky about her being right at 40’’in shoes?

2. My daughter is very charismatic about rides in our little theme park here in Amarillo (Wonder Land). What has been some of your experiences with small children on these rides in particular?

1. Will the CM on both Soarin’ and Splash Mountain be ticky tacky about her being right at 40’’in shoes?


Ticky Tacky? If you mean, will they check her height at both the front of the line and perhaps again at where the ride boards, then the answer is yes. If your child is borderline, you may even encounter that they will insist that you remeasure at the front even if you have measured at both places before. This "ticky tackiness" is for her safety, of course.

I don't know the answer to your second question because I don't quite understand what you mean about her being "charismatic" on rides. :confused:

I don't think you will have any problems. I had my son at just under 40 at home in shoes and he was more than fine at DL. They have never questioned the shoes my kids had on. If they hit the measuring stick they were fine. They are picky about that though. If they aren't sure if you are hitting the bar, I have seen them stick a fast pass between the child and the bar to see if it would slide through. In that particular case, it didn't slide through, so the child was allowed to ride.

I don't know the answer to your second question because I don't quite understand what you mean about her being "charismatic" on rides. :confused:

Sorry maybe a bad choice in words.... I just mean will the experence be worth it how have your kids reacted? I don't want her to ride just because I love these rides so much, I want her to love them as well. Are they ready at 3 1/2?

It really depends on your kid. Does she like faster rides? Is she prone to anxiety? you might want to take her on some of the kiddy roller coasters at DCA before you try her on the really big ones. Being tall enough for a ride doesn't necessarily mean that a child is really ready to ride it. We took my nephew when he was 5, and it was a mixed bag. He got very anxious on Indy and SM, and was a bit nervous on Matterhorn. He loved Splash, and seemed mixed on TOT - he seemed to hate it at first, but remembers it fondly and is proud of having gone on it. One thing I was really impressed with was his attitude. No matter how much he hated a ride, he didn't assume he would hate the next roller coaster. You know your kid best.

Sorry maybe a bad choice in words.... I just mean will the experence be worth it how have your kids reacted? I don't want her to ride just because I love these rides so much, I want her to love them as well. Are they ready at 3 1/2?

Both of my kids loved the big rides as soon as they were tall enough to ride them. A friend of ours has a child who went with us and she flipped out during and after the ride. It pretty much ended the day for her. I don't think you are going to know how your child will respond until you actually get her there and on the ride. I'd tell her upfront about what the ride is like so there are no big surprises. I'd start her out on the easier big rides first and work your way up to the scarier rides.

This is not what you probably want to hear but.........my DS was 40.5 at home in his tennis shoes and at the park he was too small for Space Mountain and Soarin'. He had no interest in riding Splash so we didn't try. Good luck and don't get his hopes up in case he doesn't make the height requirement.

Thanks everyone! I knew I would get good advice and even more important honest advice on this site. I really did want to hear people saying no problem and they will love it but I needed to hear the truth to lower those expectations. My 8 year old and I planned to ride the Matterhorn, Space and Indy without my youngest anyway so if we need to my wife and I will try out the switch off system and still enjoy the day.

I just really wanted my 3 ½ year old to experience soarin and Splash I love both of those rides so much. If it is not meant to be, that will give us another reason to plan a trip next summer back to our favorite spot! :~D

Thanks everyone! I knew I would get good advice and even more important honest advice on this site. I really did want to hear people saying no problem and they will love it but I needed to hear the truth to lower those expectations. My 8 year old and I planned to ride the Matterhorn, Space and Indy without my youngest anyway so if we need to my wife and I will try out the switch off system and still enjoy the day.

I just really wanted my 3 ½ year old to experience soarin and Splash I love both of those rides so much. If it is not meant to be, that will give us another reason to plan a trip next summer back to our favorite spot! :~D
We took my nieces who were 5 and both 41" and while they loved Soarin, Splash, and Matterhorn, one liked TOT and Space, while the other definately did not. Indy has a height requirement of 46".

Make sure to have her practice standing up really tall. Kids tend to slouch when getting measured in the park.

We took our son, at 3 1/2 on every thing he was tall enough for. Some he loved, others not so much. LOL Be sure you dont make the same mistake as us- don't start big. Start with little rides, work your way up. We started big and the poor kids was afraid to trust us! LOL He loved soarin', splash was good because I got wet, and he found that funny. He did ok on space mt, and was willing to ride again. He hated the matterhorn- its jerky and the "moster" was scary.

We just got back and were a little concerned about the measuring because our girls are just at 40". They did not want to do any of the "fast" rides because they said they were too little and wanted to wait until they grew up more:) but we did take them on Soarin' and they were only measured 1x in the 5 trips we made. I was very surprised, especially since they didn't really hit the mark when they were measured because they stooped. I was fully prepared to not let them ride but she sent us through.