My little niece has been saying she wants to try riding Pirates of the Caribbean, but she also keeps asking me how scary it is. Generally she doesn't like dark rides, though the likes most in Fantasyland. I want her to feel totally at ease on the ride or at least prepared for it. Any suggestions on how I can adequately prepare her for what to expect?

how well do you know the attraction? you could give her a scene by scene talk about what to expect.

you could remind her that it is all "Disney Magic" and that it is only scary fun!

There are two drops - the first one in the dark
There is the whole skeleton area at the beginning of the trip
There is the new Davy Jones effect
The pirate battle
All the scenes of the town being sacked....

Not knowing what might trigger her fears - all I can say is to break the attraction down and tell her about each area and emphasize that it is all part of the magic of Disneyland to go on this adventure to visit the pirates.
Good luck

This might spoil everything, but you can show her the ride. You can probably find peoples video clips of the ride on youtube.com if you do a search on it. Hth! :)

I know it's changed this year, but doesn't the DVD of the first new Pirates have the OLD ride as a special feature? I wonder if that could even give a glimpse of it to prepare her? (taking notes on my own ideas to re-introduce Pirates to my boy...) Probably the youtube idea is better, though.

I'm guessing she's too young to watch the movie? If she hasn't seen it maybe you can show her a nice bit and she'll get lured into it and forget to be scared 'cos she'll be too busy looking for Jack?:p

I think it depends on the child. Lots of little ones go on without any problem at all. My three year old had been on the old version several times and was never scared. Since the new one opened she has been terrified walking past the entrance. She is not afraid to see Jack Sparrow or the other pirates in the park. She is not afraid of any other ride.

I took her on once while she was asleep since she sleeps through anything. She woke up near the end and was fine and really liked the Parrot. Last time there was not any wait at all and I talked her into going to see the Parrot and walking towards the boat, it was a walk on and she got scared so we left and let Daddy ride alone.

She loves to play pirates all the time with her brothers, dresses up as Elizabeth, loves all the toys and costumes offered at Pieces of Eight. She does not want to go on the ride.

She went to the movie and slept through about 2/3 of it which was good because I think it is too intense for little ones. She watches the first movie almost everyday and will ask to see it with her brothers. Of course they run around and play and don't really pay attention to the whole thing. It is just a lot more intense on a big screen.

It just seems to be a developmental thing. One year I spent all of our park time on Small World because my then four year old would not go on any other ride. He doesn't believe it now because he is the daredevil trying to talk the other kids onto all the thrill rides.

I just try not to expect too much at this age. I want to have fun and if that means riding Small World all day long to keep a toddler happy then that is what I do.

I'd generally describe the ride to her: Dark and quiet, then down a dark hill that's fun but you might get wet, then music and scenes....

The thing that I found out my children don't like are skeletons. My 5-y/o hates skeletons. I told him that he can put his head on my lap and close his eyes and I'll tell him when to do it so he won't see the skeletons. They're mostly in the opening scenes. Now he's more comfortable with his eyes open but he always has the option of burying his head in my lap ;) That helps him.

Adrienne

Every child is different and mine is probably extremely different. Our 3 (now 4) year old DD loves Pirates so much that we had to ride it 9+ times last February. In fact, we moved our trip from March to Feb., because the ride was going to be closed down in March. She was a pirate for Halloween last year and is debating between Pirate and Aurora this year. Everything is named Captain Jack Sparrow from our dog to Sugar Glider to her brother due in a couple of weeks.

But it was a chance. First, she is not afraid of much. She is cautious, but is willing to try something at least once. The first time she rode Pirates was for her 2 year old birthday. She said she wanted to ride it, then she did not. And yes, being the good parents we are, we bribed her. :) She was allowed to pick out any small toy she wanted if she rode it. She loved the ride and could not stop talking about it. Of course, she now has a full collection of Pirates themed stuff from DL (not from bribes) and Captain Jack is married to Sleeping Beauty. :)

One ride she refuses to ride is the Matterhorn. She has done Big Thunder and Space Mountain just fine, but refuses to ride the Matterhorn because of the "screaming monster."

But the first Pirates movie DVD does have the World OF Disney footage from when the ride first opened. And everyone is smiling, having a great time. :)

On a side note, in the second movie she was scared at first of Davy Jones because he looked like an octupus. But my husband just held her because she did not want to go. B the end of the movie she was "mad" at Davy Jones because it was his fault that Captain Jack was dead.

I just try not to expect too much at this age. I want to have fun and if that means riding Small World all day long to keep a toddler happy then that is what I do.

Awww . . . that was just too sweet for me not to awww at. Good job, mommy! :)