Researching what rides my grandson can go on this upcoming weekend I am puzzled. He is only 38" and will have to wait another 2" for a whole new world of rides to open up...but he can ride the Matterhorn. I have been going on that ride since the beginning of time and love it , but smooth and calm it is not, neither is star tours but its on the ground as in no where to fall. Any insight?

i think it has to do with the fact on the matterhorn he isnt riding by himself, he is sitting between your legs while on star tours he has to be big enough to fit in his own individual seat....

Researching what rides my grandson can go on this upcoming weekend I am puzzled. He is only 38" and will have to wait another 2" for a whole new world of rides to open up...but he can ride the Matterhorn. I have been going on that ride since the beginning of time and love it , but smooth and calm it is not, neither is star tours but its on the ground as in no where to fall. Any insight?Totally different seating situations. Star Tours creates a greater whip lash type situation. (I don't even ride it anymore due to the severe headaches I get after.) The height requirement allows for the head to be higher and the feet touching the floor area.

Matterhorn on the other hand did not require a height requirement until a few years ago. It was 3yo minimum, but as that is harder for a CM to gauge, the moved it to a height. And the child rides in your lap (they can't ride with another child under 7 or by themselves.)

Actually they can ride with another child under 7 so long as a adult is on the ride with them. It's for supervisory reasons, not to physically hold them in the seat. I rode behind 2 children under 7 on the Matterhorn, in the same train but a separate seat. I've also done this on Big Thunder, Mulholland, etc.

last week on astro oribitor they wouldnt allow the under 7 to ride with a 7 year old even though the mother was in the craft right behind, they made the family switch all around before taking off....

last week on astro oribitor they wouldnt allow the under 7 to ride with a 7 year old even though the mother was in the craft right behind, they made the family switch all around before taking off....We've had the same issue. They wouldn't let a 5yo ride with her 7yo brother with the parent/adult in the same bobsled behind them. So it may all depend on the CMs you get.

The head height , feet on the ground makes sense on Star Tours . I just remember younger days and feeling on the Matterhorn like I was going to fly out of the seat ...I also remember when my oldest dd was little going on the rockets up high on the platform with her sitting in front of me and holding on to her for dear life thinking she was going to fall right out possibly because she was also a little bit nosey and had no fear of sitting up as straight as she could so she could see more of Disneyland below.

So it may all depend on the CMs you get.

It REALLY does.

Adrienne

I'm a bigger person and it is just not comfortable for me to ride most of those rides with another person. I also feel like on a lot of the rides my kids are safer with another person their size because the lap bar goes down farther. But it REALLY does depend on the CM. A lot of times I've had CM's look at them, then ask me "Are they ok riding together?" and I'll say yes and that is it.

Disclaimer: both my girls are really well behaved (at DL) and have never shown a tendency to stand up, or put any part of their body out of the vehicle or anything like that. I've got other small relations I would NEVER let ride with another child.

. So it may all depend on the CMs you get.

It REALLY does.

Adrienne

Yep . . sure does.

The way I was trained regarding children under 7 is that where there's a separate vehicle, they have to be with an adult (over 16 or 54"). So for Dumbo or Tea Cups or the Astro Orbitor, they would have to ride in the car with an adult. For rides like the Matterhorn or IASW where there's one vehicle with multiple rows, the adults just have to be in the same vehicle. So on IASW, two 5 year olds could sit in the front row with their parents in the second row. Same thing with the Matterhorn. But on the Astro Orbitor where the vehicles are moving independently of one another, an adult needs to be in the rocket with the child. Clear as mud?

Just to make things even more confusing, there is one exception to the rule as it applies to separate vehicles where an adult needs to be riding with the child. If there's one adult with three kids under 7 but the seating requirement only allows 3 riders, the adult can ride with the youngest while the two oldest ride together in the vehicle right before or after the parent's.

Just to make things even more confusing, there is one exception to the rule as it applies to separate vehicles where an adult needs to be riding with the child. If there's one adult with three kids under 7 but the seating requirement only allows 3 riders, the adult can ride with the youngest while the two oldest ride together in the vehicle right before or after the parent's.

That would explain part of our family's experiences. They have frequently let my 8.5 y/o and 6 y/o ride together while I ride with the 3-y/o. But. The last time we did this on Toad, we definitely were not in the next vehicle. They put one between us and I was actually a little surprised by that.

Adrienne

That would explain part of our family's experiences. They have frequently let my 8.5 y/o and 6 y/o ride together while I ride with the 3-y/o. But. The last time we did this on Toad, we definitely were not in the next vehicle. They put one between us and I was actually a little surprised by that.

Adrienne

I'll bet what happened is they loaded a special assistance guest and their car ended up between yours. The unloader (who loads GACS) doesn't have any idea what's going on up front. They do ask the console CM for the number of vehicles needed, and once that approval is given, they load the guests on. The console CM gives that approval based on how the station looks and whether it's backed up or not. It has nothing to do with those in the regular queue and who is together because it would be fairly impossible to match it up correctly (especially in a quick-moving ride like Toad that can back up and break down fairly quickly).

If you ever get me as your console CM, though, I would actually have the 6 year old ride with you and the baby and the 8 1/2 year old by himself. Unless your 8 1/2 year old is over 54", he doesn't count as an adult (though he can ride by himself since he's over 7). If you weren't comfortable with him going alone, I'd have all four of you ride together. On Toad, the capacity is 3, but not including lap seating (for Pan, Casey Jr., and Dumbo, it's 3 and only 3, regardless of lap sitters). That's what we're supposed to do and I'm actually surprised that they've been letting you do that.

I'll bet what happened is they loaded a special assistance guest and their car ended up between yours.

ACTUALLY, just to complicate this even more - we were the GAC guests. We had three cars. One car had the GAC holder and an adult, one was my big boys, one was me. And the GAC Loader put an empty car between us.

If you ever get me as your console CM, though, I would actually have the 6 year old ride with you and the baby and the 8 1/2 year old by himself. Unless your 8 1/2 year old is over 54", he doesn't count as an adult (though he can ride by himself since he's over 7).

He is.

If you weren't comfortable with him going alone, I'd have all four of you ride together. On Toad, the capacity is 3, but not including lap seating (for Pan, Casey Jr., and Dumbo, it's 3 and only 3, regardless of lap sitters). That's what we're supposed to do and I'm actually surprised that they've been letting you do that.

I'm absolutely comfortable with it - although the car between us made me a little bit less comfortable than usual. Not that I would expect any CM to know this, but my M can have his moments, but at DLR, on rides, he shines. It's possibly because he knows that the world would end if he embarrassed me or I had to talk to him about his behavior on a ride. ;) But they do very well.

Adrienne

Totally different seating situations. Star Tours creates a greater whip lash type situation. (I don't even ride it anymore due to the severe headaches I get after.) The height requirement allows for the head to be higher and the feet touching the floor area.

Matterhorn on the other hand did not require a height requirement until a few years ago. It was 3yo minimum, but as that is harder for a CM to gauge, the moved it to a height. And the child rides in your lap (they can't ride with another child under 7 or by themselves.)

I believe the minimum age was 2yo, not 3. Anyone know for sure on this?

Okay, then I guess the reason they put a car in between you was because they were backing up. They're supposed to load GAC's in adjacent cars if possible, but especially on Toad (which backs up very quickly) that doesn't always happen. And especially because you had 3 cars. It takes longer to load from there and they have to keep the station moving. Sometimes they'll break up a larger GAC group by sending empty cars in between so as not to have a larger gap between parties in the regular line (at least there was only one empty car between you and not 3!).

And wow, M is tall for an 8 year old! So I guess I'd have to let them ride together, huh? :)

I'm absolutely comfortable with it - although the car between us made me a little bit less comfortable than usual. Not that I would expect any CM to know this, but my M can have his moments, but at DLR, on rides, he shines. It's possibly because he knows that the world would end if he embarrassed me or I had to talk to him about his behavior on a ride. ;) But they do very well.

AdrienneMy concern with my kids at that age wouldn't have been behavior on the ride, but what happens when they exit the ride and I am a car behind them.Escape Artist at age 5 or so could get very distracted and just wander off. MDM mom, at 7-8 would have tried corraling him, but I wouldn't have wanted that responsibility on her.

I believe the minimum age was 2yo, not 3. Anyone know for sure on this?

It was three.

Okay, then I guess the reason they put a car in between you was because they were backing up.

Ok. So when you say backing up, they have to pull two cars forward to make room for the cars coming out of the ride to exit, correct?

And wow, M is tall for an 8 year old! So I guess I'd have to let them ride together, huh? :)

He's one of the youngest in his class but he's among the tallest. And he's a month away from 9 so the 8.5 is really an OLD 8.5. ;) Doc isn't a "giant" but he's 6' and his brother and most of his uncles and his grandfathers are/were all at least 6' so I guess it's legitimate but for whatever reason it surprises me. So far the younger two are more average.

Adrienne

My concern with my kids at that age wouldn't have been behavior on the ride, but what happens when they exit the ride and I am a car behind them.Escape Artist at age 5 or so could get very distracted and just wander off. MDM mom, at 7-8 would have tried corraling him, but I wouldn't have wanted that responsibility on her.

That was my biggest concern, too, but Sman at 6 is my do-gooder. They actually know to stand right by the exit, but they LIKE to do that because they think it's fun to watch our car come out of the ride and they're always anxious to tell me what they did on the ride or something they saw on it.

Seriously. I'm afraid I'm going to jinx it. My kids are NOT angels - but when I'm "alone" with them at DLR, they step UP to the plate.

Adrienne

Ok. So when you say backing up, they have to pull two cars forward to make room for the cars coming out of the ride to exit, correct?

Yeah, basically. If the back door by the inferno is open and there's a car sitting just outside of it, they're starting to back up. When a car parks behind that, a warning light starts beeping at us that there's a station backup. If another car enters I believe the train crash scene while there's a car parked in the inferno, the ride will break down. So if the console CM sees the inferno door staying open, they're not going to authorize GAC cars. And even after they've authorized it, a backup can start very quickly (especially, like I said, with a larger number of vehicles being loaded at unload) and they'll need to clear the station out before loading another one from there.

It's the same thing for any dark ride regarding backups and such. Even Space and the Matterhorn have similar backup-breakdown systems.

I believe the minimum age was 2yo, not 3. Anyone know for sure on this?I remember it being 3 as they could ask for the child's ticket as proof.

Slightly OT - I rode Star Tours (I'm 5'2") and my feet didn't touch the ground!

hahaha.. yeah, Im only 5'2 as well and was asked by a child that I was riding the ride with (his mother was staying with the infant in the party at the exit) why my feet didnt touch either!

Oh and there is a height requirement for the child wanting to ride alone at AO .. the height requirement difference between the attractions is soley because of the type of seating arrangement..

My little one just turned three but is 39 inches tall. I am not sure she is even ready for the Matterhorn. I am fearful she would climb out if she got freaked. She would love Star Tours but is so light weight that I would be concerned about her flying out and getting hurt. So I am not going to even try for either of these rides for her just yet. She is still big into Dumbo! :p

Enjoy it while you can.. :o) You dont need to worry about ST just yet as the height requirement for the attraction is 40 inches (though if she wears her tennis shoes she may just pass if you really wanted to try!)

Our dd is 5.5 and is 42 inches tall and will not go on Matterhorn but LOVES Star Tours! It the first ride she likes to hit when we go and is always asking to go on it again through out the day!