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minnie-mouse
12-13-2011, 12:19 PM
Is this ride too scary for a 6 year old?

WDWFRK
12-13-2011, 12:24 PM
It really depends on your child. Generally speaking, no, I don't believe that it's too scary for most six-year olds. The only startling things are the guys that "pop" up unexpectedly in the attic and graveyard scenes. :mickey:

Mickey'sGirl
12-13-2011, 12:29 PM
I don't think so (my kids have ridden since they were babies). But .... the jumpy up things in the graveyard might make her jump! You can do an online search for the ride, and see actual videos of it. You might want to show your kids in advance what they will be seeing.

Buttercup
12-13-2011, 12:40 PM
I would say it's fine.
My 4 year old has always loved it, but she doesn't scare easily. Stuff popping up and jumping out in the graveyard scene just makes her laugh.
But my 7yo son is a different story. He's been terrified of that ride since he was 3. When he rides it, he's got his hat over his eyes and his hands over his ears. Either that, or he refuses to go on completely. I honestly don't think he's ridden it with his eyes open in 4 years, so he's probably imagining it's worse than it really is. The funny thing is, he'll watch the ride on YouTube with no problems. He knows about all the special effects they use (we showed him how the "ghosts" are created in an effort to show him they're harmless), and yet every time we go there he clams up and is petrified. I'm hoping this year it will be different because he is slightly interested in the new queue area and the moving hitchiking ghosts at the end of the ride.
With all that said though, I don't think he's the "norm". I'd say most kids are fine with it. Like I said, I think his memories of the ride are much scarier than the reality.

minnie-mouse
12-13-2011, 01:07 PM
Thanks. How about the pirate of caribbean? Is that very dark and loud as well?

MississippiDisneyFreak
12-13-2011, 01:16 PM
I think it does depend on the child. I don't remember my son being afraid of it but he was very scared of Tough to Be a Bug and Dinosaur when he was little.

Jezzup
12-13-2011, 02:14 PM
I don't think either ride is too scary visually. However, the tone and volume of the narrator may frighten them.

CzepielCrew
12-13-2011, 02:28 PM
We went when my boys were 6. They went on both Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. They were excited to go on Pirates, but we did not tell them what Mansion was all about. The found out, but they did very well.

gaffz70
12-13-2011, 02:40 PM
I wish i could answer...I still haven't been through it yet! The last time we were there, my boys were 8 and 6. we only made it into the lobby and they wanted out. But yet our friend's daughter has been going on TOT since she was 5 and loves it. I guess you won't know until you try it.
This year I'm going on all the rides with or without them :)

MstngDrvnDsnyLvr
12-13-2011, 02:54 PM
Depends on the child. Took my nephew and my son when they were around 4 - my son was fine with it and wanted to ride again and again. My nephew didn't go back on the rest of the trip.

PETE FROM NYC
12-13-2011, 05:34 PM
Let me relate a story about my niece, now 24 and married. When she was 2 1/2, I showed her an 8mm movie I bought at WDW on HM. I showed the film on my parlor wall because I did not have a movie screen. She loved watching Uncle Pete's ghosts on the wall, and wanted to see them again every time she visited.
Needless to say, she loved HM above all other attractions.

Kenny1113
12-13-2011, 06:03 PM
DS10 has never had an issue with either ride. DS7 loves the HM ride, but used to get very scared of the stretching room,(we would have to pick him up, and cover his ears ) once he got past that he would be ok. He used to give us a little bit of a hard time with POTC because of the minuscule drop.believe it or not now he is our thrill ride junkie!!!!! :confused:

Kenny1113
12-13-2011, 06:04 PM
Even in one household you can have varying reactions.... I say try it. :)

Hair_Razor
12-13-2011, 07:41 PM
Agree, with pp. I think it of course depends. Both my kids were fine with both HM and POTC. But as post before Dinosaur and Bug Life were a no go.

Buttercup
12-13-2011, 09:10 PM
Pirates is fine. It's not dark and scary. I mean, it's "darker" than outside, but it's not scary.

Question: how come you have 3,000 posts and you don't know what Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion are like? :confused:

Main Street Jim
12-13-2011, 11:18 PM
Is this ride too scary for a 6 year old?Whenever a Mom'd ask me this same question, I'd describe it as "Scooby-doo scary" :thumbsup:

ANG
12-14-2011, 06:09 AM
Whenever a Mom'd ask me this same question, I'd describe it as "Scooby-doo scary" :thumbsup:

That's a good way to put it!

You can always try the queue and see if she is scared of that. They will let you out if you tell a CM in advance.

K8screen
12-14-2011, 07:33 AM
[QUOTE=Buttercup;2229071]I would say it's fine.
But my 7yo son is a different story. He's been terrified of that ride since he was 3.

I think the clue here is the age he was when he first rode. It may have been just the "trigger" age for him.
My youngest DD, who is now 25, is brave as a lion about all rides, sports and scary movies (much more so than me!:blush:) BUT she cannot even look at a still picture of ET, let alone watch the movie, and she refused, at age 15, to go on the ride at Universal. This is because she saw the movie when she was 3, and was just at the stage when it triggered nightmares. As parents we cant know when this is likely to happen, but I think HM did it for your son.

Altair
12-14-2011, 07:50 AM
It was the one-eyed Troll in Maelstrom that got my kids.:look: :hide2:

Buttercup
12-14-2011, 09:22 AM
I think the clue here is the age he was when he first rode. It may have been just the "trigger" age for him.
That could be true, but when he was 3 it wasn't his first time riding it - he'd been on the ride several times before that. Even as a 4 year old, before we went on our trip, we was excited about riding it again. Then just at the last minute when we were about to walk in (at 4yo) he decided he didn't want to do it. He's been terrified ever since! :confused:
Anyway, regardless, I don't think most kids are as wacky as mine. :D Even my other kid is fine with the ride and she's younger than him.
Scooby-Doo Scary is pretty accurate!

K8screen
12-14-2011, 09:52 AM
Buttercup, I didnt know DD was afraid of ET until 3 years after she first saw the movie and it came on TV and freaked her out! It had just sort of festered in her head till she saw it again. You couldnt know HM had bothered your boy till you asked him to face it again possibly a year or more later.

minnie-mouse
12-14-2011, 11:24 AM
Pirates is fine. It's not dark and scary. I mean, it's "darker" than outside, but it's not scary.

Question: how come you have 3,000 posts and you don't know what Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion are like? :confused:

I have been on both before, so I do remember what they are kind of like, but I haven't been on either in the last two trips -with kids. So I am worried how they will react to both and was hoping to get suggestions for others with children that age to see how their children did.

MrPeetrie
12-14-2011, 12:53 PM
It really depends on your child. Generally speaking, no, I don't believe that it's too scary for most six-year olds. The only startling things are the guys that "pop" up unexpectedly in the attic and graveyard scenes. :mickey:

I second that. My DD rode it when she was 2, 3, 5 & 8. It has always been her favorite ride. For some reason, it has never frightened her. However, back in 2007, we saw what appeared to be a 6-year-old (or around that age) little boy FREAKING OUT about going on the ride. He seemed panicked! It just depends on the child.

This past October, we took our DS 19 months to Disney for his first trip. At first, everything frightened him. Characters in costume, Dark lighting. Ominous music. Everything.

"No. No. All done!"

Then, by the third of fourth day, he began to figure things out. This was where Mickey lived. He was much more calm in line. We rode Haunted Mansion a lot of times on this trip. By third time on ride, he was very good.

"Zombies."

So, it really does depend on the child. Except for the popping-up things in the attic and graveyard sequences, there's not much frightening in the ride. Just great visuals and illusions!

Hog
12-14-2011, 06:36 PM
My DDs first trip to The World was when she was 3. She went with my In Laws, and I didn't know how many rides she would enjoy. But when she came back I was surprised to find out her 2 favorite rides were POTC and Haunted Mansion. She was a little nervous her first time from what I was told, but after that she rode them each about 100 times. Fast forward to our last trip in October when she is 5, her favorite ride this time was Tower of Terror. She was super dissappointed she couldn't ride Space Mountain etc... My thing is, have them try it once and if they don't like it try again next trip.

DisneyDog
12-14-2011, 07:15 PM
Tara, my son is now 9, but the last time we were there he was 5. He LOVED both rides. I love Pirates, but the drop has always freaked me out. Turns out, Max loves roller coasters. He thought the drop was awesome. Ya never know. He's much braver than I was at that age. :blush:

minnie-mouse
12-14-2011, 07:27 PM
Hi Jill! So great to hear from you. Thanks for your input. I am just so worried my 5 yr old (who will be 6 on our next trip) will get so freaked out on one ride that she won't want to go on another. Last few trips have been more about the chracters for them, but I am really hoping to get them to do a lot more next trip.