How can I get my 10 yr old son to ride Haunted Mansion? - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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If you can convince your boy to ride HM, even if it takes some bridery, then great. If not, then find something special to do with him while the rest of your team does the ride. Make a great memory for him, rather than put him on the spot for some childish apprehension. After all, its for them, not us.
Well My 17 year old refuses to get on the Haunted Mansion ride as well and I am not pushing her at all! In 2007 I rode my very first roller coaster @ the age of 33 Big Thunder Mt and ended up loving it ! so sometimes some of us need to do things at our pace or on our own time line, i would agree with dave let him choose something that he would like to do or plan. has he seen the movie? not sure if my dh is going to attempt the ride this trip or not but im not going to push it iam however going to try space mt and rockin roller coaster!!
I'm sorry I came off "snotty"... it's just after a week of listening to a child whine and gripe because she was forced on rides that she legitamitely didn't want to go on (because her grandfather and mother *knew* she'd like it once she was on, just because she's tall enough to ride doesn't mean she should!) makes me feel that it's never worth forcing it. Each child is different, and it doesn't make sense at all what they do and don't like.
Yeah HM, to a lot of us, isn't scary, it's entertaining. My neice's favorite ride at five and again at six... but others the same age hate it. Have you ever asked what part of it makes him not want to ride? If it's not due to fear but lameness I could see forcing the issue lol
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As a parent & as a person who has a lot of ride fears... I would NEVER advocate forcing a child to do something they weren't comfortable with. I have resorted to bribery knowing one of my kids would like a ride but please don't force him to ride if he's adamant..
this is not like telling him to brush his teeth.. or do his homework.. things like that you can tell him to do but to force him to ride something he doesn't like.. not a good idea.. believe me, I know not only as a parent but a person who has lots of ride fright & forcing does not work.
I do have a small suggestion that might help alleviate some of your sons fears... there are a lot of hidden mickeys in HM.. maybe if you told him a few & told him to not think of the 'scary' stuff & look for the hidden mickeys instead he might be more open to riding...
You mentioned him not liking the "internal" rides. What about having him watch a youtube video of the ride, that way he knows a little better of what to expect. I am sure either way you guys with have a fantastic vacation. Good Luck!
I wonder if it is a "motion" issue? My son-in-law skips certain rides because of motion problems; they make his head feel "strange". My 10 year old grandson had this issue at first, but chose to try certain rides, and eventually decided he was OK with them. Would I force my Son-In-Law to ride something he does not want to ride? Certainly not. I never questioned it, as it is his decision, and he know what is best for him. Grandson sat out a few times, then tried. To date, he can handle most rides just fine, but like his Dad, he cannot tolerate ToT. It's a sensation/motion thing...and often a young child had a hard time expressing that. I'd let him decide on his own...you know your son well, and he knows what he can/can't do. Forcing him would just make it worse, IMO. Good luck!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DizneyCommando
After all, its for them, not us.
Since when is a Disney vacation just for a child? IMO, if you go as a family, it's for everyone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DisneyDana
I've got a question, and I promise I'm not trying to be snarky, but why doesn't your son at 10 years old, just get on the ride because you said so? I know that can sound harsh, but lets look at it this way, you know for a fact that it's not going to harm him in any way. Heck, he can close his eyes if he thinks it's intense. It's not like a roller coaster where there are g-forces and things that actually feel uncomfortable. He's moving at 2mph and nothing will touch him. You know your son best and you already know that he's just being silly and he'll actually like it. That being said, you should just tell him, "We're all going on this ride together, you don't have to look, but you aren't old enough to sit outside by yourself." You are his mother, he should do what he's told to do, happiest place on earth or not. For us, parenting and disciplining our sons didn't stop just because we were on vacation. (and I'm not saying you do or don't do any of this, but just in general) At 10, if my kids tried throwing a tantrum, they knew full well that would be the end of the day at Disney....and YES if I had to skip out on a day at the parks to follow through, I would, but I followed through so much back at home they knew not to test me at Disney.
Dana, I agree. My parents would NEVER have given me a choice in the matter! I'm the child and they are the parents, I did want THEY wanted. And there is no way they would have treated me to something special or a bribe to get me on the ride. That kind of behavior would never have been rewarded. In fact, my parents would probably say, if you're not riding, no one is riding.
I've got a question, and I promise I'm not trying to be snarky, but why doesn't your son at 10 years old, just get on the ride because you said so? I know that can sound harsh, but lets look at it this way, you know for a fact that it's not going to harm him in any way. Heck, he can close his eyes if he thinks it's intense. It's not like a roller coaster where there are g-forces and things that actually feel uncomfortable. He's moving at 2mph and nothing will touch him. You know your son best and you already know that he's just being silly and he'll actually like it. That being said, you should just tell him, "We're all going on this ride together, you don't have to look, but you aren't old enough to sit outside by yourself." You are his mother, he should do what he's told to do, happiest place on earth or not. For us, parenting and disciplining our sons didn't stop just because we were on vacation. (and I'm not saying you do or don't do any of this, but just in general) At 10, if my kids tried throwing a tantrum, they knew full well that would be the end of the day at Disney....and YES if I had to skip out on a day at the parks to follow through, I would, but I followed through so much back at home they knew not to test me at Disney.
I agree completely with this. I have a DS (11) and when it comes to things that I KNOW (from first hand experience) are not going to harm him whatsoever (and he can close his eyes if he doesn't like the images - although he loves HM so it's not an issue on this ride for us), then he just has to trust me and try it. If he doesn't love it, I don't push him to do it again, but once is a must. It's no fun for anyone to have to split up for every ride and find someone who is willing to stay off with the child, nor to have to waste half an hour trying to "convince" them to go. If it's a slow-moving easy ride, we just walk up and get in line. We don't ask "Do you want to ride this?" because, I'm sure you all think I'm the devil, but he doesn't have a choice. He's 11 and we're at DISNEY WORLD. It's not like we took him on a vacation to Wall Street and are expecting him to have fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Since when is a Disney vacation just for a child? IMO, if you go as a family, it's for everyone!
Exactly!!!!
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Since when is a Disney vacation just for a child? IMO, if you go as a family, it's for everyone!
Well, of course it is.
But I have gone as an adult without the kids and its not the same. I get maximum enjoyment from WDW when they enjoy it. I don't spend two days in the car, shell out thousands of dollars, carry a backpack full of water and ride Dumbo ten more times because I enjoy it. I do it because they love it.
I find the rides in WDW way too tame for me to get personally excited about.
As someone who has been on a ride when a stranger forced their child to ride something for which they already had anxiety, I can tell ya -- it's no fun for OTHERS to be on that ride with that terrified, screaming child.
As a courtesy to the other people who paid good money to be at Disney that day, it might be a good idea to keep that in mind.
Personally, I judged when my child was/was not ready to go on a ride. When he seemed to me to be ready for a ride, I showed him YouTube videos or talked him moment by moment through a ride before we even got near the ride. Only then did I take him on the ride with me.
But... that's the beauty of being a parent: I can do with my child what I feel is right. Telling someone else what to do with their child is beyond what I feel is appropriate.
I hope no one thinks I am snarky or a know it all( I have made many many mistakes) There are things which I have told my sons that they need to try it once and if they didn't want to do it after that I would not make them. I would explain to them, they can't say whether they like/dislike something IF THEY HAVE NEVER TRIED IT(not yelling but emphasis). So I would try to encourage them to try it (and I would tell them how I thought I didn't like tapoica pudding as a child and when an adult I tried it and realized I had missed some good eating all my childhood!!)
There are things which I have told my sons that they need to try it once and if they didn't want to do it after that I would not make them. I would explain to them, they can't say whether they like/dislike something IF THEY HAVE NEVER TRIED IT(not yelling but emphasis). So I would try to encourage them to try it (and I would tell them how I thought I didn't like tapoica pudding as a child and when an adult I tried it and realized I had missed some good eating all my childhood!!)
This was the approach my mom used with my sister and me. Since we were already familiar with "try a little bit, and then if you don't like it..." with new foods, we generally changed our minds about some unfamiliar experience like going on a ride. We knew that Mom would honor whatever we decided but also that experience had shown us that we might be passing up something we'd find we really liked.
There are too many things in life that kids must or must not do for safety, health, and so forth to order or bribe a kid to go on a ride as some have suggested, I think. Mom always said that she thought it was simply a parent's job to give up things the parent enjoyed if doing so was necessary to meet their child's needs or to help the child feel more secure. Sitting out on a ride you'd like to go on if you must is just something you do because you're a parent, seems to me.
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But... that's the beauty of being a parent: I can do with my child what I feel is right. Telling someone else what to do with their child is beyond what I feel is appropriate.
I do agree that it's every parent's right to do what they feel is right with their own child, however the OP specifically asked how to get her DS to ride HM. That was the point of this thread, which is why people are giving experiences about what did/didn't work with THEIR children. So the OP can read the responses about various experiences and see what she feels might or might not work for her situation.
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Okay - for one thing - there's a response above that is pretty snotty, and IMO wasn't necessarily called for. I know my son & I know if he were to actually ride HM, he would probably think it wasn't that bad after all. I hate that he sits it out and misses out on what it actually is.
That being said - I am not going to force him. But in some cases, if I didn't give him a nudge, he would never try new things.
And it's not all dark rides he doesn't like. He's absolutely fine on Buzz Lightyear, he was fine after Stitch, and he realized that Pirates wasn't worth being upset over. If he can't see the ride and it's inside a building -- he gets a bit anxious and if it weren't for us trying to explain what the ride is -- he'd have never tried them.
I absolutely will NOT exclude him because there's a couple rides he won't go on. There are several I won't go on either (SM, RnRC, ToT), but there's still enough to do/see/enjoy that for us -- we still very much love Disney and it's a great vacation for us.
I'd just like him to give this ONE ride a chance, that's all. Because I know he'd actually like it (while watching the video on youtube of the entire ride, he knew everything was fake and we discussed how things work & how there's a huge room dedicated to the servers for the rides which hold all the sound clips, etc etc -- he's very interested in those kinds of things, but yet he is just not budging....). Oh well.
He'll sit it out and perhaps he'll one day realize how silly he was being.
My daughter is like this, if she can not see what is going on she is scared to go on it, it is a control thing for them. We made a rule that after explaining that nothing is going to hurt you etc etc, that we all try every ride once( except of course the ones they are too little for). And that it is a family vacation and everyone wants to do their favorites. So my 10yo daughter does not like Haunted Mansion but knows her sister loves it so we all go on it once together. Vice versa my youngest loves Mickeys Philharmagic and the oldest does not(crazy I know!!) We discuss this ahead of time and everyone knows that the vacation is not just about them and in life you have to sometimes do thing you do not want to for others. At 10 yo they are old enough to give a little bit. It may sound mean to make them do something he does not want to but at that age it is a good life lesson and frankly they go on the ride and then we all move on and to something else and it really does not become a big deal. Going for ice cream after works too.
My daughter is like this, if she can not see what is going on she is scared to go on it, it is a control thing for them. We made a rule that after explaining that nothing is going to hurt you etc etc, that we all try every ride once( except of course the ones they are too little for). And that it is a family vacation and everyone wants to do their favorites. So my 10yo daughter does not like Haunted Mansion but knows her sister loves it so we all go on it once together. Vice versa my youngest loves Mickeys Philharmagic and the oldest does not(crazy I know!!) We discuss this ahead of time and everyone knows that the vacation is not just about them and in life you have to sometimes do thing you do not want to for others. At 10 yo they are old enough to give a little bit.
Yanno, I agree with this idea. Age 10 or 11 is old enough for most kids to be learning that sometimes we go-along-to-get-along on things we personally aren't thrilled about.
I think your idea provides good experience with the many times in life that we do a tradeoff to accommodate or please others, knowing that we'll have a chance later to do something we'll enjoy more.
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I agree completely with this. I have a DS (11) and when it comes to things that I KNOW (from first hand experience) are not going to harm him whatsoever (and he can close his eyes if he doesn't like the images - although he loves HM so it's not an issue on this ride for us), then he just has to trust me and try it. If he doesn't love it, I don't push him to do it again, but once is a must. It's no fun for anyone to have to split up for every ride and find someone who is willing to stay off with the child, nor to have to waste half an hour trying to "convince" them to go. If it's a slow-moving easy ride, we just walk up and get in line. We don't ask "Do you want to ride this?" because, I'm sure you all think I'm the devil, but he doesn't have a choice. He's 11 and we're at DISNEY WORLD. It's not like we took him on a vacation to Wall Street and are expecting him to have fun.
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