There are several attractions at Disney World that may seem harmless. And, if you go purely off the height requirement, you may think it is suitable for your child.
However, even though they look fun, you may find that they are a bit more than you bargained for.
Of course, every kid is different, so yours may like all of these, but many of these are things that might scare little ones at Disney World.
Let’s take a look…
We left *some* attractions off that either had taller height requirements or don’t really require much explanation (like Splash Mountain & Slinky Dog Dash). If there’s anything not listed here that you’d like to see, please mention that in the comments.
In this article (click to expand)
Magic Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 3/10
Why it could be scary: in the beginning, there are lots of skeletons that some kids might find scary. Also, the ride is dark, and there’s a scene in the middle where canons are being fired which could be scary to some kids.
Tips: have a small child sit in the middle of the row during the ride, preferably not in the front row
Haunted Mansion
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 4/10
Why it could be scary: the darkness, haunting audio, and images of skulls and ghosts could scare some
Tips: try to redirect a child’s attention by telling them to help count how many ghosts they spot
Tomorrowland Transit Authority (PeopleMover)
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 1/10
Why it could be scary: this ride is really mild, but there are parts that go through complete darkness
Tips: let kids know that this ride is a tour through Tomorrowland and that you have to go through some buildings in the dark. Consider bringing glow sticks (or something else that provides a soft light that won’t interfere with other guests) to give your little one to hold.
Space Mountain
Height requirement: 44″ | Scare level: 7/10
Why it could be scary: roller coaster completely in the dark (with a 44″ height requirement, many little ones won’t be tall enough to ride anyway)
Tips: probably should avoid this ride altogether if you have a child that is scared. Even some adults get a little freaked out about sudden roller-coaster movements in the dark.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Height requirement: 38″ | Scare level: 4/10
Why it could be scary: this roller coaster is the most intense attraction in Fantasyland, so it might take a little one by surprise
Tips: have your child test the roller coaster waters with Barnstormer first; if they like that one, then they will probably love Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Epcot
Spaceship Earth
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 1/10
Why it could be scary: mild ride, but it’s very dark in parts
Tips: this ride will not scare many kids, but you might want to explain that the slow ride up is looking at the past and then there’s a slow ride down that is about the future
Mission: Space
Height requirement: 40″ (Green Mission), 44″ (Orange Mission) | Scare level: 5/10
Why it could be scary: guests are harnessed into a small space, and the simulation includes feeling g-forces and a semi-rough ride through space (though the more family-friendly “Green” mission is milder than the Orange side)
Tips: have them focus on pushing the buttons in front of them when they light up.
Test Track
Height requirement: 40″ | Scare level: 3/10
Why it could be scary: sudden stopping and turning plus a high-speed lap around the track
Tips: We’ve only occasionally seen a child be upset by this ride but just let kids know that it’s a car ride that ends with a fast drive on a highway
Frozen Ever After
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 1/10
Why it could be scary: there are two small drops, including one that is backward, that could frighten small children
Tips: The ride’s premise is very kid-friendly so if you think there could be issues with the drop, give kids a warning when they are coming up.
Animal Kingdom
It’s Tough to be a Bug
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 8/10
Why it could be scary: dark theater, bugs dropping from the ceiling, seat movements that feel like bugs crawling
Tips: we don’t think we’ve watched this show without at least one child bursting into tears. If your child has any fears of bugs or the dark, you should probably avoid this. Otherwise, you might want to remind them that all of the bugs they see are pretend.
Expedition Everest
Height requirement: 44″ | Scare level: 8/10
Why it could be scary: big coaster that goes backward during part of the ride (though many 5-6-year-olds will meet the 44″ height requirement, it’s too intense for many of them)
Tips: be sure to try out other easier coasters first to see about your child’s comfort level. If this is their first, they may never get on another one again.
Avatar Flight of Passage
Height requirement: 44″ | Scare level: 7/10
Why it could be scary: Riders are strapped in onto individual seats making it hard to offer much comfort (if needed), ride simulates falling, and the feeling is very realistic and may be too intense for some
Tips: there is a ride vehicle you can test outside of the attraction, so try that first
Dinosaur
Height requirement: 40″ | Scare level: 8/10
Why it could be scary: rough, dark ride where dinosaurs suddenly appear and make deafening dinosaur noises
Tips: don’t ride if your child scares easily but have them sit in the middle of a middle row if they ride and want to minimize the scariness
Hollywood Studios
Fantasmic!
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 3/10
Why it could be scary: Disney villains play a part in the show, which scares some kids
Tips: focus on the other less scary elements of the show – have them look at the water features, lights, etc.
Tower of Terror
Height requirement: 40″ | Scare level: 8/10
Why it could be scary: Aside from the 13 story drop, the Twilight Zone imagery that riders see before the drop could be scary. This ride only has a 40″ height requirement, so many little ones will be able to ride.
Tips: probably best to avoid this ride if kids seem hesitant as it’s pretty intense
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 3/10
Why it could be scary: the Ursula character in this show scares some little ones
Tips: remind little ones that Ursula is not real but sit near an exit door if you think you will want the option to leave
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Height requirement: 48″ | Scare level: 5/10
Why it could be scary: fast and intense roller coaster in the dark with loud music,. The ride also goes upside down.
Tips: be sure to try out other easier coasters first to see about your child’s comfort level. This may be too intense for a first roller coaster experience.
Darth Vader at Star Wars Launch Bay
Height requirement: none | Scare level: 4/10
Why it could be scary: most character meets at Disney World involve friendly characters, but Darth Vader stays true to his movie persona which may be a little intense for both little ones and adults
Tips: if they are Star Wars fans, remind little ones that The Force will keep them safe
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Height requirement: 38″ | Scare level: 1/10
Why it could be scary: the attraction simulates a smuggling mission which involves being chased and other danger throughout the ride
Tips: ensure little ones that even though it may seem like they are in danger during the mission, you all will make it back to safety unharmed
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Height requirement: 40″ | Scare level: 6/10
Why it could be scary: the attraction involves multiple experiences that include being captured by the First Order, attempting to escape, and scary interactions with Kylo Ren, stormtroopers, and others
Tips: if they are Star Wars fans remind little ones that The Resistance will keep them safe
Advice for handling things that might scare little ones at Disney World
If your little one scares easily, you can handle it a couple of different ways.
- Avoid the attractions.
- Frame scary attractions in a way that’s less scary for them using some of the tips and info mentioned above.
- Give them a keyring flashlight or glow sticks to use on darker rides. If they’re scared of the dark, let them have a tiny flashlight that won’t bother other people but will give them the chance to turn on a light and let them feel more in control.
- Show them videos or tell them how the attraction will go so there are no big surprises, or try a guide designed for kids by kids like Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World for Kids book, which has pictures and ride ratings.
- Start small when it comes to roller coasters. Barnstormer is a good test to see how your little one handles the thrill rides.
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Are there any other attractions that you think you should be on this list? Or do you have advice for handling things that might scare little ones at Disney World?
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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41 Comments
I’m wondering where the Slinky Dog will fit in all of this… more intense than barnstormer or Seven Dwarfs??? Mine don’t love coasters but we thought we might try Seven Dwarfs and Slinky Dog next year???
I read it will be more like the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but if it’s on here, it might be for that reason and the main drop.
So 4/10.
I read it’s more intense than everyone expected, more so than Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and more like Thunder Mountain in speed.
Plus, since there’s open heights and 2 launches, which all take kids and adults by surprise, I’d say the scare level would be 6/10.
Heck, it’s tough to be a bug made my then-59 year old mom (:3 she’s 60 now!) jump when the spiders descended and the bugs rattled out the door under your seats. I cackle. I love that show. I hope it stays forever. They can get rid of the stinkbug nastiness. That and that skunk garbage in Imagination. Stop making us smell disgusting stuff, guys.
Everest at Animal Kingdom was a very scary experience for both me and my 5 year old grandson. Avoid.
Just one more addition to HM section- I can still vividly remember a six-year old me whimpering into Mom’s stomach as the “Ghost Host” tells you that there’s no way out and then the rafters reveal a hanged (I know, bad grammar, but ‘hung’ doesn’t sound right) corpse… that part was rather terrifying. Truth to be told, I would bump the scare rating up to 5/10.
We took our daughter a few years ago so I don’t know if it’s changed, but the Enchanted Tiki Room blind-sided us. We had gone years ago on our honeymoon prior to that and remember it as benign (and rather boring) animatronics. So we took her hoping for a cool place to rest and maybe even shut her eyes for a few minutes.
Wrong. Move.
She had asked over and over if it was scary and we assured her it was nothing close to scary.
We were liars it turns out!
It was “under new management” of Iago and Zazu which didn’t seem like a red flag. Well, the show started the same and then the new guys show up, which is fine.
Then, and I about died, it goes dark and some volcano god comes rising out of the set near us and my daughter is screaming bloody murder. I was frozen as I watch my sweet, tired little trusting girl simultaneously develop a lifelong fear of anything tiki-related and decide that her parents were the worst to ever live.
The nightmare seemed to last hours as I searched for the nearest exit shielding her from the firey wrath of the tiki god (my memories may have amplified things over time).
Of course we can laugh about it now, but rest assured when we go back, my now 11 year old will make a wide berth around that attraction!
Great ideas – I think my mum would agree on it’s tough to be a bug, to this day she hasn’t seen the show properly. As the first time we went on as a family I had a meltdown and she had to try and calm me down. Best tips my mum gives everyone before this ride remind the kids that the bugs are pretend and also that they can take off their glasses whilst this doesn’t take away from the special effects it did help me calm slightly. To this day I still won’t go on it’s tough to be a bug and I am 30
An AED symbol next to an attraction in a good indicator that it may be scary (and raise your blood pressure).
LOVE your tip about stitch’s great escape – that should go for everyone, scared or not! Also great tip for the great movie ride, my 5 year old self laid on the floor of ye car when the bad guy came.
I would add both Peter Pan’s Flight and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It’s very dark in Peter Pan, and that scared my kids. Winnie the Pooh is also in the dark, and it has the spooky nightmare scene with the heffalumps and woozles. Buzz Lightyear is also quite dark, so that at least needs a warning. Soarin’ can be scary for kids who are afraid of heights. The initial rise of the whole structure is surprising, and then the feeling of flying can be scary. As you may be able to tell, my kids scare easily. When they were three to five years old, we could only do outdoor kid-friendly rides. They were so freaked out about dark rides, even it’s a small world was scary! We spent a lot of time on the Dumbos.
when i went my daughter was 18 & i had her watch her 6yr old brother (big mistake) she took him on tower of terror. he cried so hard & it ruined the whole day. now we are going back he reminds not to go on it. i am going to plan the rides very carefully with no dark & scary. just my son & i this time.
Maybe its just me but I have a 5 yr daughter and to this day I don’t know her level of scare I think she is sort of a daredevil with rides at nearby carnivals but another day she will have a nightmare about a elf like elf on the shelf seriously an ELF. So I’m totally lost on what rides to try do I do that Dinosaurs ride or no? Any opinions?
I can give input on what scared me to death when I visited Disney at 7 (this is in the mid-80s, so things might have changed.) My main memory of my visit is of being terrified during the Snow White ride, and also being scared of the spooky sounds of the haunted house (we were just walking by, we weren’t even inside – yes, I was a sensitive child.) Also, I caught sight of a picture of a skeleton holding a rifle, with a bird’s nest on it’s head in a brochure of some kind (was the ride Pirate’s of the Caribbean, perhaps?), and had trouble going to sleep for weeks afterwards because of it.
We went to Animal Kingdom with a family member who works there, and he assured us that the ‘Its Rough To Be A Bug’ video experience wasn’t scary, that it was just bugs in 3D. Well! My poor noise-sensitive 5-year-old was in hysterics by the 2nd bug (it was pretty intense for me, too!) and we had to make a hasty escape out the door. I feel a ton of mommy guilt for putting him through that. I will definitely research rides more before I go anywhere else in Disney.
He also was very nervous on the ride in Asia where you ride in a circular tire thingy in the water, I forget what it is called. He ended up being mostly ok with it, but the steep drop down did scare him. He asked to go again when we got off, so I guess he didn’t think it was so bad in the end.
Oh, and there were a few scary moments for him in the ‘Finding Nemo’ show, for instance in the beginning when the shark comes down and eats most of Marlin’s family. He made it through that one, but I could tell he spent the whole time bracing himself for something else scary and/or loud to happen.
I made the mistake of taking my 3yo on Dinosaur (she LOVED Dinosaur Train and loves coasters). I honestly think it was the impending doom storyline that got her- as soon as the ride vehicle started bouncing around and the red warning lights started, she immediately turned to me and yelled “I don’t like this- I want off”. Luckily, there is enough mobility to the way you are seated that I could lean over and cover her face with my neck and essentially hug her while blocking her view completely- so she didn’t freak out. But she was suspicious of every dark ride entrance after that (‘no honey, there is nothing scary in the Small World ride’) . We are planning our third trip and she STILL reminds me that she isn’t going on that Dinosaur ride.