DD rode a roller coaster *UPDATE, a year later, page #4.. WARNING, sensitive content* - Page 3

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Since almost ALL amusement parks have height limits posted and check the heights to get on a place that doesn't do that is negligent.

IME, many of these rides don't have height requirements. We have a couple of places with maximum heights because they are intended for toddlers. Others just don't have height restrictions at all. I think that's probably the case here.

I honestly don't understand the concern. Clearly this place is intended for small children. Your dd seems to have enjoyed it. The ride just concerned you. Without more information, I just don't understand the real problem.

My kids have been on those airplane rides since about 18 months by themselves. They're not jerky, so I'm wondering if you have sensitivity to movement that makes it feel so rough to you. Plus, the ones that don't go up and down are pretty common. I'm sure some have a broken mechanism. Others have an operator control that allows them to keep the child from controlling the movement.

My kids are free to ride what they want as long as they meet the requirements for the park and they want to ride. I've seen other parents (of friends) tell their children rides will "scare" them when our children were riding and their kids wanted to. Honestly that's more a parent issue than a child or amusement park issue.

[MtBikeLover]

Originally Posted by Jessy1019

(and we told him to stand up a little taller so he could go on a few other rides, too, which we'd been on and which were perfectly safe).

Glad to know I am not the only one that does this!!

I did the same thing this year at Disney. DD wanted so badly to go on Expedition Everest and Space Mountain so I told her to make sure she stood up super tall because she only measured 43.75" at the doctors office and you have to be 44" to ride. Her shoes helped her get there and she had an absolute blast on the rides.

[cschick]

In Illinois . . . if it was the place with the monkey theme, we were there when le kid was about 26 months old, and he rode the roller coaster with my husband, and the airplane ride by himself, and the spinny-in-a-circle ride with me. They all had min heights, if you asked the attendants, but even being a shortie at the 5th percentile for height, le kid was over their height limits for the three rides.

They didn't let him on bumper cars, because he did not meet the restrictions.

Edited: hmm, if it's the monkey themed one, we were at the location that has since closed, so the new/renovated location isn't the one I'm talking about.

[mommariffic]

I wouldn't be mad

Those indoor rides are small, and for toddlers. DD has been going on rides since we brought her to Disney before she was 2, including one similar to the air plane but I think it was a flying carpet? Anyway, she loved it. She shrieked and hollered and she still talks about it.

I guess your IL's seemed kind of laid back about it because the place is designed for kids, and it was perfectly safe? I know mine would take DD on a ride without asking, and wouldn't compromise her safety if they thought it was inappropriate.

[JessicaS]

When my dd was about four she threw the most AMAZING tantrum because she wanted to ride this

Of course they would not let her on it, but she really wanted to.

That ride sounds like it was made for a toddler, I would have let my child ride it.

[Rivka5]

Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber

I also won't be mad at your ILs. They asked if they could take your dd in, you said yes. You didn't know what was in there, but they might have known and assumed you knew. You did not ask clarifying questions or set limitations. The staff felt it was okay for your dd to ride the ride. Therefore all the information your ILs could have would be that it is okay for her to ride the ride.

Yes, this.

[Jessy1019]

Originally Posted by MtBikeLover

Glad to know I am not the only one that does this!!

I did the same thing this year at Disney. DD wanted so badly to go on Expedition Everest and Space Mountain so I told her to make sure she stood up super tall because she only measured 43.75" at the doctors office and you have to be 44" to ride. Her shoes helped her get there and she had an absolute blast on the rides.

My daughter LOVES both those rides. Space Mountain was closed when we were there in November, so I'm hoping it's open again by the time we go back in December. She was disappointed (though I was a little relieved . . . her brother REALLY wanted to ride and is only 40" . . . even platform sneakers wouldn't help his cause)!

[Drummer's Wife]

I wouldn't be upset about it, personally. But of course it's hard to know exactly what we are talking about here, w/o being there and seeing the ride/safety bar. I do think they are often desiged to not be touching the occupant, but that doesn't mean they won't hold them in once the ride is going, iykwim.

My kids went on kiddie type of roller coasters indoors and outdoors as toddlers. Heck, my DS was not even 2.5 last summer when we went to Disneyland and his favorite ride was the Matterhorn (fast, zippy, jerky roller coaster with the Abominable snowman in the huge white mountain). We used our own judegement, and as it turned out he as well as the 4 yo loved it and begged to go on it again and again.

[claddaghmom]

Well if they had disrespected her by forcing her on when she was scared, that would be a problem.

Or if they had known/guessed I would object and lied by omission, that would be a problem.

Otherwise, I'd be thankful for her guardian angel and try to move on from it.

I do know that feeling though. I remember one time we took my little brother to universal studios. I forget which roller coaster it was, but he "just" hit the height requirements. Well I rode with him and had to hold onto him to keep him IN IT. I am not kidding. I was like 11 years old and crying the entire time. It was so scary to think that he might have gone on it alone.

[AirMiami]

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom

To the chicagoans asking- i'm not sure if posting the name would violate the UA.. maybe i'll pm you all

Please PM me the name, this place sounds fun for my kid when she's a bit older!

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by VisionaryMom

IME, many of these rides don't have height requirements. We have a couple of places with maximum heights because they are intended for toddlers. Others just don't have height restrictions at all. I think that's probably the case here.

Ah, well, if the rides are at that level, then nevermind.

I was confused by the one that was jolting to an adult and thought they'd all been larger rides like that.

[PrincessAnika]

i used to work at an amusement park - http://www.dutchwonderland.com - designed for families with children under 12 (but everybody loves it).
they have one of those spaceship rides. goes MAYBE 4ft in the air. there are models that have some that go up and some that do not, the one they have is operator controlled, in going up/down, and there are models that are child controlled - the button to press can be difficult for younger children so they may have just told her it was "broken" so she wouldn't feel bad about not being able to get it up, or it may truely have been unable to go up, however if it does not interfere with the safety of the ride it may still be ran as normal. height restriction is under 54" to ride, and if a child can sit up unsupported they can ride (adjustable seatbelts); yes i had some 8/9month olds who rode, quite safely, and loved it - in 7 years there I never had any child try to stand up, and they only way they would have been able to is if they took off the belt (difficult clip, most couldn't figure it out at the end of hte ride when it was time to get off). this i would not worry about.
the roller coaster - without seeing it i would have no idea. we did have one roller coaster that went around in two circles, safe for young kids yes, but if the parent was on and the lapbar did not securly fit down on teh child (T shaped bar coming up from the floor) i advised parents to 'hold on to him/her securly' for added safety and protection. that one WAS very bumpy and 'rough' but in 7 yrs only had one child complain - yet had parents complain on an almost daily basis - it's all in perception. minimum height for that particular model was 36" to ride with adult, 42" to ride alone.

She wanted to go on for another ride........They didnt check height or anything (there wasn't anything to measure them either).

May not have 'checked' her because they remembered her from earlier and had checked her then - i did this all the time, check a kid who is borderline, kid rides 2-3 times, comes back half hr later - if i remembered the kid specifically, i didn't check again. also, while you may not have seen a specific height stick, many places will make the fence in line at the required height to ride, we had a few that we 'checked against the fence'.

At what age do you find it appropriate for a child to ride a roller coaster? What about other amusement-park type rides?

when the child can ride safely and enjoy it, provided safety restrictions are met.

[beru]

OP, your story makes me feel very anxious and many of the responses make me feel like I must be incredibly uptight. I am apparently much more cautious about amusement rides than is typical! I am surprised. My daughter is 28 months old and I would be very cautious bringing her on any rides where I was not in control. I went through this when my 5 year old was her age. The two of us would watch the ride once and talk about it. I wanted to make sure he wouldn't be surprised by it. The thought of him trying to get up in the middle of the ride because he was scared or something worried me. I also liked to watch once because I would get to see if the operator was conscientious enough for my standards. And finally, I got to see the restraints in action.

[BTW, I am personally a roller coaster addict. I used to live 25 minutes from Six Flags New England and I would stop there on my way home from work to ride the Superman roller coaster once or twice. (I got lots of fun comments from kids in line because I was in my professional clothes.) OTOH, my daughter is still rear-facing at 28 months.]

I wouldn't be mad at the in-laws. It sounds like a miscommunication. They probably thought you knew what they were up to and since it was legal and sanctioned by the establishment it didn't occur to them to question the safety of the rides.

[cschick]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Ah, well, if the rides are at that level, then nevermind.

I was confused by the one that was jolting to an adult and thought they'd all been larger rides like that.

In my experience, a lot of the little rides that are generally for smaller kids are actually more jolting/stop-and-go than you'd expect, because they have brakes in place to keep speeds down and their small size means that the cars jolt a bit when they "switch" direction. We've got a Legoland nearby, and it has a "train" on a single level track that goes around this lego adventure thing, and despite it being small, slow and single-leveled, it was still horribly jolty--enough to start making me feel a bit seasick.

The place I was describing above (not Legoland), which is think is extremely similar to the place the OP was referring to . . . the roller coaster was a small loop, with the highest/first "hill" maybe 8-9 feet high (I don't remember it being much more than 2-3 feet higher than the top of my head.) Basically, the ride was pulled to the top of the first hill, came down into a bank, went up another hill directly opposite the loop from the first, and then down that hill, into the bank, into the "station". They seemed to run it three times around. The banks were pretty jolty, because I think they had speed limiters of some form on them. The first uphill was jolty each time around, because it the cars were engaged and pulled up the hill.

[MomOf3boyz]

My sister lives in Chicago and we frequently take our DS's to places down in that area. I would love to know the name of the place as well.

Thanks in advance.

[WindyCityMom]

Yes, it's the monkey place

I do agree.. it was a miscommunication with my in laws and I.. I just tend to get up in a huff with them easily because of all of the other incidents we have had.

The banana thing goes probably 12ft in the air, I'd say. Adults can't ride because they'd be able to touch the ceiling, I bet.

The coaster is more than just an 8ish ft hill, it's probably a 10ft hill with a quick drop and smaller drops, twists, turns, and a quick zip through a dark room with glow in the dark eyes everywhere-which surpisingly didn't scare my DD at all.

I'm probably just extremely uptight... I myself also love roller coasters though. My husband won't go near them but he doesn't mind DD on them. Anywho- I'm going to PM the rest of the people who'd like to know the name of the place... unless it is okay to post here. If it is, mods, please let me know

Thanks everyone! I suppose I'm a worry wart.

[MtBikeLover]

Maybe all of us Chicago moms should meet there and we can all ride the roller coaster together with our kids and then give a fact based opinion!

I checked it out the other day when you sent me the PM and I am definitely going to go there one weekend soon. It's a lot closer to me than I thought when I first got the PM. Yeah - something else fun to do in winter!!

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by cschick

In my experience, a lot of the little rides that are generally for smaller kids are actually more jolting/stop-and-go than you'd expect, because they have brakes in place to keep speeds down and their small size means that the cars jolt a bit when they "switch" direction.

Ugh, I'm feeling queasy just thinking about it.

I loved the coasters that turn you upside down specifically because they lock you into those so tightly that you don't bump against the ride at all. (can't handle them any more, my balance has gone all wonky...)

[mamadelbosque]

DS1's been riding amusement type rides for more than a year. He rode a couple when he was just like 1.5 w/ DH, and then this year he rode a TON at our county fair, another county fair and another street fair... he had a blast! As long as he's big enough and wants to, why not? Most of the little kid roller coasters are pretty tame, really. Yes, they may thrash them about a bit, but thers no real risk of them coming off them... Same for the airplane and other such rdies. DS' favorite was actually the motorcycle/car ride..

[WindyCityMom]

If you all decide to check that place out, I advise you to go either early, or on a weekday And pack your lunch and some wet wipes if you plan to use the restroom!