Star Wars rides at HS and your 6 year old

[flowergleam1211]

Hi, everyone! For those of you who have taken your six year-old child on Star Wars rides at HS: did you find that there were any rides that were too scary or intense? I understand that there is a broad variation of children's personalities and needs, so please feel free to provide more information on why you think it was too scary or intense for him or her at age six.

 

[voxparse]

Our six year old loved Millenium Falcon and Star Tours. He was scared by the ride part of Rise of the Resistance due to it being dark and there are "explosions" and stuff.

 

[Princesca]

The kids in our group were fine with Smugglers, and they were 4 and 5.5 and are generally timid about rides. They didn't go on Star Tours or Rise, but their parents felt like they could have handled Rise. Tim Tracker just took his 3.5 year old on Rise with no reported issues, but sometimes when they're THAT young, their fear instincts haven't kicked in yet.

 

[PezRuth]

My 7 year old loved all of it. I was worried she wouldn't. I did warn her ahead of time about noise and bangs on Rise and Rise ended up being her favorite ride. She loved Smuggler's run too. We did it three times to do all jobs. The best job for her was gunner. Pilot and engineer were tricky because she couldn't reach things well.

 

[nancipants]

My 3 year old has done all the Star Wars rides and enjoyed them all.

To me, Star Tours is the most intense motion-wise. But it's not as dark or immersive as the others. My son was enraptured the entire time.

Smuggler's Run is loud and intense and the cockpit is small. My son stares at the screen but doesn't really participate yet.

Rise can be intense due to the immersion, but the ride itself is relatively tame. There is a short drop at the end. As long as they realize it's pretend, they should be fine. My son was pretty quiet the entire time and just taking in the experience.

 

[Willow1213]

No issues on Star Tours or Smugglers. When he first rode Smuggler's at 4/5 he was too short to reach many of the action buttons. Rise is hit or miss. He's a ride chicken (even now at 8), and has ridden 2-3 times but depends on his mood. It's mostly the explosions and other loud noises

 

[DeeBee3]

We haven't done Star Tours because I have read such terrible motion sickness reviews. We have done Rise and Smuggler's. Both were fine with my kids, but Smuggler's was really loud and jarring so you would have to take that into consideration.

 

[hpsalb]

My 5 year old did all the SW rides on our trip this last fall. He likes SW though. You know your kids best though - he’s a bit more adventurous than MDS, who typically is more afraid of things.

With our kids, I’ve found it helpful to read ride descriptions or even watch a ride-through video. It takes away some of the surprise elements of the ride, but finding out my kid is terrified and crying through an entire attraction is not the kind of surprise I’m looking for anyway.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Only one mine didn’t like was being pilot for Smugglers Run. That stressed her out. Otherwise she loves all the SW rides and enjoys being a gunner for SR.

 

[sponica]

My 6 yr old kid is tall enough for everything that has a height limit, basically only likes alien sliding saucers and test track. Refused to go on Rise/smugglers run, even after seeing a video.

 

[Rory607]

My son went on Star Tours at 6 and did not enjoy it. It’s become a funny story in that he was so excited to ride it, but as soon as they were all in and it was starting he loudly said “Actually, I don’t want to ride this anymore, dad!” Everyone got a kick out of that, lol. It was too late, so he did ride, but has never tried it again. He did Rise at 7 and liked it, but doesn’t *love” the drop at the end. He won’t go on Smugglers.

 

[saraheliz]

My kiddo was 6 (6 weeks shy of 7) last summer.
He is a pretty sensitive kiddo. He loved Smugglers Run, we rode it twice (with his teenage sisters as pilots).
Star Tours he was ok with but didn't care to ride it again.
Rise of the Resistance he was not a fan of and was quite scared however it was very early on our second day in the parks and the immersive element I think had him more scared than anything. I think if we had waited until later in the trip he would have been fine with it as he got braver as we went along and understood more of the "pretend" element of the rides. We are heading back this summer and while he still claims to not have liked it, he says he'll give it another try.

 

[Anna131517]

Just let them know what to expect before you go on the ride. My daughter actually thought she was going to space on star tours and started screaming But other than that none of my kids have been afraid of the Star Wars rides. Tower of Terror was a once and done though!

 

[Anna131517]

Just let them know what to expect before you go on the ride. My daughter actually thought she was going to space on star tours and started screaming But other than that none of my kids have been afraid of the Star Wars rides. Tower of Terror was a once and done though!

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

We took our then-5 year old on Rise, and she loved it. She was more freaked out by Slinky Dog

 

[MamaMermaid]

My 5.5 year old doesn't like the "drop" on Rise. He loves Star Tours and the Falcon, though!

 

[DisneyByMarriage]

I have three boys, currently 10, 9, 7. The first time we went to galaxy’s edge they were 9, 7 and 5. The oldest and youngest were terrified of the “drop” in rise, even though we told them it was screens. My 7 yo loved it, did it twice that trip and three times last summer. The other two refused to go on Rise again, but they love smugglers run. They are video gamers, so they do love it and we are that rare family of five that the single rider gets to be a pilot when joining us. I dont think we ever made it to star tours. Bottom line: there’s nothing too intense that would make it feel unsafe for a parent of a 6 yo, but if your kids aren’t super adventurous, they may not love them.

 

[kymom79]

Just took our 5 year old there almost on her birthday ( as a new 5) -- it was a great age to go bc she was young enough to suspend disbelief on some level but old enough to play along. Thinking she was a rebel spy plotting to escape from the "bad guys" on RoR was a highlight of her trip, as was piloting the Millennium Falcon.

 

[flowergleam1211]

I'll answer my own question! We learned during our experiences at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT that our kids tolerated but did not enjoy rides with drops (e.g. POTC and one did not like the drop on Frozen Ever After). After showing videos and providing some explanation (e.g. simulating drops with both screens and movement), they did not want to try out any of the Star Wars rides. They still loved spending time in Launch Bay and Galaxy's Edge!