Has anyone had recent experience with height requirements for attractions and what will pass? My DGD 3.5 years old measured 39 and 7/8 inches tall today. We will be in WDW in 3 and a half weeks. How close does a child need to be to ride the attractions that have a 40 inch height requirement? I understand that this is for safety, but if she is 1/8 of an inch short?
I would say they need to be at least the minimum height in order to pass the height test. Itâs almost impossible for a 3 year old to stand tall each time they are measured (sometimes 3 times for a single ride!), especially as the day goes on. My son was 4 last summer and was tall enough to ride FOP according to his dr appointment two weeks prior but failed the height test once we got to the ride entrance.
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At or above 40 inches. They will not bend on this.
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Thank you. We will continue to prepare her that she may not âhave enough inchesâ as her older sister used to say. Both of the girls are aware that we have to listen to what the cast members say.
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Fortunately we had a plan B in place when he wasnât tall enough. I agreed to âunlimitedâ rides on Dinosaurâ his favorite ride. We ended up riding 3 times because it was a walk on.
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And they shouldnât.
Chris Hemsworth found this out personally when he put Snickers Bars in his daughterâs shoes to get her onto Mission: BreakoutâŚ
From a few years ago when he was on Jimmy Kimmel Live with some of his Avengers: Endgame costars⌠(text from Insider.com)
Hemsworthâs daughter India Rose â who is now 6 â was too short for the rideâs height requirement, which is [set at 1.02 meters (3â9"). Instead of giving up, Hemsworth revealed a cunning plan to sneak his daughter onto the ride.
âShe was really upset,â he said, âAnd I was like nah, forget this. Come here.â
In order to make up the height difference, Hemsworth went on: âI grabbed a couple of Snicker bars and slammed it in the back of her shoe under the heel.â
"I walked up [to the Disneyland staff], was like, âWhat about now?â
âAnd theyâre like, âOkay, in you come,ââ Hemsworth said to applause from the audience.
However, Johansson chimed in: âItâs wildly irresponsible as well, and youâre all cheering.â
Hemsworth and his daughter managed to get on the ride, but the actor soon realised that perhaps the height limits were there for a reason.
âSo, weâre sitting in the chair⌠Weâre at the top and Iâm looking at her and sheâs strapped in and the seat is massive on her,â he said.
Hemsworth then described the moment the ride dropped and mimiced his daughter rising out of her seat: "[I] grab onto her, sheâs like screaming the whole way down.
âI was like maybe thereâs a reason thereâs a height sign.â
At which point in the story, Downey Jr. exclaims: âMaybe!?â
So, yeah⌠Donât do it.
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We were there last week - my son is for sure 44â right on the dot and exactly the height of the bar but they said on Space he wasnât tall enough so we just dropped the 44â height requirement rides so as not to disappoint anybody.
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I never said they should. I was just answering what was asked.
I know. I was just giving further example of why it was a bad idea.
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We got DD platform sneakers when she needed 1/2" to ride. Nothing obvious. Just a small bit of chunk at the bottom. All white so the base didnt stand out. I think they were 1" high but really thats not noticable like a kid wearing 3" plats 
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She needs to be 40"+ with shoes on. If sheâs 39 7/8" tall barefoot chances are sheâll be 40"+ with normal sneakers. Though keep in mind that we all lose height over the course of the day so that can affect things.
DD was barely tall enough for FOP last time around (that one is 44") and they measured her multiple times along the line, warning her each time that she âpassedâ that if she didnât measure tall enough at the next spot she couldnât ride. This leads me to think that some height bars may be slightly taller than the technical height requirement for the ride, though I donât really know that for sure. The CM and the height bar have the last word. (Iâve heard stories where a kid was allowed on a ride on one day and told they werenât tall enough later in the week.)
If DGD will be okay if she canât do the ride after all, I see no reason not to try for a couple of rides with 40" height requirements. If getting out of line and skipping a ride would upset her, Iâd avoid them for this trip.
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She was 39 and 7/8 with shoes.
Our first day is MK. She thinks that she would like to ride BTMRR and Splash. We will at least try to go through the line with her. We have been telling her for the past month that she may not be tall enough. She will be most disappointed if she canât ride SDD.
Make sure you try early in the day and if you can coach her to stand up tall, that will help. But if they can fit even a sheet of paper between her head and the stick, she wonât get on.
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DD has been practicing having her stand us straight. DGD aske, On my tiptoes? Maybe she will grow a bit more, we have 26 days until she will be in MK.
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Someone here had pointed out that sheâd seen kids shrink down to avoid hitting & fit under the horizontal piece, so I showed DD7 pics of what they use to measure the kids and how she had to make contact with the horizontal piece.
Didnât want her being disoriented after âpractisingâ by standing against the door jamb.
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DD used to do that. It was so frustrating. When I realized what was happening I had to remind her to stand tall before every measure. I was so happy when she got tall enough that they didnât bother.
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Try different shoes. Seriously. I just went to DLR with my niece and her kids. Her youngest daughter was right on the cusp and they found a pair of shoes with a thicker sole and those are what she wore in the parks. She passed every height test. However, it is counter-intuitive to little ones that they need to bonk their head on the height measurement. She kept bending her head and even slumping down to avoid it and we almost didnât get on Rise the first time. After that, we told her that she needed to bump her head (not hard) and why and she was much more cooperative.
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Ha, my son was, I think, slouching to get under the 44" bar and so they said he was too short for Space Mountain but after that every time he measured him at rides where he was clearly tall enough to go on he took great joy out of walking hard into them and banging them into his face, he thought it was hilarious. âI just need to measure you over-â heâs got the sign bouncing off his forehead before they can finish the sentence.
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Her new shoes have a slightly thicker heel and she is just under 40 inches. I said to my DD, puff up her hair. But the poor kid inherited my baby fine hair and would never be able to puff it up.
Make sure to warn her that sometimes they measure more than once. They can let her pass at the front but the CM loading the ride has final say. My DD had to turn away a few kids who were skipped at the ride entrance but then didnât measure up. Itâs not ideal but it happens. That last measure before getting on is the golden ticket!
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