Hi! My wife and I are planning a trip with our 4 kids ages 2,4,6, and 8. We plan to visit the MK and split for a part of the day with me taking the 4,6, and 8 year olds (all boys) to a couple rides that the baby can’t do like Big Thunder Mountain. The boys are all 40" or taller. I see restrictions for a couple of the rides stating “children younger than age 7 must ride with an adult”. I think we qualify because the two under 7 will be riding with me, but I know the ride cars only do 2 side-by-side, so the 6 and 8 year old would sit next to each other and the 4 year old would sit by me. Will we have problems doing this?
On all rides, a child under 7 must ride with someone 14 or over. Some CMs are ok with kids sitting together in front of parents, some are not. On Soarin we were delayed because the family next to us had kids aged 5 and 6, and an older one about 12. The 3 kids were sitting together between the parents and the CM made them all move round.
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Could you sit with the 4 and 6 in a single row and then the 8 year old could sit in the row in front of you?
You could try what you suggested yourself, and if they won’t allow it, then switch to what davej reccomended above? (If the 8yo is ok with riding by himself / next to a stranger)
The only ride likely to cause a problem is barnstormer since each seat is in a separate car and only two can fit across. The other coasters have multiple rows in the same ride vehicle. I’ve often had my DS7 sit in front or in back of me on rides like 7DMT and SDD. My impression has been that the CMs would prefer my DS4 sit next to him (with me behind), but DS4 has to ride with me. This was also my experience a year ago when they were 6 and 3. Make sure your DS8 is comfortable telling CMs his age, he is likely to be asked often.
We rode BTMRR a bunch of times last trip on 2 different days. (It’s my DH’s favorite ride). Our 3 kids (6, 9, and 9 at the time) all rode in the row in front of my DH and I. The CM’s never seemed to have a problem with it. This was also the same trip where we saw a lot of CM’s enforcing line and FP rules, so I’m not sure if we got lucky or what.
If they won’t let you do this, you could also get a rider swap instead.
I think you touch on the real question. Will they let the 6 and 8 year old sit together in the same car but in the row in front/behind the DS4 and me since they have 2 rows per car. That would be ideal. I think we’d all be happy if I sat in a row with DS6 and DS4 and DS8 sat in a separate row with someone else too, if that’s what we have to do. I didn’t know if they would let 3 sit in the same row.
Thanks for the input!
~AB
I don’t know how they worked it, but DH used to take my DSes to BTMR without me while I shopped with my mom and they never had any trouble. I can’t even imagine them doing a rider swap because DH wouldn’t know that that was and wouldn’t be able to leave one of the kids alone. They certainly did the ride without issue. But, maybe they were a little older. The last time they did it my older DS was probably 12 and the younger 10, but I know they did it for at least the three years before that, so 7 and 9. You may be okay with the two boys together. I wish I could tell you more, but DH is travelling (driving through that NY ice storm!
) right now, so I can’t ask him.
For BTM you can be three in one row, and DS8 can ride alone per Disney policy. So there should be no problem there. Splash also has three across. In 7DMT the max is 2. There was a bit of a fuss when (at the time) I would ride with DS3 and DS6, but we always got to ride together in the same ride vehicle. Barnstormer is the one that will cause problems! You will not be allowed to ride it with DS4 and DS6 alone. It’s the design of the ride vehicles, only two people per car. And they ask age repeatedly. Not a big loss skipping that IMO 
I definitely get your concern about the ride guidelines, I spent a lot of time worrying about this. So glad that I now have a 7 year old 