Hey all! Considering a weekday at HS this time next year with just myself, DS8, DD6, DS-almost4. I can’t find info on the logistics of putting 2 older kids in a separate ride vehicle from me & little one. We’ve all been to UOR which has a lot of “you’re tall enough but not tall enough to ride without an adult” rules. I’m assuming RS wouldn’t work with only 1 adult, so could my tall, thrill-seeking DS8 & DD6 ride Tower & Rock n Roller together without me and DS3.5? And can we all do saucers, slinky & TSM in adjacent vehicles (or squeezed into one)?
Welcome to the forum & a great question for your first post. The rule at Disney is that anyone under 7 must ride with someone 14 years or older so you would be limited to rides that would allow you to sit in the same row/ride vehicle with both DD6 and DS-almost4.
I haven’t been to WDW in several years but, I have an 8 yr old, 6 yr old and a 2 yr old and we go to Disneyland frequently (usually with my husband as well but there have been a few times I’ve gone with just the 3 kids) so I’ve become familiar with this rule. You’d have to be able to sit in the same row as both DD6 and DS3.5 in order for all of you to be able to ride. So for saucers & TSM (DL has Mater’s Junkyard jamboree that is the same ride configuration as saucers & also has TSM with with the same ride vehicle setup) you would ride with the 2 younger in one row/ride vehicle and DS8 in his own vehicle. For Slinky, I’m positive that you wouldn’t be allowed to sit DD6 in the row in front of you as for coasters they are usually very strict that anyone under 7 must be sat next to a 14 yr old or older. Unfortunately, DD6 also wouldn’t be able to go with DS8 on ToT or RnR either.
Perhaps you can recruit another teenager/adult to come help with the kids? That would also open up rider switch option for you. If not, you may want to consider a day at MK where there are many more ride configurations that allow for 3 younger kids plus an adult and/or wait until DD6 is 7. Either way, happy planning!
Thanks for such a detailed answer lolabear_la! DH gets so stressed/short-fused when we travel/do theme parks that I’ve finally learned it’s easier to just do it alone so the 2nd adult option isn’t going to happen. I think us missing out on ToT & RnR wouldn’t be too bad but since Toy Story is our main draw, the question now is would the day would be worth it if we had to skip Slinky. I hate to be the one trying to circumvent rules that are in place for safety, but since DD will be 6.5 and is tall, do y’all think it’s too terrible to “pretend” to be 7 in order to ride in slinky car next to DS8? (Or do they actually know your age by scanning magic bands or something?) (Please don’t hate me for asking if it’s ok to be a Mom who teaches her kids to lie)
I should also add that this potential day at HS isn’t in the middle of a weeklong WDW vacation or anything…we fly into MCO once or twice a year and spend a night at a value resort to swim/enjoy the theming before renting a car to visit family elsewhere in FL and this counts as a big vacation for us! Sooo if we spent an extra day in Orlando, and were able only to do Saucers, TSM, Lighting Racing Academy, and 3 shows (Muppet, B&B, Mermaid), meet Olaf, and lunch @Woody’s, that would feel like a pretty complete day of WDW magic, right? (No Star Wars fans in the family.) Worth the $$ for the 1day tix?
Happy to help! As for my 2 cents on:
As a parent with my own kids it has come down entirely to how mature my child is and can they demonstrate that they can ride by themselves, follow all directions & be safe getting strapped into the ride rather than the fact that they have passed a certain number of days of life to equal 7 years. And I think their familiarity with the ride system is also a big factor. With my son it was a pretty easy decision but my daugher who is just barely approaching 6.5 I’ve only felt comfortable sending her on smaller things with her brother & where either my husband & I can keep an eye on them both.
As for them saying they are 7: I have a conversation ahead of time laying down some ground rules on this: only with our permission can they say 7 (while still 6) AND only at Disneyland AND they have to feel comfortable saying it to the Cast Member as well (bc if they are nervous about it, they aren’t going to enjoy the experience anyway). And with both of them, I have always had them practice saying their age when we know a Cast Member will ask about it & especially if they had a recent birthday (this was more for Jedi Training which both of them waited until we went on a trip specifically for each of their 4th birthdays and we specifically worked with them on practicing answering 4, but as we’ve tested the 6/7 age of riding alone, I’ll ask them how old they are to kinda gage how they’ll answer to a CM if they ahead of time let me know they want to ride something together while I sit with the 2 yr old nearby).
Thanks lolabear_la I really appreciate you’re awesome!