Will my 4 year old pass for 40 inches?

Hi Liners,

Long time reader, first time poster! My family’s trip is next week (!) and thanks to TP, I think we are all ready. Only question is whether my 4 year old will be tall enough for TT and Soarin’ which will be our first rides of the whole trip. I’ve never had to worry about height requirements before so I only know what I’ve read which is a) you get measured twice so you have to “pass” a second time, potentially leading to massive preschooler disappointment and b) when you are borderline, it depends on the CM and how strict he/she is. So for those who have BTDT, please give me your thoughts based on my picture. Yes, she is wearing her shoes, no she does not have a ponytail but I will for sure be adding that in case it helps!

Thanks in advance! You all have taught me so much!

As a former Operations attendant (rides), I would let you on. If it’s that close it’s not worth fighting about.

Yes, she is wearing her shoes. I’m told she can leave them on. She needs them to hit that mark for sure!

Yeah… I saw right after I posted.

Also, it helps if the parents are nice. If I ask to measure and you act indignant / rude and your child is a hair shy, I will be a lot less accommodating.

Do not add a ponytail or anything that makes it look like you are trying to sneak in. I always pushed the bar down to the flat of the skull when I saw kids with “puffed up” hair.

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Great to know. Thank you!! I can definitely be extra pleasant :slightly_smiling_face:

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Just prepare your DD for the possibility they might not let her on, but hope for the best.

I’d certainly be nervous on Soarin’ if she isn’t tall enough, since you are up kinda high.

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TT might scare a 4 yr old. The part at the end with the roller coaster is a lot more roller coaster-e than I had expected. Soarin would probably be ok; I did it with a 4yr old once.

Yes, safety first for sure. I told her there will be a “safety check” right before and if it’s not safe, we will do something else fun. I just know she will love both rides because she is my thrill seeker and not scared of anything! So I hope it is “safe!”

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One more bit of advice… don’t stand by the height bar and measure. That’s a big signal for someone to come over and verify the height. Just walk in the queue like you" belong" there and you know your kids are OK to ride.

When you start asking questions or pausing to verify height that’s when you signal you need assistance / may be unable to ride.

You kid is close enough that on a visual pass I wouldn’t stop her. (especially if it’s a busy / crowded day) It’s really small kids or ones that are probably 3 - 4+ inches short and look nervous that I stopped.

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I’m suddenly imagining Brick from The Middle trying to act like he’s tall enough, and whispering, “I’m lying,” as he passes by the CM! :slight_smile:

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I really appreciate your advice, thank you!

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I have a 4 year old son who I definitely measured at 42" at home (and per his doctor is 41.75" with bare feet) and he was NOT tall enough for the 42" rides. I would definitely expect it to be a close call! Once he got denied for one we didn’t even try with others because it wasn’t worth it.

Get her shoes with thicker soles or add insoles. This might sound ridicilous, but my son was so close to 40" that I put in 2 extra soles in his (roomy) sneakers for the queue :rofl:

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Yes, we are expecting it to be close regardless. Thanks for sharing your experience, the more info the better!

To be honest it’s hard to tell from the picture how tall she is measuring due to the angle. That looks like it will be close, so follow @darkmite2’s advice to give yourself the best chance, but prepare DD for possible disappointment just in case.

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It’s looks like 39.5" to me. We were instructed, “unofficially”, to lay our hands out flat and wave it under the bar and between the flat of the head. If I could wave my hand back and forth with no issue you were too short to ride.

BTW - I’m 5’ 2" so I was always a bit sympathetic to short kids. I couldn’t get on my first coaster until the 5th grade.

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We were in the same situation years ago. My son was allowed on Soarin but not Test Track (within hours of each other), so there’s just no predicting. Good luck!

This advice so much. Our first and (so far) only trip to WDW our DD was just shy of the 38 in for 7DMT and after scanning our FPPs we all walked in and not once did one cast member even come close to asking to measure. Also I would add that if you carry them into the line this seems to automatically flag to the CM that they should measure. Probably because it’s a lot harder to eyeball height so if my kids are borderline, I also make them walk into line themselves so there’s less chance they measure (this is more for slightly lower height requirements tho as by 40 in I am not carrying that child very far through any part of walking or lining up in the parks).

We also frequent Disneyland on the west coast which has 40 in height requirements for most everything that is worth doing and when the kids are borderline we always set expectations that it’s just up to how they measure. We also practice measuring and standing tall on flat feet in their shoes so they are confident for the measure both at home and before they are tall enough when passing height bars in the parks (if measuring in the parks we do so when we aren’t planning to ride to get a barometer of where they are at and at a lot of the Disneyland attractions there are height bars that farther away from the main entrance- maybe there are some in WDW that you can look out for & use as well, to give you that barometer).

But ultimately yes it is down to the CM. On the whole we’ve found the CMs to want to help the kids get in and only once had a CM who turned my son away after he’s been accepted once and it was a weird experience all around - but bc we had expectations set we didn’t make a big deal of it and moved onto the next thing.

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Definitely! If your child can’t walk on their own it’s a big signal they may be too small to ride.

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Ugh so close!!! I’d be prepared for all of it.

My 5 y/o was very close to 44” w/o shoes our last trip. I packed Sketchers and Chacos - the Sketchers gave her more of a boost. I made a mistake in shoe planning and she had them on during our last night at MK and it rained for 4-5
hours. The weren’t dry the next day and she had to wear her Chacos and was denied at FOP, cleared at EE and cleared at FOP later in the day. With the other shoes she was never turned away - did FOP once with them and Space 3x. So I guess just go in with a “maybe we will maybe we won’t” attitude every time. Just because she was cleared for Soarin’ once doesn’t automatically she’s in the clear for that ride the rest of the trip.

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