One of our favourite things to do while travelling is visiting theme parks. None better than the grand daddy of all theme parks: Walt Disney world, Florida!. During our honeymoon we visited Walt Disney World for five whole days of non-stop theme park action! It is truly a magical place. Now that we are parents with two boys, we recently came back from visiting Disneyland Paris!
During our visit it was interesting observing many family travellers when it comes to going on the “scarier rides”. Even though theme parks are designed to mainly for kids, many parents are still terrified by some Disneyland rides!
Aging is not fun!
If you have a legitimate reason such as motion sickness, then we get it. BUT if you don’t, then really you have no excuse not to go on the ride with your kids.
Many parents visiting Disneyland are quietly hiding the fact that they are absolutely terrified of theme park rides. When their kids want to try a ride, instead of being encouraged, they’re told many made-up reasons not to. “It’s too dangerous”. “The ride will crash”. “You will feel sick”. “The line is too long” or “Hey, do you want to meet Mickey?!” along with many other excuses. All this to hide the fact that either parent is too scared to accompany them on the rides.
Instead of fuelling their kids’ sense of fun and adventure, these kids are directed to kill off their curiosity, stay in their comfort zones, told to follow orders, and build perceptions that maybe it’s best not to try these rides after all.
If you’re one of those parents scared of getting on the rides, don’t spend all day lining up for character photos and visiting the stores. Look at all the little kids lining up for those rides. Look at all the happy faces when families get off these rides. Remember: these rides were designed for kids to enjoy. Not to traumatise them so much that they won’t return.
For example, the ever-popular Disneyland roller coaster ride Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (formerly Space Mountain), has a height limit of just 120cm. That means little 7-year-olds are allowed to get on them!
Stop over thinking about the worst-case scenarios
If you are afraid that the ride itself will “fail”, I don’t think there is a safer place than Disneyland. These rides are highly engineered for safety, regularly inspected, and well-maintained. Basically, think about the fact that millions of people go through these parks every year, with no incident. There is a statistic saying that the chance of being seriously injured on a fixed-site ride at a U.S. amusement park is 1 in 18 million.
So the best way to overcome your fear of Disneyland rides? Just go! Be braver than those little kids, don’t overthink, it really is not that bad.
Parents, if you do conquer your fear and ride the attraction you were scared of, you can maybe reward yourself with a souvenir from Disney store to commemorate your achievement.
In some ways going on family travel is kind of like going on a scary theme park ride for the first time. You know what is coming, you know what the ride is, but in the end, you just have to try it. And like theme park rides, once you conquer your initial fear, you will be surprised.
Chances are you will focus more on how fun it is and keep wanting to get on the ride again and again!
For other places we have visited, checkout our website’s travel Destinations section. We buy our travel essentials online via Ebay
