This site recommends that your children be at least 48 inches tall and have the emotional maturity of a typical third grader—likely age 8 or 9– when they visit the parks.
If so, then they will be able to ride all attractions with height restrictions, and should have the emotional maturity to appreciate most of the best of Disney, and to have fun even on the “scary” rides.
If this is impossible for you, the material below suggests that setting 44 inches as your target minimum height costs you only little.
However, children of this height may be as young as five and a half–or even younger. For young children, test the effect that their first scary ride has on them, and base your exposure of them to further scary rides (listed below) on how that goes.
HEIGHT
The thumbnail (click to open; when open, click again to enlarge) shows height requirements for 14 rides, so that you can see exactly what your child will miss at the height you expect him or her to be when you attend Walt Disney World. These 14 rides include 8 of the 9 most popular rides at Walt Disney World. You’ll see that after 48 inches, the next key height is 44 inches. If your child is less than 48 inches, but at least 44 inches, at the time of your vacation, then your child will miss only two rides, and only one of these—Rock n’ Roller Coaster—is one of Walt Disney World’s nine most popular rides.
However, if your child is less than 44 inches, then he or she will miss in addition Space Mountain, Mission: Space, and Expedition Everest–missing in total 4 of the 9 most popular rides.At less than 40 inches, your child will miss 8 of the 9 most popular rides at the parks.
AGE
Continued on this page.
LINKS FOR HOW OLD/TALL YOUR KIDS SHOULD BE
- How Old/Tall Your Children Should Be
- What if They’re Too Short/Young?
- Taking Your Too Short/Young Kids Anyway,&*#$@!!
- The Comprehensive Guide to Rides
- Rides That Might be Skipped
