Hello everybody. Let me start off by saying that I have been coming to SFGAmworld for over a year, and reading the forums, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I just now decided to get off my lazy butt and post something.
Anywho, for those of you who have children, when did you introduce them to rides? When do you think is a good age to introduce them to rides? I know that The Scrambler (when opened), has a height requiment of 36". So does the Whizzer, and the Hometown fun machine. I have a daughter who is 37" tall, a simply cries when she can't go certain rides.
Thanks for reading, and helping out.
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A good age to introduce your kids to rides
27 posts
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My brother is five and loves Whizzer. I would say around 4-7 is a good time for slow flat rides, and camp cartton network, especially spacelys. After riding spacely's with you a couple times, she should feel comfortable to move onto bigger rides, whizzer etc. Chitown would be able to help you more with this than I would, seeing i dont have any kids yet.
Around the world and back
the first ride was of corse whizzer. Then my mom told me that whizzer went up-side down, Foollish enough. I believed her and yeah, (I was like 7 may I add) and I then rode the Demon in which puts me here now, a fanatic!
 Wow, those days were great.Watch out theres a new Hurricane in Gurnee, IL!
Tidal wave was my first looping coaster. I remember I was 9 when Tidal wave opened (yeah, I know, I'm old), and I wanted the t-shirt that said "I survived the Tidal Wave", but my mom would not let me have it until I actually rode the coaster. Well, I did, and now, 26 years later, coasters have become a huge part of my life.
Awwww. How cute.
I used to ride Whizzer, HTFM, and Triple Play when I was younger. SWT tends to not be good for families because except for RR, most of the rides there are 48" or 54". We always stayed close to Hometown Square and then head over to Roaring Rapids. CCN and LTNP are also good for kids. LTNP seems to be easier for the older kids (6-7, of course with parents nearby) to head off on there own...they have the huge playplace and that thing with all the foam balls. CCN, with the exception of Spaceley's, has the rides where parents stand behind the fence and watch their kids ride.
I took my kids to Cedar Point when my son was 2yrs old and was surprised that Troika (Triple Play) had no height restriction when riding with a responsible person as does most of their flats. So being the nut that I am I took my son on all the flats that I could and found out how much fun I had been missing over the years. So I started them out early at three he went on the Wizzer and by four they both were on the Demon and by seven and sixty six coasters later he is still loving every minuteof it. only you can tell how early is to early but I suggest teaching them the Golden Rule!
Waiting to fill this space with something stupid to say!
Stick em on B:TR right when they meet the height requirement, that'll wake em up
 .
Shock Wave was my first and boy do I still rember it.
My daughter just turned 9 last month and she has been on every coaster at SFGAm (minus Ragin Cajun).
Luckily she isn't scared of anything so as soon as she became tall enough to ride something, she was on it. It really depends on your kid. If a ride truly scares them, you shouldn't force them on. So far I haven't had that problem. I finally retired the Sarah Palin signature because she is now 100% irrelevant.
I'm dragging my hypothetical children to Six Flags as soon as they hit 48 inches.
this is a signature
Chitown when did your daughter hit 54"? My son is just bearly 52" and will be 8 this summer.
Waiting to fill this space with something stupid to say!
Im only 13 but my sister is 6 and she has been on demon. But when she was 2 we were draging her through the park. So maybe you should just take your kid through the park once or twice and just go on water rides and spacelys a bunch of times. Then if they like those rides alot get them on wizzer a lot of times and if they like that see if they want to go on demon. I know that your kid (cant remerber if son or daughter) isnt 42 inches yet. But if they realy like loony toons national park and camp cartoon network, you should maybe introduce wizzer to them. But dont force them on any rides until there older.
My daughter will be over 2 1/2 years old when the park opens. We went to Cedar point last year, and I took her on Jr. Gemini, and she loved it. I think we must have went on that ride 4-5 times in a row, and let me tell you, being 6'4, it is not easy trying to fit into those cars
. She has been on all of the rides, with the exception of Spacely Sprokets, in Cartoon Network area.
She made it to 54" just after she turned 8. I guess she is taking after her tall father. I finally retired the Sarah Palin signature because she is now 100% irrelevant.
That statement on this fourm is a pretty rare one 
Anyway, I think that its best to start kids out light, with Whizzer then if they enjoy that send them to Demon or something however, i wouldnt force the issue on them like Chitown said. I started out bold i hit shockwave first. But some people handle it more then others. So dont force the issue on people. 
My first coaster was whizzer, then american eagle, and even viper was next! The thing was that i was deathly afraid of going upside down. (this is when i was 9 or 10!) My dad said that i couldnt play the basketball game until i went on demon, i loved it, i played basketball...and here i am today
Top 5 wood-5-Goliath 4-Ravine Flyer II 3-Phoenix 2-Voyage 1-El Toro
Top 5 Steel- 5-Velocicoaster 4- Maverick 3- Fury 325 2-Steel Vengeance 1-X2 Coaster Count: 444
I rode Batman: The Ride on it's opening year when I was 8, It was my first time being tall enough to ride the 54" rides and one of the first 54" rides I got to ride and I loved it. A year eairlier though they almost needed to force me to ride Demon, since I was scared of coasters at the time.
My suggestion is don't let your kids ride them when they are too young. I remember riding Galaxi at Indiana Beach when I was 4 or 5 and I was scared to death of coasters for a few years. 7 or 8 seems to be a good age for them to start riding rides like Demon and Whizzer...and of course Spacleys. Go Bulls!
Dave - SFGAmWorld Webmaster
Yeah i hear you Coasterdude. When i was 7 my family went to SF St. Louis and i rode the Screamin' Eagle. Man was that a mistake. I cried the whole time and i didn't ride another roller coaster, not even Galaxi, until i was 10. So do NOT force your kids on rides until they are ready.
'' If u commited suicide, u wouldn't be here anymore'' - Gangsta Fruit
My Niece was 3 when she went on the Wizard and spacleys. She was not scared at all on both of the Coasters. The one think I think is you need to start going to the park when they are 2 or 3 years old. If they are willing to go on a coaster then let them on. If they are screaming Bloody murder then do not let them on. It always best to first start with flat rides and then coasters.
Carlo Carlo
Spacely's- When tall enough
Whizzer- When tall enough Demon- 6 or 7 American Eagle- 6 or 7 Viper- 8 B:TR- 9 V2, Iron Wolf, Raging Bull, S:UF- If there not excited about these rides after B:TR, then your kid has problems .
I rode my first coaster when I was 3 and loved it. Then around 7 or 8 years old I finally rode my second coaster, Little Dipper. I loved it to pieces lol. When I was 10, we went to SFGAm for the first time in June. Rode Spacely's and loved it. Whenever I rode ERC, I stared at Batman because I thought it looked interesting. But I was way too scared to ride it. We went again 2 months later, and my parents and brother were FORCING me onto BTR. I was completely refusing to go on. At one point they finally convinced me, in a matter of 5-10 minutes. While we were going up the lift hill I almost cried lol. But after that I wanted to ride it over and over again. That's when I started getting into coasters. I think I was forced onto a few other coasters after that.
Forcing your children on rides isn't really a good idea. I've been through it, but ended up happy in the end. I guess around the ages 8-10 are best to introduce your children to rides. 
When i was easing into coasters there was no spacely's! I've only ever ridden it once because the next time we visited, i was too tall. That was when i was 7-8 or something. My first coaster was Whizzer. Then when i was 5, i rode Eagle. I was terrified if coaster's for a few years. When i was around 10, i rode Viper for the first time. Then, in one day i was introduced to batman, V2, Demon, and Bull. And then i've been taking them as they come. superman/ ragin cajun. And i rode Wolf for the first time rather recently.
So that may not be the best way to go Rbull, but that turned me into an enthusiast.
It would suck if I was a midgit. they are sooo strict on every ride now that it's sad.
 It would be awful not that I am able to ride, but if a disability like that didn't allow me to.Watch out theres a new Hurricane in Gurnee, IL!
I've actuallully seen a "midget" as you call them get on Raging Bull with an exit pass. Around the world and back
27 posts
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