My mom won't ride coasters with me!!

[disneycutie165]

Okay, so I want to ride Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain RR, Space Mt., Test Track and Expedition Everest. But I'll have to ride them by myself because my mom won't ride them with me! Any way I could encourage her, because I hear most of these are pretty safe.

[ILoveLegos]

If she wants to, your mom could accompany you in line and then at the boarding area she could use the "chicken exit" to avoid actually riding the attraction. That way you two won't be separated as long while you are waiting in the line queues and you won't feel as lonely. Also if she sees that other people are riding safely and it's not such a big deal, she might decide that she can handle one or two of the more adventurous rides.

If you have to ride alone, it's not so bad - I do it all the time in Universal, Busch Gardens, Six Flags and Disney. Sometimes you are paired up with another single ride and sometimes you get to go it alone. The single rider line is built especially for you, take advantage of it's (usually) shorter line. I'm a pretty friendly person so in the past I've struck up some interesting conversations while standing in line and met many people from all over the world, which is a nice perk of international vacation destinations. Maybe this strategy could work for you too.

[Rhetoric2000]

May I suggest that you can use your tickets in a creative way so that you have two FastPasses at a time (by using your ticket at one attraction and your mother's at the other).

This means that you will always have a FastPass for the attractions your mother is not riding and thus she will have a very brief wait for you.

Since there are only a couple of relevant rides in each park, most of the day you will still be able to use your FastPasses together.

In terms of encouraging her to ride attractions she feels she doesn't want to - there's no point in talking about "safety" since rationally she will know they are 100% "safe". Perhaps she will be convinced to ride Splash and Thunder (which are much less Hair-Raisery than the others listed) when she sees them live.

Everest - my own dear mom (when it has been just the two of us in the park) loves the spot at the tables of the Anandapur Tea Company watching the (deliberately placed) monkeys on one side and the (illigitimately located) ducks on the other, and happily waits for ten minutes as I use a FP on Everest.

[sardanem]

Unfortunately, I agree with your mom. I will not ride any roller coasters and it has absolutley nothing to do with worrying about the safety factor of them. I know they are perfectly safe, but there is nothing that anyone can say or do to get me on them. I however would never not let my kids go on them or encourage them to go. I have no problem waiting for them to enjoy themselves on the coasters while I wait for them and then we go on something together. That is one reason that Disney is so great. There is something for everyone.

Lisa

[TheDuckRocks]

Unfortunately, I agree with your mom. I will not ride any roller coasters and it has absolutley nothing to do with worrying about the safety factor of them. I know they are perfectly safe, but there is nothing that anyone can say or do to get me on them. I however would never not let my kids go on them or encourage them to go. I have no problem waiting for them to enjoy themselves on the coasters while I wait for them and then we go on something together. That is one reason that Disney is so great. There is something for everyone.

Lisa

I was just going to chime in with this very thing! I truely do not think that trying to convince a non-coaster person to go on one ever works out well. The safety issue is not even a remote reason as to why I don't ride them, it is more how I feel physically while riding and for a long time afterwards. I have too often let myself be talked into going on the coasters and have spent the rest of the day paying for it. Not the way to have an enjoyable day at Disney.

[RBrooksC]

I was able to get my wife on to ToT once. She has a tshirt to prove it. She went on the ride when they had a single lap bar that went across the row and she was smaller than everybody else so she had a good 1/2 a foot of space between her and the bar. She did not like the airtime.

Anyway, she hates anything thrill ride save Mission: Space. She enjoyed that one. She also likes Test Track. However, I know I will never get her on SM, BTMR, EE, RNRC or anything of that nature.

All I have asked of her is to not spoil my son like my parents spoiled me for a time. They never liked thrill rides and it kept me off them for a long time until I got the courage up when I was about 11 or 12.

So, my wife stays outside the ride and usually shops and we have a time and place to meet after the ride. She is happy and I am happy. I haven't minded riding alone since I met her and here is hoping my son becomes my new roller coaster buddy. We still have a few years for that but rest assured I will be grooming him for that. LOL

[SBETigg]

My mom would never get on a coaster. The small drop in Pirates makes her crazy. How does your mom handle that one?

Maybe if you could get her to ride Goofy's Barnstormer with you, she would see that it isn't so bad? Then, you could tell her that Big Thunder Mountain isn't much more than that as far as intensity. If she agrees, sit toward the front-- it's milder there. If she doesn't agree, don't push, but it could be a start. Best wishes with it!

[thrillme]

Go on them and introduce yourself to the person next to you. We've met some nice people that way. They even accompanied us to OTHER rides because they were in the same position.

She knows it's safe or she wouldn't let you go on it.

If she has a physical ailment neck, back injury or heart problem I could see why. Some people have a motion sickness problem too especially with "spinny" rides.

But I do understand your frustration. I LOVE thrill rides too and aside from "physical ailments" I can't see how ANYBODY could NOT totally LOVE them . But the truth of the matter there are some that just don't . I get more scared driving in traffic.

As long as she lets you ride...think of it as an opportunity to meet people. She can always escort you thru the que then take the "chicken" exit out. Quite often the que itself is pretty cool. Also take advantage of the single rider line. That often moves rather quickly...couple that with a fast pass and you'll get to ride it twice. While on that subject too you can probably talk her into getting a fast pass so you can ride it an extra time.

[Taja]

I'm with your mother on this one! *LOL*

I've done all of the thrill and coaster rides at WDW at least once--just to see if I could handle them. Once was enough for most of them!

Still haven't made it on EE yet. It was superbusy when I went a few months after it opened and I was injured just before our last visit. Couldn't do much of anything that trip!

But I will ride it eventually and decide if I want to repeat the experience!

[msc_idiot]

My mother is the exact same way. She has an intense fear of rollercoasters (oddly enough, a mix of her fear of heights and her fear of the highway), but after going our first time, she decided she'd rather tough it out than sit alone waiting on us to finish, so she tried Big Thunder Mountain. She didn't absolutely love it, but it gave her the courage to do more. She ended up changing our schedule so we'd be at MGM an extra day so she could ride Rock'n'Rollercoaster one more time before we left. If your mother will only try, she'll see that these rides are safe for scaredy cats. The only ride my mom won't do again is Test Track - and that's because she couldn't being outside with no thick barriers to block her view on either side.

Heather

[LudwigVonDrake]

If your Mother doesn't like thrill rides nothing is going to change her mind. Get on the singles line as much as you can.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

My son also has to ride these by himself....however, I agreed to brave Big Thunder this year....my sister tells me even a wuss like me can handle it....we'll see, Dumbo (too high) scared me so IDK

[kbean]

My mom bought me a stuffed animal of donald duck when I was a kid to ride space mtn. Well, take your mom into a store, have her pick out a stuffed animal character, and tell her you will buy her that if she rides the coasters. Good luck.

[DisneyDog]

I'm not a roller coaster fan either. When DS is old enough, he would also have to go on them himself. I hate the drop on Pirates. I feel this awful pressure in my stomach and it hurts. One time I gripped the bar so tightly that my thumbnail pierced the skin of my pointer finger and I started bleeding! That's how much I hate coaster drops!

[Imagineer1981]

Finally got my mom to ride Splash Mountain, and she loved/hated it. The drop made her sick but she loved the story

This post helps illustrate the fact that Disney doesn't need all thrill rides like Universal because its more family focused and not everyone in the family loves RNR and other thrill rides

[A Mouse Fan]

Speaking from an ear-piercing (still after 20 years I don't have hearing in that one ear) experience DO NOT push your mother into riding roller coasters.
My sister and I talked my mom into going on Space Mountain when we were young at Disneyland, NOT a good idea. She screamed the entire time in my ear and then spent the next 2 hours in the bathroom right outside of the Space Mountain exit. 20 years later she still talks about what a nightmare it was! I am sure your mom is happy to wait for you and the single rider lines are usually shorter and you can meet some really nice people!

[bruin1344]

try the tame ones like thunder mountain, soarin, test track or splash mountain first before trying the more thrills

[EmmMOM2]

I dont do coasters' so if my DH wants to go on then he does it by himself and the children (too young) and I just wait in a gift shop or something for him.
He still enjoys it just as much if not more then if I was their...consdiering i'd be digging my nails into his arms then possibly getting sick...

[mom2morgan]

LOL - this reminds me of my mom on the TEA CUPS years ago!! Totally terrified. I slipped off my seat, and tried to pull myself up by grabbing the centre thingy. Of course that made the cup spin, so she was SCREAMING in TERROR. This was not a motion sickness issue, the woman was SCARED. I ended up finishing my ride huddled on the floor, since I couldn't get up without spinning and scaring her worse. I really don't think I'd have had much luck getting her on a roller coaster! Well, not without drugging her and knocking her out, anyway...

[Camping Mom]

I know it is easy to say that I don't like roller coasters at all and I will ride them at Disney, because it can be the "fear factor" of saying it is a ROLLER COASTER. But....I will ride all of them at Disney except EE. That backward part messes my head up something awful.

I almost came out of a seat of a coaster when I was around 18 in a Houston park. I have been scared of them ever since...but I don't fear the ones at Disney. Splash Mountain is very tame, Big Thunder doesn't have a lot of drops so it is cool (especially at night), and Space Mountain just doesn't do a whole lot for me. Tell your mom like I told my 10 year old who was afraid...I will if you will and then you don't have to again....unless you want to.

I WILL not ride Tof T again...I can NOT handle that dropping. If your mom will ride that, she can ride anything at Disney.