Disney Day 1: Rookie Mistake

After spending the first afternoon at the Disneyland Hotel relaxing by the pool, zooming down the waterslides, and meeting Goofy and Pluto, Martin, Peyton and I geared up for our first day at the park. Taking advantage of the "extra magic hour" we boarded the Monorail in Downtown Disney and were promptly dropped off in Tomorrowland at 9:01am.

Immediately to our right was one of our favorite rides - Space Mountain. There was no line, so we dashed to the entrance. In our excitement, neither Martin or I gave a second thought about putting our innocent four year old on the ride. We strapped her in, she had a huge smile on her face, and put her hands up in the air.

I should note - last year, when Peyton was a mere three years old, we took her Legoland where she was fearless on the rides and rode the Dinosaur roller coaster at least 30 times.

We took off on Space Mountain into the dark and although I couldn't see or hear much, i could sense shrieking and shaking in the seat next to me. I held Peyton tight, realizing the ride was much darker, faster, and scarier than I had remembered. When we returned to the boarding station, Peyton looked as if we had tortured her. She had tears staining her cheeks, her face was flushed, and she was, in a word, petrified.

We are idiots. After the trauma of Space Mountain, Peyton was fearful of all rides that had any dark parts, any fast parts, any hills, any sideways parts, or any noises. Basically every ride in the park. We thought she might overcome her fears as the week went on, but she did not. We forced her on some rides, including Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the Carsland ride. She hated them all and protested with fits each time we tried to coax her into trying another one.

In fact, she was HAPPY when she was deemed too short to ride Goofy's Sky School.

After we tried everything in our power to convince her to try to new rides, including bribery, guilt and threats of going home, she STILL hated any ride that had dark parts. When we would get to the front of the line, she was desperately ask the ride attendant, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Does this ride go in the dark?!?"

Pleading with the ride attendant to tell her the truth about the details of the ride.

I feel guilty for creating such a sense of fear in her. And of course, I wish I could turn back time and do that first day all over again. Start with some easy rides like the teacups and Dumbo. Hopefully, the fun memories outweigh the bad ones, and by the time we go back again, she will have more courage to try some of the bigger rides.