After reading a previous poster's comments about families thinking "hey, this is a disney ride, it's got to be safe" for younger kids and elderly people - I have to say that my family and I are guilty of that way of thinking.
My dad was 61 and rode ToT and he's never been on anything but a flume ride before. I put my 3 1/2 yr. old little boy on it, too. He was tall enough but obviously it was way too intense for him because once was enough for him. He refuses to ride it again.
This April I just let him ride the RnR Coaster at 5 1/2 yrs.
All of these times, I was thinking it's Disney, it'll be fine and as far as the ride safety is concerned, I believe IT IS. But I think sometimes people misjudge the intensity or feel like they've paid the money so by God, we are going to do it all. So when a parent makes a decision to allow the child to ride, then I don't think Disney should be at fault unless it is a problem with the ride. And now people might need to realize that they could have an undiagnosed underlying medical condition which might not be a good idea to ride something considered intense, let alone put their kids on it just because it's Disney.
Of course in this instance the kid was 12 so you'd think that any parent would probably allow a 12 yo on the ride if they wanted to ride it so I am not saying the parents are at fault in this instance.
I will be rethinking my logic next time I decide about letting my child ride at any theme park.
