Best Kids Coasters (under 40 inches)

I apologize if this has already been asked - can't find anything through the search.

Little guy just hit 40 inches. His count is 11 parks and 17 coaster - largely from a Orlando and Pennsylvania visit.

We are thinking of doing a road trip to the southeast and have some flexibility. Any must rides for kids? Or parks that have a large selection of coasters that kids can ride?

I don't really care about coaster counts but rather unique rides that would be a great memory ie. Trailblazer at Hersheypark worth a trip, Cocoa Cruiser not so much

At just 40", outside of Orlando parks, you're not going to find THAT much in the Southeast that isn't your basic "dragon wagon/Miler kiddie coaster." There's Firechaser Express at Dollywood, Woodstock Express which is the Jr Woodie at Carowinds, Canyon Blaster at Six Flags Over Georgia, and aside from that I can't think of any others outside of Orlando.

At 40" at WDW you've at least got: Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, etc. He's still too short for Space Mountain or Everest (both 44") but there are other rides like Star Tours that he can do.

At Universal he could do Spider-Man, Transformers, and Simpsons, Pteranodon Flyers, Woody Woodpecker, and Flight of the Hippogriff.

As Robb said, 40" is a great milestone in Orlando so if he enjoyed it the first time I would come back and he can have even more fun!

I agree with everything else he said. At other parks you're still looking at a lot of kiddie stuff until 42".

Thanks guys. You don't need to sell me on Orlando again. We try to go over new year's each year. Hopefully he will hit 42 by then.

This trip may have to be more about BBQ than rides

Follow-up question thinking about going as far west as Texas. Anything great in that area?

The Texas parks are okay for the 40 inch kids. Still nothing major but a decent amount of flat and water rides he can ride with you. If your son likes water parks Schlitterbahn is a ton of fun!

42" is still the magic number for Texas with rides like Shock Wave, Judge Roy Scream, La Vibora, Road Runner Express, Pandemonia, etc, etc... at 40" there, like Elissa said, a few flats, water rides, and kiddie coasters, but nothing major.

Your big milestones really are: 36", 42", 48", 54"

Outside of Orlando parks and Disney in SoCal, you're really not going to find that much more that hits 40" for big rides specifically.