What can a 40-inch child ride?
The short answer
At 40 inches (about 102 cm) a child can ride 95 of the 106 Disney attractions and 28 of the 43 Universal Orlando attractions we track. The single most important height in Orlando — the one that opens the most rides at once. The genuinely intense coasters are still out: Space Mountain at Walt Disney World, Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest need 44, and TRON, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Hagrid's, Forbidden Journey and the Mummy need 48. Guardians: Cosmic Rewind and the Matterhorn need 42. Height rules are set by the parks and are checked at the queue entrance, so measure in the shoes your child will actually wear.
What changes at 40 inches
Forty inches is the threshold the parks are quietly built around. It opens more attractions in one step than any other gate: Big Thunder Mountain, Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Test Track, Soarin', Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, Star Tours and Mission: SPACE at Walt Disney World, plus Radiator Springs Racers and Disneyland's Space Mountain on the California side. At Universal it opens Spider-Man, Transformers, Bowser's Challenge, Mine-Cart Madness, Battle at the Ministry and the Minion ride.
Newly open at this height
Rides a child could not board at 38 inches but can board now.
- ·Big Thunder Mountain Railroad — Magic Kingdom, 40"
- ·Tiana's Bayou Adventure — Magic Kingdom, 40"
- ·Test Track — EPCOT, 40"
- ·Soarin' Around the World — EPCOT, 40"
- ·Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance — Hollywood Studios, 40"
- ·The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror — Hollywood Studios, 40"
- ·Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Disneyland) — Disneyland Park, 40"
- ·Space Mountain (Disneyland) — Disneyland Park, 40"
- ·Radiator Springs Racers — Disney California Adventure, 40"
- ·Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! — Disney California Adventure, 40"
- ·Star Tours – The Adventures Continue — Hollywood Studios, 40"
- ·Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Disneyland) — Disneyland Park, 40"
- ·Mission: SPACE — EPCOT, 40"
- ·Tiana's Bayou Adventure (Disneyland) — Disneyland Park, 40"
- ·Soarin' Over California — Disney California Adventure, 40"
- ·Star Tours – The Adventures Continue (Disneyland) — Disneyland Park, 40"
- ·The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man — Islands of Adventure, 40"
- ·The Simpsons Ride — Universal Studios, 40"
- ·Transformers: The Ride 3D — Universal Studios, 40"
- ·Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge — Epic Universe, 40"
- ·Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry — Epic Universe, 40"
- ·Donkey Kong Country: Mine-Cart Madness — Epic Universe, 40"
- ·Curse of the Werewolf — Epic Universe, 40"
- ·Hiccup's Wing Gliders — Epic Universe, 40"
- ·Despicable Me Minion Mayhem — Universal Studios, 40"
- ·Fast & Furious – Supercharged — Universal Studios, 40"
What is still off-limits
The genuinely intense coasters are still out: Space Mountain at Walt Disney World, Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest need 44, and TRON, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Hagrid's, Forbidden Journey and the Mummy need 48. Guardians: Cosmic Rewind and the Matterhorn need 42.
- ·TRON Lightcycle / Run — Magic Kingdom, needs 48"
- ·Space Mountain — Magic Kingdom, needs 44"
- ·Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind — EPCOT, needs 42"
- ·Rock 'n' Roller Coaster — Hollywood Studios, needs 48"
- ·Avatar Flight of Passage — Animal Kingdom, needs 44"
- ·Expedition Everest — Animal Kingdom, needs 44"
- ·Indiana Jones Adventure — Disneyland Park, needs 46"
- ·Matterhorn Bobsleds — Disneyland Park, needs 42"
- ·Incredicoaster — Disney California Adventure, needs 48"
- ·Grizzly River Run — Disney California Adventure, needs 42"
- ·Goofy's Sky School — Disney California Adventure, needs 42"
- ·Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure — Islands of Adventure, needs 48"
- ·Jurassic World VelociCoaster — Islands of Adventure, needs 51"
- ·Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey — Islands of Adventure, needs 48"
- ·The Incredible Hulk Coaster — Islands of Adventure, needs 54"
- ·Men in Black: Alien Attack — Universal Studios, needs 42"
- ·Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts — Universal Studios, needs 42"
- ·Revenge of the Mummy — Universal Studios, needs 48"
- ·Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit — Universal Studios, needs 51"
- ·Stardust Racers — Epic Universe, needs 48"
- ·Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment — Epic Universe, needs 48"
- ·Dragon Racer's Rally — Epic Universe, needs 48"
- ·Jurassic Park River Adventure — Islands of Adventure, needs 42"
- ·Doctor Doom's Fearfall — Islands of Adventure, needs 52"
- ·Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls — Islands of Adventure, needs 44"
- ·Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges — Islands of Adventure, needs 42"
Does a paid line-skip make sense at this height?
At 40 inches a line-skip product goes from nice-to-have to the main lever on your day, because your child can now join the queues that actually get long. This is the height at which a family most often finds that the standby math has changed under them — most of the park is open, and most of the park now has a wait.
Neither resort publishes a flat per-ride price for skipping a line — Disney prices Lightning Lane by date and demand, and Universal prices Express Pass as a day product that swings hard with the calendar. So the only useful question is per ride: which queues are long enough to be worth it. We keep a ride-by-ride verdict in the Lightning Lane worth-it guide and the Express Pass worth-it guide.
Open at 40 inches and worth checking first
- ·Is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane worth it? — Almost always worth it
- ·Is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Lightning Lane worth it? — Usually worth it
- ·Is Peter Pan's Flight Lightning Lane worth it? — Almost always worth it
- ·Is Jungle Cruise Lightning Lane worth it? — Usually worth it
- ·Is Tiana's Bayou Adventure Lightning Lane worth it? — Almost always worth it
How the parks actually measure
Both resorts check height at the attraction entrance, with shoes on, against a fixed marker — not at the ticket gate, and not once for the whole trip. A child measured barefoot at home can come up short at the queue after a long day, which is the single most common way a carefully built plan falls apart. Measure in the shoes they will wear, and if they are within half an inch of a gate, plan the day as though they are in the tier below. Our full guide to Disney World height requirements goes through the rules park by park, and the crowd calendar covers the other half of the problem — when the queues you can use are shortest.
Every Disney attraction open at 40 inches
Travelling with a 40-inch child? Have the day built around it.
A real Disney guide plans the park order around what your party can actually ride, keeps the whole group together instead of splitting at every height marker, and books the passes in the right sequence — from $75/hour on your first trip.