Aug 4, 202311 min read

What Attractions Will I Get Motion Sick On?

This is a common question we see asked in forums and in social media. The answer is: It depends on what makes you sick. In this post, we're going to classify rides into common reasons people feel motion sick, and then list the rides that include that type of motion. We'll also be drawing parallels to other things you may have experienced so you know what the motion is similar to.

Not everybody feels motion sick for the same reasons. For some people, a ride that spins a lot makes them dizzy and therefore motion sick. For others, the spinning doesn't bother them, but motion simulation screens do. That's why we're taking this approach. You likely know what bothers you better than anyone else can know.

We are classifying rides into these categories:

Spinners
Twist and Turners
Motion simulators
Droppers

Mission Space pavilion entrance area. This ride makes our list twice.

The Spinners

Spinners are rides that rotate fast enough to potentially make a person dizzy, and possibly motion sick. These are more likely to bother you if the following kinds of experiences have made you dizzy in the past:

Tilt-A-Whirls or Scramblers
Merry-Go-Rounds (at high speeds)
The Gravitron (aka: centrifuge ride)

These are what we would consider the spinners at Walt Disney World, as well as why we think they qualify as spinners. Remember, though, each ride will likely have a varying intensity. We've rated them based on what we think are the most intense to the least intense.

Mission: Space - Orange Team (EPCOT) - The most intense of the "spinners", this ride has a lengthy list of health warnings as you approach. It is part motion simulator/ part centrifuge ride, so it will appear twice on this list. There are two ride options: Orange team and Green team. Orange team has the centrifuge ON, allowing all capsules to rotate around a vertical axis at high speeds to deliver the feeling of of pulling G's during a rocket launch. It is an intense sensation as you feel your skin pulled back, and the need to fight against the forces to move your arm forward and reach buttons that are an interactive feature of the ride. This is not to say it isn't fun, but we're not going to lie, the centrifuge part of this is intense. Green team has the centrifuge OFF, meaning capsules do not rotate at all around the vertical axis, but they do rotate around their own horizontal axis (tilting you forward and back) to simulate motion.
Mad Tea Party (Magic Kingdom) - The intensity of this ride depends entirely on who you are riding with, in our opinion. Teacups rotate around a central ride axis slowly, but you also have a column within your teacup that allows you to spin your own teacup around its own center. The more you turn that, the more you will spin. This ride is somewhat similar to a Tilt-A-Whirl if you control the spinning of your own car (for better or worse).
Alien Swirling Saucers (Disney Hollywood Studios) - This is a whip style ride. Your car will be pulled along by another vehicle, on a lead. As that vehicle turns, your car will whip from side to side. The cars never do make a full rotation, they simply swing from side to side, and for the majority of the ride, the swinging is not super intense. If you've ever done Mater's Junkyard Jamboree at Disneyland, this is the same ride with a different theme. We do not find this intense, but some might.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a smooth ride, but has a lot of twists and turns.

The Twist and Turners

Twist and turners are rides that involve a lot of motion on all directions. Most of these rides will be rollercoasters. Only one rollercoaster at Walt Disney World inverts, and surprisingly, it's not the one that makes us feel most queasy. The twist and turners might bother you if you've been bothered by the following in the past:

Other rollercoasters, whether or not they go upside down
The motion of an airplane during take off or landing when it is executing lots of turns

These are the twist and turners at Walt Disney World in order of intensity according to us.

Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) - This rollercoaster has no inversions and yet is completely in the dark so you can't see what's coming. The turns are sharp and come on suddenly, and there's also a lot of bouncing motion that lifts your bum from your seat.
Rock N Rollercoaster (Disney Hollywood Studios) - This is the single rollercoaster with inversions at Walt Disney World, of which there are three, two loops and a corkscrew, right at the beginning, and then it smooths out to large twists and turns for the rest of the ride. The inversions take place in the dark, directly after a 0-60mph launch. The rest of the set will be lit by blacklight. The track is very smooth, however, so the problem is not so much the bounciness, but that it will move you in every direction including upside down. If you have done the Incredicoaster at Disneyland, this is a comparable ride.
TRON: Lightcycle Run (Magic Kingdom) - We have not ridden this yet, but have heard from many that this short coaster feels intense because of the position of most ride vehicles. You will ride aboard a cycle, meaning you will be hunched over handlebars which will make the speed of this ride feel more intense. There will also be periods where you are very high off the ground while making a large turn. If the intensity is a concern, you could also ask to ride in the accessible seats at the back which are more like a normal sitting position, but these are reserved for guests who can't ride the cycles due to mobility or joint issues.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT) - We adore this ride (and many others on this list), so inclusion here is not judgement, but the ride is a bit intense when it comes to twists and turns. Most turns are large loops, and again, the track is very smooth, but the added intensity is caused by the fact that your car rotates on its own axis. This rotation is not fast, but it allows you to feel forces that you typically would not feel on a normal coaster as you move backwards and sideways from time to time.
Expedition Everest (Disney's Animal Kingdom) - This is another coaster that will travel both forward and backward, not through your car's rotation, but through a clever track switch mid-ride that will send you backward at a sharp angle, in the dark.
Slinky Dog Dash (Disney Hollywood Studios) - No inversions in this coaster, and no darkness, which is a plus, but there are some pretty sharp turns and two launches.

There are some other coasters at Walt Disney World that we wouldn't include in our list of coasters we find even slightly intense, but for those who REALLY don't like the motion of coasters, we'll include them here, again in descending order of intensity.

Seven Dwarves Mine Train (Magic Kingdom) - It's completely lit, mostly outdoors, and has no inversions, but we find it slightly faster and bumpier than the next coaster on this list.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Magic Kingdom)- This is also completely lit, and mostly outdoors. We would call this a mild coaster, despite its imposing name.
Barnstormer (Magic Kingdom) - This is literally a kiddie coaster. But if you don't like coasters, you don't like coasters.

Briefing room for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, a motion simulator ride.

The Motion Simulators

Motion simulators are rides that trick your brain into perceiving certain types of motion by use of large screens. For example, you may think you've gone upside down or are crashing into a space base, when in reality, your car is just tilting and vibrating. This kind of ride bothers many people because of the mismatch between your actual motion that your inner ear is detecting, and the perceived motion that the ride is simulating and your eyes are detecting. These are more likely to bother you if these kinds of experiences have bothered you in the past:

Other motion simulators
Carsickness
Seasickness

These are some of the rides at Walt Disney World that rely on screens to make you perceive motion even though you aren't moving in exactly that way. It should be said that if you are used to the rides at Universal Studios, and they don't make you motion sick, you will likely be fine at Walt Disney World, with one big exception which we'll list first. Universal relies far more heavily on screens and simulation than Disney does, in general. However, if rides at Universal have made you feel sick, here are the motion simulator rides, in order of intensity at Disney. The milder ones will likely not bother you, even if you've felt ill at Universal.

Mission Space: Orange OR Green Team (but especially orange team) (EPCOT) - This is already on our list as a spinner. If you choose orange team, you will not only deal with motion simulation but also centrifugal forces. If you choose the green team, you're still in for a motion simulation experience where you will start lying on your back, and tilt forward and back many times. This ride has a long list of health advisories, so we recommend reading it before experiencing it. This IS more intense than many motion simulator experiences at Universal.
Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom) - This is a large 3D experience with your seat thrust out into a curved screen. The screen will take up pretty much all of your view. Your "vehicle" will move slightly but most motion will be simulated by the screen. It is incredibly immersive and a fantastic ride, but I do take a dramamine before every ride on this.
Soarin' (EPCOT) - This is another large screen ride. This time, your vehicle is lifted up off the ground and into the curvature of a large screen. Soarin', however, is not 3D and for the most part does not involve sudden or dramatic movements... more like gliding motions.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers run (Disney Hollywood Studios)- This is a pure motion simulator. It bumps around, changes speed, goes up and down, all those things. How bumpy your ride is will depend on how well your pilot does. The saving grace here is that the screen is at the very front of the vehicle, so if you are not a pilot or co-pilot, you can always look at your controls and not the screen.
Star Tours (Disney Hollywood Studios) - This is also a pure motion simulator, meaning your vehicle bumps around, tilts, and goes up and down, but the screen at the front is used to simulate most motion.
CircleVision shows in World Showcase (especially the 3D ones) (EPCOT) - World Showcase has a repeating phenomenon of of shows where the audience stands in the middle of a room (sometimes with rails, sometimes not), and a screen wraps either 180 degrees or all 360 degrees around the audience showing panoramic views of the country. Your theater does not move at all, and these aren't truly billed as motion simulators because there is no motion, but because of how the films are shot, and the wrapping of the screen, you may feel you are moving, even though you aren't. This disconnect, for me, makes me feel more ill than riding Smuggler's Run, though in either case, the sense of dizziness is mild and goes away if I look at my feet.
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure - Ride vehicles here tuck into curved screens that simulate motion, but for only for a short period of time.

The dropper to end all droppers, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

The Droppers

The droppers are not rides we would say induce motion sickness, but often guests who are asking if a ride will make them sick also want to know if a ride will make them scared or be intense, and the main other type of ride intensity at Disney World is a drop, so we're including the rides that include large drops on our list as a courtesy. Note that many rides include small drops of the kind that make you go "woo!". The rides on our list include large drops that make you scream. Drops might bother you if:

You dislike flume rides
You have an elevator phobia
Even if someone paid you 50 million dollars, you would never bungee jump or skydive (not that these rides are even close to that intense, but everyone has a price)

The following rides at Walt Disney World are droppers, in order of intensity from most intense to least intense.

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Disney Hollywood Studios) - This ride is ALL ABOUT the drop. Or DROPS, shall we say. After some initial track ride through spooky scenes, you will board an elevator shaft (if you can feel the Florida humidity, you're there). Your car will then engage in a randomized sequence of drops in total darkness, so no two rides are the same. What is consistent is that at least one of the random drops will be a 13-story drop, faster than the speed of a freefall, so you will feel freefall if not reverse G's, because you are literally being pulled down. It's terrifying. And fun. But don't underestimate the terror. It's in the name.
Splash Mountain/ Tiana's Bayou Adventure (Magic Kingdom) - This drop is not a straight down drop, but it is still intimidating for some (and wet for some). The angle of the drop is 45 degrees, but it's at a speed of 40 mph which can feel scary, and because of Disney magic, what exactly you are dropping into is concealed (at least, that's true in the Splash Mountain iteration of the ride where a briar patch creates mystery about what comes next... not sure about Tiana's Bayou Adventure yet).
Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom) - The one ride that also made the Twist and Turns list is on our drop list, due to an 80 foot drop in darkness at speeds of up to 52 mph, while riding backwards and executing a 250 degree turn. The good news is because you're riding backwards, you feel well supported by your seat. The bad news is that for some, this feels like an inversion that you drop into, even though it is not and you do not go upside down at all.

Some rides have smaller drops that people ask about. We will list those rides here because they do, after all, include drops. However, you should know these drops are more like minor ride elements. They are short-lived, not steep, and part of an overall experience. In other words, not at all like bungee jumping. Those rides are:

Rise of the Resistance (Disney Hollywood Studios) - short simulated drop toward the end of the ride.
ANY rollercoaster - rollercoasters go up and down hills
Pirates of the Caribbean (Magic Kingdom) - short drop through rapids in the darkness
Frozen Ever After (EPCOT) - short backwards drop down rapids after visiting Elsa in her castle. This one is not a fast drop as it is well controlled.

If a Ride is on This List, Does That Mean Don't Ride?

No. We get seasick, and a little motion sick in simulators, but we love all of these rides but one (Space Mountain, I'm looking at you) and not even because that one ride is intense for motion sickness, but more because we don't care for the jostling and darkness. You are the only person who knows how you hold up in situations that make you feel a little ill or dizzy. Here are some things we do advise if you are worried:

1) Read the health warnings. Disney posts these for a reason. Most of them have nothing to do with motion sickness, but could still apply to you.

2) Take a motion sickness pill, like a Dramamine, before riding if you're nervous you might get sick. This literally has kept me from feeling ill on ANY ride.

3) Don't skip breakfast altogether, but eat light. A banana is perfect. Skipping food altogether before riding an intense ride can actually make you feel more queasy, so instead of doing that, eat something sensible and light. Just don't ride after a super heavy meal.

4) Know that this list is quite conservative. We literally listed ALL the potential red AND yellow flag rides. Most of them don't bother us one bit. Again, you know you, and need to decide based on you.

We hope this thoroughly answers your questions about what rides might make you motion sick at Walt Disney World. In general, the rides here are on the tame side, but some of the newer ones are those that involve more thrilling elements (probably to increase competition with Universal: Orlando which is the King of thrill rides in the area). Are we missing anything? Let us know in the comments over on our Facebook page. And don't forget to follow us so you can see when new articles are posted each week. Until next time...