12 Rides To Avoid At Walt Disney World (Motion Sickness)

It’s no secret that the rides at Walt Disney World are some of the best. However, that doesn’t prevent some of them from causing severe motion sickness to those who are sensitive to movements (simulated or otherwise).

1. Space Mountain

🎡 Park: Magic Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 2/5

Space Mountain is an indoor rollercoaster that takes place in the dark.

You’ll move along the track at speed and experience some spinning and sudden drops, as such this may be a ride those who are sensitive to these motions want to skip.

However, unlike some of the other rides on this list, Space Mountain is iconic having been in the park since 1975. Therefore in our opinion, it’s well worth stretching to go on if you can.

2. Astro Orbiter

🎡 Park: Magic Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 4/5

Astro Orbiter is situated on top of The Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland and combines the Mad Tea Party or Magic Carpets of Aladdin with height.

During this ride, you’ll spin around a central point, and have the ability to move the car you are situated in up and down as you please.

Spinning, moving up and down and being at a height is a trio that many people are sensitive to – if that’s you then you may want to skip this ride.

The only two saving features of this ride are; that you don’t have to move your car up and down at all if you please, and that given the height you have some fantastic views out over Magic Kingdom.

3. Avatar’s Flight of Passage

🎡 Park: Animal Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 4/5

We are devastated to have to put Avatar’s Flight of Passage on this list, as the ride is incredible. However, it has been well known to cause some guests with motion sickness discomfort.

This is predominantly due to this ride being a 3D motion simulation ride.

During the ride you’ll sit on a seat that’s similar to a motorcycle – this is designed to represent you sitting on a banshee.

Once the ride begins your 3D glasses combined with the screen will show you riding across mountains, over open water and through forests.

Meanwhile the seat your sitting on will turn to represent this, as such there are a number of quick turns and sharp drops.

The only saving feature of this ride (aside from the fact it’s often voted one of the best at Walt Disney World) is that given the ride is relatively new the motions are rather smooth and the quality of the screen is incredible.

4. Expedition Everest

🎡 Park: Animal Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 4/5

Expedition Everest is one of the most popular rides at Animal Kingdom.

This rollercoaster will see you travel through the Himalayan Mountains on a broken, twisted track.

Given this, it’s not surprising to find that there are times when you travel through darkness, travel backwards, and experience large drops, high speeds, loud noises and dramatic twists and turns.

The only saving feature of this ride is that it’s track-based rather than motion simulated.

As such the movements aren’t fake and therefore don’t trigger motion sickness in as many as other rides inside the Walt Disney World parks might.

5. Dinosaur

🎡 Park: Animal Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 5/5

The Dinosaur ride may seem like a ‘must do’ for fans of Dinosaurs. However, for those sensitive to motion, it’s one you may want to skip.

That’s because this ride sees you travel back in time, and head out on a fast, incredibly jerky ride through the jungles of the Cretaceous period.

Those sensitive to darkness, small unexpected drops, loud noises as well as abrupt starts and stops have been known to feel queasy after going on this ride.

In our opinion, the movements from this ride are significantly worse than similar rides inside the Walt Disney World Resort.

This is predominantly due to the age of the ride – this is one of the oldest rides in Animal Kingdom (originally opening as Countdown to Extinction in 1998 when the park first opened).

6. Star Tours — The Adventures Continue

🎡 Park: Hollywood Studios
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 5/5

Star Tours – The Adventure Continues is a motion simulation ride, that has been known to cause guests with no prior motion sickness symptoms to experience motion sickness for the first time – yes, it’s that bad!

During this ride, you’re strapped into a ship that’s designed to take you on a tour of the Star Wars galaxy, however, after being spotted by the First Order you have to jet off quickly to avoid being captured.

This race through the galaxy requires you to wear 3D glasses and experience extreme simulated movements, including moving at speed, sudden drops and bumpy landings.

7. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

🎡 Park: Hollywood Studios
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 3/5

We are devastated to have to put Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run onto this list.

This highly anticipated ride is one of the most popular within the Walt Disney World Resort, however, it’s not without its drawbacks.

Much like Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, this ride sees you travel at extremely fast speeds to replicate the feeling of going through hyperspace – all of which is simulated.

However, given how modern this ride is the movements aren’t quite as jerky as those you might experience on Star Tours: The Adventure Continues – albeit the line is likely twice if not three times as long.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

🎡 Park: EPCOT
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 5/5

Another ride we’re devastated to have to add to this list is the newly launched Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

This ride is so bad, that Disney themselves have even had to address the situation with Cast Members being on hand to offer guests who look as though they may be struggling with barf bags (so it’s not just us being overdramatic!).

So what causes Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to be one of the worst rides for motion sickness at Walt Disney World?

Well, this ride is an Omnicoaster, which sees you experience 360-degree twists and a reverse launch. So, even if you don’t experience motion sickness from this ride, it’s likely you could experience vertigo.

9. Mission: Space (Orange)

🎡 Park: EPCOT
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 5/5

Mission Space has two different options for passengers; orange and green. Which option you choose here is very important as it relates to the level of intensity you’ll experience throughout the ride.

The green version of this ride is not as intense and doesn’t include any spinning. However, it’s still motion simulated and therefore can still cause motion sickness (albeit less likely).

Meanwhile, the orange version of this ride is more extreme using a centrifuge that both spins and tilts to simulate the speed and G-forces one might experience when being in a space shuttle.

Given this, we’d recommend those who have any prior experience of motion sickness skip the orange version of this ride at the very least.

10. Mad Tea Party

🎡 Park: Magic Kingdom
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 4/5

The Mad Tea Party is Disney’s take on the traditional fun fair teacups ride.

This ride sees guests sit inside a teacup and spin in circles on multiple axes. While you are able to control how much the teacup spins on an isolated basis, you will still spin around the other tea cups on this ride.

Therefore how much motion sickness you experience during this ride, may very much be down to who you go on this ride with – and how much they spin the wheel!

11. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

🎡 Park: Hollywood Studios
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 3/5

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is an indoor track-based ride at Hollywood Studios.

While this ride isn’t motion simulated it’s still been known to cause a lot of guests motion sickness.

This is predominantly due to the ride taking place in the dark (similar to Space Mountain), moving at significant speed (0 to 60mph in 2 seconds) and going upside down.

If you do plan to go on this ride during your time at Hollywood Studios we recommend pushing your head as far back into the headrest as possible rather than leaning forward. This should help to minimise how much your head moves from side to side.

12. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

🎡 Park: EPCOT
🤢 Motion Sickness Rating: 3/5

Another one of Disney’s newly released rides to sadly make this list is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure which recently opened in EPCOT’s France pavilion.

This ride is trackless (much like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway) however since a large portion of the ride is in 3D you’ll need to wear 3D glasses.

This combined with moving between oversized sets and screens alongside the multiple twists and turns can cause guests to feel queasy at times.

How To Prevent Motion Sickness When Visiting Walt Disney World

Depending on your personal preferences there are a number of ways you can try to prevent motion sickness during your trip to the Walt Disney World theme parks.

Take Dramamine

Dramamine is a non-drowsy medication which is available in the form of either a tablet or a gummy and is designed to help minimise the feelings of nausea.

The medication is designed to be taken between 30 minutes and an hour before you go on your first ride and usually lasts around four to six hours.

Dramamine is the most common form of medication that people take to minimise motion sickness when visiting Walt Disney World and is available over the counter at most grocery stores and pharmacies.

Please read the label on the packet in advance to ensure that Dramamine is suitable based on any illnesses you have or any other medication you might be taking.

Choose Your Seat

The seat you choose on a ride can have a significant impact on how much motion you experience on a ride.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to go for a seat in the middle, either of the row or the ride as a whole. This is because the seats at the front and the back of the ride are subject to the most force when moving.

Maintain A Straight Back

It can be tempting to lean forward and grip the handlebars during a ride. However, wherever possible we recommend keeping your back straight and your head pushed back to the headrest.

This not only minimises injury but also helps to reduce nausea and dizziness.

Consider What You Eat & Drink (And When!)

It can be incredibly tempting to fill up on delicious theme park food during your trip to the Walt Disney World theme parks.

However, what you eat and when you eat can have a major impact on both how you feel both during and after a ride.

We recommend eating bland foods wherever possible (boring we know!) and minimising the number of fizzy drinks you consume.

We also recommend avoiding rides for at least an hour after a meal – thankfully, there’s still a lot to do at all of the Walt Disney World theme parks aside from just the rides that are sure to keep you entertained.

Suck On Ginger Candies

Ginger has been known to minimise feelings of sickness. However, thankfully you don’t have to take a clove of ginger to the Walt Disney World theme parks with you.

Instead, you can purchase ginger candies – which are surprisingly tastier than they sound.

Suck on one of these candies as you stand in line for the ride and afterwards where required.

We advise against having anything in your mouth (candies, gum etc.) during the ride as it is a choking hazard.

Keep Your Eyes On A Fixed Area

If you begin to feel nauseous during the ride try to focus on a fixed point in front of you.

On selected rides, this can be the centre of the screen while on others it might have to be the car in front of you.

Breath In Through Your Nose & Out Through Your Mouth

When you begin to feel nauseous on a ride it can be hard to think of anything else (well aside from when is this hell of a ride going to stop!).

However, that tends to only make things worse. Instead, we recommend focusing on your breathing taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.