If you are anything like me and my family, you have at least one member (or multiple in the case of my family) who gets motion sickness, be it in the car, on a boat, on a plane, or simply all of them. If this is the case, you may be worried or wondering things like:
- How am I going to survive Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Universal Studios?
- How will I ride everything that I want to ride and see everything that I want to see?
- How will I manage the free on-site transportation?
Today, I’m here to answer these questions for you through my own story and my family’s insights on that very topic!
How it Started and What we did About It
From a young age, my dad, mom, and I have all dealt with motion sickness. Thankfully, my own son did not inherit this trait and is more like his dad. But from our first trips to Walt Disney World when I was a child back in the late 80s and early 90s, motion sickness was a problem. Some rides we found to our dismay made all three of us sick, while others only made one of us sick.
Because of this, we had to pick and choose our attractions carefully and in some cases, not be able to enjoy them to their full extents, such as the Mad Tea Party (no full-out wild spins) and Star Tour (where mom and dad kept their eyes closed while I enjoyed immensely).
As the years passed, new options for those who suffer from motion sickness became available (Sea Bands, which are acupressure wristbands that are totally awesome and forever changed my life, not only at WDW but also on any car, plane, or boat trip) and I was also able to take Dramamine (non-drowsy at that). These were total game-changers for all of us.
I know what you’re wondering, though: how many rides have the potential to make you sick, how rough are they, and how did we respond? I’m going to go through an exhaustive list of every ride at Walt Disney World, many of which are at Disneyland as well, with a spoiler-free walkthrough that is still thorough enough to help you decide whether you’ll be able to endure the attraction and if you will need the motion sickness antiemetics I mentioned.
Breakdown by Attraction
Mission: Space Green
This is a simulator ride that allows you to pilot a shuttle around the earth. If seats are empty or you decide to just enjoy the ride instead of trying to complete your job as one of the astronauts, the autopilot will take over. The only issue that I had with this was on the landing strip. It wasn’t that it was bumpy, but the visual made me very nauseous. The lift-off was easy and the views of the earth from space were beautiful and made me feel like I was actually in space. I was wearing my Sea Bands and had taken Dramamine prior to getting on this ride. Nausea quickly passed after leaving the ride.
Mission: Space Orange
For me, this lift-off and landing were a lot more turbulent with lots of spinning. Don’t ask me what anything looked like. I wasn’t able to open my eyes, touch any buttons, or do anything except wait impatiently for the experience to be over. You should know there are complimentary motion sickness bags in the “space capsule.” Thankfully, I didn’t need one, but I was VERY nauseated when it was over and for a while afterward, and this was while wearing my Sea Bands and having taken Dramamine.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
I love roller coasters despite my motion sickness, and I have to admit, this is the best one I’ve been on even though I felt sick after my first ride. I did learn how to survive this awesome coaster, however. It has spirals, sudden drops and stops, abrupt turns, and it moves forwards and backward while spinning in place, all at high speed. The interesting part though is that none of this was what got me. All throughout there’s a video of the Guardians saving the galaxy. I didn’t want to miss that, so I made the mistake of trying to watch it my first time through. Even with my Sea Bands on, that made me nauseated.
Going back through it with my eyes closed, there wasn’t a problem! You don’t get to see how they save the galaxy, but you do get to listen to a great soundtrack and some funny audio if you can hear it over yourself screaming in delight!
If you liked this post and found it helpful, stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 with more rides, attractions, and the best tips on how to enjoy them when you suffer from motion sickness. Until the next post!