Most Intense Rides

I agree that TOT is not too intense as far as the ride itself goes. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it when my family dragged me on it. That said, the theming can be intense for the younger ones. My 8 year old was absolutely terrified by the Twilight Zone stuff!

I’ll start off by saying that I have never experience motion sickness; the more spinning the better. I love coasters - they have yet to build one that was too high, too fast, or had too many inversions for me. I love simulator rides - as long as they are well done; Disney and Universal fall into this category, some of the other parks, not so much.

“Intense” means so many different things to different people. For nausea, it’s most typically spinning rides that will affect people, Mission Space Orange, Teacups, and Primeval Whirl being the main culprits (although some especially sensitive people might even have problems with Dumbo and the other “spinners”.

Coasters are a different sort of “intensity”. Hurtling down a 300 ft hill at speeds up to 90 MPH is certainly an “intense” experience, but physiologically not likely to induce motion sickness. NONE of the WDW coasters are especially “intense” in the big world of coasters as far as motion is concerned, but the added or lack of visual cues ups the “intensity factor” in different ways. Space Mountain is probably the most extreme in this regard due to the almost complete lack of visual cues and sudden sharp curves that you don’t see coming. The reverse helix in EE could also be considered “intense” in this regard.

How “rough” the ride is can also be an indication of “intensity”. Dinosaur is certainly an example of this. Space Mountain, in its old age, has gotten so rough that it’s almost not even fun to ride anymore. RnRC also beats you up a good bit, especially in the back.

Intensity can also be measure in the visual and aural experience. Alien Enounter, which had no movement is considered by many to be the most “intense” WDW attractions ever (Stitch was a severely watered down version of it). I’ve seen more children crying coming out It’s Tough to be a Bug than any other attraction (except maybe Alien Encounter).

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That’s the whole issue with Mission Space. They’re trying to “fool” your brain into thinking you’re in space by using centrifugal force to push you back in your seat. On something like Soarin or Star Tours you can shut your eyes, but if you shut your eyes on Mission Space you will “know” you’re spinning and it’s even worse!!

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Yeah, that one probably has the highest “crying kid” factor of any WDW attraction. Kids really do not like it…

I think we have a generation of kids who is more afraid of the outside than ever! My DS8 said to me yesterday, “Dad, there are little time worms climbing on the tree in the back yard.”

I said, “Those are inch worms.”

“Yeah, well. They kind of freak me out.”

I said, “Well, when I was a kid we used to let them crawl over hands.”

He just stared at me, then said, “That’s just gross, dad.”

We used to spend most of our free time outside amidst the bugs when I was a kid. Today, my kid is afraid of an inch worm. :slight_smile:

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YES that ride was the worst!!!

Slightly off-topic, but I’m really curious to hear from folks who have done Shuttle Launch Experience at the Kennedy Space Center. I rode it on my trip last week and did not experience motion sickness, even though I can only just barely handle Teacups, as long as my riding partner does not even think about touching the spinning wheel to make it go faster!

My sister (who usually does much better with both simulators and spinning rides than I do) rode MS: Orange one time and almost vomited while on the ride. When she got off, she said “It’s a good thing you didn’t ride…you’d have been a goner!” But Shuttle Launch Experience at KSC didn’t bother me in that way at all… anyone been on both for comparison? They must run on similar spinning technology to simulate the G-forces, right? If I can handle SLE, should I brave MS: Orange next time around (no pun intended)?

Actually, no. SLE has no spinning component to it. Once you board it, it rotates to a vertical position, which places weight against your back. They use inflatable air bladders in the seat back to simulate additional Gs (combined with seat shakers, lots of noise, etc). As an aside, Disney used this same inflatable seat technology back in the 60s with the original “Flight to the Moon” attraction, but not as effectively.

The two are apples and oranges; SLE is closer to ST than it is to MS:O…

I agree about this one. I went on it once with a little girl sitting next to me, and I swear that little girl is probably traumatized to this day about it. When I’ve told people about it I always tell them that to a grown up, we realize nothing bad is going to happen, but to a kid, that has them scared to death. I always just thought it was so well done and how the glass broke and the animatronic guy on top of the cage. It really was a good show that was incredibly well done. Unfortunately, they probably got a lot of complaints and had to shut it down.

That’s really interesting! I would not have guessed that . . . It’s very well done.

@ryan1 - the ET Alien Encounter ride nearly had me in tears. I was furious my family made me go. I’m glad it’s closed now. EXCEPT - the memory is SOOOO real that I won’t even go do the Stitch ride now. It’s like Disney ruined the whole building for me.

My family has agreed we never need to ride TOT again. I did it last time just to say i did.

I can’t ride the carousel. It makes me woozy and nauseous. I do it one time per trip for my daughter. But I love a good roller coaster. Could ride RNRC back to back if waiting in the queue wasn’t such a long ordeal.

You needn’t have worried about Stitch. They took the same concept, but silly-fied it with Stitch. Rather than being an alien there eating people, it is Stitch being mischievous. So, yeah.

The fact that the original Alien Encounter for you was so traumatic, however, just goes to show how incredibly well done it was. They made it very difficult to suspend your disbelief.

Actually, a little trivia we learned once while stuck on the Great Movie Ride in the Wizard of Oz room (due to some failure that left us there for about 30 minutes)…the animatronic Wicked Witch was originally SO realistic that it was scaring the kiddos. So, they intentionally modified it to make it LOOK more animatronic. Meaning, they added in subtle indications that made it look more robotic than real just so that kids weren’t so scared. But the animatronic capabilities when it opened convinced people that the witch was played by a real person.

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When I was little, I was scared to death of the Snow White ride. The witch was so real, I had to close my eyes. I remember my dad telling me I had to open them, but I was so scared I couldn’t. When my family wanted to ride it, I hated it and was scared to death. That was one time where a really long Queue would have been a VERY good thing.

On a different note, I have started watching some Amazon Prime shows. I noticed they have the original Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack. I was so scared of that show that I would run out of the room when the music came on and Robert Stack’s voice was so creepy I thought the criminal would be standing just outside my window as a kid. I noticed they had those shows on Amazon Prime, so I turned the lights off and started it. I just got to the point where Robert Stack says “On Tonight’s Unsolved Mysteries” or something pretty close, and I turned it off. Can’t watch it. Scared to death. I was talking to my coworker about it and he said he would watch it. Was talking to another coworker and he said “Yeah, I know exactly where you are coming from, but he won’t. He’ll probably think it’s cheesy and why are you scared of this? But he doesn’t have the frame of reference as watching this as a kid. I know because I think the same way you do. I’ll never be able to watch that show ever again either.”

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DH thought TOT was the scariest ride at WDW.

It’s the scariest for me too, I don’t love the way your stomach flips when you freefall. I still did it about 6 times last trip!

Oh actually I’m lying, MS Orange is the scariest. I’ll only do that once.

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It is funny, because my DS6 came off ToT and then was obsessed with us watching the movie (the one based on the ride) and then start watching the old TV series.

It is the most awesome drop tower ride ever, especially with the 100+ drop combinations. And I have a horrible fear of heights. Like, seriously. I get dizzy looking over a second-story balcony. I get dizzy just THINKING about looking over a second story balcony. I can’t watch TV shows where people are standing near the edge of tall buildings, etc, because things start to spin. But ToT is great!

IMO, of course. :slight_smile:

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You have to try everything once, because while you can guess how much you’ll like something, you never know until you try. My favorite ride is Soarin and I didn’t feel sick at all, while Star tours turned me green and made me feel ill for ages after.

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:laughing: so true