I have always been afraid of riding roller coasters. But as I get older, I find I’m willing to take more risk. I would love to see a ranking of the WDW coasters from least fearful to most, so I could start at the bottom and work my way up through them. No spinners, though. That would truly make me ill.
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It’s been done on here somewhere before, but here’s my take, from mildest to wildest:
Barnstormer
7 Dwarfs Mine Train
Slinky Dog Dash (actually faster than BTMRR and Space, but much smoother)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Space Mountain
Expedition Everest
Rock n’ Rollercoaster
I would say (from least to most):
Barnstormer
7DMT
Thunder
Space
SDD
EE
RnRC
Edit: as mentioned above, SDD is actually a rather tame ride. It’s kind of intimidating though as that the first high turn is pretty far above the midway and the launch can bring out anxiety. Space gets added thrill because of the dark and jerkiness, but has a pretty low top speed and doesn’t trigger fear of heights.
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Looks like we must be about right, I put SDD as milder than BTMRR and Space since it is so smooth.
That’s exactly how I would rank them too.
I’d group them rather than make a strict ranking.
- Barnstormer
- 7DMT, SDD, BTMR
- Space, EE, RNR
Group 1 rides are kids rides, not really suitable for adults. I’ve never ridden Barnstormer. Would I even fit? I’m British fat.
Group 2 are rides that I enjoy and are fun, but don’t induce any kind of ill-feeling in me. I’d be happy to ride them repeatedly.
Group 3 are rides that I’m probably going to start skipping from now on. They’re just too rough and I don’t really enjoy them. The first three seconds of RNR is a thrill, but then it’s awful. I don’t really enjoy any part of Space Mountain. I’ll give EE another go on my next trip, but last time I found the last part gave me vague motion sickness.
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I don’t know how that compares to American fat But that’s me and i can ride it. Height is more an issue, I’m 6’3" so legroom is tight.
I would say…
Barnstormer
Slinky Dog
Seven Dwarfs
Big Thunder
Space
Everest
Rock-n-Roller
BUT… a couple of clarifications. First, Barnstormer is very hard on the knees if you’re over 5 feet tall. I also had a little bit of ‘I’m gonna fly out’ feeling. Also Seven Dwarfs is super cool but also not designed for tall (or wide) people - and it seemed worse in the front seat of the cars. Next, while I think Everest could be considered scarier than Space (especially if you’re afraid of heights), I much prefer it. It’s so smooth and fun and the view is amazing. I find riding Space Mountain a lot like being put into a blender (although, as I mentioned in another post, I love the Disneyland version). So for what it’s worth, in order of my favorites… (most to least)
1-Everest
2-Seven Dwarfs
3-Big Thunder
4-Slinky Dog
5-Rock-n-Roller
6-Barnstormer
7-Space
Thanks so much. I see there are a lot of qualifications - which I expected. I wonder where the new ones will fit in. ??? Will be interesting.
are there height and weight restrictions for any of the rides?
https://www.bestoforlando.com/articles/can-you-ride-check-walt-disney-worlds-height-requirements/
No weight restrictions I’ve heard of, aside from whether you can fit in the vehicle with all safety devices closed properly.
Of all the coasters, save EE (lift hill), SDD has the highest “look down and get scared” moment which is that first high turn after the launch. Though some are faster and others are bumpier, all the other coasters obscure any height.
That’s a good point. I normally don’t consider height a factor on any of the Disney coasters, since they’re all relatively small. But for someone afraid of heights, I’m sure that could be important.
Now I’m nervous with DD4 riding SDD. She’s ridden a local kiddie coaster before and was fine and will have done Barnstormer before doing SDD.
The moment is actually very quick and not that tall at all. Probably less than 50’. And it’s at the end of a very gradual incline (the launch). It’s just unusual for a Disney coaster to have even that.
I would kind of go with this list, but I would put RnRC and EE equal, but for different reasons. EE has the higher hills and is faster, RnRC is in the dark and has a couple of inversions (although you hardly notice them). But in the greater world of coasters (e.g Universal, BG, Sea World, Six Flags) all of the Disney coasters would rate a 4 out of 10 or less in intensity.
Does no one else consider Splash a “roller coaster”? I do, but I’m a huge chicken - afraid of heights and suffer from motion sickness. So I include Splash on my list. I will ride it this trip because my DGD likes it but on trips with my DH I skip it. 7DMT is my favorite, I’ve done BTMR at DLR so will give it a try at MK this time and, maybe, will finally try SM. RNR and EE will never happen for me.
When I was about 13 I went to Magic Kingdom for half a day. I had grown up spending my summers at Six Flags so I was expecting similar rides. I was so disappointed by Space Mountain. It was so lame compared to the rides I was used to. I was too young (and old!) to appreciate what made Disney Disney. It took me over 20 years and having 3 kids to go back!
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Precisely. Even the RnRC and EE are smaller guns when compared to other parks.
And there are so many scales you can gauge coasters on. I get that this list is meant to mean overall intensity in the WDW coasters, but I find Space to be miserable and jarring and I now just avoid it if I at all can. Manta, at SW, is smooth and elegant, yet light years more “daring” than anything on WDW property. That said, I appreciate the theming of these rides a great deal.
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Agreed. And I’d say the same about RNR. My recollection is that their equivalents at DLP are so much smoother.
Can anyone speak to RRR at UOR? I’ve never had the nerve to go on it, but I’d like to next time.