So when you said it doesn’t move, that’s not true. I don’t think it’s very helpful to tell people that when you know that it does move. Some people do come off the ride feeling sick, even with their eyes shut. For others it will be fine. People need to make a decision for themselves whether to ride based on the facts, if they are concerned about motion sickness.
Star Tours also makes a lot of people sick, even with their eyes closed.
You’re absolutely right.
If someone really wants to ride you can get that ride for that one person and something else FP for the others. I’ve done that several times, and it’s even easier to get a hard to get FP for just one or two people than the whole group. I have older boys and a pretty young daughter so my group typically splits up for a lot of the rides anyway b/c we have enough adults to split up, one group for thrill rides and one group for younger kid / tamer things.
Not a clue what it is supposed to be. The boys loved it. H and I loved that it was walking distance to Nomad Lounge for an easy to go adult beverage. Made for a very chill, break from the craziness moment.
Motion sickness actually has little to do with motion itself, though, and more to do with a disconnect between what the brain sees and what the body feels. Closing the eyes typically makes this worse because you still end up a visual disconnect. Instead, it is better to avert your gaze to something that is moving with you. So, for example, if you are starting to get motion sickness on Soarin’, you would do well to focus on your lap or the dangling feet in front of you, etc. They are moving the same as you are.
I was meh about too. Even to the point that we had a FP for it on two separate days and rode it on the first day and the second day we had planned to RD NRJ, but ended up sleeping in. Because neither of us was overly enthusiastic about FOP, we traded it in for a FP NRJ. The CM seemed baffled by our request and it took several attempts to let them know what we were requesting before they fully comprehended it. Ultimately they obliged and I don’t regret the decision one bit! Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a cool ride and glad I got to experience it, however I didn’t walk away feeling as enamored as so many other have described.
Full disclosure: several family members - me, sister, daughter, niece, and cousin - experience motion sickness in varying degrees and forms, depending on the ride.
For some of you, closing your eyes may not alleviate discomfort. From personal experience on Soarin, it works. At least on that ride and for me. With that screen, looking at my lap is not enough.
For some family members, nothing short of a good night’s rest alleviates symptoms.
At WDW we don’t all experience motion sickness on the same rides.
For some dramamine works, tho my sister can only take a quarter tablet. My niece had some luck a few years ago with the band on the wrist. For some in our family, avoiding the ride altogether is all that works.
One size does not fit all. At least in our family.
Your experience may vary.
If it is not something you would enjoy skip it. Me, I love the ride. I would not need to see or like the movie to enjoy it. I have planned an entire evening without my family so that I can ride it as many times as possible during Disney After hours.
My mom felt that way too when we got to Fast Pass planning (doesn’t care about Avatar, fear of heights)…and so I skipped planning for them with initial fastpass grabs. However, day of, we were on a bus with a woman that was just going by herself to wait in Standby for the ride and raved about it the whole time. After that, of course, my mom was experiencing FOMO and wanted to ride. While we were at breakfast, I picked up some same day FP+ drops…shifted some things around and we rode it. She loved it so much that in the next round of same day drops I picked up two more and we skipped Rivers of Light to ride it again. It really was an incredible ride…but I can not speak for people with motion sickness as neither of us experience it.
So, I wouldn’t worry about planning for it in advance, because if you’re on top of same day drops, you can still get them!
I’m planning to get FP for my family because of peer pressure and FOMO. I’m also ok with we don’t ride.
I’m not looking forward to the stress of having to get one. I doubt we would RD for the ride and I don’t know if I’d want to try for SDFP.
DD18 rode it in May during a group trip to WDW. They waited in line for 30 minutes at park opening. She said the glasses provided a weird view. She said she would ride again but wouldn’t wait longer than they did.
For our group of 7, only 2 plan to ride FoP. Three of us get motion sickness from simulator rides, the other two will be 3.5 years old and 13 months old. If I can’t get FPP for the 2 or if the lines are too long at EEMH RD, we will skip it. Doesn’t matter to me, I’m not riding it.
Very similar experience here, with a mom who is terrified of heights and had never even heard of the movie before I explained what Pandora was. Didn’t make a FP for her, but I ended up with a medical condition that rendered me unable to ride, and my kids begged her to take my place, so she did. She wanted to ride again as soon as they were done (we didn’t, wait was 180 mins) and it is the ride she’s most looking forward to on our upcoming trip.
Re: OPs question: I think it’s fine to skip it, if no one has ever been on it, they won’t know what they are missing anyway! If it were me, though, I’d try to make FP reservations for it first thing in the AM and would RD river journey, then see if anyone wants to do FoP. If no one does, release the FP, make new ones, and carry on!
We skipped it and I felt weird about and probably will next time too. Both my kids were too short and I didn’t want to waste precious tome with RS. My DH also gets bad motion sickness. He likes the movie but was happy with Navi and just walking around Pandora. If no one really cares, skip it and FP Navi which everyone can ride. It’s not going to be anyone’s favorite ride but it is a nice family ride.
It didn’t work for our group either…I’m putting it on the list for my “someday” trip!
OP - you sound like me in 2011. I was so stressed out about trying to make sure we rode TSMM (even pre-FPP) I was asking friends IRL to make me feel better about not prioritizing it. Sadly, everyone insisted we couldn’t pass it.
I made myself crazy that trip. Rapunzel. TSMM.
It’s even worse now IMO.
I was secretly relieved in 2016 when Avatarland wasn’t going to be open for our trip. We also went when Soarin was down and Frozen was still being built. I loved having “permission” to not worry about those.
This is why I need at least one cruise and one road trip between every WDW vacation.
I can’t always tell what will make me motion sick. I can ride something once and have problems the next. And vice versa. A lot has to do with allergies and weather too. 
no guilt…it’s your trip. don’t do fomo. just don’t
My entire family loves FOP. Three of us have various levels of motion sickness with Star Tours making the three of us ill. However, we did not experience as many issues on FOP. I believe this is in part due to how immersive the experience is. I never feel like I am on a ride like I do with Star Tours and Soarin’…I feel like I am actually flying. It is so wonderful.
I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but my experience with FP day has been that the ride that is most difficult to grab a FP for is Slinky Dog. I wasn’t even able to grab one for the last day of our trip which would have been at the 60+6 day. I had much greater luck with FOP and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
I don’t even know who you are.