calling all claustrophobics

[Rootskate]

I am not claustropobic, but let me tell you....When we went on Mission Space and that "compartment" we were sitting in closed I can honestly tell you, I have never felt more "trapped" in my entire life!! When we got off the ride, I commented to my Fiance that they should have HUGE signs warning people that if they are claustropobic they should avoid this ride at all costs!!!

 

[Shells9]

The waiting area for It's Tough to Be a Bug gets me most times. Packing those people in there in such a low lit, confined space does not go well with me!

 

[ladydancer]

Nothing @ WDW has bother me so far. I have trouble getting to WDW. I had been having panic attacks on the plane. A feeling of be "trapped"! The way they pack every one on a plane like sardines in a can. So now I must have an aile seat and take some meds and I haven't had a episode since.

It took awhile to figure out what was happening when I flew. First I thought I had developed asthma. As I was gasping for air. It was very scarying, being on a plane and I couldn't breath. I couldn't get out! After I had come home from my trip a couple of weeks later I went to wash my car. I was sitting in my car and going through the wash when the car wash stopped and so did my car. All of a sudden I couldn't breath and gasping for air just like on the plane. It was that "trapped" feeling again. I couldn't get out of the car wash, it had stopped and I felt "trapped. I told my doctor about the situation and she said I was having panic attacks when I felt trapped.

I am trying to over come this. I decided to try a tanning bed to practice. The first time I just slightly closed the lid and each time closed it more. I try to think other thoughts. This might sound silly but I try to save things I need to think about until I get in the tanning bed. So I'm not thinking about it. I have managed to close the lid most of the way. My doctor wants me to go in for an MRI. That scares me a little but I'm hoping I can do it!

 

[Martha7]

Ladydancer, many MRI machines are "open MRI's". They have an arc which goes over you, but you're not trapped or enclosed at any point. You pass under it with plenty of room. Just ask your doctor which facility has this type of equipment. I've had these, and it's really nothing!

 

[Bellefan66]

So far,I won't do Mission Space,and I never did the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.No way,NOT getting in an enclosed area, UNDER the water...I would have freaked out big time!Good thread. So many of us out there.

 

[bavaria]

I too have had problems with Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but in the waiting area. Some CM's at theatres are good and will let you wait off to the side for doors to open, others insist that you pack in with the crowd - in that case I leave.

Funny, I fly every 10 days!!! Of course, my elite status does get me extra space, and I will do anything possible to get my aisle seat as far forward as possible.

Re MRI's - I had to get one a few years ago, and was seriously drugged up. Of course, as soon as they slid me in I absolutely freaked out. No amount of drugs would knock me out - they told me it would take about 75 minutes and I couldn't last 7 seconds. No MRI for me! (Don't know what it's like in the US, but I live in a country where waitlists are routinely 6 months or more for an MRI, they got me in on an emergency basis, and I 'wasted' the time slot - felt very guilty!!) I did ask about open MRI's, but there are only a few in the country, about 3000 miles away from my home. The tech told me that even people who only need their knee scanned etc freak out, and not to feel bad!

 

[Raysplus1]

I do sometimes have problems on the smaller airplanes, but I have rode MS with my DS and I have to sit there and calm myself down by taking deep breathes. But once the ridestarts I feel fine.

 

[loriandmatt]

my claustrophobic areas:

won't even consider MS. between the tiny little compartment, the restaining devise and the spinning - no way, not ever.

get iffy in HM, but not the shrinking room - in the area where everyone tries to funnel into the line to get into the doom buggies.

i have to second the notion on the waterslides that are enclosed tubes. hate those. will do them, but only the ones that are relatively short.

i can sympathize on the tight clothes thing....i also ditched anything that even comes close to a turtleneck years ago. my mom used to make me wear them and get snotty with me when i would yank on the neck to stretch it out. i would swear they were cutting off my air supply. gotta love anything with a boat neck!

- lori

 

[newmousecateer2]

I am very claustrophobic and the only thing that set me off and got me panicked was when I was "trapped" in my seat at Alien. I understand it is the same way for Stitch, so I will never go see that. And I probably will never go on MS.

 

[Snoozan]

The wait area for Bug Show under Tree of Life in AK sends me into panic mode. I have to stand near the entrance where I can still see daylight or stand by an Exit door, if further into "the cave". I get heart palipitations just thinking about that now! At least clothes don't get me panicked!

 

[Irish9697]

I'm not horribly clausterphobic. Sometimes I think it's more in my head than really a problem, but tight spaces do tend to panic me a bit...if that makes any sense. But at WDW, the one place I will never go again is Stitch. Being trapped in my seat was HORRIFIC!

 

[felinosaurus]

Glad to find this thread. It brings up a potential problem at WDW I hadn't thought about yet.
I started having panic attacks just a few years ago... usually in places where I felt trapped (for no particularly viable reason).
Speaking of clothes... I once got "stuck" in a shirt I was trying on in a department store dressing room. Thought I was gonna start screaming for somebody to bring some scissors to cut it off of me. Every time I tell that story people laugh... but at the time it was a very real feeling of panic.

So, it sounds like I should definitely avoid Mission Space.

 

[nbandfour]

For me the worst was definitely the holding area for ITTBAB in AK. The dark, the sloping ceiling, the warm air from all those bodies. Smaller problems in the stretch room in HM and the library in ToT. I've never been on ms, but sounds like I'll need to pass.

NB

 

[n2mickey]

Yes - do Tough to Be a Bug right when the park opens - at least you can walk right in to the theater. I did Mission Space this trip and will never do it again. Much too tight of quarters although I didn't get an upset stomach like my husband and daughter did. I also get more stressed out on a plane when my whole family is with me. Each time we hit turbulence - I got more and more anxious. If I'm flying alone, I seem to be fine. Avoid Stitch!!!!

 

[Desnik]

DH has a phobia that is something very similar to claustrophobia. I think the correct word is agoraphobia, He can't be in any place he feels no "control" or way of getting out, whether it is an elevator or a outdoor cue line. He has had many panic attacts over the past years of Disney trips. It is so hard for him at Disney because he loves rides and coasters but almost everything is indoors. He has to be able to "see" a way out. He will not fly, no elevators, no indoor rides. The CM's are really nice and understanding. Many have taken the time to talk with him and show him how he can get out if he needs to in the middle of an attraction. Because of that he now can go in the Muppets 3D show with us. He gets alittle panicky but is much better each new time he is in there. I feel very sad for him because he really misses out on alot and it is hard for me to fully understand how he is feeling.

To answer the OP's question. DH cannot go on HM, Peter Pan, Spaceship Earth, RnR, ITTBAB, Little Mermaid, Star Tours, ToT, basically anything indoors. He absolutely freeks out in complete darkness. Also has a hard time when a ride has the harness that comes around your shoulders and chest, Like the one in Alien Encounter, now Stitch ride.

 

[lauran cameron]

I'm new to claustrophobia, and I have no idea where it came from for me???
But my reasons are somewhat grim such as afraid of suffocation, drowning or being buried alive...yeaaaa, that's another story....basically being trapped and not being able to breathe

but I totally agree with an earlier post about the enclosed water slides, never before until last trip I was in one and scary thoughts ran through my head

 

[funhouse8]

NYE on the walkway to get the family hats & noisemakers. I'm short and couldn't even see where the crowd was pushing me, and I started to feel a panic attack come on. When all of a sudden a wonderful woman grabbed me and helped me get though. She just looked at me and said boy are you a little thing then she helped me though. I don't know who she was but boy was she a god sent.

 

[ladydancer]

Ladydancer, many MRI machines are "open MRI's". They have an arc which goes over you, but you're not trapped or enclosed at any point. You pass under it with plenty of room. Just ask your doctor which facility has this type of equipment. I've had these, and it's really nothing!

Maybe we don't have the "open" machines as my doctor said "You wouldn't be a candidate for an MRI" because of your problem. So assuming she would have known if they were available. I will ask of course.

 

[TXMommy]

I, too, suffer from claustrophobia. ITTBAB gets to me, as does Little Mermaid (too many people crushed in), but I do them both. But the one thing I said NEVER AGAIN to at WDW was the bus! We got crammed onto a bus one night - we had to stand in the aisle and could barely move we were in there so tight - you couldn't see out the bus windows very well and the lady sitting beside where I was standing had on blinking Mickey antennas. It seemed like we were on that bus FOREVER! I had a major panic attack and could not wait to get off! The rest of that trip we drove our own car to wherever we needed to go. No more Disney busses for me!

 

[MinnieM21]

I'm the exact same way. I don't ride Mission Space because 1) I hate being in small spaces and 2) I might puke.
I can't go in elevators either. I'm scared of being trapped inside and I usually use the stairs. Even if it means huffin' it up 8 flights.


You should see me trying to deal with flying on a plane.