Closing eyes on Flight of passage?

WolfePack811

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 13, 2019
My son is afraid of heights and get motion sickness. But he really wants to ride flight of passage. He’s been on Soarin and loved it but he did have to close his eyes a few times. My question is can you close your eyes and still stay pretty safe? Does the ride itself move a lot or is it mostly just the screen?
 
My son is afraid of heights and get motion sickness. But he really wants to ride flight of passage. He’s been on Soarin and loved it but he did have to close his eyes a few times. My question is can you close your eyes and still stay pretty safe? Does the ride itself move a lot or is it mostly just the screen?

The ride moves quite a bit; the platform itself detaches from the wall at the start and the "banshee" moves in sync with the drops, etc. There's a decent article on riding it while motion sickness prone here: https://guide4wdw.com/2018/05/an-honest-analysis-flight-of-passage/
 
The ride does move but probably not much more than a carousel horse, the motion issues seemed to come from the screen. I closed my eyes a few times because I get bad motion sickness but I opened them pretty quickly because the ride is so cool! He’ll be fine closing his eyes if he needs to.
 
I rode it the end of September and I closed my eyes a few times during the ride when the motion on screen was moving really fast and started to make me feel sick. I would peek open again when the motion slowed or was paused so I could look around again. I would also look down and to the side at the other guests on the other levels to see the ride moving when I couldn’t look at the screen motion. It was cool to see that perspective.
 


The ride has a lot more simulated motion than actual motion. I routinely close my eyes in a couple of spots (just to keep the motion sickness feeling from taking over), it’s perfectly safe. I also like to look left or right to see what else is around (and to find something to stabilize my vision on).
 
I rode Flights of Passage for the first time in April. I knew as soon as we got into the "flight room" that this ride was not for me, but after waiting for 3 1/2 hours I was GOING to ride. So, about 1 second into the ride, I closed my eyes. I periodically took a quick peek at the screen only to immediately reclose them. I am afraid of heights and do not like Soarin' at all, but with my eyes closed, FoP was fine. The ride does move, and there is mist blowing on you, and you feel "dragon breath" but I didn't feel this was an issue. I knew the platform didn't rise off the floor. As long as that fact was in my head, I was good to go. The ability to close your eyes and not mind the ride, might depend on how old your son is.
 
My Mom closed her eyes for some parts of FOP the first time that she rode. The next time she kept them open and enjoyed it even more. She felt more comfortable closing her eyes sometimes the first time around, as she is afraid of heights and prone to motion sickness. There was no issue closing her eyes, and it gave her the courage to try it again later with eyes wide open. She really enjoyed the ride!

There is certainly no danger closing your eyes anytime that you feel the need to do so. You are securely fastened on your 'banshee' and the actual movement isn't bad.
 


I'm one of those gets motion sick ridiculously easy - and I've been on it 5 times now. The way you are in the seat - it's safe with eyes closed. Obviously - he will need to follow the general safety rules of not attempting to get out of the seat and keeping hands on hand grips - but closing one's eyes would not effect the safety.

If he is afraid of heights - UNLESS you are on the bottom level - I would not advise looking sideways to see the other units of the ride - that can remind you aren't totally on permanent ground. It freaks me out a bit if I pay attention to that. Just pay attention to the screen. BUT - looking sideways does let you know how the ride works - and that can also re-assuring for some. Just - not me.

For one tip - especially at the beginning of the ride - there is a clearly another banshee "in the lead." By following the line of sight of that banshee - versus looking all over the screen - that can help avoid motion sicknesses.

I've ridden with my eyes closed as much as 50% of the time - and honestly - when I close them - the soundtrack, wind, breathing, position changes of the banshees - those actually make a pretty cool ride WITHOUT the visual input from the screen. I waited in line one time with a VERY visually impaired women who told me despite she only sees light and dark blurs from the visual - its one of here favorite rides.
 
Good tips above. I rode it for the first time the other night despite my reservations (I have issues w 3D w no motion, and with screen-based motion simulators, so the two together isn’t a great idea). Glad I did!

Personally, while prepared to close my eyes, I didn’t do it (much). I found because the screen is so big and the wind and mist are so immersive, it actually did trick my brain into thinking I was moving forward. Felt a little woozy afterwards, but no worse than teacups. It really was impressive and something I’d do again.
 
My mom & I both got instantly motion sick (we didn't know what the ride was like beforehand), & that's with me using Dramamine. But yes, closing our eyes helped & we just were praying for the ride to end. lol We have no issue at all with Soarin. I've done Mission Space green & no issue there, either (with Dramamine).
 
I am extremely scared of heights so kept my eyes closed 95% of the time! The parts I did see were very beautiful though, and I plan to try it again next trip :)
 
My 6yo son road it and hated it. As we were mid ride I told him to just keep his eyes shut and it would be over soon. I remember kind of being braced into the seat. I certainly wasn’t worried about him falling off the seat. My other son loved it. Hoping Dramamine works for me this time so I can try it agin with him.

Good luck!
 
I don’t get motion sick usually, but I had to close my eyes several times (mainly parts where you felt like you were diving down fast). My husband does get motion sick and he had to close his eyes most of time and doesn’t want to ride it again. Our 6 year old did the best out of all of us, but the kid next to us hated it and screamed the whole ride
 
I closed my eyes most of the time during my first ride as I am very prone to motion sickness. I gradually opened them on each ride once I knew it was "safe." I've ridden several times now with no issues.
 
The ride does move a fair bit, but you are pretty secure in it. Closing his eyes won't cause any safety issues. As others have suggested, looking up, down, or to the side might help him to kind of ground himself a bit as well, plus it is a neat perspective on how the ride system works.
 
Yes, you're totally fine to close your eyes. My son (4) just rode last week. He rode with DH first (rider swap) and didn't like it because of the scary parts, but I told him he could close his eyes during the scary parts and held his hand (my hand over his on his handlebar) and he loved it the second time. So much that we got in line right before park closing to ride it again.
 
Completely fine to close your eyes as compared to Mission Space where closing your eyes actually makes the motion sickness worse.
 
Thank you everyone! He’s 10 so I think he will be able to handle closing his eyes. I just wasn’t sure how rough the actual ride motions were.
 

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