How spinny are the tea cups, really?

[DominicaAnne]

My DD4 has been talking about wanting to ride the Mad Tea Party, and I would rather not disappoint her, however, I get motion sickness from rides that spin, so I'm concerned about this ride. For those of you prone to motion sickness, say when riding in the backseat of a car or when flying, how did this ride affect you? I know everyone is different, but I'd like to have some anecdotal evidence before I decide. Thanks!

 

[Wendybird55]

You control the spinning of the tea cups so it can be as easy or extreme as you want. There are I think 4 or 5 teacups on a big circle and they go around in big circles - very easy motion. Then each individual tea cup has a round wheel in the center that everyone sits around and can hold onto. The real spinning comes from people in the tea cup grabbing the wheel the moving it left or right - that moves the tea cup around and around. The faster and harder you pull on the wheel the faster your tea cup will spin and you will definitely get dizzy. If you just sit on the cup and don't touch the wheel you will be fine. If your DD wants to hold onto the wheel and act like she's trying to spin the cup let her- she won't be strong enough to really make it spin but since the cups are moving anyway she will think she's doing it.

 

[graueMaus]

My DD4 has been talking about wanting to ride the Mad Tea Party, and I would rather not disappoint her, however, I get motion sickness from rides that spin, so I'm concerned about this ride. For those of you prone to motion sickness, say when riding in the backseat of a car or when flying, how did this ride affect you? I know everyone is different, but I'd like to have some anecdotal evidence before I decide. Thanks!

As fast as you can spin and stay seated upright

 

[stephm0188]

My husband is only occassionally affected by carsickness. He can't ride the teacups, even if no one in the car spins.

 

[HelenParr]

It is spinny. I did it once, never again. It can be bad (when you do not manually spin the cup by turning the center) or horrible if you do! Any chance there is another adult and you can just clap and wave from the sidelines? You will be able to see each other.

 

[LMDisneygirl]

I wouldn't go near them!

The last poster had a good point though, you can watch the whole entire ride. If you don't have anyone else who can ride with them you might be able to make a friend in line! I'm sure there will be a smaller group who would be glad to add one more - so you can "take pictures"!

 

[donnsuz]

It's as spinny as you make it. It's not bad at all (unless you are majorly prone to motion sickness) IF you don't spin it at all. My three year old grandson rode it over and over and over with my adult DS. Since I didn't trust my son I didn't ride along. It's weird. When I was a kid I could spin the tea cups (or tilt a whirl at the fair) all day. As an adult....NO WAY As an adult, I can ride any other ride in the park over and over (except Mission Space...same idea). No circles.

 

[jwmoss]

I get dizzy and motion sick, but still love the tea cups. I wedge my knees up under the wheel so my daughter can't spin our ride and make sure to look out at people or objects past the gates for a few seconds every so often like a dancer "spotting" during fast turns.

 

[HMANSION LOVER]

My DD4 has been talking about wanting to ride the Mad Tea Party, and I would rather not disappoint her, however, I get motion sickness from rides that spin, so I'm concerned about this ride. For those of you prone to motion sickness, say when riding in the backseat of a car or when flying, how did this ride affect you? I know everyone is different, but I'd like to have some anecdotal evidence before I decide. Thanks!

When I was young spinning did not affect me at all. When I rode with my son in 2008 I felt week in the knees when we got off the ride but the feeling went away pretty quickly. It was then I knew no more tea cups for me. In 2011 my son and daughter went on and I could not even watch the spinning. Sucks getting old

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I get motion sick easily and I can't even look at the teacups without getting woozy, so I've never ridden them. Are you going with someone else who could take your daughter on them? I don't know about you, but once my motion sickness kicks in, it can be hours before I'm feeling OK again, and sometimes I literally need to sleep it off before feeling better. I personally wouldn't risk essentially blowing a day in the MK just for one teacup ride.

 

[P00H1010]

You control the spinning of the tea cups so it can be as easy or extreme as you want. There are I think 4 or 5 teacups on a big circle and they go around in big circles - very easy motion. Then each individual tea cup has a round wheel in the center that everyone sits around and can hold onto. The real spinning comes from people in the tea cup grabbing the wheel the moving it left or right - that moves the tea cup around and around. The faster and harder you pull on the wheel the faster your tea cup will spin and you will definitely get dizzy. If you just sit on the cup and don't touch the wheel you will be fine. If your DD wants to hold onto the wheel and act like she's trying to spin the cup let her- she won't be strong enough to really make it spin but since the cups are moving anyway she will think she's doing it.

This!.....You can do it as crazy or calm as you want. You will absolutely get dizzy if you are prone to it on spinny rides.....the good thing about this ride is the fact that you have most of the control on how much spinning you will do

 

[epcotty]

I haven't gone on that one in years but as a kid I'd occasionally get motion sickness from cars but had no problem with the tea cups

 

[Mousemommy1]

This is one of DH no-no rides, even if he has taken Dramamine. He does all rides, except for spinny ones. He is useless for a little while if he does it, so I always ride with the kids or let them go on their own.

 

[FUNMAMADIS]

My mom rarely gets motion sickness, but I watched her turn green on the teacups. Literally green.

 

[tarak]

My husband can't do them. He can handle just about any roller coaster you throw him at. But he can't do the tea cups - whether they're being spun by the riders or just the motion of the ride.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I can not ride and I can not even watch without getting sick. would not risk it

 

[surferdave]

It's weird. When I was a kid I could spin the tea cups (or tilt a whirl at the fair) all day. As an adult....NO WAY As an adult, I can ride any other ride in the park over and over (except Mission Space...same idea). No circles.

I never had issues riding anything until about 4 years ago, at age 45, my daughter got me on one of these abominations at her elementary school spring festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKJCLyKSBuk

It's similar to the Mad Tea Party, but smaller and a tighter spin radius; here's the Mad Tea Party for comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsHRFgc-4xw

On either ride my daughter loves to spin it like crazy and I'm reluctant to stop her.

After the strawberry ride I had a brutal headache, dizziness and nausea for hours. The only time at Disney since then I rode the Tea Party (took Dramamine when I thought about it but only about 30 minutes before the ride) and was a little ill afterwards but not nearly as bad and it passed quickly.

Next trip I plan to take the medicine sooner, and will probably still skip the cups. But I am planning to try Mission Space Orange at least once.

 

[DominicaAnne]

Thanks everyone! I wish there was someone else to ride with her, but my husband gets vertigo after any amount of spinning or dropping, and it takes days for him to recover, so we just can't risk it. At most, I would get woozey and not feel well for a few hours, but still, that's a few hours wasted at Disney. I think we may try to make friends with some slightly older kids in line and have her ride with them, but then I'd have to trust they weren't going to spin the tea cup out of control with my baby on there! EEK! This could be one of those parental lessons in "letting go", lol. Later in the trip, Grandpa is going to join us, and maybe spinning rides don't bother him, so I'm definitely going to ask if he can ride with her. He has health issues, so hard to know what he can handle. Thanks again! The varying opinions have been so helpful

 

[plumsiren]

For people who have been on both, how do the teacups compare to the Scrambler that a lot of amusement parks have?

 

[Sparkly]

I can manage the tea cups- just not after lunch! Surprised I didn't puke!