How "tame" is Space Mountain, Dinosaur, MS, TT?

[ats360]

I'm not the biggest thrill ride person... really, I'm quite the chicken. I only recently did Splash Mountain, BTMRR, and Barnstormer.

However, during our trip in July my wife wants to do Test Track, Space Mountain, Mission Space (green), and/or Dinosaur.

I have to know... how tame are these? I hate big gigantic drops (Splash Mountain pushed that line..) and complete darkness. She does want to do Tower of Terror but there's no chance I'm getting on that ride...

 

[Robo]

Dinosaur is, by far, the ROUGHEST indoor ride at WDW.
(Space Mtn. is right in there, but not for ENTIRE ride!)

Its certainly "tied" for the absolute LOUDEST
bellowing sound effects.

And there is nothing that comes close in the category of
"Pitch-blackness...
then FULL-BRIGHT LIGHTS illuminating
GIANT DINOS with razor-sharp spiked teeth
LUNGING out straight AT YOU
with DEAFENING-ROAR sound effects."

Then,
more VIOLENT shaking,
jack-rabbit ACCELERATION,
sudden hard BRAKING...
and REPEAT.


All that said, I really ENJOY riding this attraction, and do so every trip.

Dinosaur is based on the same ride technology that is used on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

 

[Robo]

Space Mtn. is also a rough ride with lots for "jerking" with up/down/fast tight curves motions.

IN THE DARK (so you can't tell what's coming.)

It is also quite LOUD.

 

[Robo]

On the other hand-

Mission:SPACE (GREEN TEAM) is very, very tame.

Test Track is really not much different than riding in a small convertible in day-to-day busy traffic, and out on the highway at about 65 MPH.

 

[wishing4PA]

"Pitch-blackness...
then FULL-BRIGHT LIGHTS illuminating
GIANT DINOS with razor-sharp spiked teeth
LUNGING out straight AT YOU
with DEAFENING-ROAR sound effects."

Then,
more VIOLENT shaking,
jack-rabbit ACCELERATION,
sudden hard BRAKING...
and REPEAT.

Oh, now I have GOT to try that ride! Thanks for the reminder, Robo! It came out years after my pre-child visits, and said child is not ready to ride it yet, I think. But this summer, I have some "me time" at the parks while she goes to YES and kiddie conference stuff. I'm in!

Back to the OP, the darkness was always one of the appeals of space mtn to me. I try to suspend disbelief and pretend I'm actually in a rocket, hee hee. But honestly, I can see around the room in SM more than I really like. So that may be a plus in your case. As for intensity, I'm a roller coaster lover, but I have never graduated to the current generation of rides. I do scream on SM, but it's really not that bad. Certainly not like the huge scary things I see at amusement parks these days. Just fun scary, not die of a heart attack scary.

Same for TT (at least the old version, haven't tried the new one yet), but without the drops or darkness. No problem. DD even liked that when she was 4 and afraid of the Pooh ride.

I can't speak for MS since it has been years since I did that one, too. I don't recall it (green anyhow) being bad. More cheesy than bad, but I'll be trying that out this summer, too, and checking on my memory accuracy.

FWIW, I haven't been on ToT yet, either, and probably won't try it until they rename it the Tower of Fun.

 

[sleepymama]

I'm not scared of most rides, but I will not ride Dinosaur ever ever again! So scary!!

 

[livndisney]

I'm not the biggest thrill ride person... really, I'm quite the chicken. I only recently did Splash Mountain, BTMRR, and Barnstormer.

However, during our trip in July my wife wants to do Test Track, Space Mountain, Mission Space (green), and/or Dinosaur.

I have to know... how tame are these? I hate big gigantic drops (Splash Mountain pushed that line..) and complete darkness. She does want to do Tower of Terror but there's no chance I'm getting on that ride...

If you hate drops I would avoid Space Mountain. Just rode it the other day and it was bone jarring! Drop after drop!

Dino on the other hand doesn't bother me. TT no major drops-have not done Mission Space.

 

[wishing4PA]

If you hate drops I would avoid Space Mountain. Just rode it the other day and it was bone jarring! Drop after drop!

Good point. Just seeing your sentence above on the same post as OP's quote about Splash Mountain's drop pushing the limit makes me want to change my advice. I still consider Space Mtn. to be "tame", but the drops have got to be more than Splash's, so OP might want to skip it.

 

[ats360]

good stuff. i appreciate everyone's feedback

 

[karenlynn416]

I love thrill rides, but honestly i only ride space mountain for DBF... I like the ride itself, but I also hate it. There is one drop in particular towards then end of the ride where it feels like the car goes up off the track. That drop HURTS! I have taken other DISers advise and when we do ride, I go for the middle seat, which gets rid of some of the impact, but yeah, its still not my favorite.

Test Track, no problem...
Honestly, I don't see a problem with Mission Space... even if you wanted to try Orange (avoid if you get motion sickness, obviously)
I like Dinosaur, but it is pretty rough and jerky.

 

[ftballfan7]

None of them are hardcore thrill rides.

Dinosaur has no real drops, but is very rough and jerky. I would not want to ride it if I had a bad back.

Space Mountain is fairly tame as far as coasters go. The thing that raises this ride up a bit on the "thrill meter" is that you often dont know which way or when you are suddenly going to turn or plunge. I think this is what makes this ride seem so jerky, your body isn't prepared and braced for a particular turn or plunge.

Mission Space green is very tame, no problems there. Red can get to you if you are prone to motion sickness.

Test Track is also very tame. Nothing here should be problematic. You do go kind of fast at the end, but no faster than you drive on the highway.

 

[Peachkins]

I'm not the biggest thrill ride person... really, I'm quite the chicken. I only recently did Splash Mountain, BTMRR, and Barnstormer.

However, during our trip in July my wife wants to do Test Track, Space Mountain, Mission Space (green), and/or Dinosaur.

I have to know... how tame are these? I hate big gigantic drops (Splash Mountain pushed that line..) and complete darkness. She does want to do Tower of Terror but there's no chance I'm getting on that ride...

I'm also not a huge thrill ride person, but I have started riding more things in recent years. These are my opinions, some of which have already been stated by others:

Test Track- Not really scary at all. There is the fast, outside portion, but there are no hills, just the banked turns which make it a little different.

Space Mountain- No big hills, but there are some small ones. Lots of sharp turns. This is NOT a smooth ride. You aren't going to know what's coming.

Mission Space (Green)- Pretty tame. If you do okay with ride simulators, like Star Tours, you should be fine- you'll just be in a much smaller vehicle. It does not spin like the Orange version.

Dinosaur- It can be intense just because of the amount of stuff going on in the different scenes, but the ride itself is not bad. Again, NOT a smooth ride- it bounces you around pretty good.

 

[LisaTC]

I'm also not a huge thrill ride person, but I have started riding more things in recent years. These are my opinions, some of which have already been stated by others:

Test Track- Not really scary at all. There is the fast, outside portion, but there are no hills, just the banked turns which make it a little different.

AWESOME fun. Fast, but not scary. I laughed the whole time!

Space Mountain- No big hills, but there are some small ones. Lots of sharp turns. This is NOT a smooth ride. You aren't going to know what's coming.

Jerky, dark...did I mention JERKY and DARK???

Mission Space (Green)- Pretty tame. If you do okay with ride simulators, like Star Tours, you should be fine- you'll just be in a much smaller vehicle. It does not spin like the Orange version.

Go green and you should be fine

Dinosaur- It can be intense just because of the amount of stuff going on in the different scenes, but the ride itself is not bad. Again, NOT a smooth ride- it bounces you around pretty good.

Thought Space Mtn was worse. Dinosaur didn't really bother me much, but DH lost his Cell in the car...lucky they found it. DD hated it and LOVES Splash, but that last drop is a killer for me!.

 

[redc]

Space Mtn just flat out hurts my back really bad. Don't think I will ever ride it again.
Dinosaur is rocky and noisy but lots of fun to me.
Test Track is just fast and the air blows through your hair.
Mission Space green is kind of lame, without the G-force feeling produced by the Orange side's spinning, I feel it's not worth waiting for. Go orange or not at all.
BTMRR is a really cool and smooth runaway train.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

Dinosaur is, by far, the ROUGHEST indoor ride at WDW.
(Space Mtn. is right in there, but not for ENTIRE ride!)

Its certainly "tied" for the absolute LOUDEST
bellowing sound effects.

And there is nothing that comes close in the category of
"Pitch-blackness...
then FULL-BRIGHT LIGHTS illuminating
GIANT DINOS with razor-sharp spiked teeth
LUNGING out straight AT YOU
with DEAFENING-ROAR sound effects."

Then,
more VIOLENT shaking,
jack-rabbit ACCELERATION,
sudden hard BRAKING...
and REPEAT.

and so true, but I love it anyway!

OP, I'm a firm believer that you should try everything at least once, remember what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Don't miss that opportunity!

 

[AliceandAriel]

DINO was easy peasy! If you're chicken to stuff popping out at you, it won't be your ride, but it isn't murderous, I promise.

Space Mountain is a little jarring, but nothing like a real wild-n-rough roller coaster.

Test Track was the wimpiest ride I've ever sat on in my life, big build up for nothing at all.

But even I won't ride Mission Space Orange because I've been told the force can make you mighty queasy, and that's my number one issue. Roller coasters don't get me, jerk-and-go rides don't get me, but I have a feeling MSO would.

 

[mrsclark]

Glad to hear that others find SM to be jarring and hard on your body. My DH and I rode it last year (he sat behind me) and he told me afterwards he could see my body being thrown around by the ride - really jolting and bouncing me around. My back and my shoulders felt the impact for sure - afterwards, we were wondering if it was just us or were we getting "too old" for SM - I was 29 at the time and my DH was 33. Glad to know other people feel it and it wasn't just our imagination.

I love Dinosaur - as others have said, no major drops and certainly no going upside down (which is the thing that can freak me out if I think about it too much before going on a ride) - really it is giant scary things popping out at you from the dark.

Not sure how everyone else on this board feels about the redesigned Test Track - my husband and I got to ride it in early March - very disappointed. We liked the old ride better AND after shutting it down for all those months they still haven't fixed the constant break-down issue - it was closed for about an hour the morning we were there before they got it back up and running. I would not really call this a thrill ride and would more agree with the poster who said it is like riding a convertible on the interstate.

And at the risk of being called a whimp, even Mission Space Green made me feel quesy - DH and I rode it once in 2007 and have not been on again in our four visits since.

As for Tower of Terror - I love it! I am not afraid of heights (unless I am high up AND going upside down, which as I said can freak me out - although I am getting over it - I LOVED Hulk at Universal - thought it was a blast). The theming of the ride is incredible and the CMs that work the ride are great - even if you don't want to go on the ride, I have seen people experience the pre-show and queue with the rest of their party and then duck out before getting on the ride itself.

 

[>Ash<]

i wouldnt even put dinosaur in the catagory with all these other rides,

Dinosaur is a rough dark ride that throws you about abit with dinosaurs illuminated in the pitch blakness and its very very loud, thats about it,
at the end you get a little sensation of a drop but your not its just how the hydrolics work on the ride itself, no drops in that ride at all.

Space Mountain i did when i was 18 im a ride chicken and i thought that was tame, i went on it after watching a program about how the rides are built and your only travelling about 15mph or somthing its very tame

i havnt done splash or big thunder, i wanna try this trip after i promised myself i would but im a complete ride chicken lol i havnt done space since i was 18 lol im 24 this year, TOT ruined me!!! lol never been on a thrill ride since lol

 

[Cheert789]

I would say in my experience space mountain is the worst ride for rough jerking motion

 

[WDW in Pearls]

I haven't been on the new Test Track so I can't really say.

If you didn't like Splash Mountain, you probably won't like Space Mountain.

Dinosaur doesn't have any big drops but it jerks you around a bit. It's really fun and not too scary. I knew someone who lost his phone on there but he's a little on the large side so that might have helped it fall out of his pocket.

I'm okay with a lot of rides but the more intense version of Mission Space made me nauseous. Try the milder one first.