My worst fear is freaking out and hyperventilating and not being able to breath.
If that were truly my worst fear, I would not ride. To me it's a simple case of weighing the risks vs the benefits.
First off - it is a theme park ride. What benefit could I possibly gain from the experience that would outweigh the potential risk that I might be traumatized by it?
If the risk outweighs the benefit, and factoring in that my actions/experience will very definitely be effecting those around me as well, IMO it's simply not worth taking the chance.
For years I avoided riding Soarin because I know that virtual reality-type rides usually make me sick. I didn't think it was worth getting queasy and potentially vomiting for the sake of an attraction. Eventually I read enough info and talked to enough people to give it a try. BUT I also prepared for the eventuality that I might get nauseous and found out what I could do to minimize that should it happen. Bottom line - I was very confident I would not get out and out "sick" on the ride, and if I did get queasy I knew I could close my eyes and breathe, and it would be over in a few minutes.
It it helps, here's the ToT experience in a nutshell (spoilers if people don't want to know)
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You enter the "elevator" which consists of 3 rows of seats facing forward with an aisle in the middle. (IMO the most "secure" feeling seats are those against the wall and in the back 2 rows) You are seatbelted into your seat. The seatbelts
lock into place and the CM tests to make sure everyone is secure. They leave and the doors close. It gets dark and you go up. The doors open and there is a "spooky scene" that plays into the story line (I won't give it completely away but I've never seen anyone get freaked out by it). Everything goes dark again, the doors close and you go up some more. The doors open and this time your car moves forward through yet another story-driven "spooky scene" that's actually fairly tame (nothing gross or shocking). You move past the scene towards doors that slide open, and into the elevator "shaft". At this point you are in complete darkness. The car then begins it's rise/fall through a random series of controlled "drops" - FYI you're not actually free falling, and the up/down motion is actually quite smooth. At some points you may stop where the "doors" in the front of the building open and you can see out over the park. At this point you will be very high up (close your eyes if you're afraid of heights). There are generally another couple/few "drops" after the door closes and then you're gently brought back to earth.
The number/length of the drops are random and change from ride to ride. The entire thing is over in less than 5 minutes.
Weight the benefits vs the risks, and if you really thing there's a better than average chance this may freak you out, don't go. IMHO it's just not worth ruining your day/trip.
If you decide to go, resign yourself ahead of time to the fact that if you freak out once the ride has started, you will
not be able to get off and will need to find a way to hang in there until it's over. Good luck!
