Rides and Seizures

[Alabama Minnie]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced a seizure riding a certain ride. I know the warning is on almost all of them but I just wondered if anyone had a seizure triggered by riding a particular ride. We have one of our party with epilepsy and want to avoid those that have the GREATEST chance. We have already decided that she probably should not attend the Osbourne Xmas Lights at DHS.

 

[kmb584]

Buzz can easily trigger one.

 

[SueM in MN]

There are actualy not any attractions that are likely to cause a seizure.

There are not actually any attractions at WDW that use lights that are technically strobe lights (i.e, fast, regular flashes of light) and they do not have any specific warnings for seizures and/or strobe lights on any attractions. Where they do have flashing lights, they are always irregularly flashing, which is a different situation.
Most true strobe lights flash many times per second, but slowing to 5 flashes per second or less means that the majority of even photosensitive epileptics are not going to have a problem. Only about 3-7% of people with epilepsy are photosensitive and have problems with lights; of those, only about 5% would have a problem with a light flashing 5 times per second or less.

If you do encounter flashing lights and are concerned, the Epilepsy Foundation recommends covering one eye and turning/looking away from the direct source of light. The reason for covering only one eye and looking away from the direct light is to prevent both eyes from sending exactly the same information to the brain.
This should work whether someone has a problem with epilepsy or has problems with lights for another reason.

This is a list of attractions I know of with light effects of some type. Many attractions have a single light or 2, so it is difficult to list all. But, I am sure that we have included most of them.
MK

• Enchanted Tiki Room - periods of darkness with simulated lightning. The lightning is random and short.
• Pirates - some lightning flashes in the first dark part of the ride. Some random flickering from simulated flames in the last half.
• Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road - there are no light effects in this attraction, but if you are riding on a sunny day, you will go in and out of dark tunnels repeatedly at high speed.
• Splash Mountain - on a sunny day, there are several places where you will go from dimly lit indoor areas to outdoor. The ride moves slowly, so the change is slow. There is a single bright flash when your picture is taken during the big drop.
• Haunted Mansion - almost at the end of the preshow, there is a flash of lightning at the top of the ceiling. Boarding area includes flickering wall sconces.
• Small World - the end scene includes numerous ropes of white lights that blink on and off in a regular pattern. I would describe it as a traveling pattern - as one light goes off, the next light in line goes on. So, the light travels down the strand of lights.
• Buzz Lightyear - just before the last room of the ride, there is a long narrow tunnel room with swirling red lights and flashing white lights. The swirling and flashing are not rhythmic. The last room of the ride includes several very bright random flashes of white light.
• Stitch's Great Escape - Most of this attraction takes place in the dark, but there are some random light flashes at times (while looking for Stitch)
• Space Mountain - multiple flashing lights

Epcot

• Spaceship Earth - the first part of the ride and the last part of the ride are dark, long and narrow.
  The entrance 'tunnel' has screens high on the wall, warning that your 'time capsule' will turn and descend at some point during the ride. The screens are bright compared to the walls.
  The exit tunnel has some lighting effects, but not flashes.
• Ellen's Energy adventure - includes a movie where parts are dark and then light suddenly appears (the 'Big Bang' theory of earth's creation). Also includes a section with ‘confetti’ lights in different colors ‘falling’ from a point in the ceiling to the floor across guests.
• Mission Space - Includes a flash of light for a picture and flashing instrument lights to alert ‘astronauts’ to push particular buttons. There are also small amber colored flashing alarm beacons at the end of the ‘runway’ when you are landing on Mars.
• Test Track - the walls and ceiling in most of this attraction are black, with colored strips of light. On pictures they look like neon lights, but are probably fiberoptic lights. The lights do not move or flicker. There is one section where your car looks like it will run into a truck, which has suddenly turned its lights on. Soon after that, the car travels outside, so if the day is bright, you ill go into bright sunlight.
• Living with the Land - simulated thunderstorm in the first few scenes. The first part of the attraction is dim; the second part is in a greenhouse, where the light can be a bit of a shock when you first enter. At one point, the boat enters a 'fish farm' part of the greenhouse, which has dim red lighting. After traveling thru that part, you will agin be in a greenhouse. The ride boat moves slowly though, so it is not difficult to adjust to the different lighting..
• Soarin' - One of the last scenes includes soaring over a city at night, over a highway. The headlights of cars are either white (headlights) or red (taillights) and are moving quickly. The end scene includes fireworks
• Journey into Your Imagination - Some flashes of light. One bright flash near the end where a picture used to be taken.
• El Rio del Tiempo (Mexico) - fiber optic fireworks in the ceiling and wall in the last scene
• American Adventure - the Chief Joseph sequence has a few stokes of lightning. The World War 2 sequence on a ship includes arcs of welding light.

Studio

• Star Tours - flashes of light during the attraction (you are in a space ship and end up in a spaceship fight)
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid - some flashing light, some twinkling lights and some pulsating blue/green laser lights above your head to simulate the top of the water. All are random
• Rock N Roller Coaster - one bright flash of light during picture taking
• Tower of Terror - one bright flash of light during picture taking. Elevator door opens suddenly to give a view of outdoors (so bright light on a sunny day). Some twinkling lights during the early part of the ride and I was too busy being scared and holding DD down to notice any more.
• American Idol - includes bright flashing lights and spotlights that move/beam rapidly across the stage and sometimes the audience.
• Fantasmic - includes some bright flashes of white lights that beam across the audience, fireworks, 'eye lights' from dragon and snake. Many people are using light up toys which may be set on rapid flashing. Glow with the show ears change color in synch with the show. Most of the color changes are slow transitions.The ear part is translucent white plastic.

AK

• Festival of the Lion King - one act includes twirling flaming sticks
• Dinosaur - dark ride with sudden appearance of dinosaurs in front of you. Random flashes of light. One big flash as a picture is taken.
• Expedition Everest - includes some bright light effects

My mother has migraines and finds that reflections off water (especially the World Showcase Lagoon) bother her on a very bright day. She also has problems sometimes with the 360 movies in China and Canada because they are all around.[/QUOTE]

 

[SueM in MN]

Good article from the Epilepsy Foundation about epilepsy and lights/photosensitivity.
This is something to talk to your doctor with, but in for most people with epilepsy, the lights at WDW won't cause any problems. Some of the linked threads in post 3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread about epilepsy have information about lights in different attractions and other hints for avoiding seizures at WDW.

If you do encounter flashing lights and are concerned, the Epilepsy Foundation recommends covering one eye and turning/looking away from the direct source of light. The reason for covering only one eye and looking away from the direct light is to prevent both eyes from sending exactly the same information to the brain.

Things that are very important to be aware of are sleep deprivation, dehydration and getting off schedule with medication. All of those things can lower the seizure threshold (how easy it is for a seizure to occur). It's very easy to get off schedule or forget medication while on vacation. One things we have found that helps with this is to actually use an individual dose medication container and an alarm (on our phone or iPod) as a reminder for medication times.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

My sister did not have a seizure after Dinosaur but did have all her precursor signs and was out of commission for the remainder of that day. The biggest issue in Disney for her though is getting overtired with the early mornings and late nights. Make sure to not overdo it.

 

[Napria]

My son is epileptic and is not photosensitive. However he did have a seizure during the dark phase of Expedition Everest. He had ridden it about 8 - 10 times previously (not that day, just in total). He never had a seizure on it or any other coaster. It was pretty distressing to have him go into a grand mal seizure right next to me while we were still whipping around on EE. Although he has no memory of a grand mal seizure when he has one, he never wanted to ride any roller coasters again after that. I can't say that I'm sorry, either.

I guess the moral of the story -- for us, at least -- is a seizure can occur at any time. Now we think, "how safe would he be if he were to have a grand mal on this ride?"

 

[SarahJC]

I actually have epilepsy ( had brain surgery when I was 18 to stop them because they were getting worse as I got older..was a candidate for surgery) I'm now 26, but they started when I was 7. I remember going toWDW as a child. I was scared outta my mind because every ride I saw had that epilepsy warning on them. Space mountain was one that I stayed clear of... That post above with all the rides in the different parks are pretty accurate. I've been seizure free for 2 almost 3 years ( just one) but I'm still very sensitive to bright lights such as fireworks.. And blinking lights.. I just close my eyes. Hopefully they'll grow out if the seizures. I would steer clear of those rides the above poster put. Have fun!

 

[SueM in MN]

I will add that my daughter has seizures that are not well controlled with medications. Her best control is about 4-5 grand mal seizures a month.
We DON'T avoid any of the attractions I listed and she has not had any seizures associated with any of them. She does have at least one seizure during almost every trip, but not ride related.
I would not recommend someone avoid every attraction I listed above for fear of seizures because for most people, that is not going to be an issue. The majority of people with epilepsy don't have light sensitivity and avoiding anything with lights would mean avoiding most attractions without a reason for most people with epilepsy.
If they know they have seizures triggered by lights/strobe lights, they should discuss with their doctor, but most people with seizures are not light sensitive and even those who are, do not usually have any issue with random or slowly repeating lights (slow = repeat less than 5 times per second)
It's the lights that repeat on a regular pattern many times a second that are an issue.

The biggest factors likely to make a seizure more likely to happen are lack of sleep, dehydration and missing or delayed medications. So, those are the things to make sure you take care of.

 

[sfbank]

I too had non stop petimal seizures since jr high. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2004 after a grandmal seizure and went through 2 brain surgeries in 2007. We have been to Disney every year since 2002 and I thankfully have never had a ride trigger a seizure. As far as that goes I am surprised nobody has ever had one due to flash photography on dark rides!!

 

[ladyjubilee]

One of our friends is photosensitive and says that every time she rides Spaceship Earth she has a seizure.

The rides didn't trigger for my son, but the heat did. That said, we didn't do WDW at the height of my son's seizure activity. When he was having 10 on some days, we didn't travel very far, and frankly, I don't think my son felt up to WDW then. (He had laser surgery in August-a miracle, but the worst period was last year.) Headaches, Todd's Paralysis, post ictal, just overall blah feeling would have not been fun.

So anyway, I second the person talking to their neurologist, but also that person evaluating their own condition and what might impact them.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

Could Osborme Lights trigger one?

 

[disnut8]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced a seizure riding a certain ride. I know the warning is on almost all of them but I just wondered if anyone had a seizure triggered by riding a particular ride. We have one of our party with epilepsy and want to avoid those that have the GREATEST chance. We have already decided that she probably should not attend the Osbourne Xmas Lights at DHS.

I think the best person to answer your question is the affected person's doctor.

I was on Dilantin for a few years after brain surgery from a car accident. I had seizures after the surgery. The meds helped immensely for me and I went to Disney World while on the meds and had no problems. But, that's me, not the person in your party.

Ask the person who is affected what their seizures are like. What I discovered is that seizures aren't really about the person having them but rather more about the people who are with them and around them. Those people don't know what to do and feel powerless when the affected person is seizing. My husband just let me have the seizure, made sure I was on my side when he could, and then talked to me after to see if I needed to go to the hospital.

I wouldn't rule anything out unless your person knows they will be affected.

 

[bumbershoot]

There are not actually any attractions at WDW that use lights that are technically strobe lights (i.e, fast, regular flashes of light) and they do not have any specific warnings for seizures and/or strobe lights on any attractions.

Sue, does this mean there are no warnings at all for seizures? Others are saying that there are warnings on the rides. I've never noticed. So I think I'm reading your wording wrong, and I would love to be more informed.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Sue M:
Thank you so much for the information. My daughter is an adult now who has been on medication since she was 13, she's now 26. She rode all the rides at Disney when she was young but has only gone once since she started having them and only rode Rock-n-Roller coaster then. That was before Toy Story. She has never been at Xmas before so she hasn't even seen the lights at DHS as a child. Probably "safer than sorry" though.
I am going to get her to read your post about covering her one eye. Her EEGs have shown that the blinking light does cause a change in her brain activity.

Praying things go well. It's her honeymoon.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue, does this mean there are no warnings at all for seizures? Others are saying that there are warnings on the rides. I've never noticed. So I think I'm reading your wording wrong, and I would love to be more informed.

There are no specific warnings for seizures on any attractions.

There IS a general warning on the Disney website that says ALL of the parks use special lighting on attractions and that guests should be aware of possibly running into special lighting in any attraction. So, if you avoid anything with lights, you would avoid every attraction.

As I mentioned, many people assume lights cause problems for anyone with seizures, but it's only a small number who have any problems at all. People can contact their neurologist and find out whether they have a problem with lights, and if so, what kind and what frequency of the light cycling.
For most people who do have problems with lights, it's many times per second, not 5 or less TIMES PER SECOND (which is what WDW show lights primarily are).
And, random lights or irregular flashes of lights don't usually cause problems for people. Those are the kinds of lights that are most frequent in WDW.
That was why I made the list I posted in the first place - to let people know what kinds of lights there are in different attractions, so they can make informed decisions about whether they need to avoid anything at all (most won't).

 

[kelleybean]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced a seizure riding a certain ride. I know the warning is on almost all of them but I just wondered if anyone had a seizure triggered by riding a particular ride. We have one of our party with epilepsy and want to avoid those that have the GREATEST chance. We have already decided that she probably should not attend the Osbourne Xmas Lights at DHS.

Our son had an EEG last year. We were chatting with the pediatric neurologist and he said that he frequently sees kids who have their first seizures on their Disney vacation. He said that lack of sleep and changes in eating schedule can contribute. So make sure that the person with epilepsy takes care of herself!