Thrill rides have an undeniable place in the DNA of Walt Disney World, but they aren’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea…
There are countless situations where someone may not be able to participate in thrill rides. For some guests, motion sickness caused by jarring rides is just too much. For others, pregnancy, medical conditions, or even injuries might be a factor (I experience the latter myself when I tried to ride Test Track with a torn MCL—this was a mistake). Maybe you’re keeping an eye on a small child who isn’t ready yet or thrill rides overall just aren’t your thing.
While many Disney regulars have learned how to navigate this, it can get awkward quickly if you’re visiting Walt Disney World with a group of thrill ride lovers. You may have never been in a position before where you had to question what rides you could go on (this was my situation). On the flip side, maybe someone in your group isn’t as comfortable with thrills as you are. We recently had this happen when we brought a good friend to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to visit Galaxy’s Edge only to realize after one ride on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run that thrill rides give him intense motion sickness related issues. I quickly had to rack my brain for what sort of activities he could enjoy in such a thrills-heavy park.
The beauty of Walt Disney World is that there is something for everyone, and that includes guests who can’t do thrill rides for whatever reason. In any Disney park, your options may include dark rides, dining, shopping, walking experiences, character encounters, and exploring immersive lands. We decided to take a close look at all four of Disney’s parks to identify the best choices at each for guests who’d prefer to skip thrill rides…
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Image: Disney
I wanted to start with Disney’s Hollywood Studios because it can honestly seem like the most intimidating park to face in this scenario. It is undoubtedly Disney’s most thrill-heavy park. You may have some challenges if you’re looking for peace and quiet on the level of Epcot or Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but it isn’t impossible to enjoy Disney’s Hollywood Studios without thrills. The secret is to know where to look.
First, here are a few attractions to avoid if you’re skipping thrill rides. On all of these lists, make sure to read warning signs closely and don’t be afraid to ask cast members questions:
- The Tower of Terror (elevator drop ride)
- The Aerosmith Rock’n Roller Coaster (roller coaster in the dark)
- Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (simulator ride with jostling effects)
- Star Tours (simulator ride with a good amount of jostling)
- Slinky Dog Dash (actually quite tame as far as coasters go)
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (intense dark thrill ride opening December 5th, 2019)
While there are some other rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that aren’t necessarily thrills, there aren’t many. Toy Story Land’s Alien Swirling Saucers won’t be a good idea for anyone who easily gets motion sickness from spinning. Toy Story Midway Mania is probably a safe bet for many guests though it does include some spinning during portions of the ride. This eliminates almost all of the rides in the park.
Image: Disney
The trick to enjoying Disney’s Hollywood Studios without thrills is to forget the rides—instead, embrace the park’s amazing entertainment and immersive experiences.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is home to some of Walt Disney World’s best entertainment attractions and its most immersive land (more on that in a moment). For fans of high octane action, you can’t go wrong with the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. For laughs at any age, Muppet Vision 3D remains a charming classic. The park is also home to two of the resort’s best live shows related to Disney’s Renaissance era—Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. If you’re exploring with kids, you’ll definitely want to check out Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, and of course, Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple. The park is also home to an excellent Star Wars props and replicas museum at Star Wars Launch Bay (where you can meet Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and BB-8), as well as several different fireworks spectaculars including Fantasmic (don’t expect the Disneyland version) and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.
Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, it is absolutely worth your time to visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, even if you never step foot on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run or Rise of the Resistance. We’ve written a lot about this immersive land since its landing for good reason– fans have just barely scratched the surface covering all it has to offer. A trip to The Black Spire Outpost of Batuu (the land’s canon in-universe location) isn’t about prop replicas or replicating movie scenes: it’s about experiencing the world of Star Wars hands on in a place that holds connections to every chapter of the Star Wars mythos.
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)
You can easily burn hours just taking in the incredible details throughout Galaxy’s Edge, exploring the shops, and tasting the foods (the blue milk is worth it! I’m personally a fan of the green milk too). If you keep an eye out for wandering characters, you’ll start to catch on that an entire story plays out throughout the day. There’s even an entire hidden attraction in the outpost that you can access via the Play Disney Parks app—Star Wars Datapad, an interactive game that turns your phone into a Datapad capable of interacting with elements in the land.
A quick final note on Disney’s Hollywood Studios: dining is not the park’s strongest point. Most of the food will be variations on American food. Our favorites in the parks are the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater for burgers done right and Docking Bay 7 at Galaxy’s Edge for more unusual cuisine themed to feel like it comes from the Star Wars universe.
Epcot
Image: Disney
In total contrast to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot might be the most pleasant park in Walt Disney World to visit if you can’t do thrill rides. Indeed, there are only three you really need to avoid:
- Test Track (there is definitely some jostling on this high speed attraction)
- Mission: Space Orange Team (simulates intense G-forces via spinning)
- When it opens, you’ll probably want to skip Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (an upcoming indoor roller coaster)
One grey area attraction to keep in mind is Soarin’. Soarin’ is not really a thrill ride in any traditional sense—actually, it’s probably one of the most serene attractions at Walt Disney World with its intoxicating scents and sweeping landscapes all enjoyed from the simulation of a hang-glider. However, if you are pregnant, injured, or extremely sensitive to nausea, you may still want to skip it.
A visit to Epcot is all about celebrating the human spirit, whether through discovery, technology, communication, or engaging the senses. The park has an excellent selection of dark rides including Spaceship Earth, Frozen Ever After, Living with the Land, and the Gran Fiesta Tour. The park also includes two attractions in one at The Seas with Nemo and Friends– a dark ride based on Finding Nemo and an expansive aquarium where you can get up close to dolphins, sharks, rays, rescued manatees, and over 70 varieties of fish and other marine life.
Image: Disney
World Showcase is a paradise for guests who love to explore (and especially those who also like to shop and EAT). There is so much to find in the gardens, courtyards, shops, and theaters throughout the pavilions. World Showcase still has some of the best food you’ll find at Walt Disney World, especially during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. Some of our favorite experiences include the Mitsukoshi department store in Japan, the Biergarten Restaurant, the American Adventure, and the gardens in Canada. If you’re looking for characters, Epcot is a great choice since each pavilion features characters with ties to individual countries, like Anna and Elsa in Norway, Snow White in Germany, Mulan in China, and Belle in France.
Depending on the time of year you visit, you may get the opportunity to check out one of Epcot’s incredible festivals: The Epcot International Festival of the Arts, The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, and The Epcot Festival of the Holidays. Our favorite is definitely the Food and Wine Festival, both for its cooking exhibitions and for the dozens of extra pavilion booths it adds throughout the park where guests can try creative international cuisine.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Image: Disney
Disney’s Animal Kingdom might be the resort’s most balanced park and certainly the one with the widest appeal across age groups. Sadly, many visitors underestimate it as a simple zoo. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you don’t like thrills, there are a few attractions you should outright avoid:
- Expedition: Everest (a very bumpy roller coaster)
- Dinosaur (a very bumpy dark ride with LOTS of thrills)
- Kali River Rapids (a whitewater raft ride where you will get absolutely soaked)
- Primeval Whirl (because it is terrible—okay, I couldn’t resist. It’s essentially a kiddie coaster).
Like Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom actually has two grey area attractions. Ironically, both are the two most popular in the whole park. First, Kilimanjaro Safaris is not a thrill ride by any stretch, but it does include some minor jostling as the ride vehicles move about. Second and more difficult to weigh is Avatar: Flight of Passage. Similar to Soarin’ at Epcot, Flight of Passage is a glider simulator—only instead of being seated in a hang-glider, you’re riding astride a banshee. The attraction does include some intense dives and flight sequences, but the effect is almost entirely achieved through use of virtual reality and gentle simulator movements. As far as simulators go, it is quite tame, but those prone to nausea may want to avoid it.
As a side note, if you hate bugs or things crawling on you, you may want to skip It’s Tough to Be a Bug. It’s not a thrill ride but it definitely includes its fair share of scares for such a lighthearted show.
Image: Disney
Besides Kilimanjaro Safaris, the only non-thrill ride of note is the Navi River Journey. Don’t be discouraged by that. A visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom is all about immersion in nature—even in the otherworldly nature of Pandora. The park has several outstanding walking trails where guests can observe animals at their own pace. The Gorilla Falls Trail includes hippos, exotic birds, okapi, and more. My personal favorite is the Maharajah Jungle Trek, a south Asian themed walking tour that gets you up close to tigers, Komodo dragons, flying foxes, and a huge array of birds (including the most adorably feisty weaver birds). If it is open, you may also want to take the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch which includes a petting zoo, encounters with smaller animals, and even a working veterinary clinic where guests can watch procedures. The Discovery Island trails and the Oasis exhibits offers other opportunities to explore, as does The World of Pandora. As far as shows go, Festival of the Lion King is a must see experience at least once.
As a brief aside, Disney’s Animal Kingdom has some excellent dining choices both for counter service and table service cuisine. We would rate Tiffin’s as one of the best places we’ve eaten at Walt Disney World, and the accompanying Nomad’s Lounge is also one of the hidden gems of the park. Tusker House offers one of the best character meals in Walt Disney World, particularly for its delicious range of African cuisine. Flame Tree Barbecue and Yak & Yeti remain mainstays for great quick bites, and Satul’i Canteen also remains a unique option (even with a slight adjusted menu—no more zesty pods, folks).
Magic Kingdom
Image: Disney
We saved Walt Disney World’s flagship park for last. For parents with small kids, a no-thrills visit to Magic Kingdom may not be so difficult thanks to the park’s insane range of kid-friendly rides. Like Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom is surprisingly well balanced when it comes to the types of rides and experiences offered. Offhand, here are some attractions you’ll definitely want to skip if you can’t do thrill rides:
- Space Mountain (indoor coaster)
- Splash Mountain (flume ride with multiple drops)
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (jostling mine car coaster– if it says “mountain” in the name at a Disney park, just proceed with caution)
- The Seven Dwarves Mine Train (a surprisingly gentle coaster thanks to its car design)
- The Barnstormer (kiddie coaster)
- TRON Lightcycle PowerRun (expected to open in 2021)
- The Mad Tea Party (oh the spinning)
Magic Kingdom also includes several other attractions we would consider gray area rides:
- Pirates of the Caribbean – this dark boat ride is pretty peaceful but does include one small drop
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – Not a thrill ride at all but it does include some spinning.
- The Haunted Mansion – The ride is completely smooth, but the ghostly content can definitely creep out some guests and scare small kids
- The Astro Orbiter – Pretty gentle but does include heights
Image: Disney
The good news is there is something for everyone at the Magic Kingdom. Some of the safe non-thrill ride choices will include the Jungle Cruise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Journey of the Little Mermaid, Peter Pan’s Flight, the Swiss Family Treehouse (a walking attraction), the PeopleMover, Tom Sawyer Island (for those who love exploring), the Enchanted Tiki Room, and It’s a Small World (if your mind can take the song). The park also ends the night with the excellent and absolutely mind-bending Happily Ever After fireworks spectacular.
If you enjoy character encounters, Magic Kingdom is definitely going to be a happy place for you. Our favorite remains Gaston at his tavern (no one trolls like Gaston), but you can also meet Mickey and the gang, Disney princesses, Pixar characters like the Incredibles, and more throughout the park.
Finally, as far as dining goes, Magic Kingdom has a few real gems. Everyone tends to flock to Be Our Guest and Cinderella’s Royal Table—both excellent choices—but if you have a good sense of humor, consider stopping at the Jungle Navigation Co. Skipper Canteen. We can’t gush enough about this place with its creative menu and hilarious staff. Magic Kingdom is also home to some of Disney’s most iconic treats including Dole Whip floats and citrus swirls in Adventureland, the fresh fruit waffle ice cream sandwich at Sleepy Hollow, turkey legs in Frontierland, and of course, literally EVERYTHING at the Main Street Bakery.
There is so much more to do at Walt Disney World from exploring the resorts, to sports and recreation, to mini golf, to getting lost in Disney Springs… The point is that thrills are great, but they aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay. Whether you prefer to avoid thrills rides overall or you temporarily have to skip them, don’t worry. There is plenty of magic to be enjoyed at the Most Magical Place on Earth.
Do you like thrill rides? What’s your favorite non-thrill ride experience at Walt Disney World?
