I’m voting for the teacups.
What do you think?
And/or do you have an amusing anecdote?
Tilt a whirl with an experienced rider. I can get that thing going like there is no tomorrow (much to my husband’s chagrin).
Slight Hijack -
Eddy from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - “eldest son is a Pixy-dust spreader on the tilt a whirl…”
Clark - you must be proud Eddy
I can’t think of what it was called, but at Great America in Gurnee, IL. there was a ride where you stood against the wall in a cylindrical room, which then spun fast enough to keep you pinned in place by the centrifugal force as the floor dropped away.
There were always people barfing after that one. Other rides you might catch someone losing it here or there, but that one always had people throwing up right at the exit.
I knew people who claimed they’d seen people hurl on the ride, often with amusing tales of fluid dynamics in a spinning room, but I never saw that myself.
The Rotor.
I was a kid with an iron stomach and loved all kinds of rides. I rode that bastard exactly once, and tossed my cookies shortly thereafter (on the Tilt-A-Whirl, but it was not at fault). From that day on, for years afterward, I got horribly carsick on any trip longer than a few minutes. My family took a trip to California and back where I basically couldn’t eat for two weeks. Even now, I get a little queasy in the back seat.
Hate the Rotor.
Epcot’s Mission: SPACE has barf bags on it, and they introduced a milder version 3 years after the original opened. It’s certainly the only ride I’ve been on where I felt remotely close to puking, but I’m not sure that means much.
Definitely the Tilt-a-Whirl. And yeah, I can spin that thing like a motherfucker.
The only real life ride I felt nauseous on was shaped like the space shuttle, but usually they’re tarted up like pirate ships. It’s a large single car that holds about thirty people, and it swings back and forth until it goes upside down. I don’t know what the general name is for them. I didn’t throw up, but I didn’t go back either.
As for fake rides, Disney once had a computery-type theme park in downtown Chicago that I’ve forgotten the name of. It didn’t last too long. I once went by myself to see it just for kicks, and one of the things there was a set-up where you could design your own roller coaster, and ride it in one of those simulation chambers. I wasn’t allowed to go solo, so I wound up with this fifth wheel teenager, and we took turns punching up the tracks, I chose high hills and turns and jumps and whatnot, but this kid chose nothing but loop-the-loops and barrel rolls. For a visual background, we chose the pits of hell. It looked something like the inside of a volcano.
Thus it was entered into the program, and we strapped in.
Aaaaaannnd go. Well.
Suffice to say, we were upside down more than not, and I had to keep my teeth and lips clamped shut while swallowing like Linda Lovelace on steroids and Spanish fly to keep from spewing all over the tiny compartment. If I had let loose, vomit would’ve been splashing around in all directions like batter in a Shake ‘n’ Bake bag with me and this kid as the chicken wings.
But I held my ground even afterwards, and left that place with my amusement park ride honor intact.
Like I said, I’ve forgotten the name of the establishment. I’ll just think of it as Ipecac Land.
I don’t get any kind of motion sick. Never got close, never understood people who did. I get dizzy as hell sometimes, but really the only unpleasantness I ever feel is just the physical abuse of getting pulled & pushed in different directions.
So for me the most vomit-inducing thing at an amusement park is probably the hot dog stand–hot dogs make me puke no matter what else is going on.
Another vote for the Rotor.
When I was in the Navy in training in Upstate New York, a few of us decided to burn the candle at both ends and stay up all day after a week of mid shifts. We went to a fairly tame park called The Great Escape.
At some point, we got on the Rotor and enjoyed it until the end. Then, as it was winding down, I watched as my roommate leaned over and puked a great yellow glurt of vomit. It splashed on my other roommate’s leg, and he was wearing shorts.
There was a conspicuously placed mop bucket near the exit. I imagine it was used every third trip or so.
The Zipper. The individual cars go around upside down and back, and then the whole thing also goes around. Very nauseating.
I always thought they should have put little Mickey Mouse heads on the barf bags 
I remember the first (and only) time that I rode the now-closed Body Wars ride, also at Epcot. It was a simulator ride, very similar in design to Star Tours (one of my favorite rides when I was little), except that Body Wars was much more violent. I came very close to losing my lunch on that ride, and I think some other people who rode it with me did as well. Maybe that’s why it was closed.
Probably the Witch’s Wheel at Cedar Point. (Note: best viewed with no volume.)
I don’t get motion sick very easily, but I hear this one makes a lot of people nauseated. Personally I think it’s a blast.
I’ve always seen what some are calling “The Rotor” in here called The Gravitron. Weird. Must be called different things in different regions.
But another vote for the Tilt-A-Whirl. No other ride has ever made me the slightest bit ill save for that one. If any ride will make you sick, it’s that one.
ETA: Nevermind, I googled and see the Rotor and the Gravitron are two different rides. It sounds like buckgully was talking about the Gravitron from his mention of the word “room”.
I love that ride and its cousins at other parks. That shouldn’t induce much loss-of-lunch, as it is really just loads of acceleration pressing you back in the seat, like a fighter pilot. The spinning part isn’t even noticeable at all.
Now that darned Rotor ride spins once every two seconds, so it’s all about the spinning (urp!).
Thirding the Tilt-A-Whirl with a rider who knows what’s up. As a kid, I never got motion sickness; now, I ever-so-occasionally do, and pure “spin” rides (as opposed to roller coasters, which have a far wider range of motion) are the most likely to induce it. That said, I certainly don’t let it stop me from getting on rides…except for the Tilt-A-Whirl.
You see, I learned how to spin 'em as a kid, to the point where it’s become instinctual. So now, as a bigger and stronger adult, I can do some serious damage to the equilibrium of all involved. Add another savvy rider in the same car, and, well, shit gets real. And by “real”, I mean “real likely that I’ll start wanting to horf somewhere between that moment and the time the ride ends”.
Thus far, I’ve avoided upchucking on any poor unassuming bystanders (byriders?)…but a few years back, I decided, with a heavy heart, that it wasn’t worth tempting the fates.
(Of course, this tale may yet have a happy ending. While I’m unwilling to resort to prescription pharmaceuticals for the sake of nostalgia, I’m given to understand that a bit of ginger might help me relive the pure centrifugal glory of my childhood days. Next time the fair’s in town, we shall see.)
'll second the damn pedulum ride that goes upside down. I get horriblily motion sick. I can only go on about half the rides at Great America.
I love the roller coasters, I just can’t stand the spinning. I was starting to get quesy on the 2 story Merry-go-Round last time I was there.
I’ve only actually puked twice, but I just get this horrific headache and the cold sweats. First few times I flew, I took pills, but to my happiness the flying didn’t get to me. Although boats do.
The Tornade (warning: YouTube video) at Montreal’s LaRonde amusement park is the only one that’s ever turned me green. I can do the upside-down thing in a roller coaster, but the motion of this one is nauseating. It’s like you’re sitting on a huge sofa and it flips over again and again.
As a kid I loved the Rotor and once when the fair came to down, I and my buddies went on it time after time in a row, learning to doing tricks like turning upside down or trying to stand up against the wall - until I made the mistake of leaning my head forward while simultaneously looking sideways at my friends. Total inner ear annihilation. I barely held my lunch down with my gullet, sweating and willing the ride to end which seemed to take forever, then stumbled out and hurled a big load of cotton candy in front of the ticket booth. Then I went home and went to bed and waited for the room to stop spinning.
I always loved the Rotor too, and it never made me feel sick. Turning upside down was always a favourite trick.
By the way, what the heck is a Tilt-a-Whirl? From Googling it looks like a waltzer - is it the same thing?