This is the first of a weekly column that you will see here at Chip and Co. I will be exploring the history behind the rides of the Disney Theme Parks, the Resorts, Restaurants and even the Special Events. When trying to decide where to start I had many people say I should start with the “mountains”. That seemed to me to be something that would be expected as those are fan favorites. I instead decided I would try to think of a ride that is an icon of the Disney Theme Parks and a ride that is in every Disney Theme Park. It is a ride that I remember seeing on TV in commercials and a ride that I knew I always wanted to ride. It is a ride that I have had fun on but have also gotten sick on (it all depends on who you ride it with).
That ride would be the Mad Tea Party.
The Tea Cups as most people refer to them were at Disneyland on opening day it is one of the few remaining attractions from 1955. The ride itself has undergone several refurbishments and changes since its inception. Each one has only made the ride a little bit better. To give you an idea of what the ride has looked like over the years here are a few pictures these images were taken from the amazing Disney History site Yesterland.com
The ride is now in a different place than it was opening day and it also has been given a make over. You may be more familiar with this version of the Mad Tea Party.
The ride is basically the same at all the Disney Theme Parks but the one in Disneyland is the only one that is not covered with some sort of roof. This makes it not operable in inclement weather but it does give it a beautiful look. All of the Mad Tea Party attractions were opening day attractions except for at Tokyo Disneyland.
The system of the ride is very basic. There are three turntables that each have 6 teacups on it. This turntable spins clockwise. All three of these turntables are on another turntable that holds the entire ride and it spins counter clockwise.
There were several versions of this ride that were on the drawing board…the one I found most interesting was it to be sort of like a race track with the tea cups. That might have made for an interesting ride.
The basic premise of the ride is that you have shrunk yourself similar to the way that Alice does in the film and you end up pouring yourself into a tea cup at the Mad Hatter’s tea party. It does not surprise me that Walt Disney would pick to have a ride based on Alice in Wonderland since had such a connection with the story for his entire career.
Another interesting fact about this ride is that the name for it is not the same at all the theme parks. The USA parks share the same name of Mad Tea Party however, at Tokyo Disneyland it is known as Alice’s Tea Party, at Disneyland Paris it is known as Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups and lastly at Hong Kong Disneyland it is Mad Hatter Tea Cups. I was unable to find the reasoning as to why there is a difference in the names from a credible source so I will not venture a guess.
When doing my research on the ride I decided to see if the tradition of having it in every Disney park would carry over into the not yet open Shanghai Disneyland and it looks as if it will not. There will be a ride of similar mechanics but it will be themed around Winnie the Pooh. Instead of Tea Cups guests will spin in Hunny (using the Winnie the Pooh Spelling) Pots. This struck me as interesting but I came to realize that Shanghai Disneyland is doing lots of things differently than the traditional Disney Theme Park.
Have you ever ridden the tea cups? Have you ever gotten motion sickness on the tea cups? Here are a few tips to help you prevent that. First do not close your eyes, instead pick a point perhaps the center of the spinning wheel in the middle of your cup and keep your eyes on it. Doing this will cause you to not get dizzy or at least minimize how dizzy you get. Do not try to take pictures or video you will end up nauseous after. Make this one of the first or last rides you do if you are prone to motion sickness.
Believe it or not I have been to Walt Disney World and Disneyland and I have only ridden the tea cups at Magic Kingdom. I am not sure why I did not ride them at Disneyland when I was there. I do rather enjoy the tea cups but it is not a ride I do every time I am there. What about you?
Until next time, May the Force Be With You,
Teresa
