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Motion sickness at Busch Gardens Williamsburg: what's rough and how to cope

Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States

Photo: Sebastian Hirsch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted.

Williamsburg, Virginia, United States · United Parks & Resorts

Yes, but the setting works in your favour more than at most parks this intense. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is regularly voted one of the most beautiful parks in the world, and that matters here for a practical reason: it is built through dense forest and across real terrain, so almost everywhere you stand there are trees, buildings and hills giving your eyes a fixed reference. The coasters are still serious. Pantheon launches four times, including backward, before a 95 degree drop. Griffon holds you over a 205 ft vertical drop. The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf's Revenge swings its cars sideways through the trees, Verbolten: Forbidden Turn hides a drop track indoors, and InvadR is a wooden coaster with a 74 ft drop.

Key facts

  • Busch Gardens Williamsburg is in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, and is run by United Parks & Resorts.
  • 5 of its rides are flagged here as likely motion sickness triggers.
  • Pantheon is one of them: multi-launch coaster with four launches, including backward passes, and a 95 degree drop.
  • 4 gentle rides are listed as places to reset, including Busch Gardens Railway (scenic train).

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The rides most likely to set you off

Pantheon is the hardest ride here for a queasy stomach, because of the launches rather than the drop. Four launches means four separate accelerations in one ride, and some of them send you backward, so your body is pushed in a direction your eyes cannot confirm. Add a 95 degree drop and airtime hills that lift you out of the seat, and it asks more of your balance system in ninety seconds than most coasters do in three minutes.

  • Pantheon: multi-launch coaster with four launches, including backward passes, and a 95 degree drop.

  • The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf's Revenge: suspended coaster whose cars swing sideways through the trees.

  • Griffon: dive coaster that holds you over a 205 ft, 90 degree drop before releasing.

  • Verbolten: Forbidden Turn: indoor and outdoor multi-launch coaster with a surprise drop track.

  • InvadR: wooden coaster with a 74 ft drop and a run of airtime hills.

Where to reset between rides

When your stomach needs a break, head for Busch Gardens Railway (scenic train), Aeronaut Skyride (cable car), Rhine River Cruise (slow boat) or Kinder Karussel (carousel). Slow visuals, a fixed horizon and a seat that is not spinning give your inner ear time to settle before the next big ride.

Stop on level ground to prepare

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Your survival plan for Busch Gardens Williamsburg

  1. 1

    Ride Pantheon first. Backward launches are the most disorienting thing in the park and they are hardest on a full stomach.

  2. 2

    Treat The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf's Revenge as its own decision. Suspended cars swing sideways, which is a different motion from anything else here and catches a different set of people.

  3. 3

    Griffon is easier than it looks for many sensitive riders. The hold at the top is pure nerves, and the drop itself is short, straight and forward-facing.

  4. 4

    Use the Busch Gardens Railway and the Aeronaut Skyride between coasters. Both move slowly with long views through the trees, which resets your horizon properly.

  5. 5

    The park is hilly and spread out, so the walking is real. Pace it, take the Skyride instead of a climb, and drink more than you think you need in Virginia humidity.

  6. 6

    Keep earbuds on you and start Dizzout at the first sign of queasiness. Drug-free sound therapy on any headphones, and Dizzout states relief in about 90 seconds.

Before you pack the wristbands or the ginger chews, see which remedies hold up under testing. Anything you take before a park day is a question for a pharmacist or doctor.

Going with kids

The calm list here is unusually strong for a coaster park: a scenic railway, a cable car, a slow river cruise and a carousel. That makes it easy to split a group without anyone being stuck waiting by an exit.

Common questions

Which Busch Gardens Williamsburg ride is worst for motion sickness?

Pantheon. It launches four times in a single ride, some of those backward, then adds a 95 degree drop and airtime hills. Being accelerated in a direction you cannot see is one of the strongest triggers on any coaster, and this ride does it repeatedly.

Does the forest setting actually help with motion sickness?

It genuinely does, between rides rather than on them. Motion sickness eases when your eyes have something stable to lock on to, and a park built through woods and across hills gives you that almost everywhere. Open, flat parking-lot parks offer far less to anchor on while you recover.

Is there enough for someone who will not ride the coasters?

More than at most parks this intense. The Busch Gardens Railway loops the park, the Aeronaut Skyride crosses it by cable car, the Rhine River Cruise is a slow boat, and there is a carousel. The park also runs a strong show programme, so a non-riding day is a real day out.

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