Five Things to Know About the Mad Tea Party

The Mad Tea Party is a teacup spinner ride, of the kind that you might be familiar with from local carnivals. But with a typical Disney touch, the theme and decorations were inspired by the Mad Hatter’s very merry birthday party sequence in Disney’s 1951 animated classic, Alice in Wonderland. To learn more, keep reading. Or to spin your way around to the nuts and bolts, here’s your shortcut.

1. You line up for your teacup. Then hold on!

The queue for the Mad Tea Party is mostly covered (but in the open air) and wraps around the ride. There are no interactive activities to pass the time, and the ride doesn’t board very quickly.

When it’s (finally) your turn to board, a Cast Member opens a gate and guests are encouraged to walk – not run – to the cup of their choice. The ride begins and the cups spin around the teapot in the middle while music from the animated feature Alice in Wonderland plays.

The ride itself lasts about a minute and a half, although I recently timed a couple of YouTube videos and each ride lasted one minute, fifteen seconds. Every once in a while, for no discernable reason, the Dormouse pops up in the central teapot, then goes back inside.

One last word: the ride is known far and wide for inducing motion sickness. So, it’s worth knowing that as you ride, you can turn the wheel in the middle of your teacup to make the cup spin faster, slower, or – so I’m told – you can even hold it still.

2. How do the teacups spin?

There’s a good reason this ride is known for inducing motion sickness. There’s a lot going on in several directions all at once. I’m no engineer, but I’ve read up on it and that’s why I will probably – no, definitely – never ride this attraction.

The main platform of the ride is a giant turntable that spins counterclockwise around the teapot in the center. On this platform are three smaller turntables, each of which has six teacups; they rotate clockwise as you ride. Lastly, as a rider in a cup, you can control the speed, thanks to an individual bearing mounted under each cup. Taken together, you can be turning in a different direction relative to the others on your small turntable, to the large turntable, and to the people on the outside standing still. All these differences combine to provide riders with a dizzying experience.

3. A little his-tea-ry about the ride.

The Mad Tea Party made its first appearance at Disneyland in 1955. Some of the early Imagineer ideas for the ride had guests entering a real tea party hosted by the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Another surviving sketch showed teacups racing around a “racetrack.” By the time the attraction opened, these ideas had been abandoned in favor of what we know today.

When Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, the Mad Tea Party was there, too. Like the Disneyland version, there was no roof. It quickly became obvious that Florida weather was different from California weather, and a roof was added in 1974, along with the central teapot for the Dormouse. The ride was also updated in 1992 with a new color scheme, new music, and colorful lanterns. In 2010, the canopy, which lights up at night, was repainted.

4. Spilling more tea about the ride.

⭐ The cups for the original version of the ride in Disneyland were designed by famous Disney Artist Mary Blair, who also designed it’s a small world.

⭐ Slightly different versions of the Mad Tea Party can be found at five of the six Disney theme parks around the world. The only park without one is Shanghai Disneyland. The attraction is called Alice’s Tea Party at Tokyo Disneyland, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups at Disneyland Paris, and Mad Hatter Tea Cups at Hong Kong Disneyland.

⭐ The versions at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland versions are lacking the big teapot in the center of the ride. This means that the Dormouse only pops up in the Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland attractions.

⭐ The original Mad Tea Party at Disneyland cannot run when it rains. It seems that the turntables can’t spin when they get saturated with water! To correct this problem, the other versions of the ride are covered – which also helps to protect riders from heat and sun. Unlike the others, the Disneyland Paris version has a unique petal-shaped glass roof!

⭐ During Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the Mad Tea Party receives a holiday overlay with special lighting and music.

5. The Nuts and Bolts

The Mad Tea Party is located in Fantasyland, across from the Cheshire Café on the path that leads to Storybook Circus. The attraction itself is covered, so it’s not usually affected by bad weather. The outdoor queue is covered, but waiting guests may be exposed to inclement weather.

There are 18 teacups, and each can accommodate about 3 people comfortably, or 4 if some of them are very small children. There are no safety restraints. You’ll need to take a small step up, then a larger step up to board the teacup through the narrow “door.”

Guests must transfer from a wheelchair/ECV to board; Disney offers a transfer device and a transfer access vehicle for guests. There are no height requirements for the Mad Tea Party, nor any health and safety warnings.

The Mad Tea Party is open for Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. You can use your Lightning Lane Multi Pass (second group) to board, but you shouldn’t need to unless this is an absolute must-do for you; waits are usually relatively short.

The Bottom Line.

Our Touring Plans page for the Mad Tea Party says, “Don’t even consider getting on this thing with any person younger than 21. Teens like to lure adults onto the teacups and then turn the wheel in the middle—making the cup spin faster—until the adults are plastered helplessly against the sides and on the verge of tossing their tacos.” I can only add that I have never ridden the teacups, but my brave wife has done it with all three sets of grandkids, and I think she deserves a medal of some sort.

Have you been in a teacup? Is it a must-do for you?  Let us know in the comments.