The Spinning Tea Cups of Disney Parks

The Mad Tea Party, or tea cup ride, at Disney parks is one of the most popular rides. Brightly colored giant teacups spin around each other, while also giving you a wheel to spin your own cup. No wonder many guests get motion sick after a few rounds!

The tea cups are located in Fantasyland, amid brightly colored leaves and fun shaped shrubs. Based off of the classic Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland, (the animated version not Johnny Depp) this this ride lasts a dizzying 1 minute and 30 seconds and plays "A very merry unbirthday" song the whole time.

In Disneyland it's conveniently located right next to the Alice In Wonderland ride, so that you can see the caterpillar cars full of people pass by now and then. It's also neat to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride and overlook the spinning teacups.

Safety is extremely important in Disney parks, which is why you'll never catch the Mad Tea Party spinning during the rain in Disneyland. The spinning disks can slip around when they're wet, so they turn off this ride when it starts getting wet. Luckily, in all the other Disney parks the ride is covered to avoid this problem. However this gives the ride a different atmosphere than the open air "party" feel of Disneyland's ride.

The Disney version of Alice in Wonderland came out in 1951, and was based off the novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll in 1865. Seeing as we're now in the year 2011, that's a 146 year old Mad Tea Party!! Wow!

If your searching around to get a glimpse and a picture with Alice or the Mad Hatter, this is the place to be. (And again, sorry, but I don't mean Johnny Depp) Often these characters will appear for a meet and greet or just ride the teacups with guests.

There is also a non-spinning tea cup next door to the ride where you can pile in with your friends and family for a photo that won't be blurry. It's just past the teacups towards the Dumbo ride.

People swear that some of the teacups can spin faster than others, but we're not sure if that's true or not. Usually the speed depends on how fast you spin your wheel, but maybe certain cups have a looser wheel that allows a faster spin? This source says it's the lavender cup...

The line-up for the teacups can be quite long, and since the ride is a minute and a half, it can take a while to reach the front. Generally they try to fit as many people into teacups as possible, and if there is only one or two cups left they will ask for groups of four or less to fill them. This means you may get passed over and have to wait one more time to board your tea cup. Don't lose your temper and attack the people being let in front of you. Not only will you miss out on the ride, but you'll probably face some charges.

• In four of the Disney parks the teacups swirl around a giant teapot with a door-mouse peeking out of it.
• Walt Disney World Tea Cups ride was originally open-air like Disneyland, but ended up getting a canopy roof later on.
• There are 18 tea cups in all the Disney park rides around the world.
• During Disneyland's 50th anniversary they replaced one of the teacups in the ride with a golden tea cup. This cup is now stationary in front of the Mad Hatter's store nearby for photos..