[blindkid] Audio Descriptions in Disney World

Sally Thomas seacknit at gmail.com
Mon Jul 11 11:35:44 UTC 2011


We tried the audio description in Animal Kingdom but the unit didn't work 
and we didn't go back to get another one.  David tried again in Epcot and 
was very happy with the description there.  The Guest Services people in 
Epcot told us that the description in Animal kingdom was not as complete any 
way.  We plan to write a letter to let them know about our experiences both 
good and bad (mostly very good!).

Sally Thomas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "(for parents of blind children) NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 11:20 PM
Subject: [blindkid] Audio Descriptions in Disney World


> If I'd known about this in advance, I would have posted it for others 
> before the convention. We learned about this Friday at Disney World. I'm 
> wondering if anyone else discovered the free Audio Description service 
> from Disney in the Magic Kingdom. Perhaps other Disney parks have this as 
> well?
>
> If you're not familiar, when you go, visit guest services-- whatever they 
> call that. In the magic Kingdom, it is on the left as you enter the park, 
> before you head down Main Street, clear to the left side. In fact, I think 
> they call it "City Hall". This is where you can also choose to get a pass 
> for better access to rides for special needs visitors. Make your own 
> decision about that, but I highly recommend the Audio Description service. 
> For a fully refundable $25 deposit, they loan you a wireless receiver and 
> headphones that "knows" where you are in the park and tells you about it, 
> then on certain rides (such as It's a Small World, and Peter Pan) the 
> device also tells you about the ride as you ride it. What a cool idea. 
> Kendra was very pleased. In fact, it was so helpful and comprehensive that 
> Kendra (with no light perception, mind you) was actually telling US where 
> the gift shops were located. I guess fair is fair with that though-- if 
> our sighted son can find and drag us to half of the gift shops, why can't 
> Kendra know about and drag us to the others? LOL...
>
> There is also a large, permanent Braille Map of the Park up front in the 
> corner of City Hall which I thought was pretty nice to know about.
>
> If you went and didn't discover this, dig out your park map and there are 
> little "D(((" logos with a Disney "D" by selected rides. Those are 
> described. Hopefully in a couple of years when we are back in Orlando, 
> we'll know and remember enough about this to make parents aware of this 
> service before the convention!
>
> As to other discussions about Audio Descriptions, I have been in touch 
> with our State NFB chapter and we have plans in the works to get our 
> voices heard by our local PBS station about our desire to have DVS turned 
> back on there. I hope anyone else who is having similar problems will 
> think about taking similar steps. If we don't let these people know we 
> want and need these services, they are much less likely to do anything for 
> us and it can really mean a lot to our kids.
>
> Richard
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