Snow White's Scary Adventures update

[Lokheed]

Last year before SWSA was closing for rehab to install the new control board, one of the CM's walked through the entire ride path and took pictures for Ben. She didn't have to worry about being in a moving mine cart, she just slowly walked through the entire ride just after closing and took excellent pictures of each scene. I printed them up and put them in a small photo album for Ben to carry around and look at during the couple of months that SWSA was closed. He still carries that photo album around with him. Some mornings he picks out his favorite picture (the yodeling scene) and carries it with him on the bus to school to look at during the ride while he is listening to his CD's.

 

[AEfx]

Last year before SWSA was closing for rehab to install the new control board, one of the CM's walked through the entire ride path and took pictures for Ben.

That's very cool, of the CM, and for Ben!

AEfx

 

[egionet]

Last year before SWSA was closing for rehab to install the new control board, one of the CM's walked through the entire ride path and took pictures for Ben. She didn't have to worry about being in a moving mine cart, she just slowly walked through the entire ride just after closing and took excellent pictures of each scene. I printed them up and put them in a small photo album for Ben to carry around and look at during the couple of months that SWSA was closed. He still carries that photo album around with him. Some mornings he picks out his favorite picture (the yodeling scene) and carries it with him on the bus to school to look at during the ride while he is listening to his CD's.

Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to see that Ben is still carrying around the book. :sohappy: You and Ben were by far my favorite guests during my CP. I was always so excited to see guests that were really enjoying themselves.

And I can't believe Dopey and Sneezy aren't there. I know they were both there when I left in July. They are very slow and negectful on that ride, which is very sad. I wish they would just fix the small things that constantly seem to be wrong with it, like Dopey's broken hand in the chase scene.

And just so everyone knows, it is also my favorite - just check out my avatar, it's the old Snow panel before the rehab last year!

 

[unkadug]

this whole thread has brought tears to my eyes. thanks for making my day egionet.

 

[Irrawaddy Erik]

And just so everyone knows, it is also my favorite - just check out my avatar, it's the old Snow panel before the rehab last year!

Gotta love Snow panel...............

The problem started way back in 2001 durring a grad night when the flute was ripped out of Dopey and Sneezy's hands. I don't think it was repaired fully my whole time in Fantasyland (01-04).

It's good to hear from ya Lokheed

 

[egionet]

Gotta love Snow panel...............

The problem started way back in 2001 durring a grad night when the flute was ripped out of Dopey and Sneezy's hands. I don't think it was repaired fully my whole time in Fantasyland (01-04).

It's good to hear from ya Lokheed

We figured they were going to fix all the stuff during the rehab last year. But they didn't. They just screwed up the queue/panels and made the actual ride worse because of the horrible cascade stops.

But I'm glad to hear some things are working better and getting fixed, slowly but surely!

 

[Lokheed]

I remember last year before the rehab when each of the animotronics in the yodeling scene were removed one at a time to be worked on, so for a period of several months the scene was always short one figure. By the time the installation of the new control panels was complete, all of the figures were back.

I don't quite remember when Dopey and Sneezy disappeared again, but it was definitely before Christmas, and I am thinking it was much earlier in the fall. It seems like an awfully long time, but I guess SWSA just isn't a marquee attraction.

Great to see you are still around, Beth. Since you left there really haven't been any other CM's that Ben has connected with, although one particular guy who was working yesterday was very good. I hope to see him around more in the future.

One thing I noticed yesterday was that there were actually three CM's working the ride instead of the usual two, and it made a huge difference in the cascading stops. The carts still never made it through the entire ride without a stop, but at least the stops were very close to the end. With only two CM's working the ride it typical for the stops to back up to the dwarf's mine, and not unusual to see them back up even further.

 

[Lokheed]

Well, we spent five hours in the Magic Kingdom yesterday. That is an amazing length of time for Ben, usually we are in and out in 1-2 hours, but he just didn't want to leave. He rode Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo (three times!), and an amazing 21 times* on Snow White's Scary Adventures. Even at that he wasn't ready to leave, but I was worn out. That puts him at a grand total of 975 rides on SWSA in the past two years, so it seems we will be hitting SW1K sometime this month.

As for ride news: the speaker that I thought was fixed, isn't. It's just that it only distorts on one particular part of the sound loop, and it wasn't until after something like fourteen or fifteen rides yesterday that I happened to go by that scene at that particular point in the loop. It would be nice for them to replace the speaker, but I can see where it's a pretty low-priority thing given how rarely the problem is apparent.

(*NOTE: for anyone concerned, our rule is that we let Ben ride SWSA three times in a row, and then he has to go do something else. He generally tries to stay inside Fantasyland, but we do push him to get out to other areas of the park. So it's not like we just stood at SWSA and continuously rode it 21 times, he was out in the sunshine walking around the park and doing other things as well.)

 

[CaliSurfer182]

21 times! Wow that is amazing. If only I could have the same dedication as Ben.

 

[Tom]

21 times! Wow that is amazing. If only I could have the same dedication as Ben.

Moreso, that is some amazing dedication for LOKHEED! It's wonderful to see a parent who can attend to his son's needs to this great length and detail. I went to High School with autistic kids, and they appeared to be more of a "nuisance" to their parents than anything.

What better place to let an autistic child become fixated upon than WDW!?! All the atmospheres, sounds, lights, characters and rides - all in a safe, clean and very stimulating environment! Kudos to Lokheed for his dedication, care and patience with Ben! I'm really rooting for WDW to do something special for him on "SWSA1K" - hopefully some CM on here can help with that!

 

[RedGear]

Wow that is a lot of times to be on one ride, but it's short and faster paced them some of the other rides. I would have never noticed the things you said, but I do like snow white's ride a lot.

 

[Lokheed]

It's wonderful to see a parent who can attend to his son's needs to this great length and detail.

Well, thank you very much for your kind words. I have been extremely fortunate in that I have a job as a software developer that has allowed me to move to the other end of the country to be where I think he has the best chance of improving, and which has also allowed me to work from a home office and thus have extremely flexible hours allowing me to participate closely in his education. Every little bit helps, and the improvements we have seen in the past two years have come in no small part because of the wonderful CMs in Fantasyland.

Speaking of which, Ben asked to go again today and rode twelve more times. That brings his grand total to 987, making it pretty much fait accompli that next Saturday will be SW1K. I'll be on the phone with guest services tomorrow to see how we can make it a special event. I am hoping to be able to have Snow White herself go on the ride with Ben. I am also sneaking into the park without him during the week to get a bottle of the pirate candy he loves (the big bottle with the map in it that they sell at POTC). He hasn't gotten that in months, so it will be a real treat for him. I'll be sure to post pictures and a write-up of the big event.

 

[Woody13]

Speaking of which, Ben asked to go again today and rode twelve more times. That brings his grand total to 987, making it pretty much fait accompli that next Saturday will be SW1K. I'll be on the phone with guest services tomorrow to see how we can make it a special event. I am hoping to be able to have Snow White herself go on the ride with Ben. I am also sneaking into the park without him during the week to get a bottle of the pirate candy he loves (the big bottle with the map in it that they sell at POTC). He hasn't gotten that in months, so it will be a real treat for him. I'll be sure to post pictures and a write-up of the big event.

Oh Gosh, that will be so cool! Ben is very fortunate to have you as his Dad!:wave:

 

[daveemtdave]

Does this attraction have no wait?? At our one elementary school, we have classes for our special needs students like this - and we try to reward them if they remember to wait in turn - your son sounds remarkable. Thank you for sharing this piece.

 

[Lokheed]

Does this attraction have no wait??

Actually, SWSA has probably the fastest moving line in the Magic Kingdom -- certainly the fastest in Fantasyland. Even when the line is all the way out past the covered area, the wait time is under twenty minutes. On weekends like last week, when the park isn't particularly crowded, the line is only maybe 5-10 minutes. The ride itself only takes about three minutes (sadly I know firsthand that it is possible to ride it six times in under twenty minutes on a quite day - at least before the rehab, when sometimes the CMs would just let Ben stay in the same cart and go around multiple times.)

 

[daveemtdave]

I give you lots of credit - you take the time to be with your child and share "Snow White" over and over again LOL - if all parents of children with special needs focused in on this type of learning experience, it would make a difference. Unfortunately, I see the opposite - parents who take NO TIME with their child. You and your child as well as your family are role models. Believe me, you are blessed.

 

[Lokheed]

I dunno. I mean some days I think, sheesh, a thousand times.... maybe I shouldn't be letting him obsess this much. On the other hand it makes for such an excellent lever to get him out in a noisy public setting, and to push him outside of his comfort zone. Plus it makes him so dang happy. You would not believe the smile on this kid's face when he is on that ride, it's like he is in the best place in the entire world. So it's a real balancing act. We keep seeing more and more improvement at school, and now we are about to try some facilitated communication techniques which look promising (although I carry a wee bit of skepticism there as well).

 

[that_L_do_pig]

This is the best thread I have ever read: Disney, parent's committment, extra-challenged child, passion, etc.

This better have a outstandingly happy ending at 1000 from Disney!

I am just glad he picked a ride with the shortest queueing in the park!

 

[bgraham34]

Dopey and Sneezy and wonder what happened to them. I thought they just didn't exist.

 

[Lokheed]

If you look at the floor in the yodeling scene you'll notice an empty mat that covers the spot where the Sneezy/Dopey animatronic usually sits. Last year before the rehab they worked on each of the animatronics in that scene one at a time. From week to week there would be a different missing dwarf, and always with an empty mat covering the spot in the floor where they plug in. I don't know why Sneezy/Dopey has been out so long (at least four or five months now); I assume that it was damaged somehow, and is not a high-priority fix. I'm sure they'll be back eventually.