I've always loved Disney, but my love affair with WDW began on this day:
Turtle Talk 3-18-05
This happened the weekend after we got our AP's
I am not sure who this shout out goes to...so I hope he gets to read it some day...
Some background....MJ is almost 4.5 but has the language skills of around an 18 mo (single words only, limited vocabulary, etc) the other thing that is important to know for this story is that MJ wants desperately to fit in, especially with other kids, so she is a real mimic.
So we enter in to Turtle Talk with Crush...all of the kids move down front and MJ wants to follow, I am nervous about this, but let her since she is still pretty close. Crush comes out and starts the show, MJ is enthralled, I find it charming......then Crush gets to the Q and A part of the show and I hear the words "ok, all of you little Dudes and Dudette's who have a question for me, raise your hand" just as I cringe I see MJ's hand shoot up and I see Crush fixate on her.....
"Yes, the little dudette, in the blue shell, sublevel......"
The host moves over to her as Andrew and I frantically try to signal to Crush or the host and we finally just have to yell out...
"Crush, she can't talk"
In the most amazing feat of thinking on his fins he places his fins to his head and says....
"That is ok, I have been practicing my ESP with Dory and I will just pull her question out of her mind...." he closes his eyes and thinks for a minute and says..."MJ wants to know, what do turtles eat...good question MJ!"
I of course at this point dissolve into tears as I realize that WDW is going to be the one place that MJ is actually treated like a real, normal, little girl.
I am not sure what we would do without WDW, it really is our only happy place...
Follow Up to Turtle Talk....
Fast forward a year or so. We went to Epcot with some friends of ours (Maddie and Miriam) and went to the Living Seas. While we were waiting for Turtle Talk we were letting MJ do the KidCot coloring station and talking to some of the CM's; typical stuff, how do you like the park, are you enjoying your stay, etc...Of course the talk strayed to Turtle Talk and how MJ liked it, we said she loved it, but said she often got frustrated because she wanted to talk to Crush but because of her autism she spoke very slowly and needed me to translate for her and there just wasn't enough time for that in the show. The guy we were talking to told us to hang out for a bit. When he came back he told us to come back for the last show. So we went out and enjoyed the Flower and Garden Festival for a few hours and at the appointed time went back to the Living Seas They took us in a back way because the crowds were very bad and they were freaking MJ out a little, he told us to just hang out after the show. Once everyone left Crush came out and talked to MJ alone for a good 10-15 minutes. MJ was just awestruck at being able to do this and I was so grateful to the Cast for making it possible for MJ to talk to Crush. You all made our little girl very happy, she still *talks* about it to this day.