Is this true??? Blindness related question.

[DisOrBust]

Some of you may know I was planning a wish trip for a blind child. Community relations at WDW told me they have a "devise" that provides audio descriptions as you go thru WDW. It was great because it would "describe as you passed by something. Needless to say this family asked for this at 3 different parks to 3 different CMs and none had ever heard of this. Was I told wrong? Anyone have any knowledge. This was a major dissapointment.

TIA,
Sue

 

[Talking Hands]

There is something like this for foreign languages to translate the spiels on some of the rides but I don't know that they have it in English for the blind. Good idea though.

 

[momof2inPA]

I bet they were talking about Pal Mickey. It has a sensor in it's nose, so it knows where you are in Disney World and tells fun facts and jokes. They are intended for use by the general public but would be particularly useful for the blind. They sell them at all parks for $60 and rent them, too.

 

[SueM in MN]

Pal Mickey would be a great companion for a blind person. I have not used one, but if you do a search on the Theme Parks Board you will find some descriptions of what he does. A sensor in him knows where you are and mentions something about the ride attraction you are near. I also remember reading a Trip Report about someone's experience with Pal Mickey.

I know they used to have a tape recorder with audio descriptions and that might be what Community Relations meant. Someone posted about it once and said it did give good descriptions. The negative though was that you had to know when to turn it on and off and where you were at the time. Also, since it was a tape, it played in a certain order.
It would be great if they made a smarter device like the one Talking Hands mentioned.

 

[videogal1]

I bought a Pal Mickey for my solo trip in January, thinking it would bridge the gap between drive-by touristing and mad map reading...The jokes are repetitive and juvenile (funny once, but PULEEZZZZ!) It does give some information but I would have been happier with R2D2 at my side. Great, in general, for a young-at-heart but not so useful as a tour guide....

 

[Safari Steve]

Guest Relations has an audiocassette park guide for the blind, which is available with a $25 refundable deposit. Braile Guidebooks are also available to read in the Guest Relations Lobby at each park. There is a self-guided tour audiocassette as well, which is a bit different from the audio guide. If they asked at Guest Relations, they should have been told about these options. If they just asked random CMs they met along the way, it's not likely that they would get the desired response (the information is available to all CMs, but those items are requested so infrequently that they wouldn't come to mind readily.)

The "Ears to the World" personal Show Translation Units do not provide descriptions of the park as one walks around, only translations of select attraction spiels (almost word-for-word to what is available in English on the Handheld Captioning Devices for the hearing impaired.) The technology used to send signals to Pal Mickey, Handheld Captioning, and Ears to the World involves short-range infrared transmitters, and enough transmitters to provide a thorough description of what you're walking past would get very cumbersome with too many signals going in too many directions in such a small area.