Disney World for Spanish speakers

[Brittni__duh]

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Disney World for the 50th anniversary year and we are considering extending an invitation to his family. His parents are native Spanish speakers and while his father speaks English well enough, his mother doesn't speak English very well. I know that WDW has the Ears to the World and park maps available in many different languages, but I'm looking for some personal stories about Disney World's language accessibility.

They'll obviously have me and my boyfriend with them to translate if needed but I want to make sure they feel comfortable and feel a sense of independence in the parks so they can venture off and do what they want to do if they don't want to stick with us the entire trip. They're both much more confident speaking in Spanish, for obvious reasons, and I don't want them to miss out on anything just because of a language barrier.

How have your experiences been with other languages in Disney World?

 

[Doug M]

Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas.

A lot of the instructions are in English and Spanish and I would wager a lot of the CMs will speak Spanish. Others probably will know better though. Sounds like a fun trip in the works, best of luck!

 

[mountdew1]

Alot of CMs will have the little flags (or just the language) on the bottom of their nametags, that indicates they are proficient in that language. Pretty sure that Spanish is a relatively common one. CMs are used to dealing with a plethora of languages and are used to communicating accordingly. I'd suspect if they know the "How many in your party", and how to order/pay for food they should be fine.
I was at SHDL a few weeks ago, and other than saying "Hello" and "Thanks" in chinese, I don't speak a lick of the language, and the CMs that didn't know English knew how to communicate what they needed to know (Party size, where to pay, etc)

 

[PSUGuy]

I'm thinking of learning Spanish for our next trip so I can get by in WDW.

Bill From PA

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Spanish is widely spoken in the state of Florida and a huge number of CMs speak Spanish as a first or second language. Not all of them wear the language button on their name tags, either.

Despite not being bilingual, I can ask someone in Spanish what parks they want to visit and how old their children are. Once you work in the parks long enough, you pick up things that are relevant to your role.

If they have smart phones, you can always add an app like Google Translate for them to use in case they do have to ask a question to a CM who doesn't speak a word of Spanish and they're not sure how to word it in English.

 

[yulilin3]

Not sure if you already know this but here's the list of attractions that utilize the ears to the world
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/#/translation-devices/

I would say if it's not included in this list, do not go into any show or attraction that is very wordy, meaning where there's a lot of dialogue. Like the Frozen show at DHS, lots of the jokes will go over her head and unless she's a big fan of the movie she will probably be completely lost on this one. Other than that she will be fine, like others have said in Orlando we have a very large hispanic population and many CM speak Spanish so she will not have a problem being independent