Was that "our" Ben on the last ride of Snow White?

[disneysteve]

I just saw a video of the final ride of Snow White by an autistic boy named Ben and his family. I'm assuming that is the same Ben from the podcast. What a great treat that must have been for him.

 

[slapwhitey]

That would not have been "our" Ben....unless he somehow snuck to WDW with another family. I better go check his room!!

 

[sayhello]

That's a funny coincidence, but no, that's not the Ben from the Podcast.

Sayhello

 

[Lokheed]

Nope, that was actually my Ben. If you want to read more about it, I have been writing up the whole event in my blog. Since I am new here I am not allowed to post links, but if you google 'snow white ride ben' you will see a link for "Snow White's Scary Adventures - A Retrospective". That's my blog, and will tell you all about Ben.

 

[sayhello]

Nope, that was actually my Ben. If you want to read more about it, I have been writing up the whole event in my blog. Since I am new here I am not allowed to post links, but if you google 'snow white ride ben' you will see a link for "Snow White's Scary Adventures - A Retrospective". That's my blog, and will tell you all about Ben.

What a great story! I'm impressed (but not surprised) by how Disney has responded to Ben. How is he handling the closing?

Allow me to post the link to your blog for you, Lokheed:

http://www.shmoolok.com/Blog/tabid/62/EntryId/51/Snow-Whites-Scary-Adventures-A-Retrospective.aspx

Sayhello

 

[DSNYDREAMER]

Nope, that was actually my Ben. If you want to read more about it, I have been writing up the whole event in my blog. Since I am new here I am not allowed to post links, but if you google 'snow white ride ben' you will see a link for "Snow White's Scary Adventures - A Retrospective". That's my blog, and will tell you all about Ben.

Thank you for sharing your Ben with us. I read every word and cant tell you how touched I was by your story. The "our" Ben disneysteve referred to is my son who is almost 16 years old and has Aspergers.

While there are differences in our stories, there are definitely similarities. Ben and I sat in on a recording of the DIS unplugged podcast to share his story.

If you are interested you can hear the show here...
http://www.wdwinfo.com/podcast/roundtable313-072711-ben.mp3

 

[disneysteve]

What a coincidence. Two great stories. Two great Bens at the Dis.

 

[Lokheed]

How is he handling the closing?

We haven't been back to the park yet since it closed. Friday we all had a severe Snow White hangover, and then I was away on business at a conference over the weekend. We are planning on taking him back on Wednesday to see how he does. I am cautiously optimistic.

In the last few years he has really slowed down on the ride (the last night notwithstanding), and spends a lot more time in other areas of the park. I know he'll love the new Little Mermaid ride when it opens, so that will be nice. In the meantime there are plenty of other things there that he enjoys. The important part of last Thursday was to let him really say goodbye, and that went far better than I had ever imagined.

 

[sayhello]

We haven't been back to the park yet since it closed. Friday we all had a severe Snow White hangover, and then I was away on business at a conference over the weekend. We are planning on taking him back on Wednesday to see how he does. I am cautiously optimistic.

In the last few years he has really slowed down on the ride (the last night notwithstanding), and spends a lot more time in other areas of the park. I know he'll love the new Little Mermaid ride when it opens, so that will be nice. In the meantime there are plenty of other things there that he enjoys. The important part of last Thursday was to let him really say goodbye, and that went far better than I had ever imagined.

Best of luck with Wednesday! Please let us know how it goes!

Sayhello

 

[JKMJ441724]

Nope, that was actually my Ben. If you want to read more about it, I have been writing up the whole event in my blog. Since I am new here I am not allowed to post links, but if you google 'snow white ride ben' you will see a link for "Snow White's Scary Adventures - A Retrospective". That's my blog, and will tell you all about Ben.

We haven't been back to the park yet since it closed. Friday we all had a severe Snow White hangover, and then I was away on business at a conference over the weekend. We are planning on taking him back on Wednesday to see how he does. I am cautiously optimistic.

In the last few years he has really slowed down on the ride (the last night notwithstanding), and spends a lot more time in other areas of the park. I know he'll love the new Little Mermaid ride when it opens, so that will be nice. In the meantime there are plenty of other things there that he enjoys. The important part of last Thursday was to let him really say goodbye, and that went far better than I had ever imagined.

Welcome to the DIS. You are a great writer. Hope you will post more stuff over here. I will follow your Disney adventures!

 

[Lokheed]

Welcome to the DIS. You are a great writer. Hope you will post more stuff over here. I will follow your Disney adventures!

Thank you so much. I am working on the next chapter now, it will go up tonight. I have the structure blocked out, and the full story is going to take four parts plus the prelude and an epilogue. It's just sooo much to share, that can't be summed up as "hey, it was a great night, thanks!"

And with the ride gone forever and having been such a focal point of his life, it is important to me to document it in as much detail as possible so that in the future there will be something there for Ben to still remember.

 

[DianeW]

Loved reading Ben's story, and I'm anxiously awaiting your next installment! I loved seeing the joy on your son's face in the photo with Snow White. Thanks for sharing the magic with all of us.

 

[Lokheed]

Thank you for sharing your Ben with us. I read every word and cant tell you how touched I was by your story. The "our" Ben disneysteve referred to is my son who is almost 16 years old and has Aspergers.

While there are differences in our stories, there are definitely similarities. Ben and I sat in on a recording of the DIS unplugged podcast to share his story.

I just finished listening to the show. That was a fantastic segment. I spend so much time wondering what is going on inside my son's head, and it means a lot to hear someone describe it from the inside. Your Ben is amazingly articulate. My Ben doesn't have the "wet" issues (he loves the water parks), but so many of the other things sound so familiar.

The one thing that really jumped out at me was at the end when you talked about his stepfather. I have had exactly the same experience. I have been divorced from my son's mom for about fifteen years now (long story, not worth going into, she's a great mom and whatever other issues we have I am grateful that we absolutely see eye to eye on Ben). Back in 2005 I remarried, and my wife has been central to helping me see things with Ben in a different way. It's so easy to get trapped in "We tried that, it didn't work", and my wife will be right there to point out, "Yeah, you tried that five years ago and it didn't work. It's time to try it again." Honestly, I don't think I could do it without her.

 

[Lokheed]

The next post in my blog is up, just follow the previous link and then look for "SWSA Final Night, Part 3 - Counting Up, Counting Down"

 

[linnell]

I haven't read the new part yet, but spent last night reading all about Ben with tears in my eyes. You are an amazing dad and Ben is so lucky to have so many loving adults in his life. I'm the mom of two high functioning boys on the spectrum, and I know how tough it is. I generally have lottle tolerance for their fixations, but I'm going to remember you riding Snow White literally thousands of times just because it brought happiness to your son. Thanks for sharing his story.

 

[JKMJ441724]

The next post in my blog is up, just follow the previous link and then look for "SWSA Final Night, Part 3 - Counting Up, Counting Down"

Well.

That was good.

Sniff, sniff. That dust from Florida must have traveled up to Tennessee because my eyes are watering, BAD.

 

[Spunky946]

The next post in my blog is up, just follow the previous link and then look for "SWSA Final Night, Part 3 - Counting Up, Counting Down"

What an awesome story. This is the first time I have heard it, so I went back and read the back story.

I'm in tears over it. I love how I can just feel the Disney magic through your words. I can't wait to find out how the story ends.

 

[Lokheed]

I can tell you it's probably not a sad ending... ;-)

 

[pklein09]

DH and I can't wait to read the rest! I was reading it out loud to him while he ate dinner last night. We laughed, we cried, we marveled at the wonder and magic that is Disney!

 

[Lokheed]

The next post is up, look for SWSA Final Night, Part 4- The Big Ending.