Hey Howdy Hey!
Michael and I moved to the Central Florida area back in January of '21, and while I've lived in Florida a couple of different times in my life, Michael is experiencing all that Central Florida has to offer for the first time. Not only has he been trilled with the food options available, but he is in awe that there is constantly something to do!
Having moved around quite a bit in each of our lives,
Ellen: Indiana -> Florida -> Indiana -> Florida -> Indiana -> Kentucky -> New York -> Florida
(Yes, I really did move back and forth that many times)
Michael: Kentucky -> New York -> Kentucky -> New York -> Florida
(I guess both of us have a thing for moving back and forth)
we have finally decided to settle and start putting down roots here in Central Florida. I did warn Michael before we moved that once we crossed into Florida I was never going to move out of the state again... he can, but I will be staying firmly planted in my favorite state! We love that we get to walk our dog every day and aren't having to scrape snow off our car just to run and grab eggs when we are all out.
So, naturally one of the first things we did after unpacking and getting settled in our new home was to buy season passes to theme parks! Currently we are annual passholders to Universal Studios Orlando, Sea World Orlando, and Aquatica (I check everyday to see if Disney has re-opened their Annual Passes- you can bet your bottom dollar we will obtain these passes as SOON as they are available again). So off to the parks we go!!
When we get there- it hits me: Michael can't hear anything in the parks. How is he going to enjoy Shrek 4D? Can they interpret an Orca show? Are parade interpreters a thing? Do they have Closed Captions on the Muppets 3D show? I mean sure, you don't need an interpreter to feel the thrill of a roller coaster. But most of the theme parks have more shows than they do actual roller coasters.... so, how is he supposed to enjoy them the same way the rest of the hearing world does if he can't hear the witty remarks or jokes that fly over kids heads? The first few times we went we just kind of dealt with it. We didn't think to ask if shows had Closed Captioning, we just avoided those and went straight for the roller coasters. But you can only ride The Incredible Hulk ride so many times before you start to ask yourself, "I paid how much for this annual pass?".
It was at this point that I looked at Michael and I said, "What if we teach people the sign for Roller Coaster?". He was willing to do that, so we did some quick research to make sure we both actually knew the sign for Roller Coaster (we guessed right), hopped on Instagram and filmed a short snippet of him teaching it, and hit post (all while standing in front of the Hulk ride). The next thing we knew our post had over 200 views (which may not seem like a lot, but it blew us away) and we were getting all sorts of messages from people saying how cool it was to know that sign.
So we went home and we brainstormed. We prayed. We talked. We planned. And finally, we came up with, what we think, was a pretty cool idea. So now as we venture around Central Florida we intend to teach people ASL/SEE, spread Deaf / Hard of Hearing awareness, find out about accommodations and share them out with you all so that YOU can prepare for your vacations, and continue to have fun!
We've picked up some snippets of information here and there (for example: we know that many shows have Closed Captioning, or that there are indeed parade interpreters, and yes! There is an interpreter for the Orca shows), so stick with us as we compile information and get it out to you. If you have a trip coming up soon and we haven't published any information on accommodations, please feel free to contact us by using the Contact page, or sending us a direct message on Instagram or Facebook. We will always try to give you as much information as we can!
We hope you have an ASOM (get it?!) day!
-E & M
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