I went on my first vacation in three years (since the honeymoon) this January. It was to Orlando, Florida, to see the video game charity event, Awesome Games Done Quick, for most of the trip. We did make one theme park visit, and it was Seaworld, the one with Sesame Street, the ostensibly autism-friendly park. It was winter, but winter in Florida apparently means high 60s to low 80s, which is late summer where I come from. So there were few to no lines and comfortable temperatures: a win in my book.
I'm just going to start by saying Seaworld overall is distinctly not autism friendly.
It is consistently loud. They have music blaring in from everywhere, especially restaurants, animal exhibits, show areas, and shops. As you traverse the park, you move from one noise zone to the next, with no respite between them. The quietest areas were on the edges of those zones, but at those points, you could hear two zones at the same time, in a dueling stereos effect. This is not even counting the other park-goers, with their shrieky small children.
I wore earplugs basically the whole time and would recommend others do the same. Even my neurotypical spouse wore earplugs the whole time simply because he found it more comfortable.
If you do end up visiting, I did manage to find a quieter area to eat. The Spice Mill Burgers area was only loud because of the people in it, and some of those moved on while my spouse and I were eating. So I was able to take out my earplugs there for a bit. I expect during the summer and higher tourism times, it would be significantly louder, but the fish filet was both large and surprisingly excellent. They also offered an Impossible (meatless, but tasty) Burger, which I was very pleased to see. The bun and toppings both sandwiches came with were food service standard mediocre, of course. It's cheap(er) park food, what do you expect?
Speaking of which, I did not see gluten-free options at any of the Seaworld food spots I stopped by. I know Seaworld itself isn't really dedicated to accessibility for all, just Sesame Street, but I'd kind of hoped the latter would infect the former. There did seem to be dairy-free options, like my fish filet, and a lot of "normal" kid-friendly food, like chicken nuggets and fries and such. I suspect the dairy-free options were more incidental than purposeful.
Sesame Street is located on the far right, meaning you have to pass through most of Seaworld to get there. I cannot stress this enough: most of Seaworld is very sensory-unfriendly.
The front gate of Sesame Street Park at Seaworld. Elmo and Cookie Monster statues guard either side. The lighting was not in my favor for this shot of the front gate.
A main road leads into Sesame Street in Seaworld, with storefronts on the right, and rides on the left. The park itself was a lengthy inverted D shape, with a main road and a side road for kids rides, extra attractions, restrooms, and other services.
A signpost at Sesame Street in Seaworld, with directions to restrooms, first aid station, baby changing area, the Infinity Falls ride in Seaworld, and the autism-friendly quiet room. There were a few of these signs off the main road, pointing you mostly to services, rather than rides.
The family services building at Sesame Street in Seaworld. A sign out front directs you to enter the front for baby care, and the side for the autism-friendly quiet room. The sign here was a little unclear. After going past the building and all the way to the other end of the park, we finally figured out they meant "the back door is closest to the Quiet Room" not "keep walking this direction 'til you find it." I was annoyed.
Sesame Street has exactly one quiet room, which was part of a larger facility to support families. Included as other rooms in this facility were a changing and nursing room for mothers, a more comfortable enclosed sitting area, a microwave and sink, and various shelves and cupboards. The lighting in all rooms was overhead, living room-like light fixtures with incandescent bulbs, rather than more typical commercial/industrial fluorescent lighting.
Inside the family services area at Sesame Street in Seaworld. An incandescent overhead light shines over a sink, microwave, seating, shelving and a high chair on a hardwood floor. Also a lounge area, baby changing space, and a nursing area... It was surprisingly well outfitted. I could, of course, have asked for even more stuff, but seeing all this was a surprise. It's not like the park makes money off having these offerings here.
The hallway off the main room in the previous picture. A trio of doors lead to the autism-friendly quiet room, the nursing room, and the restroom, while an open archway leads to a main room.
Eventually I made it to the quiet room. Like the main room, it was lit with an incandescent home overhead light thingie. It's not really a chandelier, being far too small and simple, but that's the only word I can think of to describe it.
It was a relatively small room, and I had trouble getting a proper picture of the whole thing. The room had bits and bobs available. The bean-bag-esque cushions there seemed comfortable, though I didn't actually sit in them due to paranoia about germs. The wooden box-thingies would serve to either climb on or hide within, either of which seems reasonable. The overhead lights could be turned off (so I did).
A textured wall toy, one of two such toys. At least 15 different texture were available for stimulation-seeking children. I was impressed, even if I didn't touch due to fear of germs.
A more typical children's toy, fastened to a different wall.
The quiet room was not silent, and you could hear the nearest ride outside (Minnie Mouse instructing kids to pay attention to some kind of nature kiddie coaster). It was, however, significantly quieter, and I was able to take out my earplugs and relax somewhat. Out of curiosity, I turned on my tablet's decibel reader.
Readout from a decibel meter in the Quiet Room at Sesame Street in Seaworld. Average decibels 48.6, maximum 58. Fairly quiet as things go, but not silent. The spikes in the graph were due to children and the ride outside.
And here's a recording taken while waiting for the killer whale show at Seaworld:
As you can see, the Seaworld pre-show was about 40 decibels louder than the main area, which... if that doesn't mean anything to you, it's about 16 times as loud... or the difference between me suffering and me feeling kinda okay.
Sesame Street itself seemed quieter overall than Seaworld, though I don't have the data to back that up. It still definitely had zones of noise that you could travel between, even at the family services area.
My last thought on the Sesame Street area was the food. We visited in winter, so most of the food options were closed. They did seem to offer the usual sugary and white flour-laden badness, but I also stepped into a couple store areas and found these:
Refrigerated food and drink offerings at Sesame Street stores, including cheese sticks, yogurt, hummus, fruit cups, cracker/cheese/meat snack boxes, and veggie/fruit/cheese snack boxes
It's a bit of a mixed bag, with dairy, sugar, and glutenous snacks dominating the offerings... but it does also have fresh fruit and hummus for sale. The "healthy lunchable" offering with crackers, meat, and cheese, uses Triscuit style whole grain crackers rather than Ritz white flour crackers. There are also carrot, celery, and cheese snack boxes with some kind of dip that hopefully doesn't invalidate the healthiness of the rest of the case.
I was pleased with the family support facility offerings once I found them. There was no cheap, sensory-painful fluorescent anywhere that I could see, only the more sensory-friendly incandescent bulbs in home-like configurations. Having a nursing area for new mothers was a nice touch. Having a microwave so people could heat up their own food, brought from outside the park, was even better. While I'd rather people be able to simply buy gluten-free, casein- (dairy-) free offerings at the park proper, at least letting them bring and enjoy their own food is a start. They did have a couple offerings for people on restrictive diets, at least. Can't say that for the rest of Seaworld.
I did wish the Quiet Room was more like the Silent Room, but noise-proofing is kind of difficult, especially with a kiddie coaster ride literally 30 feet away. More than one room would have been good, as someone did open the door and then recoiled when they noticed we were already occupying it. Perhaps an "occupied/free" sign and at least two rooms? It is, however, a small sub-park, and I can understand why there was only one. The noise level was a lot more tolerable in the Quiet Room, at least, and the textured wall toy, plush beanbag cushion-things, and wooden play blocks seemed like thoughtful additions to the place.
Overall, especially compared to the rest of Seaworld, I was favorably impressed with Sesame Street. The signage could be more specific about where the Quiet Room is, and it could really use more than one Quiet Room, but even as it was, the place served my needs fairly well. Hopefully it will continue to serve the families that visit Sesame Street for years to come.
I'm just going to start by saying Seaworld overall is distinctly not autism friendly.
It is consistently loud. They have music blaring in from everywhere, especially restaurants, animal exhibits, show areas, and shops. As you traverse the park, you move from one noise zone to the next, with no respite between them. The quietest areas were on the edges of those zones, but at those points, you could hear two zones at the same time, in a dueling stereos effect. This is not even counting the other park-goers, with their shrieky small children.
I wore earplugs basically the whole time and would recommend others do the same. Even my neurotypical spouse wore earplugs the whole time simply because he found it more comfortable.
If you do end up visiting, I did manage to find a quieter area to eat. The Spice Mill Burgers area was only loud because of the people in it, and some of those moved on while my spouse and I were eating. So I was able to take out my earplugs there for a bit. I expect during the summer and higher tourism times, it would be significantly louder, but the fish filet was both large and surprisingly excellent. They also offered an Impossible (meatless, but tasty) Burger, which I was very pleased to see. The bun and toppings both sandwiches came with were food service standard mediocre, of course. It's cheap(er) park food, what do you expect?
Speaking of which, I did not see gluten-free options at any of the Seaworld food spots I stopped by. I know Seaworld itself isn't really dedicated to accessibility for all, just Sesame Street, but I'd kind of hoped the latter would infect the former. There did seem to be dairy-free options, like my fish filet, and a lot of "normal" kid-friendly food, like chicken nuggets and fries and such. I suspect the dairy-free options were more incidental than purposeful.
Into Sesame Street
Nearish the end of the day, we did make it to Sesame Street. I can't say I was overly comfortable, a childless 30-something walking through a kids-and-families-area, but I was feeling overwhelmed, wanted a quiet place to rest, and figured that while Sesame Street was technically geared towards children, autism is autism.
Sesame Street is located on the far right, meaning you have to pass through most of Seaworld to get there. I cannot stress this enough: most of Seaworld is very sensory-unfriendly.
The front gate of Sesame Street Park at Seaworld. Elmo and Cookie Monster statues guard either side. The lighting was not in my favor for this shot of the front gate.
A main road leads into Sesame Street in Seaworld, with storefronts on the right, and rides on the left. The park itself was a lengthy inverted D shape, with a main road and a side road for kids rides, extra attractions, restrooms, and other services.
A signpost at Sesame Street in Seaworld, with directions to restrooms, first aid station, baby changing area, the Infinity Falls ride in Seaworld, and the autism-friendly quiet room. There were a few of these signs off the main road, pointing you mostly to services, rather than rides.
The family services building at Sesame Street in Seaworld. A sign out front directs you to enter the front for baby care, and the side for the autism-friendly quiet room. The sign here was a little unclear. After going past the building and all the way to the other end of the park, we finally figured out they meant "the back door is closest to the Quiet Room" not "keep walking this direction 'til you find it." I was annoyed.
Sesame Street has exactly one quiet room, which was part of a larger facility to support families. Included as other rooms in this facility were a changing and nursing room for mothers, a more comfortable enclosed sitting area, a microwave and sink, and various shelves and cupboards. The lighting in all rooms was overhead, living room-like light fixtures with incandescent bulbs, rather than more typical commercial/industrial fluorescent lighting.
Inside the family services area at Sesame Street in Seaworld. An incandescent overhead light shines over a sink, microwave, seating, shelving and a high chair on a hardwood floor. Also a lounge area, baby changing space, and a nursing area... It was surprisingly well outfitted. I could, of course, have asked for even more stuff, but seeing all this was a surprise. It's not like the park makes money off having these offerings here.
The hallway off the main room in the previous picture. A trio of doors lead to the autism-friendly quiet room, the nursing room, and the restroom, while an open archway leads to a main room.
Eventually I made it to the quiet room. Like the main room, it was lit with an incandescent home overhead light thingie. It's not really a chandelier, being far too small and simple, but that's the only word I can think of to describe it.
It was a relatively small room, and I had trouble getting a proper picture of the whole thing. The room had bits and bobs available. The bean-bag-esque cushions there seemed comfortable, though I didn't actually sit in them due to paranoia about germs. The wooden box-thingies would serve to either climb on or hide within, either of which seems reasonable. The overhead lights could be turned off (so I did).
A textured wall toy, one of two such toys. At least 15 different texture were available for stimulation-seeking children. I was impressed, even if I didn't touch due to fear of germs.
A more typical children's toy, fastened to a different wall.
The quiet room was not silent, and you could hear the nearest ride outside (Minnie Mouse instructing kids to pay attention to some kind of nature kiddie coaster). It was, however, significantly quieter, and I was able to take out my earplugs and relax somewhat. Out of curiosity, I turned on my tablet's decibel reader.
Readout from a decibel meter in the Quiet Room at Sesame Street in Seaworld. Average decibels 48.6, maximum 58. Fairly quiet as things go, but not silent. The spikes in the graph were due to children and the ride outside.
And here's a recording taken while waiting for the killer whale show at Seaworld:
Sesame Street itself seemed quieter overall than Seaworld, though I don't have the data to back that up. It still definitely had zones of noise that you could travel between, even at the family services area.
My last thought on the Sesame Street area was the food. We visited in winter, so most of the food options were closed. They did seem to offer the usual sugary and white flour-laden badness, but I also stepped into a couple store areas and found these:
Refrigerated food and drink offerings at Sesame Street stores, including cheese sticks, yogurt, hummus, fruit cups, cracker/cheese/meat snack boxes, and veggie/fruit/cheese snack boxes
It's a bit of a mixed bag, with dairy, sugar, and glutenous snacks dominating the offerings... but it does also have fresh fruit and hummus for sale. The "healthy lunchable" offering with crackers, meat, and cheese, uses Triscuit style whole grain crackers rather than Ritz white flour crackers. There are also carrot, celery, and cheese snack boxes with some kind of dip that hopefully doesn't invalidate the healthiness of the rest of the case.
I was Impressed, but More Can Be Done
As an autistic adult wandering through Sesame Street, I was pleased to see some of the changes and offerings available to families with autistic children or other special needs. Having a quiet room available at all is a massive step up in terms to tolerability of theme parks. Sesame Street was a small park (within a larger park), too, so while I'd rather have more than one quiet room, I can kind of understand why there's only one.I was pleased with the family support facility offerings once I found them. There was no cheap, sensory-painful fluorescent anywhere that I could see, only the more sensory-friendly incandescent bulbs in home-like configurations. Having a nursing area for new mothers was a nice touch. Having a microwave so people could heat up their own food, brought from outside the park, was even better. While I'd rather people be able to simply buy gluten-free, casein- (dairy-) free offerings at the park proper, at least letting them bring and enjoy their own food is a start. They did have a couple offerings for people on restrictive diets, at least. Can't say that for the rest of Seaworld.
I did wish the Quiet Room was more like the Silent Room, but noise-proofing is kind of difficult, especially with a kiddie coaster ride literally 30 feet away. More than one room would have been good, as someone did open the door and then recoiled when they noticed we were already occupying it. Perhaps an "occupied/free" sign and at least two rooms? It is, however, a small sub-park, and I can understand why there was only one. The noise level was a lot more tolerable in the Quiet Room, at least, and the textured wall toy, plush beanbag cushion-things, and wooden play blocks seemed like thoughtful additions to the place.
Overall, especially compared to the rest of Seaworld, I was favorably impressed with Sesame Street. The signage could be more specific about where the Quiet Room is, and it could really use more than one Quiet Room, but even as it was, the place served my needs fairly well. Hopefully it will continue to serve the families that visit Sesame Street for years to come.
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