amusement park

[Guest guest]

Not sure if this has ever been on IPADD, sorry if this is a repeat, but it

sounds fun for everyone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/morgans-wonderland-special-needs-theme-\

park_n_866449.html

SAN ANTONIO -- The carousel has chariots for wheelchairs. Braille games

decorate side panels on the jungle gym. And table-high sandboxes allow just

about any kid to build a castle.

's Wonderland aims to offer everything a special-needs guest might

enjoy at a theme park - while appealing to non-disabled visitors too.

" If it wasn't for searching Google, " founder Gordon Hartman said, " it

would've taken me a lot longer to put this together. "

The result is both inventive and heartwarming: a 25-acre, $34 million park

catering every detail to people with physical or mental disabilities, down

to jungle gyms wide enough to fit two wheelchairs side-by-side, a " Sensory

Village " that's an indoor mall of touch-and-hear activities, and daily

attendance limits so the park never gets too loud or lines too long.

Since opening last year, 's Wonderland has attracted more than 100,000

guests, despite almost no national marketing by the non-profit park.

Admission for people with special needs is free, and adults accompanying

them are $10. Three out of every four visitors do not have disabilities.

The park is the first of its kind in the nation, according to Hartman, a San

philanthropist who named the place after his 17-year-old daughter,

who can't perform simple math and struggles to form sentences because of

cognitive disabilities. A map in the lobby entrance, where adults with

special needs volunteer as greeters, offers a more visual way to gauge the

park's early popularity, with the 49 states and 16 countries visitors have

come from marked in purple.

Persons with autism, orthopedic impairments, mental retardation or seizure

disorders are among the most regular visitors. Tifani 's 11-year-old

son, Jaylin, has syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes

learning disabilities and developmental delays.

Jaylin was showing off his new hat from the gift shop. Now he was coaxing

his mom back toward the off-road adventure ride, where rugged-looking jeeps

that are wheelchair accessible twist and turn through a short track.

" It's so nice to have a place like this, " said , who lives in nearby

Austin.

Story continues below

Built on the site of an abandoned quarry, 's Wonderland is one-tenth

the size of SeaWorld, the destination mega-attraction on the other side of

San . But spending an afternoon at 's Wonderland - the average

guest stays about 2 1/2 to 3 hours - is deliberately designed to not be an

exhausting, endless trudge from one overcrowded ride to the next.

Generously spread out, the park has about 20 attractions from active

(Butterfly Playground) to easygoing (a train circling a mile-long loop

through the park and around a lake). Even more tranquil is the Sitting

Garden, a quiet and almost meditative enclave that's a favorite among

parents with autistic children.

Inside Sensory Village is a mechanic's shop with tools mounted to a low

table. A light touch of the drill triggers the crank-like sound of a bolt

driving flush into an engine block. Next door is a pretend supermarket with

plastic lobsters, ears of corn and cans of tuna, and cashiers who always

hand back the right amount of invisible change.

Most interactive is a low-lit space with a touch-sensitive floor, giving the

illusion of walking across a pond as the water ripples and colors burst with

every step. White canvases on the walls, meanwhile, transform into

butterflies chasing a shadow anytime someone steps in front of the

projector.

Sprouting from the sandboxes are " diggers " - think shovels and rakes - that

can be operated sitting down from a wheelchair. Another nearby sandbox is

elevated 4 1/2 feet, next to a musical garden of giant xylophones and

chimes. The chariots on the carousel are reserved for wheelchairs, and many

of the horses are fitted with high back cushions for children who need the

support.

Reservations are encouraged because of the daily attendance limits, though

as general manager Dave Force put it, " we're not going to turn away a family

that's driven all the way from Arkansas. " Each guest is also given an

electronic wristband that allows families and caregivers to keep tabs on

their group in the park, and scanning the wristbands on some rides emails a

free photo back home.

Yet despite being completely designed for individuals with special needs,

the park is playful enough to be enjoyed by any kid. The motto of 's

Wonderland is even " Where Everyone Can Play. " That inclusion was important

to Hartman, who on a family trip a few years ago, saw his daughter

wanting to play with three kids tossing a ball in a pool but couldn't

interact. The kids, just as unsure how to interact with , stopped

playing.

Five years later, 's Wonderland opened, putting regular playground

swings and swings for wheelchairs in the same park. That's where 9-year-old

Kriste was on a recent May afternoon, her wheelchair rolled onto a platform

and being swung back and forth by two park volunteers.

" She doesn't talk, " said her father, , " but you can tell

she really enjoys it. "