The morning after The Arc’s fashion show in Austin my mom and I drove to San Antonio. Lisa Rivers, Development Director for The Arc of Texas, arranged a personal tour of Morgan’s Wonderland for me!! Morgan’s Wonderland is the world’s first ultra accessible theme park full of rides and mind stimulating fun. Gordon Hartman, the founder of Morgan’s Wonderland, was inspired in by his daughter, Morgan who is cognitively delayed, to create a place where kids and adults of all abilities can come and just have fun. It was so neat to see siblings playing together on the same seesaws, slides and rides. For some of them, this might have been the very first time they were able to play on the same equipment. You could just tell that this was special and unless you are at Morgan’s this kind of play just does not happen at the local playground or big theme park. I’m proud that Texas has the world’s first all abilities park, but it is time for every state and country to have their own Morgan’s Wonderland! There are so many really cool activity villages at Morgan’s Wonderland that you just might need a return visit to see everything! There were two things that really impressed me about this park. The first is that it is affordable for everyone. Those with disabilities enter the park for FREE and ticket price for accompanying family/caregivers is $5.00. General Admission for the public is $15.00. Also, you are not obligated to buy the concessions sold inside the park. You are allowed to bring in your own picnic basket! The second thing that I really liked was the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) bracelets. They are programmed with your group name information. How it works is that if anyone in your group becomes separated, all you have to do is scan your bracelet at one of the location verification stations. You can see on the monitor where in the park everyone in your group is! This is so cool! No more worrying about your child getting lost in the park or the possibility of leaving with a stranger.
I have to tell you about something incredible that happened to me at Morgan’s. During my tour of Sensory Village one of the park guests (a teenager) sang a song especially for me. As he began to sing a crowd formed a circle around us. Everyone was stopped dead in their tracks so they could hear his beautiful voice, and I couldn’t hold back the tears as he sang Amazing Grace to me. His voice was so perfect and he sang with such emotion. Words really can’t describe how honored and blessed I felt at that moment. I later learned that the young boy who sang to me was severely Autistic. I left the park that day feeling very encouraged and I can’t wait to come back with my sister Simone. She is going to love it!
