Wilderness Explorers: How much do you have to talk to cast members?

[olafgypsy]

I have a four year old who is finally at a stage where he is really able to enjoy extended game / collecting things / scavenger hunt type activities. However, he also struggles with selective mutism, a social anxiety-related disorder in which he is unable to speak in certain situations and with people he does not know extremely well. Would he be able to participate in Wilderness Explorers enough to make it a fun and not anxiety-provoking experience for him? It seems like many of the badges require spoken interaction with a CM, and he would not be able to do that. But if there were enough badges we could do on our own, I think this would be right up his alley. Any experiences to share? Thanks in advance!

 

[BigredNole]

He will be fine. If he is OK to listen, he should not have any issue and they will give him a stamp anyway.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

It is the point of the experience to interact with the cast members. However, I agree with BigredNole, the cm's will try to guide the experience to the level of the child's ability. Just a note, I would step back and let him handle it himself the first time or two. Follow his lead. If your child doesn't seem to enjoy it, try one of the role playing games at MK instead. Have a great time!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

My DS10 has a social pragmatics disorder and an auditory processing disorder and we did the entire Wilderness Explorers book over the course of a few visits (this was a few years ago, so he was a bit younger and struggled even more than he does now). Yes, there is interaction, but I was always by his side and assisted him when he needed it (prompting him with responses or interpreting what the CM had said). The book is quite long and there are some activities that require less interaction than others, so you could always pick and choose the activities you think he would be most comfortable with. I agree with PP who suggested the games in MK as well. My DS enjoyed Wilderness Explorers but LOVED the Pirate Adventure (this one the most and do it at dusk if possible as the effects are pretty cool in the dark!) and Sorcerers in MK.

 

[pitpat]

We did WE with my daughter when she was 4. I knew at the time the cast members were good with kids, but when I was putting our photo book together after the trip, it became one of my favorite pages because every single one of them was down at her level talking to her. I bet they would make it a fun experience for your son.

 

[LilacGarden]

My daughter is 8 and we just did some of the activities a few weeks ago. Depending on the activity you may also be doing it with a group of kids who all get there at the same time. The CM in those cases would make it more of a discussion and some kids would talk while others would listen.

 

[olafgypsy]

This is really useful information -- thank you everyone! It sounds like there are many alternatives to this that I didn't know about, too! I think we will give it a try and see how he reacts to the first few and let his reaction guide us, as a previous poster suggested. If there are a lot of other kids doing it when we are I think it would actually go well as then he could sort of blend in to the crowd and not feel put "on the spot."