I have mixed feelings about going :(
The heat and large crowds and all the light and sound is gonna be so exhausting, I just hope I can find a relatively quiet place to be if it's too much
Idk if I wanna go at all but I'm visiting family and they take me not coming to these places as an offense to them for some reason (they make me feel bad about this)
If I catch COVID that would really fucking suck. I will wear a mask but no one else does anymore 
I love theme parks partially because rides but also I just love looking at a carefully designed environment. The theming details but also the logistics. How do staff get around? How do they design queues, do they try to make it hard to see how much line is left?
Disney is particularly fun for this because they try to hide stuff out of sight so there are hidden doors or doors that look fake but actually go behind the scenes. Since covid Disney’s prices have fucking skyrocketed though it’s absurd.
I hate Disney as a company, but goddamn the engineering that goes into Disney theme parks is absolutely insane. A good theme park makes engineering magic.
Some theme parks these days have “sensory break” areas for neurodivergent, or otherwise easily overstimulated, people to decompress. And if it’s mostly outdoors, the chances of catching COVID is low.
Ohh, I think I saw one of those! It was some door with a puzzle piece on it (unlimited destruction on Autism Speaks, etc). It did become too much at a point but I just found some relatively quiet place and chilled there for a bit, wasn't certain what the door was or if staff would bother me about it cuz I didn't call ahead or something
Now I know though, thank you
I have these ear buds that cancel out noise while playing music and I can add background noise back in gradually, so I can hear what’s going on and people next to me talking, but it is less intense and I can block it out again if I need to. I usually put on some kind of white noise because I also have Tinnitus.
They were a godsend when I brought them to my child’s school concert, which was in a school gymnasium.
Niceeee, I need to get some of those lol
Being able to control the level of background noise sounds amazing
I also despise theme parks, sorry that's the chosen activity your family chose. I always offered to sit with everyone's stuff so I wouldn't have to go on rides and give me an excuse to sit on a bench or something nearby. I also bring a small stim toy everywhere now to help with stress, and ear plugs or wireless headphones have been a godsend in public spaces since they're low profile and can easily be kept in a pocket. Stay hydrated out there comrade, hopefully it won't be too crazy.
It was okay! Somehow I stayed hydrated too lol
https://hexbear.net/comment/5039115
I'm a bit late, but I know a lot of theme parks have accessibility programs that give you alternate ways of waiting in lines for rides like virtual queues while you hang in quieter areas and stuff, definitely something to look into for future trips
hope today's trip has been going well despite it all
I am absolutely exhausted now but it was okay, not into rollercoasters but they had some other cool stuff (would tell you more but it's too specific and would give away where I am sadly)
The crowds and noise and heat were quite awful but someone in my family gave me some Xanax lmao, so it was bearable
Thank you for the info, will look into that for next time
If the sun is shining, you should be okay without a mask outside, unless there are constantly people less than 2 feet away from you.
Sadly it was extremely busy and there were people less than 2 ft from me like half the time
I wore a mask but literally no one else did (among probably thousands and thousands of people), now we wait and see if I lost the deadly-and-disabling-virus-catching lottery
If there was no wind and it was cloudy and everyone was shouting or singing or talking loudly all the time, then maybe a 2-10% chance. Indoors it would be 10-50%, depending on circumstances.
