Young man with autism sees off the Snow White ride at Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World's Snow White's Scary Adventure ride had its final run this weekend, a casualty of a renovation that will see the erection of a new Fantasyland with a much more thrill-ride-like Snow White attraction. SWSA's greatest fan is Ben, a young man with autism, who had ridden it 3,451 times when the final weekend was at hand. His family brought him to WDW for SWSA's swan song, and rode it with him, accompanied by Disney employees (including one in character as Snow White; also including Ben's grandfather, who works at the park), who understood how important it was to him. Ben's father, Ron Miles, documented the event in a beautiful, moving post.

And then it was the moment of truth. We all exited the cart. Ken stood off at a respectable distance, allowing us to have this moment as a family. Robert collected his camera and set up to film Ben's last ride. We led Ben over to the loading zone, gave him a big hug, and then told him to go ahead. He looked a little confused at first, and then smiled in disbelief. With his iPod in one hand, a single earbud in his left ear, and with his camera in the other hand he embarked on the very last ride. We waved and blew him kisses as he rounded the wishing well, and then he was through the doors and completely gone.

I turned to Stacey and said, "There are cameras in there, right? There's somebody in a security room somewhere that can see everything that is happening?" "Nope!" she replied cheerfully, "but there are intrusion matts everywhere, and in any case the lap bar will keep him in the cart."

I looked at my watch, and then looked at the exit doors. Empty cart after empty cart paraded by, and I had visions of those doors opening to a cart empty but for an iPod and a camera perched on the front seat. The headlines the next day would read "Autistic Boy Disappears from Disney Ride". I imagined a vigniette several decades in the future, a grizzled old maintenance worker saying in hushed tones to a new employee, "...and to this day you can hear his ghost moaning in this building, mourning the loss of his favorite ride..."

Surely it had been three minutes by now, and still those doors steadfastly refused to open. I realized that I was holding my breath, as I noticed abstractly that Robert had set up his camera shot to get the perfect view of Ben's exit. Finally, after what seemed like hours, those doors swung open and there was my happy young man still clutching his iPod and his camera. We all let out a cheer as the mine cart rolled to a halt, and then Benjamin got big hugs all around.

SWSA Final Night - Prelude (via Neatorama)

(Image: Kevin Yee)

• [Matt Thompson]

  Dang it, why is there all this dust in my office, making my eyes tear up. 

  What a great story!

• [Michael Montoure]

  Correction: The father’s name is Ron Miles.

• [Ron Miles]

  Yes, I am Ben’s dad. My name is Ron Miles, that is my blog. Alan Philipson is an author acquaintance of mine, which is how his name winds up on the sidebar. Thank you for posting about us, I am more than a little starstruck right now…

  • [Cory Doctorow]

     Thanks Ron — sorry about the name mixup,

• [Nicky G]

  I love hearing about the Fantasyland erection.

• [johne2]

  Ron, best to you and thanks for sharing the story.  Hope Ben’s ok with his favorite ride going away.

  • [Ron Miles]

     Yeah, he’s not so much ok with it. But it’s a good learning tool to help him work through difficult emotions, and also in the long run it’s good to free him from that obsession. It will be alright, he just needs some time to learn how to deal with it.

• [Sekino]

  Very touching story. Aw man, they ought to keep it open, for the lad… After all, they are supposed to be the happiest place on Earth…

  Just make room by axing the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride ;)

• [Kelly Cannon De Borda]

  I feel a lot like Ben. Wish I’d been able to make it home to Florida for one last ride. :’(

• [stuck411]

  Ron, thanks for sharing your story. 

• [Seriously]

  I too am traumatized by the over haul of Fantasy land.  (not to make lite of the young man’s feelings, I get that) But my inner child is a little despondent. That was my favorite ride as a kid too.  And the walk through Sleeping Beauty’s Castle? Awesome.

• [Megan Taylor Watts]

  I love the story..though I’m sad for Ben that his favorite ride has closed down! I also have a Ben too that has Autism. I’m so glad he got to be the last one to ride!

• [Mike Harris]

  For people who want to read all of Ron’s stuff together in one go on their e-reader, here’s a “Readlist” for it (a Readability ePub):

  http://readlists.com/e3091839/

• [ChickieD]

  I was touched by your blog post, Ron. I know for people with autistic kids that seeing them genuinely happy and engaged at the appropriate time and place is not something you get enough of. It was beautiful to read not only that your son had this wonderful experience, not only that so many people came together to make this day special for him, but also that you and your wife got to have this fantasy day as parents of seeing your son able to sustain these emotions over a period of time and stay connected to the people around him. I love the pictures of Ben smiling. It was really beautiful, and kudos to Disney for making magic.