The Hold Land Experience - Orlando

On Wednesday, February 3, Jack, Derek and I went to the "Holy Land". In central Orlando is the Christian's answer to Disney. We were blessed by the day, especially the Passion Play which took place outdoors on a clear and sunny day. The depiction of Christ's arrest, torture and agony on the cross were moving and realistic - one realizes the terible suffering of our Saviour for our sins - the awful price that needed to be paid and the triumph over Satan and death that Easter and the resurrection signify.
But our day did not start well. We were told at the gate that they did not have interpreters, scripts, closed captioning devices or flashlights for dark places to accomodate deaf people. I was willing to interpret for Derek through the day but the first presentation we went to -"The Tabernacle in the Desert" - was done in almost total darkness (which was not explained to us ahead of time) and Derek did not get anything out of it at all. Other performances - The birth of Christ, The Centurion and the Passion play - were done outside and I had to find a place to the side to interpret for Derek. Each presentation was very well done but I could not always hear the dialogue or singing and there was not a script available for me to use to interpret from. Much more work needs to be done to make this good place accessible to the deaf - just down the road at Disney, they have done things well - hope they check it out and follow what they have done - I wrote a note to them as we left the park.