I worked at this magical place called Walt Disney World for a little under a year.

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I can't wait to go back to the place I solely call home.

That being said--it wasn't all 100% happy and magical moments. I deal with severe anxiety and depression. There were some days I honestly could not get myself out of bed.

I am also a a Universal Studios and Island of Adventure annual pass holder.

My girlfriend and I are huge Harry Potter lovers and when we do end up going to Universal we rarely ever leave our "Harry Potter bubble" as we call it. We are usually perfectly happy riding the same three to four rides all day and just relaxing, casting spells, drinking butterbeer, and eating ice cream.

Sometimes we will leave the bubble to ride rides such as those golden gems we do enjoy but we usually would rather stay in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

This past Tuesday we ventured out of our bubble to ride Skull Island: Reign of Kong. And let me tell you - it is the one time I was honestly disappointed in my favorite theme park.

Dealing with severe anxiety I do not like surprises or things popping out at me or people scaring me or anything like that.

I knew going into Kong that there would be scare actors -- but it's a brand new attraction that everyone was talking about, had been given AMAZING reviews on, and everyone was saying it had such ground breaking technology with its animatronics and it's trackless cars. So naturally I wanted to ride the attraction but I wanted to ride the attraction without having a full blown panic attack before I even got into the ride car.

But I also heard that Universal would accommodate the young children (especially since the height requirement is 36 inches--which is three feet--which is pretty young in my opinion). They also have a child swap--at the END of the que. When I was waiting in line there were BABIES in line with us, yes babies! Not only should they have accommodated the young children, child swap babies, but they should also accommodate those with severe anxiety. Which is what I thought they would do when I heard they were getting scare actors about two months ago.

So you can imagine how appalled I was when I walked up to the Team Members working the attraction when they told me they couldn't accommodate me. I even told them I would willingly wait longer than the posted 45 minute wait--I just didn't want to be anxious.

Their "solution" was that there are no scare actors in the single rider line and that's the line I should take but that I would be separated from my girlfriend.
But OH wait- I have separation anxiety and I never go through the single rider line- because I never like to be separated from my party!!

So I asked the Team Member exactly where the scare actors were so I could at least know where they were and I could brace myself, because I still wanted to at least ride this ride once, and my girlfriend was REALLY excited about this ride and I wanted her to enjoy it. The Team Member than told me, he didn't "remember" where the scare actors were, and ASSURED ME, I would be okay. Assured me. Also- you work there, when I worked at Disney we walked through our line and our ride path every night at closing to make sure nothing was of the ordinary. So how can you tell me, you don't "remember" where they are?

I am in no way bashing Universal Studios, or anyone, or trying to say Walt Disney World is better, I'm just saying some experiences should be handled better.
For example, the stretching room at Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom- still gives me anxiety but it's a type of an anxiety I can handle.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure used to freak me out so bad because of my irrational fear of spiders. (I can't even watch Charlotte's Web)
The ride itself is better now to me considering I've rode it over a 100 times because of our lack of leaving our happy, magical bubble. But still, every guest reacts differently to different things, so never assure ANYONE that they will be okay!

So as I'm in the que line--these scare actors are all I can think about and I'm literally in the process of a full panic attack.

So I get to this fire like room which is visually gorgeous and the animatronic is A+ but they are loudly chanting and the lights go out and they screaming and it just fuels my anxiety more.

I wanted to break down and sob right there.

Than you turn the corner and it's this long narrow hallway--which conveniently enough has no cell service--so I can't even distract myself from my anxiety by watching Grav3yardgirl on YouTube which is one of the only things that calms me down oddly enough.

I'm trying to keep my cool because I know if you show your fear--they'll go after you.

These scare actors literally come from the left, from the right AND up above you.

There is absolutely no need for them to be in every single direction. Not only is it terrifying that they come from EVERYWHERE, but it's also incredibly anxiety driven that these people are popping out from out of nowhere- and you can not move because the hallway is so narrow and TINY. It isn't cool.

There is a reason I have NEVER gone to Halloween Horror Nights, and there is a reason I will never go. I didn't sign up for Halloween Horror Nights. I signed up for awesome, thrilling roller coasters that are occasionally scary, but groundbreaking.

This was useless. The que line was better than the actual ride. The ride and que are VERY well themed.

The ride was visually beautiful and that's all it had going for it.
It was a 80% screened ride with 3D glasses much like Spider-Man and Transformers.
But there was no wow factor.
The wow factor was the trackless ride system and how visually gorgeous it is. (And how realistic the Kong animatronic is!!)
The ride itself was merely mediocre and I wouldn't wait no more than 25 minutes for it again.

The que line was the wow factor Universal wanted.
The que line was the thrill people are seeking.

But that's not the kind of thrill that I and many other people are seeking.

Here is the warning sign for the ride:

It's very hard to read so I'll summarize it.

The top part literally says "Due to intense show effects and live interactions in the attraction que, parental discretion is advised."
THAN, it goes immediately into the description of the ride itself.

So it sounds like to me it's like "yeah this might scare you so we advise you have your parents- but instead of telling you more lets tell you about the ride!"
I don't know about you but that sounds shady to me.

I knew about the scare actors because I have friends that work at Universal and I keep up with all theme park news so I read about it all over social media.
And I wasn't the only one not happy about this que choice.

A family in front of me had NO IDEA about the scare actors and unfortunately their 11 year old daughter was spooked to the point I witnessed this young girl's panic attack. Her mother had to calm her down for quite a while.
But their 8 year old daughter LOVED it. It just shows there are 2 types of people in the world.

My girlfriend loves this kind of stuff and loves Halloween Horror Nights.
I hate it and I can't help but cry and shake at the thought of doing stuff like this.

If the scare actors were only on one side of the hallway, I think it would fix the issue a little bit. Than, the ones who don't care would be on side, and I could be safe on the other side of the hallway.

But what they should have done was have the Child Swap room at the front of the que- and it should also be available to anxiety driven people. I could go sit in the room while my party waits in line with the scare actors and they could have buzzers or something where you can meet them at the front with a simple themed hallway leading you there. Or if you are by yourself but anxiety driven of course you can go through the single rider line.

Or they could just have a separate line all together. My girlfriend merged lines for a whole year at her job and it would not be too terribly difficult to merge a separate line. The only issue would be to make sure that line waits just as long as the regular line because it would be unfair.

I think theme parks - not just certain ones- all theme parks needs to start realizing that anxiety is just as much as an illness as anything else. It could ruin your whole experience and day and it can also be potentially dangerous towards others, especially in the middle of an attack. Sometimes we need to accommodated for and we definitely need to be better warned. Warning signs just aren't cutting it these days and especially signs that do not give us all the information that we need.