Heb Hedfan?
Heb Hedfan is Welsh for “without flying”, which makes it the perfect name for an immersive land within a theme park that invites you into the world of flightless, wingless fairies. Inspired by the struggles I witnessed on trips to theme parks with my brother, who has autism, Heb Hedfan was born to help fill the empty space left by theme parks when it comes to inclusivity. Through seeing how the fairies tackle obstacles and achieve success, Heb Hedfan strives to make children with and without disabilities feel inspired to accomplish their dreams.
Target Audience.
The target audience is young people with disabilities, ages 2-16, as well as their families or caretakers.
Deliverables.
Experience Design
Illustration
Design Research
Case Study
But why is an inclusive theme park important?
Starting from the basics, there’s something called the effort-recovery model, created by Meijman & Mulder in 1998. It states that when an individual is subjected to stressors, the stressors must be removed at some point in order to promote recovery. If these stressors are not removed and recovery doesn’t take place, negative physiological and psychological effects may occur. It is hard to remove stressors from the life of someone with disabilities, especially when the activities these individuals enjoy doing for leisure aren’t inclusive by their design as they do not take into account limitations individuals with disabilities may have. In a quick Google search, you would only find a handful of theme parks that boast inclusivity as part of their values. This is why Heb Hedfan is important, as it has the potential to bring an inclusive themed land experience to children across the world.
Is a fairy without wings really a fairy?
Well, of course! The fairies of Heb Hedfan are fairies in every sense of the word…well except for the flying part. But they are the size of a grown man’s pinky finger, communicate with their fellow forest creatures, and have other special powers unique to each individual. During your trip, you should expect to be fed by the famous Momma Mae, meet everyone’s favorite squirrel, Wynston, and maybe even catch a glimpse of the fairy queen when she visits. Don’t worry about accessibility. From making sure all the pathways are plenty wide enough, to making sure all activities are doable no matter what your means of navigating the village are, the fairies have made sure that their village is accessible and welcoming to all.
It’s time for a ride. Wynston’s Wacky Ride.
The fairies are more than excited about your arrival at Heb Hedfan. Since they don’t have wings, they’ve enlisted the help of forest creatures for transportation and they already have their favorite forest friend, Wynston, ready to take you on a tour. You eye the tiny wooden cart attached to his back with slight distrust but the fairies quickly convince you that nothing could go wrong. Things start off normal on your tour, with Wynston pulling you at a leisurely pace past the stables, however, you can tell Wynston is a little distracted. Suddenly he catches a whiff of something sweet…
Wynston’s Wacky Ride is wheel chair friendly.
BANG!
The next thing you know, you’re flying around corners and through the main street. Wynston keeps pulling the cart, running full speed towards the back of a building.
Crash! Wynston runs straight through the wall, freeing himself from the harness so that he may devour fresh pastries in the middle of the sweet shop. Beca, the owner of the sweet shop, smiles kindly at you but shakes her head disappointedly at Wynston. Well, he can’t eat all the pastries, so now you are free to marvel at what is left over.
And marvel you do.
You feel your mouth begin to water as your eyes wander over decorative plates of pastries. Stepping up to the glass countertops, you gaze upon a plethora of different allergy-friendly and diet-friendly cookies, cupcakes, and more! You glance back at Wynston, cautious of the sweets-loving giant, but Beca assures you that he meant no harm and hands you a small pastry to apologize for your wacky tour. You chuckle, looking back over your shoulder to see a group of fairies trying to lure Wynston back to the stables with pastries in hand.
One of the fairies invites you along to Wynston & Friend’s Sensory Stable.
As you enter the stables, you are met with various critters, all as big as Wynston. Natural light filters in through cracks in the tree bark structure and birds, ladybugs, chipmunks, and more all reside in the stalls within the stables. Gwen, the head stablehand, hands you a brush and tells you that there’s no better way to get acquainted with the creatures than to give them a nice brushing. You look around, unsure of where to start, but you know you’re in for a multi-sensory, tactilely diverse experience.
The robin you are brushing lays an egg.
Owen introduces himself as the head of the Hatchery and proceeds to hurriedly direct you there, excited to show you his pride and joy. Upon entering, you notice giant eggs lined up against the walls, all in tiny nests. He urges you to pick an egg, saying that any fairy, even honorary, should have a forest companion. You pick up an egg that seems to have been calling out to you, but you stumble a little as you didn’t expect it to be as heavy as it is. Owen helps stabilize you while explaining that the creatures are heavy in case they need to calm you down. He leads you over to an odd contraption that he calls a “hatching machine” and after a little magic, your new forest friend is born!
The Hatchery features weighted plushies, ready to go home with all guests.
Weighted items are known tools for anxiety relief.
“You must be hungry.”
Your stomach betrays you by emitting a loud grumble as Owen makes his observation. You both chuckle and Owen’s face lights up. “Momma Mae must be dying to meet you at this point”, Owen states excitedly. You look at him a little unsure, wondering if he’s talking about his mom. “Momma Mae is like a mom to all of us, she makes sure we’re all fed and happy!”, Owen explains. Owen continues to share that the seating on the first floor and outside is for fairies on the go, while upstairs is for longer, seated meals. Expecting to find comfort food, you quickly explain to Owen that you have dietary restrictions and can’t eat certain things. He assures you that that’s not an issue, you’ll find plenty of options that work with any dietary restriction and allergy. You’ll even find things like color-changing tea and other magical options.
“I’m so sorry. We must go to The Dressery!”
You find yourself drenched, on the ground. A fairy holding a now-empty acorn cap looks down at you, horrified. She apologizes profusely and lends you a hand to get up. Once up, you look down at your now-soaked clothing. She insists that you must go to the Dressery and she offers to lead you. Once arrived, the fairy waves at the shopkeeper and proceeds to find a new set of clothes for you. You notice that the clothes she hands you don’t have tags on the collar, that some of the clothes in the store have velcro instead of buttons and others have seams down the back. You ask the fairy why and she happily responds, “We make clothing for everyone!”
The fairy notices that you’re still overwhelmed.
You two walk on the main street for a little, before she pulls you off towards a small cavern in a tree. Before you can question her, the fairy explains that this is what they call a “calming cove”. You walk in with her and notice the calm, cool lighting, plush surfaces, and a small ladybug quietly sitting in the corner. You ask about the ladybug. The fairy looks at you happily. “That’s one of our helpful critters, he can help anyone calm down if their anxiety gets too bad”, she replies. You two both sit down and spend a little time in the cove until you feel well enough to leave.
Helpful critters are trained therapy animals, dressed in forest creature costumes, that remain in the park to help guests in times of need. They are also accompanied by trained staff members.
“It's the Fairy Queen’s visit!” she excitedly replied.
You had asked the fairy why everyone was bustling around, and since you have some free time, you continue to ask if you can help with anything. The fairy gratefully takes you up on your offer and you spend the next hour hanging up decorations and laughing and joking with new friends. Suddenly, you hear woodwind instruments in the distance. It’s dusk now and fireflies twinkle in the dimming light. All the fairies begin moving to the edges of the street so you follow. You lean over and ask the fairy next to you what is happening. “The parade!”, he excitedly squeaks.
View the complete research and story document here.
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