Disney's Negativity to Overweight Kids :-(

I don't see why this is so upsetting to you really, Disney has had this type of thing for years.  I took my son there from the time he was 1 until he refused to go anymore when he was 16.  Epcot had Food Rocks, which is pretty much the same idea.  See the description below:

Food Rocks - Food Rocks opened i***** and was themed around rock 'n' roll, with many of its characters impersonating real singers and musicians. Whereas Kitchen Kabaret had fully sculpted animatronics, the majority of Food Rock's animatronics were flatter with less dimension.

 

Led by Fud Wrapper (a nutrition wrapper), the show had 12 acts: The U-Tensils, The Peach Boys, The Refrigerator Police, Pita Gabriel, Fud Wrapper, Keep it Lean, Tuti Fruiti, Neil Mousaka, Chubby Cheddar, The Junk Food, Moderation (Just a Little Bit), and a finale. The lobby area featued billboards and a small hands-on nutrition area with smell boxes. Food Rocks shut down in 2004, forever ending the Audio-Animatronics food shows.

Sure, Disney is a hypocrite for saying "be healthy" while they push out all this sugar and refined-carb food with partners like Nabisco, etc.  And sure, kids should feel good about themselves.  Not sure about the photograph thing being a good idea.

Regardless, I think overall this is a step in the right direction.  Basic nutrition is barely, if at all, taught in schools, and often never really taught at home unless you had pretty good parents.  I went off to college without understanding all of this stuff they're mentioning:
- The effects of eating quickly
- The effects of snacking in relation to mealtimes
- The effect of a high sugar diet
- The effect of a highly-refined diet
- The effect of a life devoid of exercise
- Balancing diets and making smarter food decisions

I never got exposure to any of that!  I think it's great, and kids are definitely going to be more engaged at a place like Disney than being lectured at in a classroom or reading a pamphlet in the doctor's office.  Hell, my family's food choices were dictated by one thing:  coupons!  If it was cheap, we bought it.  So it was super sugary cereals and cardboard-like carb-full granola bars for me as a kid.

As far as the crying - I don't know about you, but vacations for me as an obese child certainly weren't some magical getaway in fairyland where I was able to escape shaming, humiliation, and stigmatization - even when I was vacationing at DisneyWorld with my family!  I sure brought enough shame with me to Florida, and my family didn't skimp on the humiliation while we were there (I don't know, do you think you can fit in that ride??)  

I'm not sure I agree on your premise that educating children about food choices equals "shaming kids into better health".  I certainly don't agree that we shouldn't engage children on these issues.  I mean, if someone is going to approach a subject like this with care and diplomacy, it's probably going to be Disney.  They put extreme effort into focusing on the child's experience.  Moreover, shielding children from nutritional information and lifestyle information is not the answer to the childhood obesity epidemic.  I'm just not convinced (yet) that this new Disney attraction is a "shameful" experience. 

You're certainly quite passionate on this subject, though.  It's nice you care so much.

How horrible of Disney to try to educate kids about healthy eating and exercise!!

I can't exactly decide how I feel about this. 

The fat part of me says it's horrible to make overweight children even more a target of humiliation.  On the other hand, we ARE a nation of Gluttons (overeating and eating too fast), of Lead Bottoms (not getting enough exercise), and Snackers (too much fatty processed foods).  The truth hurts, but that IS the truth. 

Is Disney the one to call us out on it?  No, as their doing so is nothing short of hypocritical with the foods they push.

What would I do if I still had young children? Take the message from Disney and offer my children a healthier vacation overall.  Instead of lining the Disney coffers, I'd pack my kids up and spend our vacations camping/hiking/touring some of the fabulous State and National Parks we are lucky to have here in the USA.  Ours grew up visiting parks as far north as Alaska and as far south as Georgia, and everywhere in between, never once did we take them to Disney, and I don't think they missed a thing.

Whatever you want to do for your vacation is yours to decide.

My overall point was that if Disney wants to push health, there are plenty of healthy alternatives to Disney for vacations.

Sorry your son became ill.  Lyme's can be horribly debilitating.  Bad things can happen anywhere. 

After reading the OP, I did some research online.As a former super morbidly obese person, I was surprisingly offended by the concept of this attraction. It appears a number of professionals in the physical and mental health fields were also very upset by it. 

This was nothing more than a venue for people to further degrade the obese.  If Disney were actually teaching kids something about health and nutrition, it would be wonderful. This certainly wasn't that.

Fortunately, I just read on another Disney message board that the attraction has been closed "for improvements." Let's hope they really do improve it.

check out "outward bound" for a vacation next year,

They closed the exhibit for now....

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/disneys-habit-heroes-accused-fat-shaming-232300194.html