Behind the Seeds + Bug Phobia

[SheHulk]

We booked the Behind the Seeds tour for our December trip. DS has been wanting to do this tour for a while, he is very interested in plants and horticulture. However, I read a review of the tour today and they mentioned the opportunity to release bugs into a plant area? DS has a real bug phobia. He is a teenager and won't go into It's a Bug's Life no matter what, though he is not afraid of thrill rides or anything. It's pretty severe. Anybody been on this tour and experienced "releasing bugs"? Can anyone provide more detail? Can the bugs go near you? What kind of bugs? I may cancel if it would upset him, we are doing this tour for him. TIA.

 

[1lilspark]

We didn’t release any bugs but took the tour a year ago and one of the stops was the entomology lab

 

[lovethattink]

I remember seeing one or 2 insects in the sand. If there was a bug release, I don't remember it.

 

[ars0525]

I did the tour in January 2016 & we did nothing with the bugs. Didn't touch any, didn't release any. Now there may have been a bug or 2 along the tour we saw or talked about, but he can avoid it or stay in the back of the group for that part. Also flat out tell the CM leading the tour at the start he wants nothing to do with bugs & please give a heads up if it's coming so he can avoid it. He's going to love the tour. I have no green thumb or gardening experience other than admiring pretty flowers & I thought it was a great tour!

 

[SheHulk]

Thank you everyone! If there is a stop at a bug lab I wonder if we can just stay outside for that bit. I will definitely let them know when we sign in that purposeful contact with bugs is a no-go for us. We live in the woods and bugs are always around but being exposed to a swarm or something really big and icky would defeat the purpose of the tour, having fun. Sounds like that's not what's going on.

 

[matheke]

When we did this some folks were offered the chance to release ladybugs onto the plants.

 

[marmar]

We did an animal kingdom tour (don’t remember which one, we’ve done so many) and they let anyone who was interested the chance to feed meal worms to the weaver birds. Strictly voluntary. I’ve fed meal worms to birds before, but I was surprised when I reached into the cup and they were alive and wiggly. Of course you had to have plastic glove. The birds came fast and ate them very quickly. I didn’t have time to feel the wiggly.

 

[SheHulk]

When we did this some folks were offered the chance to release ladybugs onto the plants.

hmmm can you give more detail like a) how many were there? b) do they swarm all around you, or head right to the plants? and c) could you avoid it if you were on the tour and didn't want to be near them?

 

[SheHulk]

We did an animal kingdom tour (don’t remember which one, we’ve done so many) and they let anyone who was interested the chance to feed meal worms to the weaver birds. Strictly voluntary. I’ve fed meal worms to birds before, but I was surprised when I reached into the cup and they were alive and wiggly. Of course you had to have plastic glove. The birds came fast and ate them very quickly. I didn’t have time to feel the wiggly.

no thank you lol!

 

[DVC Jen]

We released lady bugs. It was a very low key release. Our oldest DD also has a bug phobia so she didn't participate. I can't even remember them flying. We literally had to put them on plants. He could easily just stand back and everything will be fine.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

He sees more bugs walking outside than he will ever see in BTST.

 

[NavyDad]

There is one room they have some bugs in tanks but you don't touch them. Honestly you have to lean over close to even see them. You could just easily stand on the other side of the room. Didn't see or release any bugs inside the greenhouse areas. Honestly there are probably a lot more bugs just walking to the land than inside the tour area.

 

[SheHulk]

Thank you everyone this sounds pretty do-able and I feel better about it. I will definitely make sure I mention it at check in though. I knew the disboards would have all the facts

 

[dakotix]

We've done this tour 3x. No bug release as far as I remember. And I think the bugs they are referring to are just lady bugs.

 

[randumb0]

I did the tour yesterday and didn't release any bugs. We went into an entomology room to look at wasps but I'd imagine you can skip the room

 

[autismmom1]

We released lady bugs and this was several years ago. I do think they asked if there were volunteers, so the ones that didn't want to just stood back.

 

[DisneyOma]

They give you vials of ladybugs to release.

If he doesn't like bugs, stay away from any of the flowering bushes at WDW - they are full of bugs!

There were tons of little flying bugs on the ferry from the T&T parking lot to MK as well.