WheeledTraveler
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
I was in Orlando for a conference (the Ubuntu Developer Summit) about 2 weeks ago now, which ended up turning into extending my trip so I could do a few days at Disney! I wanted to give an overview of stuff especially as for the bits I was in a hotel, it was a hotel that no one here seemed to have any info on.
A bit of background on me: I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome with the extra fun of cervical instability. I am not particularly good, however, about listening to things like ride warnings and I'm a sensory seeker so go on things which probably aren't the best idea. I transfer decently well especially when I'm full of adrenaline (which is what Disney tends to do since it's such a rare treat for me
) For this trip I rented a powerchair from Apple scooters for the conference, but had no way to transport it later on when I moved to staying with friends while going to Disney. Instead the friend who was with me did a bunch of pushing. While I've been at Disney once before since I started using a wheelchair, the last trip was mostly for a taewkondo competition so this was more of my first experience really doing WDW as a wheelchair user.
Apple Scooters:
I was generally pretty happy with them. The wheelchair was waiting there and clearly marked with my name when I got there. It was a Pride Jazzy Select. There was a rip in one of the armrests, but otherwise it was in fairly good shape. I did have a battery discharge issue where once it started telling me it didn't have full power, it was down to just about no power within 10 minutes. I could have gotten it replaced, but since most of my usage was at the conference where it wasn't an issue, I didn't bother. I did make sure Apple knew about the issue.
Caribe Royale Hotel & Conference Center:
General consensus from people at my conference (including me) is that we loved this hotel. It's clean, pretty design and seemed to be well run. the hotel is fairly spread out. There's a tower with the lobby, bar, and restaurants, 3 towers of suites, 5 buildings with villas in them, and a large conference center. There are also 2 pools. The main one is open to everyone and includes a water slide, waterfalls, and 2 hot tubs. There's also a smaller one that's for people staying in the villas only. There are also basketball and tennis courts and a fitness center. Unfortunately, none of the pools have zero entry or the bump steps down.
In all of the public bathrooms (at least on the ladies' side of things), the accessible stall included a sink and everything and plenty of room for a wheelchair. And there are many bathrooms in the main building and the conference center.
One thing to note is that the accessible suites only come with one king sized bed and a fold out couch. I was sponsored to the conference (aka, they paid my way) so they were expecting me to share a room with someone. Unfortunately, my roommate has back problems so couldn't sleep on the couch. What ended up happening was that the conference sponsor put us in a villa instead of a suite. The suite was incredibly nice. The accessible (roll-in) shower was in the 2nd bedroom and large and well set-up. The master bedroom had a jacuzzi along with a large shower. There was a washer/dryer set, full kitchen with dishwasher, and balcony/patio. Ours was ground floor and our building didn't have an elevator, but one of the other villa buildings did have an elevator so there may be accessible villas on other floors.
The only frustrating accessibility-related thing I had at this hotel: to get into the area with the main pool (from the villas this is also the most direct way to the registration building) you need to swipe a keycard either to walk through one of the towers or at one of their side gates. At the gates, the swipe thing was high up and at a very awkward angle to try to swipe and then get the gate open in time.
Disney:
I'm not going to talk through everything, but I wanted to mention things I thought might be important/interesting to other people that I haven't necessarily seen mentioned.
AK:
Kilimanjaro Safari: I wore my neck brace for this and was surprisingly fine.
train to Rafiki's Planet Watch: When we first boarded they asked if I could transfer, but not if my chair could fold. If your chair can't fold, for the purposes of the train you can't transfer. So we needed to wait for the next train (not a big deal, but I was out of it enough that I was only answering their question, not really thinking about the full picture)
Expedition Everest: I actually did well on this one because the seatbacks come up high and I did a good job bracing myself. I'd probably have felt a little more comfortable if there were shoulder harness things, but I was okay with the lap bar. Also of note, the car that opens for easy transfer on this ride is the very last one.
DHC:
Journey into Narnia Prince Caspian: This was quite honestly a waste of my time. There was no place I could have been in it where I could see all the screens needed and not be blocked by other people standing. I was quite frustrated (and, yes, we followed directions for where I was supposed to be) because really I spent 15 minutes looking at other people's rear ends.
Otherwise everything I did in DHC was good.
EPCOT:
Most things were good.
Test Track: This was probably the hardest ride on me, It's like a rough car ride. Actually the end with the speed was the easiest bit on me. Otherwise I just had to keep myself braced.
Spaceship Earth: I found this really clicky and jarring on me; moreso than most of the rides.
Problematic CM behaviour: Leaving EPCOT one night, we were walking through the area by Innovations and past one of the CM selling the big bouncy balls. The guy thought it was somehow a good idea to through it directly at my side/shoulder. (One of my friends was pushing me, but I wasn't facing the CM at all). It bounced off and I proceeded to point out how inappropriate it was to throw the ball at anyone not prepared to catch it, but also that I have a chronic pain condition and it'd actually hurt. I still have no idea how the guy thought it was at all an appropriate thing to do. I need to also write a letter to Disney, but haven't had a chance since I got back. This was probably the single worst bit of my trip and certainly the part that has me most angry.
MK:
Most things were good.
Pirates: They didn't even ask if I could transfer to one of their wheelchairs and let me stay through the line in my manual chair.
Buzz Lightyear: One of the CMs mentioned to us that they used to have 2 accessible ride cars, but now only have one. He wasn't sure what had happened, but definitely wished they had both back.
IASW: The new boarding procedures
Haunted Mansion: This wasn't so much of a direct disability related issue, but more of a crowd control issue. While we were in line for Haunted Mansion it started pouring. As a result the people leaving the ride started refusing to clear the exit and were staying under the awning. Not only did this mean that they had trouble bringing us in through the exit to board, but it meant that they ultimately had to shut down the ride for a while because they couldn't clear the exit enough to be able to load new riders and know that they could exit. IMO that's a bit ridiculous that people wouldn't just go out in the rain. While I know some of the people might have had legit reasons why getting that wet would be dangerous, I highly doubt even the majority of the probably 100 people refusing to go into the rain couldn't have dealt with it long enough to get to one of the shops or other places with shelter nearby.
Wheelchair issue: Leaving Haunted Mansion (in the soaking rain) one of my casters hit the cobbles badly and the rubber came off the caster. Unfortunately because of the rain issue, I'm not sure I got the level of help as I might have. I ended up sitting out in the rain on the ledge by some stalls just past where stroller parking is for HM and the friend I was with went to find a CM to help. My friend came back with a courtesy chair and the instructions that we'd been told to find someone from maintenance to see if they could help since all we really needed was for the rubber to be popped back on the metal bit of the caster. Unfortunately at that point we were on our own. So my friend had to push my chair while I tried to self-propel in the courtesy chair (I'm 5'4" and my shoulders tend to dislocate, it was not easy) to where we could get help. At the point that a CM in the Trading Post called for maintenance and came out to see if he could help me (it was too crowded inside/under the porch roof for me to manage the courtesy wheelchair if I'd even been able to get it up which I'm not sure I could have so I'd stayed out in the rain still), a random guest stopped and helped and we got the rubber popped back on the caster. Not an end of world experience, but at that point I was just about at shock levels of wet and I was pretty annoyed and tired and wet. Annoyance level went up trying to get somewhere for a hot drink because people just would not move in case they somehow got wetter by moving for 20 seconds so I could get by.
So I think that's about everything from my trip. I had a lot of fun. Sorry it's such a long post and well done to anyone who has read all of it!
A bit of background on me: I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome with the extra fun of cervical instability. I am not particularly good, however, about listening to things like ride warnings and I'm a sensory seeker so go on things which probably aren't the best idea. I transfer decently well especially when I'm full of adrenaline (which is what Disney tends to do since it's such a rare treat for me
) For this trip I rented a powerchair from Apple scooters for the conference, but had no way to transport it later on when I moved to staying with friends while going to Disney. Instead the friend who was with me did a bunch of pushing. While I've been at Disney once before since I started using a wheelchair, the last trip was mostly for a taewkondo competition so this was more of my first experience really doing WDW as a wheelchair user.Apple Scooters:
I was generally pretty happy with them. The wheelchair was waiting there and clearly marked with my name when I got there. It was a Pride Jazzy Select. There was a rip in one of the armrests, but otherwise it was in fairly good shape. I did have a battery discharge issue where once it started telling me it didn't have full power, it was down to just about no power within 10 minutes. I could have gotten it replaced, but since most of my usage was at the conference where it wasn't an issue, I didn't bother. I did make sure Apple knew about the issue.
Caribe Royale Hotel & Conference Center:
General consensus from people at my conference (including me) is that we loved this hotel. It's clean, pretty design and seemed to be well run. the hotel is fairly spread out. There's a tower with the lobby, bar, and restaurants, 3 towers of suites, 5 buildings with villas in them, and a large conference center. There are also 2 pools. The main one is open to everyone and includes a water slide, waterfalls, and 2 hot tubs. There's also a smaller one that's for people staying in the villas only. There are also basketball and tennis courts and a fitness center. Unfortunately, none of the pools have zero entry or the bump steps down.
In all of the public bathrooms (at least on the ladies' side of things), the accessible stall included a sink and everything and plenty of room for a wheelchair. And there are many bathrooms in the main building and the conference center.
One thing to note is that the accessible suites only come with one king sized bed and a fold out couch. I was sponsored to the conference (aka, they paid my way) so they were expecting me to share a room with someone. Unfortunately, my roommate has back problems so couldn't sleep on the couch. What ended up happening was that the conference sponsor put us in a villa instead of a suite. The suite was incredibly nice. The accessible (roll-in) shower was in the 2nd bedroom and large and well set-up. The master bedroom had a jacuzzi along with a large shower. There was a washer/dryer set, full kitchen with dishwasher, and balcony/patio. Ours was ground floor and our building didn't have an elevator, but one of the other villa buildings did have an elevator so there may be accessible villas on other floors.
The only frustrating accessibility-related thing I had at this hotel: to get into the area with the main pool (from the villas this is also the most direct way to the registration building) you need to swipe a keycard either to walk through one of the towers or at one of their side gates. At the gates, the swipe thing was high up and at a very awkward angle to try to swipe and then get the gate open in time.
Disney:
I'm not going to talk through everything, but I wanted to mention things I thought might be important/interesting to other people that I haven't necessarily seen mentioned.
AK:
Kilimanjaro Safari: I wore my neck brace for this and was surprisingly fine.
train to Rafiki's Planet Watch: When we first boarded they asked if I could transfer, but not if my chair could fold. If your chair can't fold, for the purposes of the train you can't transfer. So we needed to wait for the next train (not a big deal, but I was out of it enough that I was only answering their question, not really thinking about the full picture)
Expedition Everest: I actually did well on this one because the seatbacks come up high and I did a good job bracing myself. I'd probably have felt a little more comfortable if there were shoulder harness things, but I was okay with the lap bar. Also of note, the car that opens for easy transfer on this ride is the very last one.
DHC:
Journey into Narnia Prince Caspian: This was quite honestly a waste of my time. There was no place I could have been in it where I could see all the screens needed and not be blocked by other people standing. I was quite frustrated (and, yes, we followed directions for where I was supposed to be) because really I spent 15 minutes looking at other people's rear ends.
Otherwise everything I did in DHC was good.
EPCOT:
Most things were good.
Test Track: This was probably the hardest ride on me, It's like a rough car ride. Actually the end with the speed was the easiest bit on me. Otherwise I just had to keep myself braced.
Spaceship Earth: I found this really clicky and jarring on me; moreso than most of the rides.
Problematic CM behaviour: Leaving EPCOT one night, we were walking through the area by Innovations and past one of the CM selling the big bouncy balls. The guy thought it was somehow a good idea to through it directly at my side/shoulder. (One of my friends was pushing me, but I wasn't facing the CM at all). It bounced off and I proceeded to point out how inappropriate it was to throw the ball at anyone not prepared to catch it, but also that I have a chronic pain condition and it'd actually hurt. I still have no idea how the guy thought it was at all an appropriate thing to do. I need to also write a letter to Disney, but haven't had a chance since I got back. This was probably the single worst bit of my trip and certainly the part that has me most angry.
MK:
Most things were good.
Pirates: They didn't even ask if I could transfer to one of their wheelchairs and let me stay through the line in my manual chair.
Buzz Lightyear: One of the CMs mentioned to us that they used to have 2 accessible ride cars, but now only have one. He wasn't sure what had happened, but definitely wished they had both back.
IASW: The new boarding procedures
Haunted Mansion: This wasn't so much of a direct disability related issue, but more of a crowd control issue. While we were in line for Haunted Mansion it started pouring. As a result the people leaving the ride started refusing to clear the exit and were staying under the awning. Not only did this mean that they had trouble bringing us in through the exit to board, but it meant that they ultimately had to shut down the ride for a while because they couldn't clear the exit enough to be able to load new riders and know that they could exit. IMO that's a bit ridiculous that people wouldn't just go out in the rain. While I know some of the people might have had legit reasons why getting that wet would be dangerous, I highly doubt even the majority of the probably 100 people refusing to go into the rain couldn't have dealt with it long enough to get to one of the shops or other places with shelter nearby.
Wheelchair issue: Leaving Haunted Mansion (in the soaking rain) one of my casters hit the cobbles badly and the rubber came off the caster. Unfortunately because of the rain issue, I'm not sure I got the level of help as I might have. I ended up sitting out in the rain on the ledge by some stalls just past where stroller parking is for HM and the friend I was with went to find a CM to help. My friend came back with a courtesy chair and the instructions that we'd been told to find someone from maintenance to see if they could help since all we really needed was for the rubber to be popped back on the metal bit of the caster. Unfortunately at that point we were on our own. So my friend had to push my chair while I tried to self-propel in the courtesy chair (I'm 5'4" and my shoulders tend to dislocate, it was not easy) to where we could get help. At the point that a CM in the Trading Post called for maintenance and came out to see if he could help me (it was too crowded inside/under the porch roof for me to manage the courtesy wheelchair if I'd even been able to get it up which I'm not sure I could have so I'd stayed out in the rain still), a random guest stopped and helped and we got the rubber popped back on the caster. Not an end of world experience, but at that point I was just about at shock levels of wet and I was pretty annoyed and tired and wet. Annoyance level went up trying to get somewhere for a hot drink because people just would not move in case they somehow got wetter by moving for 20 seconds so I could get by.
So I think that's about everything from my trip. I had a lot of fun. Sorry it's such a long post and well done to anyone who has read all of it!
