RobinsonFamily
<a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/" targ
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2000
We were also on the 7/7 Magic sailing (myself, DH, DD11 and DS7). My brother and his wife and 2 daughters, 12 and 15 were with us on the trip.
We had a terrific time thanks to the advice from this board: we were 3rd to board, our excursion form was first in the box, we had a wonderful brunch at Palo, we pre-arranged the Bayside horseback ride and seatrekkin', and my son especially enjoyed the children's program. However, our vacation ended Tuesday morning in St. Maartin.
We were on the beachside horseback ride (my brother, my 2 children and my 2 neices) feeling very lucky to have read about others' positive experiences with this activity and so glad we'd pre-arranged it, especially when we saw people being turned away. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into the ride the horses became spooked about something and 3 of them took off down the beach. My 2 children and another little girl from another family were fast disappearing from view. My horse was barely under control and I watched helplessly, not able to climb off the horse or chase the kids. The guide chased after the kids, but my daughter fell off her horse and snapped her radius bone near her wrist. My son was very scratched up when he fell, but luckily broke no bones. The other little girl managed to hang on and her horse ran back to the stables
My daughter and I travelled by ambulance to the hospital while my brother took the others back to the ship. It was decided at the hospital to stabilize her and head back to the ship where the medical staff confirmed the she needed surgery. They recommended having her treated at home. We had to fly home and our cruise was over. We had minutes to pack. Disney found us flights home by way of Puerto Rico and arranged for someone to meet us at the airport. When we got there, the plane was still on the ground, but they had closed the gate and refused to let us board. We then went back to the Magic, spent the night and flew back home the next afternoon from St. Thomas.
Upon landing in Indianapolis, we headed straight to emergency where my daughter's bone was finally set under anesthesia.
My children took horseback riding lessons in anticipation of riding in St. Maartin and the Bayside Riding Stables seemed to be highly recommended. It was a pretty scary, lousy way to end a vacation. I don't think we'll be horseback riding on vacation again, especially outside North America.
There was another disappointment. My daughter is deaf and we were asked by Disney to switch our reservations to this cruise because Disney had scheduled interpreters. The theatrical interpreters were incredibly talented and were an example of how wonderful Disney can do things. Unfortunately we were also assured that there were children's club staff that were able to sign and this turned out not to be the case. There was one teen counselor who had a childhood friend that was deaf and was able to help a couple of times, but he was barely able to explain the rules to a simple game, and certainly could not interpret the captain's talk or the stories. People may not be aware, but Disney is by law supposed to provide this kind of service and it saddens me that they are not more willing to do so, especially for kids.
I DO want to emphasize that we were having a blast on board and recommend the cruise highly. For the mostpart it was absolutely wonderful and we are very hopeful that we can try it again, but without the horses and with Disney meeting their obligation to make the children's programs accessible.
Thanks for everyone's contributions. It was neat being able to plan and anticipate and dream about the trip for so long with a group who was as excited as we were about the cruise. I'm thankful that my kids were not hurt any worse --- could've been a leg or a neck.
We had a terrific time thanks to the advice from this board: we were 3rd to board, our excursion form was first in the box, we had a wonderful brunch at Palo, we pre-arranged the Bayside horseback ride and seatrekkin', and my son especially enjoyed the children's program. However, our vacation ended Tuesday morning in St. Maartin.
We were on the beachside horseback ride (my brother, my 2 children and my 2 neices) feeling very lucky to have read about others' positive experiences with this activity and so glad we'd pre-arranged it, especially when we saw people being turned away. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into the ride the horses became spooked about something and 3 of them took off down the beach. My 2 children and another little girl from another family were fast disappearing from view. My horse was barely under control and I watched helplessly, not able to climb off the horse or chase the kids. The guide chased after the kids, but my daughter fell off her horse and snapped her radius bone near her wrist. My son was very scratched up when he fell, but luckily broke no bones. The other little girl managed to hang on and her horse ran back to the stables
My daughter and I travelled by ambulance to the hospital while my brother took the others back to the ship. It was decided at the hospital to stabilize her and head back to the ship where the medical staff confirmed the she needed surgery. They recommended having her treated at home. We had to fly home and our cruise was over. We had minutes to pack. Disney found us flights home by way of Puerto Rico and arranged for someone to meet us at the airport. When we got there, the plane was still on the ground, but they had closed the gate and refused to let us board. We then went back to the Magic, spent the night and flew back home the next afternoon from St. Thomas.
Upon landing in Indianapolis, we headed straight to emergency where my daughter's bone was finally set under anesthesia.
My children took horseback riding lessons in anticipation of riding in St. Maartin and the Bayside Riding Stables seemed to be highly recommended. It was a pretty scary, lousy way to end a vacation. I don't think we'll be horseback riding on vacation again, especially outside North America.
There was another disappointment. My daughter is deaf and we were asked by Disney to switch our reservations to this cruise because Disney had scheduled interpreters. The theatrical interpreters were incredibly talented and were an example of how wonderful Disney can do things. Unfortunately we were also assured that there were children's club staff that were able to sign and this turned out not to be the case. There was one teen counselor who had a childhood friend that was deaf and was able to help a couple of times, but he was barely able to explain the rules to a simple game, and certainly could not interpret the captain's talk or the stories. People may not be aware, but Disney is by law supposed to provide this kind of service and it saddens me that they are not more willing to do so, especially for kids.
I DO want to emphasize that we were having a blast on board and recommend the cruise highly. For the mostpart it was absolutely wonderful and we are very hopeful that we can try it again, but without the horses and with Disney meeting their obligation to make the children's programs accessible.
Thanks for everyone's contributions. It was neat being able to plan and anticipate and dream about the trip for so long with a group who was as excited as we were about the cruise. I'm thankful that my kids were not hurt any worse --- could've been a leg or a neck.