You & Me & the Wheelchair Makes Three! December 2011 PTR

[SeanofStarCommand]

Hey Sean, why are you writing a trip report?​

It was inevitable that this day would come. Since we began planning out first trip to Disney World in August 2009, my DGF & I (mostly her) have been glued to the DISboards. We read trip reports aloud before going to bed at night. I know what you're thinking: wow those two are crazy creepers. And I'll grant you it does sound bad, but I assure you it is all in the name of research.
Now, this will be our third trip in the past three years. Last year I swore I'd write a pre-trip report. When that didn't happen I swore that i'd write a trip report. I even got as far as writing things down in a notebook while there! (Okay, she wrote most of it on the plane back home.)

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But this year, THIS YEAR I WILL DO IT!!!
...and with only 6ish days left, I better start now!

The reason I am so convicted is because while travelling I use a manual wheelchair and I've noticed that most trip reports dealing with mobility issues are either children in wheelchairs or adults in ECVs. I believe that my experience, while not totally unique, may be able to help some others trying to navigate themselves (and their chair) through all four parks. I consider myself to be mostly-abled because I can stand, walk, climb stairs, etc. I just can't do any of it for very long due to my chronically annoying illness, Lupus.

Our Backstory​

As mentioned above, my name is Sean, 28, and, I'm from Massachusetts. In January of 2008, I was admitted to the hospital with heart and kidney failure, symptoms of a major Lupus flare. I was in the hospital for nearly a week and for the next year it seemed like every other day I was attending a different doctors appointment, refilling eight different pills, and sitting for hours in a hospital receiving intravenous treatments. Lucky the latter did not last for long and I slowly started to get better.
The day I rushed into the emergency room I called my supervisor at UPS to let him know why I wasn't coming in. I never returned to work as I was deemed disabled by my three doctors. Thus began the terrible task of applying to the government for social security disability. Clearly this was a lot for a 25 year old only a year out of college to handle.
But I did and most of that is thanks to this woman:

This is My DGF Amy, 33, who is a self proclaimed disney freak. She's tried numerous times to count the many, many times she went to Disney World and Disneyland as a child and just can't seem to figure out a solid number; she's estimating about 15.
I don't remember when we started talking about Disney World, but considering what our lives had been like for the past year and a half, it was clear we deserved a vacation. In 2009, Disney offered the free table service dining plan to those staying at value resorts. Now they offer the quick service plan to the values, so we were very lucky that year.
Nine weeks before our trip I had my first seizure and fractured my T10 vertebrae. We had tossed around the idea of me using a wheelchair before, but it didn't become real until that moment. This is also the reason we always get trip insurance: you never know what could happen.
Unfortunately with my computer crash we lost all the pictures from that trip, but know there were lots of happy faces in them.
After that trip we knew we wanted to go back but wanted to put a little space between experiences. Then in October of 2010, Amy found pieces of my hair on my pillow. This happens to some people with Lupus. I'm very lucky that my hair never completely fell out, just some unnoticeable spots here and there. Well, she became nervous about my health and in true life in the moment style, we booked a trip for December, just two months later.

This time our trip was during that week in December where Florida experienced record temperature lows. We still got to rope drop every morning but instead of shorts and t-shirts we were in two pairs of pants, multiple shirts, sweatshirts, track jackets, double socks, basically anything we could layer.

We still had a blast despite having to rip off all the layers when inside an attraction just to pile them all back on at the end. This made for very puffy pictures.

THIS YEAR​

After last years trip we swore we wouldn't go to Disney World again until at least 2012 when the new Fantasyland opened. We took a trip to Las Vegas in May, and while it was fun to experience something new, it wasn't Disney World. While accessible for the most part, Las Vegas was not built with wheelchairs in mind. I wore myself out one day because I truly believed it would be easier to just walk. I will never make that mistake ever again.
I don't remember when the Disney bug bit us again, but really I don't think it ever left. Once we heard that free dining was returning, there was no going back....well, actually..we were going back!
We are truly crazy people, because one month before we decided to return to Disney World we adopted a 10 week old puppy from the aptly named Disney Dog Rescue in Tennessee. (It was purely a coincidence, and even more of a coincidence that her name was, and stayed, Daisy.)

Free dining bookings started on August 3rd and my DGF called right at 7a EST. She was on the phone for two hours and forty minutes with no music while I compulsively checked the DISboards to find out if this was normal. Unfortunately the DISboards crashed due to so many people doing the same thing, so it took awhile for us to get confirmation that our situation was indeed normal.

We are staying at the All Star Movies resort from December 10th - 17th. Because the free dining promotion does not start until the 11th, we booked a room only reservation for December 10th followed by a separate package reservation starting December 11th and ending the 17th. This is our first time with a split stay. We originally needed to switch rooms but we received a call about a week later letting us know that we could stay put. Let's hope that's still the case!

This is the first time I will be travelling with my own wheelchair instead of renting one from Walker Mobility and picking it up at the resort. I have had great experience with them especially after last year when within an hour I broke a piece off the chair. In literally minutes they came to the resort and fixed it. I definitely recommend them to anyone looking to rent from an outside company. I am excited to not have to waste all my energy walking through MCO to the magical express. Instead I can coast along with all my bags in my lap.

This will also be the first time we are attending the Candlelight Processional. My DGF didn't realize exactly what it was last year when we were planning our trip and so when we found ourselves standing outside the America pavilion listening to the beautiful music wistfully, she decided if we ever had the chance we would see it. We are going to the 12/12 Neil Patrick Harris performance and after much deliberation (and two cancelled dining reservations) we decided it was critical to book an ADR for the CP package. We will be dining at Biergarten for lunch that day. I'm super excited because it looks like a fun time and the food sounds good as well.

My DGF is compulsively checking accuweather every 5 minutes. After our winter wonderland vacation last year I can't really blame her. I keep reminding her that 60 degrees does not mean jeans, a sweatshirt and hat! It is difficult to get your mind back to shorts and t-shirts when walking the dog in 26 degrees.

On the day we arrive we have an appointment with the DVC people at Saratoga Springs to take a tour and talk more about the possibility of someday being a DVC member. DGF made a chart that shows what we'll be doing each morning, afternoon, and night. One day has us going to three parks while one seems to have nothing written until nighttime. Perhaps we'll have to look that over one more time.

I'm sure I'll think of more things to write after I post this, but it's a good start, right?

I will leave you with a few of our favorites.
Thanks for reading!!!!

Sean's Favorites
Favorite snack: Dole Whip
Favorite Disney Movie: Robin Hood
Favorite Disney/Pixar Movie: Toy Story
Favorite ride: Rock N Roller Coaster/Soarin'
Favorite attraction: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite nighttime show/parade: Fantasmic
To prepare for this trip I...: watched two documentaries and read many books about the Sherman brothers, Walt Disney, and the Art of Imagineering. I also collected enough Disney t-shirts to wear a different one each day and bought new wheelchair gloves.

Amy's Favorites
Favorite snack: Cream cheese stuffed pretzel/regular pretzel
Favorite Disney movie: Aladdin
Favorite Disney/Pixar movie: Monsters Inc.
Favorite ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite attraction: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite nighttime show/parade: Illuminations/Main Street Electrical Parade
To prepare for this trip I...: made a lot of lists and I will make them again and again and again.


A shout out to my little man, Porkchop, for helping with my reading!