Water park accessibility

[mamaloya]

I know this has been discussed before, but I can't find it anywhere, so please bear with me.

I went to a water park last week and was not able to do anything except the lazy river (my favorite anyway) and the wave pool. I was not able to do any of the slides because of the number of stairs. I do have to say that my kids all offered to get together and get me up there. They were very upset and I had to force them to go without me. I convinced them that I was fine with and preferred the lazy river and wave pool to the slides. (OK, so I fibbed a little. I really wanted to do a slide.)

Anyway, my question is the accessiblity of Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. We normally go in the off season and the weather is not always water park friendly, but I hope to go next trip. If you have trouble with stairs, how do you do the slides? Are they less steep than most. At the other water park, you have to carry your tube up with you. If my family helped me up, who would carry the tubes up? Are there elevators? LOL

Any tips?

[kimsuenew]

I cannot wait to see the answers for this question, it mimicks the questions going through my mind about the WP! :goodvibes I would have to have an elevator to do any slides, I cannot "do" stairs! Sorry I cannot answer, but thank you for posting... I am sure our Dis Friends will answer your questions soon! :)

[Schmeck]

I know of no elevators at either water park, but BB does have a chair lift to the top.

[mechurchlady]

There is a little known elevator at Typhoon Lagoon. The main problem with the water parks is getting to the ride then having someone take the chair back down. Some disabled riders would have to also have someone to be near by when they exited the ride so they do not have trouble in the water and to get back into a chair.

The newer ride, Crush 'n Gusher, does have an elevator but is a 48 inch minimum height.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1724579

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1779350

[mamaloya]

Thank you for the info. Am I understanding that there are a couple of slides that don't have stairs, but a hill instead?

I won't have problems getting out of the water or using a tube. It is just getting to the top that I can't do.

It is nice to know about the lift at BB.

Thanks again for the replies.

[OneLittleSpark]

The chair lift at BB is a constantly moving, ski-lift style thing, that takes you to the family raft ride. When you get to the front of the line, you will be called forwards in groups three, to stand in the loading spaces. The lift then comes up behind you slowly, and sits you in the seat. A bar comes down in front of you, to stop you falling out, and you're carried up the hill. At the top, you just stand up and get out. If you have any problems, they can slow or stop the ride easily (they had to do this for me, back when I was still walking the water parks, as my ankle gave on the unloading).

If you are using a wheelchair, you can ride in the gondola car. For this, they completely stop the ride, and put out a ramp. They also have a seat in there, so that one person can ride with you. I would recommend borrowing their water chairs to do this, if you can cope with it, as then you don't need to send someone back down the hill with it. Instead, they load the water chair into one of the rafts, tied down, and send it down ahead of you! They'll unload it at th bottom, and have it ready and waiting when you get down there.

The family raft ride is a good one, and definitely worth a ride (or two, or three) :thumbsup2

As for the other rides, I think most of them have a fairly big number of stairs, and no way to get the tubes up if you can't carry them. They also move at a slow but constant pace, so you have to stay on your feet for a long time. I know it's a bit of a disappointment to miss out on most of the slides, but you can still have a fairly full day of fun with the creek, wave pool and family raft ride.

Hope you have a great trip! :goodvibes

[mamaloya]

Thank you, exactly what I needed to hear. I am so glad that we can do a family raft ride together. Its not like I can do the extreme ones anyway.

I just called about visiting a nearby waterpark while attending the homeschool convention and asked "How accessible are the rides?" Her response was "Not very." I asked if there was a discount since I would not be able to do most things and she said "when you get here we will look at you and see what you can and cannot do and base it on that." ????? Not sure what that means. Guess we will find out.

[Vijoge]

I just called about visiting a nearby waterpark while attending the homeschool convention and asked "How accessible are the rides?" Her response was "Not very." I asked if there was a discount since I would not be able to do most things and she said "when you get here we will look at you and see what you can and cannot do and base it on that." ????? Not sure what that means. Guess we will find out.

Let me know how that goes for you. I can only use the lazy river and the wave pool (at full price so far!).

[Mary976]

Just a note about crush n gusher at TL...while there is a nice elevator for w/c users, the slide itself is for the more adventurous. DD, who uses a chair, loved it, but I'm kind of a weenie so it was a bit much for me. Also, I imagine people with upper body instability might have difficulties with the ride as well.

Mary