Acessibility at Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[mykidzmoma]

Hello, I am new to this board. We adopted a daughter last year who has Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy and Visual Impairments. We are planning a trip to WDW this October and will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This will be our first trip to WDW since we adopted Chrissy and she will be 22 months in October when we go. Has anyone stayed at the AKL and can you tell me if it is a good choice for us - where wheelchair accessible rooms might be located and are the animal viewing areas handicapped accessible?
Thanks in advance for any help or tips. I have been reading the threads all week and am delighted to find so much info that will help us make this trip enjoyable for DD. I am a little worried though reading all the threads about people being rude, stepping and falling on wheelchairs, etc!! Our DD is a tiny little thing and I sure don't want her fallen on or trampled!

Thanks!
Angela

 

[teri]

We stayed in a standard AKL room with a view of the parking lot... I can't vouch for the accessible rooms there. But the viewing areas are accessible, and as a matter of fact one of the lounges off the main lobby is a perfect place for viewing through the windows. There are good elevators throughout the place. It is lovely, and I am sure you will enjoy it.

From one adoptive mom to another, congratulations and best wishes!

 

[SueM in MN]

Congratulations on your adoption.
My DD also has CP, epilepsy and uses a wheelchair. The tiny wheelchair that she had when she was 2 was really easy to get almost anywhere.

We havent't stayed at AKL, but we have visited for the day several times. As teri mentioned, it is quite handicapped accessible. there are quite a few ramps and elevators. The animal viweing areas are accessible, although you may need to take her out of her wheelchair and hold her up to see, depending on where the railing hits. You can see an example of the typical railings on a picture of the lobby on this page.
The public restrooms are accessible. We didn't use the swimming pool, but we saw it when we went down to the food court. It looked very nice and if I remeber right, it has a zero level entrance (a gradual entrance where you walk down a gradual ramp to get into the pool). The food court had a variety of interesting food, plus some more simple things that kids would like.

 

[mykidzmoma]

Thanks for the replys. I think that we will enjoy our trip to AKL. Thanks to your tips I will be calling the special reservations number to request the things we will need, like the roll-in shower, a fridge for medications, etc.
DD's wheelchair (which we just ordered) is not really small - it is a Quickie Zippie TS and just has a small seating area for her. She is still so small that we should be able to take her out of the chair for the rides. Will we be able to do that and just hold her on our laps for most things? Also, can you store medications and/or formula at the First Aid Stations in the parks? She is fed by g-button and on a special diet for her seizures. The formula HAS to be refridgerated. Will this be a problem?
Thanks again!
Angela

 

[teri]

Holding her on your lap, or propped on the seat between you, will be fine in most rides that are appropriate for her age.

The first aid stations will refrigerate meds and special formula for you, not a problem.

 

[SueM in MN]

Angela, you will be able to hold your DD in any of the rides that you will be going on. For the shows, you will want to bring her wheelchair in because she will be most comfortable in it. Although, when our DD was littel, we parked her wheelchair next to us and often still held her on our laps for shows.
There are some rides where the wheelchair can come in the ride car with you. For most of those, since she is little, you might find it better to bring the wheelchair up to the boarding area, but then take her out and hold her on your laps. For some of them, the wheelchair area doesn't really have a place right next to it for you to sit. I can give more details about particular rides if you want. Otherwise, all the rides where it's not necessary to leave the wheelchair are marked on the park maps. You can ask the first CM you see at that ride what the seating is like.

You'll understand what I mean about the little wheelchair when your DD gets bigger and her wheelchair grows with her. Our DD was just over 2 when she got her first wheelchair (a regular Quickie). It looked huge to us because we were used to seeing strollers. Compared to her wheelchair now, that first one was really tiny and we fit in places with it that her current wheelchair is way too big to fit. A TIS wheelchair is bigger because of the amount of room the tilt takes up, but her wheelchair will get wider and longer as she grows.

You will have great time and she should be able to experience a lot of the attractions at WDW.