Daughter with knee injury

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

I have personally been to Disneyland 3 days after a surgery many moons ago, but was in no real condition to ride rides.

My daughter has some sort of knee injury that has plagued her for 3 weeks so far (she's been on crutches and out of P.E. for that entire time). She's had X-rays which showed nothing, but has recently had an MRI which her specialist thinks will show cartillage damage which may need surgery or at the very least for her to be off of it for an extended period. Put it this way, her specialist (whom the MRI tech said all the Sillicon Valley Drs and techs go to) wrote her a note to get out of PE for the entire rest of the school year.

We are supposed to go to Disneyland in a week for her Middle School Graduation (she didn't want to do the school trip to DC, but wanted a family trip to DL instead). We don't know if we'll get an appt with the specialist before we leave, though we are trying desperately to do so. All depends on when they get the MRI results and when he's available...

I'm most likely going to have to enforce her being in a wheelchair the whole time we're there, but does that automatically allow her handicap access to rides? We're going over Spring Break and standing in line for half an hour or longer will cause her massive amounts of pain which I would like to avoid if possible. Do we have to have a Dr note or something to allow her to not stand in the long lines that are expected?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We can't really postpone the trip as this is the last vacation of the school year and if she has more than 2 days of "unexcused absences" she will not be able to be in the Graduation Ceremony. This is supposed to be her Graduation Trip as well, but I fear it'll end up being a pain in more ways than one.

 

[Malcon10t]

I'm most likely going to have to enforce her being in a wheelchair the whole time we're there, but does that automatically allow her handicap access to rides? We're going over Spring Break and standing in line for half an hour or longer will cause her massive amounts of pain which I would like to avoid if possible. Do we have to have a Dr note or something to allow her to not stand in the long lines that are expected?

Using the wheelchair will allow her to use the handicap access entrances. But many rides are wheelchair accessible also. Example, Star Tours, if you don't get a fastpass, you wait in the line outside the building but once you enter the building, you will be detoured into the elevator. Buzz is accessible. Matterhorn you will wait in the regular lie til you reach the chalet, then detour to the access gate. All of DCA is accessible.

We will be there the same time, have a great trip!

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That's a huge relief. May seem like such a simple thing, but for a DL vet it was throwing a major kink in my mental plans.

 

[llump41]

The GAC (wheelchair) is not a front of the line pass. In fact sometimes the wait can be much longer than the regular queue. My experience is that in the early AM the rides are walk on and by the afternoon the GAC entrance has a wait equal to the regular wait.

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

The GAC (wheelchair) is not a front of the line pass. In fact sometimes the wait can be much longer than the regular queue. My experience is that in the early AM the rides are walk on and by the afternoon the GAC entrance has a wait equal to the regular wait.

Honestly we don't care about the actual wait times. We just want her to not be in pain and will gladly wait longer to avoid that if necessary.

We went to DL 5 times last year and frankly we were surprised that this is what she wants to do (we offered her basically anything that would have cost similar to her school trip for it to be memorable for her - about $2200; Paris for a weekend with just her and me, etc). She chose Disneyland. So this trip is all about her. Wheelchair and finally nailing Peter Pan's lost boy butt to the ground long enough to get a picture are our only true priorities.

 

[starshine514]

Just a little wheelchair advice, with her injury, consider purchasing your own. Manual chairs can be relatively cheap and she'll have it for her recovery.

If she is in a lot of pain, though, I would consider postponing it until after school is out. Being immobile is one thing, being immobile because you are in pain is another.

 

[Malcon10t]

The GAC (wheelchair) is not a front of the line pass. In fact sometimes the wait can be much longer than the regular queue. My experience is that in the early AM the rides are walk on and by the afternoon the GAC entrance has a wait equal to the regular wait.

My experience is even AM, depending on the ride, will be longer than walk on. And by afternoon, the HA entrance is longer than the standby queue. Especially during times like spring break and Christmas. But for us, it is simply about being able to do what we want. Yes, my daughters even indulge me and will ride IASW with me, when the line is walk on, adn we are waiting in the HA line for 20+ mins.

 

[nikkislaght]

At Disneyland this week, Using the GAC, I found that most of the time I wouldnt even show it, I used it mostly for avoiding stairs...

Saying that, it did help me avoid a long line on Dumbo, but I still had to wait.

At California Adventure most of the rides are wheelchair assessable and you will have to use the standard line.


Using fast past is the way to go, and getting there early. We walked onto most of the rides in Fantasy land early in the morning, by after noon the lines were crazy....