Don't stop believing... "Major change 6/23 The Circle of Life"

[KathyRN137]

Hi Bill! I'm so glad to see you posting!


Kathy

 

[ddstratton]

Tracy! I just found you here! Your plans sound absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad that you guys get to do both Wilderness Lodge and the Poly!

 

[oregonmommyof2]

Bill,
You are KILLING me!!!!!!! Geez. Here I was for 10 years thinking that I had a great marriage. I mean, we haven't killed, maimed or shot each other yet right?!?!?! NO!!!!!!!!! Now I find out that there are "Bills" out there who WANT to take their women to the Poly and DON'T forget their womens birthdays and anniversary! lol I think it's great that you are the mastermind behind all of this. Tracy is so lucky to have you!

Tracy and Toni,
I do believe there won't be a DISmeet while we are there. After all of the nagging I have already done about Bill's upgrade and Terry's "buy the Dooney", Eric feels that the guys are man traitors! He actually told me that I'm not supposed to hang out with you guys anymore because I might start to get "ideas"!!!! Of course he was joking about it all but he had me bustin' a gut over here last night! I think that Eric might need a man-tervention. Terry and Bill should sit him down and explain the errors of his ways!

PS. I WILL be tracking down the elusive choco taco today.....it WILL be mine!

I think you need to remind Eric that you wash his dirty underwear... That helps in our house...

You know, maybe if you went all Kung Fu Ninja on his butt, he would straighten up!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Hurray for the Poly-sounds awesome!! Yay for sweet Hubby and great bday celebration!

Thanks!!

Thank you for all of the posts about being excited for us staying at the WL and Poly. I'm probably a little more excited than Tracy right now. I always wanted to stay at the WL and Poly especially at Christmas time. But, I'm sure Tracy will be excited when we get there.

I always wanted to do something special for Tracy’s birthday since it represents a sad time for her. Hopefully, the Disney atmosphere at the Poly will make Tracy happy and put a smile her face, so she can start celebrating her birthday and have wonderful memories.

I told Tracy I will take care of the cost of Poly as a birthday gift. I know it will be affordable in my monthly budget. But, I know she will still worry about the cost. I also would like to do something romantic since our anniversary will be coming up in December.

I love you .

okay, I think that about covers it...

I did a lot of this when I read it.

Dude, you just filled your man point quota RIGHT THERE!!!

Isn't he amazing?

Bill,
You are KILLING me!!!!!!! Geez. Here I was for 10 years thinking that I had a great marriage. I mean, we haven't killed, maimed or shot each other yet right?!?!?! NO!!!!!!!!! Now I find out that there are "Bills" out there who WANT to take their women to the Poly and DON'T forget their womens birthdays and anniversary! lol I think it's great that you are the mastermind behind all of this. Tracy is so lucky to have you!

Tracy and Toni,
I do believe there won't be a DISmeet while we are there. After all of the nagging I have already done about Bill's upgrade and Terry's "buy the Dooney", Eric feels that the guys are man traitors! He actually told me that I'm not supposed to hang out with you guys anymore because I might start to get "ideas"!!!! Of course he was joking about it all but he had me bustin' a gut over here last night! I think that Eric might need a man-tervention. Terry and Bill should sit him down and explain the errors of his ways!

PS. I WILL be tracking down the elusive choco taco today.....it WILL be mine!

Eric would love us if he met us . I hope you foun a choco taco.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Hi Bill! I'm so glad to see you posting!


Kathy

I am too, it was great to see him on here! I hope he will post more.

Tracy! I just found you here! Your plans sound absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad that you guys get to do both Wilderness Lodge and the Poly!

DARLA!!! So great to see you. Your trip is so close, I bet you are so excited. Thank goodness for codes !!

I think you need to remind Eric that you wash his dirty underwear... That helps in our house...

You know, maybe if you went all Kung Fu Ninja on his butt, he would straighten up!!

I agree with these statements .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Terry and Bill are PS3 buddies now, they have been playing MLB The Show 10 and it is fun to watch!! Toni and I taunt them, laugh at stuff and have a great time .

 

[mrsksomeday]

Bill is the one who brought the world of Disney into my life. I used to watch the TV show (like many of you) with my family, but I never thought I would make it to WDW, it just wasn’t something I thought would ever happen to me, then Bill came along. He told me about is love for WDW, how “normal” he felt there and how he wanted to show it to me. It took a while to convince me to go.

I had many reservations as to how I would help him in the parks, what we would do for personal care, and what he could do there. I thought we might just be walking around all day. Boy was I WRONG! WDW is so wheelchair friendly. Bill was so happy to share his “happy place” with me. I feel so comfortable going there with him now, we don’t have to worry about the room not being accessible, how we could get to the parks, we use the first aid locations for personal care, I don’t have to worry about anything. I thought I would share some pictures and video (just click on those and they will open in a new window) of the accessibility factor when it comes to doing Disney in a wheelchair, I hope you don’t mind.

Getting there and Transportation:

We use Disney’s Magical Express. I love the idea of dropping off the luggage at our originating airport and not seeing it until it arrives in the room. Most people can just get in the line for their resort. This isn’t the case for us. We go up to the counter I inform them of the wheelchair and tell them we need an accessible bus. They already have this noted in the computer I just like to confirm. We are then taken by a CM to the benches by the windows while that CM talks to another CM and a bus is called. When it comes we are escorted outside to put the wheelchair on first. It always freaks me out how high Bill is on these busses:

After we get to our resort it is Disney transportation for us all the way. We take the busses, there are a couple of different systems for wheelchairs/ecv’s:

They use tie downs to keep Bill’s wheelchair in place:

The back:

The front:

We make use of the monorails as well. They have to get the ramp out and place it for Bill to use:

The parks have a variety of ways to get Bill and others on the rides:

At Animal Kingdom, here is the way he got into the Kilimanjaro Safari truck, he had to back on:

At Epcot, there are a couple rides he can do in his chair:

Figment:

Loading video for Figment:



Living with the Land:

Seas with Nemo:

Universe of Energy:

The boat at the Gran Fiesta Tour is essentially the same as It’s a Small World at MK.


He has to be transferred into Soarin'. It is very easy, he drives his chair right up to the seats, I transfer him and the CM moves the wheelchair out of the way.

He can to Test Track if I have others with us since I can't be holding him and stepping into the vehicle.

The same for Spaceship Earth, since he needs his seat cushion I would need another person with us to help with that transfer but it is pretty tight for his legs since they don't bend well.

At Hollywood Studios, he can do these:

Backlot Tour:

Toy Story Mania:

He can also do The Great Movie Ride but for some reason I don’t have pictures of that.

I can transfer him into the Star Tours seat, they have us walk all the way around to have his chair at the exit and I carry him through the exit doors.

At Magic Kingdom, he can do:

Buzz Lightyear:

It’s a Small World:

The Jungle Cruise ( I like this one he goes on driving forward and they turn it around so he drives off going forward too):

He has done the Winnie the Pooh ride but it was tight getting his chair in there and he has no desire to do it again.


At the Haunted Mansion they have us enter through the exit and stop the moving walkway for me to load and unload him.


If we do Pirates of the Caribbean we need to have others with us too, there is no way I would try to carry him and step in or out of the boat.

So there you have it, he feels “free and normal” there and any place that can do that will have our money for a long time.

Next installment… possible adrs??

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Wow "T", That is very insightful. Those are things that I have never thought of. I am so glad that they are set up this way!!!!!!

 

[oregonmommyof2]

Thank you so much for this installment... It's the one I have been waiting for!!!

Terry and I read it together....

We have some of the same park days, and Terry said that he is MORE than happy to help transfer Bill on any rides you two want to do...

You have our number...

 

[mrsksomeday]

Wow "T", That is very insightful. Those are things that I have never thought of. I am so glad that they are set up this way!!!!!!

I am very happy that I could show you how Disney handles things for persons in wheelchairs!

Thank you so much for this installment... It's the one I have been waiting for!!!

Terry and I read it together....

We have some of the same park days, and Terry said that he is MORE than happy to help transfer Bill on any rides you two want to do...

You have our number...

It is great to be able to show people how wonderful Disney is for people with disabilities. You two are so sweet to offer. Bill just might take you up on it for Test Track . He feels the need - the need for speed.

 

[All7OfUs]

Tracy, that was a very well thought out and helpful post to so many others!!! THANK YOU for sharing all of that with us, it really gives us some new insight into the world of the disabled and wheelchair access!!!!

You know what impresses me most about Bill?? He is always smiling! I love that!

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Tracy, Have you though about posting that over on the Dis-ability board? They might be interested in seeing it!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Tracy, that was a very well thought out and helpful post to so many others!!! THANK YOU for sharing all of that with us, it really gives us some new insight into the world of the disabled and wheelchair access!!!!

You know what impresses me most about Bill?? He is always smiling! I love that!

He has a fantastic smile doesn't he? I am glad my post is showing things some people have never seen or thought of in WDW.

Tracy, Have you though about posting that over on the Dis-ability board? They might be interested in seeing it!

Over the years I have posted these pictures on there in various places, but I might go ahead and post it. I know Sue has one of our TR's linked in their FAQs thread that has a lot of these pictures on it. Thanks for suggesting it.

 

[KathyRN137]

Tracy, it's really facinating to see how all the different ride vehicles are adapted for guests who use wheelchairs. To think that most public buildings didn't even have ramp access or accessible bathrooms a mere thirty years ago...

I love your new ticker/thingy!!!


Kathy

 

[Hedy]

Tracey-I love your information on accessibility at WDW. (I may be wording this wrong, I do not mean to offend) Is it possible for you guys to get an aide for Bill so that he can do more rides (I think Amy was supposedly going to help with that )

 

[mrsksomeday]

Tracy, it's really facinating to see how all the different ride vehicles are adapted for guests who use wheelchairs. To think that most public buildings didn't even have ramp access or accessible bathrooms a mere thirty years ago...

I love your new ticker/thingy!!!


Kathy

Hi Kathy, it fascinates me too. I am so happy they have adapted things so more people are able to enjoy the rides.

Thanks about the picture in the siggy line, its clickable and leads right here to the report .

Tracey-I love your information on accessibility at WDW. (I may be wording this wrong, I do not mean to offend) Is it possible for you guys to get an aide for Bill so that he can do more rides (I think Amy was supposedly going to help with that )

Thanks! yeah Amy was supposed to help, didn't happen very much did it . Sometimes we just like to go to WDW by ourselves. I think the next trip, next June hopefully, we might bring someone with us. We will see.

 

[mom2mek]

Wow Tracy! What fabulous information you have given everyone! So helpful! Another reason we love Disney - they think of most everything!

(Though....When I saw your Figment picture, I remembered.... What a long ordeal that was!)


Bill's smile is fabulous! It's contagious, too! As I'm reading your reports, I can't help but smile!! I can imagine in person it is even more so!

Sara

 

[mrsksomeday]

Wow Tracy! What fabulous information you have given everyone! So helpful! Another reason we love Disney - they think of most everything!

(Though....When I saw your Figment picture, I remembered.... What a long ordeal that was!)


Bill's smile is fabulous! It's contagious, too! As I'm reading your reports, I can't help but smile!! I can imagine in person it is even more so!

Sara

Thanks! Disney really does make things easy for us, thank goodness.

The Figment picture brought back the same memories for me, I was laughing.

Bill's smile is fantastic in person, I swear sometimes his eyes twinkle .

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey Tracy!!! Disney really just is the BEST!!! Think about it... Where else on earth can you go that is an accommodating??? I have a shell fish allergy and lately it is super bad, to the point where I can't even be within breathing distant of it! All I do is call Disney's Dietary and Allergy line before I go and all the chefs call me before I arrive and meet me when I get there to discuss my allergy! I'm sure Bill appreciates Disney's Friendliness!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Hi Tracy, I followed you over from many other PTR's. It seems there are a lot of us going at the same time and we will be at the same resort for 3 days!!!!! This is my 1st stay at the Poly as well and I am excited. Maybe we will run into each other!

Looking forward to hearing more plans!

Natalie

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Tracy


sorry I had got behind in your TR w/ the family and never was able to post my thoughts...but I'm back! Your ever clever PTR picture caught my attention

You'll be arriving the day we are leaving Nov 28th...I'll warm up the place for you OK?

It will be fun reading along as you plan another great trip...

I love all the beginning instalments and pictures...

already it sounds great and a wonderful b-day treat too.

be back for more,

Scrappie (Julie)