goofieslonglostsis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,641
Back home, back to the cold. 
My trip over to the World was near to as imperfect as it can become. They actually unloaded my manual wheelchair from the plane (who knows what were they thinking), which would end up taking 3 days and the chair seeing cities I haven't ever been before. The airline and/or airport also managed to damage my powerchair and while knowing about at least one damaged part (they had security and airport stickers all over the thing trying to keep it from totalllyt falling apart), didn't have the luminious idea of informing me about it. It was actually so damaged it ended up having electronical problems during the whole trip and actually dying on me after getting on the DME to go back home. Fun, freewheel pushing a powerchair out of the DME and through 2 airports.
If it weren't enough they revoked the seats assigned to me, never mind me taking care of it in time and needing one of those 15 available seats to not get into a more difficult pickle. Turned out later they found frequent flyers and two people travelling individually from each other with both dogs of the size of a large mans hand. (gave them 2 seats per person 
). The latter was thankfully dealt with by a great flight crew, but the additude at the airport was beyond believe. One major complaint coming up, thank god for the fact that Europe finally has some legislation about travelling with a disability.
OK, so we get to the world, yes!
By then it's about 10.30 pm, spent a long time at MCO dealing with the above. So check in, have a drink and of to bed we want! Small problem; the CM at check in tells me we still need to pay $2900,- on our reservation. No, we don't! Thankfully I had the reservation printed out, with it stating it was paid in full. He went to the back to talk to a manager and after about 10 minutes it was sorted out. Had to do with me needing the roll in shower, there being 3 adults and me staying at a moderate. Ok, so that was sorted out, let's get to the room. Like last year, we were in a great location; 2619 and 2620 in Martinique. Well, you couldn't be any closer to Old Port Royale if you asked for it. Great!! We paid for standard, so were expecting that.
Now here comes the thing that has me wondering for a long time now. Last time I also paid for standard, and got a room in buildiong 31, also a preffered one and closest to OPR from the other side. OK, can be luck. But. My neighbours were rather obvious. Of all of the rooms at ground level the same building we were in, there were A LOT of them in either a wheelchair or their own ECV. I'm not talking about 3 or 4, but as much as 9 at a time, not counting myself. With us being there for 14 days, we've seen people check out and others with a mobility disability check in to the same building. I actually didn't see any wheelchair or ECV at any other busstop than the one for OPR, which was closest to the building. The only one I did see was a rented one, with a guy staying at Trinidad South. Don't get me wrong; I loved being so close to OPR and appreciated it very much for such a long trip. But it sure makes me wonder if CBR even has accessible rooms at the non preffered building.
OK, on to the fun! Or so I thought. We had fun and slowly it began to sank into my mom and her friend that they didn't have a clue about WDW, despite me warning them and trying to prep them. They were overwhelmed by the great things
and all of the walking. Both actually ended up loosing weight, never mind the chocolate from Goofy's, the fried and all of the chips. 
I wasn't feeling too great, but put that down to the flight, worrying about things and my body having more of it's acting ups. I soon found out it was probably due to a UTI. No problem, I had back up antibiotics with me. I didn't get out much, about an hour or 3 a day, but was sure the AB would help out and I'ld have a full 2nd week.
Well, don't think so quickly. The AB didn't work, so after calling my own urologist and making up a list of possible causes and connected best treatments for me, called in one of those 'house call' making docs. Not too cheap ($215,- for the first visit, $156 for the following ones), but a great convenience over going to any (even more expensive) ER and waiting longer. Sure enough; a bad UTI, probably gotten to the kidneys by than. So new AB and stay out of the sun. Oh swell, out of the sun in Florida when one is a sunlover and it's freezing at home?
Ended up those AB's not seeming to look and me getting worse. Soon ended up having days of perhaps one hour a day away from the resort. When checking up again we did found out the bacterial UTI was gone, but something wrong for sure was still going one. Have to have that checked out now that I'm home.
Don't get me wrong; in between I had a great time. Loved the decorations, the Castle, Soarin' is as lovely as always and WOW!! those Osborne Lights. But I never want to do a trip like that again. By the end I was actually anxious to go home, get out of there.
And CBR? Lovely as always! We had a great room in a great locations and a great mousekeeper for the first 10 days. She even showed us to make towel animals, dropped by to make small talk and suprised us several times with great mickey beauty/wash stuff besides the things we all know will be in the room.
The CM's; big big
If you happen to read up on this M. ; you too. 
They offered to help out with the chairs where need be and a surprising lot of them remembered me from last year. Which gave me the oppertunity of finding out that my kudo's email about some CM's last year (they so went above and beyond) actually did arrive and was discussed with them. They worked a last peace of small miracles by letting me stay in the room until the DME would take us to the airport. Our bus wouldn't leave until 4.30 pm, and normally I would've loved to spent those hours at the park, but now? Yeiks. 
They checked, found out the room wasn't needed until the next day, so arranged for me to be able to stay in there until the DME, free of charge! 
The flight back was thankfully a lit less of a struggle. After numorous calls to all involved supervisors and managers, they started to realise what happened was totally uncalled for and unacceptable. So they had a manager waiting for me at the airport. By then I was pretty peed off, after just finding out the powerchair now totally does nothing what so ever and me fighting them for a proper seat and getting nothing else but 'sorry, they are all taken, looks like frequent flyers, hopefully check in can do something'. Somehow he didn't notice the manual chair and the steam coming out of my ears right away, so was asking abled people in the long check in line if they were me and/or were in my party. Well, he actually asked if they were my mother. Sorted that out, look wheelchair beneath my but, my name as the lead on the reservation, only one wheeler, I'm the one with problems. 
He made the biggest mistake of using the not too smart; "I understand how you feel". Sure. By then he understood his not too smart move, so started to check our bags and labelled them priority. Long talk, a lot of promises, we all know the drill. I told him I appreciate what he was doing, it's nothing personal, but the experience so far has shown me I'ld better see things with my eyes first before resting asure things are actually OK. He got us our seats, but again; we had them on the flight over also. 
He gave us his name and to have people call him if any problems, but also had that on the flight in for a special care supervisor.
They gave us access to the lounge and after about an hour I was taken to the gate. They first did the 'we'll start boarding in about 5 minutes'-announcement, so of course by now the entrance to the gate was crowded with all of those wanting to board. I was escorded right through for the preboarding, which sure resulted in a lot of angry looks.
Turns out at the gate they upgraded us to business class. Nice, but the trip still stressed about returning to the 2 airports with the 'great service'. THANK GOD nothing was further damaged and both flight crews were very protective to make sure there were no more screw ups after hearing the story. They did safe me from multiple. What was saying the most to me was the large amount of both airport and flight crew people asking me to please file a complaint, because they are tired of having to deal with problems that shouldn't have occured. Off course I'll be filing and having the airline pay all the expensive I will have to make and have made, but I deeply hope they have learned at least a little bit since these two weeks already.
On to the next count down! Only 9 more months until I'll be back to the world and go on a DCL. 
Looking forward to it very much, but at the moment are a bit worried about the flight there. My last 2 flights both ended up with both the chairs damaged and/or 'lost'. Don't think I'm too confident I'll ever fly again if it would happen for a third time. Hopefully it's mainly the jetlag and stress of the last two weeks talking and the worries will soon reduce. And if not, oh well, you would say it wouldn't be too difficult to get at least one chair undamaged and without delay to MCO and back home once every 3 trips.
My trip over to the World was near to as imperfect as it can become. They actually unloaded my manual wheelchair from the plane (who knows what were they thinking), which would end up taking 3 days and the chair seeing cities I haven't ever been before. The airline and/or airport also managed to damage my powerchair and while knowing about at least one damaged part (they had security and airport stickers all over the thing trying to keep it from totalllyt falling apart), didn't have the luminious idea of informing me about it. It was actually so damaged it ended up having electronical problems during the whole trip and actually dying on me after getting on the DME to go back home. Fun, freewheel pushing a powerchair out of the DME and through 2 airports.
If it weren't enough they revoked the seats assigned to me, never mind me taking care of it in time and needing one of those 15 available seats to not get into a more difficult pickle. Turned out later they found frequent flyers and two people travelling individually from each other with both dogs of the size of a large mans hand. (gave them 2 seats per person ). The latter was thankfully dealt with by a great flight crew, but the additude at the airport was beyond believe. One major complaint coming up, thank god for the fact that Europe finally has some legislation about travelling with a disability. OK, so we get to the world, yes!
By then it's about 10.30 pm, spent a long time at MCO dealing with the above. So check in, have a drink and of to bed we want! Small problem; the CM at check in tells me we still need to pay $2900,- on our reservation. No, we don't! Thankfully I had the reservation printed out, with it stating it was paid in full. He went to the back to talk to a manager and after about 10 minutes it was sorted out. Had to do with me needing the roll in shower, there being 3 adults and me staying at a moderate. Ok, so that was sorted out, let's get to the room. Like last year, we were in a great location; 2619 and 2620 in Martinique. Well, you couldn't be any closer to Old Port Royale if you asked for it. Great!! We paid for standard, so were expecting that. Now here comes the thing that has me wondering for a long time now. Last time I also paid for standard, and got a room in buildiong 31, also a preffered one and closest to OPR from the other side. OK, can be luck. But. My neighbours were rather obvious. Of all of the rooms at ground level the same building we were in, there were A LOT of them in either a wheelchair or their own ECV. I'm not talking about 3 or 4, but as much as 9 at a time, not counting myself. With us being there for 14 days, we've seen people check out and others with a mobility disability check in to the same building. I actually didn't see any wheelchair or ECV at any other busstop than the one for OPR, which was closest to the building. The only one I did see was a rented one, with a guy staying at Trinidad South. Don't get me wrong; I loved being so close to OPR and appreciated it very much for such a long trip. But it sure makes me wonder if CBR even has accessible rooms at the non preffered building.
OK, on to the fun! Or so I thought. We had fun and slowly it began to sank into my mom and her friend that they didn't have a clue about WDW, despite me warning them and trying to prep them. They were overwhelmed by the great things
and all of the walking. Both actually ended up loosing weight, never mind the chocolate from Goofy's, the fried and all of the chips. I wasn't feeling too great, but put that down to the flight, worrying about things and my body having more of it's acting ups. I soon found out it was probably due to a UTI. No problem, I had back up antibiotics with me. I didn't get out much, about an hour or 3 a day, but was sure the AB would help out and I'ld have a full 2nd week. Well, don't think so quickly. The AB didn't work, so after calling my own urologist and making up a list of possible causes and connected best treatments for me, called in one of those 'house call' making docs. Not too cheap ($215,- for the first visit, $156 for the following ones), but a great convenience over going to any (even more expensive) ER and waiting longer. Sure enough; a bad UTI, probably gotten to the kidneys by than. So new AB and stay out of the sun. Oh swell, out of the sun in Florida when one is a sunlover and it's freezing at home?
Ended up those AB's not seeming to look and me getting worse. Soon ended up having days of perhaps one hour a day away from the resort. When checking up again we did found out the bacterial UTI was gone, but something wrong for sure was still going one. Have to have that checked out now that I'm home.
Don't get me wrong; in between I had a great time. Loved the decorations, the Castle, Soarin' is as lovely as always and WOW!! those Osborne Lights. But I never want to do a trip like that again. By the end I was actually anxious to go home, get out of there.
And CBR? Lovely as always! We had a great room in a great locations and a great mousekeeper for the first 10 days. She even showed us to make towel animals, dropped by to make small talk and suprised us several times with great mickey beauty/wash stuff besides the things we all know will be in the room.
The CM's; big big
If you happen to read up on this M. ; you too. They offered to help out with the chairs where need be and a surprising lot of them remembered me from last year. Which gave me the oppertunity of finding out that my kudo's email about some CM's last year (they so went above and beyond) actually did arrive and was discussed with them. They worked a last peace of small miracles by letting me stay in the room until the DME would take us to the airport. Our bus wouldn't leave until 4.30 pm, and normally I would've loved to spent those hours at the park, but now? Yeiks. They checked, found out the room wasn't needed until the next day, so arranged for me to be able to stay in there until the DME, free of charge! The flight back was thankfully a lit less of a struggle. After numorous calls to all involved supervisors and managers, they started to realise what happened was totally uncalled for and unacceptable. So they had a manager waiting for me at the airport. By then I was pretty peed off, after just finding out the powerchair now totally does nothing what so ever and me fighting them for a proper seat and getting nothing else but 'sorry, they are all taken, looks like frequent flyers, hopefully check in can do something'. Somehow he didn't notice the manual chair and the steam coming out of my ears right away, so was asking abled people in the long check in line if they were me and/or were in my party. Well, he actually asked if they were my mother.
Sorted that out, look wheelchair beneath my but, my name as the lead on the reservation, only one wheeler, I'm the one with problems. He made the biggest mistake of using the not too smart; "I understand how you feel".
Sure. By then he understood his not too smart move, so started to check our bags and labelled them priority. Long talk, a lot of promises, we all know the drill. I told him I appreciate what he was doing, it's nothing personal, but the experience so far has shown me I'ld better see things with my eyes first before resting asure things are actually OK. He got us our seats, but again; we had them on the flight over also. He gave us his name and to have people call him if any problems, but also had that on the flight in for a special care supervisor. They gave us access to the lounge and after about an hour I was taken to the gate. They first did the 'we'll start boarding in about 5 minutes'-announcement, so of course by now the entrance to the gate was crowded with all of those wanting to board. I was escorded right through for the preboarding, which sure resulted in a lot of angry looks.
Turns out at the gate they upgraded us to business class. Nice, but the trip still stressed about returning to the 2 airports with the 'great service'. THANK GOD nothing was further damaged and both flight crews were very protective to make sure there were no more screw ups after hearing the story. They did safe me from multiple. What was saying the most to me was the large amount of both airport and flight crew people asking me to please file a complaint, because they are tired of having to deal with problems that shouldn't have occured. Off course I'll be filing and having the airline pay all the expensive I will have to make and have made, but I deeply hope they have learned at least a little bit since these two weeks already. On to the next count down!
Only 9 more months until I'll be back to the world and go on a DCL. Looking forward to it very much, but at the moment are a bit worried about the flight there. My last 2 flights both ended up with both the chairs damaged and/or 'lost'. Don't think I'm too confident I'll ever fly again if it would happen for a third time. Hopefully it's mainly the jetlag and stress of the last two weeks talking and the worries will soon reduce. And if not, oh well, you would say it wouldn't be too difficult to get at least one chair undamaged and without delay to MCO and back home once every 3 trips.
911? For a suspected UTI? Dang, there should be something like a GP or at least just simply take a taxi to an ER? "Oh yeah.... that also might be an option", ligthbulb-moment for the CM's. Maybe it's just due to our system, but we only call 112 (our 911) if it's life-threatening and/or crime in action right than and there. I hate hanging out at our ER, so wouldn't happily do the waittimes in an USA ER unless I knew it would be no other way. So came up with the 'house call'- medical company options. Pretty fast and proper option for the basic stuff. Was starting to worry a bit about hospitals though. Did look into that last year, but completely forgot to look into it this year. Dumb, because by the time I need a specialist for a UTI, I would need one familiar with my type of urinestomy and they definately are not at each hospital. 
) and the medical equipment. I've read previous experiences you've had that really made me go 
