Just back

[Talking Hands]

Just got home last night from Tupperware Jubilee (Convention) and then visiting WDW for a few days. It was very crowded and the guests were unbelievable rude at times.

Tupperware Jubilee was a bust and I won't got into that except to say the forgot to contract for the interpreters and I had no access to the training and awards ceremonies because of this.

Went on Wednesday, the day before the convention and meet Dania (DisneyCP2002) at AK and we went to Tarzan Rocks and FOLK. They were great even if I couldn't get the words. Seen them enough that I know the words for the most part and the visual stuff is fantastic anyway. We arrived at FOLK just before it started and they said there wasn't another wheelchair spot. OK fine. Well CM Hannah saw me and says let me go look. Come back and motions to us to follow her. One spot left and it was right on the side that the bird comes over to greet guests near the end of the show. WOW. Bird walks in and double WOW! It is my daughter's friend. See didn't know I was coming since it was a last minute decision. At the end she sees me and smiles and sneaks a wave to me. Definately a Magical Moment. After FOLK we head for MGM and had a great time over there. Then I went to meet my Tupperware group after dropping Dania off at her apartment.

Thursday, Friday and Sat morning were supposed to be Tupperware but I ditched Saturday morning and went to Pop Century to register and then on the AK. Missed Pocahantas but ran into Marvin and his baby daughter and got a photo of them. First time I've seen her except in pictures. My favorite interpreter, Tara, was interpreting with Rafael and they were great. My daughter friend was not working this morning so I am happy I saw her Wednesday. Dania joined us. After I got another picture of Tara, Marvin and their daughter. Then off to Tarzan Rocks pin trading along the way. WE were going to hook up with MommytoMJM but it started to thunder and lightening so they had to leave. While we are waiting for Tarzan Rocks we see a black racer cross the walkway and go into the grass. First time I have seen a snake in AK. Actually saw another as we were leaving the park. A security guy was shooing it into the grass. Finish at AK and head back to Pop Century to get my room number but it is 3rd floor so they have to change it. No problem but I get to the room and it isn't accessible with the wheelchair although it is equipped with the visual alarms for the deaf and hard of hearing. No grab bars on the tub either. Well it turns out the do not have full grab bars like I have had at All Stars. Well they tell go on to what I am doing in the evening and when I get back they will have a room for me.

So off to PI on the bus. Go to Comedy Wrehouse and we have a blast. Thanks to Christy and Tara for interpreting. Dania and I go our separate ways for buses. Bus arrives and the lift is broken. Another arrives and it is full. 3rd lift arrives and that lift is broken. 4th bus arrives and it looks full as well. Yikes! Talk to relief driver and explain what happened and ask him to call for transportation. He says no problem. Tells driver to open back. tells guest to move from the wheelchair seating and move back or forward to let me in and gets me on the bus. Thank you to the guests who moved. And thanks to Stef, who got me on his bus. Arrve back a Pop Century at midnight and they have the manager come to talk to me. They have a room but it isn't in the preferred building I paid for. It has a roll in shower but they have gotten a shower seat for me to use as the bench is slippery and actually a bit high for me to get on. Has an ADA access kit set up for deaf and hard of hearing. He also gives me a phone number to call if I end up running out of power so he can send someone to rescue me. (reason for the request for a close in room). I get to room ana all my luggage is there but my bag of meds. They find that and I head to bed.

MGM today and oops my power wheelchair didn't charge right. I had enough to get to MGM but not to go around the parks so I rented an ECV. Ouch those things are hard to operate. Couldn't do Star Tours since I would have to change to a manual chair but the castmember told me to come back in half an hour and he would push me through in the manual. Went to do Millionare and they refused to let me in. Told me I had to use a manual period. Now I have seen people in offsite rental ECVs enter but not a Disney one. I could not even take it to the ramp and walk up that to the seating area. NADA! real nasty castmember who refused any form of accommodation. So I decided to go back and get my wheelchair at Oscar's whic should be charged by now. Get the chair and it isn't charged at all. Instead of following the instuctions I had given them they had used a set-up Disney has for it's ECVs and plugged it into the controller box which has a plug that fits. I can't get back to my hotel with no charge or to WWTBAM or anywhere else unless someone pushes it. CM Chris goes to Guest Services to find out how they can get me back to the room because at that point all I wanted was to leave I was so frustrated. Chad from Guest Services comes and asks what I had planned to do before this problem cropped up. He gets me another ECV and Chris takes the powerchair back to charge. (She knows what to do as her grandmother uses the same one and promises that she would be the only one to touch it) WWTBAM already started so Chad takes me to Great Movie ride and we go in the back since the ECV would be hard to get through the front with all the curves. Then he takes me to Beauty and the Beast where he and Chris join me to watch the show. (Chris had never seen it before) We said our goodbyes and I went to watch the parade and meet MommytoMJM, DaddytoMJM, MJM and Mike. We park all the wheelchairs and sit on the steps to watch the parade. Thank you Christy and Rafael for interpreting. After the parade we go back and exchange the ECV for my wheelchair which is now charged. and go to some rides and then meander for a while before the 10:30 Fantasmic. Awesome!

Monday is MK. Arrive on time and end up following the interpreter to Jungle Cruise. Eliezer is the interpreter for the morning. Christy will join hin for the parade and Cindercelebration. I forgot my schedule. Ouch. Do Jungle Cruise and Belle's Storytime and tell Eliezer I will skip the Riverboat Ride. Head to the front to get a new schedule. Oops need a fast potty stop. And I do mean fast but ramp is blocked by people trying to get Plutos autograph. Handler does nothing. Finally I get people to move and head to bathroom. Handicap stall is too short of the wheelchair. Can't close door but I have to go. Ooops embarassing accident. Clean up and go to get schedule and tell them that the handicapped stall is inadequete. Got Gail who is so sweet and she signs well. She is terrific. Get schedule and go see Scoop. Then I head to the parade and then to Cindercelebration. Dania meets me there.

After Cindercelebration we do Small World and then go to dinner at Crystal Palace. Chef shows me what I can't eat (allergic to mango, shrimp and aspartame) on the buffet (very little I can't ) and goes to check on the desserts. Yes I can have the brownie. After dinner Dania leaves for work but before that we meet Ali, who works crowd control. He asks me where I plan to watch Spectro and then tells me to follow him and takes me to the area right at the start of the parade and has me put my wheelchair in a spot where I can see the parade as it come out from backstage. Awesome spot, Ali, thanks. Tells me to find him by Casey's and he will have a great spot for me to watch Wishes. Spectro is awesome! Stop to get my wristband and talk to Gail again.

Now on the other hand Wished was a fiasco. Ali found a great space for me and a couple from England where when Wished started should not be blocked because it is a crosswalk in front of us. Well rude guests had other plans. People started standing in front of us and refused to move even when told to by security. People also kept crawling over the wheelchair and a small baby in a stroller who was beside me trying to find a way out insted of going to the walkway. I was hit by purses, backpacks and peoples' bodies. All I saw during Wishes was peoples heads and butts. Yuck. Thanks for trying Ali.
Then I tried to get to Cosmic Rays to get a drink. Ouch, Crowded like you would not believe. People were literally crushing into my wheelchair on the sides and the back. I kept telling people to get off me that they were hurting me buy no one cared. I finally got through but I think I may have taken out someones feet. Sorry. I was panicking. My advise, don't do Wishes or EMH if you are by yourself in a wheelchair. It isn't safe.

EPCOT was fun. Thanks Eliezer for interpreting. You rock. Especially for taking all the teasing you get in stride. I rode Soaring and it is beyond description. Also rode Test Track for the first time. Now I've ridden every ride at least once.

 

[Nanajo1]

Lisa,
Sorry the convention was a bust. Your trip was certainly a full one. I like reading your reports because they give me hints I use on my trips. Thanks for reporting.

 

[nwdisgal]

Talking Hands - Great, informative report. I'm glad that for the most part you had a fun and enjoyable trip. Sorry to hear about those rude people at Wishes and by Cosmic Rays.

 

[michelle9343]

Talking hands-
Sorry that you hand to encounter so many rude people. I take my DD in her chair to Disney alot and we have problems all the time. I am lucky to live in FL so I try to avoid the fireworks at busy time. It is down right scary. My DS think that the wheelchair becomes invisible to many.

 

[dclfun]

Your story of the broken bus lifts, full busses, and inadequate rooms reminds me of my recent trips...very little magic when you have to deal with such things, plus the rude guests on top of it all. Last week I was in MK Sunday afternoon and it wasn't crowded at all but kids ( non-English speaking) kept running up to Skye and barking, then hitting her butt. She's so gentle and kind but I wished I'd had a recording of a dog growl to get them to leave her alone. It was one thing for guests to run me over and hit me with their backpacks, etc. but now that I have a SD it really angers me that people aren't considerate since I don't want her to be hurt or feel abused when she's working. You handled everything really well! Kathy

 

[Nanajo1]

Kathy,
I am so sad that Skye was subjected to such treatment. Were you able to get any help from the CMs to stop the rude kids? I assuming there weren't any adults with them.

 

[Talking Hands]

Kathy, it is so sad that Skye had to take that abuse from the kids. If anyone would do that to Kimball, my friend's guide dog, I would be furious.
I did the best I could considering the circumstances. I wasn't feeling real well in the first place. My fellow consultants wanted to take me to the ER on Friday night because I was in so much pain. There were some really awesome castmembers that really helped.

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear you did have some good with the bad.
Nasty, nasty rude guests though. I don't understand what some people are thinking. I can understand (to some extent) the "invisible" wheelchairs and maybe accidentally bumping a dog, but abusing a dog as a fun activity?

 

[zumbergc]

If your doing wishes. You might try in the rose garden. Its kind of out of the way, and people aren't generally moving around in the walkway.
You'd probably want to wait there a long time after the fireworks, because once your out of the rose garden its mobs of people, and its rough if your by yourself. I generally have my husband kind of walk right in front so i can get right behind him and we can get thry the crowds. Only other suggestion is get behind a double stroller or another scooter.

Main street is a mess, and i've been bumped and rammed by people with strollers who "didn't see me" when we tried to watch wishes on main street.

Sorry about WWTBAM, they have spots specifically for wheelchair people, or scooter people at the front of the special access section. You just park and they hand you a controller to play. They generally let us drive up and sit, and then my hubby moves it to the parking area or an attendant does.
Don't you just hate it when you get a yucky cm.

Connie

 

[Talking Hands]

If your doing wishes. You might try in the rose garden. Its kind of out of the way, and people aren't generally moving around in the walkway.
Sorry about WWTBAM, they have spots specifically for wheelchair people, or scooter people at the front of the special access section. You just park and they hand you a controller to play. They generally let us drive up and sit, and then my hubby moves it to the parking area or an attendant does.
Don't you just hate it when you get a yucky cm.
Connie

Thanks about the idea of the rose garden. I'll try that in September.
I know WWTBAM has specific spots for wheelchairs. I've been many times. But because I was using a Disney ECV because my own power wheelchair was supposedly being charged they wouldn't let me in. Now I have seen plenty of offsite rental and private ECVs in there. I could of hobbled to a seat if they would have allowed me to ride it to the steps but no I would have to use manual wheelchair which I can't. So I missed the only show I could see with the interpreter. Very nasty castmember. Usually they are very accommodating. Oh they normally allow my wheelchair and it is every bit as heavy as the Disney ECV so that reason was really bogus.

 

[eeyore45]

Wow, what a visit!! You handled the problems with more grace than I could! Are you following up with a letter concerning the fact that CM's still are not educated in handling the disabilites, specific to WWTBAM, and the walkway - I'm so sure that if the majority of people that are ignorant to your experiences spent just 24 - 48 hrs in your wheelchair, this world would be a much better place!!

Thank you for sharing the details of your experiences!!

 

[minnie61650]

Talking Hands,
I'm sorry you had such difficulities on your trip.
Some were just bad luck and people not paying attention to where they are going. I have thought about tying a balloon at eye level on my EVC so people don't walk right into the side my EVC and glare at me like it is my fault they walked into me!
Some people are just plain rude and have no respect for others.
It is so sad.
Glad you had a great spot to watch spectro and some kind CMs to make up for the ones who have not yet been educated in the handling of guests with disabilites.
Thanks for sharing.
Linda
Just 61 more days--but who's counting??? me

 

[yoopermom]

We must have been there at the same time, Talking Hands, wonder if I saw you and didn't know you! We've been to WDW in Aug. the past four years, but this visit had some of the rudest guests yet when it came to me and my ECV. I love WDW because I feel "normal", but it was hard to keep that feeling sometimes this trip.
Terri