The water parks are hard to navigate with a family member who has trouble walking, or who is in a wheelchair.
I have a son with Down syndrome, autism, and orthopedic complications. I say this, to explain that he is not your average DS kid. He likes the water parks. We used to be able to carry him up the hill, when he was little. DH is very strong, and did it even as he got bigger for awhile. Now he is too big for that, he is 18! Anyway, we used to arrive early, and then split up after a family raft ride together. DH would do maybe one more slide if Sean could last for it, and then the lazy river, and the rest of us would head for the big slides. (SEan walks up stairs very slowly, he has poor vision and balance, he does steps not reciprocal, very slow!) We would meet up for lunch, and then I would leave with Sean (he would be tired by then, and the sun would be too strong for him anyway). DH would stay with the other kids, and do big slides, wave pool, whatever, and stay most of the day.
Blizzard Beach is a little better than TL, because it has the lift. They are not terribly helpful at the water parks though. There is a handicapped entrance to the lift, but the CMs largely ignore you if you stand on it. Plus, some slides require you to carry up your tube or raft. We would split up, sending Sean and Dad on the lift, the rest of us would walk and try and carry the necessary tubes for all of us. Then they started making them wait for the one gondola chair on the lift, and transferring Sean to the parks wheelchair. Then at the top, they somehow expected him to be able to walk and wait on the lines, so that they could return the wheelchair to the bottom. It was just crazy, the CMS seemed not to know what to do, and they have no GAC, no plan. We asked when we got there how they handled things. (I mean, we split up so we were NOT trying to cut lines with the group or anything)
In their defense, we used to use our wheelchair to get him to the lift, then coming down, we would end up nowhere near the wheelchair's location. One of us would have to run and fetch it while the others waited with Sean. So, there does not seem to be a solution I can think of.
In conclusion, we just gave up the last few trips. I can't blame the water parks, they were not designed as accessible. And they are just so much fun otherwise, I can't be too mad about it. Usually one day DH takes some of the kids to the water parks, while I take Sean to a park to wait on lines to meet characters. (something the rest of the family is not too keen on!)
