New Dumbo Waiting Area

[mom2rj]

I just watched a short video previewing the new Dumbo Waiting Area. It looks fabulous for those who are mobile, but what is there for the wheelchair bound children to do?? Please don't tell me that I have to explain to my daughter that she can only sit and watch.

 

[SueM in MN]

The short video doesn't really show the whole area, so it's hard to say how accessible or inaccessible it is. Our next trip is in October, so I will know more then.

It does appear to be aimed at younger children. My youngest DD is to big to lift out of her wheelchair now ( young adult) and is older than the 'target audience' seems to be. When she was little and much more 'portable', we lifted her out of her wheelchair and carried her around play places like that.

Here are some things I would try with her there if she was smaller. She is a spastic quad with CP, can't walk or stand by herself and does not have good sitting balance out of her wheelchair because her lower trunk tries to stay straight at the hips. She has never been able to do anything independently in playgrounds, but we always tried to get some play value out of anywhere we went.

The climbing net wall is not accessible, pretty much, by virtue of what it is, but I would see if I could hold her or park her wheelchair to one side of it, out of traffic. She would at least be able to grab the nets and 'walk' her hands up it.

The trampoline bouncers, she would love. I would do a 2 person carry and just bounce on that a little or hold her in a standing position (she can't stand by herself) in one place and bounce in that place. We have been on similar places like that where her wheelchair fit onto the bouncy part, so we parked her there and bounced the wheelchair.

The house - I can't see if there is any ramp to get to the top floor, but we would go where we could and look out ( looks too small to carry her up the stairs nd she could not come down on the pole).

Those 'acrobat discs' (the kind of colored discs on ropes) we probably would lift her on and keep our body supporting hers while we swung it.

Slides- can't really say from the pictures whether she could get on, but when she was little, she did go on similar slides with enclosed slides ( could not put her on regular slides because of the danger of falling off the slide). We carried her up the stairs.

Except for the fire truck, I could not really see what was in the circle area, but there appeared to be at least 2 openings wide enough for a wheelchair. We did lift her out of her wheelchair and put her into similar toys to the truck.

She learned pretty early on that we would try to get her involved as much as possible, but there were things that were just not accessible. One of her favorite things to do was boss her older sister around, so for the inaccessible things, we let her do that - kind of like Simon Says. Not easy because she can't talk, but she has good 'body language' and my older DD enjoyed it too. Kind of like mixing sharades with Simon Says.

 

[mistysue]

Not sure if we saw the same video, but the one I saw it looked like much of the area was big enough for an adult to follow their kid, so depending on her size it may be possible as Sue said to sort of carry her through.
There were kids playing in some cars, you could put her in the car just like the other kids.

I'm sorry it's concerning but even if you can't find a way to make it work, anything is better than standing in that Florida heat of the old line where in my experience it seems there is never a breeze. It looks like a nice place to just be able to sit in the air conditioning, "only" being able to look around might not be as bad as it sounds.

 

[ttintagel]

I'm reeeeeally hoping there's going to be an alternate non-playground waiting area for people without small children. Being shut up in an enclosed playground with a crowd of preschoolers is not my idea of a fun way to pass the time.

 

[buffettgirl]

I'm reeeeeally hoping there's going to be an alternate non-playground waiting area for people without small children. Being shut up in an enclosed playground with a crowd of preschoolers is not my idea of a fun way to pass the time.

I hope someone reports back on this. I wonder if it might be like HM, where you can choose to do the interactive area or not. I know my 12 year old won't want to be in there, other than for the a/c then again, he thinks dumbo is stupid, so it will probably be me and the 19 year old anyway. LOL

 

[WLodgeLizard]

Has anyone heard if there will be a WC accessible Dumbo? That would be REALLY nice

 

[figmentfan6]

Has anyone heard if there will be a WC accessible Dumbo? That would be REALLY nice

If I remember correctly, when I was there in late May there was a Dumbo on the old spinner that was wheelchair accessible. I suspect that there will be one of these on each spinner. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong here though!

 

[momto2greatgirls]

If I remember correctly, when I was there in late May there was a Dumbo on the old spinner that was wheelchair accessible. I suspect that there will be one of these on each spinner. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong here though!

My most recent guidebook states that "guests must leave their wheelchair to ride" dumbo. And on the WDW page it says: "Guests must transfer from their wheelchair, motorized scooter or ECV to board the ride vehicle."
Hoping here, too, that the new Dumbo will be accessible!

 

[KPeveler]

Most children's play areas are not going to be accessible to those who cannot leave a wheelchair. It stinks, but that is the nature of things like climbing walls and slides.

I too hope there is a quieter area to wait for Dumbo, because the little i have heard of it sounds like pure torture to those with sensory issues. Not to mention adults who do not want to be in the middle of screaming running preschoolers.

 

[SueM in MN]

My most recent guidebook states that "guests must leave their wheelchair to ride" dumbo. And on the WDW page it says: "Guests must transfer from their wheelchair, motorized scooter or ECV to board the ride vehicle."
Hoping here, too, that the new Dumbo will be accessible!

It does NOT have a wheelchair accessible Dumbo.
We saw the new Dumbo when we we're at WDW in March/April.

It has the same ADA transfer Dumbo as the old Dumbo had. The pictures I took were part of a picture card I lost, so no picture of the actual new Dumbo. It is the same as the old Dumbo's ADA transfer vehicle in this picture:

The whole side open up, which does make transfer easier. It is a very low transfer, as you can see by the location of the seat compared to my DD's wheelchair.

I don't think we will ever see a wheelchair accessible Dumbo like the Aladdin and Triceraptop Spin vehicles. Those regular ride cars have 2 rows of seats and the wheelchair takes the entire back row.
Dumbo has a single row of seats, so the barrier is that there is not space for a wheelchair plus a companion in the same Dumbo.

 

[WLodgeLizard]

Bummer. Oh well, fun to watch

 

[lucigo]

I have a child with autism and we use the stroller as a wheelchair option. Its my hope that they will continue to have a wheelchair accessible line that will go straight to the ride and bypass the new area. With my luck he would get overwhelmed and try to escape. I like to be able to see him at all times, especially in a place like DW.

 

[livndisney]

I have a child with autism and we use the stroller as a wheelchair option. Its my hope that they will continue to have a wheelchair accessible line that will go straight to the ride and bypass the new area. With my luck he would get overwhelmed and try to escape. I like to be able to see him at all times, especially in a place like DW.

The new waiting area is a big top set back behind the ride entrance. So if you had a FP for Dumbo, you would not even see the new area.

From the Dis blog "Guests using Fastpasses (located at Mickey's PhilharMagic) to experience the attraction will skip the Big Top and head straight to the ride."

This picture shows what I was talking about http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/magickingdom/fan-dumbo.htm

The new waiting area in the large yellow tent. But the line entrance to the ride(atleast for the Dumbo that is open) is the little red tent in front of the area.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The following is taken from a Disney official web site

Starting in July, Guests entering the attraction through the Standby queue will be taken into the big top to enjoy the pre-boarding play area while they wait. The FASTPASS entrance will bypass the tent and take Guests directly to their flight with Dumbo.

 

[mom2rj]

Thanks to everyone who kept this thread going so we could all learn about the queue and play area for this attraction. I am relieved that I won't have to endure my daughter's anger and frustration at not being able to be fully involved in the big top activities.