Newbie with LOTS of questions!

[Stag]

I wasn't sure if I should ask about this here or in the Universal boards, so please feel free to move it if it doesn't go here! I was pointed over to these forums by a friend. It's more theme-park-with-a-disability-in-general than Universal specific.

So, I'm going to Universal/IOA and Sea World in... I believe late September/early October of this year, 2010, with my family. We have only been to Disney before, and never with a service dog, so needless to say I'm a combination of excited and anxious all at once.

I'm currently working with a tentative diagnosis of dysautonomia, since all my symptoms match up EXACTLY with everything I've been reading on it and my primary care dog said that's what he thought it was, but I have yet to get to a neurologist to get an official diagnosis.

For those who aren't familiar with it, it's literally a dysfunction of the autonomous nervous system, which presents itself with sudden drops in blood pressure (causing loss of vision, dizziness, and lightheadedness in my case) triggered by things such as physical activity, heat (some people with the diagnosis have handicap placards for their car because walking across a parking lot can drop them, I don't since I'm not officially diagnosed by a neurologist), chest pains/tightness, difficulty swallowing, numbness/tingling in limbs, panic attacks, and the list goes on and on-- those are just my personal symptoms. That said, I plan on seeing how I do the first day at Universal and if it's bad, I'm going to rent a chair at the parks, unless I talk it over with my new doc and see what he says.

Other than doing the usual management options (96 oz of fluid a day, compression stockings, multiple smaller meals/snacks rather than 3 big ones, etc. etc.), getting into a cool area when I start to feel overwhelmed, bringing my inhaler for chest issues, and relying on my dog to alert so I can sit before the bp drops happen, are there any other things that you would suggest? I know it's hard when you aren't familiar with the issues at hand. I expect I should drink more fluid at the park since I'll be doing more activity. Will they let me bring sports drinks into the park or will I have to purchase them there?

As far as my dog goes, I was going to invest in a tub of paw wax to protect her feet from the hot pavement-- I thought about boots but that seemed like it would make her feet hot and I don't want her to overheat, I'm really paranoid. Would you recommend one of those cooling bandannas? Again, we've never been to the parks with a SD before and I think I know a lot, but you can never know too much!

Also, Sea World says you have to keep your service dog 6-10 feet from any animal contact areas. Would it be okay if I put her in a down-stay and then went to the touch tanks if she was on leash and tethered to me or would I just have to forgo that whole part of my visit? I love feeding the dolphins!

Whew, that seems like a lot! I will edit if I remember any more, and thanks in advance!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Hi and Welcome! I'd be willing to be that some combination of all us Dis-er's will be able to answer most of your questions, or at least tell you how to find your answer.

Personally, I was recently diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic Syncope, which is a fainting thing related to the vagus nerve and I've yet to experience any of the parks with it yet, but I was told to follow similar things to you (the extra fluid, staying out of the heat, all that fun) I can tell you in the past, before this came about, I found myself drinking a lot more fluid anyway, even in October when the heat wasn't terrible. You don't realize how much you sweat out during the day, and its a good idea IMO for anyone in the parks to drink more. You can bring in sports drinks as long as they're not in glass containers, or purchase them in the parks.

If a chair/ecv looks to be in your future, even a little bit, plan on having it and budget around it because they get expensive fast and depending on where you get it, may not be available at some times.

My father is blind and has a guide dog so I have some experience there as well. It's been ages since I've been to SeaWorld and I've never been to Universal, so I'm not sure how much shade and open blacktop there is, but in October at Disney, we never had an issue with the pavement being so hot it bothered our dog's feet. If it got hot, we'd either take a break in the shade or dump some water on the dog's feet and that seemed to be enough. If you decide to get the wax or the shoes, keep in mind some dogs get freaked out by stuff on their feet and it may be more of a hassle than you want to deal with. Should you end up getting one of those, try them out on your dog ahead of time so the dog gets used to it and you don't end up getting down there and finding out the dog won't tolerate the wax or the shoes. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've been to SW, but at the time we had our dog right next to the dolphin pool and nothing was said, but at Discovery Cove in 2007 the dog was not allowed within X number of feet of the pools. I'm not sure you'd find that a down stay even while the dog was tethered to you would work out, because I think you'd have people approaching the dog wanting to play or pet it. Employees may also have a problem with that because you wouldn't be literally right there to handle the dog. I'd say your best bet there is let the dog sit with someone else in your party when you want to approach the dolphin pool. If SW is anything like Disney, an employee will not be allowed to watch the dog for you.

That's all I can think of for now relating to your questions. I'm sure lots of others will post on here and feel free to ask away because we're always willing to give you our take on things and share our experiences!

 

[Stag]

Thank you for all the advice! So I would be able to bring my own drink in a plastic bottle, which is nice to know. 96 ounces of fluid would add up to A LOT in the parks!

We've been to Disney a lot, but never to Orlando with a dog... I usually judge by, if I would be uncomfortable barefoot, so would she. I've heard paw wax makes their feet slippery too so I don't want to risk having her go down when we enter a store (it happened once in the mall because her feet were wet, and honestly, I had to try really hard not to laugh.) Last time we went, a few years ago, it was 104 degrees one day in October-- I don't want a repeat of that weather, I'm neurotic about my dog overheating or burning her feet or what have you.

I also know there are lots of air conditioned places in Disney, but I don't know how good Universal/IOA is with that...