Hey Vicgirl,
I hope you had an awesome trip!
I’d love to have an update to hear your experiences…. What worked, what didn’t, etc.
Wow. So much to report! I'll try and do it succinctly.
First off, we did rope drop each morning by arriving around 7:15am. There was a wheelchair designated gate on the far right side by the
stroller rentals. Perfect! It was beneficial for us to arrive early as I found navigating the crowds by early afternoon to be a bit frustrating, and I am sure it must be even more challenging for those using mobility equipment (my husband never complains, but I am sure he was exhausted by it).
DH was disappointed he could not use a small, thin cushion to sit on when the ride seats were hard. This put him at a high risk of a pressure sores, which he did end up getting (small and now healing thankfully). We spoke to numerous Case Members about this and it sounds like the law (if it is one, I am not sure) may be changing. He will investigate more prior to our next trip. Some CM's ignored his use of the pad, and we appreciated this. It did not put him at risk of injury (for example using it on Pirate's).
After the first day of riding stand-by, he was granted
DAS by a CM at the Information umbrella purely by accident (I'm not sure DH even knew what DAS was). DH was inquiring about the cushion policy and voila, DAS. Amazing! In hindsight I realize he does qualify, what with neurogenic bladder and bowel etc, so this was really a blessing.
Prior to being granted DAS though, we made a point of speaking with the CM's at ROTR when it was shut down (before we had ridden it) just to see if he'd need to transfer, if there was a separate line etc. Because my DH is so patient and kind and treats everyone with respect, the CM discreetly gave us LL passes to ride when they re-opened!
Honestly, I was blown away by every single CM who treated us with empathy and patience. Our trip was magical as a result. I am sure it helped that DH has an obvious disability and that he isn't trying to scam the system.
DH was not able to ride Goofy's Sky School due to lack of room to transfer. He did not ride Indiana Jones, as it would have tossed him around too much.
He found Materhorn to be too jolting for him as a T12 paraplegic. He did love Big Thunder though, and was able to brace himself easily.
Guardians of the Galaxy was probably our 6 and 8 year old's favourite ride and DH rode it two out of the three times we rode it, as one time the CM would not let him use his cushion so he left the ride while we carried on.
Autopia has a car with hand controls! We didn't use it, but how cool is that?!
Radiator Raceers offered a separate loading area, with two options for loading: one which puts you higher than the car and the other which puts you transferring at the same level. This was nice as we didn't feel rushed to get in the damn car ;-)
Web Slingers has a totally separate wheelchair accessible carriage. Plus they let us ride twice in a row!
Many of the rides allowed us to ride twice or even three times. so fun.
The WoC dessert party accommodated us easily with a low table. In fact the entire row of tables against the rail are low, with the tall tables directly behind. Many folks without disabilities were seated at these low tables too. It's a lovely spot to watch the show.
DH did the Lightsabre building at Savi's and there's a workspace that wheelchair users can wheel under so they can easily use the work bench.
We stayed at the Courtyard Themepark Entrance in a two queen room with bunkbeds. The accessible bathroom was spacious and perfect for our use.
If I think of anything else I'll add it here.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful advice and feedback. It was very appreciated.