Traveling at the End of March/First of April

[Hockeytchr]

My DH and I are heading back to WDW during the week of March 30-April 4 2009. This time we are going to stay at the Westgate Vacation Villas since we are long time Westgate owners. This trip we are also taking along my parents (Dad 72, Mom 69) who are fairly "young" for their ages. The only difficulty is Dad is limited on what he can ride, and Mom has some lower back and hip problems. The trouble is they still want to keep up with DH and I and I don't want them to end up hurt or worse. Dad had a bad episode a few years ago when we were at Universal and he got overheated, dehydrated and motion sickness after a few days at the park in June and wound up hospitalized at the dreaded Celebration Medical Center. My question is what rides should we encourage him to avoid, other than the obvious like coasters, Mission Space, and TOT. We know Mom may need to rent a scooter for a few days to keep her hip pain minimal and to ease the stress on her back muscles. Mom can still handle the coasters but not Mission Spavce or TOT. Any suggestions to make this a fun trip without setbacks? This will be our last trip before DH and I intend on possibly extending our family to more than just our four legged "kids"

 

[SueM in MN]

I think you would want to look at all the rides with warnings and decide which ones of these they would want to skip.
You can look at the park maps for the attractions with warnings - they are marked with a red triangle on the map and also on a sign at the entrance to the queue.
For Epcot here are the attractions with warnings:

• Mission Space
• Test Track

For Magic Kingdom:

• Splash Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Tomorrowland Indy Speedway
• Space Mountain
• Goofy's Barnstormer (this doesn't have a triangle warning sign on the map, but does say that pregnant women should not ride, so it is a sort of wild ride. If they like roller coasters, but not long ones, this is a good one to ride)

For Disney Studio

• Star Tours
• Rock N Roller Coaster
• Tower of Terror

For Animal Kingdom:

• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Kali River Rapids
• Expedition Everest
• Primeval Whirl
• Dinosaur

The Safari and Kali River Rapids are listed because you can get unexpected hard bumps and drops during the course of the ride. Many people suggest that the Safari is less bumpy closer to the front, but it is still bumpy. We sit in the front seat because youngest DD needs to stay in her wheelchair; we still get bounced around a lot. It all depends on which ruts your ride car hits. I have also ridden it without DD, and have found the farther back seats are also bumpy.

Splash Mountain is mostly a tame ride thru cute scenes of animals singing, but there are several small drops before the big one. Because of the height and speed of the big drop, it does generate some G forces. The ride car is also one of the more difficult to get into, with high sides and quite a step down to the seating area.
For rides like Dinosaur, Star Tours, Test Track, Big Thunder Mountain you are not moving that fast, but experience sudden changes of direction that jerk you around a lot.