Oy! A Disney vacation had never been super high on my list. The cost! The people! The crowds! I think we managed to do it in a reasonable way for our first visit. We didn’t initially plan our vacation around going to Disney World, it just happened that flights to Orlando were reasonable, and we were able to find a great hotel that met our criteria of having a pool and 2 bedrooms. Disney ended up being only 1 day, just the Magic Kingdom, and we found plenty of other things to do. Other highlights included blueberry and orange picking, riding in an amphibicar, and lots of pool time.
When we first found out about Leah’s diagnosis almost 6 years ago, there were times when we wondered if it would ever be possible to go on a normal family vacation, or be able to experience things the way we envisioned as a family. I will say that Disney did not disappoint in that regard. Everything, from the disability parking, to the lines, to the transportation, had disabilities in mind. I was also impressed with how accommodating the staff was, like the ride attendants and guest services, all were there to make it feel totally normal to be in a wheelchair. It doesn’t hurt that Leah is super cute and friendly too! The one thing I noticed, though, was that many of the rides require transferring out of the chair and into the ride itself, which will present a challenge when Leah is bigger and heavier. For now, it’s not a problem to pick her up and carry her on, but that will be more difficult later. We saw some of the rides had a spot where we could have taken her wheelchair right on, like the Jungle Cruise and It’s a Small World.
Disney also did a nice job with their Disability Access Card, which has changed a lot in the last couple years. The way they do it is that we had to register with Guest Services where they took her picture and noted everyone in the party with her. That allowed us to check into a ride and be given a time to come back that corresponded with the wait time, saving us from standing in line the whole time. In addition to the fast passes we got with our tickets, we were able to move pretty quickly through the park. The longest we waited was 25 minutes, and were able to do 10 rides in the 6 hours that we were there. It was a hot day (mid-80s) so not unbearable, and more crowded than I was expecting, so we felt pretty good about the rides that we were able to do. When we ran out of fast passes (you only get 6 total), it was 3:00 and we were all ready to be done. There was a little tiny part of me that wanted to go back to the park later that evening! But being in bed early was pretty nice.
When we first arrived, our Guest Services attendant gave us a disability access pass to the Snow White ride right away. We headed there as soon as the gates opened and were one of the first to ride. We didn’t say anything to Leah about what kind of ride it was, but she screamed with excitement the entire time. When we got off, I told her that she just rode her first roller coaster and she loved it. Our next stop was to the Haunted Mansion, as it only had a 10-minute wait. Bad idea! She was terrified and cried through the entire 12-minute ride. As it turns out, that’s the ride she has talked about the most! Since she had such a bad experience, we decided not to do anymore scary rides (ruling out Pirates of the Caribbean), but she still fussed on Winnie the Pooh. Ha! Dumbo and Goofy’s Barnstormer rides were also high favorites. It’s a Small World was cute but felt really dated and the Tea Cups were also great fun. The only characters we saw were Chip and Dale, and we just saw them from afar. We never stood in line to meet anyone, and the autograph book we brought was completely empty when we left. I asked her a few times if she wanted to meet characters, but she was more interested in rides. That’s my girl!
All in all, it was a great vacation and so nice to get away for a few days. We had a lot of fun at Disney, and it was a pretty great place to take Leah. I can’t say that we’ll be heading back anytime soon, maybe when she’s 9 or 10 and old enough to do some of the bigger roller coasters, as long as she’s still light enough for us to transfer her. As I’ve said so many times before, it was just nice to have a somewhat normal family vacation. I definitely don’t take that for granted!
A few fun pics:
blueberry picking
amphibicar ride at Disney Springs
So much fun on Snow White & 7 Dwarves
of course, picture of the castle
getting ready to take a spin on the Tea Cups
