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My First Ride

19 Dec

Good Afternoon,

I thought I would pass along my first experience riding the Dueling Dumbo Attraction at the Magic Kingdom on my last trip.  Having never been on Dumbo I wanted take a look at the attraction up close   To be honest I am not sure why I never rode the attraction before other then maybe being scared that I would not be able to get in and out of the attraction easily.  I realized that there had to be a way guests that are in wheelchairs are able to easily transfer to the attraction with out having to be literally lifted into the poor elephant.  I talked to one of the cast members that said that they had one Dumbo elephant car on each spinner that was set up with a door that could be lifted up to allow guests with disabilities to easily either slide in or in my case climb in.  Being the inquisitive mind and I was really there to research the options for my fellow readers, I asked if there was a way I could take a look at one of the elephants with the added doors to see how easy it would be for someone like me to climb in and out of the car.  Long story short the Door actually gave a guest the ability to slide into the car easily.  This gave me the opportunity to actually ride Dumbo for the first time and I can honestly say I loved it.

Sadly I wish I got a picture of myself on the ride or of the elephant with the additional door to it.  I’ll hopefully get a picture the next time I am there.

Till next time.

Sikandar Durrani

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2012 in Guide Post

 

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Greetings From Walt Disney World!!!

30 Nov

#reunion2012

Good Morning,

Finally after getting over my jet lag yesterday and having a busy schedule yesterday which included lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant in the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, thanks Len, I was able to get some observations done on a couple of changes made to some of the attractions to help accommodate guests with wheelchairs and scooters.  

The one that actually made the most sense to me was the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland.  Disney has done away with the separate queue line for the wheelchairs and scooters from the main queue.  Over the years I have seen Disney redo their queue lines to make this happen on many of their attractions to, in my opinion, discourage people from getting wheelchairs to just get front of the line access.  A number of attractions like the Laugh floor had the separate line for the guests to go through with wheelchairs and I have heard other guests comment that the disabled guests are getting special privileges and getting front of the line access.  By experience this is definitely not the case, and looks like Disney has started to work on increasing the experience received by the guest in wheelchairs so that they can actually see the well themed queue lines.

Well I’m off to Hollywood Studios today and I’ll get back to  y’all with changes I see there and some tips by tomorrow.  Till Then. 

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2012 in Guide Post

 

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Disney and Guests with Disabilities

18 Oct

Hello readers,

I thought that I would start my non-news articles with my view on how Disney handles and accommodates Guests with disabilities and how it there have been improvements for the better.  

In the last twenty-one some odd years that I have been going to the Disney parks as an adult, I have noticed that Disney has made great strides in making so that Guests in wheelchairs and electric scooters are able to get around their parks with a lot of ease.  

Evan as far back as 1992, Disney parks rented out electric scooters, or as Disney calls them Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs), for guests to use in the parks.  I can honestly say that Disney probably was not the first to do so but they were one of the first to encourage guests to use them to help provide an enjoyable vacation.  

With the increase in the use of the ECVs in the parks, disney finally realized that they would need to increase the width of their queue lines at their attractions to help accommodate the ECVs easily.  I believe that the reasoning behind this was because guests complained that they were not able to enjoy the well themed queue lines that Disney had designed for the parks.  The other side of the coin came from guests that watched guests with the scooters in their opinion get front of the line access to the rides while they had to wait in long lines to ride the same rides.  

Now days, the only reason why guests with ECVs or wheelchairs bypass a portion of the queues if not all of it is because there are stairs that need to be climbed.  Disney has published Guides for Guests with Disabilities with updated information regarding their attractions and what guests should encounter when they try and ride them.  For first time guests to the parks I strongly recommend that guests get the guides and read them over.  There are versions available on the Disney web sites at the following addresses:

These links go to websites that Disney has setup to give guests planning information before they come to the resorts.  Disney also provides information for all types of disabilities including guests with vision and hearing issues.  

Again I really can’t emphasize strongly enough how useful planning ahead of time before going on vacation to the Disney parks will reduce the amount of stress you will have when you come down.  

 
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Posted by on October 18, 2012 in Guide Post

 

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