Come with me to Disney World!

We went to the most magical place on earth … and it rained!

So, our day started off bright and early at 5am with our body clocks still in England mode. We went for breakfast at the all-American diner Denny’s! I had my first taste of American food with the thing I was most looking forward too, maple syrup and pancakes, and they didn’t disappoint! I’m not in love with maple syrup!

We then paid a visit to Walmart! It was absolutely huge, and we spent over two hours in there leaving with a LOT of bags 😅.

Next on the list was Disney World! Because we were staying in a Disney connected hotel we got a free shuttle bus service to the park, we had to prebook to make sure an accessible bus arrived, but the process was easy and we just had to ring them. When the bus arrived it had a portable ramp that was similar to the London trains, there was a large space for me to park and I got fully strapped in.

The drive was only 20 minutes, but we weren’t dropped at the park, we had to get another mode of transport over to the actual park. There was a boat or monorail, we chose the boat for the way there, but it was a little regrettable because it was SO windy (I nearly lost my Minnie ears 😂) but we did get a sneak peak of the castle. The boat was fully accessible and needed no additional support to go on.

We arrived around 2.15pm as we had planned to watch the parade first, but unfortunately the weather had other ideas! When going to America I expected it to be really hot and nice weather… but nope we brought the English weather with us. It wasn’t cold but the rain meant it was unsafe for the performers, so it was cancelled. They did another rain friendly version but it wasn’t very good ☹. Oh well gives us a reason to go back!

After drying off we headed for the rides. On route we walked up Main Street which looked surreal and got our first proper view of Cinderella’s castle! Disney is so big it took us a while to find a ride! When I was planning our trip, I found it really hard to work out what rides I could actually go on, so I’m going to give a short description of each and my experience to hopefully help any wheelchair users on future visits.

For most rides we were fast tracked, but for others we were given a time to come back if it was busy.

The first ride we went on was Peter Pan’s Flight. It wasn’t wheelchair accessible, but it was safe for me to be held on, I’m fortunate enough to be light enough to be lifted on so I could experience it. The ride consisted of flying over landmarks in Peter Pan’s story, it was smooth and slow though we did have to emergency stop the ride to get off as it was going a little too fast! 😅.

We next went on It’s a Small World which takes you a tour of the world learning the different cultures from small people. For this cruise ride I was able to stay in my wheelchair, but we just had to wait a little longer for the specific boat to come round. I simply drove on and was kept in place with a brake behind me. It was a very smooth ride, and I was able to enjoy it much more from the comfort of my chair.

Next up was my favourite, Under the Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid. I was able to remain in my chair for this one, but I could only have one companion as we were sat in a small clam. Much like It’s a Small World I just drove in and had a brake behind me as well as a seatbelt. The ride was smooth with little wave motions, but I was able to support myself with no difficulty.

The final ride we went on was the Haunted Mansion, it was very anticlimactic, and I expected it to be scarier than it was. I had been on this ride previous at Disneyland Paris, so I knew I had to transfer, the ride started and ended at the same place, so I was taken right to the carriage before being lifted and my chair was brought to us at the end. The ride was stopped at entry and exit so no need for an emergency stop! The ride was mainly smooth but on up/downhill parts my cousin was able to hold me.

We attended Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, it was a show where tropical birds, Tiki gods and colourful flowers came to life … it was very weird, and we didn’t really know what was going on 😂.

Although there weren’t many rides I could go on, the general experience of being in Disney was enough. There was so much to see and all the lands were so pretty and magical! The whole of the park was accessible and easy for me to drive round, with the only annoying thing being the kids running in the way! All the staff were helpful and made the experience even better.

The day was topped off by the most beautiful and magical firework display above the castle. Everyone was just in awe of the 18 minutes display and there was even a visit from Tinkerbell herself! There was a designated area for disabled people right in front of the castle but back enough to have a great view!

On the way out there was a mad rush but we were directed through a shop as a cut through and we came out at the other end of Main Street! We got the monorail home and at this point the jet lag had caught up with me, so I don’t remember much after this point, but I had to get a ramp on and off of the train and it was smooth like a London train.

We got the shuttle back to our hotel and went straight to bed ahead of another busy day!

Come back tomorrow to read all about Universal Studios.

Thank you for reading.

Ellie Xx