Walt Disney World: Monorail

Date of Visit: July 30, 2011

Mik hates buses, so when we wanted to get to the Magic Kingdom after a movie at Downtown Disney with Dad we thought it would be better to have Dad drop us off at the Monorail.  Mik kind of likes the Monorail better than buses, but the ramps are not fun and with no tie downs the wheelchair moved a lot during the trip.  Only thing that made it better was it was shorter than a bus ride.

Destination Info:
Walt Disney World - Monorail
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios - Star Tours The Adventure Continues

Date of Visit: July 30, 2011

Star Tours is pretty much the only transfer ride I will do with Mik since it is an easy seat to seat transfer and there is no rush with the ride vehicle not being on a track.  We had already done the new Star Tours in Disneyland and I did not much care about doing it in Disney World, but it is one of Mik's favorite rides, so we decided try the WDW version.


It ended up being a good choice to do it at Disney World because you actually get a better queue experience than Disneyland.  At Disneyland we just get the boring outside line and little bit interesting one room experience, but you miss out on seeing C3PO and the ride vehicle model in the regular queue when you go in the side door for the elevator.  At WDW we ended up skipping the whole line (I think only because the wait time was not that long) and going a separate way to the loading area.  We still skip the inside queue, but the way it is set up a WDW allows you to get an overlook view of C3PO and the vehicle model.

The actual boarding process is just like at Disneyland, though.  You can roll the wheelchair into the ride vehicle and the Cast Member will take it out and bring it back at the end of the ride.  The armrest can be swung to the side to make transferring easier.

Destination Info:
Disney's Hollywood Studios - Star Tours
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Animal Kingdom - TriceraTop Spin

Date of Visit: July 30, 2011

TriceraTop Spin is kind of like the Magic Carpets of Aladdin at the Magic Kingdom except you are flying in a Triceratop.  Of course, it makes pretty much no sense.  Sure, a flying elephant like Dumbo is odd, but at least that is based on a movie.  The whole flying land dino is totally weird, but gotta love that it actually is totally wheelchair accessible.


They were not sure Mik's chair would work, but they were totally willing to try and if not there was a chair you could transfer to and ride in, although that would not work for Mik.  Luckily, though, Mik's wheelchair fit on the ride no problem.


The control, however, is kind of awkwardly located on the left side.  Mik had no problem since he is a lefty and he just likes to go straight up and stay anyways.  He did think it would be better if it was in front of him like on Dumbo, but hey at least he did not have to transfer (totally dreaming of a wheelchair accessible Dumbo with the remodel by the way!!!).

Destination Info:
Disney's Animal Kingdom - TriceraTop Spin
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Reflections of China

Date of Visit: July 29, 2011

Reflections of China is a Circlevision show.  You go in and stand in rows separated by hand rails.  The screens are all around you will different images.  In concept the movie was cool, but it did not really work for Mik.


For one he was sitting among the crowd of people standing.  This was not too big of an issue, as it was not crowded and we could choose to stop where the people were not too close to be in the way of his view.  The real problem, though, is he could only see about half of the screens.  He not only felt like he was missing what was going on like in the Ellen ride, but in fact he really was missing some of the stuff, as it was not all the same view.

Basically, Mik says no more to Circlevision unless he has a way of turning around his chair when and how he wants.  Technically, he could do that, but in the dark it is hard to know where others feet are and not quite sure there is actually enough room for his turning radius.

Destination Info:
Epcot - Reflections of China
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Mexico Pavillion

Date of Visit: July 29, 2011

The Mexico Pavilion is one of the more interestingly designed ones at Epcot.  The shops and ride are set up inside a Mayan Pyramid.  It is always night in this Pavilion.


Outside the Pavilion Mik and I enjoyed the cheese empanadas at La Cantina de San Angel.  Mexican food is not any special treat considering we can get plenty of that kind of thing at home in Tucson, but Mik was hungry and he had never had empanadas before.


To enter the Pavilion there is a ramp off to the side to get up to the doors into the pyramid.  Once there you can go around and enter even from the front, but at least the side doors at the top of the ramp do have a button to open them.

See review of Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros Boat Ride here.

Destination Info:
Epcot - Mexico Pavillion
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros

Date of Visit: July 29, 2011

Mik and I both liked the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros boat ride in the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot, but the accessible boat is freaky and I doubt we would ever do it again.  The boat is designed so that you roll on in the back and then go down a ramp in the center and park the wheelchair in the front of the boat.




There are no tie downs or anything to make the boarding process faster, but I wish WDW just had the same wheelchair boat in their boat rides like 'it's a small world' uses at Disneyland.  The problem is that the chair tips backwards when you leave the loading area as well as when you return.  The Cast Member warned us about it happening when we were leaving, but said nothing about it actually being worse when the boat comes back to unload.  Luckily I was paying attention, as we do not even use the tippers most of the time at Disney parks because they get in the way for hopping trolley tracks and like to catch my shoelaces.  We do usually have the tippers in the backpack and I would put them on for this ride if we did it again, but Mik would still freak out and ultimately it would really only work with people sitting on both sides and holding down the front wheels.

Destination Info:
Epcot - Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Living with the Land

Date of Visit: July 29, 2011

Living with the Land is a boat ride through greenhouse rooms.  There is a wheelchair boat that you can roll right onto.  They kept insisting to wheel Mik on and off, but they we like training someone that day and took way longer to maneuver him off than necessary.  Would have been much smoother if they had just said he has to go on and off backwards and let me do it rather then the inexperienced them.  Mik was a trooper and actually did not fuss, but that is the kind of thing that would usually annoy him.  Instead he got annoyed at the elevator taking so long to get down to the ride and back out of the building after.


Both Mik and I did not know what to expect from the ride, but ended up really enjoying it.  Mik like the view he was able to get with the chair being on a platform level with the edge of the boat instead of being down like the seating.  It was actually quite smooth and he would later learn that the other boat rides at WDW were not.  Good thing we did this one first, though, as otherwise he might have been too freaked to do it and this was actually a very interesting ride we were surprised we had never checked out before.


As you go through the greenhouse the narration talks about the various plants being grown and the fish being raised.  A lot of it is experimental stuff and quite interesting, such as the growing of normally ground plants in a way that they hang down and with hydroponics instead of dirt.

Destination Info:
Epcot - Living with the Land
Lake Buena Vista, FL