Jimmy Carter National Historic Site

Date of Visit: November 1, 2016

I was close to having visited 100 National Park units, so I wanted to do it this year while it was the Centennial. I also wanted my 100th to be something cool. Thus, I chose Jimmy Carter National Historic Site because we have the same birthday and he is also Mom's favorite president.

We started our visit at the Plains High School Museum and Visitor Center. There are parking lots in front of and behind the building. We liked that it clearly pointed to the back parking lot for the accessible spots as the ramp entrance to the building is the back entrance. However, we did not like the parking spots because neither one had an access aisle. Since there weren't many other visitors no parked next to us anyways, but we still were blocking the vehicle next to us if they needed the wide access like we do.

The museum has several rooms set up as the school would have been, a movie showing in the auditorium, and a timeline style exhibit on Jimmy Carter. Mik enjoyed the movies about the school that included students talking about their time there.

Our favorite part of the museum was the Resolute desk replica.

After the museum, we walked over to the Plains Depot, which was the 1976 Campaign Headquarters. It was worth walking over there for us as we battled the two Pokemon gyms that were between the museum and the depot. We had Mom drive the truck over rather than walk back to the museum, though because there was a better handicap spot by the depot, though, and we didn't want to have to cross the railroad tracks and the highway again.

The Plains Depot has a good exhibit about its history as the campaign headquarters. The main part of the exhibit is up on the platform level, which has ramp access by the parking lot. The other part is not accessible from inside the building due to steps, but there is a door to it at street level.

Destination Info:
Jimmy Carter NHS
300 North Bond Street
Plains, GA 31780

Black Swan Books

Date of Visit: October 29, 2016

For the past few years I've been seeking out 1940s books at used bookstores when traveling. Mik enjoys browsing bookstores, but often he quickly gets bored because they aren't very accessible and he can't explore that much of the stores. While he didn't end up finding anything he wanted at Black Swan Books, he was actually the one we had to wait for to be done browsing because he could easily roll around the whole store.

Destination Info:
Black Swan Books
2601 W. Main Street
Richmond, VA 23220

Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

 Date of Visit: October 29, 2016

We started our visit of the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site by watching the movie at the visitor center. The movie is very well done and definitely a must see. However, Mik was then ready to go and found the house tour not that interesting because he thought it was just then repetitive information. Thus, he thinks in hindsight it would have been better to see the house and then watch the movie (or really he probably thinks the movie is all you need to do here AND it is worth visiting just for it).

Mom and I both really did enjoy the house tour, but agree that the movie is the best part of an everyday visit here. The best part for our visit, though, was that one of Maggie Walker's relatives was filming an interview at the house and we got to talk to her and learn about how Maggie Walker's legacy continues to carry on today.

Not sure if the tour always begins from the back, but there is a ramp to the enter through the back, so that's how the tour began for us. The tour does also include the second floor, but it is not accessible nowadays, so we broke off and left the way we came in when they got to that part of the tour. Interestingly, Maggie Walker was in a wheelchair towards the end of her life due to diabetes and they had an elevator that used pulleys for her to get between the floors.

Overall accessibility was surprisingly good here, especially considering it is an old home and a smaller National Park unit. We did find the handicap stall in the bathroom almost too small, though. Also, it is just neighborhood street parking and some of the sidewalks are quite a mess from tree trunks pushing them up, but growing up in a historic neighborhood ourselves the fact it even has sidewalks the whole block is something.

Destination Info:
Maggie L. Walker NHS
600 N. 2nd St.
Richmond, VA 23219

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Date of Visit: September 20, 2016

While Mik will usually do an accessible ride once per trip even if he isn't a fan of it, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is one I haven't been able to get him to do for years. The only reason I even got him to do it this time was it was raining and it was a way to stay out of the rain and waste the last hour until Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party began.

After riding it again, Mik is definitely against riding it again unless perhaps it's raining and I agree because if I'm going to have to ride alone I might as well just ride it when I go to the park to do the rides he can't do. It's not so much that he ends up riding alone that bothered him, but that the hunny pot is huge and yet designed in such a way that his wheelchair didn't fit (or at least they didn't give us enough time to try to get it all the way to the side) and have the seat come down for somebody to ride with him.

Destination Information:
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Magic Kingdom
Lake Buena Vista, FL

D23 Presents Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 45 Bewitching Years

Date of Visit: September 24, 2016

The D23 Presents Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 45 Bewitching Years event began with being able to shop the UNIGLO store before it's normal operating hours. That part we didn't so much care about, but it was worth going early for this part because it included breakfast. I thought the breakfast part was going to just be like fruit and pastries, but it included eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and french toast as well as fruit and some pastries.

The main event was seeing Bedknobs and Broomsticks at the AMC Theater. Before the movie there was a presentation about the making of the movie, which Mik particularly enjoyed. Of course, we also enjoyed seeing one of our favorite movies on the big screen for the first time.

Destination Info:
AMC Disney Springs
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party 2016

 Date of Visit: September 20, 2016

After not enjoying Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party two years ago, we kept going back and forth on doing it this trip. Finally, we decided to just do it because Mik really got into the treat trails when we did Disneyland last year and if it was bad again at least we'd get this year's Halloween card for my Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom collection.

Since we went into it with low expectations, it actually wasn't as bad as we remembered. In particular, the treat lines didn't seem that bad and we even learned afterwards that it was more crowded than normal because Sunday had been rained out and people were given tickets to come back on our party day. For one, the treat lines were queued up better making it easier to find the end to them then we remember from last time. Also, we found the lines all seemed to move quite smoothly and weren't anywhere near as long as some of the ones we did last year at Disneyland. We even ended up doing them all before 9:30pm.

The line that took us the longest was actually the rather short, but very slow moving line at Friar's Nook to buy a Ghoulish Strawberry Lemonade Slushy. It was a good treat and worth it, though.

Overall we did enjoy the Halloween party, but again not sure we would do it again at Magic Kingdom. The biggest disappointment was they don't have the healthy treat options like they have at Disneyland. Also, they don't do a pre-party thing, although it was raining until right before the party started, so that might not have been enjoyable anyways. Finally, we were disappointed that the guide map lists Werther's, but none of the treat spots were giving them out.

Destination Info:

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Magic Kingdom

Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Date of Visit: September 20, 2016

I remember going on the ride featuring Figment before, but it's been awhile and this time it seemed different. Thus, it seems we probably haven't been on it since our first Walt Disney World trip in 2001 back when it was Journey Into YOUR Imagination.

Overall we enjoyed the ride. Mik particularly liked that the wheelchair accessible vehicle is spacious while also having a seat for me to ride next to him.

We didn't spend much time in the ImageWorks area you exit into, but Mik did enjoy trying out the conducting music part.

Destination Info:
Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Epcot

Lake Buena Vista, FL