Mid September, myself and my wonderful other half jetted off to sunny Florida for a 2 week break. We originally planned to go to Dominican Republic (thank God we didn't as hurricanes hit where we were supposed to be staying!!) due to my diagnosis of Fibromyalgia earlier in the year. We planned this relaxing holiday so that my body wouldn't be under too much stress.
We decided to swap holidays just a few weeks before we were due to fly out to DR as we'd decided to make the most of active holidays whilst my body can still tolerate it.
I knew the fibro was going to be horrific whilst travelling, so I queried about as much assistance I could get whilst over in the U S of A.
We flew with Thomas Cook. When calling their "special assistance" customer services number (originally flying to DR) I was told that unless I was in a wheelchair, I was not entitled to booked seating with my partner as we we're the year before.
Not happy with this act of disability discrimination, I contacted Thomas Cook's CEO. Fortunately a lovely woman who dealt with CEO complaints listened to my argument and agreed that I would be a much higher risk if sat apart from my partner. She sorted us seats together and extra leg room at no cost.
When we swapped our holiday this was automatically transferred over to our new booking however no extra leg room was offered.
Not happy with this act of disability discrimination, I contacted Thomas Cook's CEO. Fortunately a lovely woman who dealt with CEO complaints listened to my argument and agreed that I would be a much higher risk if sat apart from my partner. She sorted us seats together and extra leg room at no cost.
When we swapped our holiday this was automatically transferred over to our new booking however no extra leg room was offered.
We flew to Orlando International from Manchester Airport. I've flown from Manchester many times before and have had no problems... this time was a nightmare.
Firstly we had to queue to check in for almost 2 hours. There were 4 different flights in the queue that we were in and only 2 members of staff checking people in. Within check in, there was no seating so I couldn't sit and rest my legs to prevent pain and stiffness.
After check in we were told to get to security down the opposite end of the terminal and when arriving at said end, we were told it was at the end we were at in the first place.
Going through security was very quick however there were lots of stairs which slowed us down massively and there didn't seem to be any staff around to guide us to a lift or offer any help.
Our gate was in the worst spot possible for disabled people; there were steps downstairs and then we immediately had to climb more stairs to get back on the level we started at but on the opposite side of a window. Once again, no staff to help out.
Firstly we had to queue to check in for almost 2 hours. There were 4 different flights in the queue that we were in and only 2 members of staff checking people in. Within check in, there was no seating so I couldn't sit and rest my legs to prevent pain and stiffness.
After check in we were told to get to security down the opposite end of the terminal and when arriving at said end, we were told it was at the end we were at in the first place.
Going through security was very quick however there were lots of stairs which slowed us down massively and there didn't seem to be any staff around to guide us to a lift or offer any help.
Our gate was in the worst spot possible for disabled people; there were steps downstairs and then we immediately had to climb more stairs to get back on the level we started at but on the opposite side of a window. Once again, no staff to help out.
The plane journey itself wasn't too bad going out; the occasional sharp pain and a lot of stiffness but I could tolerate it. The homeward journey was the complete opposite; I'm not sure whether the cold air and pressure in the cabin had anything to do with it, but I was borderline crying in pain!!
My biggest issue with the plane was that the toilets were downstairs... yup, downstairs. It took me several trips up and down to the loo for a stewardess to notice I was struggling and inform me that there was a toilet on the same deck as we were sitting that I could use to avoid the stairs (this was on the flight homeward so it was useless information at this time but I'm glad she stepped in to help).
Within our holiday package was a rental car. I highly recommend anybody with mobility issues to rent a car whilst out in the USA. Our hotel did provide shuttles to and from all of the parks, however being in a comfy car seat with aircon tops a stuffy coach full of people any day.
The shuttles also only run a certain number of times a day. This would have meant that we'd of had to be waiting for coaches to pick us up every time my legs gave up. Not ideal when these coach timings can be hours apart.
The car was a great help on many occasions. We could decide when I was unwell enough to stay and get straight back to the car without sitting for hours in the heat.
All the theme parks that we visited within our 2 weeks (Universal x3 , Seaworld x3 and Discovery Cove) accepted my UK blue badge so we could park in disabled spaces. You still have to pay parking, however the disabled spaces are the closest to the entrances and without a disabled badge and wanting to park closer, this would cost you around 50% more on top of your standard parking fee.
Seaworld parks haven't got much of a walk from the car park to the entrance so these ranked higher in my opinion. Universal, although they offer disabled parking spaces for those with permits, the spaces are still a fair old walk to the entrances of their parks.
To get to the entrance of Universal's Volcano Bay, you have to get a shuttle bus. For this service, you have to wait in long queues which was harsh on my legs and once on the shuttle bus, there are very limited seats so (you guessed it) I had to stand. The journey on the bus is around 3 minutes, but when your body is hurting and you're not great on your feet on non-mobile, solid ground, those 3 minutes aren't ideal!!
Upon visiting Universal Orlando, we visited guest services to see what disability aids were available for myself. I had emailed Universal before my trip who said to talk to someone whilst I was there to see if I was eligible to get the disability queue pass.
After standing in a queue for guest services for 20 minutes, I ended up explaining to the woman that I have severe trouble with walking and standing for a period of time that standing in queues was near enough impossible if wait times were 30+ minutes. I was then told that I was entitled to nothing unless I rented a Universal wheelchair.
After standing in a queue for guest services for 20 minutes, I ended up explaining to the woman that I have severe trouble with walking and standing for a period of time that standing in queues was near enough impossible if wait times were 30+ minutes. I was then told that I was entitled to nothing unless I rented a Universal wheelchair.
These said wheelchairs aren't cheap. Prices start at $12 a day with $50 deposit for a regular wheelchair.
Electric wheel chairs are $50 a day with a massivee $100 deposit.
That's an expensive rental that would have taken up a huge chunk of our spending money.
Fortunately, the vast majority of ride queues were no longer than 20 minutes and the ones that we're longer we decided to queue in the single rider queues.
I didn't ask for disability assistance in any other park due to thinking the rules would be the same. We took breaks as and when we could and planned our day so our time standing wasn't so long.
Electric wheel chairs are $50 a day with a massivee $100 deposit.
That's an expensive rental that would have taken up a huge chunk of our spending money.
Fortunately, the vast majority of ride queues were no longer than 20 minutes and the ones that we're longer we decided to queue in the single rider queues.
I didn't ask for disability assistance in any other park due to thinking the rules would be the same. We took breaks as and when we could and planned our day so our time standing wasn't so long.
We were fortunate enough to be in Orlando for Universals Halloween Horror Nights so we took this opportunity to try something new and purchased a ticket for one of the evenings.
Honestly, it was one of the best nights of my life.
We'd been to seaworld for the morning so the day was jam packed and HHN didn't finish until 2am.
Although my legs weren't perfect that day, I was able to walk fairly comfortably that evening...that was until I was chased by clowns with chainsaws!! I was genuinely terrified and tried my best to run away. Unfortunately my body didn't like this and it felt like I'd pulled both shoulder muscles and my legs went to pot. We spent the rest of our evening wandering the haunted houses, taking it easy and sitting to watch the Bill and Ted Show.
Nether the less, it was a night full of laughter and screams. The pain was so worth it; best £100 I've ever spent.
We used my Blue Badge at every place we visited in Florida such as malls, supermarkets and restaurants without any issues. There appear to be a tonne more disabled parking spaces over in Florida so we never had a struggle to park close enough to where we needed to be.
I cannot stress how much the weather in Florida improved my Fibro. By no means am I saying I was cured because of the heat and humidity, but I generally felt better in myself; my joints and muscles seemed to limber up a little and my limp wasn't as exaggerated. My fatigue obviously had an impact on my holiday; I had to take many breaks throughout the day and we tried to be fed and back at the hotel at a reasonable time to get adequate sleep.
Over all a big thumbs up to the USA!! I obviously would have been slightly better off pain wise if I were able to get the disability pass in the parks however in the end, the queues for rides in September are incredibly short so we still managed to ride everything we aimed to.
Its so convenient that the UK Blue Badge is recognised in America; the last thing we wanted to be doing was organising parking and accessibility whilst we were over there.
There's still a tiny bit of room for improvement as there is over here, however our trip with Fibro was a very pleasant experience.
Its so convenient that the UK Blue Badge is recognised in America; the last thing we wanted to be doing was organising parking and accessibility whilst we were over there.
There's still a tiny bit of room for improvement as there is over here, however our trip with Fibro was a very pleasant experience.
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