Welcome to our newest forum

[MickeyBabe]

Welcome to our newest forums
here at DisneyWorldTrivia.com

A recent posting by a new member prompted me to ask our fearless leader ( Lou) to create this new forum.

Please feel free to post any tips, helpful hints or questions for guests with special needs about touring the Disney Parks and Resorts.

To those of you who are new to DWT.com... Welcome to our little family. We have a great community here.

[MommytoMJM]

Thanks! I am so excited! Now to get ppl in here! I posted an intro and I will start to post other stuff as we go on!

[Stitch]

Special needs...does that cover people wth food allergies, vegeterains and special diets?

[disneydame2004]

Special needs...does that cover people wth food allergies, vegeterains and special diets?

I would think that threads could be started for those topics under this forum.
Special needs come in many forms - this is a great addition to the boards!

[MickeyBabe]

Special needs...does that cover people wth food allergies, vegeterains and special diets?

Great Question April.

I would think that threads could be started for those topics under this forum.
Special needs come in many forms - this is a great addition to the boards!

Yes Pat, you are correct in response to April's question.

All of thoose things are special needs guests may have while visiting WDW and can be addressed here in our new forum.

Hopefully this new forum will help direct these questions to one place making them easier to see and respond to.

Thanks for the positive feedback and support!

[Daddytomjm]

We found out at MGM that they do take food allergies very seriously at Disney. When they found out my wife (mommytomjm) had some food allergies, they sent out a chef to discuss them with us before they prepared her meal. We have never had another restrant go that far for her.

[Beth Stran]

Ok here goes a question. Where is the best place to watch Illuminations with a wheelchair? We've tried many of the traditional Best Ares, but when leaving the park, everyone is tired and in a hurry and they are running into and jumping over my mom's wheelchair. We love Illuminations but I'm not so sure its worth the trouble anymore.

[MainStreet, USA]

Ok here goes a question. Where is the best place to watch Illuminations with a wheelchair? We've tried many of the traditional Best Ares, but when leaving the park, everyone is tired and in a hurry and they are running into and jumping over my mom's wheelchair. We love Illuminations but I'm not so sure its worth the trouble anymore.

Well, not having ever been in a chair myself, I can't guarantee this is the best advice, but I'm basing this on logic, so bear with me.

I would think that the two biggest problems with viewing illuminations with a wheelchair is 1) the people who are going to want to stand right in front of you during the show, and 2) the people who are going to (as you pointed out) cut you off and trample you on the way out. The bad news is that you're going to get trampled and cut off whether you are in a chair or not, so it's something we all kind of have to deal with. But I can understand the frustrations and not wanting to subject your mother to it if you don't have to.

To ease (maybe not eliminate, but reduce) some of the aggravation these problems will cause, I would recommend making sure that you have plenty of time to devote towards the show that night. Make sure you are not in any particular hurry to get there or to leave. Arrive at the World Showcase Lagoon plenty early to camp out a spot before people start forming crowds. I recommend a spot towards the back side of the World Showcase, like Japan, the American Adventure, Italy, etc. Most guests, like you mentioned, try to view the show and then book out of the park in a hurry, while others appear to have it in their heads that the best place to watch the show is from the front of the park. I think that logic comes from the fact that the most "traditional" place to watch fireworks in the Mgic Kingdom from is on Main Street, so many of the guests at Epcot will try to do the same by viewing the show from the very front of the World Showcase. Others still will arrive from elsewhere in the park just for the sole purpose of viewing the show, and as such will not want to walk all the way around to another area. Either way, the largest masses will undoubtedly congregate between Mexico and Canada, so stay far away from them if you can.

By arriving early and camping out a spot towards the back of the lagoon, you will not be crowded at all until shortly before the show, if even at all (depends on the season you are traveling and how busy the park is), and hopefully no one will be rude enough to push their way up in front of a wheelchair that is parked at the railing since long before they arrived, but that is something that would depend on the manners of the particular guests around you.. Then, once the show is over, you can take your leisurely time walking your way back around the lagoon, poking around in some of the shops or whatnot. If its an extra magic hours night, you can even hit up a couple of attractions on the way out most likely. By the time you get back around to the front of the park, 95% of the "zoo animals" will be out and gone, halfway back to their hotels or Downtown Disney or wherever the heck they are going.

I have viewed the show from the back of the park quite often myself, and I think its great. Because the show is all over the lagoon, there is no bad spot to view it from, so why not go to the least crowded areas and watch it there? I hope this advice works for you. Like I said, I've never been in a chair and had to think from that perspective, but it works for me on foot, and I don't see why it wouldn't work for you guys too.

Good luck!

[mini-V]

I've not needed to know where the wheelchair areas are, so I'm surprised that no area is reserved for wheelchair bound guests for Illuminations as they do for the Main Street Parade. I guess taking Pat's suggestions is the best solution at this point.