Guest Post: Josh's accessible trip to Orlando, Florida - PT1

For our very first guest post, Josh takes us along on his family’s adventure to Orlando, Florida; sharing an honest, detailed look at the trip, with a focus on the accessibility challenges they faced and what they learned along the way...

Part One - Josh and family's Accessible Orlando Adventure

This March we visited Orlando, for my sister in-law Charlie's birthday. Charlie has physical and mental disabilities, and we thought that sharing our experience of our trip with Charlie would be interesting and potentially useful to Brakes Off Travel's readers.

We all had a brilliant time, especially Charlie, the staff at the airline, hotel and parks were all welcoming, and a lot of the trip was very disability friendly. We did encounter a few difficulties along the way, but we can hopefully help you avoid them!

For context, Charlie got around on her trip using a wheelchair with an electric motor attachment. She can however walk short distances / transfer and so was able to take her seat on the plane, get onto rides herself (with help) and so on.

In general we'll focus on access issues etc. rather than reviewing the holiday and parks.

Manchester Airport Twilight Check In

As our flight was in the morning we arrived the day before to make use of the 'twilight check in' offered by Virgin Atlantic Airways, where you drop off your hold luggage, get your seats allocated, tickets etc.

The twilight check in made things a lot easier, especially as we were transporting quite a lot, including medical supplies for Charlie, as well as her wheelchair. The Virgin Atlantic desk staff were extremely helpful and went above and beyond, even reallocating seating from what we had originally been assigned to make it as ideal for Charlie on the plane as possible and make sure we all together to make looking after her easier.

Doing this at the twilight check in meant the process was not at all rushed and possibly gave the Virgin Atlantic staff more breathing room to not just handle the basics but also do the extra things like the seat reallocation.

After the twilight check in we checked into the Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport hotel.

Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport Hotel

The hotel had rooms on the ground floor and they were spacious enough to allow navigation with a wheelchair. The hotel itself was nicer than we expected for an airport hotel, including decent food, however unfortunately we can not recommend the hotel to disabled travelers!

The free transfers from Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport hotel to the airport terminal could not accommodate Charlie and her wheelchair at all, and so in the morning we had to push her to the terminal, in the road a couple of times as there wasn't a pavement. If we were to arrange the trip again we would perhaps look at staying in the Radisson Blu, which is much closer.

The Good

The 'twilight' bag check the day before and the helpfulness of the Virgin desk staff

The Bad

Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport hotel transfers cannot accommodate disabilities!

Manchester Airport

The flights with Virgin Atlantic Airways

The Virgin Atlantic staff were great on the ground and just as helpful in the air, making accommodations, such as around timings of meal servings, so there'd always be someone free to look after Charlie.

As a result of the seat reallocation we were seated behind a bulkhead (so no seats in front of us) giving Charlie extra space. We were fortunate enough to afford premium economy which also made a difference in terms of accessibility.

The plane did have a disabled access toilet. Charlie can transfer and Virgin Atlantic seemed to have good processes and staff in place.

When the flight arrived we had to wait for Charlie's wheelchair to be retrieved from the hold and brought to the plane door but while slow, that process did happen smoothly enough.

The Good

Everything!

The Bad

Nothing!

Orlando International Airport

After getting off the plane we were provided pre-booked special assistance with staff directing us to a line at passport control with no queue.

TSA were much more thorough than equivalents elsewhere, but to their credit they walked the line between having to rigorously check everything, including the chair and being considerate of Charlie and her disabilities.

The general feeling was that the airport staff, including security, were friendly and keen to help, within the limitations of the processes they had to follow.

However some of those processes weren't great, one glaring one being that after collecting our baggage after passport control, we loaded everything up onto trolleys ready to go and get our airport transfer.

After walking out of the baggage hall, we were informed we couldn't take the trolleys any further, begging the question of what the point of them was.

With all of Charlie's medical supplies and other necessaries we had far too much with us to transport without trolleys and were told that we had to take it ourselves or wait at least 45 minutes for specialist assistance.

The staff member retrieving the trolleys said the best he could offer us was some wheelchairs we could put smaller bags on and so, with great difficulty, we had to push/pull Charlie, the wheelchair of bags, the medical supplies and larger cases under our own steam in order to get to our transfers in time. Unless you can travel light, plan in additional time for the wait for special assistance to transport luggage.

The disabled bathrooms in Orlando airport were also good and spacious.

The Good

Proactive special assistance staff before security both in arrival and departure

The Bad

Long wait for support with baggage on arrival meaning we had to lug everything ourselves, with great difficulty, in order to make our transfers

Airport transfers (and transfers to and from Disney)

The transfers we used while in Florida varied significantly in quality.

A couple of the vehicles we used were excellent, but one, which we took to and from Disney World, was missing some seat belts and had damaged seats. Check reviews of providers carefully.

Universal Studios Dockside Inn

Overall we were very happy with our stay in this hotel. The hotel itself had big, fast lifts, there was enough space to navigate with Charlie's chair throughout, and the bathroom in the room was also big and suitable for Charlie's needs.

We were in a suite, which meant a main room with two double beds, a separate bedroom with double bed which Charlie slept in, a big bathroom and a very small kitchen and table. This room setup worked very well for us. The only downside of note was that there was almost no storage in the room at all. There was a surfboard though, for some reason.

We did not make use of the food hall, or the pool, as when back from the parks Charlie would be pretty tired and want to stay in the room, but we did enjoy the on site Starbucks in the mornings.

The best thing about the hotel for our needs however were the regular buses to and from Universal CityWalk, Universal Epic and (though we didn't go there), Volcano Island water park.

There was a disabled queue for each of the buses, and a good process for getting on and off the bus. While some buses seemed to have room for a few wheelchairs, typically to keep the main queue moving each bus would take one or possibly two. However the buses were so regular that we were usually only waiting a few minutes, even if there had been other wheelchair users ahead of us.

Wheelchairs would be boarded first, using a ramp in the side of the bus, and the driver would secure the chair. Only then would other passengers be allowed to board.

The buses worked so smoothly that I can strongly recommend staying at a Universal hotel so as to make use of them. I don't know if Disney hotels had an equivalent but as previously mentioned on the day we visited Disney World we used a transfer.

The Good

Regular, accessible buses to the Universal parks

The Bad

Lack of storage in the rooms

Huge thanks to Josh! That’s it for part one! Stay tuned for part two, where he shares the family’s experiences at Universal Studios and Disney World.

Please remember that Josh and his family are sharing their unique personal journey. Everyone’s experience is different, so take what resonates with you and remember that your own path may look different.