My
last blog about holidays camping in France reminded me about the time we went
on a big posh holiday to Disneyland in Florida.
As
you might imagine this was a very big deal, Mum and Dad had been saving up for
quite a long time so we could do this holiday. To be honest, it wasn’t really
the OSOs favourite kind of holiday because, for all that she was always up for
doing something fast, daring and active, she hated things that went up and down
or round and round, so really Disneyland and it’s rides didn’t hold much appeal
for her.
One
of the first things to sort out was our accommodation which wasn’t straight
forward as it had to be on the level with wide doors so I could get around in
my wheelchair. We also had to look into getting a vehicle that would take my
chair. I liked to keep people on the ball sorting things out for me! Obviously
as well, it had to be great for my ugly bothers, though to be honest, I
couldn’t see why we were bothering too much about them!
Anyhow,
eventually it was all sorted out and off we went to Gatwick, we were flying
very early in the morning so we decided to stay at the airport the night
before. That was great fun cause the hotel had room on a sort of big balcony
system looking into the hotel lobby which was right next door to the actual
airport (sorry, not very well explained, but hopefully you get the picture)
anyway we all got settled in for the night and we boys were in our pj’s when
the OSO decided that we needed some milk for our bed time drinks , what she
really wanted was milk to go in her tea as she couldn’t stand those silly
little cartons, but we didn’t mind cause Dad said we could go out into the
airport with him to fetch the milk. We were all dressed for bed, but no matter,
off we went and me, ,of course, in my wheelchair. It was good fun, I think most
people thought we were mad, but we were used to it!
Next
morning we got on the plane, my wheelchair had to go in the hold (I hoped they
would take good care of it as it was pretty important to me). We all sat near
to each other though Mum had to carry me on and put me in my seat. Going to the
loo would be impossible as in the toilets there was nowhere for me to lie
whilst Mum took my pants down etc. ( sorry, FAR too much detail) but again, I
was very used to things happening like that). So much for facilities for the
disabled.
The
flight was great fun and when we landed we got our hire van which could take us
and my wheelchair to the bungalow we had booked. That too was brilliant, lots
of space and lovely wide doors and corridors which I could easily get round,
there was an outdoor pool as well, though that did prove very difficult for me
to get into but hey ho you can’t have everything.
Mum
and Dad then tried to put my wheelchair on to charge up the batteries, they had
brought the relevant plug adaptors, but it just wouldn’t charge no matter what
they did. BIG problem.
To
cut a very long story short they eventually found (after nearly a whole day of
searching) a wheelchair centre where we went and they sorted out the problem
for us. It was all to do with America’s different voltage for wheelchairs.
Anyway the staff there were fantastic and we were soon on the go again and we
didn’t really have any more problems all holiday unless you count the time I
felt out of the van head first, literally onto my head (well it wasn’t my fault
I couldn’t put my arms out to save myself, one of the drawbacks of having DMD)
We
had an awesome time, we went to all the centres and the great thing about being
in a wheelchair is that you always get to the front of the queues!
We
kept going round and meeting up with another family who had someone in a
wheelchair, except that it was never the same person, they just kept swapping
and taking it in turns pretending they needed a wheelchair so they too could
dodge the queues, ha ha!
Eat,
could they eat? We had never seen people eat so much, it was amazing. I felt
that soon all Americans would be so fat they would need a wheelchair ‘cause
they would be too fat too walk!
The
OSO kept her marathon training up whilst she was there though she found running
in the hot humid Florida climate very hard work (she never was built for speed
bless her)
Sadly,
eventually it was time for us to come home, the main problem on the return
flight was that when we came to collect my wheelchair from the plane’s hold was
that it was pretty bashed about and damaged, it hadn’t been carefully handled.
So
we had a brilliant time, it really was the holiday of a lifetime, we all loved
it and came home with loads of photos and happy memories aaah!