Hayden's Dad
10-17-2008, 11:14 AM
Cast:
Hayden’s Dad: Kyle
Hayden’s Mommy: Eva
And the smallest Character Angler of them all Hayden himself
First real day of vacation. Make-A-Wish had scheduled us breakfast with Mickey at Ohana’s at 7:45 so we got up early hopped in the van and headed over. We have eaten here several times before and it was just as good as we remember, but both Eva and I just about broke out in tears when Mickey came by. This was the moment we had been waiting for for two and a half years and it was wonderful.
After breakfast we headed over to Universal. Now Universal is not someplace we would normally go on our regular trips, but Give Kids the World provided us with tickets so we decided to try it out. And our low expectations were realized, even with the advent of Seuss Landing and some of the other areas for kids there still is not a lot there for children to do and even less for children in a wheelchair to do. I will say this EVERYONE was superbly nice and wanted to take good care of us, they just weren’t able to. We were able to ride the Cat in Hat, and I have to tell you that was one of the roughest rides I have ever been on. The whole time I had to hold Hayden’s head so it wouldn’t be flung around and the animatronics are better on “It’s a Small World”. So after that we were more than hesitant to ride anything else and as it turns out there really isn’t anything else much to ride if you are under 40” tall so we wandered around and enjoyed the architecture. In Seuss Landing we were able to meet The Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, Sam I am, and The Guy; although there was only one attendant for two characters at opposite ends of the street he did help us and got us to the front of the line, and take several pictures for us.
We then made out way through The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park and Toon Landing. The individual theming for all these lands is very nice, but it takes away from it when you can see the rollercoasters from the other lands in the skyline. In Toon Landing we did meet Popeye and Olive Oil who were face characters which kinda surprised me, but they were very good and called Hayden their little Sweet Pea.
On Marvel Island I loved the themeing and we got to meet Spiderman who was EXCELLENT really top notch. Hayden and I had our picture taken with him with it superimposed on a comic book background. I am an old school comic book fan and still have my comic books from when I was younger. Spiderman was funny and told Hayden that I have probably wanted his signature since I was Hayden’s size.
After Marvel Island we walked over to Universal Studios where really the only thing we did was meet Shrek and Donkey. Donkey was Great he actually talks to you and reacts to you it was great, Shrek needs some work two very contrasting characters, but still cool. After that we just wandered there was even less for us to do here than at Islands of Adventure, we could have ridden Jimmy Neutron, and the Shrek 4-D but after our experience with The Cat in the Hat we just didn’t want to take the chance, so we made our way over to the E.T. ride which Eva was looking forward to doing, but when we got there they told us that since Hayden’s chair isn’t a standard wheelchair they couldn’t strap it down, and we couldn’t hold him in our laps. Don’t get me wrong they were very apologetic and very nice, but after this we were disappointed and headed out, it was almost closing time anyway and since it had rained off and on all day it was real muggy, so we headed back home to the Boardwalk where I got us a pizza from on the boardwalk and then Eva and I watched Illuminations from our balcony.
All in all not a bad day by any means, just not as nice as being “home”. Tomorrow our whirlwind of Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
Hayden’s Dad: Kyle
Hayden’s Mommy: Eva
And the smallest Character Angler of them all Hayden himself
First real day of vacation. Make-A-Wish had scheduled us breakfast with Mickey at Ohana’s at 7:45 so we got up early hopped in the van and headed over. We have eaten here several times before and it was just as good as we remember, but both Eva and I just about broke out in tears when Mickey came by. This was the moment we had been waiting for for two and a half years and it was wonderful.
After breakfast we headed over to Universal. Now Universal is not someplace we would normally go on our regular trips, but Give Kids the World provided us with tickets so we decided to try it out. And our low expectations were realized, even with the advent of Seuss Landing and some of the other areas for kids there still is not a lot there for children to do and even less for children in a wheelchair to do. I will say this EVERYONE was superbly nice and wanted to take good care of us, they just weren’t able to. We were able to ride the Cat in Hat, and I have to tell you that was one of the roughest rides I have ever been on. The whole time I had to hold Hayden’s head so it wouldn’t be flung around and the animatronics are better on “It’s a Small World”. So after that we were more than hesitant to ride anything else and as it turns out there really isn’t anything else much to ride if you are under 40” tall so we wandered around and enjoyed the architecture. In Seuss Landing we were able to meet The Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, Sam I am, and The Guy; although there was only one attendant for two characters at opposite ends of the street he did help us and got us to the front of the line, and take several pictures for us.
We then made out way through The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park and Toon Landing. The individual theming for all these lands is very nice, but it takes away from it when you can see the rollercoasters from the other lands in the skyline. In Toon Landing we did meet Popeye and Olive Oil who were face characters which kinda surprised me, but they were very good and called Hayden their little Sweet Pea.
On Marvel Island I loved the themeing and we got to meet Spiderman who was EXCELLENT really top notch. Hayden and I had our picture taken with him with it superimposed on a comic book background. I am an old school comic book fan and still have my comic books from when I was younger. Spiderman was funny and told Hayden that I have probably wanted his signature since I was Hayden’s size.
After Marvel Island we walked over to Universal Studios where really the only thing we did was meet Shrek and Donkey. Donkey was Great he actually talks to you and reacts to you it was great, Shrek needs some work two very contrasting characters, but still cool. After that we just wandered there was even less for us to do here than at Islands of Adventure, we could have ridden Jimmy Neutron, and the Shrek 4-D but after our experience with The Cat in the Hat we just didn’t want to take the chance, so we made our way over to the E.T. ride which Eva was looking forward to doing, but when we got there they told us that since Hayden’s chair isn’t a standard wheelchair they couldn’t strap it down, and we couldn’t hold him in our laps. Don’t get me wrong they were very apologetic and very nice, but after this we were disappointed and headed out, it was almost closing time anyway and since it had rained off and on all day it was real muggy, so we headed back home to the Boardwalk where I got us a pizza from on the boardwalk and then Eva and I watched Illuminations from our balcony.
All in all not a bad day by any means, just not as nice as being “home”. Tomorrow our whirlwind of Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.