Verizon Center: Nets @ Wizards

Mik's goal since the ballpark road trip is to slowly get to all the NBA Stadiums. Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards, is his 2nd NBA stadium, as the only other stadium he has been to before today is the one in Phoenix. He's a Lakers fan, but today he is rooting for the Wizards.

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Collecting Stamps and Seeing Memorials on the National Mall

Date of Adventure: March 19, 2011

This morning we got a slower start than I wanted, but we did at least still get in almost all of the National Mall and Memorials we wanted to see this DC trip.  The only memorial we skipped was the Washington Monument because we did not want to deal with getting the tickets if they even had any to give out, as online showed none available.

We started by taking the Metro to Foggy Bottom-GWU.  There really is not any Metro close to start on the Lincoln end and on the Washington Monument end has several close options, so it made more sense to start from the far end and work our way to the Washington Monument end and the nearby Federal Triangle station.  The Smithsonian Station is also near there, but the elevator entrance is an extra few blocks away and the Federal Triangle elevator entrance is actually closer than the main escalator entrance.


We ended up start our walk around the National Mall near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  We did not walk right by the wall, as we have done that many times before and it was kind of crowded.  We did stop at the Women's Vietnam Memorial for some photos, though.


From the Vietnam Memorial we went to the Lincoln Memorial.  Here we actually spent some time and went up through the Memorial.  We visited the bookstore here, although Mik only went in very briefly because it is so small and hard to move around in his wheelchair even with only a few other people in it.  We had forgotten our National Park Passports at the hotel and ended up buying new ones because they had special 25th Anniversary of the National Park Passports versions.  They also had a special Lincoln Memorial stamp for the 25th Anniversary.  Additionally, they had some stamps for nearby memorials that did not have their own shops, such as Korean Memorial, Constitution Gardens (did not get this one, since we skipped this), and Vietnam Veterans Memorial as well as general National Mall and National Mall and Memorial Parks ones.


After the Lincoln Memorial we stopped for a quick lunch at a nearby refreshment stand.  Then we went to the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  After this we ditched Mom and Mik and I headed over to the Tidal Basin area.

The Tidal Basin was confusing with part of it closed off for the construction of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.  We ended up going almost to the World War II Memorial to get over to go around the Tidal Basin because the old signage has you cross right where the new memorial is and nothing tells you to cross over earlier.  No big deal, as we did not mind having to walk a little extra, as we still got to see the stuff we wanted.


The Jefferson Memorial also has a bunch of construction around it with them updating the levee area.  It just ruins the outside aspect, but you can still go inside it and see the statue.  Of course, all kinds of barricades make it hard to get to the sidewalk area that you can access the memorial without having to squeeze between concrete barricades and walk/roll across a grassy area.  The was only because we approached from the East, though, as leaving to the West was where we ended up entering after walking all the way around.

At the Jefferson Memorial, Mik finally got a DC miniature for his miniature collection.  He got a White House pencil sharpener.  We also got some more stamps in our National Park Passports including the Jefferson Memorial, a 25th Passport Anniversary Jefferson Memorial, and George Mason Memorial.


From the Jefferson Memorial we headed over to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.  Along the way we stopped at the George Mason Memorial, which Mik had never seem before and is easily skipped.  It is actually a pretty cool memorial and his legacy is quite interesting.  At the FDR Memorial we got a few more stamps for our National Park Passports: FDR Memorial, 25th Passport Anniversary FDR Memorial, World War II Memorial, and DC World War Memorial (this memorial is under renovation, but we went up to it as close as you can right now).  It was fun collecting the stamps and we already have almost 2 pages full of the passports.


The last memorial we hit was the World War II Memorial.  Did not spend much time here, as it was almost 5pm and Mik was tired.  Thus we did not even end up walking up and around the Washington Monument like we thought we would.  We figure we can easily do that when we go to the National Museum of American History in a few days.

Photos by Kjersti, Mik, and Mom
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
National Mall and Memorial Parks
Washington, DC

Related Wheelchair Accessibility Reviews:

• Lincoln Memorial
• Korean War Veterans Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

We are walking around the National Mall today. We started at the Lincoln Memorial, where we got a 25th anniversary National Parks Passport to get stamped because we left our regular ones back at the hotel.

Sent from my iPhone

Update: Read our Lincoln Memorial Wheelchair Accessibility Review here.

Disney's California Adventure: Blue Sky Cellar

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

The Blue Sky Cellar is one place we like to quickly check out every time we visit Disney's California Adventure.  It is just a small building, but it is totally worth visiting as it has exhibits and a short movie about upcoming new attractions at the park.  This time the main exhibit area was about the new Little Mermaid ride opening on June 3, 2011, and the movie also showed the Test Track like ride that will be in the new Cars Land opening in 2012.

I liked seeing the model of the ride track for The Little Mermaid ride.  The clam shaped vehicles are almost exactly like the Doom Buggies in The Haunted Mansion over in Disneyland.  While the track model most definitely does not show a wheelchair accessible vehicle, we are pretty sure there will be one because it is a tame ride and no reason there cannot be.  Plus, the architectural drawing of the ride shows a wheelchair queue.  Of course, if they figure out how to do this ride with a wheelchair vehicle than I for one really hope they add an accessible Doom Buggy to the ride track the next time they shut it down for the holiday changeover.  We can at least dream on that!

We are still unsure about the whole Cars Land.  So far the only ride we have seen anything about is the Test Track like thing and obviously that cannot be a wheelchair accessible ride.  That is still a ways off and not too much details, yet, though.

Besides the information on the upcoming attractions, there are also some touch screen monitors that you can play Disney trivia on and see how well you know your Disney stuff.  Mik has no problem playing these from his wheelchair, as some if not all are down more at kid height than adult height.

The inside of building is wheelchair accessible, but the exit is a manual door.  We went out with me rolling Mik backwards through it, but then there is little room to turn back around once you get out.  It would be easier to just go back out the entrance if you do not have someone to open and hold the door open for you, which was not an option for us since there was no one else inside the Blue Sky Cellar at the time.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure

1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: Toy Story Mania

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

Toy Story Mania is definitely our favorite ride in Disney's California Adventure.  In fact, this trip it was the only ride we went on in this park.  You go in the regular line until you get to the boarding area.  The cast member here will then direct you to go straight ahead to the wheelchair boarding area.

They have a wheelchair accessible vehicle here that is off the regular ride track, so the ride continues to operate normally until the vehicle is loaded and added to the regular ride track.  They load all physical disabilities and sometimes other GAC groups in this vehicle.  This means that the wait time after you get through the normal queue can be awhile, although since we have been going in the off season the past few times we have not noticed that much of a delay.  The first summer it was open, though, we would wait another 30 plus minutes after the regular queue.  Totally worth it for this ride, though.

The take a seat out of the vehicle for the wheelchair to fit.  The person riding next to the wheelchair has to go in first and sits to the left of the wheelchair.  The cast member (or another person in the group) then rolls in the wheelchair if the user cannot roll themselves in.  They use a seat belt around the passenger instead of a lap bar coming down.  They then lower the blaster and make sure it is at a comfortable height for the wheelchair user.

The blaster for the wheelchair spot is for the most part like everyone else's.  It has a string to pull to shoot, but it also has an alternative method of shooting.  This alternative is a button on top.  This is easier to use than the string pull method.  Mik prefers the string method for most of the game, but he uses the button to quickly rack up points at the last bonus part where you are hitting the single non-moving target as much as you can before time runs out.

Note that the ride vehicles quickly rotate between the games.  Mik's upper body control is good when he wants it to be, but he still often ends up flopping to the side on this because the movement happens so quickly and it is hard to prepare for it due to the ride often stopping for extra time at the games when the loading process gets backed up and then suddenly moving you to the next game with little warning.   At least once Mik has said he wished he had a chest strap like on his first chair just for this ride and he totally hated that strap!

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

This trip was the first time in my memory of every going to Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland, although I probably went when I was little.  It is definitely the first time Mik has ever been to the island.  We have always avoided it because we had heard that once you get there there is no where for wheelchairs to go and do anything.  Well, we finally decided to check it out for ourselves and discovered this was an overgeneralization.

It is true that for the most part wheelchairs cannot enjoy the island, but there is still some things they can access.  I have no idea exactly how much we really missed out on because the wheelchair could not fit in most of the cave openings or there were stairs up to the bridges, but there was still plenty to do to waste an hour on the island.  There is even a companion bathroom by the fort.

To get to Tom Sawyer Island you ride on a raft.  The raft is not exactly even with the loading dock, so we had to tip the front wheels of Mik's wheelchair off the ground to safely get on board.  Not too big an issue, but his new wheelchair is really hard to do that with because it is meant to avoid all the flipping over accidents Mik has ended up in at school.  Good for his usual daily wheelchair use, not so good for adventuring.  At least we did not have the tippers on, so did not have to stop to flip those up just to get on raft.

On the island there certainly are places a wheelchair can go from the start.  Sure, you cannot go to the left, but to the right is a rather level path.  Yes, the path is dirt, but it is hard packed and very easy to roll on.  We followed the path and found an area where there was a wheel that you can turn to lift a treasure chest with a skeleton out of the water.  Mik was able to easily do this by himself and found it fun to do.  There is also a little area where you can pump water, which we tried to do, but stunk and we notices two really in shape guys did not do any better when they tried after us.  This area was overall quite accessible, although the part by the waterfall was a tight squeeze.  Also, there was a rolling bridge of barrels that the wheelchair could not go on.



After this little area of pirate activities we continued on towards the fort.  There was one cave near the hill/lift up to the fort/restrooms that was plenty wide enough to go in with a wheelchair.  There was not much of interest inside, but it was cool to see Mik's new wheelchair glow in there and actually get a picture of it glowing.




The hill up to the front of the fort is very steep.  The one around the back near the treasure area is not much better.  We just went up the steep on in front because Mik had to go to the bathroom and we knew they were up at the fort.  We felt pretty stupid when we go to the bathrooms and right next to them is a wheelchair lift that gets you up to them.  I do not know if you can just operate it or you need to find a cast member to do it, though.  Either way better than dangerously trying to go up the steep hill.




Up at the top of the hill behind the fort is a little graveyard and getting around the fort and the graveyard area is relatively level, although the path is almost too narrow for a wheelchair at parts.  Not really any reason to go up here other than the bathrooms, but the companion bathroom up there is great.




One other fun little part we found is that near one of the areas with stairs up to stuff there is a pirate ship wheel.  Mik rolled up to it to see that a wheelchair person could play with it, although it seemed to kiddie for him.  There are also little microphones to talk into and talk with people up on top, which could be fun for groups with those that want to climb up and those that cannot.

Overall we had a lot of fun on Tom Sawyer Island.  Sure, there is a lot wheelchairs cannot access or do, but there is still some fun stuff.  Plus, you at least get a raft ride as part of it.

Photos by Mik
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is our all time favorite ride at Disneyland.  We have been enjoying it since they were soft testing it and officially opened it during our March 2005 trip.  It is the first ride we ever went on with Mik staying in his wheelchair, as back then Mik was still not that big and Dad would always transfer him to whatever rides we wanted to go on.  At first Mik liked to go on this as a transfer, but he soon discovered that the wheelchair vehicle is much better as he does not have to try to sit up in the ride vehicle and instead can focus on trying to get a good score.

As a newer ride, the whole Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters queue is wheelchair accessible.  Right before you get to the normal loading area there is a door with a wheelchair logo sign.  I have noticed there is an automatic button next to it, but I always just push Mik into the door and open it that way.  There is always a cast member there to tell you to go through there and often a cast member at the start of the line to make sure you know how to get to the wheelchair boarding area (really the unloading area).  Note that the door into it from the line opens right into the path of people exiting the ride, so open it slowly to avoid hitting or running into people exiting the ride.

Sometimes you have to wait awhile for the wheelchair vehicle to get around again, but even in busy times we have never had to wait longer than for it to get around.  This is because even when their are other wheelchairs it is often people who can or choose to transfer out and they are loaded pretty much as they get there (they still can slow or stop the moving sidewalk/ride for those transferring).

For the wheelchair vehicle they stop the ride and the back of the vehicle folds down to form with the space behind it that unfolds into a ramp to roll into the vehicle.  I have heard some say the turn to get in is tight and can be hard, but we have never had a problem.  The wheelchair can ride by themselves or to the left side with another person riding on the right.  The other person sits on a little seat that folds down.  It is somewhat of a tight spot, but it has never bothered me.  It certainly would not work to have someone ride with those with wider wheelchairs or bigger companions, but you can always ride in the vehicle behind the wheelchair one instead.

Since the ride has to stop to unload the wheelchair, they often ask if we want to go around a second time if no one else is waiting for the wheelchair vehicle.  We love doing this, but it is usually just Mik and I or just people in the one vehicle behind us.  I certainly doubt they would do this for those in larger groups taking up multiple regular vehicles.  Also, it is always up to the cast member and we certainly do not mind getting off and having to get back in line to do it again, as Mik's hands get tired after about one and a half times through in a row.  Plus, you sometimes miss being able to find your first photo at the end if you go around again.

Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802