National Mall and Memorial Parks: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Date of Visit: March 19, 2011


As one would expect from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, it is very wheelchair accessible.  It is a decent size memorial, but this is footprint wise, as it is not a big large monument that stands out among its surroundings like the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial.  It is organized into different "rooms" to represent FDR's four terms.  Depending on how you approach the memorial, you will go backwards or forwards through it chronologically.  We came from the Jefferson Memorial, so we ended up going backwards through it.


Mik does not care about the FDR Memorial for what one might expect (FDR being a wheelchair user).  He loves the water fall aspects.  He also found it fun to find the terms on the ground as you passed between the rooms, although somehow we missed the 4th term one.  Of course, he also likes it being an entirely open air memorial and no need for elevators or those pesky doors to get to the elevators.

The FDR is among my favorites on the National Mall, too.  I like that there is plenty of spaces where you can sit down and just take in the memorial.  The columns with the different images is also cool.

On the north side (i.e. beginning) of the memorial there is a building with a small exhibit and decent sized gift shop.  I am not sure what exactly was in the exhibit, as Mik did not want to stop and look at it, but I am sure it was somehow about FDR!  The gift shop was a decent size and laid out well wheelchair accessibility wise.  Here we got National Park Passport stamps for the FDR Memorial as well as the World War II Memorial.  We even got the District of Columbia World War Memorial stamp, as we walked by it and only did not explore it because it is under renovation.

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

Destination Info:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
1850 West Basin Dr SW
Washington, DC 20242

National Mall and Memorial Parks: Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Date of Visit: March 19, 2011



Visiting the Thomas Jefferson Memorial is kind of confusing with all the construction in the Tidal Basin area.  For one, the new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial construction means you have to cross earlier than normal to go to the Tidal Basin area from the Lincoln Memorial and there is no signage that tells you that.  In fact, it is right by the old signage that tells you to keep going and cross later to go to the Jefferson Memorial.


The other problem is that around the Jefferson Memorial there is construction partially on the memorial and partially on the tidal basin levee.  You can still visit the memorial, but you have to go the long way around the construction with a wheelchair because there are a bunch of concrete barriers that are too close together to get a wheelchair between.


Once you get to the memorial from the non-Tidal Basin side, there is a ramp to by pass the few steps.  Then you walk around the memorial and there is an almost hidden entrance to under the memorial, but there is signage pointing to it.  However, it has the same issue as the Lincoln Memorial in not having automatic doors.  This is more problematic, though, because right inside the door is the ramp down to under the memorial.  Down there is an exhibit area, some shops, and the elevator up to the statue.


There is a touristy gift shop and a National Parks gift shop in the lower area.  The touristy one was a little hard with the wheelchair, but not impossible like the Lincoln Memorial.  The National Park one is decently laid out and not too bad to maneuver through, so it was easy to go in and get the National Park Passport stamps for the Jefferson Memorial and George Mason Memorial.

The elevator conveniently takes you up to the statue chamber level and you follow a hallway to go into the chamber.

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

Destination Info:
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
South of Tidal Basin
Washington, DC

National Mall and Memorial Parks: Korean War Veterans Memorial

Date of Visit: March 19, 2011


The Korean Memorial is an interesting one with the soldiers reflecting in the wall and the etchings in the wall.  I remember taking Mik to it back when Dad and him visited me when I was in the American University Washington Semester Program back in Spring 2006.  It was the day he got his first camera and he would not stop taking pictures to pose and be in photos.  Thus I ended up taking pictures of him taking pictures.  I should dig that photo up off my external harddrive, but for now I just have the one of him taking photos this trip.  It is pretty much the same pose, so it would be fun to compare the two.  This time he was busy taking pictures in drawing mode with his still sort of new camera.


The Korean War Veterans Memorial is totally accessible with there being no steps.  It is is a little bit of an incline, but not as much as typical ramps.  It does not matter which side you go up, as it is a dead end at the top and you can go back down on the other side.   That way you can see the etchings up close one way and then the reflection of the statues in the wall better from farther away when you go on the other side.

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

Destination Info:
Korean War Veterans Memorial
South of Reflecting Pool
Washington, DC

National Mall and Memorial Parks: Lincoln Memorial

Date of Visit: March 19, 2011


The Lincoln Memorial is the first memorial we visited as part of our visiting the memorials on the National Mall.  It is a logical starting or ending point with it being the west end of the National Mall.

There really is not a nearby Metro, though, which means walking a ways from Foggy-Bottom GWU (Blue and Orange Lines) or even walking across the bridge from Arlington National Cemetery (Blue Line).  The Washington Monument (East End of the main memorial part of National Mall), however, is near Smithsonian (Blue and Orange lines, I do not like this elevator wise, as it is actually on the Mall like the escalator entrance and can be hard to find if you do not know the area) as is Federal Triangle (Blue and Orange lines, elevator is more obvious than escalator entrance) and Archives-Navy Memorial is only a little further away (Yellow and Blue lines, elevator quite near escalator entrance).  We did notice there are some wheelchair spots near the Lincoln Memorial, but they seem to easily fill, as it was not even that crowded when we visited, especially compared to how bad it can get in late Spring and the summer months.



The Lincoln Memorial might appear to not be accessible from photos, but when you walk up to it from either side it is quite obvious that there are ramps up to an elevator, which is also where there are restrooms (not very accessible according to Mik's experience when with Mom).  There is also a little exhibit area here, that I honestly never knew about until I first went with Mik to the Lincoln Memorial in 2006.



The ramp up is not bad, but when you get to the top their are doors that do not have an automatic button.  That is not the appalling part, though.  The real annoying part is that they actually have a handicap symbol on them, which usually signifies it can be operated automatically somehow.  However, no such luck and it just is an extra unnecessary symbol to tell you are going the right way for the elevator or at least that is the only thing I can think it means.  Not too big of a deal, as Mom was with us, but it was still tough with there being a second door after a small entryway.  Sure, if there are people around they tend to be helpful, but there is easily no one going this way on low crowd days/off season like we were on the tail end of.



Mik was impressed with the elevator.  It is not all that amazing, as it did not line up properly at the top and we had to tilt his front wheels up to get in.  However, it is gold colored inside and sure seems fancy.  It is a little odd that the doors are on adjacent walls, but it works about as efficiently as front and back doors in that you do not have to try and turn around inside the elevator if you roll in properly.

We did not stay long up top at the Lincoln Memorial.  We tried to go in the gift shop, but quickly aborted that, as it is extremely small.  We knew that, but this time there were only a few people and we thought we would give it a shot, as Mik likes looking at all the books they have.  However, it really only takes only one other person to make it too crowded for a wheelchair to be able to turn around to just get out.  Unfortunately, this is also where you need to go to get the Lincoln Memorial stamp as well as stamps for other nearby memorials such as Korean and Vietnam Memorials.  I ended up just going in and doing the stamps leaving Mik in the wide open main area of the Lincoln Memorial.

Overall the Lincoln Memorial is pretty cool to see up close and it is accessible.  However, it has some wheelchair accessibility issues.  The gift shop is not too big a deal, as it basically seems an afterthought and there is not anyway to make it bigger without messing with the memorial unless they put it in the exhibit area by the elevators and exhibit space is way more important.  However, it would be nice if the stamp could be gotten at a little station right outside the shop or something like that.  Also, it makes no sense at all for the doors into where the elevator and exhibit are to not have a button to open them automatically.

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

Destination Info:
Lincoln Memorial National Memorial
Lincoln Memorial Circle
Washington, DC 20037

National Museum of American History

Starting today at the National Museum of American History. We might also hit the Natural History Museum.

Sent from my iPhone

Hyatt Regency Crystal City Wheelchair Shuttle Bus

Date of Visit: March 18, 2011

We varied from the tried and efficient DC Metro and ended up attempting the shuttle bus on this visit to DC.  I used to live in Crystal City, so taking the Metro from Washington Reagan Airport one stop to Crystal City is something we have done before.  Mik's new wheelchair does not allow for pushing him and having any bag on the back, though, so going on the Metro with luggage did not seem as easy.  Not to mention the front wheels are so hard to tip up for the boarding and unloading (they also get stuck easier than old chair, hence have to tilt them up for bumps the old chair's front wheels would have gone over) and do not need any extra weight on it to make it harder.

Anyways, the Hyatt said they had a wheelchair accessible shuttle.  We just had to call and request it when we arrived.  Well, the shuttle definitely does have a lift, but it was not a good experience at all.  First, off the lift ramp flap did not come down all the way and the driver was telling us to go on oblivious to it not being already down all the way.  I noticed, though, and he pushed it down.

Once on board we were standing just inside of the lift and he was ready to go.  Then he reconsidered and had a passenger move to actually lift up the seat that makes room for the chair to be behind the driver.  Then off we went.  No tie downs or anything.  And this was a shuttle bus that actually had buckles on the regular seats.  The ride is not even a mile, but there are a lot of stops and turns in that short distance.  Mik hates buses and was freaked out the whole time.  Usually he just overreacts, but this time he had a reason to fear, as even though I was holding his chair down at one turn his right wheel actually left the ground.

From now on, we are sticking to the Metro or maybe a taxi for the airport.  Sure, there are no tie downs on the Metro, but the ride is smooth enough to not be a problem.  Only problem we ever run into is elevators being down, but this trip there are very few throughout the system that are out and the one that ended up being where we wanted to get on was only two blocks from the next station.

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

Destination Info:
Hyatt Regency Crystal City
2799 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202

Disney's California Adventure: World of Color

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

The World of Color show was the main reason we went to Disneyland on March 10.  We got Fastpasses as part of the D23 2nd Anniversary event, so we did not have to worry about getting over to the park when it opened.  It is definitely a good idea to get over to Disney's California Adventure first thing for fastpasses, as they were supposedly gone by 11:30am that day and it was not quite the peak season, yet.

Mik often does not care for the shows (he still has never seen Fantasmic) other than the indoor theater ones (Aladdin, Great Moments with Lincoln, etc.).  However, we have both been looking forward to this show since we have seen the area under remodel back in 2009.  It opened last summer, but we visited in April last year.

We got to the Fastpass area around 7:15pm (show started at 8:15pm) and it was already quite full.  We were in the yellow area, but when we got there they directed us to go to the next area to get to the ramp.  We got over there and the cast member taking the Fastpasses for that area (Red?) was ready to send us back to yellow, but another cast member knew that we were sent there for the ramp and escorted us down.  He did not quite know where he was going, but he was very friendly and did make sure we got down to a good wheelchair seating area.

The wheelchair sections are manned to make sure other people do not crowd it.  There is a row of benches in the front for those that need them.   The area is not right in front, as there is a lower area right by the water, but the area is raised above the lower area, so there is no problem with people standing in front and getting in the way of enjoying the show.

Mik and I both loved the World of Color show.  It was awesome how the video is projected on the water screens and the other lighting and flame effects.  The end Tron scene is really awesome.

Mik thought the wheelchair section was good, except that you get some of the spray depending on the wind.  His pants ended up wet along with his top because he was sitting in his wheelchair compared to those standing only getting wet on top.  He said next time he wants to bring a blanket for the show for that to get wet instead of him.  At least that means he is willing to see it again, though, as it is pretty awesome.

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