Disneyland Diamond Celebration 24-Hour Event

Date of Visit: May 22, 2015

We didn’t actually last 24-hours, but we never planned to and actually Mik ended up lasting much longer than I expected. We left the hotel around 4:30am and Mik enjoyed his Diamond Mickey Rice Krispy treat that I had brought back for him a previous day.

 We were in line for security by 5am. It was much like the Expo, although the park was already opened so it actually was moving pretty smoothly by the time we got there. Once through security it was no line to get into Disneyland. We briefly stopped in the entrance plaza to get a photo of the diamond as the day before too many people were taking pictures when we tried and this time mostly people were rushing to get on to Main Street. Even stopping for some pictures we were on Main Street by 5:30am.

Main Street was a little crazy with it being wall to wall people back to the Emporium. Mostly people were not pushy, though, and the only real issue was that we got mixed in with the Emporium line. Once we figure out how to get out of that and then trying to get enough space to go at the right angle across the tracks it we ended up in a decent spot to wait for the park to open.

While we were around the corner from being able to see the fireworks go off over the Castle, we still got to enjoy the fireworks go off behind the train station and the shops on Main Street. Then it was the normal surge of crowd at park opening other than it was much farther backed up on Main Street. Still we got through and walk on to Buzz Lightyear within 10 minutes.

We just missed the wheelchair vehicle when we got to the front, so we actually had to wait to ride, but that’s pretty normal and actually had a nice conversation with the Cast Member since the ride was still empty and they didn’t have to direct people unloading much. As usual we went around twice. The second time we got stopped in the photo tunnel and I racked up one of my best scores.

After Buzz Lightyear, we wandered over to the Castle to get some photos with the 60th logo, which had been unveiled after we left the park the day before.

We then walked over to the Toontown Station and rode the Disneyland Railroad around the park once. I thought it was funny when we went by Autopia and Mik asked what that ride was. I guess it’s been awhile since we last took him on it.

After the train, it was not even 7:30am and Mik was already asking to go back to the hotel. We stopped for some breakfast in Fantasyland including a 24-hour event souvenir mug and then got a 60th bucket in Frontierland before he decided that we should brave the pin store line before leaving.

The line for the Little Green Men Store Command ended up reminding us of the D23 Expo. It certainly does seem crazy to stand in line for what ended up being five hours just to spend money. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t do it if Mik wasn’t interested in it. It’s just ends up being good quality time and certainly preferable than ending up back at the hotel after only a few hours in the park, which is what happens most days with Mik. About two hours into the wait they announced that they were out of the Being Up All Night Makes me Dopey pin, which is the pin Mik really wanted. We didn’t want to bail, though, because we had already waited so long and we knew there was still a decent amount of other pins to choose from even though we didn’t know exactly what they were.

In the end, though, when we got to the front they had the Dopey pins (restocked at some point?). This gave Mik enough motivation to stay in the parks for lunch before heading back to the hotel. At first we went to the nearby Tomorrowland Terrace, but after 15 minutes of the line going nowhere I bailed that idea and decided to find somewhere else with a line actually moving. We ended up at the healthy snack spot in Tomorrowland, which had no line and was actually a much better option all around for lunch for both of us. Also, picked up some Mickey pretzels at a nearby cart with very short line to carry back to hotel for a snack later.

After refueling and resting a little from standing in line for hours, we headed out of the park leaving around 1:45pm. The park was crowded at this point and apparently it closed for capacity not longer after that, but actually it was not as crazy as we thought (Buzz line was still only 20 minutes when we left and we’ve seen worse on spring break and summer trips) and it was the longest park day with Mik in years. Definitely glad we did it even if we did miss out on most of the special event stuff.

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

Disneyland: Sleeping Beauty Castle Virtual Walkthrough Experience

Date of Visit: May 21, 2015


Mik wasn't interested in going on any rides this morning after two rounds of Buzz Lightyear. However, he still wanted to hang out in the parks long enough to get lunch. Thus, we wandered over to the castle for him to visit the dwarfs, which he likes doing and for once there wasn't some character hanging out over there and we got to really enjoy it including seeing the whole fountain show. Then I remember there was the accessible version of the castle walkthrough, which we've never done before.

The accessible experience is located in a room off to the left of the path through the castle when looking at the back of the castle. The room is decorated with things that fit the theme including a case of royal crowns, jewels, and trinkets and a royal seeming bench that you can watch the virtual walkthrough from.

The virtual walkthrough is a video that plays on loop. It is basically an animated version of going through the attraction and the story is read aloud as well as shown with captions on the screen. It is really well done and Mik thought it was good for what it was, but we only watched a little bit of it because he just isn't interested in Sleeping Beauty at all.

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

Shenandoah National Park: Skyland Resort

Date of Visit: May 12-14, 2015

We stayed on the lower level of the Laurel building at Skyland Resort. I had booked an accessible preferred room (it’s the only type that was available at least at the time when I clicked to show accessible only). The website didn’t give any specifics of what accessible meant like I’m used to seeing when booking on places like Hyatt and choosing between tub or roll-in shower, so honestly all I was going for was making sure we didn’t end up on the second floor when it clearly said that no buildings had elevators.

At first when we drove up to the building we were confused that the second floor is actually level with the parking and our room was down a level.

There is a ramp to the far right of the building that leads down to that level, which I only noticed after going down the stairs to scope out the room.

The room did not have an accessible bathroom, but considering Mik would have gone with camping in a tent here if they had electricity roughing it without an accessible bathroom was fine.

The only real accessibility issue with the room for us was that it had a raised threshold. It seems that the rooms on the upper level are actual more level with the hallway, which also makes us wonder if there are any actual accessible rooms in the sense we think of normally on that level.

One night we ate in the dining room. Well, actually we ended up eating in the taproom with the dining room menu because the lift down to the dining room was broken. It was still enjoyable, but it would have been nice to have the view you get down in the dining room.

Also, note that there is a path up to the dining room building from the lodging buildings. However, it very clearly says it’s not accessible. You can go on the road for a more accessible path grade wise, but it’s still going up a hill and quite a long way around.

Of course, Dad decided that we should just do it anyway and pushed Mik up it when we went to eat at the dining room. Yeah, it really is very steep and it is especially not safe to go back down. Thus, Dad went and got the truck to go back to the room after dinner.

Overall we enjoyed staying at Skyland Resort. The view from the balcony was good, except that at night it kind of ruins the whole feel of being in a national park when you really notice that civilization is right out there with all the lights.

Destination Info:
Skyland Resort
miles 41.7 and 42.5 on Skyline Drive
Shenandoah National Park, VA

Shenandoah National Park: Byrd Visitor Center

Date of Visit: May 12, 2015

We mainly stopped at the Byrd Visitor Center to get the National Park passport stamps there. We had already done most of the Skyline Drive and gone to the Natural Bridge and back by that point, so MIk was ready to get to the Skyland Resort and be done for the day. Thus, we didn’t check out the movie that was starting right when we got there. However, we did check out the exhibit.

The exhibit is an interesting one about the history of the park. We accidentally went through it backwards, which worked okay, but would’ve probably been better to go in  chronological order from the start. Some of the highlights are the parts on controversy of eminent domain to take private owned land to create the park and the 1930s and 1940s desegregation in the park.

Destination Info:
Byrd Visitor Center
Milepost 51 Skyline Drive
Shenandoah National Park, VA

Virginia's Natural Bridge Park

Date of Visit: May 12, 2015

The Natural Bridge is something I've been really wanting to see since reading about it in the 1940s Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion. While it was out of the way, it ended up making a good thing to add to our Skyline Drive trip.

You start at the visitor center, which has a ramp entrance off to one side. You also need to make sure you go out that same door because you can't get to the ramp from the other doors.

The path down to the natural bridge has steps, but they run a shuttle that has a lift. The regular stop involves steps out the back of the visitor center, so they call them to do a pickup in front of the visitor center when needed. They don't do tie downs, so Mik transferred to a regular seat on the way down. On the way up he decided to just stay in chair and didn't complain at all. It's just a short drive up and down the hill and they go slow, so really it is a rather smooth ride.

The trail from the shuttle to and under the natural bridge is a paved path. The Cedar Creek Trail continues on to a waterfall after that. This part of the trail is gravel and a little steep near the first bridge, but we has no issues until we got to the lost river. Of course, the free wheel was a big help, especially since one of Mik's casters is currently totally messed up to the point the freewheel was useful even for the paved path.

The Cedar Creek Trail goes past a Monacan Indian village exhibit, a saltpeter mine, and a lost river. We skipped the exhibit because we weren't interested. The saltpeter mine has a very smooth bridge over to where you can peek in a little.

The lost river was the one part of the trail that was tough as the bridge over it isn't level with the ground. It wasn't that hard, but we did wait for Dad to catch up to make sure we didn't do something like at Pipestone.

It is worth going over the bridge because the trail is just as good as before the bridge and it is a nice viewpoint of the waterfall, especially considering Mik didn't get to see the other falls Dad and I hiked down to in Shenandoah National Park the next day.

Destination Info:
Virginia's Natural Bridge Park
15 Appledore Lane
Natural Bridge, VA 24578

National Arboretum: Dogwood Collection

Date of Visit: April 19, 2015

The Dogwood Collection was the main reason I wanted to visit the National Arboretum this time of year. There is parking near it, but it was full and we ended up taking the last spot in parking up the hill for the Asian Collection.

There is a short paved path to a little area with some benches, but it really doesn't get you close to any of the dogwood. The grassy areas you can go on to further explore the collection aren't too hard to navigate, although it is a hillside and there are some holes and Dad almost dumped Mik when he wasn't paying close attention. The path also leads to an overlook of the Anacostia River.

Destination Info:
National Arboretum
3501 New York Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002

National Arboretum: National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Date of Visit: April 19, 2015

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is one of the main reasons we visited the National Arboretum and what Mik was most interested in. He really enjoyed seeing the different varieties and styles of bonsai. I think he still wants to grow his own, but he's already hoping to revisit these next month for World Bonsai Day.

Currently, the Japanese Pavilion is being renovated, but those bonsais are currently in the courtyard so they can still be enjoyed.

The Chinese Pavilion was interesting in that they incorporate rocks and small statues in many of them. There is also a small garden path in the middle, although Mik didn't enjoy walking through that because the wheelchair barely fit on the path and there were plants that rubbed against him.

The North American Pavilion was the least accessible as the paths were gravel, which was quite thick in parts, but it did have Mik's favorite bonsais. He particularly liked the California Junipers.

The Tropical Conservatory is also very accessible except for the fact you have to go through the North American Pavilion to get to it.

Destination Info:
National Arboretum
3501 New York Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002

National Arboretum: National Capitol Columns

Date of Visit: April 19, 2015

There is a parking area including handicap spots near the National Capitol Columns area of the National Arboretum, but we just walked over from where we had parked at the visitor center. The route from there is partially a road closed to general traffic and then there's a sidewalk path that angles towards it.

There columns and stones were originally part of the East Portico of the Capitol and are set up on a hill. There is sidewalk path up to the right and left. The floor area between the columns is not entirely even, but they are originally steps from the Capitol and certainly still very accessible, especially compared to how it is offroading to really explore much of the garden collections.

Destination Info:
National Arboretum
3501 New York Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002

National Air & Space Museum: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Date of Visit: April 12, 2015

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is kind of out there for a D.C. area attraction, but it is one of the more interesting Smithsonians and because it is out there it is much less crowded making it a great option to do today with family in town rather than deal with the crowds in D.C. again.

You enter the museum on the level that has the overlook paths for the hangar. There is ramp to go down to the first level, which is long and doesn't seem too steep, but it says not for wheelchairs and we just listened to it and used the elevator by the IMAX theater. Mik pointed out that this actually led to us noticing some aviation artwork in the halls back to the hangar that we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't used the elevator.

Mik really enjoys the airplanes on display at this museum, but this visit we mainly just focused on the Space Hangar since we mostly came to see the Standard Missile-3 full scale model. Thus, we only did the overlook near the entrance, but the area on the other side is definitely worth going up to and there are at least two different elevators up to it to access it.

After the space hangar and before heading to the gift shop, he looked at the map and decided there were only two planes he wanted to check out (most he remembers from our last visit several years ago). One was the Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud. The other was the Concorde, which he wanted to see because he had heard about in a Jack Ryan book.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is mostly about the big stuff in the National Air & Space Museum's collection. However, there are also some exhibits with models, which Mik particularly enjoyed when we happened by a case with various models as part of an exhibit on business aviation.

Destination Info:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, Virginia 20151

National Museum of American History: Lincoln's Carriage

Date of Visit: April 2, 2015

Since we were already going to be nearby on our walking the National Mall and Memorial Parks yesterday, we decided to quickly pop in and see Lincoln's Carriage. It actually is a really easy pop in and see thing if you enter from the Constitution Avenue side, which we always do because until today I didn't even think the other side had an accessible entrance, but according to the Smithsonian access map it does (Note: I don't totally trust it because it's over a year old and I know last time we went to the Air & Space the Independence Avenue entrance was closed, but it is likely the American History now has an accessible entrance on Madison and I just remember it not being accessible before the major remodel).

Lincoln's Carriage is temporarily on display on the First Floor of the National Museum of American History through May 25, 2015 as part of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death. It's just a the carriage and a few signs with info, but it's still interesting to get an up close look at his carriage, which they rode in to Ford's Theatre the night he was shot.

Destination Info:
National Museum of American History
1400 Constitution Ave NW
Washington DC

Metro Accessibility Note: Closest metro station is Federal Triangle (Blue/Orange/Silver). Smithsonian (Blue/Orange/Silver) is often also recommended as nearby for this museum and if you take the escalator exit it probably is closer or same distance as Federal Triangle, but the elevator is several blocks further, so Federal Triangle is definitely closest if you are exiting Metro via elevator. Of course, we are always partial to Archives (Yellow/Green) since it's a shorter train ride for us to take Yellow instead of Blue into D.C. and it's only a little more walking.

National Mall and Memorial Parks: Lincoln Memorial

Date of Visit: April 2, 2015

It's been about four years since we've posted a review of the Lincoln Memorial, although we have been here at least one other time since then. For the most part our comments are the same, but since there are a few things we noticed and did differently we decided to do a whole new one instead of just a brief update and just referring to the other review here.

To start off, we discovered that walking over the Memorial Bridge from Arlington National Cemetery is a very convenient way to get to the Lincoln Memorial when using Metro. It's still not all that close (~1 mile), but it seems smoother/simpler and also more scenic, although it can also be windier, which was not so nice on the way back when we were going into it. Note that the elevator you take back down the platform depends on which direction you need to go and the sign that says which side it is for is above call button (we think it should say right up top!).

To get up to the memorial there are ramps up on the right and left sides of the stairs. There are a couple points where you can access the landings of the steps, so you can enjoy the view like if you take the steps up. This also allows you to cross over from the right side to the left when you get to the top of the ramp because that's the side with the entrance to the area with the elevator. In rereading our old review, I was reminded that we were annoyed by them have a wheelchair symbol and no button that time. I can't remember if they have any buttons now, but this time both doors were propped open, so getting in wasn't an issue even though we were like the only ones there at the time. I actually was a little concerned we would have to wait for it to be 9am because the exhibit area technically doesn't open until then, but it was around 8:45am and it was open.

After experiencing the Union Station metro elevator, Mik has a greater appreciation for the one at the Lincoln Memorial. Yes, it still seems odd to have the doors on adjacent walls, but it is plenty big enough to maneuver in at least.

We didn't spend much time inside the Lincoln Memorial. Just enough to get the typical picture of Mik doing the A and L in sign language.

We did, however, spend at least 15 minutes on the backside of the memorial. How we have never done that before I don't know, but we decided to walk around the whole outside of the memorial up top (partly to waste time before bookstore opened to quickly get a stamp for our National Park passports). Mik really enjoyed playing around with the modes and taking pictures of the Potomac from there including the below watercolor mode one.

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