Welcome to Disneyland with Disabilities Blog
Hi
Edna Wooldridge and Sue Buchholz have co-authored a book which will be out in August 2011 to be titled Destination Disneyland with Disabilities. Our book, to be published by Morgan James Publishers, is a complete guide on traveling to Disneyland, staying in the area, local transportation, and detailed information on all that Disney has to offer you and your family with all to details necessary to make your stay more organized and less stressful if you have a family member with a disability.
The Buchholz Bunch with Sue
Come back and check us out for more publication details or to add your experiences. I will post a photo of Edna and her daughter and their recent adventures to Disneyland in October of 2008 soon.
Sue Buchholz
Pre-order
You can pre-order our book at our main website. It is being printed while we speak at www.disneylandwithdisabilities.com 
Some tips for families with children who wander
There are many children and adults with disabilities who tend to wander off if not adequately supervised, well even with adequate supervision, some folks will wander away in overstimulating situations. Disneyland can be overwhelming-crowds, noise, lights, smells, movement . . . Also folks can just get lost in the crowd. Always contact a Cast Member immediately (Disney calls all their Disneyland staff Cast Members, not just the folks who dress up as characters).
My son, Dustin, will wander away from situations that are overstimulating. We brought a light weight travel wheelchair with us. This way, he could sit down when situations were too stimulating, when we had to wait in lines and when he just got tired. When he
wasn’t in the chair, we used it to carry coats and other things or just let him push it or put one of the other kids in it.
In our book, Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities, we devote an entire chapter to ideas to help children with sensory processing disorders, like many children on the autism spectrum, enjoy Disneyland to the fullest. We have some links to online businesses that carry a variety of items to make sure your “wanderer” doesn’t get far.
“it’s a small world” is 45 years old
Disney Insider has a nice article about “it’s a small world”‘s 45th birthday. We include a link to that article for your reading pleasure. I believe it is one of Edna and her daughters’ favorite rides. It was being refurbished when we were last there.
We hope you enjoy this.
Sincerely,
Sue and Edna, co authors of Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities
Disney characters
Sue’s friend, David, sent this joke:
So I know this friend, I’ll call her X… She was using the following password:
“MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento”
When asked why she had such a long password, she rolled her eyes and said:
“Helloooo, DUH…..It has to have at least 8 characters and include at least one capital.”
Brought to you for your amusement by Sue Buchholz and Edna Wooldridge, Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities.
Children’s Healing Art Project
Sue’s children love CHAP. Here is a video link to CHAP’s quest to become the recipient of one of 100 cars being donated to charity by Toyota. Please vote for them on August 15th, 2011.
n the video, see Sue’s daughter, Teresa, painting in double time and Sue’s son, Carl painting the old car.Check out chap at www.chap.name
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
While this is not about our book Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities, it does include Walt Disney in the video. This is a very inspirational video. I first saw it at a 4-H presentation.
We hope you enjoy this video and our book which will be out in print on August 31, 2011.
Stories from Edna’s sister, Sandra
Sandra (Edna’s sister) wrote this lying on the sofa bed, which she slept on that year:
“I got the sofa bed since Lauren and Edna slept on it last year. I’ve slept on a few sofa beds in the past, and none of them was as mattressed as this one. I thought surely there must be some other part of it in the room somewhere. I could feel each bar under the mattress and the only position that even resembled comfort was to sleep diagonally.
To top it off the sofa bed came equipped with a sheet and a wool blanket with poop on it. (or some other substance resembling poop. I work in a vet clinic and I see blankets with poop on them every day and I know what it looks like.) It was no problem for me to put that end of the blanket at my feet and forget about it, but I couldn’t believe there were no more blankets. I suppose in sunny California most don’t need many blankets, but most people don’t room with Edna and Lauren who both have the body temperature of a snowman, and who need it to be cold in the room. Their bed was by the air conditioner, thank goodness, but it got plenty cold at my end of the room and by day two I had a sore throat starting. I blamed it on the smog, but now I am wondering.
Another story from Edna, this one by her sister, Sandra who shares some insights into rooming with Lauren and Edna who really do have the temperature of snowmen. Edna is a co-author of Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities.
Severe Allergy Hotel Room sign in English/Spanish
Here is a picture to tape onto the mirror or door if you or a family member have severe sensitivity to aerosol sprays. You may want to take extras and laminate at least one. Many children who experience autism or have sensory processing disorders also have sensitivity to odors associated with chemical sprays.
We include this so that you do not have to tear a page from your copy of Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities – Guidebook and Planner for families and folks with disabilities traveling to Disneyland Resort Park and Disney California Adventure Park by Sue Buchholz and Edna Wooldridge.
Using video interactive maps on iPad or Apple mobile devices
Yesterday and the day before that, we added YouTube interactive video maps to our blog. If you have an iPad or a mobile Apple device you can access these videos and you child can use the map for communication and to explore videos of various attractions at Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park. We include link to these videos in our book Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities – Guidebook and Planner for families and folks with disabilities traveling to Disneyland Resort Park and Disney California Adventure Park by Sue Buchholz and Edna Wooldridge.
Interactive map to Disney California Adventure Park
The authors of Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities share this YouTube video that is actually an interactive map. Mouse over an area of the map and you can click on the area and get to attraction videos for each area of the park. It is from the vast collection of videos from HV10N90
Interactive map to Disneyland Resort Park
The authors of Destination Disneyland Resort with Disabilities share this YouTube video that is actually an interactive map. Mouse over an area of the map and you can click on the area and get to attraction videos for each area of the park. It is from the vast collection of videos from HV10N90
