OUR EXCURSIONS

Legoland Windsor August 2007

Thank you to Legoland for inviting us to come down for the day.

Unfortunately Stuart was in too much pain to make the journey so we reluctantly went on our own as in true Stuart style he didn't want the children to miss out.

The first thing I noticed was the designated disabled parking near to the entrance of the park, I particularly noticed this as we obviously had much further to walk!
There were a number of wheelchair users there who entered the park via their own designated entrance.
The first point you come to is the Hill train which as the name implies takes you down a steep hill there was a designated wheelchair carriage on there.
The park is big and spacious so moving around would not have caused any problems. There appeared to be adequate disabled toilets too. There were also some outside shows which were great to watch. The lego models are amazing to look at too.
There were a number of wheelchair lifts to take people to the rides and allow them to jump the queue, something the children noted as they didn't like the long queues and wished that Stuart had come!
Although I did see a young girl being successful transferred into several of the rides I don't think Stuart could have managed to get in as a lot of the rides involved stepping down into them and I am pretty sure he would not have had the confidence to do this.
It clearly was a disabled friendly park if you could transfer onto the rides, eg Parent carrying child. And I have no doubt we will be going back with Stuart once he has full use of his artificial limb.

Avon Valley Railway - Bitton, Nr Bristol- May 2007

In my opinion - Stuart Green- Wheelchair user

Thank you to Avon Valley Railway who invited us to research their attraction, on a "Day Out with Thomas" Day.

I was very impressed with the disabled facilities. There was good disabled parking so it didn't take long to get to the platform.
There were no steps anywhere and as a wheelchair user I found that very handy, it meant I wan't restricted to go anywhere.
The train had a special carriage for wheelchairs and it was very spacious so I could move about and take in the breathtaking views.
Getting on and off the train was easy as there was a portable ramp and the helpful staff got me on and off the train safely.
It was a good fun day out for all the family.
Reasonably priced snacks and drinks all added to the fun of the day.

In my opinion - Julie Green - Carer

We had a reserved parking space at Bitton Station instead of having to travel on the courtesy bus laid on from the Park and Ride.

There were a small amount of sideshows at the station. some of which you had to pay extra for, the children loved having their faces painted and we enjoyed the food we bought in the buffet bar.

I was very impressed with the disabled adapted carriage and had a lovely ride on Thomas the Tank Engine through the beautiful countryside. Although my 7 year old son still likes Thomas I did feel this particular day was more for younger children- although I understand there are a number of other themed days available at Avon Valley railway.

Fleet Air Arm Museum- April 2007

In my opinion Stuart Green wheelchair user

A big thank you to Fleet Air Arm Museum for inviting us to research the museum.

I found it very easy to get around and saw the majority of the exhibits, I even managed to get around at times without Julie's help.

I was rather nervous when we got to the Wessex Helicopter which takes you to the flight deck experience, but I got in with no problems and it felt very real and was highly enjoyable.

The flight deck experience was an amazing exhibit althoughh the bomb lifts which take you between floors were snug to say the least! It took around 40 minutes to complete the tour.

The toilets were of a very high standard and easy to manovere. If I did have a criticism about the museum it would be that when I got there and saw the huge steps to the entrance I was rather nervous of how I would get in, I would like to have gone through the main entrance like all the other visitors and if I could improve anything it would be for them to find some way of disabled guests being able to use the main entrance.
All in all a very enjoyable day, for all ages and the museum staff are very helpful. 10/10

In our opinion- Julie Green/ Carer and 2 youngest members of the family

I must admit my experience of museums as a child led me to think we'd be in for a boring day out, and I wasn't really looking forward to it.
I was very pleased to be proven wrong, We entered the museum through a designated door to the left of the main entrance, arriving in the WW1 section and was amazed at the exhibits and looked around with great interest, laughed with the children at the old televisions and other equipment as I told them stories my nana had told me.
I particularly enjoyed the Award winning Aircraft Carrier experience aboard the HMS Arkroyal which Stuart's grandfather had served on, followed by the triple screen flight deck experience. I was glad I wasn't on there for real though!
I was very impressed by the ease in which I was able to navigate Stuart's wheelchair around, and there was very little he couldn't experience for himself. He couldn't go on Concorde or into a small galleried area on the first floor but besides that no problems at all and highly recommend it.

7 year old son's opinion - "I liked the aircraft, it was fun"

10 year old daughter's opinion - "I liked the concorde plane and the WW2 section was fascinating"

London- October 2006

In my opinion- Julie Green/Carer/wheelchair pusher

We travelled to London on Fri 20th October by train, we booked assistance and the train staff were absolutely brilliant, the ramps were ready for us at Trowbridge, Bath and London in both directions.The staff were very friendly and the other passengers were too.
We got a taxi at Waterloo which had wheelchair ramps too, and we travelled 4.2 miles to our accomodation and cost us a whopping £15.
I had booked the accomodation in August and specifically told them I was booking for a disabled wheelchair bound husband and myself of course.I also rang them at the begining of October and they clarified it was disabled friendly.We arrived to face a 3 step entrance and We will shortly upload the photograph of the disabled ramp access to the bedrooms!! It was a ramp I will give them that, but we could not get the wheelchair through the doorway and Stu had to get out and fold the chair, to say we were angry is an understatement, there was no porter service as stipulated on the website either, the room was depressing and reminded me of a bedsit I used to live in when I was 18, not a pleasant memory!! It was a noisy room and the bed was uncomfortable, I eventually went to reception at 1 am to request another room, which we were given, a smaller room but at least it was quiet. The offending premises was Royal Court Apartments Nr Paddington. Needless to say I will be writing a letter of complaint to the proprietor, they obviously have no concept of disabled access.
Anyway, moving on, after deciding that taxi fares all weekend was not an option we walked everywhere, well I did anyway lol, my feet are still aching 3 days later!!
We went to see Mamma Mia at The Prince of Wales theatre on Sat afternoon and yet again were treated like royalty, they had taken out 2 seats to get Stu's wheelchair in, we didnt have to queue outside we were whisked straight in, made comfortable and even had waitress service with our interval drinks. Watch this space as the theatre may be giving us some VIP tickets to raffle off to our members, more news as we get it!

On Sunday it was pouring with rain and we walked again to the London Eye, again we were treated very well and I got on Free as Stu's carer. Even though visibility wasn't very good it was an amazing experience.Due to the rain we decided against using our prebooked tickets for the Thames River Cruise.

We returned home for a much needed rest on Monday!!

Here we are on the London Eye, Stu is obviously the handsome chap in the wheelchair (Had to say that ha ha) and I am standing behind him, apologises to all other people in the photo, as I have no idea what their names are!!

In my opinion- Stuart Green wheelchair user

As soon as the train arrived the guard sorted out the ramp, It actually felt quite weird being pushed up the ramp, but equally it made me feel quite important.
Using the gents was quite challenging as the train was moving, maintaining my balance in a confined space on a slippery floor was hard work on crutches.
After arriving at Waterloo we went in search of a taxi, the black cab we went in had a disabled ramp but I decided to hop in on my crutches instead.The cab was roomy and I relaxed and took in the sights.
The outside of the apartments were beautiful and inviting, a grand entrance and lovely flowers in the window area, unfortunately inside was a different matter.
I couldn't use my wheelchair and the floor was very slippery ,
which didn't make using crutches easy either.The room wasn't much better, the ramp as Julie mentioned was too narrow, the carpet so threadbare I couldnt negiotiate it very well on crutches either.
I was very disapointed with our choice but didn't want to tell Julie as I didn't want to upset her, I was very relieved when she got us another room which was slightly better.
On Saturday we went to see Mamma Mia, me in my wheelchair and Julie pushing, for me it was just a case of sitting down, relaxing and taking in the sights, but for Julie it was a different story,negioiating the hazardous and bumpy pavements of Oxford and Regent St, I did feel slightly guilty! When we got to the theatre there were long queues but the friendly staff fast tracked us inside. The musical was fantastic I didnt think I would enjoy it as I am not an ABBA fan but I still have the songs in my head days later lol. During the interval the friendly staff brought our drinks over to us.
On Sunday we had an early start, and took a slow walk to the London Eye, on route we stopped and saw a parade at Trafalgar Square, which was to commerate the Battle of Trafalgar.
Carrying on we walked down Whitehall and I had my photo taken outside Downing St.
By the time we reached the London Eye we were absolutely drenched, we tried to go into the McDonalds there but there was no wheelchair access we found a cafe nearby and dried out there. The queue for the London Eye was quite long but again we were fast tracked, to the bottom of the wheelchair ramp. It was an amazing experience though I have to admit to being nervous at first as I am scared of heights lol
I would recommend a trip to London but be prepared for long queues, take a motorised wheelchair if you have one and your waterproofs!! And next time we will not take the accomodations word for it that they are disabled friendly!