Hi all,
I recently supported a service user to London, we went for 5 days. Due to the chap being in a wheelchair we had to plan our trip well enough to get the activities in with the short length of time we had there, but also give us options if something didn't go quite to plan (as it often doesn't).
The activities we experienced were The London Eye, Madame Tussauds, The London Dungeon and The Thames Cruise. We booked all of these through The London Eye, I believe it was called a combination ticket. You can check it out on http://www.londoneye.com/. You save a decent amount by booking it all together. We had to prebook times and dates only for the eye and the cruise so we had flexibility with the other activities. We booked over the phone on 08712220188 alternatively you can email accessiblebooking@londoneye.com. This way we could discuss our options with the booking agent to find an appropriate trip. They were incredibly helpful and ensured we had the best possible price, allowing a discount for the wheelchair user and one carer to go free. This greatly reduced our expected spend and allowed him to do more activities for the money than we could have hoped!
As we often experience, there was some drama when we arrived at the london eye. We had purchased fast pass tickets, and when we arrived at the barriers, there were steps. FAIL! We went to one of the employees for some advice who informed us that we would have to go to the back of the main queue to access the ramp enterance. Anyone who has been on the eye will know this is not a small queue! Definately not ideal for a chap with epilepsy and learning disabilities. We explained the situation but the chap was adament we would have to queue. We went up to the ticket desk and explained what had happened and that as a result of the wait we would miss the activities we had planned for the afternoon. To exchance the tickets for the following day they announced they would have to charge us £10 each, but with a little explaination and persuation they waived the fee. The next day we were allowed on at the beginning of the ramp which was about a 15 minute wait. The flight was good, I'm not a fan of heights but it was bearable. I would definately recommend the 4D experience it was fantastic!
Madame Tussauds only let 3 wheelchair users in at once so be sure to select a date and time when you book! We almost missed out due to not being told this vital piece of information. It seemed like a good attraction but we went at 4pm and was just swimming with people, so much so that our chap could see nothing and people were physically climbing over him to get to models so we spent a total of 15 minutes. Very badly thought out for wheelchair users, little to no help from staff.
The cruise was fantastic access and views, staff and experience were flawless! The commentator was very knowledgable and all staff were very helpful. Not overly crowded and very civilised.
Similarly the Dungeons are run incredibly well. The wait was about 20 minutes (it felt longer due to the rain!) but you navigated the dungeon in small groups so each exhibit was fully visible! The staff and actors were always at hand to help. Much thought and planning has gone into this attraction and it comes highly recommended.
Over all, there were hits and misses. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will do everything I can to help.
Catherine x
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Holiday Inn and Express by Holiday Inn
Hi all,
I would like to dedicate my first proper blog post to the Holiday Inn and more so to the Express by Holiday Inn. As a carer value for money is a must for us. This is a company who are compassionate, helpful, insightful and professional as well as being great value for money. The main reasons we tend to go back time and time again! The are widely available, have great choice of locations, through our experiences clean and friendly.
A massive perk for us is there accessible rooms. The tend to be spacious, the bathrooms are all wet-room style and have plenty of grab rails placed throughout. They have emergency alarms in the bathroom and bedroom areas. A handful of their hotels (and this is a massive asset to many non mobilising wheelchair users) have in room hoist tracking systems. The tracking can at times be small but is most definately adequite. The tracking does not carry through from the bedroom to bathroom but there is a small tracking unit in both rooms with a detachable hoist system. There is a small seat in the shower area but we felt it wasn't appropriate for our service users so cannot really comment on it.
Another huge plus point is the fact that a carer's room is more commonly than not included in the price of the disabled room although this should be requested at the time of booking. They have a limited number of interconnecting rooms if required and these must also be requested at time of booking.
The staff we have encountered have all been most helpful, to the point of removing furniture in rooms so we could hire our own profiling bed and mobile hoists for rooms without tracking systems.
I will take this time to recommend one hotel over the others. We were incredibly impressed by the Express by Holiday Inn in Cardiff Bay. They were so friendly and accomodating. Namely I would say a huge massive thank you to Kay Thomas who was the manager of the hotel at the time of our stay. She could not do enough to help us. You knew if there was any problem that she would be there with a big smile ready to help you deal with it. This woman was a massive asset to the company and made our trip that much more special. The car parking here was free for blue badge holders as was the carers room. The disabled access room was massive, light, airy and had an interconnecting carer's room. The two night stay for three adults in two rooms cost a grand total of £164!!! bargain!
hope this helps!
Catherine x
I would like to dedicate my first proper blog post to the Holiday Inn and more so to the Express by Holiday Inn. As a carer value for money is a must for us. This is a company who are compassionate, helpful, insightful and professional as well as being great value for money. The main reasons we tend to go back time and time again! The are widely available, have great choice of locations, through our experiences clean and friendly.
A massive perk for us is there accessible rooms. The tend to be spacious, the bathrooms are all wet-room style and have plenty of grab rails placed throughout. They have emergency alarms in the bathroom and bedroom areas. A handful of their hotels (and this is a massive asset to many non mobilising wheelchair users) have in room hoist tracking systems. The tracking can at times be small but is most definately adequite. The tracking does not carry through from the bedroom to bathroom but there is a small tracking unit in both rooms with a detachable hoist system. There is a small seat in the shower area but we felt it wasn't appropriate for our service users so cannot really comment on it.
Another huge plus point is the fact that a carer's room is more commonly than not included in the price of the disabled room although this should be requested at the time of booking. They have a limited number of interconnecting rooms if required and these must also be requested at time of booking.
The staff we have encountered have all been most helpful, to the point of removing furniture in rooms so we could hire our own profiling bed and mobile hoists for rooms without tracking systems.
I will take this time to recommend one hotel over the others. We were incredibly impressed by the Express by Holiday Inn in Cardiff Bay. They were so friendly and accomodating. Namely I would say a huge massive thank you to Kay Thomas who was the manager of the hotel at the time of our stay. She could not do enough to help us. You knew if there was any problem that she would be there with a big smile ready to help you deal with it. This woman was a massive asset to the company and made our trip that much more special. The car parking here was free for blue badge holders as was the carers room. The disabled access room was massive, light, airy and had an interconnecting carer's room. The two night stay for three adults in two rooms cost a grand total of £164!!! bargain!
hope this helps!
Catherine x
an introduction for this blog
Hi all,
This is my first ever blog post and I hope it will prove useful to someone somewhere out there!
First I will provide a bit of background. I am a manager of a support team, supporting people with physical and learning disabilities to live full and independent lives of the best possible quality. This includes going away on holidays and I thought I would share a few of the tips and tricks we have learned along the way.
I have decided to set up this blog to help anyone who is in a situation like we are. We have difficulty finding suitable accomodation, medical equipment such as hoists and profiling beds, and suitable transport. I will include all my research into these areas on each destination we will travel to along the way!
I will back date some of the posts to cover places we have been in the past which we would recommend to people as well as our most recent endevours including a 5 day trip to London in August and an upcoming trip to Disneyland Paris on Monday 13/09/10.
Any support for this blog will be greatfully appreciated. Although only a small offering I just hope it will provide some support, reassurance, advice or ideas! It is an area we have found a great deficit in, finding out accessibility information has not been easy and can prove a deal breaker to people in similar situations!
For now,
Thanks for reading
Catherine x
This is my first ever blog post and I hope it will prove useful to someone somewhere out there!
First I will provide a bit of background. I am a manager of a support team, supporting people with physical and learning disabilities to live full and independent lives of the best possible quality. This includes going away on holidays and I thought I would share a few of the tips and tricks we have learned along the way.
I have decided to set up this blog to help anyone who is in a situation like we are. We have difficulty finding suitable accomodation, medical equipment such as hoists and profiling beds, and suitable transport. I will include all my research into these areas on each destination we will travel to along the way!
I will back date some of the posts to cover places we have been in the past which we would recommend to people as well as our most recent endevours including a 5 day trip to London in August and an upcoming trip to Disneyland Paris on Monday 13/09/10.
Any support for this blog will be greatfully appreciated. Although only a small offering I just hope it will provide some support, reassurance, advice or ideas! It is an area we have found a great deficit in, finding out accessibility information has not been easy and can prove a deal breaker to people in similar situations!
For now,
Thanks for reading
Catherine x
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