Recently I went to Disney World with a friend. Being blind I had expected to find most of the slower rides as just a time to relax with some loud ambience. Maybe I'd get to skip a few ride lines. It was going to be an alright time. After some preliminary research and actually experiencing the trip, I can say that was so, so much better than that.

So yeah, I'm writing about a vacation I had. Thousands of people go to Disney World every day. What makes my experience so different? Well, I don't think most of those thousands of people are taking advantage of their Accessibility options. So here's a Disney trip from the perspective of someone blind.

It all started with the flight. I flew cross-country on Alaska Air. Their website was almost completely accessible. Only thing that gave me trouble was the seat reservation page. There was no non-visual distinction between vacant and reserved seats. Other than that though the experience was smooth. I called their disability hotline about a week before leaving to let them know I would need guided assistance.

Once I arrived at the airport I went to the check-in counter. My boarding pass was on my phone but I did need help navigating the place. Fortunately after a few minutes they had a worker down to help me with my suitcase and a shoulder to hold onto.

The TSA sent me through their metal detector. No millimeter wave scanners for me, I guess. We stopped by the restroom, as required by the Air Carrier Accessibility Act upon request, and then I sat at a chair near my gate. At boarding time he came back and helped me down the jetway. I was one of the first passengers to board, and once on the plane, the flight attendants took me the rest of the way to my seat.

Once at Orlando, I didn't wait more than 20 or 30 seconds before they had a worker to guide me from the plane to wherever I was going in the airport. My destination was my friend who was waiting just beyond security. The worker asked me if I needed to go to baggage claim. I didn't. I only had carry-on bags. No need for a big suitcase for a few days.

We stayed at the Disney All-Star Sports Resort. Since we had someone else staying with us we had two rooms. We called ahead of time and let them know we would need connected rooms and that one in our party had a disability. They were happy to place is on the first floor near the hotel's main walkway. Speaking of the walkway, some architect had the bright idea of adding a boardwalk texture to the concrete. It wasn't impassable but if you've got a white cane or maybe even a wheelchair it wasn't going to be that fun.

Once in the parks, we headed to City Hall to sign me up for Disability Access Services. They scanned my magic band as well as the bands of everyone else in the party. The cast member told us that it was good for 60 days.

Speaking of cast members, they were all extremely kind and helpful. These people clearly have had training in dealing with blind folks. All of them did a great job.

After that we got the device.

I didn't know this was a thing until days before I went, but Disney World has audio description and closed captioning available for pretty much the entire park through this one handy device. It's a brick of a thing with a rubberised body, screen, and easy-to-use buttons. After a $25 deposit they set me up with audio descriptions. They put the device on a lanyard and connected some cheap headphones. The interface was completely audio driven, including a device overview, audio menus, and the best part, automated description as you move through the park and board rides.

Entering a new area? It'll give you a long buzz and announce where you are. At one point I was in the enchanted forest in Fantasyland between the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the Mad Tea Party attraction. The audio description told me that. It can also list locations like restaurants, gift shops, restrooms, and service animal relief areas. This thing was great.

Of course, the real magic happened on the rides. While waiting in the queue of the Haunted Mansion, I pressed the button for it tell me where I was. Normally throughout the park it uses a male narrator. TUrns out that they use a female narrator for the rides. Pretty cool. Anyway, to my absolute surprise, it started describing all of the scenery in the queue line like the various tombstones. Once inside the foyer it gave an extra long buzz and locked me out of the controls.

Then it started describing the ride. It got everything from what the boarding platform and doom buggies looked like to what was depicted in the portraits in the stretching room. Lights went out and a skeleton was hanging from the ceiling? This thing described it. It was describing stuff that I had missed even when I had more sight! While on the ride proper, the quality and detail of the descriptions continued. It was hard to pay attention to the audio description and ride narration at the same time but it really made everything so much better.

Not all rides have audio descriptions though. The thrill rides lack audio descriptions since they're too fast to describe much of anything but they did have some ride predescriptions available through the audio menu. You had to access them manually though. The list of rides with no description includes Splash Mountain. It's a shame since that one has a lot of scenes and animatronics, but given that it's a water ride with a big drop at the end I think this one's justified. Of all the attractions I went on, I think the best one was The Carousel of Progress. The slow pacing of the show and relatively large gaps of dialogue made it very easy to describe. Other shows like the Country Bear Jamboree and the Enchanted Tiki Room didn't fair quite as well but we're still somewhat enjoyable.

Unfortunately my device died at around 7 PM. I had gotten it at around 10 AM. There were a few rides I didn't get the audio description on, like Pirates of ThE Carribean. Personally though I think the smell of that ride makes it worth it. In any case I had my friend to help supplement a description.

Speaking of smells, the parks are filled with them. They pump smells into various rooms and locations: cedar for The Haunted Mansion, this sort of waxy ashy smell in the Rome Burning scene on Spaceship Earth, the popcorn carts in the park, and tons more. Without much visual stimulation these were all a treat.

So, this other thing I got. Disability Access Service. It was pretty cool. You showed up at the entrance to a fastpass line. A cast member would scan your band and you would get a return time. If the wait time of the ride was 2 hours then you could come back through the fastpass line in 2 hours. This made it easier for me since I had to wind through less lines and we got to ride lots more rides than most people. I think I could have managed the standby line since I had my friend to guide me around, but if I was on my own I wouldn't even think about not using this service. Then again, if I was on my own I would likely have a guide dog with me. Like hell I'm going to a Disney park with just my cane. And yes, it will work for the other members in your party. I'm not aware of a guest limit but I'd bet on it not being more than 5 or 6 people plus yourself for a single DAS party. It's also good for 60 days. No need to renew it unless you're going to be there for a really long time.

The next day we went to Epcot and it was much of the same. This time though the device bricked itself twice and we had to return to guest relations to get it fixed. This park also had less rides with audio descriptions. It had less rides in general, actually. They had a lot of shows and country showcases. I don't think Epcot is the best place if you're blind and want to spend the day. The cast member who helped us get the describer working said he had never seen the error screen in his five years of working there. Here's hoping mine bricking twice was a fluke.

The app. The My Disney Experience App. You use it to order food, make dining reservations, reserve fastpasses, and more. As bad as it is at refreshing information, I must commend it for its accessibility. Now, I'm a contrarian asshole who insists on using Android because I like it but I can't imagine this not working with Voiceover as well. Anyway, this thing was probably one of the most accessible apps on the Play Store. It's the only one that actually tells me I can use the local context menu to access some features more easily. Good job, Disney World. You need to optimize it in everything else though.

You can't do everything from the app though and fortunately the website is reasonably easy to use. You can do everything from viewing what accessibility options are available for every attraction to viewing the menus for what food is available at your resort's food court.

Overall I had a much, much better time than what I expected. If you've ever wanted to go or are going with a family, I hope you can take advantage of this stuff. Disney's got their accessibility game down over in Florida.

I have no idea how it works at Disneyland. The two parks are run independently so none of this might be true in Anaheim. I haven't researched or used their accessibility services.

Really the only issue I had on this trip was going back home. The employees at Orlando didn't seem quite as up to speed on what I needed, taking a lot longer and for some reason marking me as needing a wheelchair even though I specifically asked for a guide. Oh well, they were still just as helpful in the end so I guess it all turned out fine.

It was a great trip, by the way. Fun place to go if you have the means.