Is there any way I could have made today easier?

[Merlot]

We've just had a lovely day at Chessington World of Adventures. Ds1 had a great time - that new Dragon's Fury ride was something else!!

Ds2, as many of you know, is 19mths (not walking) but the size of a heavy three year old. We are managing with a normal buggy, but today of course we ran into some problems.

There were a few little rides that ds2 absolutely loved - you should have seen his little face whilst on the Ribena Bouncing Berries Ride , but life was quite difficult when there was a queue.

He is so very heavy to carry that dh and myself kept swapping him over every five minutes and it
really was a case of mind over matter!

I did wonder whether we should have gone to customer services' to explain our predicament, but tbh as we haven't got any evidence' to prove that M has special needs (apart from the fact that he obviously cant walk) I decided to leave it.

Again, has anyone had experience of problems like these and what did/do you do?

Thanks

I'm sure they would take your word for it, and let you through.Next time you go,why not phone ahead?
lightly different but when my cousin went to Florida last year with her mum,brother, three teenage daughters and dh, who is a wheelchair user, the whole of their party was ushered to the front of every queue

If you get dla merlot then you get exit passes. Means you don't have to queue, all you do is take proof of dla.
Would have made things so much easier for you. Lots of places do the same such as lego land, thorpe park etc
Remember for next time!

Thanks guys The DLA form is sitting here on my sideboard waiting to be completed - guess I had better get on with it!

Merlot, yep, Chessington definitely do this as we were meant to go on a 'company' day out with DH's company and we got a whole 'disability' pack with details of how to get priority passes etc...

Soc Svs here issue an ID card for children on their disability register. Although it doesn't entitle you to anything it is a very easy way to prove disability and helps prevent awkwardness all round so we don't have to explain and staff don't have to ask iyswim

Thanks Davros - I will find out whether Surrey do anything similar. Again the form to put ds2 on the Surrey Disability Register is on the sideboard too . I had better get that off and see what happens.

Get that form off them Merlot, its a lot easier than DLA!

not off them, then!

Merlot If you live near Chessington or Thorpe Park I would consider getting an annual pass. They are £80 each or £240 family pass (2 adults 2 kids over 4). We have one. My autistic ds loves the rides but can have off days and this way it doesn't matter if we have to leave early.
The best day to visit theme parks is usually a Saturday.

Tbh If there is a queue we don't normally bother as we know we can come back anytime. We have only once requested exit passes but did not find them that useful. As we are a large family we could not all have one so could not go on a ride together using the bands.
Also the only day we used them was a bank holiday. The park was packed and even the disabled queue on some rides was in excess of 20 mins. I would not have bothered had I realised. Poor ds was bonging off the walls and dh waiting outside thought we had disappeared.