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PassPorter's Walt Disney World For Your Special Needs

by Deb Wills and Debra Martin Koma of AllEarsNet.com fame

PassPorter DCL

 

  Meet the Expert Peer Reviewers

Our Expert Peer Reviewers: These 36 experts -- each with their own experience with special needs -- painstakingly checked our text to ensure PassPorter's accuracy, readability, and thoroughness. Thank you for helping to make PassPorter the best it can be!

Release date: August 15, 2005

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Carrie Bass is a special education teacher from Texas, who has made five trips to Disney since 1996. She has psoriatic arthritis and is the mother of Hayley and Austin, who has an autism spectrum disorder, seizures, and mobility issues.

Linda Briel has ADD, asthma, and fibromyalgia. She first visited Disney World in 1995, and has made more than 30 visits since. She is a wife, mother, and grandma of one, a precious 9-year-old with difficulties, including bi-polar disorder.

Sara Drews is a stay-at-home mom who enjoys traveling to Disney with her family. They have visited over 12 times in the last four years. She has two children with asthma, various allergies, and an immune deficiency.

Kelly Debardela

Melanie Emmons has struggled with obesity all her life, and has recently had lapband surgery. Her first trip to Walt Disney World was her honeymoon in 1989; she stopped counting the number of return trips after 20.

Lydia Economou has loved Walt Disney World since her first trip with roommates after college. She is married with three children: Nicholas, Andrew, and Sophia. Her son, Andrew, is lactose intolerant and has asthma.

Robert Feder is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. His wife and daughter think he goes to Walt Disney World too often. They're right.

Joanne and Tim Ernest are veterans of over 20 trips to Disney World and three Disney cruises and are PassPorter moderators. For the past 3 1/2 years Joanne has suffered from acute peripheral neuropathy.

Sandra Givens, who learned to spell "encyclopedia" from Jiminy Cricket, is a librarian and disabilities advisory committees' member in Virginia. She has visited Disney World nine times. Her teenage son Nikolaus has autism.

Colleen Gaudette is a physical therapist and mother of two toddlers who has found ways to make traveling with small kids as light and convenient as possible. She fell in love with Disney on her first trip with her kids in December 2004.

Donna Jagodzinski has been going to Disney World since she was a teen (almost 30 years). Donna is happily married. She has Multiple Sclerosis, and is always accompanied by her service dog and best friend, Gracie.

Susan Heck is an avid Disney World passholder, a native Floridian, and a vegetarian. She has been to Disney World over 100 times since the park opened. She brings her 4-year old daughter, Christina, who has spina bifida.

Lori Jones is a plus-size woman, married to a very plus-size man (Randy). They have traveled 5 times to Disney World, plus 3 Disney cruises.Together with children Winston and Maria they look forward to many more years of magic!

Peter Johnson took his autistic 10-year-old son Alec to Walt Disney World for the first time in 1999. They both fell in love with the place and have been back every year since -- sometimes twice a year.

Deb Kendall has had fibromyalgia for 14 years. She resides in Texas, and has visited Disney World 6 times and Disneyland 100+ times growing up in California. She's learned a new way to enjoy Disney because of fibromyalgia.

Masayo Kano is an international traveler from Japan who has loved Disney since her first trip to Tokyo Disneyland in '91 and to Disney World in '93. She's been 10+ times since. She's married to Mamoru who also loves Disney.

Susan Koppel vacationed at Disney before becoming a mom to Alex and Mikie. Her family has experienced Disney with food allergies, GERD, Crohns, mobility, sensory issues, fears, motion sickness, autism, and size issues.

Lori Kloman Williamson is a long-time Walt Disney World fan who has had multiple trips since 1971. She has spent a great deal of time traveling to Disney World with her visually impaired husband and best friend.

Cathy McConnell is a Disney fan and travel agent who has been on countless trips to Disney World and more than 10 Disney cruises. She is the mother of a teen son who is profoundly deaf and is active in deaf advocacy groups.

Chet McDoniel is an Accredited Cruise Counselor with the Cruising Co Etc. He has no arms and shortened legs. He travels in an electric wheelchair and absolutely loves Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line!

Sue Mickelson, a nurse and mom of a child with multiple disabilities, has been on 20+ "Purple Wheelchair Tours" of Disney since 1987. Sue is the moderator of a popular Internet forum for people with disabilities planning Disney travel.

Bruce Metcalf works at a major Central Florida theme park where his job includes making life easier for those with challenges. An accident that put him in a wheelchair for three months helped focus his attention.

Yvonne Mitchell has Fibromyalgia and is also a plus-sized person. She's been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World 25+ times, and is taking her new husband and 13-year-old daughter to Disney World soon.

Jean Miller, a senior citizen, began her love of Disney while living near Disneyland for a year in the early '60s. A regular visitor to Disney World since its opening, she now spends several weeks each winter at Ft. Wilderness.

Kelly Pankey was born with Spina Bifida and gets around using a wheelchair. She's been to Walt Disney World twice as a child. Kelly is also a elementary special education teacher to kids with physical and other health impairments.

Josh Olive is a 6'6", 380 lb. man whose inner child is bigger yet. He's been a BIG fan of Walt Disney World since his first visit in 1979 and he's now a 15-trip veteran.

Leanne Phelps has been enjoying Disney World since college. She and her husband especially enjoy dining at Disney. After being diagnosed with celiac disease, she discovered that the "World" is a great place for gluten-free dining.

Pam Passwater has accompanied groups of challenged adults to Disney World, and has vacationed there 20+ times. As travel coordinator for St. Louis Dream Factory, she helps seriously ill children plan their Dream trips to Florida.

Kitty Smith is a vegan who's made 10 trips to Disney World (so far). While quite "bashful," she can often be found lurking in her favorite Disney newsgroup, rec.arts.disney.parks, or dishing out veggie dining advice at AllEarsNet.com.

Beth Shorten, self-proclaimed Queen of Allergies, is a lifelong Disney fan. Disney World is one of the few places in which she feels relaxed and comfortable dining. Beth is member of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

Michelle Steiner fell in love with the "magic" on her first visit to Disney World. Now she enjoys sharing that same magic with her two sons, Jordan and Brandon. Both her boys are ADHD, or "Attention Different," as she likes to think of it!

Michelle Spurrier is an Early Childhood Special Education teacher. Walt Disney World became the favorite family vacation spot in 1997 for Michelle, her husband, and two sons. Michelle has made 9 trips to Walt Disney World.

Amy Warren Stoll has been to Walt Disney World more than 15 times since her first trip in 1996. She hasn't let epilepsy keep her from enjoying her favorite "me, me, all for me" solo trips!

Alissa Tschetter-Siedschlaw is a confessed Disney junkie! She and her husband Sean have four children whose special needs include autism spectrum disorder, mild Cerebral Palsy, behavioral issues, and one on G-tube feeds.

Blossom Zell is a special education teacher, working with students of many disabilities, including autism, PDD, mental retardation, Tourette Syndrome, and ADHD to name a few. She is the parent of two boys with special needs.


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Updated 08/09/06

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