Disney World: Changes to "Disability Access Service" pass. WHY?

A few months ago we went to Disney World.   This was our second time going and I have to say, Disney World just isn't what it used to be, at least not for kids with Special Needs.  Now I know Disney had to change it policies due to some people misusing the program.  I do not blame Disney for this; I blame the people that were misusing the program.  To anyone that told Disney they had a "special needs child" when they didn't, I say, "Shame on you!" To any person that paid a person to uses the "accessability" pass, I say, "Shame on you!" To anyone that used the program for anything other then what it was intended for, I say, "Shame on you!"

Here are some of the Reasons Why I think Disney changed its accessibility policy?

Complaints:  Did Disney receive complaints from people?  Are people worried a child with special needs will ride more rides than them or their child?  Let me assure you that is not the case.  For many different reasons children with special needs cannot stay at the park the entire day.  Some of the reason can include:  seizures, over stimulation and weariness).

Misuse: I have heard that some wealthy people were paying "disabled people" to have quicker access to rides.  I have also heard some people were saying their child was "Autistic" when their children has no diagnose of any kind.  I am appalled at this practice and think it is wrong on so many levels!  Just because there are "invisible" disabilities doesn't mean these family do not have challenges.  Why a family would lies about their child having a disability just so they did not have wait in line?  The only answer I can think is ignorance, of what our families go through.  Why should my daughter (and other special needs children) have to suffer for these people's evil deeds. It was not children with special needs that miss used this program, but they are the one that lose out in the end. 

It's Not fair:  Your right, I will give you this one.  It is not fair that my daughter will wheel up to a ride after you and get to go on the ride before you.  But you know what else is not fair? I will most likely out-live my daughter. I have to feed, diaper and talk for my 10 year old daughter.   When you put that in perspective of waiting a little longer in line so that I might have one more precious memory with my daughter before she leaves this earth it doesn't seem so unfair.  One more memory of our family at Disney World, " the Happiest Place on Earth" as I am laying in my bed crying because I miss her so much and can no longer hug her or kiss her little face.  So you’re right it's not fair.

The problem with this change in program is it does not make the person that misused the program suffer, but the families with a special needs child are the ones that ultimately suffer.  This change in their program has turned a Magical adventure into a few days of ordinary life.   We are still dealing with the same issues we have to deal with in our city and towns.  Disney used to be the one place we could thrive with our kids, where for a few days we could forget all of our worries and really enjoy time with our kids.  But now Disney is just another theme park that doesn't care about the needs of special needs kids.  It is all so sad I could just cry, but it won’t change anything. 

I am sorry Disney, but your argument as to why you have the "new policy" called “Disability Access Services" pass is fallacy!  You need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan!

Special needs mom tip of the day;

 If you want to make a special 

needs child's day, look them

 in the eye , smile kindly and say

 in the sweetest voice, " hello, good

 morning beautiful/handsome. How

 are you today?" (now this may be 

hard to do, but trust me do it).

 Now wait 10 seconds ( still looking

 them in the eye and still smiling) 

before you break your eye contact! Have a 

great day and go ahead and give it a try.  



Let me know what happens!

New Purex Fresh Pet: Detergent for Pet Clothing

As a purex insider I am asked to try and review new products.  One new product I am excited to introduce is NEW Purex Fresh Pet-Cuddly clean clothes for your furry family.

We all love our animals and we want them to have all that we have.  We buy them special treats like doggy biscuit and cute doggy clothes too. 

Purex Fresh Pet is designed especially for your pet's unique needs.  I do not know about your dog, but my dog plays hard and when she is wearing a cute outfit, it can get just as dirty as our kids clothes.  Our pets need a detergent that can not only control pet odor but help keep their fur nice and shiny.   

Purex Fresh Pet keeps your furry friends clothing bright and clean just like your clothes.  New Purex Fresh Pet liquid detergent with Odor Control Action is a premium pet clothing formula that is specially formulated to condition and moisturize your pet's coat and eliminate odor while they wear their favorite outfits.

Whether lounging around on the living room rug or strutting their stuff on a neighborhood walk, your pet's outfits will surely be noticed!

To learn more about Purex check out their Facebook page. 

I highly recommend adding Purex Fresh Pet  to your laundry detergent.  I know my family and I are glad we made the switch.

UPDATE:  I hope you enjoyed our fun April Fools joke.  I wanted to let you know Purex Fresh Pet is NOT a real product, but I had fun pretending it was real. 

Disclaimer:  I received all the information for this blog post as a Purex insider, however all opinions expressed her are my own.  I may receive prizes for this post.

What should I blog about?

For the last couple of months I have slowed down on my Blog posting. I decided to take this time to really sit and think about my blog and what direction I wanted to take my blog.  Sometimes I cannot help but wonder what stories I am passionate about and what stories my readers want to read.



I like hosting giveaway, but I do not want my blog to become a giveaway only blog.  Those blogs have their time and place, but not this blog.  I still want to host some giveaway, but I also want my blog to be more about personal stories.  I want my blog to be about my life as a mother, but as my Oldest is getting older I am trying to be respectful of his privacy and I believed it is time for him to start his own social networking venture.

As a mom of a child that is differently-abled I know that many of my stories lately have featured her.  I cannot help but write about what I am passionate about and of course her struggles in life and the struggles we go through as a family are my passion.  Marebear does not have a voice and I have to be her voice.  Sometimes I have to be the one to educate people on the etiquette of people with special needs.  I am not saying I am perfect and I do sometimes make mistakes, but for the most part parents of special needs children have to stick together.  We (parents of special needs kids) all belong to the same "club" .  We did not ask to join, but none the less we are card holding members.  

We (special needs parents) go through the same trials,we need each other.  We need someone that truly knows what we are going through.  We need each other to lean on for support.  I know this blog is a great resource for parent of children of special needs children, and I want to keep it that way.

I want this blog to be filled with useful, inspiring stories as well as information that is helpful to moms.  That leads me to ask you two questions:


What stories are you most interesting in reading?

What do you want me to blog about?

We showed our DisneySide @ Home Celebration

As a member of Momsense I was chosen to host a Disney Side @ Home Celebration.  Since we are Disney fanatics, I jumped at the chance to have some friends over to show our Disney Side.  My mind raced with all the different idea I had for a fun Disney party.  What would we wear and what would we eat?  The possible were endless and so were my party ideas.


So how do you show your Disney Side?  Well that is all up to you, but here is how we showed our DisneySide:






We started the year off my going to Disney World.  Nothing gets you more in the mood to show your Disney Side then going to Disney World.  We had the best time at Disney World and cannot wait to go there again.  We were sad to leave, but were glad we were going to host a Show your DisneySide @ Home Celebration.

 Next I had to set up the menu for my Show your Disney Side @ Home Celebration.  I made cute Disney cupcakes by using mini-Oreos for the ears.  I also made cutout cookies using Disney cookie cutter.  The cookie cutter shapes are mickey's head and hands.  I also used the cookie cutter to cut out shapes in my rice Krispy treats. Thanks to Disney we had all the decoration we needed. 

Marebear invited her friends over for a Disney Side @Home Celebration. If its the dress that makes she girl, all these girls are princesses!   All the girls dressed up as Disney their favorite princess.  My Little man wore his Olaf snowman shirt and my Oldest wore his Night Before Christmas shirt.  

What would a party be without games?  We played Disney's Scene It game.  It was a boys verses girls game night and it was a tight game, but the girls won (Yea).  If you have never played this game before it is tons of fun; it is a combination of video clips trivia and trivia card. 

                                                    
Here we are at show your Disney Side @ Home celebration party.  We had tons of fun and cannot wait to go it again.  

After the party we printed some of our favorite moments showing our Disney Side using HP photo card pack I received in my party pack from Disney.  They are easy to create all you have to do is go For tip on how to make HP projects personal click here.

 

 

This is a sample of one of the cards I made showing off Marebear's Disney Side.

 

For more information on how to host your own DisneySide @ Home Celebration click here

 

 

You can tweet how you and your family show your Disney Side at #DisneySide. 

So go ahead what are you waiting for?  Show off your Disney Side!

 

Get the word out about Rare Disease Day

Today is a special day set aside to spread the word about Rare Diseases. As my readers know, I have a daughter with a Rare Disease, RettSyndrome (check out Marebear's page to learn more).  It is very important we spread the word about these rare conditions in an effort to make sure no one goes undiagnosed. 

In honor of Marion, I wanted you to know today is rare disease day! Rett syndrome is a rare disease, but it is become more known thanks to those that spread the word. The more people that know about disease like Rett syndrome, like policy-maker, researcher and health care profession the less likely people we go undiagnosed.  By spreading the word about Rett syndrome, will also help raise awareness and help to find a cure!

What is Rare Disease day?

"Rare Disease Day is an annual, awareness-raising eventco-coordinated by EURORDIS at the international level and by National Alliancesand Patient Organizations at the national level."

To learn more about rare disease day at http://www.rarediseaseday.org/

Go ahead and share this post with as many people can you can. Let see if we can light up social media with awareness about Rare Disease Day!

Moms Night Out Movie Review

As a member of Mom Select I attend a private screening of Mom's Night Out Movie in exchange for a review for the film.  However all opinions expressed her are my own.

As moms we love our kids, but that doesn't mean we do not need a night out to ourselves.  As a mom of three kids, I definitely needed a night out, so I asked one of my friends if she wanted join me for a private screening of Mom's Night Out Movie.  Of course she wanted to see it, so we heading to the movie theater.

Mom's Night Out Movie Review:

This movie is cast full of talented actors like Sean Austin and Patricia Heaton to name a few.

As the movie starts the main charter Allison, a mommy blogger of three kids, is trying to come up with a story to blog about while she tries to keeping her house clean.   As a mommy blogger and mom to three beautiful blessings myself I felt as if I was watching a story of my life.  Allison, like most moms, decided its time for a peaceful, grown-up only night out with her friends.  Allison, like most of us moms, feels overwhelmed by the chaos of life as a mom.  Allison and her friends want to go out to dinner together but they worry their husbands won't be able to take care of the kids by themselves but soon decide they must give their husbands the benefit of the doubt and leave the kids with them.  They will only be gone for three hours and what could go wrong in three hours?  EVERYTHING!

What I love most about this movie:

Mom's Night Out Movie is a fun comedy for the whole family.  There is no inappropriate language or crude scenes.  You can take your tween daughter to it and not feel uncomfortable ( that is kind of hard to do with today's movies).

My favorite quote from this movie 

Allison's husband Sean is talking about her "job" as a stay-at-home mom and says,

"Your job is...       Important.  I mean just look at them." ( looking at their children). 

This quote reminded me my "job" as a mom is important.  Every moment of everyday I am writing on the pages of my children's autobiography. Every little thing I do for them matters. They don't care what we do together they only care that we are together, but I will not be taking the baby to a tattoo parlor ( when you watch the movie, you will understand what I meant)!


This movie will have you laughing through out the whole movie.  It is full of funny and quirky one liners that you will be quoting for years to come. So call some friends and plan on getting together to see the premier of Mom's Night Out, it will be a night to remember.



Mom's Night Out Movie premieres on May 9th.

Moms' Night Out: Official Trailer


Looking for an excused to have your own Moms Night Out?  National Moms Night Out is May 8th to learn more click here.

Tell me about your favorite Mom's Night Out!

Disclosure: As a member of Mom Select, I  attend a private screening of Mom's Night Out Movie in exchange for a review for the film.  However all opinions expressed her are my own.