I posted this in my thread on the Resorts Board but also thought it was appropriate to post over here on the disABILITIES Board...
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After the Private Dining Event had ended, my daughter and I couldnt sleep, so we went for a midnight swim. That was my first swim as a disabled person and it felt wonderful on both of my legs, broken or otherwise.
The quiet pool (a.k.a., the old pool) is the only one open at night at the Grand Floridian, and its water was rather cool. Luckily for me, I like cool water and thus had a refreshing swim with my daughter, as my husband snored in a lounge chair next to the pool (can you say, Sleeping Beauty?).
I should probably mention how I got myself into the swimming pool. Well, I rolled my wheelchair right next to the special handicap entrance and transferred myself from my wheelchair to its top step
(click here for photo). My young daughter (who was watching over my shoulder as I typed this) told me to call this staircase the bump-down since that is exactly what I did in getting myself into the pool I bumped my butt down the steps and right into the pool. I hope that wasnt too graphic for you folks (if it was, Im sure a few of you just lost your appetite).
I took several photos of someone demonstrating how to enter the swimming pool by using the bump-down entrance:
Photo 1 (click here)
Photo 2 (click here)
Photo 3 (click here)
I hope those photos were helpful.
I was awfully glad that I got to experience the pools bump-down entrance with no one else around. I was afraid that I would have been too embarrassed to have attempted it for the first time had lots of other folks been around. Since midnight swims are not enjoyed by the masses (thank goodness!), I got to work on my graceful pool entrance in peace and quiet without worrying about anyone staring or laughing at me (I can be such a klutz sometimes).
That evening I had also wanted to try the Grand Floridians water wheelchair, but since it is located at the newer pool, and since that pool is closed at night, that had to wait for another day. And so, at the end of my first day at the Grand Floridian Resort, I gracefully bumped myself back out of the swimming pool and into my wheelchair. My daughter and I then woke up Sleeping Beauty (also known as my snoring husband), and we headed back to our room to greet Snow Whites friend Sleepy (a.k.a., the Sandman). It's amazing how relaxing we find a midnight dip in the pool.
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I am so pleased to report that the "bump-down" entrance worked just like you folks had described it to me (I had no doubt that it wouldn't
).