Magic Kingdom
Tuesday, October 15- Tomorrow is for the journey home to Virginia but today was for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. TJ, Daryl and Rafael spent the day enjoying SplashMountain, The Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion and the Country Bear Jamboree. In addition, the group enjoyed the afternoon parade and got the chance to see all of the Disney characters in their glory.
There has been much written about Disney's focus on the customer experience and their efficiency in making the park operate like clockwork. Today we experienced how they respectfully handle the many special needs visitors that come to the park each day. In our case, Daryl's wheelchair use was in no way an impediment to seeing shows, riding rides or enjoying the full Disney experience. We were ushered as a group to seating so we could stay with Daryl throughout the ride/show and each park employee treated us with respect. I am a fan of the Disney way of doing business and the respect I have for their operation has only grown with our experience today.
As we rode the monorail from the ticket area to the parking lots at the end of the day, I asked the men if they had a choice of doing the trip over, would they prefer spending two days at Magic Kingdom or splitting their time as we did during this trip with Universal Studios. It appeared unanimous that concentrating time at Magic Kingdom would be their choice.
It has been an eventful, rewarding, strenuous and magic few days. The men of Team Zuni have had many new and exciting experiences: first airplane flights for many (and most likely the last for a while for a few), leaving Virginia for the first time, visiting Florida for the first time, competing in a world sanctioned AAU powerlifiting event, winning 5 medals in the event, exceeding many personal bests in the amount weight lifted, seeing Universal Studios, seeing Disney World and for a few: seeing 95 North for 13 hours tomorrow.
We all have much to be proud of and thankful for. Perhaps I am the most thankful because of the new friendships I have forged with these men and their coaches. I look forward to following their athletic careers in the future. There is so much incredible potential in these athletes; not only for winning but for their own personal growth.
For pictures of yesterday's activities and today's visit to Disney, please click on the following link:
http://s231.photobucket.com/albums/ee117/TeamZuni/?mediafilter=all
There has been much written about Disney's focus on the customer experience and their efficiency in making the park operate like clockwork. Today we experienced how they respectfully handle the many special needs visitors that come to the park each day. In our case, Daryl's wheelchair use was in no way an impediment to seeing shows, riding rides or enjoying the full Disney experience. We were ushered as a group to seating so we could stay with Daryl throughout the ride/show and each park employee treated us with respect. I am a fan of the Disney way of doing business and the respect I have for their operation has only grown with our experience today.
As we rode the monorail from the ticket area to the parking lots at the end of the day, I asked the men if they had a choice of doing the trip over, would they prefer spending two days at Magic Kingdom or splitting their time as we did during this trip with Universal Studios. It appeared unanimous that concentrating time at Magic Kingdom would be their choice.
It has been an eventful, rewarding, strenuous and magic few days. The men of Team Zuni have had many new and exciting experiences: first airplane flights for many (and most likely the last for a while for a few), leaving Virginia for the first time, visiting Florida for the first time, competing in a world sanctioned AAU powerlifiting event, winning 5 medals in the event, exceeding many personal bests in the amount weight lifted, seeing Universal Studios, seeing Disney World and for a few: seeing 95 North for 13 hours tomorrow.
We all have much to be proud of and thankful for. Perhaps I am the most thankful because of the new friendships I have forged with these men and their coaches. I look forward to following their athletic careers in the future. There is so much incredible potential in these athletes; not only for winning but for their own personal growth.
For pictures of yesterday's activities and today's visit to Disney, please click on the following link:
http://s231.photobucket.com/albums/ee117/TeamZuni/?mediafilter=all
