Saturday’s Fostering Blog
Today we met some friends at Legoland for the day. We left before 8 o’clock so that we could arrive before the park opened. It took nearly 2 hours to get there and when we arrived we were a little dismayed to see the huge crowds of people entering the park. The girls have all been looking forward to the day for ages. The original plan was for me to take the girls, but Charlie had an unexpected day off, so he joined us for the day. Charlie is not a huge fan of theme parks so he has to muster up some positive energy before we leave the car. At Legoland they have a system for children with additional needs both physical and the kind of needs like ASD and ADHD where children would struggle to queue for a long time for the rides it is called a Ride Access Pass (RAP) As we have been to Legoland before we know the drill once you get to the park, you start by queueing to get the RAP which then allows you to skip the queue on most rides.
This year I had the heads up and was able to try out the new system of applying for the RAP online before even attending the park. Once the paperwork had been approved by Legoland all you need to do is download the App in your phone and get the Access Code from Guest Services. That all sounds great – however, one thing was, they had not thought through the fact that the queue to get the RAP at Guest Services contains people who had already filled in the paperwork as well as those who have not. So the queue which was to enable children not to queue took 45 minutes to get through – oh the irony!
Most of the day went well. The things that could did not go so well I could have predicted beforehand – like meal time, drinking enough fluids throughout the day and the drama of not being tall enough for particular rides. I just wanted to say – if you ate your food – you would grow and then you would be tall enough for the rides. At 8 years old Alice is not even the size on an average 4 year old – so its no wonder she isn’t tall enough for most of the rides. I managed to hold my tongue – the last thing we needed was a meltdown.
Most of the day went well despite a few blips and on the whole all three girls enjoyed the day. Lauren and Annie have probably outgrown this particular theme park so we will need to reconsider for next time. However, one thing they have not grown out of is the Star Wars Exhibition on the way out and the obligatory purchase of a Star Wars Lego key ring at the shop. We were all exhausted and very much looking forward to a meal on the way home with friends who live locally. We will certainly all sleep well tonight.
A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog
