September 16, 2022 • 47 mins
There aren't many perks when it comes to type 1 diabetes but being able to get a pass at theme parks to greatly minimize the amount of time you spend waiting in lines is one of them! Today's episode is all about the Disney DAS pass and the Universal Studios attraction assistance pass: how to get them, how they work and things to keep in mind. My guest today is Simmons Hanson, my cousin-in-law and the wife of a T1D who was diagnosed in his mid-thirties. As always, remember to check out the links below for episodes, products and resources mentioned throughout, Enjoy!
Learn More about Disney's DAS Pass
Learn More about Universal's Attraction Assistance Pass
Frio Packs to keep you insulin cool at theme parks or any day spent outside in the heat!
Previous episode #35 on the Disney DAS Pass
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Hey everybody.
This is episode 85 of the sugarmamas podcast.
And today we are talking aboutthe Disney DS pass and the
universal studio's attractionassistance pass.
I know I've done an episodebefore on the Disney pass.
That was episode 35.
If you wanna take a listen.
But a lot has changed with thatpass since that episode was
(00:22):
published.
So I thought it was time for anupdate and it just so happens
that I have a family member whois connected to the world of
type one who just took herfamily a five to Disney over
spring break this past year.
Her name is Simmons.
So today I get to chat withSimmons all about the Disney DS
pass and their experience ontheir trip.
After Simmons and I chat, I'mgoing to come on just by myself
(00:46):
and tell you guys about ourexperience with getting the
universal attraction assistancepass and just what it was like
to use, that there aredefinitely similar, but there
are also some major differences.
As always be sure to check outthe show notes when you're done
listening, I will put a link toboth the Disney and universal
page on where you can learn moreabout these passes and read all
(01:08):
the fine print.
And I will also put a link toany other episodes or products
that are mentioned throughoutthe show.
All right, you guys let's getstarted.
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
(01:29):
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
(01:51):
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Okay.
My friends, before we start theshow, we have an exciting
announcement from Stacy Sims
host
of the diabetes connections podcast, Stacy has
(02:14):
put together something veryspecial for type one moms in her
community, which is in andaround Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Let's take a quick listen, andthen get back to the show.
Stacey Simms (02:24):
What's one thing you need as a mom of a child
with type one, it's time toyourself.
I know, go ahead and laugh, butthere really is a way to treat
yourself to some time away withother moms who get it.
I'm Stacy Sims and my son wasdiagnosed with type one almost
16 years ago, just before heturned two.
Since then I have attendeddozens of diabetes, conferences
(02:46):
and meetups, and now I've takenthe best stuff from those.
And created something brand new.
I'm calling it mom's night outand we're gonna have lots of
diabetes technology for you tosee and learn about stress
relieving, social time, whereyou can meet other moms, just
like us and speakers who willleave us feeling energized and
ready to face the challenges ofparenting a child with T one D.
(03:09):
Katie's gonna hook you up withall the info, but head on over
to diabetes.
Dash connections.com to getstarted.
Mom's night out is happening inJanuary in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
I hope to see you there.
I can't wait.
Katie (03:21):
Thanks so much, Stacy, if you're interested in signing up
for that event, or you want tofind out more information.
Check out the link that I willleave in the show notes.
All right, you guys let's getback to the show.
Hey everybody.
I am here with Simmons Hansontoday and Simmons and I are
actually family members.
We are, are we cousins?
In-law is that what we are?
Simmons (03:40):
I think, so that sounds about right.
Good.
Katie (03:43):
Yeah, let's go with that.
Simmons is my husband's cousin.
And we go on vacation with himevery other year for a week in
the summertime, we go to a placecalled trip island, or at least
we have in the past this is anoff year for us.
We went to trip last summer.
And so we are not doing thatthis year, which makes me sad.
But
Simmons (04:02):
a great week of vacation with y'all's.
Katie (04:04):
Oh, my gosh.
It's, it's so much fun.
It's so much fun.
So I'm really excited to betalking with Simmons today.
I won't spoil at Simmons.
I'll let you introduce yourselfand tell us your connection to
type one diabetes.
Simmons (04:15):
Sure.
My name is Simmons Hansen, and Ilive in Washington, DC with my
husband and my three kids.
And my husband grew up with adad and brother.
That have type one diabetes.
And so ever since I've known andwe met in college, so we've been
around it for a long time.
And then about five years ago,Matt, we got the flu over
(04:36):
Christmas and then a coupleweeks later Matt had lost about
15 pounds and was super thirstyall the time and was going to
the bathroom all the time.
And so we, he knew the signs andhad.
Suspicion of what was happening.
And so we called my dad who wasan endocrinologist and talked to
(04:56):
him and he said, oh, we'll justgo to CVS and get a finger
pricker and find out what yourblood sugar is.
And so we did that one afternoonand at the same time we picked
up a pregnancy test and realizedthat we were pregnant and
diabetic on the same day.
Katie (05:10):
I did not know that
Simmons (05:11):
Which was a very exciting day.
And then we went to dinner withsome friends and I'm sure that
we just were deer in theheadlights and wonderful dinner
company that night So that wasour story.
That was how we found out.
And
Katie (05:26):
was that like his last meal?
Like when y'all added to dinner,like, did he not obviously care
or was he already eating likegirl
Simmons (05:31):
I mean, he pricked his finger and he, his, I think he
was like over three 50 orsomething like that.
And it was a Saturday.
So there was we, my dad waslike, Don't go to the hospital.
They're just gonna give youinsulin and keep you there.
Just, you've been fine so far.
Just wait until Monday and don'teat any carbs.
So Matt had, I think a piece ofsteak and then all Sunday ate
(05:53):
avocados and eggs and and thenwent to the doctor first thing
Monday morning and got someinsulin.
And that was, he made itthrough, you know, that week.
My dad was just gave us advice.
For better, for worse, not to goto the hospital and just to a
lot of water and if he grew upthen go, but otherwise just, he
would be fine until Monday.
(06:13):
So he since then has done agreat job managing his diabetes
and is really independent.
Obviously doesn't need me tomonitor his EXCOM.
But it's been quite the journeylearning about it.
From a care taking perspective,as opposed to just a family
member watching it from theoutside.
But
Katie (06:32):
do you do, I mean, obviously I know Matt goes to
the doctor or I'm assuming hedoes, but like how much do you
guys consult your dad a lot?
I mean, I know he is retired nowas an endocrinologist, but do
you consult him a lot or do youjust kind of leave that up to
Matt and his doctor?
Simmons (06:46):
In the beginning, when we were just trying to get our
feet underneath us, he gave ussome advice.
But Matt had already he was abig CrossFit fan.
So he was very familiar with alow carb lifestyle.
And that is.
He was already eating that way.
And so has continued to eat thatway.
And that has been, I guess,probably one of his biggest
(07:07):
influences more than my dad.
But in the beginning, he, my dadhelped us sort through,
Katie (07:14):
Mm-hmm
Simmons (07:15):
know, factors that affect insulin and on the O on
the occasion, Matt had to takeof, I guess, about a year later,
He had to, he had a mommy'swrist injury.
And so he had to take somesteroids for that.
And that does crazy things toyour blood sugar.
So just occasional spot checkingthings that were like, wait a
minute, how does this do?
(07:35):
And Matt's very capable to dohis own research and is very
tuned in with think like apancreas and some other
resources that he really uses alot.
Katie (07:47):
You guys are actually the people that recommended the
book, think like a pancreas tome.
And it's funny that youmentioned steroids cuz later
this afternoon, I'm recording anepisode for that book series
with, with think like a pancreasthat I'm doing over the summer.
And it's the chapter on all theother factors that can affect
your blood sugar and steroids isdefinitely in there.
So.
Simmons (08:07):
Yeah,
Katie (08:08):
Good timing timely for sure.
Is, I'm just cur I don't thinkMatt would care, but maybe he
would, I don't know.
Let me know later, but is hestill on injections or did he
ever get on a pump?
Simmons (08:17):
No, he's still doing injections.
I think he has gone back andforth about pump or no pump for
a long time and almost had apump appointment earlier this
year.
And just decided that.
It's one more, he's going on abig bike trip next week, where
he's gonna be, he and a buddyare gonna be biking 200 miles in
about four days.
(08:39):
So he figured that now was not agreat time to figure out the
pump situation before this longaerobic exercise is happening.
So.
G six has been, and he's had theGFA before that that has been
his biggest tool, but he isstill doing injections.
And feels like he understandsthat system before going on this
(09:01):
big trip,
Katie (09:01):
mm-hmm can I ask you what it's like to be the wife of
somebody with type one diabetes,because, and, and you did not
marry into this cuz he did nothave type one.
When, when y'all got married.
Simmons (09:12):
eat giant piece of cake before were
Katie (09:15):
Right.
And I just, I know there's, Iknow there's moms listening who
have sons with type one, and I'msure they would love to hear
just a little bit from you aboutwhat it's like to, to be married
to a, a guy with type one
Simmons (09:27):
I think that the biggest understanding that we
both had since I was pregnantfor the third time and he was
diabetic for the first time, atthe same time we.
Just have this understanding ofbodies change over the course of
our relationship and that hisbody is, was changing, had
changed at that time.
And my body was changing withpregnancy.
(09:49):
And so I think it was easy to beforgiving and compassionate and
graceful about all these bodychanges because that's what it
was.
His body was just functioningdifferently.
And I think, you know, every nowand then I give him a hug and
bump the CGM or something likethat.
And that always feels like did Ibump it too hard or something?
(10:10):
But that's, that's really theonly thing
Katie (10:13):
Mm-hmm
Simmons (10:14):
bodies change.
And that's, that's where we sortof leave our understanding of
how this changed our marriage orchanged our relationship.
Katie (10:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
What what about alarms at night?
Do you get woken up a lot?
Simmons (10:25):
He's pretty good at managing.
So we don't have a lot ofalarms.
I mean, we didn't, he wasdiagnosed when he was 35, so
he's not dealing with hormonechanges or like growth spurts or
anything like that.
So we don't have that set offactors to negotiate, When the
alarms go off, I wake up and hedeals with them.
(10:46):
Sometimes I hear them before hedoes.
And then I just throw an elbowand wake him up and he goes in
the bathroom and closes the doorand deals with it.
So those are not great nightsleeps, but those are pretty few
and far between, or if he's likewhen he started biking, that has
effects on the rest of the day.
So as soon as he figures outthose adjustments, then
(11:07):
everything goes back to a fullnight's.
Katie (11:09):
that's good.
I always um, my mantra that Irepeat to myself after like a
really bad night of diabetesalarms, which we, we don't have
many of those either now, whichI'm very grateful for, but we
certainly do have some still,but I'm always like, you know,
what, if I could, if I couldsurvive three newborn children,
I can survive a bad night.
Here and there of sleep.
So that is always my, now, if itwas every night, I'm sure I
(11:32):
would be in some sort of aninstitution right now, but
luckily it's not you know, it'slike once every couple weeks we
have a real bad night and I'mlike, I can, I, I'm gonna be
okay.
I'm not enjoying this, but I'mgonna be, I'm gonna survive.
Simmons (11:42):
I think the newborn phases really give you
perspective on what a goodnight's sleep can look like and
that and also melatonin helpssometimes.
Katie (11:50):
Right, right, right.
For sure.
For sure.
Well Simmons, I know I did nothave you on today to talk about
Matt and his diagnosis, but it'sdefinitely interesting and I'm
sure listeners enjoyed hearing alittle bit about it, but Simmons
and her family just went on abig trip over spring break to
Disney world in Orlando.
So I, and she texted me beforethey went.
Me about the Disney DS pass,which DS stands for disability
(12:15):
access service.
And I have, honestly, I've donean episode on this before it was
episode 35, but literally like acouple days after I published
that episode, like, Disneychanged every, almost everything
about how, how the past works.
So I told her, well, I didn'ttell her, actually.
I, I told her what I knew.
And then after they went, I was,I sneakily asked her if she
(12:37):
would like to come on and chatabout it.
Cuz a lot of people ask aboutthese, you know, there's not a
whole lot of perks with typeone.
So when there is a perk, people,people really wanna know about
it.
So tell us, would you justexplain a little bit, what was
the process like to get the DASpassed for Disney?
Simmons (12:52):
So you go on their website and if you go to the DAS
section on their website,there's a link that you click on
to, you have to be logged in toyour Disney account.
And then you click on the linkand you wait for an online
meeting with.
A Disney person who will grantyou the pass and put you in the
(13:13):
system as a DAS pass recipient,I guess.
And the person with thedisability has to be present for
that meeting.
So I was babysitting thecomputer and then I had to go
run errands.
And so Matt babysat the computerand he was the one who.
answered the call, I guess.
(13:34):
we were next in line when he wasthere.
So he spoke with them.
It did keep logging us out.
And so we kept logging back in.
That was a tricky bit, like wekept getting logged out and
didn't know if we were losingour place in the line, but every
time we logged back in, I guesswe, you know, babysat the
computer for about an hour or sototal while we waited for
(13:55):
someone.
And I don't know if that'stypical, we were going right
before spring break right beforeEaster.
So I'm sure they were very busy.
You can only sign up for.
Within 30 days of your trip.
And online that window closestwo days before you arrive.
So 30 days through two daysbefore you arrive is when you
(14:17):
can do the online thing.
The only question they askedMatt was what what disability
prevents you from standing inline?
And Matt said, Access to food.
If I have a low for my bloodsugar.
And they said, okay.
He, I think he said, I'm a typeone diabetic.
And they said, okay.
And they marked his account, hismagic band as a da pass
(14:38):
recipient or a person with thedash pass.
And that was.
Katie (14:42):
It doesn't sound like they gave you guys a hard time
at all.
Um, that's great.
I, I was really hoping that cuzI was reading online about it
and it says you'll have to havelike a video chat with a cast
member.
And I was really hoping that itwas gonna be like a character.
I was really hoping that NA wasgonna have to talk to like
Donald duck or Mickey mouse orsomething like that.
But it wasn't a, just a regular.
Simmons (15:03):
I think they call cast members like anyone who works
there is a cast member.
So I, I think I'm not sure thatthe person who he spoke with was
dressed up in any costumes.
Katie (15:13):
I hope he would've mentioned that if that
Simmons (15:15):
we were fully expected.
Matt had his kit ready to likeshow his medications and like
pull his sleeve up to show hisCGM and stuff.
And they, he didn't have to doany of that, so
Katie (15:25):
No, he didn't have to present his case.
Matt, Matt's an attorney.
So I'm sure he was very wellprepared.
He was ready to stand up.
Simmons (15:31):
yes.
Katie (15:32):
Okay.
Well, that's good.
So after that, was it justconnected to your magic bands or
the app?
Or did you have to go get aphysical pass once you were
inside the park?
Simmons (15:41):
So right away, you get to pick, once you have, once
you've been granted this status,you get to pick right away, two
rides in each park that you canpreschedule.
Arrival times so right away.
And Matt was not very preparedfor this, cuz we didn't know
this was really happening.
You give your three rides ineach park and there's a list on
(16:04):
their website that you can pickfrom where you get pre-selected
arrival, windows hour, longarrival windows.
So we had arrival windowsplanned out for.
Peter pan in the magic kingdom.
So they told, and they told,cause we knew we wanted to do
that one.
And I maybe the haunted mansion,I think and they gave us arrival
(16:25):
windows for those, which wasgreat.
Cuz then you sort of can sort ofplan your day a little bit, but
the best part about the DAS passis that once you're those
preselected times are two perpark and that.
Done before you arrive, but onceyou get to the park and you
badge in with the magic bandsyou can virtually line up at any
(16:46):
ride in that park.
So we walked into the magickingdom on the first day and we
could scroll through and selectseven dwarf mind train.
And by the time we got to thepark, there was a 70 minute
wait.
We could ride some other ridesthat we rode Aeriel right
nearby.
And then we could get in line,go straight to the lightning
(17:08):
lane instead of waiting in thelong line.
that's a, that was a perk thatwe didn't really realize when we
got the pass, but was key to oursuccess
Katie (17:17):
Did you think you just had the access to the two rides
and that was.
Simmons (17:20):
Well, we didn't really, we knew that we could go through
and select a, sort of a virtualweight line, but we didn't
really understand what thatmeant in practice when we were
there.
And it made a really bigdifference for, we didn't wait
in hardly any lines because.
We could just scroll through thelist, see which one had a short
wait time virtually stand inline.
(17:41):
By the time we got there, wecould just kind of walk right
in.
And then as soon as you badgein, Matt had to Matt use his
magic band first.
And as soon as you magic bandin, you can get out your phone
and scroll through the list andgo stand in line virtually for
another ride.
So really we were riding ridesback to back to back, which was.
Katie (18:02):
man.
That's awesome.
And I'm, I'm assuming the crowdswere probably pretty big because
you were there at a busy timespring break.
Simmons (18:08):
Yes, the lightning, the regular lines were upwards of
like a hundred, 10 minutes, 50minutes, 35 minutes for like a
short was a short one.
And we would just walk right inwith have a 10 minute wait in
the lightning lane because ofthe, because of the gas pass.
Katie (18:25):
Yeah.
I wanted to ask you, I know youguys are a family of five, but
did you go with anybody else?
Like, was your party bigger thanfive or.
Simmons (18:32):
It was just the five of us.
And my four year old is didn'twanna ride all the rides.
And we just stayed together as afamily.
We didn't use the child swapprogram because we knew we just
wanted to all to stay together.
Katie (18:42):
she can ride the mind train she's tall enough.
Simmons (18:45):
She could have, she could ride mind, train, she
could ride everything.
We made a fatal mistake that werode the barnstormer first, or
that was one of maybe our thirdride.
And the kids had never riddenthe roller coaster before.
So we got off the barnstormerand all three kids were firmly
against riding any more rollercoasters.
(19:07):
They were.
That was unacceptable.
That was too much.
We tilted to the side.
That was not okay.
So we did not ride any moreroller coasters in the magic
kingdom, unfortunately.
Katie (19:17):
Oh, I'm sorry.
We have made a similar fatalmistake.
We went to Dollywood.
This was sorry.
I was, I lost track of time inmy brain.
This was right before I was, Icouldn't remember if it was
right before or right afterSarah had been diagnosed, but it
was right before Sarah wasdiagnosed.
We went to Dollywood inTennessee and I don't think any
of our kids had been on anythingbigger than the barn Stormer or
(19:39):
maybe thunder mountain, whichthose are, you know, those are,
can be scary if that's yourfirst rollercoaster and you're a
little kid, but we really wantedto introduce them to upside down
roller coasters loop, do rollerroller coasters.
And the first one that we.
Came upon in the park was one ofthe older ones.
So those are like, you know,those are like a pretty rickety
(19:59):
but it was good because youreally could not see this roller
coaster.
It was like hidden behind treesin a big building.
And we just kind of flat out,lied to the kids.
We didn't lie.
They didn't say are there loopyloops?
And we said, no, there are not.
They said, are there loopyloops?
And we were like, we don't thinkso, but we're not sure
Simmons (20:18):
Unclear.
Katie (20:20):
It's unclear.
And we went on that ride.
Nolan loved it.
Timothy and Sarah were in tearsby the time it was over and we
could not get them on anotherrollercoaster, which is a shame
because a lot of the otherroller coasters are so smooth
and they don't really likeJostle you around and
everything.
So we're still paying for ourmistakes.
We went to islands of adventurea couple weeks ago and.
(20:42):
No one was still loving the bigroller coasters, but we could
not get Sarah and Timothy on, onanything that went upside down.
They're totally game.
If it doesn't go upside down,
Simmons (20:49):
Well, we had some, we rode a couple more rides and by
the time we got to slinky dogdash at Hollywood studios, we.
Made him do it.
We had to bribe Alden, but itwas worth it.
He did it, he was proud ofhimself at the end, but we
definitely bribed to make surethat we would get to ride.
At least one rollercoaster feltlike couldn't without.
Katie (21:09):
Yeah, we're such good parents bribing our kids, lying
to our children.
It's okay.
It's fine.
They're gonna look upon thesetimes fondly.
I'm sure.
What, so I'm assuming once youhad the pass set up for, it was
just good for all the parks.
You didn't have to like go backin and renew it or anything like
that.
Simmons (21:23):
No.
I mean, Disney is all in the appnow, so everything was
connected.
Our hotel, our gas pass our foodordering.
I mean, all of that was in theapp and that made it really easy
to stay organized and and stayfocused.
Katie (21:40):
Yeah.
So I'm, you guys stayedtogether.
So this probably wasn't anissue, but I'm assuming like
when you got to the line and youlike banded in, like, did they
ask you?
Like, are you Matt?
Or, you know, did they ask Matt?
Like, are you Matt?
Did Matt have to be present?
Simmons (21:54):
he had to go first.
So when you go in a lightninglane, they have the magic band
sensors on the side and Matt hadto go first and the attendant
would say, hi, Matt.
And then the rest of us would gowould badge after that.
Katie (22:06):
Okay.
Cuz that uni universal, it's alittle different.
They just give you like a papercard that you're carrying around
and they like initial it andsign it, which I'm sure that
will change.
Cuz that was kind of a pain.
Them I'm sure.
But they would ask every time,like who's Sarah, cuz Sarah's
name was on the, the pass.
And so we, we presented Sarahand which, you know, Nolan was
bummed.
He's like, can we use, Sarah'spass to go on some of these big
(22:29):
roller coasters?
And I'm like, Sarah has to ridethe ride.
So, you know, daddy can takeSarah and Timothy and do some
other stuff while you and I waitin the line or, you know,
somebody else waits in line withyou.
Yeah, Sarah had to be present.
What about Matt's like medicalbag?
Did he did they have a place forhim to put it or was he, did he
just keep it onto on his body?
Like in a Fanny pack orsomething?
Simmons (22:47):
Yeah, he ha he carries it in a Fanny pack in general.
Anyway, so he just carried hisFanny pack and we took a
stroller with us since we've hada four and a half year old.
And so most of the time it wasin there, he, we were.
There on really hot days.
So he thought it was reallybeneficial to have those insulin
chillers.
Katie (23:06):
the free O packs mm-hmm Yeah.
Simmons (23:10):
and so we carried those around and, and the insulin was
totally fine as long as we keptit in the shade.
And in those packs,
Katie (23:16):
All right.
And so I think you alreadyanswered this, but you could
only have one pending returntime at a time, right?
Like you couldn't go get fourdifferent times to come back and
then wait, virtually you had touse one before you got another
one.
Simmons (23:30):
That's right.
the two that you pre-selectedwere just there, but then the
ones that you got while you werein the park, that was just sort
of like a virtual standing inline.
Those you could only have one ata time.
So as soon as you badged in withone on it's a small world, you
could sign up for something elsenearby.
And that's how we sort of wentthrough the magic kingdom.
(23:52):
while we were getting the,getting on the boat and riding
the ride, we were virtuallystanding in line somewhere else.
So that made a really bigdifference.
Katie (24:00):
man.
That's awesome.
So what other ways like that Ihaven't thought of or asked you
about, was it beneficial?
Can you think of any otherthings that it was helpful to
have this past?
Simmons (24:09):
the two pre-selected times made it helped us plan our
day a little bit.
So that was helpful.
But also we also didn't hitthose times in some cases.
So we just went afterwards and.
That was fine too.
I think we ended up going toPeter pan at four 30 instead of
between three and four.
And that was fine.
Katie (24:28):
They still let you in the lightning.
Simmons (24:30):
They still let us in the lightning lane.
We maximized our time because wehad the past, we, I think
counted up 14 rides in the magickingdom.
So we were just really full andbusy and got to see everything
we wanted to see.
We did not end up having to usethe genie pass genie plus pass
or purchase any lightning lanes.
(24:51):
So it also saved us money cuzthose.
Purchasing the lightning lanesand purchasing gen plus was, is,
can get expensive for a familyof five.
And so we saved money on thosecosts because we could just stay
in line virtually even for thereally long ones, the top rides
in each park.
That made a really bigdifference in price.
Katie (25:09):
I, what about like, let's say you get on mind train or
whatever.
Wait, did they ride mind?
Train after they oh, okay.
Okay.
Simmons (25:18):
Then could cancel standing in line there and in
your time.
And we just went somewhere, fellthat moment.
Katie (25:29):
right.
Okay.
So let me, let me change theride then.
So small world, like after youchecked in there with your, your
pass, could you.
Check in again or get anothervirtual wait time for the same
ride or were you only likeallowed one time per ride?
Simmons (25:45):
I don't know, we didn't try that.
We wanted to try lots ofdifferent rides.
So there, we didn't writeanything twice.
Katie (25:50):
Okay.
You are, you're not like myfamily.
We rode Hari's motor bikeadventure at universal four or
five times.
We were like, that was awesome.
Do it again.
So we'd get another
Simmons (25:59):
We almost, we almost did an Epcot and then had a
falling apart moment.
So we didn't make it back aroundthe lake.
Katie (26:05):
okay.
So fun.
I, my favorite I feel like not,not saying that you, this, this
is Matt, but every time will andI go to Disney together.
I just, I just love to watch thefamily fights, like, you know,
like, oh my gosh, the, and justthe meltdowns, like, you know
it, you know, what is, when it'syour kid is, it's not funny at
all, like at all, but when it.
(26:25):
When it's somebody's other'sfamily, you know, it's just, all
you can do is like chuckle and,I feel like a lot of divorces
probably start at Disney worldor theme parks.
Simmons (26:33):
just wanna give the moms like a thumbs up.
Like you're doing great.
Keep going.
You've got it.
This too.
Shall pass.
You'll be.
Katie (26:40):
gonna be okay.
How'd you get, did you have toleave Epcot with a screaming
child or how'd you get out?
Simmons (26:45):
A food, a snack.
Yeah, of course.
somebody was hungry or tired.
And so we had to pause and havea CPE or something in, in
France,
Katie (26:55):
Yeah.
Simmons (26:56):
just around the lake to we were aiming for, so around
the world go around at that andwhich was a great ride, but then
we just didn't we needed a snackor so.
Katie (27:06):
I mean, if food, if food can't fix.
I don't know at can't, you know,you're doomed pretty much.
Okay.
You said you did not use childswap, which I honestly, it's
been a while since I've been toDisney.
I mean, before the pandemichappened, so, I mean, it's been
at least four years, I'd say,and I know we have used the
child swap before.
That's where if you like, have aa little little kid and they're,
(27:28):
they can't ride a ride cuzthey're not big enough.
Or they just don't want to ridea ride like.
You as one parent can go on theride with your other kids that
can ride it or want to ride itwhile you're, you know, other
significant other weights withthe, the other kid.
And then once you get off, theother parent can get back on the
ride with the other kids thatwant to and can ride it and, and
they can do it again.
(27:49):
And they don't have to wait.
Like they don't have to stand inthe regular line.
They.
Just hop right on the ride,basically.
So for anybody listening, who'swondering how that might work
with the DAAs pass.
I mean, assuming it'd probablybe super easy, you would just
tell them once you band in,like, Hey, we have this pass,
but also we need to do childswaps.
I have no doubt that Disneyprobably would not give you a
hard time about that, but.
Simmons (28:09):
No, they were, they were pretty.
Everything's they're trackingeverything obviously with the
magic band.
So I have no doubt that theycould make that happen.
Katie (28:16):
I'm kind of wondering if this is like the future of theme
parks in general.
Not, not just for people thathave a disability, although I
hope they still provideaccommodations in some way for
those people.
Cuz it's, it truly is sohelpful.
Like honestly, before we went touniversal, I, I kind of a little
bit felt like we were likecheating the system.
Like, I don't know, there wassomething about me that just
felt bad and who knows why, butbut really after our day there.
(28:39):
I think it would've been reallychallenging to have to wait in
those hour and a half long ridesin the heat.
It, it would've been a lot.
I mean, we did have to adjustinsulin several times.
We had to treat several lowshighs.
It, it would've been.
Made for a little bit more of amiserable experience.
So, and, and medicallychallenging experience too.
So I was super grateful, but I,I feel like in the future, like
(29:02):
for instance, when we went tovolcano bay, the universal water
park, we didn't even bother tokind of inquire into whether or
not they had.
Accommodations for anybody withdisabilities because they have
what's called the it's.
Well, you, you know, it's calledthe virtual line at volcano bay
and they give every singleperson that has a ticket, a
band, kinda like a magic bandtype thing.
(29:23):
And same thing.
You can get a virtual time tocome back and while you're
waiting, you can go to otherrides.
And that's for everybody thatenters the park.
So I'm kind of wondering, and I,when we were at the other two
parks, you know universalstudios and islands of
adventure.
We saw signs up that said like,you may notice that this ride is
being tested for the virtualline experience.
So I'm kind of wondering ifthat's coming in the future for,
(29:46):
for everybody.
I
Simmons (29:47):
we loved the magic band and the app.
And in general, we hadn't beento a theme park in years.
And the kids had never been, soit was our first experience with
some of that technology and itwas so helpful.
It to help map manage.
Like, I need a snack before I goon this ride or things like
that.
It just made a really bigdifference in our experience
with his planning needs and oursort of standing in line.
(30:10):
Would've been really hard.
And we really enjoyed the wholemagic band experience and app
experience
Katie (30:17):
I know Matt's usually eats pretty low carb, but did
you have the last lady I talkedto at a, did an episode with on
Disney, she was saying that oneof the hard things was that
there's no, like carb counts onanything at any of the
restaurants, you know, thataren't like already prepackaged
and she found that to be reallychallenging.
So I wonder if that has changedat all.
Did you guys find carb counts onanything like in the
restaurants, like
Simmons (30:38):
No, there was, there were no car counts on, on
anything.
We were, we were surprised atthe food.
I mean, they're feeding amassive amount of people, but we
were surprised at some of that.
There were very few low carboptions or low carb alternatives
you know, a bunless, I mean, abunless burger or something like
that.
And that, that was surprisingfor us.
And I think Matt was even highthe whole time, cuz everything
(31:01):
was pretty carby.
Katie (31:03):
Even the burgers were made out of carbs.
I just make'em out of smashed uppotatoes, probably well, did you
guys have a good time?
Just, you mean, you already saidyou did, but like, you know, you
guys are a big family.
Your kids are a little bityounger than mine, and that's a
big trip to get, to takeeverybody to Disney for a whole
week.
So just, what was your overallexperience?
Simmons (31:22):
We had such a fun time the whole, the whole time.
And.
It was not a vacation.
It's a family trip as we haddiscussed that difference
before.
But the kids made so manymemories and still talk about
things that we did there.
And we just had such a nicefamily time, just the five of us
there.
It was a really special week foreverybody.
(31:42):
And we, we loved it.
Katie (31:44):
I miss Disney so much.
I love Disney.
I have.
So I grew up going so often whenI was younger.
So there's a lot of nostalgiathere.
And especially at the magickingdom the other parks, I
don't, I'm not nearly asfamiliar with, but I miss it.
And I've definitely, I, I know Itold you last year that I wanted
to go this year and then wefinished all the Harry Potter
books and I was like, well,we'll go to universal instead.
Simmons (32:04):
we'll be back down that way.
Once we finish the Harry Potterbooks.
Katie (32:07):
Are y'all reading him right now or listening to him?
Simmons (32:10):
Alden's read one and a half.
And so we've got a few more togo and, but the S chaplain,
Libby haven't delved in intothem yet, they're still a bit
young for some of the scarystuff.
Katie (32:20):
Yeah.
It gets real dark real quick,honestly.
it gets real dark real quick.
I had only read the first.
Two and a half books when westarted listening to all the
audio books.
And actually you were the onethat gave me the idea to listen
to the audio books.
Cause you said you guys listenedto him in the car growing up.
And it was so great with the guythat does all the different
voices.
And so now we've finished allthe books and Timothy's teacher
(32:41):
is reading the first book to hisclass and it's just so funny cuz
he is like, mom, it's awful.
She doesn't do any of thevoices.
like Timothy.
She is.
This guy was like a paidprofessional actor.
Like
Simmons (32:54):
Yes.
Yeah, that was our con that wasbefore podcast.
We didn't have podcasts.
We just had audio books, youknow, back in the day.
And so that's what we listenedto.
Every, every long car trip, wewould rack up some books.
Katie (33:06):
we're listen.
Now we're listening to theseries of unfortunate events
series.
It's a good it's it's been fun.
And my, I can, we can do itwell.
Not that not that it's torture,but like my kids love a series
that also has a movie or a TVshow connected to it.
And, you know, Netflix has theseries of unfortunate events, TV
show out.
So we read a book or listen to abook and then we watch the show.
(33:28):
It's a good time.
Well, anything else?
Anything else we didn't chatabout Disney that you think
would be important for theparent of a type one diabetic or
just the spouse or caregiver ofa type one diabetic.
That's going to Disney.
Anything else?
Simmons (33:41):
I think bringing your own snacks there and being aware
of the.
Menus at the restaurants wouldbe really helpful.
And especially if you'retreating lows, the, the, we
still have to wait for a lot offood.
So if you are expecting to getsome dull whip to fix a low real
quick, that might not be yourbest option, but having the fact
(34:02):
that there's no carb counts onanything did make it hard.
And Bring that snacks.
Katie (34:07):
Oh, we had lots of snacks.
Lots of snacks for sure.
Okay.
Well, thank you so much Simmons.
Oh, I, I did wanna know, andthis has nothing to do with type
one, but your G did your girlswear princess dresses in the
park?
Cuz I can see them totallywearing princess dresses.
Simmons (34:19):
I truly underestimated the amount of small children
that would be dressed up andhonestly, adults that would be
dressed up.
And so we were sorely unpreparedfor that level.
And we just wore regular clothesthat were not Disney themed or
Disney relevant.
I just didn't even think aboutthat going into it.
(34:40):
And I was more consu concernedwith our footwear and ordered.
Teen pairs of shoes for Libbybecause she, but none of them
were correct.
And so Libby ended up wearingleather high tops.
When it was 90 degrees outside,we, they did not wear their
princess dresses to the.
Katie (34:58):
Okay.
I mean, I'm a littledisappointed in that, cause I
could totally see Sally chapelrock and a Disney princess dress
in the park.
Or something, maybe she would bedressed up as like Ray from star
wars.
I'm not sure, but you know, Ijust, I could see her going all
in, but I'm glad y'all had agood time.
you know, maybe next time you'relike in this y'all flew,
obviously, did you.
Yeah.
Okay.
(35:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was gonna say next time youdrive by us on your way to
Disney.
Stop in and say hi, but, butyeah, no, not if you're flying.
Never mind.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, thanks again.
Tell the family I said hi, andhopefully I will chat with you
soon.
Simmons (35:32):
All right, Bye.
Katie (35:34):
Okay, well, that is it for my conversation with Simmons
Simmons.
Thank you again so much forcoming on.
I always love your insight onreally just life in general, but
in this particular situation onthe Disney DAS pass.
Now I wanna tell you guys alittle bit about our experience
with getting the universal pass.
This is called an attractionassistance pass again.
(35:56):
I'll put a link in the shownotes to Universal's page on
this pass.
But I had been given a heads upbefore I even called to try to
get this pass that this was achallenging one, that they were
gonna give me a hard time, thatthey always give parents of type
one diabetics, a hard time aboutgetting this pass.
And here's what you needed tosay.
So I called guest services.
(36:17):
I knew that I was gonna have tobe firm and make my case to get
this pass.
I told them about Sarah'smedical condition and why she
would have trouble standing inlines for long periods of time.
And I was met with some prettyrude customer service.
Uh, the person on the other linebasically told me that type one
diabetes didn't count as adisability and was not a good
(36:39):
enough reason to issue me apass.
So of course I argued.
Back and forth with this personfor a little bit, but it just
became clear that they were notgonna give me a pass.
So I decided to hang up andwrite an email because
personally, I feel like it'salways better to have things in
writing.
If at first you don't succeed,send an email.
That's my motto.
So I wanted to read you theemail that I sent them.
(37:01):
it was very polite, but alsovery firm.
I just laid out what happened.
And again, why we would needthis pass.
I've also been told that makingsure you mention that you might
have to get out of line at somepoint in time to treat a high
blood sugar or a low bloodsugar, or use the restroom
because of type one diabetes.
(37:23):
Make sure you mention that atsome point in time, you might
have to get out of line tomanage.
The condition.
Okay.
Here's the email I said, hello.
My name is Katie Roseboro and myfamily will be at universal
Orlando this Friday, Saturdayand Sunday with plans to do the
two parks Friday and Saturday.
And the volcano bay water parkon Sunday, we are Florida
(37:43):
residents and are staying in oneof your resorts and are super
excited as we haven't been to anOrlando theme park since before
the pandemic.
Unfortunately I called guestservices this morning to request
an attraction assistance passfrom my family of five and was
greeted with some rather rudecustomer service.
My 10 year old daughter has typeone diabetes, which is
classified as a disability andheavily protected under the
(38:05):
Americans with disabilities actas well as section 5 0 4 of the
rehabilitation act, themedication she takes to manage
this disease.
And quite frankly, stay alive.
In parenthesis I put insulin cancause her blood sugar to drop
rapidly, especially in the heatand with increased activity.
Just last night, when she waslaying down in bed in an air
conditioned home, she droppedfrom 110 to 40.
(38:28):
In a matter of 10 minutes, itcan happen quick and actions
must be taken immediately toprevent passing out a seizure or
possibly even worse.
Thus while we will be doingeverything possible to ensure
that this does not happen.
We are concerned that she willhave to wait in long lines in
the heat while at the park.
Also she will have to carry hermedical bag with her at all
times containing her suppliesand her phone, which allows us
(38:51):
to monitor her blood sugar atall times.
Thus, we will need access to amedical locker at the start of
the ride.
I tried explaining this to theman on the phone, but he
basically said that that doesnot count and they can just
provide her with a wheelchair ifshe has trouble waiting in long.
As the mother of a child with achronic medical condition that
requires 24 7 attention.
And who just wants a moment ofnormalcy in life that is not
(39:13):
acceptable.
I am writing you again.
To ask for the attractionassistance pass for my family of
five.
For the two days, we will be atislands of adventure and
universal studios.
How can I go about securingthis?
I understand that I can use thevirtual line at volcano bay.
So that is a nice feature.
Thank you.
Kind regards, Katie.
Roseboro.
(39:33):
Guys guess what you wouldn'tbelieve it, but they emailed me
back pretty quickly and said, ohmy goodness, miss Roseboro.
We are so very sorry that youhad that experience.
We would love to issue you apass.
Here is the reference number foryour pass.
Take this number to guestservices.
When you enter the park on yourfirst day and they will get you
set up with a pass.
Again, we are so sorry.
(39:53):
That's not exactly what theysaid, but you get the point.
Again, guys, put that junk inwriting, then nobody can say
that you never said that becauseyou did and you have the email
to prove.
Okay.
So once we got over that hurdleand we actually got issued the
attractions assistance pass, itwas really a lovely experience.
Um, we did obviously have tocarry Sarah's medical bag with
us at all times.
(40:14):
And when we would get to thevery front of the line, like
right before we would get on aride.
They had a section off to theside with lockers that you could
enter a code and store yourstuff safely in there while you
were on the ride.
And I mean, let's be honest.
Most of these rides are like,not longer than a minute, maybe
two at the very most.
So I wasn't overly worried thatwe were gonna actually need the
(40:34):
supplies while we were on theride.
If Sarah was like dipping alittle bit low before we got on
the ride, I would just have hereat, you know, a few pieces of
candy.
I will say that several peoplethroughout the park, when we
would go to get in line said,ma'am, you can't take that bag
with you.
You have to put it in a locker.
And I, all I had to say was thisis a medical supply bag.
And they were like, oh, well, inthat case come with me.
(40:54):
And they would take us to thelockers.
This has nothing to do with theattractions assistance pass, but
you guys make sure you arestaying hydrated at these theme
parks, especially if you are inthe center of Florida, it is so
hot.
Even in December, you can besweating bullets, make sure
you're type one diabetic and youstay hydrated that will help
keep blood sugars a little bitmore steady than they may be.
(41:15):
Otherwise.
Really just the whole body worksbetter when you're hydrated.
So keep that in.
So, this is how the pass worksat universal.
It's a paper card that may havechanged since we went there in
may, cuz it's now September, butit's like a thick piece of card
stock that you carry around withyou.
It has Sarah's name on it andthe dates that you're gonna be
at the park and the referencenumber.
So if you come up to a ride Andthe line is 30 minutes or less,
(41:38):
then they immediately let youinto the express lane.
So you still have a little bitof a weight, but it's definitely
nowhere near what you would haveto wait if you were just in the
regular line.
However, if you get to a rideand the line is more than 30
minutes, you will get a time toreturn on the card that they
gave you.
So they will initial it.
And they'll write the time thatyou can come back to get on the
(41:59):
ride or get right into theexpress lane.
no return time that we weregiven was more than an hour
long.
So an hour from the time thatyou presented them with the
card, that was the longest, youwould have to wait to come back
to the ride and ride it.
So in the meantime, while you'rewaiting, you could just hop on
other rides with lines thatweren't as long.
Sarah did have to be presentwhen we would present this pass.
(42:19):
And she obviously would have tobe riding the ride that we were
getting the pass for, somethingimportant to note with the
universal pass is that you canonly have one return time
working at a time.
So.
For those of you that have beento universal, um, you know, that
Haggard's motorbike ride issuper popular.
So if we went the line is alwayslike an hour and a half long or
more.
(42:40):
So if you went up to that lineand got a return time, You
couldn't then go to another rideand get another return time for
a different ride.
So you would just have to findrides that had shorter lines, or
maybe take a break and eat somelunch or get some water, go to
the bathroom, whatever you wannado, look in some gift shops.
Um, but you could not have morethan one return time active at a
(43:01):
time.
But once you went on the ride,once you came back to Hagar's
motorbike and rode the rollercoaster, then you could get
another return time for adifferent ride, or you could get
a return time for the same ride.
There wasn't a limit to thenumber of times you could get a
return time for a particularattraction.
You could ride Haggard'smotorbike all day long.
If you wanted to, you would justhave to keep getting return
(43:21):
times.
You can use it for both parks,not the water park, but you can
use it for both universalstudios and islands of
adventure.
The water park has somethingtotally different.
So if you wanna look into theaccommodations for that talk to
guest services, when you callthem or put it in an email, but
the water park is a littledifferent, cuz they already have
like a virtual.
Wait time system in place whereyou get a band and you like scan
(43:44):
in to the water slide and youget a return time to come back.
So I didn't really push foranything, any accommodations at
the water park.
Cause I felt like that systemwas already good enough to meet
our needs.
I will say that at the bottom ofthe pass, it says there's a
limit of six in a party on thepass.
We only had five in our party,so I didn't really have to fight
that, but I'm pretty sure thatthe Disney one also says that
(44:07):
there's a limit of six or so onthe pass, but I know at least
with Disney, that if you talk tothem, and you have a party
that's bigger than six people.
They will make an exception.
So just keep that in mind.
I don't know if universal isgonna be that kind, but maybe we
definitely turned down Sarah'sinsulin for the day.
Um, we just knew that with theheat and all the walking, she
(44:27):
was not gonna need nearly asmuch basal insulin running.
And also not nearly as muchBowlus insulin for meals and
snacks, then she would normallyif she were at school or just
hanging out at home.
So we definitely decreased herinsulin needs for the day.
I honestly don't remember by howmuch, but it was a decrease for
sure.
And the only thing I reallywanna say, other than that,
(44:49):
about our day at the theme parkwas, just keep an eye out for
rebound highs.
After you have had the insulinturn down all day long because
for us, and I know everybody'sdifferent, but for us, if we are
in a situation where we have toturn insulin down, for whatever
reason, if we're at a theme parkall day or we're hiking, or
maybe Sarah's been swimming, ifwe have to turn insulin down, as
(45:10):
soon as the activity is over orfor in this instance, as soon as
the day at the theme park wasover, if we don't turn Sarah's
insulin back up to where it isnormally.
and usually bolus for some ofthe basal insulin that she
missed, then she willimmediately start to climb.
So keep an eye out for that.
I don't know that one's like, somind boggling to me that she's
been walking all day long.
(45:31):
It's like her body just finallyhas a chance to rest and process
all the carbs that she's beeneating all day and up.
She goes so.
We've seen that happen inseveral situations.
And we always have to, uh, turnthe insulin back up right away
and give her a bolus usually forsome of the basal insulin that
she's missed.
But again, everybody'sdifferent.
That might not be the patternthat you see, but that was
(45:52):
definitely the pattern that wesaw.
All right.
You guys, that is it for ourepisode today.
Again, there are not many perkswhen it comes to type one
diabetes, but being able to geta pass at theme parks that will
allow you to greatly minimizethe time you spend waiting in
line is a huge perk in myopinion.
(46:13):
So take advantage of it, pullout that diabetes card and use
it with pride.
No shame in that game.
Make sure you check out thoseshow notes.
Remember, I will leave links tothe Disney page and the
universal page.
I will also leave a link tothose Frio insulin packs that
Simmons mentioned, uh, that Mattlikes to use to keep his insulin
cool for a theme park day ormaybe a beach day.
(46:34):
And I will leave a link to theother episode I did on the
Disney D a S pass.
We talked about more than justthe Disney D as pass in that
one.
So it definitely would be wortha listen, even though a lot has
changed about the Disney passsince then.
All right.
You guys, I hope you have anabsolutely fabulous week.
I hope diabetes is well behavedfor you.
We've had a pretty good weekhere.
(46:55):
diabetes has been nice to usthis week, so that's always a
good feeling.
We have our next endocrinologycheckup, not next week, but the
week after that.
So I'm hoping for good things.
Since we've now been on theOmnipod five system for about
two months, I promise I'm gonnado an update on how that has
been going for us soon, a wholeepisode on it.
I promise.
All right.
But until then stay calm andBoless on.
(47:18):
Bye.
Hey everybody.
This is episode 85 of the sugarmamas podcast.
And today we are talking aboutthe Disney DS pass and the
universal studio's attractionassistance pass.
I know I've done an episodebefore on the Disney pass.
That was episode 35.
If you wanna take a listen.
But a lot has changed with thatpass since that episode was
(00:22):
published.
So I thought it was time for anupdate and it just so happens
that I have a family member whois connected to the world of
type one who just took herfamily a five to Disney over
spring break this past year.
Her name is Simmons.
So today I get to chat withSimmons all about the Disney DS
pass and their experience ontheir trip.
After Simmons and I chat, I'mgoing to come on just by myself
(00:46):
and tell you guys about ourexperience with getting the
universal attraction assistancepass and just what it was like
to use, that there aredefinitely similar, but there
are also some major differences.
As always be sure to check outthe show notes when you're done
listening, I will put a link toboth the Disney and universal
page on where you can learn moreabout these passes and read all
(01:08):
the fine print.
And I will also put a link toany other episodes or products
that are mentioned throughoutthe show.
All right, you guys let's getstarted.
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
(01:29):
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
(01:51):
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Okay.
My friends, before we start theshow, we have an exciting
announcement from Stacy Sims
host
of the diabetes connections podcast, Stacy has
(02:14):
put together something veryspecial for type one moms in her
community, which is in andaround Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Let's take a quick listen, andthen get back to the show.
Stacey Simms (02:24):
What's one thing you need as a mom of a child
with type one, it's time toyourself.
I know, go ahead and laugh, butthere really is a way to treat
yourself to some time away withother moms who get it.
I'm Stacy Sims and my son wasdiagnosed with type one almost
16 years ago, just before heturned two.
Since then I have attendeddozens of diabetes, conferences
(02:46):
and meetups, and now I've takenthe best stuff from those.
And created something brand new.
I'm calling it mom's night outand we're gonna have lots of
diabetes technology for you tosee and learn about stress
relieving, social time, whereyou can meet other moms, just
like us and speakers who willleave us feeling energized and
ready to face the challenges ofparenting a child with T one D.
(03:09):
Katie's gonna hook you up withall the info, but head on over
to diabetes.
Dash connections.com to getstarted.
Mom's night out is happening inJanuary in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
I hope to see you there.
I can't wait.
Katie (03:21):
Thanks so much, Stacy, if you're interested in signing up
for that event, or you want tofind out more information.
Check out the link that I willleave in the show notes.
All right, you guys let's getback to the show.
Hey everybody.
I am here with Simmons Hansontoday and Simmons and I are
actually family members.
We are, are we cousins?
In-law is that what we are?
Simmons (03:40):
I think, so that sounds about right.
Good.
Katie (03:43):
Yeah, let's go with that.
Simmons is my husband's cousin.
And we go on vacation with himevery other year for a week in
the summertime, we go to a placecalled trip island, or at least
we have in the past this is anoff year for us.
We went to trip last summer.
And so we are not doing thatthis year, which makes me sad.
But
Simmons (04:02):
a great week of vacation with y'all's.
Katie (04:04):
Oh, my gosh.
It's, it's so much fun.
It's so much fun.
So I'm really excited to betalking with Simmons today.
I won't spoil at Simmons.
I'll let you introduce yourselfand tell us your connection to
type one diabetes.
Simmons (04:15):
Sure.
My name is Simmons Hansen, and Ilive in Washington, DC with my
husband and my three kids.
And my husband grew up with adad and brother.
That have type one diabetes.
And so ever since I've known andwe met in college, so we've been
around it for a long time.
And then about five years ago,Matt, we got the flu over
(04:36):
Christmas and then a coupleweeks later Matt had lost about
15 pounds and was super thirstyall the time and was going to
the bathroom all the time.
And so we, he knew the signs andhad.
Suspicion of what was happening.
And so we called my dad who wasan endocrinologist and talked to
(04:56):
him and he said, oh, we'll justgo to CVS and get a finger
pricker and find out what yourblood sugar is.
And so we did that one afternoonand at the same time we picked
up a pregnancy test and realizedthat we were pregnant and
diabetic on the same day.
Katie (05:10):
I did not know that
Simmons (05:11):
Which was a very exciting day.
And then we went to dinner withsome friends and I'm sure that
we just were deer in theheadlights and wonderful dinner
company that night So that wasour story.
That was how we found out.
And
Katie (05:26):
was that like his last meal?
Like when y'all added to dinner,like, did he not obviously care
or was he already eating likegirl
Simmons (05:31):
I mean, he pricked his finger and he, his, I think he
was like over three 50 orsomething like that.
And it was a Saturday.
So there was we, my dad waslike, Don't go to the hospital.
They're just gonna give youinsulin and keep you there.
Just, you've been fine so far.
Just wait until Monday and don'teat any carbs.
So Matt had, I think a piece ofsteak and then all Sunday ate
(05:53):
avocados and eggs and and thenwent to the doctor first thing
Monday morning and got someinsulin.
And that was, he made itthrough, you know, that week.
My dad was just gave us advice.
For better, for worse, not to goto the hospital and just to a
lot of water and if he grew upthen go, but otherwise just, he
would be fine until Monday.
(06:13):
So he since then has done agreat job managing his diabetes
and is really independent.
Obviously doesn't need me tomonitor his EXCOM.
But it's been quite the journeylearning about it.
From a care taking perspective,as opposed to just a family
member watching it from theoutside.
But
Katie (06:32):
do you do, I mean, obviously I know Matt goes to
the doctor or I'm assuming hedoes, but like how much do you
guys consult your dad a lot?
I mean, I know he is retired nowas an endocrinologist, but do
you consult him a lot or do youjust kind of leave that up to
Matt and his doctor?
Simmons (06:46):
In the beginning, when we were just trying to get our
feet underneath us, he gave ussome advice.
But Matt had already he was abig CrossFit fan.
So he was very familiar with alow carb lifestyle.
And that is.
He was already eating that way.
And so has continued to eat thatway.
And that has been, I guess,probably one of his biggest
(07:07):
influences more than my dad.
But in the beginning, he, my dadhelped us sort through,
Katie (07:14):
Mm-hmm
Simmons (07:15):
know, factors that affect insulin and on the O on
the occasion, Matt had to takeof, I guess, about a year later,
He had to, he had a mommy'swrist injury.
And so he had to take somesteroids for that.
And that does crazy things toyour blood sugar.
So just occasional spot checkingthings that were like, wait a
minute, how does this do?
(07:35):
And Matt's very capable to dohis own research and is very
tuned in with think like apancreas and some other
resources that he really uses alot.
Katie (07:47):
You guys are actually the people that recommended the
book, think like a pancreas tome.
And it's funny that youmentioned steroids cuz later
this afternoon, I'm recording anepisode for that book series
with, with think like a pancreasthat I'm doing over the summer.
And it's the chapter on all theother factors that can affect
your blood sugar and steroids isdefinitely in there.
So.
Simmons (08:07):
Yeah,
Katie (08:08):
Good timing timely for sure.
Is, I'm just cur I don't thinkMatt would care, but maybe he
would, I don't know.
Let me know later, but is hestill on injections or did he
ever get on a pump?
Simmons (08:17):
No, he's still doing injections.
I think he has gone back andforth about pump or no pump for
a long time and almost had apump appointment earlier this
year.
And just decided that.
It's one more, he's going on abig bike trip next week, where
he's gonna be, he and a buddyare gonna be biking 200 miles in
about four days.
(08:39):
So he figured that now was not agreat time to figure out the
pump situation before this longaerobic exercise is happening.
So.
G six has been, and he's had theGFA before that that has been
his biggest tool, but he isstill doing injections.
And feels like he understandsthat system before going on this
(09:01):
big trip,
Katie (09:01):
mm-hmm can I ask you what it's like to be the wife of
somebody with type one diabetes,because, and, and you did not
marry into this cuz he did nothave type one.
When, when y'all got married.
Simmons (09:12):
eat giant piece of cake before were
Katie (09:15):
Right.
And I just, I know there's, Iknow there's moms listening who
have sons with type one, and I'msure they would love to hear
just a little bit from you aboutwhat it's like to, to be married
to a, a guy with type one
Simmons (09:27):
I think that the biggest understanding that we
both had since I was pregnantfor the third time and he was
diabetic for the first time, atthe same time we.
Just have this understanding ofbodies change over the course of
our relationship and that hisbody is, was changing, had
changed at that time.
And my body was changing withpregnancy.
(09:49):
And so I think it was easy to beforgiving and compassionate and
graceful about all these bodychanges because that's what it
was.
His body was just functioningdifferently.
And I think, you know, every nowand then I give him a hug and
bump the CGM or something likethat.
And that always feels like did Ibump it too hard or something?
(10:10):
But that's, that's really theonly thing
Katie (10:13):
Mm-hmm
Simmons (10:14):
bodies change.
And that's, that's where we sortof leave our understanding of
how this changed our marriage orchanged our relationship.
Katie (10:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
What what about alarms at night?
Do you get woken up a lot?
Simmons (10:25):
He's pretty good at managing.
So we don't have a lot ofalarms.
I mean, we didn't, he wasdiagnosed when he was 35, so
he's not dealing with hormonechanges or like growth spurts or
anything like that.
So we don't have that set offactors to negotiate, When the
alarms go off, I wake up and hedeals with them.
(10:46):
Sometimes I hear them before hedoes.
And then I just throw an elbowand wake him up and he goes in
the bathroom and closes the doorand deals with it.
So those are not great nightsleeps, but those are pretty few
and far between, or if he's likewhen he started biking, that has
effects on the rest of the day.
So as soon as he figures outthose adjustments, then
(11:07):
everything goes back to a fullnight's.
Katie (11:09):
that's good.
I always um, my mantra that Irepeat to myself after like a
really bad night of diabetesalarms, which we, we don't have
many of those either now, whichI'm very grateful for, but we
certainly do have some still,but I'm always like, you know,
what, if I could, if I couldsurvive three newborn children,
I can survive a bad night.
Here and there of sleep.
So that is always my, now, if itwas every night, I'm sure I
(11:32):
would be in some sort of aninstitution right now, but
luckily it's not you know, it'slike once every couple weeks we
have a real bad night and I'mlike, I can, I, I'm gonna be
okay.
I'm not enjoying this, but I'mgonna be, I'm gonna survive.
Simmons (11:42):
I think the newborn phases really give you
perspective on what a goodnight's sleep can look like and
that and also melatonin helpssometimes.
Katie (11:50):
Right, right, right.
For sure.
For sure.
Well Simmons, I know I did nothave you on today to talk about
Matt and his diagnosis, but it'sdefinitely interesting and I'm
sure listeners enjoyed hearing alittle bit about it, but Simmons
and her family just went on abig trip over spring break to
Disney world in Orlando.
So I, and she texted me beforethey went.
Me about the Disney DS pass,which DS stands for disability
(12:15):
access service.
And I have, honestly, I've donean episode on this before it was
episode 35, but literally like acouple days after I published
that episode, like, Disneychanged every, almost everything
about how, how the past works.
So I told her, well, I didn'ttell her, actually.
I, I told her what I knew.
And then after they went, I was,I sneakily asked her if she
(12:37):
would like to come on and chatabout it.
Cuz a lot of people ask aboutthese, you know, there's not a
whole lot of perks with typeone.
So when there is a perk, people,people really wanna know about
it.
So tell us, would you justexplain a little bit, what was
the process like to get the DASpassed for Disney?
Simmons (12:52):
So you go on their website and if you go to the DAS
section on their website,there's a link that you click on
to, you have to be logged in toyour Disney account.
And then you click on the linkand you wait for an online
meeting with.
A Disney person who will grantyou the pass and put you in the
(13:13):
system as a DAS pass recipient,I guess.
And the person with thedisability has to be present for
that meeting.
So I was babysitting thecomputer and then I had to go
run errands.
And so Matt babysat the computerand he was the one who.
answered the call, I guess.
(13:34):
we were next in line when he wasthere.
So he spoke with them.
It did keep logging us out.
And so we kept logging back in.
That was a tricky bit, like wekept getting logged out and
didn't know if we were losingour place in the line, but every
time we logged back in, I guesswe, you know, babysat the
computer for about an hour or sototal while we waited for
(13:55):
someone.
And I don't know if that'stypical, we were going right
before spring break right beforeEaster.
So I'm sure they were very busy.
You can only sign up for.
Within 30 days of your trip.
And online that window closestwo days before you arrive.
So 30 days through two daysbefore you arrive is when you
(14:17):
can do the online thing.
The only question they askedMatt was what what disability
prevents you from standing inline?
And Matt said, Access to food.
If I have a low for my bloodsugar.
And they said, okay.
He, I think he said, I'm a typeone diabetic.
And they said, okay.
And they marked his account, hismagic band as a da pass
(14:38):
recipient or a person with thedash pass.
And that was.
Katie (14:42):
It doesn't sound like they gave you guys a hard time
at all.
Um, that's great.
I, I was really hoping that cuzI was reading online about it
and it says you'll have to havelike a video chat with a cast
member.
And I was really hoping that itwas gonna be like a character.
I was really hoping that NA wasgonna have to talk to like
Donald duck or Mickey mouse orsomething like that.
But it wasn't a, just a regular.
Simmons (15:03):
I think they call cast members like anyone who works
there is a cast member.
So I, I think I'm not sure thatthe person who he spoke with was
dressed up in any costumes.
Katie (15:13):
I hope he would've mentioned that if that
Simmons (15:15):
we were fully expected.
Matt had his kit ready to likeshow his medications and like
pull his sleeve up to show hisCGM and stuff.
And they, he didn't have to doany of that, so
Katie (15:25):
No, he didn't have to present his case.
Matt, Matt's an attorney.
So I'm sure he was very wellprepared.
He was ready to stand up.
Simmons (15:31):
yes.
Katie (15:32):
Okay.
Well, that's good.
So after that, was it justconnected to your magic bands or
the app?
Or did you have to go get aphysical pass once you were
inside the park?
Simmons (15:41):
So right away, you get to pick, once you have, once
you've been granted this status,you get to pick right away, two
rides in each park that you canpreschedule.
Arrival times so right away.
And Matt was not very preparedfor this, cuz we didn't know
this was really happening.
You give your three rides ineach park and there's a list on
(16:04):
their website that you can pickfrom where you get pre-selected
arrival, windows hour, longarrival windows.
So we had arrival windowsplanned out for.
Peter pan in the magic kingdom.
So they told, and they told,cause we knew we wanted to do
that one.
And I maybe the haunted mansion,I think and they gave us arrival
(16:25):
windows for those, which wasgreat.
Cuz then you sort of can sort ofplan your day a little bit, but
the best part about the DAS passis that once you're those
preselected times are two perpark and that.
Done before you arrive, but onceyou get to the park and you
badge in with the magic bandsyou can virtually line up at any
(16:46):
ride in that park.
So we walked into the magickingdom on the first day and we
could scroll through and selectseven dwarf mind train.
And by the time we got to thepark, there was a 70 minute
wait.
We could ride some other ridesthat we rode Aeriel right
nearby.
And then we could get in line,go straight to the lightning
(17:08):
lane instead of waiting in thelong line.
that's a, that was a perk thatwe didn't really realize when we
got the pass, but was key to oursuccess
Katie (17:17):
Did you think you just had the access to the two rides
and that was.
Simmons (17:20):
Well, we didn't really, we knew that we could go through
and select a, sort of a virtualweight line, but we didn't
really understand what thatmeant in practice when we were
there.
And it made a really bigdifference for, we didn't wait
in hardly any lines because.
We could just scroll through thelist, see which one had a short
wait time virtually stand inline.
(17:41):
By the time we got there, wecould just kind of walk right
in.
And then as soon as you badgein, Matt had to Matt use his
magic band first.
And as soon as you magic bandin, you can get out your phone
and scroll through the list andgo stand in line virtually for
another ride.
So really we were riding ridesback to back to back, which was.
Katie (18:02):
man.
That's awesome.
And I'm, I'm assuming the crowdswere probably pretty big because
you were there at a busy timespring break.
Simmons (18:08):
Yes, the lightning, the regular lines were upwards of
like a hundred, 10 minutes, 50minutes, 35 minutes for like a
short was a short one.
And we would just walk right inwith have a 10 minute wait in
the lightning lane because ofthe, because of the gas pass.
Katie (18:25):
Yeah.
I wanted to ask you, I know youguys are a family of five, but
did you go with anybody else?
Like, was your party bigger thanfive or.
Simmons (18:32):
It was just the five of us.
And my four year old is didn'twanna ride all the rides.
And we just stayed together as afamily.
We didn't use the child swapprogram because we knew we just
wanted to all to stay together.
Katie (18:42):
she can ride the mind train she's tall enough.
Simmons (18:45):
She could have, she could ride mind, train, she
could ride everything.
We made a fatal mistake that werode the barnstormer first, or
that was one of maybe our thirdride.
And the kids had never riddenthe roller coaster before.
So we got off the barnstormerand all three kids were firmly
against riding any more rollercoasters.
(19:07):
They were.
That was unacceptable.
That was too much.
We tilted to the side.
That was not okay.
So we did not ride any moreroller coasters in the magic
kingdom, unfortunately.
Katie (19:17):
Oh, I'm sorry.
We have made a similar fatalmistake.
We went to Dollywood.
This was sorry.
I was, I lost track of time inmy brain.
This was right before I was, Icouldn't remember if it was
right before or right afterSarah had been diagnosed, but it
was right before Sarah wasdiagnosed.
We went to Dollywood inTennessee and I don't think any
of our kids had been on anythingbigger than the barn Stormer or
(19:39):
maybe thunder mountain, whichthose are, you know, those are,
can be scary if that's yourfirst rollercoaster and you're a
little kid, but we really wantedto introduce them to upside down
roller coasters loop, do rollerroller coasters.
And the first one that we.
Came upon in the park was one ofthe older ones.
So those are like, you know,those are like a pretty rickety
(19:59):
but it was good because youreally could not see this roller
coaster.
It was like hidden behind treesin a big building.
And we just kind of flat out,lied to the kids.
We didn't lie.
They didn't say are there loopyloops?
And we said, no, there are not.
They said, are there loopyloops?
And we were like, we don't thinkso, but we're not sure
Simmons (20:18):
Unclear.
Katie (20:20):
It's unclear.
And we went on that ride.
Nolan loved it.
Timothy and Sarah were in tearsby the time it was over and we
could not get them on anotherrollercoaster, which is a shame
because a lot of the otherroller coasters are so smooth
and they don't really likeJostle you around and
everything.
So we're still paying for ourmistakes.
We went to islands of adventurea couple weeks ago and.
(20:42):
No one was still loving the bigroller coasters, but we could
not get Sarah and Timothy on, onanything that went upside down.
They're totally game.
If it doesn't go upside down,
Simmons (20:49):
Well, we had some, we rode a couple more rides and by
the time we got to slinky dogdash at Hollywood studios, we.
Made him do it.
We had to bribe Alden, but itwas worth it.
He did it, he was proud ofhimself at the end, but we
definitely bribed to make surethat we would get to ride.
At least one rollercoaster feltlike couldn't without.
Katie (21:09):
Yeah, we're such good parents bribing our kids, lying
to our children.
It's okay.
It's fine.
They're gonna look upon thesetimes fondly.
I'm sure.
What, so I'm assuming once youhad the pass set up for, it was
just good for all the parks.
You didn't have to like go backin and renew it or anything like
that.
Simmons (21:23):
No.
I mean, Disney is all in the appnow, so everything was
connected.
Our hotel, our gas pass our foodordering.
I mean, all of that was in theapp and that made it really easy
to stay organized and and stayfocused.
Katie (21:40):
Yeah.
So I'm, you guys stayedtogether.
So this probably wasn't anissue, but I'm assuming like
when you got to the line and youlike banded in, like, did they
ask you?
Like, are you Matt?
Or, you know, did they ask Matt?
Like, are you Matt?
Did Matt have to be present?
Simmons (21:54):
he had to go first.
So when you go in a lightninglane, they have the magic band
sensors on the side and Matt hadto go first and the attendant
would say, hi, Matt.
And then the rest of us would gowould badge after that.
Katie (22:06):
Okay.
Cuz that uni universal, it's alittle different.
They just give you like a papercard that you're carrying around
and they like initial it andsign it, which I'm sure that
will change.
Cuz that was kind of a pain.
Them I'm sure.
But they would ask every time,like who's Sarah, cuz Sarah's
name was on the, the pass.
And so we, we presented Sarahand which, you know, Nolan was
bummed.
He's like, can we use, Sarah'spass to go on some of these big
(22:29):
roller coasters?
And I'm like, Sarah has to ridethe ride.
So, you know, daddy can takeSarah and Timothy and do some
other stuff while you and I waitin the line or, you know,
somebody else waits in line withyou.
Yeah, Sarah had to be present.
What about Matt's like medicalbag?
Did he did they have a place forhim to put it or was he, did he
just keep it onto on his body?
Like in a Fanny pack orsomething?
Simmons (22:47):
Yeah, he ha he carries it in a Fanny pack in general.
Anyway, so he just carried hisFanny pack and we took a
stroller with us since we've hada four and a half year old.
And so most of the time it wasin there, he, we were.
There on really hot days.
So he thought it was reallybeneficial to have those insulin
chillers.
Katie (23:06):
the free O packs mm-hmm Yeah.
Simmons (23:10):
and so we carried those around and, and the insulin was
totally fine as long as we keptit in the shade.
And in those packs,
Katie (23:16):
All right.
And so I think you alreadyanswered this, but you could
only have one pending returntime at a time, right?
Like you couldn't go get fourdifferent times to come back and
then wait, virtually you had touse one before you got another
one.
Simmons (23:30):
That's right.
the two that you pre-selectedwere just there, but then the
ones that you got while you werein the park, that was just sort
of like a virtual standing inline.
Those you could only have one ata time.
So as soon as you badged in withone on it's a small world, you
could sign up for something elsenearby.
And that's how we sort of wentthrough the magic kingdom.
(23:52):
while we were getting the,getting on the boat and riding
the ride, we were virtuallystanding in line somewhere else.
So that made a really bigdifference.
Katie (24:00):
man.
That's awesome.
So what other ways like that Ihaven't thought of or asked you
about, was it beneficial?
Can you think of any otherthings that it was helpful to
have this past?
Simmons (24:09):
the two pre-selected times made it helped us plan our
day a little bit.
So that was helpful.
But also we also didn't hitthose times in some cases.
So we just went afterwards and.
That was fine too.
I think we ended up going toPeter pan at four 30 instead of
between three and four.
And that was fine.
Katie (24:28):
They still let you in the lightning.
Simmons (24:30):
They still let us in the lightning lane.
We maximized our time because wehad the past, we, I think
counted up 14 rides in the magickingdom.
So we were just really full andbusy and got to see everything
we wanted to see.
We did not end up having to usethe genie pass genie plus pass
or purchase any lightning lanes.
(24:51):
So it also saved us money cuzthose.
Purchasing the lightning lanesand purchasing gen plus was, is,
can get expensive for a familyof five.
And so we saved money on thosecosts because we could just stay
in line virtually even for thereally long ones, the top rides
in each park.
That made a really bigdifference in price.
Katie (25:09):
I, what about like, let's say you get on mind train or
whatever.
Wait, did they ride mind?
Train after they oh, okay.
Okay.
Simmons (25:18):
Then could cancel standing in line there and in
your time.
And we just went somewhere, fellthat moment.
Katie (25:29):
right.
Okay.
So let me, let me change theride then.
So small world, like after youchecked in there with your, your
pass, could you.
Check in again or get anothervirtual wait time for the same
ride or were you only likeallowed one time per ride?
Simmons (25:45):
I don't know, we didn't try that.
We wanted to try lots ofdifferent rides.
So there, we didn't writeanything twice.
Katie (25:50):
Okay.
You are, you're not like myfamily.
We rode Hari's motor bikeadventure at universal four or
five times.
We were like, that was awesome.
Do it again.
So we'd get another
Simmons (25:59):
We almost, we almost did an Epcot and then had a
falling apart moment.
So we didn't make it back aroundthe lake.
Katie (26:05):
okay.
So fun.
I, my favorite I feel like not,not saying that you, this, this
is Matt, but every time will andI go to Disney together.
I just, I just love to watch thefamily fights, like, you know,
like, oh my gosh, the, and justthe meltdowns, like, you know
it, you know, what is, when it'syour kid is, it's not funny at
all, like at all, but when it.
(26:25):
When it's somebody's other'sfamily, you know, it's just, all
you can do is like chuckle and,I feel like a lot of divorces
probably start at Disney worldor theme parks.
Simmons (26:33):
just wanna give the moms like a thumbs up.
Like you're doing great.
Keep going.
You've got it.
This too.
Shall pass.
You'll be.
Katie (26:40):
gonna be okay.
How'd you get, did you have toleave Epcot with a screaming
child or how'd you get out?
Simmons (26:45):
A food, a snack.
Yeah, of course.
somebody was hungry or tired.
And so we had to pause and havea CPE or something in, in
France,
Katie (26:55):
Yeah.
Simmons (26:56):
just around the lake to we were aiming for, so around
the world go around at that andwhich was a great ride, but then
we just didn't we needed a snackor so.
Katie (27:06):
I mean, if food, if food can't fix.
I don't know at can't, you know,you're doomed pretty much.
Okay.
You said you did not use childswap, which I honestly, it's
been a while since I've been toDisney.
I mean, before the pandemichappened, so, I mean, it's been
at least four years, I'd say,and I know we have used the
child swap before.
That's where if you like, have aa little little kid and they're,
(27:28):
they can't ride a ride cuzthey're not big enough.
Or they just don't want to ridea ride like.
You as one parent can go on theride with your other kids that
can ride it or want to ride itwhile you're, you know, other
significant other weights withthe, the other kid.
And then once you get off, theother parent can get back on the
ride with the other kids thatwant to and can ride it and, and
they can do it again.
(27:49):
And they don't have to wait.
Like they don't have to stand inthe regular line.
They.
Just hop right on the ride,basically.
So for anybody listening, who'swondering how that might work
with the DAAs pass.
I mean, assuming it'd probablybe super easy, you would just
tell them once you band in,like, Hey, we have this pass,
but also we need to do childswaps.
I have no doubt that Disneyprobably would not give you a
hard time about that, but.
Simmons (28:09):
No, they were, they were pretty.
Everything's they're trackingeverything obviously with the
magic band.
So I have no doubt that theycould make that happen.
Katie (28:16):
I'm kind of wondering if this is like the future of theme
parks in general.
Not, not just for people thathave a disability, although I
hope they still provideaccommodations in some way for
those people.
Cuz it's, it truly is sohelpful.
Like honestly, before we went touniversal, I, I kind of a little
bit felt like we were likecheating the system.
Like, I don't know, there wassomething about me that just
felt bad and who knows why, butbut really after our day there.
(28:39):
I think it would've been reallychallenging to have to wait in
those hour and a half long ridesin the heat.
It, it would've been a lot.
I mean, we did have to adjustinsulin several times.
We had to treat several lowshighs.
It, it would've been.
Made for a little bit more of amiserable experience.
So, and, and medicallychallenging experience too.
So I was super grateful, but I,I feel like in the future, like
(29:02):
for instance, when we went tovolcano bay, the universal water
park, we didn't even bother tokind of inquire into whether or
not they had.
Accommodations for anybody withdisabilities because they have
what's called the it's.
Well, you, you know, it's calledthe virtual line at volcano bay
and they give every singleperson that has a ticket, a
band, kinda like a magic bandtype thing.
(29:23):
And same thing.
You can get a virtual time tocome back and while you're
waiting, you can go to otherrides.
And that's for everybody thatenters the park.
So I'm kind of wondering, and I,when we were at the other two
parks, you know universalstudios and islands of
adventure.
We saw signs up that said like,you may notice that this ride is
being tested for the virtualline experience.
So I'm kind of wondering ifthat's coming in the future for,
(29:46):
for everybody.
I
Simmons (29:47):
we loved the magic band and the app.
And in general, we hadn't beento a theme park in years.
And the kids had never been, soit was our first experience with
some of that technology and itwas so helpful.
It to help map manage.
Like, I need a snack before I goon this ride or things like
that.
It just made a really bigdifference in our experience
with his planning needs and oursort of standing in line.
(30:10):
Would've been really hard.
And we really enjoyed the wholemagic band experience and app
experience
Katie (30:17):
I know Matt's usually eats pretty low carb, but did
you have the last lady I talkedto at a, did an episode with on
Disney, she was saying that oneof the hard things was that
there's no, like carb counts onanything at any of the
restaurants, you know, thataren't like already prepackaged
and she found that to be reallychallenging.
So I wonder if that has changedat all.
Did you guys find carb counts onanything like in the
restaurants, like
Simmons (30:38):
No, there was, there were no car counts on, on
anything.
We were, we were surprised atthe food.
I mean, they're feeding amassive amount of people, but we
were surprised at some of that.
There were very few low carboptions or low carb alternatives
you know, a bunless, I mean, abunless burger or something like
that.
And that, that was surprisingfor us.
And I think Matt was even highthe whole time, cuz everything
(31:01):
was pretty carby.
Katie (31:03):
Even the burgers were made out of carbs.
I just make'em out of smashed uppotatoes, probably well, did you
guys have a good time?
Just, you mean, you already saidyou did, but like, you know, you
guys are a big family.
Your kids are a little bityounger than mine, and that's a
big trip to get, to takeeverybody to Disney for a whole
week.
So just, what was your overallexperience?
Simmons (31:22):
We had such a fun time the whole, the whole time.
And.
It was not a vacation.
It's a family trip as we haddiscussed that difference
before.
But the kids made so manymemories and still talk about
things that we did there.
And we just had such a nicefamily time, just the five of us
there.
It was a really special week foreverybody.
(31:42):
And we, we loved it.
Katie (31:44):
I miss Disney so much.
I love Disney.
I have.
So I grew up going so often whenI was younger.
So there's a lot of nostalgiathere.
And especially at the magickingdom the other parks, I
don't, I'm not nearly asfamiliar with, but I miss it.
And I've definitely, I, I know Itold you last year that I wanted
to go this year and then wefinished all the Harry Potter
books and I was like, well,we'll go to universal instead.
Simmons (32:04):
we'll be back down that way.
Once we finish the Harry Potterbooks.
Katie (32:07):
Are y'all reading him right now or listening to him?
Simmons (32:10):
Alden's read one and a half.
And so we've got a few more togo and, but the S chaplain,
Libby haven't delved in intothem yet, they're still a bit
young for some of the scarystuff.
Katie (32:20):
Yeah.
It gets real dark real quick,honestly.
it gets real dark real quick.
I had only read the first.
Two and a half books when westarted listening to all the
audio books.
And actually you were the onethat gave me the idea to listen
to the audio books.
Cause you said you guys listenedto him in the car growing up.
And it was so great with the guythat does all the different
voices.
And so now we've finished allthe books and Timothy's teacher
(32:41):
is reading the first book to hisclass and it's just so funny cuz
he is like, mom, it's awful.
She doesn't do any of thevoices.
like Timothy.
She is.
This guy was like a paidprofessional actor.
Like
Simmons (32:54):
Yes.
Yeah, that was our con that wasbefore podcast.
We didn't have podcasts.
We just had audio books, youknow, back in the day.
And so that's what we listenedto.
Every, every long car trip, wewould rack up some books.
Katie (33:06):
we're listen.
Now we're listening to theseries of unfortunate events
series.
It's a good it's it's been fun.
And my, I can, we can do itwell.
Not that not that it's torture,but like my kids love a series
that also has a movie or a TVshow connected to it.
And, you know, Netflix has theseries of unfortunate events, TV
show out.
So we read a book or listen to abook and then we watch the show.
(33:28):
It's a good time.
Well, anything else?
Anything else we didn't chatabout Disney that you think
would be important for theparent of a type one diabetic or
just the spouse or caregiver ofa type one diabetic.
That's going to Disney.
Anything else?
Simmons (33:41):
I think bringing your own snacks there and being aware
of the.
Menus at the restaurants wouldbe really helpful.
And especially if you'retreating lows, the, the, we
still have to wait for a lot offood.
So if you are expecting to getsome dull whip to fix a low real
quick, that might not be yourbest option, but having the fact
(34:02):
that there's no carb counts onanything did make it hard.
And Bring that snacks.
Katie (34:07):
Oh, we had lots of snacks.
Lots of snacks for sure.
Okay.
Well, thank you so much Simmons.
Oh, I, I did wanna know, andthis has nothing to do with type
one, but your G did your girlswear princess dresses in the
park?
Cuz I can see them totallywearing princess dresses.
Simmons (34:19):
I truly underestimated the amount of small children
that would be dressed up andhonestly, adults that would be
dressed up.
And so we were sorely unpreparedfor that level.
And we just wore regular clothesthat were not Disney themed or
Disney relevant.
I just didn't even think aboutthat going into it.
(34:40):
And I was more consu concernedwith our footwear and ordered.
Teen pairs of shoes for Libbybecause she, but none of them
were correct.
And so Libby ended up wearingleather high tops.
When it was 90 degrees outside,we, they did not wear their
princess dresses to the.
Katie (34:58):
Okay.
I mean, I'm a littledisappointed in that, cause I
could totally see Sally chapelrock and a Disney princess dress
in the park.
Or something, maybe she would bedressed up as like Ray from star
wars.
I'm not sure, but you know, Ijust, I could see her going all
in, but I'm glad y'all had agood time.
you know, maybe next time you'relike in this y'all flew,
obviously, did you.
Yeah.
Okay.
(35:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was gonna say next time youdrive by us on your way to
Disney.
Stop in and say hi, but, butyeah, no, not if you're flying.
Never mind.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, thanks again.
Tell the family I said hi, andhopefully I will chat with you
soon.
Simmons (35:32):
All right, Bye.
Katie (35:34):
Okay, well, that is it for my conversation with Simmons
Simmons.
Thank you again so much forcoming on.
I always love your insight onreally just life in general, but
in this particular situation onthe Disney DAS pass.
Now I wanna tell you guys alittle bit about our experience
with getting the universal pass.
This is called an attractionassistance pass again.
(35:56):
I'll put a link in the shownotes to Universal's page on
this pass.
But I had been given a heads upbefore I even called to try to
get this pass that this was achallenging one, that they were
gonna give me a hard time, thatthey always give parents of type
one diabetics, a hard time aboutgetting this pass.
And here's what you needed tosay.
So I called guest services.
(36:17):
I knew that I was gonna have tobe firm and make my case to get
this pass.
I told them about Sarah'smedical condition and why she
would have trouble standing inlines for long periods of time.
And I was met with some prettyrude customer service.
Uh, the person on the other linebasically told me that type one
diabetes didn't count as adisability and was not a good
(36:39):
enough reason to issue me apass.
So of course I argued.
Back and forth with this personfor a little bit, but it just
became clear that they were notgonna give me a pass.
So I decided to hang up andwrite an email because
personally, I feel like it'salways better to have things in
writing.
If at first you don't succeed,send an email.
That's my motto.
So I wanted to read you theemail that I sent them.
(37:01):
it was very polite, but alsovery firm.
I just laid out what happened.
And again, why we would needthis pass.
I've also been told that makingsure you mention that you might
have to get out of line at somepoint in time to treat a high
blood sugar or a low bloodsugar, or use the restroom
because of type one diabetes.
(37:23):
Make sure you mention that atsome point in time, you might
have to get out of line tomanage.
The condition.
Okay.
Here's the email I said, hello.
My name is Katie Roseboro and myfamily will be at universal
Orlando this Friday, Saturdayand Sunday with plans to do the
two parks Friday and Saturday.
And the volcano bay water parkon Sunday, we are Florida
(37:43):
residents and are staying in oneof your resorts and are super
excited as we haven't been to anOrlando theme park since before
the pandemic.
Unfortunately I called guestservices this morning to request
an attraction assistance passfrom my family of five and was
greeted with some rather rudecustomer service.
My 10 year old daughter has typeone diabetes, which is
classified as a disability andheavily protected under the
(38:05):
Americans with disabilities actas well as section 5 0 4 of the
rehabilitation act, themedication she takes to manage
this disease.
And quite frankly, stay alive.
In parenthesis I put insulin cancause her blood sugar to drop
rapidly, especially in the heatand with increased activity.
Just last night, when she waslaying down in bed in an air
conditioned home, she droppedfrom 110 to 40.
(38:28):
In a matter of 10 minutes, itcan happen quick and actions
must be taken immediately toprevent passing out a seizure or
possibly even worse.
Thus while we will be doingeverything possible to ensure
that this does not happen.
We are concerned that she willhave to wait in long lines in
the heat while at the park.
Also she will have to carry hermedical bag with her at all
times containing her suppliesand her phone, which allows us
(38:51):
to monitor her blood sugar atall times.
Thus, we will need access to amedical locker at the start of
the ride.
I tried explaining this to theman on the phone, but he
basically said that that doesnot count and they can just
provide her with a wheelchair ifshe has trouble waiting in long.
As the mother of a child with achronic medical condition that
requires 24 7 attention.
And who just wants a moment ofnormalcy in life that is not
(39:13):
acceptable.
I am writing you again.
To ask for the attractionassistance pass for my family of
five.
For the two days, we will be atislands of adventure and
universal studios.
How can I go about securingthis?
I understand that I can use thevirtual line at volcano bay.
So that is a nice feature.
Thank you.
Kind regards, Katie.
Roseboro.
(39:33):
Guys guess what you wouldn'tbelieve it, but they emailed me
back pretty quickly and said, ohmy goodness, miss Roseboro.
We are so very sorry that youhad that experience.
We would love to issue you apass.
Here is the reference number foryour pass.
Take this number to guestservices.
When you enter the park on yourfirst day and they will get you
set up with a pass.
Again, we are so sorry.
(39:53):
That's not exactly what theysaid, but you get the point.
Again, guys, put that junk inwriting, then nobody can say
that you never said that becauseyou did and you have the email
to prove.
Okay.
So once we got over that hurdleand we actually got issued the
attractions assistance pass, itwas really a lovely experience.
Um, we did obviously have tocarry Sarah's medical bag with
us at all times.
(40:14):
And when we would get to thevery front of the line, like
right before we would get on aride.
They had a section off to theside with lockers that you could
enter a code and store yourstuff safely in there while you
were on the ride.
And I mean, let's be honest.
Most of these rides are like,not longer than a minute, maybe
two at the very most.
So I wasn't overly worried thatwe were gonna actually need the
(40:34):
supplies while we were on theride.
If Sarah was like dipping alittle bit low before we got on
the ride, I would just have hereat, you know, a few pieces of
candy.
I will say that several peoplethroughout the park, when we
would go to get in line said,ma'am, you can't take that bag
with you.
You have to put it in a locker.
And I, all I had to say was thisis a medical supply bag.
And they were like, oh, well, inthat case come with me.
(40:54):
And they would take us to thelockers.
This has nothing to do with theattractions assistance pass, but
you guys make sure you arestaying hydrated at these theme
parks, especially if you are inthe center of Florida, it is so
hot.
Even in December, you can besweating bullets, make sure
you're type one diabetic and youstay hydrated that will help
keep blood sugars a little bitmore steady than they may be.
(41:15):
Otherwise.
Really just the whole body worksbetter when you're hydrated.
So keep that in.
So, this is how the pass worksat universal.
It's a paper card that may havechanged since we went there in
may, cuz it's now September, butit's like a thick piece of card
stock that you carry around withyou.
It has Sarah's name on it andthe dates that you're gonna be
at the park and the referencenumber.
So if you come up to a ride Andthe line is 30 minutes or less,
(41:38):
then they immediately let youinto the express lane.
So you still have a little bitof a weight, but it's definitely
nowhere near what you would haveto wait if you were just in the
regular line.
However, if you get to a rideand the line is more than 30
minutes, you will get a time toreturn on the card that they
gave you.
So they will initial it.
And they'll write the time thatyou can come back to get on the
(41:59):
ride or get right into theexpress lane.
no return time that we weregiven was more than an hour
long.
So an hour from the time thatyou presented them with the
card, that was the longest, youwould have to wait to come back
to the ride and ride it.
So in the meantime, while you'rewaiting, you could just hop on
other rides with lines thatweren't as long.
Sarah did have to be presentwhen we would present this pass.
(42:19):
And she obviously would have tobe riding the ride that we were
getting the pass for, somethingimportant to note with the
universal pass is that you canonly have one return time
working at a time.
So.
For those of you that have beento universal, um, you know, that
Haggard's motorbike ride issuper popular.
So if we went the line is alwayslike an hour and a half long or
more.
(42:40):
So if you went up to that lineand got a return time, You
couldn't then go to another rideand get another return time for
a different ride.
So you would just have to findrides that had shorter lines, or
maybe take a break and eat somelunch or get some water, go to
the bathroom, whatever you wannado, look in some gift shops.
Um, but you could not have morethan one return time active at a
(43:01):
time.
But once you went on the ride,once you came back to Hagar's
motorbike and rode the rollercoaster, then you could get
another return time for adifferent ride, or you could get
a return time for the same ride.
There wasn't a limit to thenumber of times you could get a
return time for a particularattraction.
You could ride Haggard'smotorbike all day long.
If you wanted to, you would justhave to keep getting return
(43:21):
times.
You can use it for both parks,not the water park, but you can
use it for both universalstudios and islands of
adventure.
The water park has somethingtotally different.
So if you wanna look into theaccommodations for that talk to
guest services, when you callthem or put it in an email, but
the water park is a littledifferent, cuz they already have
like a virtual.
Wait time system in place whereyou get a band and you like scan
(43:44):
in to the water slide and youget a return time to come back.
So I didn't really push foranything, any accommodations at
the water park.
Cause I felt like that systemwas already good enough to meet
our needs.
I will say that at the bottom ofthe pass, it says there's a
limit of six in a party on thepass.
We only had five in our party,so I didn't really have to fight
that, but I'm pretty sure thatthe Disney one also says that
(44:07):
there's a limit of six or so onthe pass, but I know at least
with Disney, that if you talk tothem, and you have a party
that's bigger than six people.
They will make an exception.
So just keep that in mind.
I don't know if universal isgonna be that kind, but maybe we
definitely turned down Sarah'sinsulin for the day.
Um, we just knew that with theheat and all the walking, she
(44:27):
was not gonna need nearly asmuch basal insulin running.
And also not nearly as muchBowlus insulin for meals and
snacks, then she would normallyif she were at school or just
hanging out at home.
So we definitely decreased herinsulin needs for the day.
I honestly don't remember by howmuch, but it was a decrease for
sure.
And the only thing I reallywanna say, other than that,
(44:49):
about our day at the theme parkwas, just keep an eye out for
rebound highs.
After you have had the insulinturn down all day long because
for us, and I know everybody'sdifferent, but for us, if we are
in a situation where we have toturn insulin down, for whatever
reason, if we're at a theme parkall day or we're hiking, or
maybe Sarah's been swimming, ifwe have to turn insulin down, as
(45:10):
soon as the activity is over orfor in this instance, as soon as
the day at the theme park wasover, if we don't turn Sarah's
insulin back up to where it isnormally.
and usually bolus for some ofthe basal insulin that she
missed, then she willimmediately start to climb.
So keep an eye out for that.
I don't know that one's like, somind boggling to me that she's
been walking all day long.
(45:31):
It's like her body just finallyhas a chance to rest and process
all the carbs that she's beeneating all day and up.
She goes so.
We've seen that happen inseveral situations.
And we always have to, uh, turnthe insulin back up right away
and give her a bolus usually forsome of the basal insulin that
she's missed.
But again, everybody'sdifferent.
That might not be the patternthat you see, but that was
(45:52):
definitely the pattern that wesaw.
All right.
You guys, that is it for ourepisode today.
Again, there are not many perkswhen it comes to type one
diabetes, but being able to geta pass at theme parks that will
allow you to greatly minimizethe time you spend waiting in
line is a huge perk in myopinion.
(46:13):
So take advantage of it, pullout that diabetes card and use
it with pride.
No shame in that game.
Make sure you check out thoseshow notes.
Remember, I will leave links tothe Disney page and the
universal page.
I will also leave a link tothose Frio insulin packs that
Simmons mentioned, uh, that Mattlikes to use to keep his insulin
cool for a theme park day ormaybe a beach day.
(46:34):
And I will leave a link to theother episode I did on the
Disney D a S pass.
We talked about more than justthe Disney D as pass in that
one.
So it definitely would be wortha listen, even though a lot has
changed about the Disney passsince then.
All right.
You guys, I hope you have anabsolutely fabulous week.
I hope diabetes is well behavedfor you.
We've had a pretty good weekhere.
(46:55):
diabetes has been nice to usthis week, so that's always a
good feeling.
We have our next endocrinologycheckup, not next week, but the
week after that.
So I'm hoping for good things.
Since we've now been on theOmnipod five system for about
two months, I promise I'm gonnado an update on how that has
been going for us soon, a wholeepisode on it.
I promise.
All right.
But until then stay calm andBoless on.
(47:18):
Bye.
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