Ohio Renaissance Festival 10.6.2018
Hi. All right thank you. Hello. This is Meredith and Doug of disk this place we, are here to discuss. The. Disability. Accessibility, of, the Ohio Renaissance, Festival it hurts every time I'm. Gonna use that every, single time and. I'll. Always be disappointed. Anyway. So. We went to the Renaissance, Fair as. You see. And. Mobility. Wise it's, it. Can be rough if you have a wheelchair that has small, wheels like, our, daughters. So. The path is gravel. There. Are. Grassy. Spots which are easier, to navigate. But. There's. No, grass leading, up to the shops so if you want to go to any other shops there then, you're gonna have to travel on the gravel and. The. Day, that we went. It. Was several, days after some, rain and so there are also some puddles that we needed. To avoid as well yeah. Now. We did we did see a few people with larger. Wheelchairs. With larger, wheels in the front, they. Said those, are not as difficult, to push on the gravel and they. Also rent out power. Scooters, I. Think they have four or five now and they plan on getting eight more by, next season so. I know they're working on the mobility issue and, it's $50. A day yeah. Fifty dollars a day to rent the. Cart. As. For the shops there's probably about I don't, say about sixty percent of them you could get into. But. You know a lot of them don't have ramps. And. What we found out is that it's. Up to the individual shopkeep, they they own their building. The. Renaissance, Fair just, rinsed them two lot so if. The building's been there for since to be Renaissance. Began, not. Back. In 1400s. Yeah. They didn't. Have to go to a DA requirements. But all the new buildings do, have either, straight. Right, into the building or a, ramp. Does. The older ones don't and. They. May add them but you know that's all up to the individual. Shopkeepers. Yeah. And. The. Good news is that the shops that you can get into, they're, usually open, enough to wheel, around and, I didn't find any shops that were particularly difficult to, navigate no, I didn't either.
There. Yeah. And all the food shops all, the food places will roll right up I don't think there's any food that, you couldn't get to, no. Again they're just on the gravel path yeah they're on the gravel path right to it so no steps or ramp to worry about with food right. Now. There are a lot of shows they're also at, the Renaissance, Festival you have the mud show we, saw the connive. Throwing. Show. And. They're. Probably about four. Five, of. Those. Show, venues. It. Was difficult for. Me, I think there was accessible, seating but it was difficult to identify they're. Not marked yeah, and none, of them have stairs so. All of them have just your gravel path or dirt path to, this different. Seating area so it's, not like the stairs are stopping you it's, just more like there's no cutout seat. Area for. The chair so. There's. Some smaller, rows. That you can squeeze the chair next to yes. That's what I yeah. Also. Many. Of the shows ask for, audience, participation, some. Of those, stadiums. Have, steps up to the stage some of them have ramps, so, that's, also not very consistent, yeah, now. They do have just. A walkthrough, showing. You the old torture devices and that is completely accessible yeah. That. Also reminds me they have a. Main. Setup every year that. Is not accessible, at, all at, all so. Very. Loose gravel, and the. Very end of it you have to climb up stairs. To get down to a slide to leave yes. So. Avoid. The maze yep. The. Final thing I wanted to mention about mobility then was the, toileting, facilities. Yeah. So. What. I love about the Renaissance. Festival is that. They. Don't have porta-potties, they actually, have flush toilets. And. Running. Water to wash your hands and they're accessible, bathrooms, are large. Enough to. Get a wheelchair in and. Yeah. Probably even a scooter, yeah so. That was a big plus for the. Ohio Renaissance Festival however. If you need to change an adult diaper. Right. Now there's really not a place to do that yeah they're working on building, and new like, first aid building so, it has an, area right. Now they have a tent set up with, a bed with, a curtain. That's. Not. A lot of room. To. Move around I don't think right when, they build that that's gonna be as. You're walking into the Renaissance Festival that's gonna be to your right yeah, oh and we should mention that if you need to run a scooter that's to the left at souvenirs, and gifts yeah, yeah. So. I think that sums up the movie what, what. What. Rating, would you give it um I'm, gonna give it a three it's. Because, the gravel. The. Gravel makes it rough but it's not like their, staircases, that we have to go around like. Everywhere, is you. Know all the hills and stuff like that are just still gradual, Hills it's. Not like walking around the zoo it's. Uh the, the hills was manageable, but the gravel, didn't make it rough for the little front wheels on our wheelchair so, I'm gonna give it a three also. Because of you know, almost. 50% of the shops say we couldn't get into yeah. I don't know I might give it a 2 2 I, can. See the 2 also um yeah. I think it's kind of right in the middle there it, also depends, on where you why you go to the Renaissance Faire some, people go just to watch it shows. That's. Bellevue 3 if you want for shopping it's - I think, that's fair yeah yeah.
Ok. So moving on to, blind or visually impaired so. Right. Now they have absolutely. Nothing, if you. Are blind or visually impaired, they're, at the Renaissance, Festival I mean you can bring your dog in but. There's. Not really much, that. They, offer I mean. Some of the shows are funny yeah, if, you want to enjoy some good comedy they are there silly people, all. Of them are silly and it's it's good good good, laughs that's. True. However. We. Got the opportunity to speak with Dave, while, we were there at the Renaissance Festival Dave. We. Didn't get his last name but he is one of the owners of the Renaissance Festival and so he, filled. Us in on many. Of their plans for the future and so one of their plans, they've. Started reaching out to, schools for, the blind and, visually impaired, so, that they, can set up outings. There. At the Renaissance Festival that might have. What. He. Described as kind of like a guided tour of the Renaissance, Festival so. If, that's something you're interested in, you might want to contact, your. Local. School. For the blind or visually impaired, or, the. Blind. And visually impaired center of Cincinnati, or wherever you, are and. See if that kind of thing has been set up already. He, also talked about setting that kind of thing up for, people. Who are deaf or hearing impaired right. I think there's Oh me together like. Kinda like how the school. Is blind, and deaf no, it's not blind and deaf it's just blind or visually impaired is it yeah I thought that school is both what. Am I thinking that well. You're thinking about st. Rita school yeah deaf. Oh, that's just deaf I thought they all say okay. Hello. So. You if you are hard of hearing or deaf. You, should know they do have. Microphones. And, speakers at. Their, shows, not. All their performers, use the microphones, though and I didn't see any system, for headphones, and I didn't see a loop system so even if you have a t-coil. In your. Hearing aid I don't know, if you'll be able to. Connect. Into their audio system, right so definitely.
Take. That in consideration when, you're going, possibly. Get. Someone. That they can assist you. I also, found at one point I had to stand at the back of one, of their stage areas. Or, the, back of the audience because, our, youngest was getting fussy and even. With the, mics I found it a bit difficult, to hear, the performers, so, take that into account you want to sit close to the stage, now. If you rely, on sign language interpretation. There. Is no one there who does. Signing, again. That's might, be something that they add if, they're gonna do a tour for people who are deaf but. If. You, are completely deaf and you need a sign language interpreter you, might want to bring someone with you. Sensory. Stuff going on we, need to do our. Rating. For visually impaired and our rate for hearing impaired. Visually. Impaired, like a1 yep. Definitely. I mean the Renaissance Fair is based on visual effects, blind, and visually impaired. Hearing. Impaired, hearing, impaired, I'm, gonna give it a two I mean. They. Are, pretty loud and they do have speaker systems so if you want to sit here you can, I would say if. You're, just hearing impaired I probably give it a three, because. I think it could go either way but if we're lump if we're doing deaf and, hearing. Impaired I would give it it too I think I'm I guess and you don't need to hear stuff to go in those shops and enjoy, right. So, yeah that's, good point all, right. So. Then sensory, oh the, century, it. Will if. You're sent. Sensory. There's. Some stuff that would drive you crazy a. Lot. Of fragrances, yes, you you have a lot of shops to sell incense, and they burn like four or five of them at a time. You. Have a, pipe shop that, allows, smoking, in the pipes in there plus. Renaissance-fair. Does, not. The. Only rule against smoking is you can't smoke in the shops or near the shops so. There are no designated smoking, areas. Everyone. Walks around smoking, no not everyone no yeah, everyone who smokes yes can smoke. Plus. The noise you. Have, lots. Of noise if that's a problem, from. You know your your Knights battling, in Armour to. Just people screaming and yelling, like. Tom collars. Yeah. We also went, during. Their. Celtic weekend. Oh so there was a, bagpipes. And. Yeah. It, was and it was the the they paraded around quite, a bit so. I mean, even that. Was actually. Frustrating. Because they'd, be playing near shows and you couldn't hear the performers, talk, but. That's. Neither heard nor there. Yeah. I i. I. Have. A fairly. Moderate. Tolerance. For noise, I, would say sometimes. It really gets me sometimes, I'm okay. But. By about two o'clock the. Day we went we, had been there since 10:00 a.m. and by two o'clock I was kind of done so. If you have someone who's really noise sensitive, bring, your noise-cancelling headphones. Yes, now, the Dave. Again was talking about that they were there working on possibly. Making a path off towards the backside that doesn't, have any shops or anything just like a little walking path trying. To kind of help you get away from the noise. But. You know it's not like that's gonna be just designated. For people to get away from noise there's, probably gonna be people that walks back there and and still, it's, might still be noisy but that's, not made yet so well what to see right, now there's not a the, best place to go if you want a sensory.
Break Sensory, break. I'm. Not even sure, possibly. The. Back like, if you walk in to the right back corner, where those uh hanging. Chairs, are that's. The quietest, area that I found just because there's no shows over there, there's. Not any games as you know it's it was just normal people. Background, and then you can spend a break. In one of those lovely hammocks, true, yeah, which we bought for our youngest what, was this called I, don't. Even remember all right excellent. There's, the plug. So. Sensory. Rating. It's. Down, to three also I'd say. Yeah. I think that's fair yeah I mean I think we're, right there it's definitely meet all the road. So. Then the final thing we wanted to touch on was medical, concerns, so. Dave. Said the thing. That they. Battle. With the most is the heat so if you are heat sensitive, for any reason, if your type 2 diabetic, or. You. Know if the Sun really. Messes. With you make sure you. Drink lots of water. If, you've. Run out of money and you can't afford to buy a bottle of water at any of the food. Stands you can go to first aid and get. A cold, bottle, of water so, there. Is no reason to go dehydrate. Remain. Hydrated you, know and. Also if you're, diabetic keep that, in mind, because. He said there's a lot of people that just don't think about their, diabetes while they were playing at the Renaissance Fair yes. So. Then the last thing is food sensitivities. So they. Do not. Have, lists. Of allergy, free food they, said if you're concerned about that you can always bring food leave it in your car you, can exit, eat in the parking lot and then come back in you. Can also when you get to the front gate ask to speak to the head chef and the head chef can give you some pointers on what, to avoid and what is good for you I. Was. It. Delighted, this year to see that they have added an extra food, area. Back. To the left and. It. Had a. Middle, Eastern restaurant, which had vegan, and gluten-free options, right and there and it even, advertised that on the board it. Was it, was decent food I'm, not, particularly. You. Know gun. Ho on that type of food but, we gave it a try anyway. Yeah. It wasn't bad, and. Hold us over till dinner it did yeah and we just shared a meal yeah we did we just bought one of the meals and shared it but. Yeah it was it was overall. It. Was still a great and fun. Experience I believe. That I, really like the Renaissance Festival, I like that ability. To, be silly and dress up and pretend you're someone else for a little bit. You. Should know that, if you're not going there for the shows the, Renaissance Festival really is you pay to get in so that you can spend money yeah, it, is but, now if you happen, to know or. Are. An, engineer, that would, be willing, to help the Renaissance, Faire they have been trying to figure out what to do with the paths to. Try to make it more accessible this. Is the best they could come up with with this gravel only. Because you, know pack down dirt works fine but they're prone for flooding, so, with the flooding they're afraid of the, concrete being cracked or sinking. They're, afraid of the same with the asphalt. There. You, know there's not really a, good. Answer so if, you know somebody or if, there's somebody.
That. Knows how to make, it accessible area, that floods a lot, and it's, mostly dirt paths. Yeah accessible. Definitely. Get a hold of Dave from, the Renaissance Fair and. Let. Him know that you're willing to help so then. The last thing we need to do is give rating. Out of five to, medical, concerns, Oh medical. Concerns. They. They. Have things, set in place I'm gonna give it a four I mean. Yeah, fair. All. Right so I think that's it um thank you guys for listening as, always and, we look forward to seeing you in November when we were gonna go to. The. Cincinnati. Museum Center yes. Yeah. So. Until. Next month bye. Hello. Hello. Feel. Free to sing along if you know the words if, you don't kindly. Shut the hell up. Oh. The. City's, in your wake burn, like candles. On your cake. To. You.
2018-10-14 08:01
