My family has had passes to Knott’s Berry Farm passes for the last five years. It’s something I’ve always wanted to have growing up, but based on my lack of being able to walk and lack of money growing up, we could never do it. When my daughter was three and a half, we took her for the first time. I limped through lines and struggled along. Waiting in the long lines was the worst, and usually I would sit out and let my husband take my daughter on rides. We had a lot of fun and after that, we make a point to go whenever we can. I eventually, got my mom a pass as well so that she can go and wait in line with my kids.
Since then, I’ve learned about the Blue Pass.
If you are disabled or unable to stand for long periods of time, you are able to get a Blue Pass. Basically, the pass allows those who are unable to stand in line the ability to skip the line. You still have to wait, but you can sit somewhere else to do it. How it works is that you take the Blue pass to the disabled entrance, or the end of the line depending on the ride. The employee there will give you a time to come back. You can only have one return time at a time, but it will save your feet (like me), or legs, or whatever the issue is.
Since discovering about the Blue Pass, it has made it so much easier for me to go to Knott’s and have fun with my kids. We took an impromptu trip last Friday for about 3 hours.
My feet felt like they were in pretty good shape prior to getting there, so I was hoping for an easy night. No wheelchair with three kids, just us and the stroller. Leaning on the stroller would help me walk and I knew we were only planning on being there for a short period of time.
I quickly made my way over to customer service to get my Blue Pass. They don’t usually ask why I need it, so I’m sure some people abuse it, but for me it allows me to have fun when I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I only used the blue pass for one ride that night (The Log Ride). It ended up only being about a 15 minute wait anyway, but it was worth it to me because by the end of the night, I was in pain and could count three blisters forming on my feet.
I know other theme parks have the same kind of passes for disabled people and I’m so grateful for the chance to be able to go and have fun even though it could put me in a ton of pain later.
The kids had a blast and we can’t wait to go back again. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue because I’ll go get that Blue Pass.
This week at work, I’ve only had a slight limp. I’ve been removing my work shoes immediately at the end of the day and so far, my feet are healing pretty well. To be on the safe side, I’ve been bringing my medical kit in my backpack every day, just in case.
Every day is a new adventure.
