Disabled Actor Ruth Madeley Shares Her Accessible Journey To The Magic In Disney Podcast

British actor Ruth Madeley – who lives with spina bifida and is a wheelchair user – joined Giovanna Fletcher to discuss her accessible trip to Disney World in Florida in an episode of the Walt Disney Travel Company’s star-studded podcast, Journey to the Magic.

Ruth Madeley is best known for her roles as Anna in Don’t Take My Baby, Rosie in Years and Years and Barbara Lisicki in the disability rights drama Then Barbara Met Alan. She has also appeared in many other TV shows and films, such as Fresh Meat, The Level, Cold Feet, Outnumbered, The Rook, The Watch, CripTales and many more.

In the podcast episode, which was released on 22nd March 2023, Ruth Madeley reveals how her last holiday was to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida with her boyfriend Joe Lawrence, and she found it really emotional as it was their first trip post-Covid that she even cried on the way home!

Ruth also talks about her family holidays to Wales when she was growing up and admits Disney films were her go-to as a child and they helped her switch off if she had hospital appointments or surgery.

Ruth goes on to talk about the stresses of going on holiday with a wheelchair and how she never really relaxes until her mobility equipment has arrived at the other end. But Ruth does say going on holiday to Walt Disney World is easy in her experience and she can’t think of anything that could improve it.

Ruth Madeley admits going away with mobility equipment can be stressful

Giovanna asks Ruth whether there are things she needs to consider when booking a holiday as a disabled person. Ruth admits going away with mobility equipment can be stressful, which always leads her back to going on a Disney break:

Ruth said: “As a wheelchair user, travel can be really, really complex. Even just going on a plane. You have to trust somebody else with your equipment. When you get to where you’re going, you want to know that everything is taken care of and everything is accessible – the hotels are great and the people there are going to be really helpful.

“So, whenever we’ve looked at any other holiday, we’ve kind of not bothered and just come back to what we love, which is Disney. So, yeah travel can be really complex.”

“It’s a massive thing as well in the news and on social media, you just see horror stories about people’s mobility equipment getting lost or broken and I can never rest until I get to the other end of where I’m going on my holiday and see that my wheelchair is intact and there. Like my luggage, as stressful as that would be, I can live without that.”

“But if my chair is broken, that’s my holiday done. There is no holiday without it so yeah, it can be incredibly stressful.”

Ruth Madeley says she felt emotional on her last holiday at Disney World

Ruth tells Giovanna all about her last holiday to Walt Disney World Orlando last September with her boyfriend Joe Lawrence. She said she found it really emotional to be back in her favourite place – even on the plane home she says she couldn’t stop crying because she didn’t want to leave:

“Of all the times we’ve been away, I actually think the last one we went on in September was our favourite. I really think because we’ve not been since pre-Covid.”

“I could not stop crying. Joe, my boyfriend, was sick to death of me. I cried as soon as I walked into the Magic Kingdom. One of the best things was, two of our best friends were there at the same time, so we went to Magic Kingdom together and then I cried when we left her, even though I knew I would literally see her a week after we got home.”

“I cried on the plane home when we had all these really well-behaved children sat around us on the plane and I’m bawling my eyes out because I don’t want to come home.”

“It’s really special to me and my boyfriend because I’ve only ever been to Orlando with him, so it just feels like our place.”

She added: “And it is that sense of knowing that access is so easy, everything, I genuinely do not have to worry about anything when I get there. I know all the restaurants are accessible, shops accessible, the rides and all of that with the access pass, which will get onto in a little bit.”

“That all helps so so much and it just feels like you don’t have to second guess any of that which, as a disabled person, especially as a wheelchair user with a physical disability, I never get that privilege of never having to think about it.”

Ruth Madeley reveals Disney World is the one place she never faces accessibility barriers

Giovanna asks Ruth whether she faces any challenges, as a wheelchair user, at Walt Disney World, but Ruth reveals it’s the one place in the world where she doesn’t have to think about anything to do with access:

“I actually find it really hard to think what they could do better and I have never said that about anything in my life. It is just the one place where I know I don’t have to think about anything.”

“They have the accessible bathrooms where they are big enough if you have a particularly big chair and if you need someone to go in with you. So they’re separate but they also have the cubicles in the toilets with everybody else that are bigger than a regular stall but there are just options for everyone.”

“It’s so refreshing because on one hand, it makes me feel so excited to go, which is why we keep going back, but also it makes me kind of mad that other places don’t do it. It’s possible, to see what happens when you think about it from inception like everything is designed with that in mind. Nothing is like an afterthought.”

“And it is worth me saying I can only speak about my disability, physical disability. I don’t have any sensory issues, I’m neurotypical, so I can only speak about my experiences. From a physical point of view and my personal needs, I can’t think of anything and there should be something but because I‘m so used to everyday life.”

“I’m trying to think of something that can be improved and it’s so very weird and kind of unsettling feeling when you can’t think of anything because it feels so nicely like wow this feels weird.”

Ruth Madeley talks about her family holidays to Wales

When asked by Giovanna what her favourite holiday is, Ruth says that as an adult, it was returning to Walt Disney World last September, but when she was growing up, it was the family trips to Wales in the rain:

“We grew up going to Wales and stuff. I didn’t go abroad until I was 13 – to Disneyland Paris.”

“In Wales, we would stay in a cottage, and it was me and my sisters running around the grounds in the Welsh rain and having the best family time. It was just great.”

“My favourite trip as an adult was definitely the one that just passed in September because we hadn’t been away, like I said before, since pre-Covid so it felt like a long time coming,”

“But I think as children, Wales always because we just had the best family time.”

“The rain just made it even funnier. I have this very specific image of when it was absolutely chucking it down and we were sat in this little cafe and we had hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top and I just examine my mind like ‘oh my god this is brilliant’.”

Ruth Madeley says Disney films were a lifeline for her growing up

Ruth reveals she’s such a huge Disney fan as it reminds her of happy childhood memories and watching Disney films also helped her during tougher times, including when she was in and out of hospital as a child:

“For me, Disney is just pure nostalgia, even the new films, because me and my sister grew up on Disney. There’s nothing but good vibes.”

“I spent so much of my childhood and teenage years in hospital and Disney films, literally, the night before I knew I was having surgery I would watch a Disney film. It was literally the best kind of distraction and the best feel-good thing for anything.

She added: “Go through break up, Disney film. Having surgery, Disney film. Regular Tuesday night, Disney film. But yeah I think just that sheer feeling of comfort and safety is really nice.”

Ruth Madeley praises the Disney Parks accessibility pass

Ruth tells Giovanna about the Disney Parks accessibility pass, which is for people with different disabilities, to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the rides at the park:

Ruth said: “Guest services at Disney are fantastic as that is where you can go and you can ask about accessibility. They have a park guide for everybody but they also have a park guide for people with disabilities.”

“Some rides have the option to be able to stay sat in your chair, which I think is incredible, so that park guide shows you where all of those different things are which are really specific.”

“The accessibility pass [is for] people who have varying different disabilities … you’ve got sensory overload or you need medicine at a specific time, that you need to go away and do or tube feeding.”

“You can get an access pass and if the wait time for the ride is 10 minutes and under you can go straight in and then if it’s over [10 mins] they give you a time when you come back that you can go straight in, so you don’t have to physically be in the queue. You just have a time when you can come back and just know that you can come back and go on.”

“And I just think that system is so incredible, taking so much stress and pressure off and that’s not just for adults who are disabled either, that’s for parents with kids with additional needs or anything like that. It just takes so much stress away to know that that is there.”

“So we’re booking again for next year where I can get complete joy out of using this pass!”

You can listen to Ruth Madeley on Journey to the Magic wherever you listen to your podcasts as well as watch on the Disney UK YouTube channel.

Have you been to Disney World in Florida? What was your experience like and would you recommend it to other disabled people and their families? Let us know in the comments box or social media.