[Travelandtourism] KSC experience

[Cari Kness]

Brent and I were the couple Cheryl talked about. It took a good hour and a
half to get in the door. Cheryl had sent a confirmation number and a voucher
for us to print along with several other documents for the trip to Orlando
in general. We printed everything she sent including the voucher for the
space center. When we got there, we got in one line where the woman said we
had the wrong voucher. I stated that we printed everything our travel agent
sent and the paper I had was in fact the right voucher. She claimed several
times that we did not have the correct voucher. She eventually said she had
to wait for her computer to come back on line and check it all out. We then
went to the guest relations counter. The woman there also said we needed
some different ticket. We did have another tour on the 9th through the same
Viatour company but we had two separate tickets; one for the KSC and the
other for the airboat ride a week later. We went in circles with the guest
relations person. She said we should have had a guide who gets in for free.
I asked her for some Braille information including our itinerary of what
time lunch was to be held and schedules for the bus tour. She said that they
used to provide Braille but stopped providing it. The whole time she acted
like we had no idea what we were talking about. Time went ticking by and the
later it got, the more Brent and I were afraid we had wasted an entire day.
I finally called Cheryl in tears thinking we were not going to be able to
enjoy any of the features we paid for. As Cheryl said, she talked to the
woman at the desk who reiterated that we were blind and how were we supposed
to get around without a guide. We were able to talk them into letting us in
but it took a long time for me to come down from that. We lucked out that
our bus driver pointed us in the direction of the launch simulator. After
that, we asked for directions from people we passed by. Sometimes we got an
employee to help us find the next place we wanted to get to but it felt like
we pulled teeth for what we got in some ways. Also, we got these phone like
devices that were supposed to describe some of the features including the
Imax. It operated on several frequencies I think. Each thing had a number
you had to type in the phone in order to get any audio. Of course, this
meant nothing for us because we couldn't read the screen and didn't know
what numbers to press at any given time. Using it would also prevent us from
using our hands if we were looking at stuff because the phone was a hand
held device just like your house cordless phones. I have to say, after
hearing Cheryl's experience, Brent and I were lucky in a way. We did
experience the launch simulator which was ossum! We talked at length with
one of the employees after the simulation completed. It turned out he was a
tech worker and had experience working on the launch pad. He answered a lot
of our technical questions about what happens behind the scenes and some of
the visuals they don't talk about on the NASA TV. Lunch with Astronaut Mike
Mullane was really cool too. The catorers were helpful at the buffet and
Mike was pretty verbal during his talk. He did have a slide show but that
was small potatoes compared to the other information he talked about. The
bus tour followed and we had a few problems finding and getting on the bus
but we had a cool guide and very nice driver. Unfortunately, it wasn't as
hands on as I thought but again, our guide gave us a ton of trivia facts and
made it really fun. We kind of got stuck at the Apollo center but found we
didn't have time to really go in and look around. We had to find our way
back on the next bus back to the center but I think we got the same driver.
We did get a little help at the gift shop and Brent did get his autograph he
wanted from Mike Mullane. Overall, it was a mixed day. We struggled through
the hard bits and I try to focus on the positives. I was shocked that we
were treated so badly at first, especially given that NASA works with blind
students and has a few blind employees. Now that our wedding and honeymoon
trip is over, I have more time and will be willing to testify or write
letters. We had our chapter meeting today and our president asked weather we
talked to Gary Wonder. I said Cheryl is working on an article for the
Monitor. Cheryl, please feel free to reprint this letter or any part in your
articles.
Peace, 
Cari and Brent