[Travelandtourism] KSC experience

Sun Jul 17 11:01:46 UTC 2011

Cari:

Gary Wunder knows what is going on, and I have heard back from the NY State Office that National already knows of this, but I have yet to hear back myself.

I am in the middle of writing the article, so stayed tuned for more information to come.

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
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Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise & Travel, Inc.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Cari Kness<mailto:carisuekness at gmail.com> 
  To: travelandtourism at nfbnet.org<mailto:travelandtourism at nfbnet.org> 
  Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 11:53 PM
  Subject: [Travelandtourism] KSC experience

  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 

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