Thank you, Bingemans Waterpark

Last Updated on: 3rd August 2016, 08:48 am

I wanted to write a post to say thanks to a local business. I do a lot of screeching and chewing, so it’s nice to be able to say something positive. That business is Bingemans.

The folks at my awesome job had an employee and family picnic there. My first reaction was “Woooohooo! I’ve never been there and I heard it’s fun! Water slides, baby!” This was immediately followed up by “Hmmm, where will I put Tans?” and “I get the sense that Bingemans is an immense land of chaos and running, shrieking children. How on earth will I find anything?”

I did not want to miss out, the Captain has made me miss out on too many things, so I was going to go if I had anything to say about it. I emailed them, not sure what they were going to say, and hoped for the best.

Bingemans eventually gave me a call, and we had a good chat. My first piece of good news was they had a plan for Tansy. They let me book a cabana, which provided me a place to put her that was shaded and safe. I could also leave her a dish of water, so she could have it if she needed.

But they told me that there weren’t too many staff just roaming around, so they might not be able to help me from A to B. A little nervous, I still decided to go ahead. Maybe I could ask a few coworkers to give me a hand…or something. This had turned into a challenge as well as a fun picnic, and I really wanted to make it work.

When Steve and I arrived, I realized that it was true. This place consisted of a sea of chaotically-moving humanity. I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. But once we arrived at the desk and registered, I started to relax a little. One of the people working there took us to the cabana and helped me get Tansy settled, and then another helped us pick the first slide we wanted to hit.

I was super grateful for that bit of help, but thought we had exhausted what they would give us, so I was pleasantly surprised when they said they would come back for us and take us to the next thing. This was starting to look like it was possible.

The biggest surprise was when it was time to find the picnic. When we told them where it was, they said it was far, and drove us there in a golf cart! How awesome is that?

This is how it went the whole time we were there. They helped us get from slide to pool to picnic to pool to slide and did it with a smile. I never once felt like a giant burden that they felt obligated to accommodate.

Basically, the staff at Bingemans made it so we could enjoy the day like everybody else, and not have to feel like a burden to any of my coworkers, who already were trying to take care of their kids. When you go to a waterpark as a blind kid or as part of a group, you don’t really think about the logistics of how you will manage things if you come here without folks who can help you.

I sent a thank you to Bingemans, but I wanted to publicly thank them for all the awesome. It did not go unnoticed. Maybe we’ll see you again some day.

Aside: Boy, do you fly down water slides faster when you’re older and therefore heavier, but you still scream like a small child, at least I do. Oh wait, small children don’t swear like sailors.