How Birdie Wren does Disneyland, Tubes and All
“I can stay hooked up to my feeding-tube backpack on almost all the rides!”
When Walt Disney first let down the drawbridge from Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in the debut Disneyland some 70 years ago, he dubbed this wonderland “the happiest place on earth”. And in more recent decades, for Birdie Wren, Walt’s description has rung very true.
She first visited as a toddler and, since 2012, has made the trip almost yearly, mouse ears in tow. When she can’t be in Anaheim, California’s famous theme park, Birdie makes her own magic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Followers of this fun-loving mum of four have seen her playing dress up as almost every Disney character, from Tinkerbell to Buzz Lightyear. Birdie’s costume collection could rival that of Disneyland itself, but her versions of iconic princesses, villains and animal sidekicks also feature powerful, lifesaving accessories. Specifically, a central line and a gastro-jejunal (GJ) feeding tube.
Birdie’s tube-feeding and IV journey began with a head-on car accident in 2023. Alongside a badly broken arm and dislocated wrist, within days of the crash, she found she couldn't eat or drink without becoming violently ill. After six months, multiple hospital admissions, extensive testing, and significant weightloss, Birdie was diagnosed with severe gastroparesis.
She received a nasojejunal (NJ) feeding tube while awaiting her diagnosis, later transitioning to her GJ tube. A central line was added about a year ago, and she relies on daily IV fluids to stay hydrated. Birdie also has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is worsened by dehydration — and not helped by Arizona’s heat.
Following the accident in December of 2023, she was in the hospital every single month through March of 2025.
“But that April I managed to stay hospital free, and I felt my happy place calling me back again,” says Birdie.
“So with my doctor’s approval, my husband and I planned a trip for just the two of us to go to Disneyland together the following month. I had my GJ feeding tube for about eight months at that point, so I was very comfortable with being attached to a feeding tube backpack all day and with how to manage my tube.”
Welcoming their first son when she was just 16, Birdie and her husband are parents to a 12, 17, 20 and 23-year old. All benefiting from their mother’s devotion to her second “home”.
“Disneyland is about six hours away from us, and the drive goes by pretty quick,” says Birdie. “We have since been back three more times with our kids!”
Here, she shares how she lives out her Disney dreams. Fellow mousketeers, take note.
How do you manage your feeding and hydration while on the road?
I hook up to fluids in the car all the time! I only do it when I know I can stay hooked up for the whole infusion – about one and a half hours – because I don’t like unhooking and re-hooking up in the car and then worrying about sterility. Also, leaving the fluids in the car, in the heat, worries me as well. Having a central line, infection and sepsis is a high risk, so I’m extra careful with it.
Running my tube feeds on the go is much easier. You know when people drop food on the floor and say, “five second rule!” Well, I always think of that in regards to my tube feeds. Your gut isn’t sterile, and people eat food off the floor! Does it need to be clean enough to eat? Yes. Sterile? No.
What does a day at Disneyland look like for you and your family?
To be honest with you, a day in Disneyland has looked different than we have planned every single time since getting my feeding tubes and central line. I can laugh about it now, but it was really hard to roll with the punches on our first trip. I wanted to go in full force like I did before my car accident, and my body said “nope!” So our first day, I only made it to about 3pm and had to call it quits.
It made me so sad to miss out on seeing the castle at night and not being able to do everything my husband and I had planned. I still had an incredible time, it was just a hard realisation that I had to do Disney a lot differently than I used to. Our second day I went in with a different mindset of not trying to control and plan every moment of the day and just let it happen. We had the best time!
Even taking a break and people watching at Disneyland is fun. Seeing people happy makes me happy and being in the parks makes me even happier. Once I realised that it’s okay if it doesn’t go according to plan all the time, I had more fun. Now we try to each have a priority thing we each want to do and we make sure it happens at some point in the day, but we don’t plan our day tit for tat anymore like we used to. We just try to go with the flow and pivot if needed.
How accessible have you found Disneyland to be for people with disabilities and medical needs?
Disneyland is very welcoming of all people but their accessibility rules have changed a lot over the years. Some things I’m okay with and others I have issues with. I use an electric wheelchair in the parks and I also use a cane. Since Disneyland is the oldest Disney park, a lot of the lines for attractions are not accessible.
Disney has established different procedures for these rides and most just require a check in with a cast member to receive a return time to ride the ride, and you typically enter through the exit of the ride. No biggie at all and I don’t have any issue with that.
However – and this is a big however – the newer attractions such as Rise of the Resistance are labeled as an “accessible line” for wheelchairs to go through. Let me tell you, it is not easily accessible for me. I have to back up and ask guests behind me to kindly step back each time I do it because I can’t make some of the tight turns within the line. I have this same issue over in California Adventure on Radiator Springs Racers, The Incredicoaster, and Web Slingers.
When I get on the rides, I typically use my cane to get over to the ride from where I park the wheelchair. Then I either give a cast member my cane to hold on to until the ride is finished, or on some rides I can keep it with me. The cast members are always very helpful and wonderful about explaining the accommodations available for specific rides. I can stay hooked up to my feeding-tube backpack on almost all the rides, too! The only one I won't stay hooked up for is The Incredicoaster since it goes upside down. Other than that ride though, it comes everywhere I do!
As far as security getting into the park, I have always had a great experience until my most recent trip. I took further steps that day, and I am still continuing to do so, to ensure it does not happen to other feeding tube guests that visit the parks. Hopefully it can be a learning experience for everyone, but it was handled very compassionately and with great care by the cast member I worked with to address the issue, which is exactly what I know and expect from Disney.
What moment from a recent Disneyland trip sums up what it means to you to be there?
Last June, my husband and all of our kids did one last ride on Thunder Mountain Railroad before we left the park after a full day of being there from rope drop to close. Being on my favorite ride with my favorite people and hearing them all laugh and seeing them smile and having a blast made my heart so incredibly happy.
My car accident didn’t just happen to me, it happened to my whole family. Yes, I experienced it firsthand, but it has affected all of them in many ways too. It has completely turned all of our lives upside down. The last two and a half years have been incredibly hard on our family. Being able to come out the other side and be together in my happy place meant so much to me.
Disneyland is a place where you can forget about the outside world while you’re there. You can be a kid again regardless of your age, and to be able to feel free enough to be a kid with your own kids is really special.
What advice do you have for someone who has just started their tube-feeding journey?
I would say to this person to look at everything they have had to overcome in their feeding-tube journey and really think about the strength it took to do that. Living with chronic illness and feeding tubes requires tons of planning, constant advocacy for yourself, and so much strength. All of those things are tools you can use when traveling, too.
You are already a great planner because you have to manage appointments, medications, and tube feeds, etc. You know what you require to make your day work, so when thinking about visiting a place, don’t be afraid to call them and ask about their accessibility accommodations and advocate for yourself if needed.
We go through so much trauma as chronic illness patients – and it creates a fierce strength inside of us. It can be incredibly scary to think about all the “what ifs” when it comes to traveling away from home and your care team that you know and trust, but if you carry that inner strength and remember everything you and your body have gotten through together, you can do this, too.
You deserve to enjoy life again, and if that includes traveling and exploring, do it! And keep doing it until it feels natural. It might take a few times to get used to it, but I promise you will figure out what works for you and what doesn’t and you will worry less about the “what ifs” and more about where you are going next.