Accessible Fox Cities

Everyone deserves the opportunity to explore, enjoy, and connect with all that our region has to offer. That’s why we’ve partnered with two accessibility-focused influencers, and we’re honored to highlight their stories here.

Guest Article by Aspen Baxter

Aspen Sage Baxter is an accessibility, disability, and mental health advocate who creates content under the motto "If there's a wheel, there's a way."

As a full-time wheelchair user, there are a lot of things to take into consideration prior to visiting a new destination. We face challenges from inaccessible infrastructure to insufficient information regarding accessibility. Many places claim to be accessible, only to arrive to issues like a bathroom without proper turnaround space or a step to enter the building. There are many things that people don’t consider until they or someone they know are personally affected.

During my visit to the Fox Cities, I did a lot of exciting activities but my favorite activity was trying the Action Trackchair at Plamann Park! It was an amazing experience, and such a free feeling. I loved getting to safely explore the nature trails and enjoy the beautiful fall colors in the Trackchair. ----I hope to visit in the warmer months to try out the water wheelchairs. It’s incredible that the Fox Cities offer these activities for people with disabilities.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the food options in the Fox Cities! I was thrilled with the number of options the Fox Cities had available to accommodate those with food intolerances. We enjoyed multiple gluten-free restaurants/bakeries during our visit. As someone with Celiac, it’s nice to eat somewhere safe and feel comfortable enough to enjoy a meal.

One thing I would love to see more of in the Fox Cities is safe and accessible parking near attractions and businesses. Although we worked around issues with several destinations, there were multiple times when we had to park farther out, in non-accessible spaces, causing safety hazards. This isn’t just an issue in the Fox Cities; it needs more focus everywhere.

I had an amazing time visiting the Fox Cities, with great local businesses, restaurants, and museums. I’d highly recommend people of all abilities add this destination to their travel bucket list!

Action Trackchair at Plamann Park

“Disability doesn’t change our minds, and hearts, and desires—it just changes the way we have to account for our needs and access the world.”

John Morris, Self-proclaimed travel addict

Guest Article by Learners and Makers*

Anthony, Jodie, Connor, and Aster St. Clair are known online as Learners and Makers. They empower families and the mobility disability community to travel confidently, their way. A kid-safe, mobility-friendly visit awaits along the north shore of Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago.

One of the hardest things about an amazing family summer vacation is figuring out how to start sharing why you loved it. But here’s the thing: 19 communities comprise Wisconsin’s Fox Cities area. Our family of four romped and recreated throughout Appleton, Neenah, Kaukauna, Menasha, and Little Chute. Each community, like each activity, gave us something new to enjoy and build family memories around.

*This article has been edited for length.

Family and accessible travel

A quick note about our little family Anthony, Jodie, Connor, and Aster St. Clair: We are the Learners and Makers, and we empower families and the mobility disability community to travel confidently, their way. Our kids are 12 and 9. Jodie is an above-knee amputee. She and Anthony love showing their kids as much of the world as they can, while we can all travel together as a family. And this was our first family vacation in Wisconsin!

Getting around Fox Cities

Many small cities and towns comprise the Fox Cities area, yet it’s easy to get around. In our experience, most destinations were around 10–20 minutes apart. Parking was either free or affordable. Typically, it was easy to find a space within a couple of blocks of our destination, even on a busy farmer’s market Saturday in Appleton.

Accessibility and mobility disability considerations

The overall terrain in this lakeside area of Wisconsin is mostly flat. We found local sidewalks to be broad and well-maintained. For many individual attractions, we’ll note mobility tips from Jodie’s experience as an amputee using a prosthetic leg for her walking accessibility.

Best Western Premier Bridgewood Resort Hotel

Comfy stays on a family budget

Another thing we appreciated about Fox Cities? Comfy, clean, affordable accommodation—with personality! We stayed at the Best Western Premier Bridgewood Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Neenah. Our family has stayed in Best Western hotels all over the U.S.A., and the Bridgewood’s personality, care, and amenities shone.

Mobility tip

Jodie found our ADA room easy to maneuver. When using crutches instead of her prosthetic leg, she could easily get in and out of the roll-in style shower, which was also equipped with pull bars and a folding bench seat. Plus, the ADA room’s ground-floor location meant we didn’t have to worry about waiting for an elevator, and it was easy to get to the lobby, pool, and outside areas.

Get moving outside or indoors

Our family enjoys nature, but we especially enjoy the outdoors when we can easily get there from town, or while in town! Many Fox Cities take advantage of their lake and river areas with lush public parks, offering miles of trails, play areas, and above all, easy boating.

Neenah’s Fritse Park was the first time all we had to do was show up at the lakeshore. Everything we needed to paddle Little Lake Butte des Morts was right by the water:

*Free parking lot
*Accessible boat launch
*Rack of free-to-borrow PFD vests in adult and youth sizes
*Kayak rental locker

Kayak Rental Station

That’s right: We didn’t even need to bring kayaks. Or shuttle to a distant launch. Of all the places we’ve kayaked around the country, this was the first time we had encountered a Rent.Fun rental locker. Just a few yards from the accessible launch, we used the Rent.Fun app to choose and pay for our 2-hour rental.

From our phones, we unlocked two kayaks from their lockers, complete with PFDs and paddles. Within minutes, we settled into two hours of blissful Wisconsin lake time. Connor piloted his own kayak, while Aster rode with Anthony. Once they were done, they enjoyed some self-directed recreation. Jodie doesn’t wear her prosthetic leg when we kayak, but it was easy for her to walk with her crutches to the accessible launch. From there, we adults embarked on a little float date around the lake.

Mobility tip

Parking spaces and the pedestrian bridge are close to the rental area. The accessible boat launch is located to the right of the main boat ramp. Kayak lockers start at ground level, but the rack of free PFDs requires some higher reach to hook or unhook a PFD. The boat launch bench also has a retractable extension seat, depending on what best helps you get in and out of your boat.

Badger Sports Park

An afternoon of more indoor and outdoor adventures awaited at the Badger Sports Park in Appleton. While this time around we didn’t make it to the batting cages, miniature golf, or laser maze, Aster delighted in being tall enough to drive a Go-Kart all by herself.

Back inside, we put our Utopia Pass to work on a bunch of “green light” games, all while waiting for what the kids wanted to do most: Take on their parents at Laser Tag. Grouped into teams with other families, we green team adults soon found ourselves getting completely blasted by our kids. Connor especially gloried later in how he was one of his red team’s highest scorers.

Mobility tip

Staff usually lead people into and out of the Laser Tag area via a steep ramp along the side. Jodie asked about going through the main, flat area instead, and staff made that change.

Plamann Park Children's Farm

Calmer outdoor experiences abound in the Fox Cities too.

Just a little outside of Appleton, Plamann Park offers a free farm animal viewing experience at the children’s farm. Aster led us around the pens, where we got to know donkeys, pigs, cows, Mittens the rabbit, and other animals. After seeing how high she could go on the nearby swings, Aster and Anthony walked the cow-shaped Cowpath. Along the way, cow-adorned little podiums displayed Wisconsin farming facts.

Aster enjoyed reading them aloud, such as this one: “Did you know that… Wisconsin makes 290,000,000 pounds of butter each year?

That’s enough for almost 13,000,000,000 pieces of toast!”

Mobility tip

The Cowpath is grass and dirt, and is overall flat and level with some bumps from the natural terrain. Around the animal pens, the pea gravel perimeter path is compact and decently broad.

Bent Nock Archery

Sometimes you just want to bulls-eye a zombie with a bow and arrow. And at Bent Nock Archery in Little Chute, we took aim at turkeys, elk, targets, and even dragons, all from a comfy indoor range. The Bent Nock staff made sure the bows were set to a kid-friendly draw, and they showed us how to work the video display for targets. With the touch of a button, we could change up scenes where our targets moved, breathed fire, or in the case of those zombies, tried to eat our brains.

Mobility tip

The spacious parking lot has plenty of room, and Bent Nock is at street level. Inside, it’s flat and easy to get around the no-stairs customer areas, from the bar and cash register, to the individual target range lanes.

More to Explore

Discover even more of what our destination has to offer. Dive deeper and explore the many ways you can make your visit unforgettable. Start planning your perfect trip today!

The Building for Kids, a two-story museum featuring 31,000 square feet of interactive exhibits in downtown Appleton, has a special program on the third Sunday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon, where the museum’s lights are lowered, the music is turned off, and some exhibits are turned off. The program, which is free to families in the autism community, also has resource materials available and sensory-friendly activities.

The Sensory Club Neenah is a unique environment for those dealing with sensory issues. Using color, sound, equipment, and layout, the Sensory Club creates a safe retreat for visitors to engage and regulate. The club is all-inclusive and welcomes people of all ages with disabilities to use its multi-sensory environment room or its sensory gym.

Sensory-friendly venues

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, which offers a wide range of programming from Broadway shows to local artist performances, is sensory-friendly. The center earned a KultureCity Sensory Inclusive Certification and has sensory bags equipped with noise-canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards, and weighted lap pads. In addition, center staff and volunteers have been trained to recognize guests with sensory needs and how to handle a sensory overload situation.

Playgrounds for all

The Fox Cities is home to three accessible playgrounds. The Universal Playground in Veterans Memorial Park has ADA accessible equipment, a soft rubber ground, and double swings, while the playground at Electa Quinney Elementary School in Kaukauna can be used by families outside of school hours and features accessible equipment and is fenced in. High Cliff State Park in Sherwood offers an ADA accessible playground with soft flooring, pavement, wheelchair access, accessible swings, and accessible park benches.

Water access

The Fox River runs through many of the Fox Cities and provides ideal conditions for kayaking and canoeing. Lutz Park and Telullah Park in Appleton both have accessible launches, making it easy for anyone to explore the area from the river.