Finally, back with another Cage Warriors accessibility review. This time I’ll be reviewing Cage Warriors 153 from April 2023 including the Ryanair flight from Birmingham to Dublin, The Plaza Hotel Tallaght and, of course the accessibility at the 3Arena venue.
(Disclaimer: I’m aware “accessibility” means different things to different people, as I said before, these are MY views on my experience of accessibility at this venue as a manual wheelchair user, I obviously can’t speak for others experiences but feel free to add your experiences in the comments!)
Flight
Booking the flights was simpler than I expected. I booked the flight via the website and then requested special assistance to be taken through the airport and to/from my seat (it’s called option WCHC). I believe I also added in that I was travelling with my own manual wheelchair somewhere on the form.
The first part of flight day was travel TO the airport. It was just a quick 20 train (maybe 20 minutes tops), and I booked the tickets via Trainline and the assistance via the passenger assistance app. Once we arrived at the airport train station, we had to take a little shuttle tram to the actual airport. This was not my favourite bit as I constantly felt like my chair was going to slide across the carriage.
Once we arrived at the airport, we headed down to check in, only to find we didn’t actually have to go there as we had no checked bags and had already checked in online, we didn’t need to be there, and I think even my wheelchair was tagged at a later stage. We were then sent to a special assistance desk where we said we could make our own way to the gate. We were then sent down in a lift, which had dodgy buttons that you had to press in a certain order to get the doors to close, to security. Whilst we didn’t receive any assistance in security at Birmingham Airport, there was a special assistance lane at security which allowed us to get through a little quicker. We then went to find food and the toilets after being told to be at our gate an hour before for assistance.
We did arrive at the gate an hour before but, unsurprisingly, assistance did not. In fact, assistance barely turned up at all and had to be contacted twice to come and assist me onto the plane. We were then taken in an ambulift to the plane. This is a small van that rises to meet the plane door and it was here that I transferred from my chair into the aisle chair to enter the plane. All the messing about with assistance meant that we board last (instead of first like we’re supposed to) and my companion Alex wasn’t even allowed to fold my wheelchair before we left it, so I just had to hope assistance didn’t fold the chair wrong and break it. Boarding last also meant that I had to transfer from the aisle chair to my plane seat with a plane full of passengers watching which was embarrassing.
On arrival at Dublin, it was a fairly simple process through the airport, with a stop at the most spacious accessible toilet I think I’ve ever seen, before we headed out into the queue for a taxi.
We were asked by staff manning the taxi queue whether we needed an accessible taxi, and I said ideally yes but my chair did fold so a standard taxi would suffice if an accessible taxi was going to take a while. We were led to an accessible taxi; I was wheeled up the ramp and had all the proper wheelchair restraints applied to my chair and a belt for myself. It was the safest I think I’ve ever felt travelling in a taxi as a wheelchair user.
Hotel
We stayed at The Plaza Hotel in Tallaght. I simply booked online and added a comment that we would need a wheelchair accessible room or, at the very least, a room on the ground or lower floors. When we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and were directed to the lift and told our keycard would take us to the right floor without pressing any buttons. I did immediately notice that there seemed to be just the one lift, which made me wonder what the contingency plan is for disabled guests if that one lift breaks down. On arrival in the room, we found complimentary water and a smart TV, both nice perks that we weren’t expecting.
The next morning, we headed into Dublin itself. Whilst the hotel was quite far out, we were close to the Luas system which I found to be very accessible. We bought day tickets on the platform whilst the train approached and then I was able to easily board at the designated accessible boarding point and roll straight into a wheelchair space.
I did find the more we got into town that there were a lot of cobbles but those aren’t a new phenomenon to me. Particularly in the area around the famous Temple Bar (I know, I know tourist, but it HAD to be done). One thing I did notice was the lack of accessible bathrooms in the pubs we were in, but then again accessible toilets in pubs are also an issue at home, so I guess that’s no different.
Venue
And now to my usual content, the 3Arena Dublin venue access review. Getting tickets was actually simpler than expected as I just order access tickets via Ticketmaster and then sent in proof of disability when requested via an email link. On arrival at the venue, we were led straight through the queue and to the accessible seating on level 2. These were good seats for a view of the whole arena. Cage Warriors is all about the atmosphere, so I appreciated being able to view that whole atmosphere. There were also a number of large screens which I knew would be useful when we couldn’t see the details of the action in the cage.
Satisfied with our seats we headed back to the ground floor for the Meet and Greet. Meet and greet complete we headed back up to our seats. A quick word for the accessible toilets were fairly standard and clean, and I believe there was at least one accessible toilet per level.
Once the fights were over, we made our way back to the Luas for the trip back to the hotel. I have to admit I was nervous about this bit as I knew it would be busy. But credit to them, the staff made sure there was space on the Luas for me and I was able to access the wheelchair space for me. Fellow passengers also kept me safe and prevented drunk people from falling onto me. The people of Dublin were as excellent as I expected them to be.
When we finally made it back to the hotel, the hotel staff were able to prebook us an accessible taxi to take us back to the airport the next morning. An accessible taxi DID turn up, I was well secured in the vehicle as I had been on the way to the hotel, and we made it back to the airport for our flight home.
A quick couple notes on the return trip back to Birmingham. Firstly, a note about the return airport assistance from Dublin to Birmingham. It was largely the same (including boarding last unfortunately). Except they DID tag my wheelchair at the check in desks, oh and they lost my wheelchair for about 10 minutes upon landing at Birmingham (It was on the ground next to the plane instead of in the ambulift where it was meant to be). We also bought the train tickets for the trip from the airport back to Birmingham on the day once we made it out of the airport, which means the assistance wasn’t prebooked either. On arrival at New Street, we were left stranded with no assistance, so much so that Alex had to disembark and find assistance himself. But I wouldn’t see any link between not prebooking assistance and it not arriving, because I am left stranded just as often when I DO book assistance
Overall, I really enjoyed my first trip to Dublin and, other than the issues with flying that I was already expecting, found it to be more accessible than expected. I would love to return and in fact PLAN to return in April of this year (2024) for Cage Warriors 170, although I may not be flying this time.
Stay Invincible!
Em (Invincible Woman On Wheels)
Invincible Woman on Wheels 
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