Just spent 10 days at the World with scooters...

[bugsbunny]

I know we all joke about how bad the scooters are, but after 10 days in WDW recently, I will just outright say they are out of control. Did the ADA declare that obesity is a handicap and that anyone obese should just "enjoy" anything that has a handicap placard on it? And flame away if you don't think I'm being PC. I'd be the first person to stand up for someone's right to do whatever they want with themselves: smoke, drink, be fat, etc. I believe in personal freedoms and all that, but in this case, YOUR ailment is effecting me now! I defend your right to smoke, but don't blow it in my face or expect me to walk through YOUR cloud with a smile on my face. Same goes for obesity. If you are afflicted by it, I wish you the best and hope you overcome it! But why do I have to be inconvenienced because of your self induced problems, too? :shrug:

I'm not talking legit handicaps where you need a wheelchair or have an obvious ailment, I'm talking about people that have only one affliction: obesity. Why do you get to board a bus before me simply because you are on a scooter and obese? To compound this, I saw one guy actually DRAG his scooter around on the bus to reposition it so he could drive it off!! And after I was slack jawed by that, he got walked back onto the bus and DRAGGED his wife's scooter around and then drove that off. Then hopped back on his scooter and they both drove off!! :hammer: It was POURING rain that day and we waited 45 minutes for a bus and seconds before it pulled up, these bozos got to get on first with their 15 person entourage. They were also so obese they take up 2 seats on the bus. The rest of the able bodied people on the bus just gasped and chuckled over the whole thing.

A friend of mine ended up pulling a muscle in his back the first day of his trip. A woman could not stop her scooter and it was going at full speed. :hammer: Him and another guy jumped on it and had it doing a wheelie as they tried to stop it. Another guy jumped in and pulled the key out. Great!!! Someone not even smart enough to turn the key and instead almost runs over people if it wasn't for good Samaritans!

For anyone that thinks I'm being extreme or mean, I beg you to look at every scooter rider the next time you are there and then cast your opinion. EVERY one will be an American and at LEAST 90% of them will be obese. I'm not talking a few pounds, I mean obese. And you will be doing a lot of checking for there are a lot of scooters everywhere. Disney has to make people hang their handicap placards from their state or something on the scooter to show they are really handicap. People with legit handicaps, like my nephew with CP and in a wheelchair, end up waiting longer for buses simply because the "handicapped" scooter riders take up valuable resources.

 

[TimNRA757]

We're all disabled if you think hard enough, and yes it's very out of control. These people not only drive like morons they feel like they're entitled to everything. Not to mention those scooters from "Walker Mobility" that have that God awful annoying sun cover on them. Just this last Saturday I was on CoP and there the wheelchairs go in front. With that thing I could hardly see anything!!! What is that??

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

 

[DisneyJoe]

We're all disabled if you think hard enough, and yes it's very out of control. These people not only drive like morons they feel like they're entitled to everything.

The sense of entitlement is prevalent among many guests visiting WDW, not just this limited demographic.

 

[Laura]

You do need to be in decent health to trek around Walt Disney World for a week. Most people walk over 10 miles a day. For someone who is obese, this probably would be the equivalent of a daily marathon and I can understand why they would choose to forego the marathon in lieu of a scooter. I wouldn't want to walk that far carrying a few hundred extra pounds on me.

I don't know anyone who likes being overweight, and obesity must be a horrible thing to live with. I'm not overweight by any means, but I certainly could stand to lose 10 pounds, and those 10 pounds drive me crazy every single day and feel like a hurdle that I'll never surpass. I can't even imagine having 200 excess pounds on me and the hopelessness that must come with it. If a trip to Disney World can add a little bit of cheer to their lives, then why not? They are just as entitled to visit the place as anyone else.

Everyone screws up in certain aspects of their lives. Some people make the unfortunate mistake of overeating and under-activity. I'm not going to judge them for their mistakes just as I wouldn't want them judging me for mine. They just have the bad fortune of having to carry their mistake outwardly where the world can see. Learn to have some patience and realize that the couple minutes it takes to load and unload a scooter is not going to kill you, and be glad you're waking up a healthy person each morning, and not someone who is morbidly obese and headed for the grave.

If you don't want to be held up by scooters, then spend a few bucks and rent a car.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Page One.

The only problem i have is them going to the head of the line. If the wait is 50 minutes they should wait 50 minutes just like the rest of us. I know they have policies and rules, but it really es me off.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I know we all joke about how bad the scooters are, but after 10 days in WDW recently, I will just outright say they are out of control. Did the ADA declare that obesity is a handicap and that anyone obese should just "enjoy" anything that has a handicap placard on it? And flame away if you don't think I'm being PC. I'd be the first person to stand up for someone's right to do whatever they want with themselves: smoke, drink, be fat, etc. I believe in personal freedoms and all that, but in this case, YOUR ailment is effecting me now! I defend your right to smoke, but don't blow it in my face or expect me to walk through YOUR cloud with a smile on my face. Same goes for obesity. If you are afflicted by it, I wish you the best and hope you overcome it! But why do I have to be inconvenienced because of your self induced problems, too? :shrug:

I'm not talking legit handicaps where you need a wheelchair or have an obvious ailment, I'm talking about people that have only one affliction: obesity. Why do you get to board a bus before me simply because you are on a scooter and obese? To compound this, I saw one guy actually DRAG his scooter around on the bus to reposition it so he could drive it off!! And after I was slack jawed by that, he got walked back onto the bus and DRAGGED his wife's scooter around and then drove that off. Then hopped back on his scooter and they both drove off!! :hammer: It was POURING rain that day and we waited 45 minutes for a bus and seconds before it pulled up, these bozos got to get on first with their 15 person entourage. They were also so obese they take up 2 seats on the bus. The rest of the able bodied people on the bus just gasped and chuckled over the whole thing.

A friend of mine ended up pulling a muscle in his back the first day of his trip. A woman could not stop her scooter and it was going at full speed. :hammer: Him and another guy jumped on it and had it doing a wheelie as they tried to stop it. Another guy jumped in and pulled the key out. Great!!! Someone not even smart enough to turn the key and instead almost runs over people if it wasn't for good Samaritans!

For anyone that thinks I'm being extreme or mean, I beg you to look at every scooter rider the next time you are there and then cast your opinion. EVERY one will be an American and at LEAST 90% of them will be obese. I'm not talking a few pounds, I mean obese. And you will be doing a lot of checking for there are a lot of scooters everywhere. Disney has to make people hang their handicap placards from their state or something on the scooter to show they are really handicap. People with legit handicaps, like my nephew with CP and in a wheelchair, end up waiting longer for buses simply because the "handicapped" scooter riders take up valuable resources.

What....you got a problem with my mechanised transport then, buddy!?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

What....you got a problem with my mechanised transport then, buddy!?

:sohappy::sohappy::lol:

 

[Mystic]

Page One.

The only problem i have is them going to the head of the line. If the wait is 50 minutes they should wait 50 minutes just like the rest of us. I know they have policies and rules, but it really es me off.

For your information, on the majority of the rides, if the person using the ECV is merely obese and is completely able to walk i.e. transfer to the ride vehicle without issue, then the CMs tell them to park the ECV and go through the regular line. Only guests using the ECV with an obvious handicap are allowed to bypass the line if necessary because the standby line does not accommodate ECVs/Wheelchairs.

I was unfortunately enough to have to use an ECV on my trip last week due to having stress fractures and a walking cast. There only 4 lines that I truly "bypassed" and those were for Big Thunder, Peter Pan, Snow White and SSE. Everything else I either had to go through the line like everyone else or I went through the fastpass line WITH a fastpass or with a return pass given to me by the CMs working the line because I could not walk through the line. For example I could not take the stairs in Space Mountain's queue.

Just because a wheelchair/ECV goes through a handicapped entrance, doesn't necessarily mean that they get on the attraction any faster than the standby line. In fact for Spaceship Earth, we waited longer than the standby line did. The standby line was 10 minutes but we waited over 20 minutes to board because they waited for about 6 people in wheelchairs to show up before they allowed us to board.

When I was waiting for my return pass to be written at Buzz Lightyear, I watched one of your obese Americans ride up on and ECV and cut in front of me, I had pulled back from the fastpass line to allow others access, and try to get into the fastpass line without a fastpass. He figured because I was waiting there he could go in that way with his ECV. The CM writing my pass, refused him entry and told him in no uncertain terms that he had to park his ECV and WALK through the standby line if he wanted to ride. I was allowed to take my ECV through due to the obvious cast on my foot.

Oh and Bugsbunny...for your information, not all ECV users are American. I'm Canadian and I used it on this trip due to an injury I sustained a month before my trip. I tried my best not to run into people but when people purposely walk not even an inch in front of me while looking directly at me, I can't help it if I run into you. Believe me, being in an ECV was the last thing I wanted but it allowed me to go and enjoy my vacation with my mother.

 

[dizneykev]

I take offense to the fact that you have ASSUMED that they are in a motorized scooter because they are obese, rather than the fact that they could be obese because they are not able to move around like us "Normal Sized" people. Just because someone is able to move around and do some physical things does not mean that they are capable of living a normal life. Perhaps they have circulatory issues where if they walk all day they get Edema and have other complications. Perhaps they have had a hip replaced, or a knee and cannot take the abuse of a ten mile walk on concrete all day.

I believe there is a saying about "Walking a mile in someone else's shoes". Perhaps we should think about this before we pass judgement on others.

I agree that the policy for scooters is out of control. The problem lies with the fact that the Queue systems are not designed to handle the size of a scooter or wheel chair, so they must take alternative routes. As new rides are put in, the thought is being taken to think about all people being able to wait in the same lines. However, when you have constantly moving attractions, it will take some special needs to handle the equipment that people are using whether it be a regular or motorized wheelchair.

I understand the frustration, but don't label people as just being obese, but rather think that they may have some affliction that you are fortunate enough not to have to bear yourself.

Just my $.02

Dizneykev

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Mystic, maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but that doesn't always happen. I'm 100% in favor of making WDW as easily accessible to handicapped guests as it is to regular guests. I just see too many times when they are allowed along with their entire party to go to the head of the line.

And no, I don't have a solution to the problem.

 

[Mystic]

Mystic, maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but that doesn't always happen. I'm 100% in favor of making WDW as easily accessible to handicapped guests as it is to regular guests. I just see too many times when they are allowed along with their entire party to go to the head of the line.

And no, I don't have a solution to the problem.

I'm not saying there wasn't abuse of the system because I saw it myself, being on the other side. We were waiting for SSE when a girl in a wheelchair shows up with a walking cast on her foot along with her entire party of 12. The minute they stop at the CM the girl with the cast who's in the wheelchair hops up and is off playing the games since the handicap entrance is through the exit.

I'm just making the point that it's not always the case of being let on the attraction first, there were times we waited longer than if we'd had gone standby.

Also like dizneykev said, as new attractions are being built, the queues are being designed so that you can take the ECV or wheelchair through. I took my ECV through the lines of Soaring, Mission: Space, Splash Mountain, Toy Story Mania. The last two the ECVs went through the line as far as the stairs and then they take a different route. As I said, I would have taken the regular standby line everytime if I could have but my cast prevented me from taking the stairs.

Oh and I don't know how many dirty looks I got, cause I lost count after the first day, from people when they saw me on the ECV. I know they thought I was faking the cast on my foot. Well I would have willing given them the cast because it added 10 lbs to my left foot and made walking quite difficult. There is no way I could manage an entire day in the parks walking on it without destroying my knees and hips because it threw my gait off so much.

 

[NX2I85]

I have come to accept that there will always be ECVs at WDW, and the numbers will only increase as our society ages. That being the case I just try to chill while I'm down there and don't think twice about someone else's ECV. I just thank the good Lord I'm not on one!

I get that it steams some folks to see and be bothered by others on ECVs though. It's just a difference in personalities.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I'm not saying there wasn't abuse of the system because I saw it myself, being on the other side. We were waiting for SSE when a girl in a wheelchair shows up with a walking cast on her foot along with her entire party of 12. The minute they stop at the CM the girl with the cast who's in the wheelchair hops up and is off playing the games since the handicap entrance is through the exit.

Besides the entire party of 12 issue (they should be limited to 6 or less I believe), how is this abuse of the system?

 

[Mystic]

Besides the entire party of 12 issue (they should be limited to 6 or less I believe), how is this abuse of the system?

It was more that a huge party of 12 show up when half of the party could have easily gone through the 10 minute standby line. But also, if you're going through the handicap entrance and they want all the handicap riders to stay together so that they can board them all at once, which is what the do at SSE, the girl should have remained in her wheelchair and in the waiting area, not running off playing the games she would be able play once she was off the ride itself.

Also when I was in line for Toy Story, I was going through the standby line on my ECV because the line has been designed to handle them, the family in line behind us had a family member in a wheelchair. Well, not 5 feet through the door, the member in the wheelchair gets up and leaves the line. The family continues to push the wheelchair through the line behind us without anybody in it. They actually tried to take it through the handicap cut off section, but the CM working the gate, wouldn't let them because the family member who actually needed the wheelchair wasn't in the line with them. This family was trying to cut down on the wait time in the line by taking the handicapped route without the actual person in the wheelchair because they didn't want to ride.

 

[Figment632]

You do need to be in decent health to trek around Walt Disney World for a week. Most people walk over 10 miles a day. For someone who is obese, this probably would be the equivalent of a daily marathon and I can understand why they would choose to forego the marathon in lieu of a scooter. I wouldn't want to walk that far carrying a few hundred extra pounds on me.

I don't know anyone who likes being overweight, and obesity must be a horrible thing to live with. I'm not overweight by any means, but I certainly could stand to lose 10 pounds, and those 10 pounds drive me crazy every single day and feel like a hurdle that I'll never surpass. I can't even imagine having 200 excess pounds on me and the hopelessness that must come with it. If a trip to Disney World can add a little bit of cheer to their lives, then why not? They are just as entitled to visit the place as anyone else.

Everyone screws up in certain aspects of their lives. Some people make the unfortunate mistake of overeating and under-activity. I'm not going to judge them for their mistakes just as I wouldn't want them judging me for mine. They just have the bad fortune of having to carry their mistake outwardly where the world can see. Learn to have some patience and realize that the couple minutes it takes to load and unload a scooter is not going to kill you, and be glad you're waking up a healthy person each morning, and not someone who is morbidly obese and headed for the grave.

If you don't want to be held up by scooters, then spend a few bucks and rent a car.

My gf is not fat but she has MS and can't walk far distances anymore, she might need a scooter. SHe will get dirty looks because if you look at her there appears to be nothing wrong. So being fat doesn't mean they don't have other issues.

 

[ChrisFL]

Here we go again....I don't think there's a popcorn bucket big enough for these kinds of threads....

Here's a cliffs notes version for those interested:

1.) Person complains about amount of ECV's and rudeness, traffic problems
2.) Some people agree
3.) Some people say it should only be for those with medical problems
4.) Some people act very offended and say not all people who are fat drive ECV's just because of it
5.) Other people claim that it's still worse than years ago
6.) Someone else chimes in they were hit/saw someone get hit by one
7.)...........and round and round it goes.

 

[cdunbar]

You just have to learn not to let it bother you, I mean you just as much of a chance of getting your foot run over or hit in the back of the angle with a stroller as you do with an ECV...From my experience the number of people in ECV's really depends upon when you go, like right now there are probably more than usual because not only do you have people coming down to see the decorations, but Florida also has alot of the retired people who come down here to escape the winter weather who are starting to come down, and some of those people require the scooters because of their age or other health problems. In my experience there aren't that many in july but you have alot more strollers because of families traveling, so right now unfortunately you got hit with a double whammy because families and everyone else alike wants to see the christmas decorations...sorry! :wave:

 

[pilka214]

i feel like a large problem with the whole ECV debate is those people who are using them due to obesity (when they truly may not need it) and then believe they always have the right of way and are entitled to special privelges, and are rude always towards everyone walking around them. Now i understand not everyone does this, but those people who do give everyone else a bad name.

 

[bugsbunny]

Oh and Bugsbunny...for your information, not all ECV users are American. I'm Canadian and I used it on this trip due to an injury I sustained a month before my trip. I tried my best not to run into people but when people purposely walk not even an inch in front of me while looking directly at me, I can't help it if I run into you. Believe me, being in an ECV was the last thing I wanted but it allowed me to go and enjoy my vacation with my mother.

As I stated, other than people wearing a cast or something obvious, it almost always an obese American in a scooter. And if it makes you feel any better, I saw several people in your predicament and it breaks my heart knowing you probably booked that vacation waaay in advance for thousands of dollars and here you are with a bad foot. I hope you managed to get some enjoyment out of it anyway! I have NO ill feelings toward you and your scooter, I assure you. :animwink: