Walt Disney World via Wheelchair?

M

Mouselover1964

New Member
Original Poster
I have to be in a wheelchair due to a severely bad back. I was wondering if anyone had experience touring disney in a wheelchair? What did you avoid? Was it easy to get around? Are all the buses are accessible? Wihere to stay and where to avoid staying? Any information you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
M

marinoalulema

Account Suspended
wheelchair

boyfriend has had 3 back operations and 2 discs removed so we have alot of experience with wheelchairs and over 20 trips so far

how severe is your back condition? I would first recommend that when you rent the wheelchair, they give you a slip to put on the back pouch with your name, also write in your condition, if you do not have an apparent condition be prepared for looks of disapproval from people

if you can transfer out of the wheelchair you can ride just about anything, if you are wheelchair bound, there are some that have wheelchair accessible ride cars
 
M

marinoalulema

Account Suspended
wheelchairs

make sure that when you book your reservation you tell them you have a wheelchair and when you check in make sure they know it
they will give you the handicapped room with the large shower that you can ride into for showering, a king sized bed, a location closer to the buses for ease of traveling, and a fridge if you need it for medication

all of the buses on property have wheelchair lifts so that would not be a problem getting around
 
M

Mouselover1964

New Member
Original Poster
I can transfer out to get on some rides. The coasters are too much for me to handle. I am bringing my own chair from home. I am sure of getting looks from people as you can't tell that my back is messed up by looking at me.
 
VT GAL

VT GAL

Member
Mouselover1964 said:
I have to be in a wheelchair due to a severely bad back. I was wondering if anyone had experience touring disney in a wheelchair? What did you avoid? Was it easy to get around? Are all the buses are accessible? Wihere to stay and where to avoid staying? Any information you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

We took my mother, who needs a wheelchair for a bad back as well, in January and it was easier than I thought it was going to be.

We got her a guest assistance card, which really paid off for most of EPCOT (not Soarin') and Magic Kingdom (the only ride that we rode that you needed to wait in line for was Pooh). Really, the card is more useful if you need to be pushed around (like my mother), because you never realize how hilly the queues are until you are pushing some around (especially Soarin' with this one). Also, some of the turns are a little hard to make (I found). Guest Services was GREAT at explaining how the card worked and were really nice! They also gave us a metric TON of pamphlets about touring the parks with disabilities (all of the info is also on the Disney website - http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQGuestsWithDisabilitiesPage )

We really didn't avoid anything! My Mom was a little self-conscious at first since she normally doesn't need a wheelchair, but we eased her into that with funny, non-offensive names on her wheelchair. All of the Cast Members were more than willing to help us get around and keep oriented with where wheelchairs were moved to when we got off of some rides and stuff like that.

I am not sure about the buses, since we drove to all of the parks. I am pretty sure that they "kneel" if you can walk on or have a lift of some sort if you need to ride in your chair. Sorry that I don't know more...

We stayed at POFQ and we loved it. When I made the reservation I made sure to tell the person about our situation and what our needs were. We chose a moderate, because it gave us some more room to move around. There are also rooms available with special bathrooms upon request. Again, there is a special number for guests traveling for disabilities (I think it is 407-WDW-MAGIC).

The main advice I can give you is take it easy and have a great time! :wave: And please don't worry if some people say rude things if you get to go to a special line with the guest assistance card! They don't know your situation and you don't know theirs. We just tried to ignore it and keep on our magical way.

I hope this helps some and I hope that you have a great trip!!!!! :sohappy:

If you want to know anything else about our trip, please feel free to PM me!

Shelley
 
tcwickings

tcwickings

Active Member
We took a good friend in a wheelchair, he has only one leg. It was a great time. Disney was great with everything. Go have fun and enjoy.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
I know it's a "rival" site, but DisBoards has an entire forum on touring with disabilities, both permanent and temporary. (I won't post a direct link, but it's not hard to find)

AllEars has a section on touring with various special needs:
http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/special.htm

And they also talk about the Passporter guidebook that's devoted to touring the special needs and disabilities. (Co-authored by AllEars founder Deb Wills)

-Rob
 
Panhead

Panhead

Member
My grand-mother has back problems and is in a wheelchair, but we've taken her to Disney the past 3 years without a problem. Disney is VERY good with handi-cap accesibility and, as an added bonus, you get the best seats :lol: (another reason why we take her :zipit:).


-Chris-
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
Mouselover1964 said:
I'm curious to what this special badge or certificate is and how you go about getting it? Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

if you're referring to the Guest Assistance Card (GAC), you need to stop in at Guest Relations. Explain to them what you have trouble with (stairs, waiting in direct sunlight, etc) and they will give you a card noting that. (They can even give you one that's valid for your entire stay, so you only have to go to GR once).
Then, because each attraction is different, you need to ask the CM greeter at each attraction for assistance, showing the GAC if needed. The CM will then direct you as appropriate. The GAC is *not* a front-of-the-line pass, and if you're in a wheelchair many queues are fully accessible.

My sister has problems with her knees, and can't to stairs. So if she ever goes to WDW again, she'll get a GAC card that says she can't do stairs. Everything else she should be OK with. (Though walking down ramps she'd probably have to walk a little slowly) Then, for example at Splash Mountain, if the queue is out in the courtyard, they'll have her wait in the line until she gets to the stairs up into the building, and then they'll reroute her through the exit, which is what they do with wheelchairs. Same thing at Dinosaur. They'll direct her to the elevator down to the boarding platform to avoid the stairs.

-Rob
 
GoofyDadKB

GoofyDadKB

Missing my mind...
Premium Member
If you are bringing your own wheelchair I doubt you will get many looks. It is the people with rented wheelchairs that people tend to doubt.
 
pcarathers

pcarathers

Active Member
My father used a wheelchair(his own) for the first time on our last trip.. he is 66 years old and is most independent! He didnt want to use a wheelchair due to the fact that he has no physical disablility, but due to bad hips from 25 years of climbing ladders as a firefighter and who knows how many broken bones....he can hardly walk around the grocery store for 20 minutes, much less do WDW...The only issue we had with him being in the wheelchair, was going into some of the gift shops....he likes to look too, but it was crowded and cramped in a lot of them, most of the time, he would sit outside while we shopped or would use a cane and get out and walk in then we would back track to get his chair....most of the lines/attractions were accomodatiing, and since he gets motion sickness very easily, he doesnt ride very many rides. For me pushing him around...my BIGGEST complaint would be the people who are either walking towards you and STOP or are in front of you and STOP....it's not very easy to stop sometimes! Most of the parades have viewing areas just for people in wheelchairs/scooters....and the family with them also gets to stay with them. The buses load wheelchair/scooters first then get them situated and board everyone else....that would be probably the time I felt most uncomfortable, because I would push him onto the bus and the driver belted him in and secured the chair and then told the rest of our family to come on board.....the people in line would just look at us funny, because they had been in line first, but we got boarded first....someone did say something about it and the driver politely told them, that they try to keep those people together to assist in him getting off the bus when it comes time.
 
pcarathers

pcarathers

Active Member
also, that same trip, another day..we had already boarded a bus and before the driver went up to load the regular passengers, another family walked up pushing a stroller......at first, I thought they had been mistaken and got in the wrong line, and I could hear a couple of women who had been standing in an already LONG line to board, complain about them just walking up and getting on....the bus driver was speaking to the man with the group and then nodded and let them board...they sat down beside my family and that was when I noticed it.....the baby who was probably 3 years old, did not have a leg..he had a prosthetic one......the mom was talking with us and said he had had a tumor and lost his leg, but it saved his life.....when the two women who had been raising a "ruckus" got on the bus, they BEELINED it to the back of the bus to where they could say something infront of these people....they were very rude, nasty women,...and after about 2 minutes of hearing them complain, I turned to my sister who was sitting right infront of them and very loudly said, "isn't it funny how people just ASSUME things about people without even knowing the situation. Both of them just looked at me and smuggly turned away......the mom kinda laughed then....we got off at our resort , as did the 2 "cranks" and that was when I heard it!!!! Another man who had been standing up in the back had heard all that went on and he stopped the two women and told them point blank that they were disgraceful.....they complained about this family getting to board before them, but didnt realize the baby had no leg...he pointed it out about the prosthetic leg and they both gasped......he just looked at them and said, "yeah,..next time, you might want to get more facts before you make a fool out of yourselves!" it was priceless!!!!!!! we saw that family again on the trip and told them what he had done.....they were grateful that he took it up on himself to do that.......
 

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