Parking

[nursingsteph0716]

Not sure this is even an option. Im traveling with my mom and two children and this is her first time attending. She is not in the greatest of health and does require the use of a cane and cant walk long distances. We plan on renitng a car but not sure how parking works for this trip. We dont have a handicap as the application is still in process with the county. We are looking into renting scooter as well but not sure if this is finacially something that is possible. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[peemagg]

I would say since your Mom can't walk distances, I don't know how you are going to get around the cost of a ECV or wheelchair.

If you are staying on property, I would not use a rental car and just use the buses. It will get you the closest to the front of the parks than driving yourself.

Use the money for a ECV or wheelchair for your mom rather than a rental car. That is my suggestion. Also I don't know how mentally capable your mother is, but it does take a lot of concentration being aware of where you are and where everyone else is.

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by nursingsteph0716

Not sure this is even an option. Im traveling with my mom and two children and this is her first time attending. She is not in the greatest of health and does require the use of a cane and cant walk long distances. We plan on renitng a car but not sure how parking works for this trip. We dont have a handicap as the application is still in process with the county. We are looking into renting scooter as well but not sure if this is finacially something that is possible. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

WDW is huge. But you do have some options.


Each park does have a guest drop off, but it's still some distance to walk from the drop off. Plus in most cases you'd have to exit the lot and start all over to park.

You can ask if there is any parking available in the medical overflow lot. Again, there is a big walk even from the medical and handicapped lots. However, they do have a limited number of wheel chairs available to get you through the parking lot.

Probably your best bet is wheel chair or ECV rental for her. There is so much walking at WDW.

[LilyWDW]

Originally Posted by nursingsteph0716

Not sure this is even an option. Im traveling with my mom and two children and this is her first time attending. She is not in the greatest of health and does require the use of a cane and cant walk long distances. We plan on renitng a car but not sure how parking works for this trip. We dont have a handicap as the application is still in process with the county. We are looking into renting scooter as well but not sure if this is finacially something that is possible. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Okay, I have to ask. If she can't walk long distances what are you going to do IN the parks?

Honestly, I would cut something else and get a scooter or wheelchair.

[OhanaDreams]

Originally Posted by lovethattink

Again, there is a big walk even from the medical and handicapped lots.

I have been worrying about his and trying to find information on how far the actual spots are from the gates. We are traveling with a child in a handicap stroller for a Wish trip in February. He has limited endurance and we need to figure out his day.

Does anyone have this information for the Disney Parks, Universal and Sea World?

[dclstitch]

For dis. Hollywood studios is about a 3 or 4 min walk to the gate. Magic kingdom depending if your in disability you are a 3 min walk, if in jafar lot that's the overflow then it's 4 to5 mins. Am is about 4-5 min walk and epcot is about 3-5 mins. Every lot except jafar has wheelchairs for your use. If you wish ask the parking cast member that points you down the row just to park closer to the tram.

[Betty Rohrer]

on grandsons MAW trips we were able to park in handicapped areas with our GKTW passes at all parks. the worse was MK as you still have to take a boat or monorail to park. it was also a long hike to TTC and no trams. let the parking booth know you are MAW and show your ids an they will tell you were to go it is different in each park.

[OhanaDreams]

Originally Posted by dclstitch

For dis. Hollywood studios is about a 3 or 4 min walk to the gate. Magic kingdom depending if your in disability you are a 3 min walk, if in jafar lot that's the overflow then it's 4 to5 mins. Am is about 4-5 min walk and epcot is about 3-5 mins. Every lot except jafar has wheelchairs for your use. If you wish ask the parking cast member that points you down the row just to park closer to the tram.

Thank You!!

[Schmeck]

Originally Posted by OhanaDreams

I have been worrying about his and trying to find information on how far the actual spots are from the gates. We are traveling with a child in a handicap stroller for a Wish trip in February. He has limited endurance and we need to figure out his day.

Does anyone have this information for the Disney Parks, Universal and Sea World?

If you can't remove the child from the stroller to use the tram system, you can walk from your car to the park gates, pushing the child in the stroller. If you use your MAW ID, as stated, you can get into the medical needs parking lot on Disney property, which is a 3-4 minute walk to either the gates (or the TTC at MK). Try looking at Bing maps or Google maps to see the layout of the parking lots?

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by OhanaDreams

I have been worrying about his and trying to find information on how far the actual spots are from the gates. We are traveling with a child in a handicap stroller for a Wish trip in February. He has limited endurance and we need to figure out his day.

Does anyone have this information for the Disney Parks, Universal and Sea World?

Not sure if you have a placard or not, but the time to walk is as mentioned in the above posts.

We've already had to park out by the Petty Race Track at the TTC because the parking lot was filled. It's a good 10 minute walk from there if you're walking at a good clip. We have a convaid cruiser so ds doesn't have to walk from where ever we end up in the parking lot, but we do. IMHO, it's too bulky to fold up get on the tram, especially with the doors on the tram now. It's too heavy for me to lift over the doors. And there is only enough room for it if we're in a first row section of the trams. So we hike it from where we park.

Universal has a parking garage. I'm not sure if they allow parking in disabled without a placard. And I never heard of a medical parking lot otherwise. But even from disabled parking it's pretty far to the gates of the parks. There are conveyor belt walkways, but strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs are not permitted on them. You have to walk through City Walk with no conveyor belts to even get to either Universal or IOA. My FIL had a very difficult time walking, using the conveyor belts from the parking lot to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. the first restaurant in City Walk. We were even parked right by an elevator. There is no tram service from parking to the parks.

Sea World's parking lot is not as large as all the other park's, unless you end up in their overflow lot across the street. They also have tram service, but our Cruiser doesn't really fit. So again we walk.

My son would not be able to walk from any of these parking lots by himself to the front entrance, especially on a hot day. On a cool day, he'd get much further though.

[SueM in MN]

To be on the safe side of estimating, I would double the walking times people posted. Still less than 10 minutes, but if you have slow walkers and are in the farthest part of the medical parking, it could be that long. When my FIL (now deceased) came with us, it did take that long because he had to walk very slowly and slow to rest.

WDW Medical Parking lots do have courtesy wheelchairs to use to get to the park entrance, BUT there is no guarantee they will have any at the wheelchair corral when you arrive. We have seen them completely empty because guests are using them faster than they can be brought back.

WDW does have some unmarked spots in some of the Medical Parking lots - those are spots WITHOUT blue painted lines.
The spots WITH blue painted lines are the designated handicapped parking spots (Florida does not require signs at all spots). People parking in those spots without a valid handicapped parking permit could get ticketed (the lots are patrolled).
If you are directed to Medical Parking, just avoid those spots.

Universal/IOA has a very large parking ramp that is across the street from City Walk. I doubt that they allow people without valid handicapped parking permits to park in their handicapped parking spots because they are well marked as Handicapped Parking. If you have limitations, let the parking attendants know.

As was mentioned, the walkway across from parking to the City Walk area is very long - it's crossing a multi-lane road. I didn't count ever, but I think it is about 6 lanes. Then, you get to City Walk and have to go thru that to go to either Universal Park or IOA.
On our recent trip, I went alone to IOA and my DH picked me up later. The drop off point is at the parking ramp. Walking quickly and not stopping, it still took me almost 20 minutes to walk from there to the IOA entrance.

[Schmeck]

That hike from parking to gate is a killer at Universal! Even with the moving sidewalks, and parts of the way covered from the sun, I lose a lot of energy and enthusiasm when we go there. Then, the hike to our favorite part of the parks there, WWOHP, is all the way on the other side of IOA...

I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

[Bete]

Originally Posted by Schmeck

That hike from parking to gate is a killer at Universal! Even with the moving sidewalks, and parts of the way covered from the sun, I lose a lot of energy and enthusiasm when we go there. Then, the hike to our favorite part of the parks there, WWOHP, is all the way on the other side of IOA...

I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

I agree. We just got back and it's quite a walk. You have to be careful getting on and off these moving sidewalks, too. Once you get by the moving sidewalks there's still plenty to walk to get to the entrances. Of course, the best rides are in the back of the parks.

Sea World is not bad.

With Disney Magic Kingdom is the hardest, followed by Epcot, then Animal Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios.