1st trip in elelectric wheelchair

[KenN]

My wife and I are members of DVC since 1994. We have been to WDW many times and used ECV's. My wife was unable to do all the walking WDW involves. She had a stroke in August and now can only walk about 10 feet at a time with a walker. She has an electric powered chair (a Jazzy 1113). This is our first trip since the stroke and all our grandchildren (6) will be going with us so I want her to really enjoy herself and not have needless obstacles in her way.

I have several questions. We will be flying to Orlando, any any advice, tips or experience you have will be appreciated. Will we have problems boarding or unboarding the plane? I plan on using Tiffany Towncar to shuttle to OKW. The Jazzy chair will disassemble and fit into a car trunk. Is there a better service or method to get to OKW?

Are there any 2 bedroom units at OKW with a handicapped accessible bathroom? Do they have roll in showers and hand held shower heads? I don't think she can safely make the step up into the shower in the master bedroom. Are all the handicapped units ground level? Are there any handicapped units in the new buildings with elevators? I will also post this on the DISabilities board but since this is specific to OKW I will post here too.

Has there been any change in WDW bus service in the past 2 years? Last time there using an ECV was no problem with the buses but I read several posts about "ramps" too steep for electric chairs to handle.

I know which rides are out since my wife can't step down or up (Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Test Track and a lot of things in Fantasy Land). I went to the Disney site for disabilities but if any of you have personal experience with a power chair and any rides please share them with us.

Thanks

 

[Nanajo1]

I'm sure the all time experts will be signing in soon. Between, Teri, Sue and Lisa and others I know you'll get some good advice. I don't take my electric wheelchair to WDW(it does not dissemble easily) so all I can offer is PD for a great trip.

 

[lisapooh]

Hi I use a Jazzy 1103 and found that the ramp on the new buses is too steep to negotiate when leaving the parks where there is no curb. A driver tried to force the Jazzy up the ramp and almost tipped the Jazzy off the ramp and caused me a great deal of pain. Do not allow anyone to force the chair up anything especially by using the seat back as a place to push on. That hurts to say the least.

On roll in showers be aware that the seat that folds down can be very slick. I would bring some sort of nonskid mat to sit on so your wife doesn't fall. I prefer a tub myself with good strong grab bars. Or a bat seat. I do not care for the ones the showers are equipped with.

I would make sure TTC is willing to deal with the Jazzy. They were not willing to deal with mine. And they were quite rude about it. As much as I hate Mears they do have lift equipped vans. Also there is a taxi service that has accessible cabs. It was posted a few weeks ago by someone else.

Make sure that your dealer has gel batteries on the Jazzy so it can be transported by the airline. That saves on complications on the packing. Also see if you can gate check it. It will save your wife having to get in an uncomfortable manual wheelchair. And ask that it be returned to you at the gate.

When are you going to be in the world. I will be there Mar12 - Mar 17. If you are there look for a purple Jazzy. The Purple Demon.

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome. You already got some good information.
I have the phone number for the taxi company that Lisa mentioned; it's not on this computer though. Andrew Bichard had a good experience with the company and posted the number. If he doesn't come along and post it, I can easily find it on my other computer.

DVC does have fully accessible units in all sizes, from studio on up. They do have roll in showers with handheld shower heads. They also still have the jacuzi tub in the master bedroom area. I don't know if any are on the second floor of the new buildings. When they were under construction, we were told some of the second floor units would be. We have stayed on the second floor in the elevator buildings, but we were in a regular unit. That works for us because DD is the one using a wheelchair. She's 16, but small. I don't think a regular unit would work for you since, not only is there the problem with the shower, but the toilet is low with no grab bars and no room to assist.
Member Services is pretty good to work with for medical needs. I don't remember if the shower had the fold out bench or not, but you can ask Member Services about requesting a free-standing shower bench if that would work better for you.

Here's a link to a thread about ride access.

 

[KenN]

Thanks lisapooh. We will be there June 9-14. Let me know how things go this trip for you. The Jazzy does have gel batteries and I will be sure to gate check the chair. I think you are right about using Mears - that way I won't have to take the chair apart. The nonskid mat for the shower is a good suggestion.

I'm a little confused about the new buses. The last time we went the lifts on the buses would go all way down to the street level. If I remember the bus stops at OKW have curbs except at the Hospitality House. MGM has curbs but MK and Epcot do not. I can't remember about AK but I don't think it has curbs. It sounds like Disney has changed all the lifts on their buses. It seems odd they would adopt a device that has a slope greater than most public access standards. It's begining to sound like I might need to rent a car. We enjoy using the Disney transportation. I will e-mail them about my concerns. So what do you do when you get to the park but cannot leave?

SueM in MN, thanks for the link and I would like to get the phone number and more iformation for the taxi company. I will be e-mailing DVC member services and will inquire about the units in the new buildings at OKW. I posted on the DVC board and someone said they don't allow wheelchairs (or wheelchair bound people?) on the upper floors because of difficulty evacuating from fires. We we get a have fully accessible unit for sure.

Thanks for all you help, I knew ya'll would have the answers. I'm sure I will have more questions.

 

[SueM in MN]

I saw your poat on the DVC board. All I can say is that it seems to be inconsistent about whether they will allow wheelchairs on the second floor. We were on the second floor last March and they knew we had a person in a wheelchair who wold only be able to get doen with the elevator or if we carried her.
I don't think the elevator/fire story is true. If it was the case, no hotel would let anyone in a wheelchair stay anywhere besides ground floor.
About the buses and curbs; all the resort stops have curb cutouts, but they don't necessarily stop by the curb cutout. The parks don't have curbs at all at the bus stops, it's just flat. That worked well for the buses that had lifts; they didn't have to line the lift up, just let it down on the curb. It doesn't work well with the buses with ramps because it makes the ramp have a steeper angle. They are gradually replacing the old lift buses with the new ones that have ramps. I don't know how many of each type they have.

 

[KenN]

I sent an e-mail to member service about the bus ramp telling them it appears from my research there seems to be difficulty using the power chairs with the WDW buses and it has been said the ramps used on the buses are too steep for the power chair users. If this is true to please provide me contact information for the individuals responsible for handicapped accessibility at WDW. I will let you know what their response is.

Now, I think Disney may have a legal responsibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act not to discriminate against power chair users. They probably adopted the ramps with good intentions but without proper research. I would like to think Disney will make the needed modifications (either longer ramps, a scurb landings at all stops, special shuttle vans for power chair users, or back to the lifts or some possibilities). I will give them time to respond but if I am not satisfied with their position I plan on reporting them as in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

You here at this board know the power chairs are medical necessities that require disability certification by a physician. A power chair is used in many cases because the user is unable to use a manual chair or an ECV/scooter. Yes, I'm pretty hacked at Disney at the moment because they took something that wasn't broken (the lifts) and fixed it (the ramps) and the net result is denying access of power chair users to the WDW bus system.

Here are some links to the Department of Justice and Department of Transportation.

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
http://www.dot.gov/accessibility/index.html

 

[SueM in MN]

I think they did start buying buses with ramps to fix some problems:
-the buses with lifts were getting old and need to be replaced
-ramps, in general have less breakdowns and are easier to service,
use, and maintain
-a lot of city bus services have similar types of ramp buses that
operate with no problem

I think they overlooked some things in their change. One of them was that most city buses operate in places that have curbs. When you use a ramp without a curb, the angle is higher and harder to get up. The rule of thumb is that for every inch or rise, you need one foot of length in the ramp to keep the correct angle. It's possible the ramp buses DO meet the federal guidelines for the allowed angle of the ramp, but there is a difference between meeting the guidelines and meeting the needs of the customers.

I know from things I've read here and also in some disability magazines (I need to read something while I'm waiting for my van to be fixed) that WDW does use focus groups from disability groups in the Orlando area. I don't know if they did that with the buses. I do know that ecv users on the boards have not reported the same problems with the buses. I'm not sure why, but it seems that ecvs can negotiate a steeper angle than a power wheelchair can.
I'm also not sure if the ramp buses are a trial or if they are definate replacements to the ramp buses.
let us know what reply you get.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

KenN,

I suggest you use Mears shuttle from the airport. I always use them and haver never had a problem. Lisa must have been unlucky! The disabled van that Mears uses can only take two wheelchairs max, and it is unlikely that two wheelchairs will arrive at airport together so you will probably have the van to yourself. - Almost as good as a Tiffany's limo.

You could use the taxi. I can't remember where I wrote the number down - Maybe Sue can find it. In any case, I would guess the skycaps will know - as will the Mears desk. The cab company that has the vans is owned by Mears, though it uses a different name 'Yellow Cab' I think.

I don't believe you will have much of a problem with the buses. Unless they have bought more since October 2001 when there were only a handful in operation, most of the buses will still be the old types with regular lifts. so if the new type coes along, skip it and wait for the next.

My last trip, I rented a commode seat manual chair from Walker Medical for use in the shower, which maade life much easier for me. Also, it was one less transfer when I wanted to use the shower AND the WC.

Andrew

 

[SueM in MN]

I did find the number.
Yellow Cab: (407) 669-9999
Andrew, please feel free to correct me if I didn't note this correctly when you posted it last time. Yellow Cab has several Voyager sized vans with lowered floor at the rear and wheelchair tie downs. They will hold 4 passengers plus one regular size wheelchair or one passenger plus a wide sized chair.

This made me think of something else. If you don't already know where the safe tie down points are on the wheelchair, find out before you go. We used some bright fushia tape to mark them on DD's wheelchair before we went. That way there was no confusion about where the tiedowns could and could not be connected and it helped speed up the loading process.Several bus drivers thanked us for making their jobs easier.

 

[KenN]

Sue, the correct number for Yellow Cab is 699-9999. I found it on Mears web site. I will label the tie downs on the chair and have instructions with the chair seat removal for use by the air crew. The Jazzy website has a forum that has helped me a lot and I'm sure I'll be able to get the info on the tie down points there.
Andrew you've sold me on Mears - either the shuttle or the taxi. I hope you are right about the buses. We will just be prepared to wait on the lift buses.
Thanks to everyone for their help and I'll let you know what I find out from member services.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry. It's apparently been changed. Thanks for the update. I will change it on my sticky notes.
I had it cut and pasted it from when Andrew first posted it. I didn't check on the Mears website, but yesterday I found several places for Orlando that listed the 669 number for Yellow Cab. Looking at the Mears site, I wonder if they recently changed to a "hotline" number for all their cab services.
I wouldn't worry about the buses either. I remember reading that their first order of the ramp buses was only 10 or 15 buses, a small part of their fleet. We didn't see any of them last March or in July when we were at WDW. Even if one does come, the ramp is only a problem (from what people have posted) in areas without a curb. And, even then, it's not a problem getting off, just getting on.
We have a similar situation with our ramp van if the kneel feature isn't turned on. Using it with a curb, it's almost level, without a curb, it's pretty steep.

 

[lisapooh]

Ken, who are you on the Jazzy site? I am on there all the time. Did you see Terri had her baby.

 

[KenN]

Lisa, I just started posting last week, Deb my wife aka as nanee6 just got her chair last week. I will be KenN or nanee6's hubby on the Jazzy board too, just got my password this morning. I've read some of your posts on the Jazzy board. No reply yet from Member Services at DVC but it can take a couple of days sometimes and the bus/ramp info will probably take them some research time. The fact I asked for the name of the person responsible for disabilitity access at Disney will put it into another information/public relations loop.