Different Parks

[lu]

I don't know if this is the place or the way to address this but.....I can't think of a better spot. (Please let me know if you have suggestions, however. I'm open to them.)So, here goes:

After spending some time at WDW the first week in April, with my daughter in a wheelchair for most of the time, I found a significant difference in how various parks handled wheelchairs & how easy or difficult it was to get around. The best experience for us was Epcot. Folks were generally well organized with the rides or displays and things went smoothly. It was quite a shock then, when we went back to Animal Kingdom (having been there day one when my daughter was still on her feet). It was just a nightmare navigating! The paths were congested and our experience with the Kilimanjaro Safaris was unforunately the worst of all the rides we experienced. I'd go into more detail, but I don't know if this is really the place. I also have some suggestions to make to someone on how it could be handled better. Where do you do something like that? I'd be happy to pass along the praises to places like Epcot's Norway and the Energy Ride. Suggestions anyone?

(And my apologies for this being so long. I'm actually curbing myself though it might be hard to know that from the length of this post.

 

[lisapooh]

Lu,
DOn't keep us in suspense. This is definately the place to let us know about your experinces. What happened at AK. I am leaving next Sunday for WDW and need such info. Will be using my power chair again.

Pooh Bear

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome, lu and this is a very good place for you to post. And, as you will see, my answer is longer than your post, so don't worry about having too long of a post.
Having traveled to WDW many times with my DD and her wheelchair, I agree with you that Epcot is the most wheelchair friendly for driving around in. Not all the rides can accomidate someone who can't walk or stand, but it is an older park, so we don't expect that much. Not every restroom can accomidate a wheelchair easily.

The studio is our best park for actually getting on rides and shows with little fuss and few transfers. The paths are a little more congested than Epcot, but all in all, it is pretty good. Most of the restrooms are pretty good, though. It is the only park where my 2 DDs can go out on their own and spend a day.

AK is hard to get around in a wheelchair or ecv becasue the walkways are narrow and bumpy (well themed, though). It does have the best bathrooms, though, becasue it is new.
I bet I can guess the problems you had with the Safari. After waiting in line with all the people without disabilities, you get in another line for people with wheelchairs and ecvs and wait for the special car. For that ride, someone with a wheelchair will always wait longer than someone without a wheelchair. And since the tram will only hold occupied wheelchairs in the front row, there can be a very long wait if you need to stay in the wheelchair. For people who can get out of their wheelchairs or ecvs, it's a very long step onto the tram. I would think they could have designed that platform to be closer in height to the tram.

Mk is not one of our favorites either. The paths are narrow and it's a busy park. Most of the bathrooms, aside from the Companion ones, are not wheelchair friendly. There are few rides that can be ridden without getting out of the wheelchair. There isn't a lot of room to transfer into most of the rides and few of the conveyor belts can be stopped to get on.›

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES

 

[lu]

SueM, you got it, girl! The Safari Ride was that nasty wait plus, what made it even worse, was the fact that they were very inattentive so people in wheelchairs went down the line too far along and then had to back up. (Plus they had the audacity to blame us with chairs for the mistake. Since the guy who was supposed to be "veering us" in a different direction didn't do it and had also missed the person about 14 people ahead of us in line, I knew it wasn't just my problem.) The person in the area where you wait again for the bus that accomodates wheelchairs was no more communicative. Just a little explanation now and then helps a lot. She didn't bother to talk to any of us at all so there was a very large group of us bunched together looking at each other like, "Is this where we're supposed to be?" I felt especially badly for the folks who'd been so far ahead of us that had to back the wheelchair up the trail and around the corner to get into the proper area for wheelchair waiting. I really think the CM owed them an apology, not a dirty look.

On the other hand, our experience at the Festival of the Lion King show was wonderful at AK. They were very well organized and communicated well with us. I was happy to see that they included kids in wheelchairs in their parade at the end of the program too. It was a great experience and the one we "left the park on."

Magic Kingdom was difficult because of the crowds, as you say. They were accomodating as they could be on the Peter Pan ride though the conveyor belt went pretty fast & I was afraid my daughter would lose her balance or step so I ended up nabbing her quickly to help her in there. I don't know if the belt can stop or not. I seem to remember it stopping at other times in the past when I was on the ride, but maybe it wasn't intentional and was just mechanical problems.

Our problems, in general, were when people weren't where they needed to be to direct us to the proper line or area. For the most part, I felt people did a pretty good job of it on most rides. When they didn't (Safari Ride, Haunted Mansion, the first time at Peter Pan) it was a mess and required a lot of wheelchair maneuvering to get out of traffic without running over people.

Other than the Safari, the biggest problem we had was in the Animation Tour at MGM. That was pretty much a disaster. It crowded and difficult to see and to move, and there were no accomodations made at all (at least not that day) for wheelchairs. Because wheelchairs need to sit in the back of the theatre, but because they didn't direct us to the side or anything like that, I ended up leaving my daughter sitting by herself in the backrow while I had to go to the other side of the theatre in another row entirely to have a place to sit. The seats near the wheelchair area were all taken by then. Had I known that things would continue in the same vein for the remainder of the tour, I'd have complained at that point and maybe it would have made a difference. Probably the biggest problem though was from the other guests on the tour. It was the place we had the greatest problem with people literally jumping in front of the wheelchair (one person actually fell on my daughter in his attempt to get around her faster and get up to the window) or standing right in front of her. I was soooooo disgusted at one point it was all I could keep to do from turning on my sarcasm button and announcing, "There's still an opportunity for those of you who haven't jumped in front of a child in a wheelchair yet. A couple of you have taken more than one turn so be fair & let others have a chance......." But I restrained myself.

This was my first time at Disney with a wheelchair. It's probably one of the better places to be on vacation if you need to use a chair, but it takes, perhaps, a little more planning than you might expect. We'll be back, briefly, in November, and I'll be better prepared this time. 

 

[SueM in MN]

I knew I would guess the Safari problem. You are right that they communicate with you very little there. One of the things they should do is ask down the disabled waiting line to find out who needs to stay in their wheelchair and pull those people out of the line. We have been on that ride when people who were already getting out of their chairs didn't realize the chair could be loaded with them in it and when people who had rented chairs and maybe would have chosen to get out stayed in. We have also had a line of people who had to snake around us because we were at the head of the line and couldn't ride in that car because all the wheelchair cars were full.
We also had trouble riding Peter Pan. It will probably be my DD's last time to ride it. They said they could not stop the belt and they directed my DH who was carrying my DD to get on first. My other DD and I were told to wait until we were signalled to get on. That was 3 cars after my DH. So, I spent the whole ride worrying about how he was going to get her off. It would have worked better for my other DD and I to get on a car before them, or one of us before and one after so we could help. As it was, DH said he almost dropped DD getting off. He almost ran out of room to get out. They would have had to stop the belt then, though.

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES

 

[Michigan]

Jan 2000 when we went on the safari the handicap entrance was through the exit still a long wait but not as bad as it was in Dec 2000 when they moved the wheelchair entrance 2 feet from the end of the regular line so we waited through the entire line and then we waited another hour for the car. I don't think they have a clue in AK what they are doing.

 

[Wheelsie]

Lu...

WELCOME!! And thanks for the information...like everyone has already said you have come to the RIGHT place to convey your information and look for others that may have more of the same info!

Wheelsie Co-Moderator of disABILITIES
and
DisneyTips
wheelsie@mail.wdwinfo.com