Please help me think through ECV options. I can walk up to about a mile at a time, but it gets painful after that (and pain builds as the mileage builds up). This is new for me; we walked 10 miles a day our last trip. Is it better to rent an ECV for the whole trip (3.5 days/3 nights), with the risk of having to wait for the next bus if all ECV slots are full? Or should I try to rent at each park, which means walking from resort room to bus stop and bus stop to ECV rental? If I do a full week rental, it would have to be the preferred vendor that drops off at bell services. I don’t want to spend time on such a short trip waiting for delivery and pick up. I haven’t bought our tickets yet because I am unsure if the ECV can work with all the park time we have planned.
Generally speaking, your trip will be made better with the ECV. This is based on years of anecdotal evidence here on this forum; once someone starts asking the question “Should I use an ECV?” it usually means it’s time.
As far as the buses go, yes - there is a *chance* you may have to wait for the next bus. As long as you will be loaded on the next bus, that is about 20 minutes. You always have the option to get an accessible Minnie Van that will be able to carry you, the ECV and 4 or 5 others (depending on if you sit belted in on the ECV during the trip). You can see the wait times for the Accessible Minnie Vans (just like the “regular” Minnie Vans) in the Lyft App.
As others have explained here, Gold is preferred by many, if not most of our members because of the condition of their equipment, and their overall service. I would encourage you to reach out to them with any questions prior to making a decision. Gold may be able to drop off an unattended
scooter at Shades of Green - I don’t know if that Resort operates under all the same mandates as the other Resort Hotels at WDW. Regardless, when you talk to them, tell them when you will arrive, and when you intend to depart, and see if their hours work with your schedule.
If you decide to rent at the Parks (as a reminder, the overall cost will be more expensive overall for the week) you can use a device like a Rollator (a walker with a built-in seat, so you can sit any time you are not walking) to get from your room to the bus stop, and from the bus stop to the ECV rental counter at each Park.
A basic Rollator can be seen here. You can ask them to keep the Rollator for you while you are using the Parks rental ECV. You can “hop” a Parks ECV rental from one Park to another with 2 caveats:
- You don’t take the actual scooter with you - just the rental. If you get to the next Park and they are sold out, you will have to wait for someone to return one.
- You cannot hop a rental to Disney Springs; that is a whole different rental amount and deposit amount.
I know this is a whole new set of things to figure out, and it probably feels very stressful. You are in the right place to learn what you need to know. Welcome!
