Wheelchair guests separated from their group

[Mom of 3]

I am going to Disney again. I went 3 years ago with my DH and 2 sons. This time I am going with DH and my 3 sons, 10, 6 and 2.

On the whole we had a good time last time with the exception of a couple of incidents. On a few occassions I was separated from my family members because of seating issues.

When we went to the Fantasmic shows their were so many people in wheel chairs that they could not accommodate my family members sitting near me and I ended up sitting by myself for the the hour plus wait for the show, plus the length of the show.

At the Little Mermaid show I was once again separated from my DH and kids and sat at the back of the theater by myself (quite upset).

After all, I go to Disney for my kids and want to see their faces and their joy at the shows and rides.

These weren't the only incidents. Has anyone else had this happen? Is there a way to avoid this happening this time?

We have the Fantasmic Dinner package this time and I can transfer from the wheelchair to a seat in the reserved section so long as I don't have to walk far.

Anita Holton with Rheumatoid Arthritus

 

[BillSears]

I always call these areas the "Wheelchair getto", well in my inner dialogue I do. It's one of the bad parts of using a whelchair. You get taken off to the side/back during almost all shows that you go to see whether it's WDW or elsewhere. Then they tell you that you can only have one person sit with you. It feels like a slap in the face to be split up just because of how they handle wheelchair access.

I don't really have a good solution for the problem. One of the best ways I've seen to handle this was having alot of seats on the aisle of an auditorium removed. This allowed the wheelchair user to sit in that spot and thier family to fill the aisle that they were in. But this only works if the auditiorium is level and had no stairs. Plus it might be a problem for those sitting behind the wheelchair user since we tend to sit abit higher then the standard chairs.

I tend to think of this as a no win situation for everyone. If they allow the wheelchair user and all of thier family to sit together then they have to drastictly reduce the number of wheelchair users that can be accomidated. If they limit the wheelchair user to only one person sitting with them they're breaking up families. I do recall that the ADA law says the wheelchair seating must have one companion seat next to it.

 

[fostrmom2mny]

If a person is able to park their EVC/wheelchair, and walk to a reg. seat, do they allow this? Last visit, I rentd an EVC from WDW at the parks and experianced the back rows and such.

I am planning on renting this time form an off site. I can not walk for extended periods of time, nor can I stand for very long. Many times, I will be trying to walk onto and into attractions after the waiting is over. (Does that make sence?)

Do they let you do this? I have another question about parades. I am going solo next month. I hear that parks have a place for wheelchairs to veiw the parades. Would those be the only places? I hear that families staying with their wheelchair many times end up standing in front of others who are in a wheelchair, then they can't see. If I were to want to see a parade at MK, and parked on the curb, all the way to the end of the curb, would that be pretty safe that no one would stand in front of me so I'd be able to see?

Thanks for any advise.
Gerri