2nd bad experience on Spaceship Earth

[OurBigTrip]

And again, the OP wouldn’t have had an issue if they had simply said no to begin with, but it does stand to reason that if you asked for assistance to get up to the ride vehicle and it was indeed provided that you would also need assistance at unloading.

The issue at hand here is not if they are willing and able to help or not, but that assistance was given to load and not to unload and that caused a problem.

It's not necessarily true that needing help with loading means you need help with unloading. The guest shouldn't have asked for the CM to push the wheelchair, but once she did, the CM should have simply said "Sorry, we can't do that"

Anyone who needs that level of assistance should expect to bring someone along to help.

 

[piccolopat]

Unfortunately, unless you explicitly responded that your DH and DS were also disabled AND the CM was willing and able to provide assistance, you were on your own. Many experienced wheelchair users may be able to wheel down that ramp by themselves while others have someone with them who can help. Disney isn't obligated to provide that assistance but I agree that communication (maybe from them and you) could have been better. There are many places in the parks where the incline is a challenge. I pushed my disabled DSIL thru all 4 parks when he was almost 100 pounds heavier than me and I was 60. He wouldn't have been able to do a lot of things without assistance. Perhaps you can find someone to go with you that provide the extra assistance you need.

 

[Evita_W]

It's not necessarily true that needing help with loading means you need help with unloading. The guest shouldn't have asked for the CM to push the wheelchair, but once she did, the CM should have simply said "Sorry, we can't do that"

Anyone who needs that level of assistance should expect to bring someone along to help.

Again, they did ask at boarding (for both load and unload assistance) from what I have seen and were basically told yes, no problem, so they acted accordingly. Had they been told no, they would have left it at that, but to be told yes and then once you are ready to get off to be told no, even though you asked at the beginning is certainly not right. But even if they didn’t ask for assistance for unloading, the CMs should have inquired if they would need that when the requested assistance with boarding.

 

[Evita_W]

Unfortunately, unless you explicitly responded that your DH and DS were also disabled AND the CM was willing and able to provide assistance, you were on your own. Many experienced wheelchair users may be able to wheel down that ramp by themselves while others have someone with them who can help. Disney isn't obligated to provide that assistance but I agree that communication (maybe from them and you) could have been better. There are many places in the parks where the incline is a challenge. I pushed my disabled DSIL thru all 4 parks when he was almost 100 pounds heavier than me and I was 60. He wouldn't have been able to do a lot of things without assistance. Perhaps you can find someone to go with you that provide the extra assistance you need.

Again, so many are misreading the OP’s comment, they asked, they were told that the CMs could assist in the way they needed, so they got on the ride, then when going to get off the ride, the CM then said no. That is where the issue is here, had they been told no initially, while it would have been disappointing, they even said they would have understood.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Again, they did ask at boarding (for both load and unload assistance) from what I have seen and were basically told yes, no problem, so they acted accordingly. Had they been told no, they would have left it at that, but to be told yes and then once you are ready to get off to be told no, even though you asked at the beginning is certainly not right. But even if they didn’t ask for assistance for unloading, the CMs should have inquired if they would need that when the requested assistance with boarding.

OP didn't ask for unloading assistance when she boarded.

 

[Evita_W]

OP didn't ask for unloading assistance when she boarded.

Again, if you ask for loading assistance, it should either be assumed you will need help unloading or you should ask additional questions to ensure the guest is either accommodated or you inform them that they can’t be. This isn’t hard to understand, this one clearly falls on the failure of the CMs to do their jobs properly.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Again, if you ask for loading assistance, it should either be assumed you will need help unloading or you should ask additional questions to ensure the guest is either accommodated or you inform them that they can’t be. This isn’t hard to understand, this one clearly falls on the failure of the CMs to do their jobs properly.

Sorry, I disagree. If the OP wanted unloading assistance, she should have asked for it.

She didn't.

And the only thing the CM did improperly was pushing her wheel chair in the first place.

 

[buzlite]

And again, the OP wouldn’t have had an issue if they had simply said no to begin with, but it does stand to reason that if you asked for assistance to get up to the ride vehicle and it was indeed provided that you would also need assistance at unloading.

The issue at hand here is not if they are willing and able to help or not, but that assistance was given to load and not to unload and that caused a problem.

Well unfortunately the one in the wrong may be the loader. They may have just been following their natural instinct to help and not aware of the policies.

 

[FreeTime]

You mentioned your husband uses a walker and the strain of pushing you would have caused a potentially major health hazard incident. Yet, in a later post you said that he answers the question of “can you walk to evaluate” with a yes, with time. The risk of his evacuation and how you are expected to keep up with the leader while exiting doesn’t concern him?

 

[SueM in MN]

I mean, whenever I've had to ask to have the loading belt slowed down to get into a ride vehicle, they generally automatically slow it down for me to unload, too. So I've always assumed the CMs at load and unload were in communication with each other about that sort of thing. (I'm not saying that's exactly the same as OP's situation, just that I don't think it's necessarily always impossible for the load CM to pass on information to unload. But maybe I'm mistaken.)

Slowing or stopping the loading belt down is a different situation. From what I've seen, that information gets put on a log sheet. So, even if the CM assignment has changed, the CMs do know it was slowed/stopped and which car you are in.

And again, the OP wouldn’t have had an issue if they had simply said no to begin with, but it does stand to reason that if you asked for assistance to get up to the ride vehicle and it was indeed provided that you would also need assistance at unloading.

The issue at hand here is not if they are willing and able to help or not, but that assistance was given to load and not to unload and that caused a problem.

Again, if you ask for loading assistance, it should either be assumed you will need help unloading or you should ask additional questions to ensure the guest is either accommodated or you inform them that they can’t be. This isn’t hard to understand, this one clearly falls on the failure of the CMs to do their jobs properly.

The accessible load area for Spaceship Earth is up a ramp.
When leaving, guests go down the same ramp. Guests could very well have difficulty pushing a wheelchair up the ramp, but not have a problem pushing it down. I personally have seen people at Spaceship Earth who had assistance from a CM to push their wheelchair up the ramp, but didn't need it to go back down.
The important lesson here is not to make assumptions. Guests need to be clear about what they need for getting on AND off. Don't assume the CM knows or assumes what is needed at unload based on what was asked for at loading

 

[chrisney]

And again, the OP wouldn’t have had an issue if they had simply said no to begin with, but it does stand to reason that if you asked for assistance to get up to the ride vehicle and it was indeed provided that you would also need assistance at unloading.

The issue at hand here is not if they are willing and able to help or not, but that assistance was given to load and not to unload and that caused a problem.

OP here. Evita I thank you for your concise summary. There are not a lot of attractions I can’t manage either by myself or my family. It’s the ramp on SSE that is hard. I am not allowed to use my ecv. If I were to try to wheel myself it is possible that I might have a critically low O2 saturation. Going down I’m afraid of going too fast and running over someone. Talk about a liability issue, though that would pale compared to how bad and responsible I would feel.
And to those who said bring an able bodied friend? We moved here very recently and between that and health issues, we haven’t made friends yet. Factor in at least $100 for a ticket when we only manage 4-5 hours in a park on a really good day, and it isn’t exactly financially responsible.
In the end, I guess the old saying to walk a mile in my shoes is how I’d like to close this.

 

[chrisney]

You mentioned your husband uses a walker and the strain of pushing you would have caused a potentially major health hazard incident. Yet, in a later post you said that he answers the question of “can you walk to evaluate” with a yes, with time. The risk of his evacuation and how you are expected to keep up with the leader while exiting doesn’t concern him?

While I really don’t think it is your business, he has an LVAD which is in essence an artificial left side of his heart. He runs on batteries and a drive line that is a metal cable exiting his torso on the side. He is limited in how much he can lift or push. His stamina is somewhat low since he spent Sept-Dec in the hospital in Md and then another week once we got here. In the event of an evacuation I assume he would wait with me. Now, ask yourself if you really needed or were in some way entitled to that information and how it benefitted the conversation.