A couple of questions about ecv's and the buses.

[Shelby5514]

We will be at the world with 2 ECV's in Feb and I have a couple of questions.

1.) We have ADR for Crystal Palace at 8:05am. Should we call to request a special bus to take us? I know the regular buses run early, but I'm afraid we'll miss it or show up at the bus stop only to find someone else there waiting in a ECV/WC also and the bus not being able to accomodate us and get us to the park on time. (If so, does anyone know the number?) This is the only day we have anything EARLY scheduled so I'm not too concerned about the rest of the days.

2.) Upon leaving the park at night after the fireworks, is it better to hang around and let the crowd thin out before trying to leave?

Any other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Both mom and MIL are able to walk just not all day. MIL has recently had a knee replacement and still not back to 100% and probably never will be. My mom went like the energizer bunny on our 2001 trip but paid for it at night with severe leg cramps. So we figured for them to have the best time we would rent them ECV's for their enitre stay. I know we'll probably get a bunch of looks as to why they are using them, since we do plan on waiting in lines like everyone else, they will be using them more so to get from point A to B.

 

[SueM in MN]

We will be at the world with 2 ECV's in Feb and I have a couple of questions.

1.) We have ADR for Crystal Palace at 8:05am. Should we call to request a special bus to take us? I know the regular buses run early, but I'm afraid we'll miss it or show up at the bus stop only to find someone else there waiting in a ECV/WC also and the bus not being able to accomodate us and get us to the park on time. (If so, does anyone know the number?) This is the only day we have anything EARLY scheduled so I'm not too concerned about the rest of the days.

I'd ask at the front desk or call the transportation number the day before to ask. The number is probably one of the buttons on your phone. There is some information about this type of thing in the disABILITIES FAQs thread. The bus driver who provided me with information said to contact Guest Services at your resort and ask for "Special Transportation Services."

2.) Upon leaving the park at night after the fireworks, is it better to hang around and let the crowd thin out before trying to leave?

For sure.
if you go right away, you will be fighting the crowds and the full buses. If you wait a while, you will have very few people, probably a short wait for the bus and will actually get home very close to the time you would have if you hurried out.
We've actually seen this - FIL and MIL were ones to rush out after Illuminations. The rest of us stayed put for a long time after waiting for the crowds to thin. They ended up in huge crowds of people, we ended up walking out of the park in a leasurely way without crowds. They beat us back to resort by about 5 -10 minutes - not enough IMHO to make up for going thru the crowds.