GypsyPearl
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2010
- Messages
- 18
I have just returned from a trip to Orlando that included trips to Universal, Busch Gardens, and Sea World. I don't see a lot of information on these parks so I thought I'd provide my inputs. Maybe it will help someone.
For the setup, I brought my manual wheelchair which initially my sister and I shared. Both of us have mobility issues but we wanted to walk as much as possible. Towards the end of the trip, we realized sharing wasn't working as well as we thought and I rented an ECV while she used my wheelchair. We didn't want the kids with us to have to push both of us and I am more familiar and comfortable with an ECV than she is.
At each park, we went to Guest Services to obtain some kind of documentation that would allow us access to the handicapped entrances and allow us to avoid stairs. Although we can walk some distances, neither of us is able to walk up or down stairs without undo pain and effort. At the Universal parks and Busch Gardens we got a sheet that would allow a ride worker to enter a time for us to return, essentially putting us in a virtual queue. If the wait times were short enough, we could just enter without a wait. "Short enough" varied from 10 minutes at Islands of Adventure to 30 minutes at Universal Studios (both at Universal Orlando Resort). At Sea World I don't remember having this Virtual Queue and we just entered at the handicapped entrance but this may not be as big an issue there as there aren't that many rides.
Generally access with a wheelchair or ECV was good if you can transfer. On most rides you are allowed to take your wheelchair right to the load point and transfer to the ride vehicle. At the end of the ride you either exit where you got on the ride or the employees have moved your wheelchair/ECV to the unload point.
Most of the ride vehicles require a degree of mobility including stepping into and out of ride vehicles. But if you need extra time to transfer, which I generally do, I never felt rushed or hurried. I took the time I needed.
I also am a pooh-sized person. That is a big problem at Universal. I have extreme motion sickness issues so generally I would have to sit out the rides where size would be an issue anyway. But all these rides have ride vehicles out front available to test. I tried the test vehicle on the Mummy ride at Universal and found I would not fit. I was glad the test vehicle was available rather than get through the line and find out then.
We had two issues regarding accessibility. One was on Dragon's Challenge at Islands of Adventure. My sister walked that queue but she showed the entrance team member her documentation showing that she was to be allowed to use an alternate entrance in the case of stairs. However the entrance she was directed to use include a flight of stairs in almost total darkness. If her daughter and son-in-law had not been there to help her, I'm not sure what she would have done. Even so, she was in pain for the remainder of the day. She is in need of a knee replacement and was wearing a knee brace at the time.
The other issue was at the Spiderman ride also at Islands of Adventure. On this ride you load into the ride vehicle and then your wheelchair is taken to the unload point to be waiting for you. I was using the manual wheelchair at this point and when I got off the ride, it was missing. This is my personal wheelchair, not a rental. It is also an extra-width wheelchair to more comfortably accommodate me. They had given my wheelchair to another person. On this ride, if you are in an ECV you have to transfer out of the ECV and go through the queue with a manual wheelchair to the load point. They had given my wheelchair to someone in an ECV to use in the queue. The employees said the people had just left and my nephew ran after them and caught them so I got my wheelchair back. We talked to the supervisor and he said that should never have happened and that he was going to review the tapes and see who gave the wheelchair away and take disciplinary action.
All in all, this was a wonderful trip. All of the parks are beautiful and generally access is good, especially if you can transfer and walk short distances. Access for extremely pooh-sized folk however, is not so good if you want to ride the big rides. Not being a ride person, this wasn't a hinderance for me.
For the setup, I brought my manual wheelchair which initially my sister and I shared. Both of us have mobility issues but we wanted to walk as much as possible. Towards the end of the trip, we realized sharing wasn't working as well as we thought and I rented an ECV while she used my wheelchair. We didn't want the kids with us to have to push both of us and I am more familiar and comfortable with an ECV than she is.
At each park, we went to Guest Services to obtain some kind of documentation that would allow us access to the handicapped entrances and allow us to avoid stairs. Although we can walk some distances, neither of us is able to walk up or down stairs without undo pain and effort. At the Universal parks and Busch Gardens we got a sheet that would allow a ride worker to enter a time for us to return, essentially putting us in a virtual queue. If the wait times were short enough, we could just enter without a wait. "Short enough" varied from 10 minutes at Islands of Adventure to 30 minutes at Universal Studios (both at Universal Orlando Resort). At Sea World I don't remember having this Virtual Queue and we just entered at the handicapped entrance but this may not be as big an issue there as there aren't that many rides.
Generally access with a wheelchair or ECV was good if you can transfer. On most rides you are allowed to take your wheelchair right to the load point and transfer to the ride vehicle. At the end of the ride you either exit where you got on the ride or the employees have moved your wheelchair/ECV to the unload point.
Most of the ride vehicles require a degree of mobility including stepping into and out of ride vehicles. But if you need extra time to transfer, which I generally do, I never felt rushed or hurried. I took the time I needed.
I also am a pooh-sized person. That is a big problem at Universal. I have extreme motion sickness issues so generally I would have to sit out the rides where size would be an issue anyway. But all these rides have ride vehicles out front available to test. I tried the test vehicle on the Mummy ride at Universal and found I would not fit. I was glad the test vehicle was available rather than get through the line and find out then.
We had two issues regarding accessibility. One was on Dragon's Challenge at Islands of Adventure. My sister walked that queue but she showed the entrance team member her documentation showing that she was to be allowed to use an alternate entrance in the case of stairs. However the entrance she was directed to use include a flight of stairs in almost total darkness. If her daughter and son-in-law had not been there to help her, I'm not sure what she would have done. Even so, she was in pain for the remainder of the day. She is in need of a knee replacement and was wearing a knee brace at the time.
The other issue was at the Spiderman ride also at Islands of Adventure. On this ride you load into the ride vehicle and then your wheelchair is taken to the unload point to be waiting for you. I was using the manual wheelchair at this point and when I got off the ride, it was missing. This is my personal wheelchair, not a rental. It is also an extra-width wheelchair to more comfortably accommodate me. They had given my wheelchair to another person. On this ride, if you are in an ECV you have to transfer out of the ECV and go through the queue with a manual wheelchair to the load point. They had given my wheelchair to someone in an ECV to use in the queue. The employees said the people had just left and my nephew ran after them and caught them so I got my wheelchair back. We talked to the supervisor and he said that should never have happened and that he was going to review the tapes and see who gave the wheelchair away and take disciplinary action.
All in all, this was a wonderful trip. All of the parks are beautiful and generally access is good, especially if you can transfer and walk short distances. Access for extremely pooh-sized folk however, is not so good if you want to ride the big rides. Not being a ride person, this wasn't a hinderance for me.
