AK in Wheelchair

[dcwesley]

My sister and I will be accompaning my paresnt to Animal Kingdom. My mother has recently accepted her limitations and will let us borrow a wheelchair for shopping trips, etc. A wheelchair at AK will be a must. An EVC will not work for her for several reasons.

My parents will not be going on any of the thrill rides. We will be concentrating on the various walking trails. I have read that the paths at AK are not always wheelchair friendly. Can anybody help me on this? Are there some trails that we should avoid and others that would be better. My sister and I will take turns pushing. We are aiming at being there about 6 hours.

Thanks for your help.

Debbie

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome to disABILITIES.
We have been to AK a number of times with our DD and her manual wheelchair. The reasons some people feel it is not a very wheelchair-friendly park mostly have to do with the paths/walkways. Everything is themed, including paths that are sometimes themed to be a little rough (there are no deep ruts though. The park is also hilly, but all the hills are small and many of the paths are quite narrow (more theing, I guess).
The nature trails are beautiful and give a good view of the animals, even in a seated position. Both walking trails have some areas where there are doors to go thru; one area is to enter a bird area with sort of invisble netting cages. The other is to enter the bat area. Both would be a problem for a simgle person in a wheelchair (although we have had people hold the doors open for DD, even though we had enough in our party to not need help). The other thing that make the trails not exactly wheelchair friendly is that people are excited to see the animals, and sometimes don't let a guest who needs a wheelchair get close enough to the glass viewing area to see. But, you can fix that by just waiting a bit until the group goes by. Since it's a self- paced walking tour, how long you take is up to you. We thought the walking tours were very nice and were very well themed. Just the architecture in the Maharaja's jungle treck are worth a look. There are plenty of shaded places on the paths where you can rest for a few minutes and also water fountains in the trails.
The other thing to be aware of in AK is that it seems to be a rather hot and humid park -probably becasue of all the lush plants. So, you may want to watch the weather and plan to go to AK on one of the cooler days during your stay.
I would suggest that your parents would probably also like the "Flights of Wonder" show in Asia. IT has birds flying right above you. No bird tricks; they show birds doing things by command that birds do in nature.

 

[Talking Hands]

Another show your parents may enjoy is Festival of the Lion King. Tarzan is very loud and may not be for them. Be sure to look at the animals as you walk up from the entrance way and those around the Tree of Life area. I love sitting and watching the otters. Also they might enjoy Rafiki's Planet Watch.