Animal Kingdom parking (and a GAC question)

[rabidstoat]

I'm trying to coax my stepdad to come to AK with us. He's recovering from hip replacement and has back problems. We're going to rent an ECV at the park, and he can walk short distances (like a short trip to the store) with his cane. Stairs would probably be rough.

Now the questions!

1. For AK parking, I see the FAQ notes there's no trams for the handicap lot and it could be a long walk to the ECV rental. So are we better off with just normal parking and walking to the tram, is that typically shorter? Or what about the drop-off point? It says it's at the HC lot, is it a long walk to the ECV rental place? Which is better, given his situation?

2. He'll be renting an ECV and riding that around, but he'll want to get out sometimes to walk (around lunch, to see something closer, just to stand and stretch a bit, and of course when he gets to feeling stubborn). Do we need a GAC? It would seem obvious if he has an ECV that he needs special assistance, so would it just be redundant?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Actually at AK the distance to Outpost is about the same from both disabled parking and the tram stop.

Usually there are "loaner" wheelchairs in a corral at disabled parking that may be used by Guests until they get to the point where they can rent a Park wheelchair or ECV. If there are none there when you arrive, he can stay with the car while someone goes toward the gate to contact a CM so you could bring one.

Likewise, when you drop off the rental chair or ECV on the way out you can pick up a loaner chair to get to your car.

 

[rabidstoat]

Are the loaners (potentially) a mix of wide and normal widths? And if there's not one there they could bring one out, or point out one that one of us could truck back to him?

He'll probably just be stubborn and walk and exhaust himself at the start of the day, because he's like that, but I like to check in case we get him to be less stubborn.

 

[seashoreCM]

You can use regular parking and take the tram provided you don't have a scooter or non-folding wheelchair at that time, and can walk from the tram drop off to the entrance and wheelchair rental area.

The first space or a colored patch at the start of each pair of parking rows is a handicapped space. If you don't have a handicapped sticker, the parking CM's on Segways can have you do a little loop the loop and commence a new row of parking at the tram lane if the row being worked on is quite far down the aisle.