Another question, this one about parades?

[maccumby]

Are there reserved seating areas for people with disabilities to view the parades? Specifically, wheelchair accessable areas? If so, are these "good" viewing areas or are there alot of people in front of you? And do they fill up quickly? We didn't watch any parades last trip (well, we did see the one at MGM) so I have no experience in this area because my son was still using his stroller as a wheelchair. As always, thanks so much for any advice you can offer!!!!

 

[Talking Hands]

Are there reserved seating areas for people with disabilities to view the parades? Specifically, wheelchair accessable areas? If so, are these "good" viewing areas or are there alot of people in front of you? And do they fill up quickly? We didn't watch any parades last trip (well, we did see the one at MGM) so I have no experience in this area because my son was still using his stroller as a wheelchair. As always, thanks so much for any advice you can offer!!!!

Yes there are seating areas for wheelchairs. Yes they are good viewing areas as no one is allowed to be in front of you (but sometimes guests are a pain when they stand up to take pictures and block the view). They can fill up quickly so you should plan to be there early and wait.
Don't expect, like one family did, for people to move so they could be in the shade when you arrive late. Not going to happen.

 

[Schmeck]

My cousin used the reserved area with her daughter Meggie - she said the CMs were wonderful, gave Meggie a lot of attention, as did the characters walking the parade. She did say that most of the reserved areas were very,very sunny. This was a few years ago though, don't know how it is now.

 

[SueM in MN]

The location of the handicapped/wheelchair viewing areas are marked on the park maps. We usually don't use them because they do usually fill up quickly, and many of the afternoon parade ones are in the sun. They also usually park the wheelchairs almost touching each other at the front of the area. This doesn't work well for us because DD doesn't like strangers to be that close to her. We usually just find a spot outside the wheelchair parking area so that we can have other family members next to her as a bumper between her and the other guests.

 

[maccumby]

Thanks everyone for your honest feedback! We'll probably just try to find a little less crowded spot rather than sit in the reserved handicapped seating for a long time waiting, in the sun no less!

 

[Nanajo1]

At MK the viewing area is very sunny for the afternoon parade. I usually have a small umbrella with me to use for instant shade.

 

[Talking Hands]

Actually there are several areas in MK and the one across from Hall of the Presidents does have shade at one end. They normally fill in from the shaded side to the sunny side so being early gets you a seat in the sun. That is unless you are also using the sign language interpreters. They are set up in front of the Liberty Bell so on the sunny side of the area.

 

[travelitis]

Sometimes the designated areas are crowded and bumper to bumper, but just as many times we've found them less crowded. In MK the spot over by LTT is very good and shaded. There's a stone wall in that area which makes a very nice seat behind the wheelchair folks. The other wheelchair area in the hub (front of castle area) has no shade, but it's good for Spectro. In Epcot there is one over between Canada and UK. If you don't get there early for that one, you'll have a partially obstructed view of Illuminations. One end has a good view, and the other half is rather obstructed. I think that's why it was so easy to get a decent spot there only 15 min. before Illuminations. I can't comment on MGM or AK, because we've never used the designated areas in those parks.

 

[SueM in MN]

In Epcot there is one over between Canada and UK. If you don't get there early for that one, you'll have a partially obstructed view of Illuminations. One end has a good view, and the other half is rather obstructed. I think that's why it was so easy to get a decent spot there only 15 min. before Illuminations.

One of the few times we used that particular spot, we got there at least 1/2 hour ahead of time - there were quite a few empty spots available still. We didn't pay much attention to exactly were DD was seated; we could see there was a tree in front of her, but figured she would be able to see between the trees once the show began. We were wrong; once it started, we found that the tree right in front of her obstructed almost her entire view. And, by then, the area was full and she could not move. Seated right next to her was another person who could not get out of her wheelchair. her view was obstructed too. The spots with the best views were filled with un-occupied ECVs and wheelchairs - the users were sitting on the benches in the wheelchair area, but behind the parking area. I'm sure some of them had no idea when they parked that they were in the best spots. Some of them may have thought they would go back to their ECV once the show began, but didn't because they could see well from the bench. I only wish that the CMs would take whether the person can get out of their wheelchair into account when 'assigning' spots. In our case, we could not come much earlier than we did (because of DD's non-mobility related needs) and, in fact, we would have actually been better off coming later. The CM was just filling the space as people arrived. If we had come 3 or 4 wheelchairs later, the obstructed spots would have been full and the next spots in line would have been unobstructed.

So, my suggestion if you can't get out of your wheelchair or ECV, is to look carefully at the spot you are sent to. If it appears it will be obstructed, ask the CM and ask if they can give you a less obstructed view.