Best and Worst DVC resorts for those using scooters?

[juliebee]

My husband and I have started talking about mobility changes as we get older, and we’re thinking ahead about the possibility of needing a scooter for navigating the parks in the distant future. If we were to rent a scooter, we’d likely need to take it from our room to the parks each day. Which WDW DVC resorts are considered the most convenient for transporting a scooter to and from the parks and easy to navigate at the resort?

Or is it just easier to rent a scooter at each park for the day if you can manage to walk to/from the transportation into the park?
I'm also thinking Duo studios would be out, as there wouldn't be space to bring the scooter into the room for the night. Is that correct?

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I always rent DH a scooter from Buena Vista scooters. They have been excellent for the past six years of trips. I always get one that can handle 300+lbs with the sun shade and cup holder. He's 6'4", so we tend to go for the more deluxe one so he's not cramped. Our home resort is Riviera, and it's very scooter friendly. Riviera has pretty large hallways, and you can plug them in outside the room to charge, just bring the access key inside with you. The scooters hold a charge for a long time in our experience. Riviera's dedicated Skyliner station is nice; the CMs pull a gondola aside for separate boarding. As for buses, it's the same anywhere on WDW property. No issues, just a bit time consuming depending if it's post fireworks madness. We don't rope drop anymore, so someone else can speak to that.

The new Poly Island Tower (PIT) the hallways are narrow and you couldn't leave the scooter in the hallway for charging.

Animal Kingdom has wide hallways, as does VGF.

Really, the only issue I can think of is rain if you're at Riviera. DH was stranded at HS during a storm when Skyliner was shut down. No biggie, they just waited it out in a store, but if you wanted to get back home, you'd have to call Lyft Minnie Van to accommodate the scooter if you didn't want to wait in a huge line at BW/BC for the redirected buses.

 

[muppets3d]

I feel like you'd want to be at BLT/VGF (easy ride to MK), Riviera (for skyliner), or BCV/BWV (easy ride to EPCOT/Studios).

Of course depending on when you decide to visit the parks, a bus is no big deal. But many times I've been on a bus at SSR and the driver had to turn away a scooter rider because the bus was already accommodating as many scooters as it could.

So I would probably want to shy away from bus-only resorts if I was in a scooter, personally. But really, it's not a huge deal especially if you don't mind waiting for the next bus.

My MIL uses a scooter and she loves the skyliner.

Skyliner going down at Riviera is certainly a big issue that could make a Riviera stay a big pain. It happens a lot when it thunderstorms, which happens nearly every day in the summer of course.

 

[Genie+]

BW/BC are great because you have 2 parks where you don’t need to load/unload twice round trip. AND it’s not a bad walk for whoever joining along and not on a scooter. Bus to AK/MK.

Those are the winner.

Or stay at one of those as part of a monorail resort split stay. Some options there:

Half trip at BW/BC for EP/HS, half trip at BLT/VGF where you can walk to MK and bus AK.

Half trip at BW/BC for EP/HS, rest of trip at Poly where you can Ferry to MK, walk to EP monorail and bus AK.

 

[juliebee]

But many times I've been on a bus at SSR and the driver had to turn away a scooter rider because the bus was already accommodating as many scooters as it could.

Guessing that any resort with multiple bus stops would be an issue. So that is just SSR and OKW? Or does Animal Kingdom have multiple stops too?

How is the monorail for scooters?
Can the scooters go on any boats?

 

[muppets3d]

Guessing that any resort with multiple bus stops would be an issue. So that is just SSR and OKW? Or does Animal Kingdom have multiple stops too?

How is the monorail for scooters?
Can the scooters go on any boats?

The buses are shared between the two AKL resorts, so a similar thing can happen there where the buses cannot accommodate any more scooters and you have to wait for the next bus. But often in the mornings they run separate buses for Kidani and Jambo - at least to Animal Kingdom theme park, so this is not really as big of an issue there from what I've seen.