Best deal on a wheelchair at WDW :(

[weHEARTmickey]

DH has a grade 3 tear in his calf & is still on crutches, 3.5 weeks after his injury. He is usually our "fast pass runner" and now he can't even walk!! We leave in THREE WEEKS & I'm realizing that he's going to have to have a wheelchair during our trip.

Any advice on the best deal for a motarized one? I don't even know where to begin to look. Thank you, DIS friends

 

[kaytieeldr]

Where to start looking: the disABILITIES forum, a few more boards down the main page here on the DIS. Specifically, the FAQ there, post number 2, I think. One of the first few posts, anyway, has the contact information for several medical supply companies with which DISers have had numerous good experiences.

An alternative might be to check around home and bring it with you. You may even get a better price.

 

[csharpwv]

Something to remember about ECV's is that it makes getting around on Disney transportation tougher - with lifts - getting it secured - etc etc

For older people they like the independence and mobility that a scooter gives them - but for a younger person - who typically doesn't like to wait - and some who don't like a fuss to be made over them getting a scooter could be a nightmare. Plus for an inexperienced 'driver' it can be VERY hard to navigate the parks avoiding people and obstacles alike.

You may want to consider just renting a manual wheelchair - not only will you save a ton of $$$ - but it make be a better option for you. As long as family members are willing to take turns pushing and your DS is willing to wheel some on his own - it's something you may want to consider.

We took my parents in 2008 and my DM is in a wheelchair full time, and she wanted to ride the train to the front of the park - so I volunteered to meet them at the Main Street station with her scooter - getting that scooter through the park - especially down main street was a nightmare. So I'm speaking from experience when I say - before spending a ton of money renting a scooter - be sure it's the best option!

 

[adventure_woman]

Yikes! My mom had to rent one down there (her HoverRound broke when we were down there). I don't remember who it was through. I think we paid about $30 a day. After getting a couple of places, I would call down there and see what deals they can make you. They will drop the chair off for you at your resort.

If it is your DH, I would DEFINITELY get one, vs. a manual wheelchair. I have pushed my mom in one, and it is hard. WDW is a BIG place. She had to use a manual for a couple of days, and she hated it because she couldn't move around by herself. Epcot is a HUGE park, and AK is FULL of hills. DHS isn't too bad to maneuver in, but it is much smaller.

Stephanie

 

[clanmcculloch]

Something to remember about ECV's is that it makes getting around on Disney transportation tougher - with lifts - getting it secured - etc etc

For older people they like the independence and mobility that a scooter gives them - but for a younger person - who typically doesn't like to wait - and some who don't like a fuss to be made over them getting a scooter could be a nightmare. Plus for an inexperienced 'driver' it can be VERY hard to navigate the parks avoiding people and obstacles alike.

You may want to consider just renting a manual wheelchair - not only will you save a ton of $$$ - but it make be a better option for you. As long as family members are willing to take turns pushing and your DS is willing to wheel some on his own - it's something you may want to consider.

We took my parents in 2008 and my DM is in a wheelchair full time, and she wanted to ride the train to the front of the park - so I volunteered to meet them at the Main Street station with her scooter - getting that scooter through the park - especially down main street was a nightmare. So I'm speaking from experience when I say - before spending a ton of money renting a scooter - be sure it's the best option!

As somebody who just pushed my 10 year old (clearly much smaller than a full grown man) around WDW for 12 days I have to say that if you can do the ECV, do it. It's a lot of work for the person pushing the chair. Some of the ramps weren't so easy and I was pushing a child. A full grown man would have been difficult.

I second the idea of checking out the disABILITIES! board. Lots of great info over there.

 

[adventure_woman]

Yikes! My mom had to rent one down there (her HoverRound broke when we were down there). I don't remember who it was through. I think we paid about $30 a day. After getting a couple of places, I would call down there and see what deals they can make you. They will drop the chair off for you at your resort.

If it is your DH, I would DEFINITELY get one, vs. a manual wheelchair. I have pushed my mom in one, and it is hard. WDW is a BIG place. She had to use a manual for a couple of days, and she hated it because she couldn't move around by herself. Epcot is a HUGE park, and AK is FULL of hills. DHS isn't too bad to maneuver in, but it is much smaller.

Stephanie

 

[annsteere]

One of the women on our girlfriends' trip broke an ankle and needed to rent an ECV two weeks ago.

Here is what we learned that a family who is accustomed to dealing with wheelchair issues probably knows but we did not: one member of your party can walk into the park and borrow a courtesy wheelchair to wheel out to the bus drop off area. The non-walker can then be pushed to the ECV rental counter. You can borrow a courtesy chair to push and abandon out at the bus stop when you leave the park.

It ran $50 per day which is not cheap, but I would not have been able to push her all day. Even taking turns with other women would have been exhausting. If you rent one it is good for the day. You return it in one park and then pick up another in the next park.

This gave us the mobility of an ECV inside the parks without all the hassle of loading it onto the busses.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest going over to the disABILITIES Forum. One of the first threads is the disABILITIES FAQs. On Post #2 we have a lot of information for people with mobility and/or stamina issues. It also gives information about wheelchair and ECV rentals, both on-site and from off-site vendors.. To get directly to the disABILITIES FAQs from here just click on the link in my signature.

 

[DebbieT11]

We needed to rent a pair of scooters and got excellent prices and service from Alex @ Apple Scooters...... 321.750.7878.

Hope this helps!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

THANKS everyone! DH is determined to walk & doesn't want to fork over the $$$ for an ECV. (Dave Ramsey's biggest fan!) Anyway, for those of you who rented from a non-Disney company, did you have to have a handicap room to store it? Can we take it in the Poly? How does that work?

BTW, I did go over to the DISabilities forum & I got very lost. I may try again soon. Thanks again, for all the help

 

[kaytieeldr]

Go back up to post number 8 in this thread - the one by Cheshire Figment.

In the very bottom line of that post, in his signature, see the words "disABILITIES FAQ" in blue and underlined?

Click on that - it's the link that will bring you directly to the FAQ we're trying to direct you to.

Once that page opens completely, scroll down to the second post in the thread. That post has all the information you will need about renting medical equipment, both on- and off-site, and the names and contact information of companies with which enough DISers have had positive experience that the Moderators decided it was a good idea to include the information.

You say he doesn't want to fork over the money for an ECV. You may as well warn him (a) a motorized wheelchair will be the same price as an ECV, if not more; (b) a motorized wheelchair is very complicated and sensitive machinery and generally is adjusted to the specific user, so any company that would rent one would like want the renter's settings; and (c) most companies will only rent a power (motorized) wheelchair to people who already use them.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

We managed to get an ECV into our Pop Century (value) room. You wouldn't need an accessible room to be able to store it. If you rent from an off-site location, you will be able to have the scooter with you all the time.

Since you are at the Poly, I assume you will want to use the monorail to access Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The ramps to get up to the monorail platform are extremely long and are quite steep. I am sure they meet ADA code, but they are much longer than normal and are very difficult to push an adult in a wheelchair up. If you need to transfer at the TTC, you will need to go down the huge ramp and then back up the other side.

The only circumstance I would recommend a manual chair over a ECV would be if he is doing okay walking, but needs to be able to take frequent rest breaks. He can push the empty wheelchair and then use it to sit in whenever you stop and take it through ride lines so he wouldn't have to be standing for long periods of time.

If he isn't 100% mobile by the time you go, I would stop at Guest Relations at the park and they can give you a Guest Assistance card. With the card (and the proper stamps), he would be able to take the wheelchair through all of the ride lines so he could sit in line instead of stand.

Note: An ECV is not allowed to go through some of the ride lines. Anyone using an ECV at Space Mountain (for example) must transfer into a manual wheelchair at the entrance and use it to go through the line instead of the ECV. They will have manual chairs at the entrance to each ride for this purpose.

I would NOT rent from the parks since then you don't have it to move between parks or go back to your room. It is also considerably more expensive. We used Walker Scooter Rentals and were pleased with their service (it was about $35 per day). They said they could deliver it to our hotel within an hour of when we called to request it.

 

[Kat&Dom]

THANKS everyone! DH is determined to walk & doesn't want to fork over the $$$ for an ECV. (Dave Ramsey's biggest fan!) Anyway, for those of you who rented from a non-Disney company, did you have to have a handicap room to store it? Can we take it in the Poly? How does that work?

BTW, I did go over to the DISabilities forum & I got very lost. I may try again soon. Thanks again, for all the help

I just booked a scooter rental from Apple Scooters - it was $120 with all taxes included for the 5 days that we need it. They are dropping it off at our Disney resort and picking up from our timeshare resort. Doing a split stay was no problem at all. Our booking is for November 10-15. I had checked on the DISabilities forum before booking and Apple had lots of awesome reviews. I was super happy with the price. The one I booked for my mom will fit into the trunk of our compact car rental.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

If you are staying at the Poly you can request a complimentry wheelchair upon arrival if there is one available. We did this in May. It is only the standard size so you should consider that if you need the wider one (they dont havet them). It is free for the length of your stay. (I guess your dave ramsey fan would like that!!) You must check it in and out (not daily) just when you check in and out.

I used the wheelchair more like a walker alot of the time. If you are doing the manual pushing it would be hard etc.

If your dh is insistent, maybe give the wheelchair a try, but def. have the number of a compoany to order an ecv asap if that is not working out.

You also do not have to actually sit in the wheelchair to board the bus. My dh just folded it up and we took it on etc.

If your dh needs to keep his leg straight etc. then the ecv might not be a good option etc.

Wishing you all the best.