Broken ankle! Leave Friday! Advice???

[MollyBelle]

Just found out I have a chipped fibula and get an MRI tomorrow...don't yet know what type cast I will have, but I have a big time bruised and swollen ankle and foot (stepped in a hole; long story)...

At any rate, I leave Friday and will be in the World for a week.

Has anyone ever had this happen at the last minute? I am considering getting a motorized scooter or wheelchair; don't know which will be better.

Don't know if they let you in a different line, either. I know my commando touring will be seriously "nipped in the bud"...and that so saddens me. Maybe someone is trying to tell me to "stop and smell the Disney roses, eh?"

Anyway, I would appreciate any advice, as I'm rather low, and trying not to be!

 

[Horizons16]

Maybe someone is trying to tell me to "stop and smell the Disney roses, eh?"

Anyway, I would appreciate any advice, as I'm rather low, and trying not to be!

Why does having a cast have to stop you from doing anything? So it might take you a little longer to get around. SO WHAT! You are still going to be in Disney and have a great time.
Maybe stopping and smelling the roses will bring something to you. You never know when something simply devine will pop into your head. Specially when you stop to smell the roses.

Im sure your strip will still be most magical.

~Steve (Sven)

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

One of my best friends had knee surgery 3 days before we went to WDW for our senior trip. Three of us chipped in, rented her a wheelchair, and had a BLAST!! We did everything we wanted to...and then some extras...during a peak time. When you rent your chair, be sure to pick up a guide for guests with disabilities. The guide will tell you where to go to load in and out of attractions. A select number of attractions won't require you to get up, you can wheel the chair straight on.

Hope you have a good recovery, at least you'll start it in WDW!!!

 

[CinderellaIam]

One of my best friends had knee surgery 3 days before we went to WDW for our senior trip. Three of us chipped in, rented her a wheelchair, and had a BLAST!! We did everything we wanted to...and then some extras...during a peak time. When you rent your chair, be sure to pick up a guide for guests with disabilities. The guide will tell you where to go to load in and out of attractions. A select number of attractions won't require you to get up, you can wheel the chair straight on.

Hope you have a good recovery, at least you'll start it in WDW!!!

What she said! You'll have a great time regardless of your injury. Don't forget the sharpies to get the characters to autograph your cast!

 

[SB in KY]

Assuming you are not going alone....you can just call CRO and/or the hotel, tell them your story and ask for a wheelchair. All of the resorts have a limited number of chairs for complimentary guest use. That way you have the chair to use outside the parks as well (it is quite a hike from the bus stop to WC rental at Epcot, MK and AK) and depending where you stay it could be a long walk to the bus stop, etc.

They will not guarentee you a chair but we have never had trouble getting one if it was noted on our reservation. You can pick it up at check in and return it at check out. (we get one for my mom all the time).

If you are travelling alone then renting a motorized scooter is probably the way to go. The hotel can give you the names and numbers of several services that will deliver to the hotel and pick up when you leave.

If you have family going that can push you a regular chair it is far less cumbersome and much easier to get on and off the buses (especially if you can hobble on and they can just fold the chair and take it along

The motorized scooters are great if that is your only option...but they are really a lot of trouble and unless you have had experience handling them they can be quite awkward.

 

[WillCAD]

Best thing would probably be to rent a scooter instead of a wheelchair. Your arms and those of your family will get real tired pushing a regular chair around the parks all day! They do slow you down a lot at the bus stops, but once you're in the parks they are a godsend.

Here's a great FAQ all about touring the parks in a wheelchair or ECV:
http://allearsnet.com/pl/ecv_faq.htm

Besides CareMedical, the company that is recommended in that article, some friends of mine have also rented scooters from Walker Mobility many times and been very pleased with the equipment and service.

 

[Demon Llama]

If you're in a wheelchair/scooter for a reason, doesn't that mean you don't have to wait in lines to get on the rides? Like, you can go through that priority door and they let you in right away? If that's the case, a broken ankle is a blessing in disguise and you'll be able to get on the rides faster!!! Plus, you can go super commando-styles since your feet won't be sore!

Man, now I wish I had a broken ankle on MY trip *wink*

 

[nigel-bigel]

I took my mother to WDW a few years ago and rented her a scooter.

I got it throught Walker Medical Supply, and they were wonderful. When we checked in at the Boardwalk it was waiting for us in a back room, and we just left it at the front desk at the end of our trip to be picked up by them. It couldn't have been a more trouble-free transaction.

The phone # is (407) 331-9500.

The charge for 5 days/4 nights was $117.00, but this was almost 3 years ago.

If you have other questiosn about your trip with the scooter, you might want to try the disABILITIES board at this site. They are very helpful.

By the way, the scooter is a lot of fun! And it didn't hinder our trip in the least. My 72 year old mother had never used one before and she was zipping around like a pro within minutes. Manuvering onto a bus was a little difficult, so we just got off the scooter and let the bus driver do it!

Also, you might want to call the resort a few days ahead of time and nicely request any room they have in your catagory that may be a little larger to accomodate the scooter. I did this, and was pleasantly suprised to see they had upgraded us to a lakeview "fancy" room (I don't know what they called it officially). It wasn't a suite, but it had an extra seating with a couch and a couple of chairs. Nice and roomy indeed!

A little perk of the scooter (or wheelchair) is that you - and your whole party - usually are ushered to the front of the line.

As far as wheelchair vs. scooter... all I can tell you is I was glad I wasn't pushing a wheelchair around all day for 4 days!

Whichever you decide, definitely go! It shouldn't hinder your good time at all!

 

[kaytieeldr]

For the most part, you go through the entire regular line with all the other Guests. Pretty much every queue is designed to handle wheelchairs, and most can also fit ECVs (scooters).
There are some exceptions, especially with the ECVs - for example, attractions with moving walkways you board through the exit; Splash Mountain you go through most of the regular line until you come to a Cast Member standing by a gate marked with a wheelchair near the exit because not long after that, the line requires walking up a flight of stairs; Haunted Mansion and a number of other attractions that can't accept ECVs for whatever reason require you to transfer to a wheelchair and go through the regular line...
But please ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check with the Greeter at any attraction, even if you've ridden it earlier in the day or week. Things change constantly. As I said before, Haunted Mansion doesn't allow ECVs in the (main part of) the building. Since I use one when I visit Disney, AND if I'm alone, I'm escorted/directed in the 'back' way. But in January, during a very lightly-attended EMH, I was able to ride the ECV all the way through the regular queue, into the library (it'd been over four years since I'd seen the preshow!) and right up to the passenger elevator - where it was brought down to the unloading area and I hobbled over to a freight elevator.


EDITED TO ADD: Between when I started my reply and when I posted it, I see two different Disers suggested being in a wheelchair gets you priority access to the attractions.

Once again, I need to emphasize this is RARELY the case. Most lines at Disney are designed to handle wheelchairs, and many can also handle ECVs. Yes, there are exceptions, but to reduce or eliminate Guests tryiing to beat the system by renting wheelchairs solely for priority access, Disney redesigned many existing lines and designed most new lines to allow mainstream access for Guests needing mobility assistance devices.

 

[mattsdragon]

You can also avoid a cast all together. I had the same thing happen to me several years ago. Basically, what you did is not going to heal like a normal fracture. Casting the joint isn't really worth your while, because the only real way to solve the problem is through surgery where they go in and remove the bone chip (or ossification, as is the medical term). Until that time, you are going to have an ankle that is suspectable to sprains.

You leave Friday, my advice, ice the joint, elevate it, and wrap it until the swelling goes down. Stay off it as much as possible until Friday, by then, the bruising and swelling should be minimal. There will still be pain, but you can live with it, just listen to your body and take rests.

I know that surgery is really the last thing you want to hear, but I went 4 years between the time I injured my ankle and got the surgery. In the interim, I tweaked my ankle several times, but for the most part, I lived a normal life. Until the bone chip is removed, you are just going to have a weaker ankle. So you may as well go on your vacation, relax, take it easy, and most of all have fun without the cast because it really is only going to be a hinderance if you have it, and it won't solve your long term problems.

 

[SteveS]

This happened to us a few years ago. The night before we were to leave my wife twisted her knee and tore her ACL. We spent the night in the ER. Got out of the ER and went to the airport. When we got to BWV we were given a wheelchair for her to use. We kept it for the entire two week trip.

We just slowed down and didn't do everything we wanted. However it was still a good trip and we had a great time. Make the best of it and do what you can do and don't worry about the things you can't. It will be a reason to go back.

 

[SueM in MN]

For the most part, you go through the entire regular line with all the other Guests. Pretty much every queue is designed to handle wheelchairs, and most can also fit ECVs (scooters).
There are some exceptions, especially with the ECVs - for example, attractions with moving walkways you board through the exit; Splash Mountain you go through most of the regular line until you come to a Cast Member standing by a gate marked with a wheelchair near the exit because not long after that, the line requires walking up a flight of stairs; Haunted Mansion and a number of other attractions that can't accept ECVs for whatever reason require you to transfer to a wheelchair and go through the regular line...
But please ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check with the Greeter at any attraction, even if you've ridden it earlier in the day or week. Things change constantly. As I said before, Haunted Mansion doesn't allow ECVs in the (main part of) the building. Since I use one when I visit Disney, AND if I'm alone, I'm escorted/directed in the 'back' way. But in January, during a very lightly-attended EMH, I was able to ride the ECV all the way through the regular queue, into the library (it'd been over four years since I'd seen the preshow!) and right up to the passenger elevator - where it was brought down to the unloading area and I hobbled over to a freight elevator.


EDITED TO ADD: Between when I started my reply and when I posted it, I see two different Disers suggested being in a wheelchair gets you priority access to the attractions.

Once again, I need to emphasize this is RARELY the case. Most lines at Disney are designed to handle wheelchairs, and many can also handle ECVs. Yes, there are exceptions, but to reduce or eliminate Guests tryiing to beat the system by renting wheelchairs solely for priority access, Disney redesigned many existing lines and designed most new lines to allow mainstream access for Guests needing mobility assistance devices.

Exactly what she said.
There are a few (A FEW) rides/attractions that were not able to be converted to Mainstream access, but in most cases wheelchair and ECV users wait in the regular line with everyone else. If there are stairs or something else that prevents a wheelchair from continuing, the wheelchair "line" usually leaves the regular line right before the obstacle or right before boarding.
In many cases, someone using a wheelchair will ever wait longer. On Buzz Lightyear, for example, we disappear right before boarding and people assume we "miss" the last 20 feet of the line and are boarded right away. We are taken to the exit for boarding, but often by the time we board, we see the people who were right ahead of us in line leaving after they have finished riding. The same thing happens on Splash Mountain when the regular line gets to a set of steps.
Another downside is missing part of the attraction. For Haunted Mansion, the wheelchair access pulls guests off just before the line reaches the turnstiles to go into the building. We are taken to the exit, but often have to wait for boarding and when we do get on, we have missed the "Shrinking room."

 

[ladysoleil]

Agreed on the "no special access" comments. I sprained my ankle very badly in March and needed a wheelchair. More often than not, you go through the normal line until it breaks for the wheelchair entrance. You may be waiting in a different area (a service corridor, the ride exit, etc) away from the regular line, but you still wait, and it's not usually faster, since you have to wait for a CM to come get you/load the elevator/assist with boarding, etc, for whatever ride, and it seems to me like they stagger the wheelchair loading with the fastpass/regular boarding.

The only ride I can think of where we got on "faster", if you will, was Haunted Mansion because it was so busy when we rolled up that the CM gave us a Fastpass and asked us to please come back in an hour! There was no wait with the FP, of course, but we had to wait an hour for our FP time, so, jury's out on whether or not it was a quicker process.