Bunch of questions

[Cassi]

Hello, everyone! Our next trip to DW will be the first time we have gone since my husband became disabled, and I have a few questions.

First, we will be bringing his power wheelchair, which he needs to keep reclined at all times. I have the disability guide books, and I was wondering, when they state that you can stay in your wheelchair for a ride or when you have to transfer from an ECV to a wheelchair, how does that apply to him? He can walk a few steps, if neccessary, but he can't sit up in a regular position.

Also, I was considering doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Would it be worth it? Do they reserve wheelchair seating for the dinner package? Last time we went to DW we skipped Fantasmic altogether, because I didn't want to wait 2 hours with an infant and 4 year old! But I've heard the show is excellent, and my children will be almost 3 and 6 then, so I'm feeling adventurous!

Finally, we have a room at All Star Movies. I was told we didn't need a handicap room if he can get around the room himself, that his wheelchair should fit through the door. Does anyone know from personal experience if this is true, or do you know how I can get the dimensions of the door? I find this interesting, because on the cruise, we HAD to get an expensive category 5 just to get his chair in the room, as that was the cheapest (!) category that would accomodate his chair with a family of 4.

Anyway, sorry for rambling! Thanks in advance for any help!

Cassi

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome. I can answer some of your questions and we have lots of readers who can answer others.
The Guidebooks for Guest with Disabilities are a good starting point, but as you have already seen, they don't have a lot of information about boarding or riding.
There are some things where you can stay in a wheelchair for the whole ride. The shows won't be a problem, since they basically just have a place for you to park the wheelchair. The only show that comes to mind is the
American Adventure in Epcot. There is a steep ramp to get into the theater and a steep ramp to get out of the theater - going down the rmap one whole story. Inside the theater, the back part of the theater, where you enter, is level. But after the back few rows, the theater is built on a steep ramp so everyone gets good view.

The rides may or may not work. Each ride car is a little different and his wheelchair may not fit in all of them, depending on how long the chair is and what sticks out where. My DD goes to WDW in her manual chair (we haven't been brave enough yet to turn her loose in WDW in her power chair) and has fit into everything. Some of the ride cars are a fairly tight fit with her narrow adult chair. Other posters will be able to give info on how their chairs fit.

For some of the rides, you need to transfer from an ecv to a manual wheelchair, but can stay in the manual wheelchair. Other readers can answer whether this will affect a power wheelchair user or not. I do know that for some of those, a power wheelchair will work, but an ecv won't because of the difference in size and shape.

The last catagory is rides where you need to get out of the wheelchair and experience the ride in the ride car. For these rides, you need to be able to get out of the wheelchair and get into the ride car. He might be able to do that if he can walk a few steps, but would not be able to sit in the ride cars if he can't sit outside of his wheelchair. The ride cars are mostly hard (and fairly slippery) plastic. Many have a low back that comes up only to the middle of my back (I'm 5'7") and the seat often isn't very deep. The thrill rides have seat belts or some type of harness, but the regular rides don't. My DD has been on everything except the 3 major roller coasters (Space Mountain, BTMRR and Rock N RC). She gets very spastic and into extension patterns when she's excited. For rides like Test Track and Dinosaur, it takes both my DH and I to hold her down.

Fantasmic is a great show. We have never used the dinner package, but we've been to the show about 5 times. I was really leary of the wait because DD has attention deficit and some other behavior difficulties along with physical disabilities, but we have never had a problem. They start letting people in about 1 hour before the show, so most of your wait will be sitting down and the kids would be able to do the same sort of activities that you can do on an airplane or in the car to keep them busy. There are bathrooms and a snack bar inside the auditorium. There is a lot of activity going on to watch. The wheelchair seating is in the whole back row of the auditorium with seats in the row ahead of that for the rest of your party. There are also a few wheelchair seats in the front row, but if you get those, prepare to get wet.

For the AS question, we have never stayed there, but I know AS has the smallest rooms of any hotel on site. The door won't be a problem; your DH will be able to get his wheelchair thru the door, but I think the room would only work for someone if they don't need the wheelchair at all once you are in the room. I don't know how the bathrooms are set up at AS, but in most of the resorts, the sink is outside in the room and the tolet and bathtub are in a small room together. I don't think the regular rooms have any grab bars for the toliet or tub. The people at this number: RESORTS/SPECIAL RESERVATIONS
(407) 939-7807 [voice]
(407) 939-7670 [TTY]
can help you out. They are much more knowledgable about special needs at the resorts than the people at the general reservations number.

 

[Talking Hands]

A power wheelcahir will fit easily in the All star rooms. I was just there the first part of June and had not problems. I could even get to the bathroom area easily as long as no one left their clothes or shoes in the way. There is a spot at the table that the chair can be plugged in if you move one chair to the side. All All Stars rooms have grab bars for the tub so that should not be a problem. You might want to imform them you need to be near the main building since the power wheelchair as limited power and the trek from the back of the resort to the buses is considerable. I had my room changed because of this.
They are getting better about recognizing a power wheelchair as what it is and not as an ECV. While you can't ride Pirates of the Caribbean because of the design in a power chair I can't think of any others that require a chnge to a manual chair. If a chair can go on so can the power chair. I found this true on Pooh and Small World, the Safari and Backlot Tour. Whether this would work for your son would probably depend on the amount of recline needed.
American Adventure is not a problem as you do not need to deal with the ramp on entry. You will be taken up via an elevator. The ramp is easy to go down. In fact I had no problems last trip where I used reflective captioning. My chair was brought to the front and the captioning set up for me. I did not need to transfer at all.
In the rides that require transfers you may need to hold your son. They are fairly upright but he can lean against you.
The shows are great and very enjoyable and do not require any tranfers. Most will place you in the back of the theater but since I also need the interpreters they break that for me all the time. At Indiana Jones I was able to bring my power chair all the eay to the benches and then transfer to the bench while a castmember removed the chair. It was then brought back to me after the show. At Tarzan I was taken through the backstage to reach the area where the interpreters are located. After the show the interpreters walked me back through the backstage area to get out. ( have been completely wheelcahir stuck for a month now due to a shattered ankle, normally I can transfer and even walk a bit)
I would not bother with the Fantasmic dinner package. We had handicapped coming in up to the last and there were seats for them. I sat in the back center section and it was great but be aware that the area is also for reflective captioning so is the last to be filled. We had 12 of us using RC that night. Only problem with the RD was crowd control because if someone stands behind you it blocks the captioning. The problem was reported and is supposed to be taken care of. The show is awesome. I enjoyed it with my daughers and 4 of the castmembers from Shockwave this last time. Even these pros were impressed.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for posting about the AS room, Lisa. People without disabilities post on the resort board about how small they are, so it's really hard to tell.

The ramp at American Adventure that I was talking about is after the elevator ride. The elevator takes you up to the rotunda level, but there is still a ramp to go up in the large entry area to the theater. There's a simgle file area roped off for wheelchair/ecv users to get in and the rest of the area is used by the general audience. We haven't had any problems, but I have seen people who do. The exit ramp might be a problem for someone with a reclined wheelchair if they are not able to keep back in the wheelchair while going downhill.

 

[pugdog]

you'll want to know that there are 2 types of rooms at AS. the first is a barrior free room which has a rollin shower and a king size bed. the second handicapped room has 2 double beds and a tub with handrails. so you need to decide which of those rooms you will need, of course the king room will give you more floor space. they will even get a rollaway for the king room if you have more then 2 people at no extra charge.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

JII has cars that can handle either a power chair or ECV. You go up a short ramp into a turntable which is then turned to face forward. Likewise you can get out easily. There is room in the car for a second person, but they can keep any size group together as the train is four car of 3+3 seating, so there can be a total of five in your car. There had been a potential problem on opening day of a power chair not being able to properly grip the ramp, but I was assured that would be taken care of. This is now a must-see attraction.

 

[LindaDVC]

We recently added an extra night at the all stars to our vacation. They advised that the handicapped room had a king size bed and they would provide a cot for our son!

Well we could not have tolerated that room for more than one night! To open the cot we had to move the table and chairs. Then once the cot was open it blocked the entire passage way to the bathrooms. For me to walk between the outside door and the bathroom I had to step on the bed!

In the a.m. I insisted my son move to the main bed so I could help DH get up and get that cot out of our way.

I am not sure if this is typical or not. We didn't complain since one night and we made due but it was not what I would call accessible by any means!

Linda

 

[SueM in MN]

The fact that his wheelchair is reclined is the thing that I think might make a difference for the ride cars. Some of the kids in my DD's dance class have relined wheelchairs and they take up more length space than my DD's wheelchair, even though the kids in them are smaller than my DD.
I think Linda DVC's husband uses a reclined wheelchair, so if you are out there, Linda, do you have any advice.

 

[LindaDVC]

Hi agian!

Dan's chair does have power recline however it can also sit up straight when he needs it too.
He can get his chair on buzz, figment, the land, great movie ride, safari, etc in the upright position or sllight recline.

On the last trip it was obvious a lot of "new" cms were there. We guessed that they had just finished training for summer positions. As we approached several rides they would tell us that his chair would not fit! We politely would say it did in April-- so make sure they know what they are talking about. Many confused a w/c with an ECV!

Linda

 

[Talking Hands]

Linda that is why I have a GAC that say that my power wheelchair is not an ECV. Plus when I go to the interpreted shows, one of the interpreters looks for me and if they see that I am being refused access to their area they come and tell the castmembers that I am to come where they are. IN fact, this last trip at AK the interpreter waited for me and took me directly to the area via backstage at Tarzan because I could not transfer and use stairs at all. Absolutely no weight bearing and not allowed crutches.
My trip in June was better and castmembers seem to be better informed as to the difference between power wheelchairs and ECVs

As far as the room at All Star I was not in a handicapped accessible room. I was in one that had 2 doubles. The bathroom had grab bars in the tub and they provided a tub chair. Since the child can walk a few steps the first bed would be perfect. It is just as you enter the room but with enough space for my power chair to enter. The window is slightly bumped out and I put one chair there and put the power wheelchair by the table and plug. There was sufficient room to go from the door to the bathroom and then I could swivel/hop onto the toilet and from there to the tub seat. REverse to get out. Once I was in bed my girls could move the chair into the spot by the table and plug it in for the night. Then they fixed all my pillows to support my leg and body so I was comfortable and off to a drug induced dreamland (off those now TG) I think the regular room worked better than the handicapped room would have in this case.

 

[Cassi]

Thank you all very much for all the useful advice and answers to my questions! Beware- I may come up with more!

Cassi

 

[SueM in MN]

Ask some more. We're ready.

 

[FergieTCat]

I am not handicapped, but was once assigned an "accessible" room with a king-sized bed at All Stars Music. I guess they had extras that weekend, and I had asked for a room with a king-sized bed. I had no idea that the only rooms with one bed were the accessible ones.

Personally, I thought the room was very small, and I can't imagine how you could fit a power chair into it (not that I know the dimensions of a power chair). There was little clearance around the bed. I do remember thinking that 2 adults would be a little crowded.

Maybe the rooms with king-sized beds are smaller than rooms with double beds. You might want to ask just to make sure.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks, Donna.