Karfy said:
is the ECV an electric wheelchair? people have mentioned it and im guessing it is like an electric wheelchair/
scooter. can you rent these from disney then?
An ECV is a scooter. They can be rented from Disney at the parks or from one of the off-site medical equipment companies.
They are like a power wheelchair because they have power and don't need to be pushed. They can have 3 or 4 wheels and are steered by a "yoke" similar to how a bike is steered. The power and the steering are controlled by different mechanisms. They are pretty easy to drive with a small amount of practice. Most people who use
ECVs can walk at least a bit.
Power wheelchairs are different than ECVs in the way they are controlled. They are not for rent at the parks and are only rented by the off-site medical companies. They take quite a bit of practice to get the hang of, so most places will only rent them to experienced users. Power wheelchairs use a joystick that controls the speed and direction at the same time. The joystick actually controls a computer in the wheelchair which controls the speed and direction by sending more or less power to one wheel of the wheelchair.
i have no idea how it works with the whole being in a wheelchair and getting on the rides thing, what is the GAC card? could someone explain it to me please? does this mean you can be taken through a different entrance and go to the front of the queue?
If you go to the disABILITIES FAQs thread stuck near the top of this board, you will find a lot of information about renting ecvs/wheelchairs.
There is also a link to a past post about boarding rides that might be helpful and the last post in that thread explains all about GAC (Guest Assistance Cards).
In general, you don't need a GAC to use a wheelchair/ECV in line. The GAC is more for people who have needs other than just an accessible line.
Most lines are wheelchair accessible and have what is called "Mainstream Access" which means wheelchair/ECV users wait in line with everyone else. Some of the older rides (especially at MK and Epcot) don't have accessible lines/entrances.
For those attractions, there is a wheelchair entrance, which you will be routed to just by having a wheelchair or ECV. Depending on how busy it is, how much staffing there is and how many other people with special needs are waiting, you may have a short or long wait. For example, Spaceship Earth at Epcot has a regular line that is not wheelchair accessible at all; the wheelchair entrance is near the exit. We have been there when we had a 5 or 10 minute wait. We have also been there when we had about a 45 min wait because there were many special needs parties ahead of us.
The only people who get "front of the line access" are children on Make a Wish trips and people who have equipment (an example would be a ventilator) that has limited battery power before it needs to be plugged in again.
ibut how does it work in the parks if you just cannot wait in line?
i think i read something about you getting a time to go back to the ride and then going on it but do u have to go to the actual ride to get your 'time of ride' like a ticket and then go back later or can you pick up a time somewhere else? im saying this coz if we went all the way to the ride say at 10 in the morning and it said some back at 3 in the afternoon i probably just wouldnt be able to do it so i could possibly end up with a bunch of times to go on when i may not be able to last out till then. all i can be sure about is how i am right then and there and if im well enough to go on then.
You can go to Guest Services and explain your needs to the CMs there regarding need for a GAC. They don't want to actual diagnosis, what they need to know are what your needs are.
The GAC is not meant to avoid/shorten the wait in line though. It is meant to provide the accomidation you need; in your case, it might be something like being able to wait outside the line so that you can change position as you need to.
Fastpass might be useful to you. With that, you (or someone in your party) goes to the attraction and puts the park passes for all of the people in your party into the Fastpass machine. One person in your party can be the "runner" to go to the Fastpass machine; it doesn't have to be the "owner" of the pass.
What comes out is a Fastpass with a return time on it. You can't come back until at least that time has passed - which may be an hour or may be much later that day. The return time is indicated by a sign above the Fastpass machine area, so you will know before getting the Fastpass what the return time will be.
For times when the CMs write down a return time on a slip of paper (sort of a written fastpass), you (the person with the GAC) need to actually go to the ride and show your GAC to the CM there. He/She will ask how many are in your party and make out a slip for a return time for that number of people. They usually make the return time equal to the time of the standby line. So, if the regular (standby) line says it has a wait of 50 minutes, they will usually write a time for you to come back in 50 minutes. If you feel you can't come back at that time, you can come back later that day. The idea is that you can wait somewhere more comfortable than the line; so you skip the line, not just skip the wait.
Some other hints are to get to the park as early as possible in the day. Even at busy times, like Spring break or Easter, you can get on attractions with very minimal waits. We have gone the last few years to WDW during Spring break. My DD (who is the one with a disability) is not able to get going early in the morning. My DH and other members of our party have gone at park opening time. At MK, they have been able to go on all the Fantasyland rides (some more than once), Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad and the Pirates before 11am without more than a few minutes wait at most rides.
Also, if you go during non-peak times of the year, you will find the waits are very short because there are less people.
Keep in mind too that many rides with long waits early in the day may be busy because people rush there when they first get to the park. Many of those same attractions will have a minimal wait later in the day. A good example of this is Spaceship Earth - people see it as they walk in to Epcot and get in line. In the late morning, the wait there might be an hour. Further into the park, you might find things with very short waits. If you come back in the afternoon, the standby wait for Spaceship Earth may only be 5 minutes. Sometimes, at the same time as the Standby wait is 5 minutes, the wait for people in wheelchairs might be very long because some (like my DD) were not able to get to the park early in the morning.
