Companion Restroom - How Do You Handle This?

[Nanajo1]

I was hoping to get someone to get Help?

 

[SueM in MN]

I was hoping to get someone to get Help?

security and/or Janitorial Services in the parks are able to lock and unlock those doors from the outside.
So, if someone truly needed help, they could be gotten to.

 

[Nanajo1]

Now they can. A few years ago at the Poly the companion room neither Cast Members or Engineering knew how to open the door from the outside. I was able to finally get to my chair and open the door. After our trip we wrote letters and phoned. Management told us that training would be instituted.

 

[Sandy1892]

Consider yourself very lucky. I have had to wait almost everytime I need to use one, and I don't get out much.

I have to take my adult handicapped son to the companion restrooms, I can't take him into the Ladies or into the Gents. We usually have to wait between 10 -30 mins not always making it in time. If time is short use the Gents chances are you wont be seeing the occupants again.

 

[Missyrose]

Hi everyone! During our next trip to the world, my husband will be dealing with managing an "invisible illness" (aka Crohn's Disease). He gets bad anxiety when it comes to needing to use the restroom in public, so I suggested to him that maybe the Companion Restrooms could be an option. I printed off the locations from All Ears to keep with me, but here's my main question...

I know I shouldn't care, and neither should DH, but how do you handle the looks and judgy-ness of guests when they make comments or look at you like "why are you taking up this restroom when you clearly don't need it"? It's totally a mental game, and maybe people won't care, but I have just heard horror stories about other guests getting ridiculed and embarrassed because they don't LOOK like they need special accommodations. Our anxiety is high enough as it is, I don't want this to add to it.

TIA!!

Fellow Crohn's patient here, one tip I have to pass on is that there are restrooms in the first aid offices in the parks. I was watching fireworks on Main Street and had an issue, so I rushed to the restrooms near Casey's and the line was out the door. I ran into first aid next door, explained I had Crohn's and they very kindly let me use the restroom there. I don't abuse the privilege, but I know I stress less when I have multiple options to deal with this stuff. Let me know if you or your husband has any questions, I've had Crohn's for more than two decades!

 

[SDSorority]

Fellow Crohn's patient here, one tip I have to pass on is that there are restrooms in the first aid offices in the parks. I was watching fireworks on Main Street and had an issue, so I rushed to the restrooms near Casey's and the line was out the door. I ran into first aid next door, explained I had Crohn's and they very kindly let me use the restroom there. I don't abuse the privilege, but I know I stress less when I have multiple options to deal with this stuff. Let me know if you or your husband has any questions, I've had Crohn's for more than two decades!

Thank you!!

 

[kristennn]

I agree with the comment about having to grow a thick skin. My ASD 13 yr old son, depending on what kind of day he's having, could look like any other kid, but sometimes he needs help and I don't trust him in WDW with a bunch of strange men in the restroom.

Sometimes we have the opposite issue. If we aren't near a companion restroom, there have been times I've had to take him with me. When he was little, it wasn't a big deal. Now, I almost am scared to attempt it, and it's difficult to know what to do. If we have an emergency, I grit my teeth and do it. I know someone is going to go off on me at some point.

Honestly I bet you would be less likely to get hassled if you went with your son into the men's room instead of bringing him with you into the ladies room. I think fewer men are bothered by seeing someone of the opposite gender in the restroom than women are.

 

[Nanajo1]

Before I became physically obviously disabled I would respond to those folks that questioned my need by smiling and thanking them for their concern and go ahead and use the facility.
All h/p stalls are not wheelchair/ECV friendly. Grab bars are helpful for some but some stalls do not accommodate W/C or scooters.

 

[stink]

People are going to judge no matter what. Screw'em.

When travelling with my Mom in her wheelchair we always use companion restrooms. We travel off season so there is usually no wait. I don't judge if I see a single person or a Mom with boys, Dad with girls, or Mom with infant come out of a companion restroom.

My advice for anyone using companions restrooms is to be patient when occupied. Knocking once is fine, but continual knocking is just annoying and rude to the person sitting on the toilet.

The only time I was irritated when using a companion bathroom..... I was in the middle of helping my Mom transfer on the toilet at MK and someone knocked on the door then tried the door handle and it was locked. (when we entered the companion restroom there was no one waiting behind us). I got her on the toilet and said, through the door, "OCCUPIED" That part didn't bother me. No issues with knocking once.

Than not more than 30 seconds latter the knocking starts again, while my Mom is on the toilet trying to have a BM. I said through the door, again "OCCUPIED" Still more pounding knocks on the door. So I said , were going as fast as we can". I was going to skip washing hands and just use my hand sanitizer, but I thought screw these rude people for keep knocking on the door. So I had my Mom and I wash our hands at the sink.

So I come out of the restroom with my Mom in her wheelchair and there is a CM who has a sheepish look on his face, standing next to a couple with young girl in a wheel chair. The CM looks sheepish and doesn't say anything. What I wanted to say to the couple but didn't was, " I am sorry your Kid is in a wheelchair and has to use the bathroom but it doesn't give you the right to continually pound on the bathroom door when someone else who needs the accessible bathroom is trying to have a BM". Instead I just glared at them and wheeled my Mom away. We were not in the bathroom more than 15 minutes.

 

[SDSorority]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

 

[seashoreCM]

I have to take my adult handicapped son to the companion restrooms, I can't take him into the Ladies or into the Gents.

I beg to differ, assuming that the layout of fixtures is workable. However this statement is not intended to discourage your use of the companion restroom.

If time is short use the Gents chances are you wont be seeing the occupants again.

I beg to differ. However I, too, would suggest using the Gents because on average the wait is shorter.

To the poster with Crohn's: Did you see the TV commercial with the protagonist followed around by a double in a full body and limbs leotard with a picture of intestines on the front (It was for some kind of irritable bowel medication.) You might try to get a screen shot of an appropriate scene from that commercial. Next time you come out alone from the companion restroom into a group of waiting families, show them that printout (with the name of the product added up top) and say, "Yes, I have a companion."

 

[scroot]

I have to assist DW in the restroom. Companions are the only real option for us. We have waited as much as 30 minutes in one situation (we left after 30 minutes and I took her into the women's room). The unfortunate thing is that it has become a "political" issue now and it causes anxiety for those of us who, on occasion, must enter a bathroom that doesn't match our gender. Be kind folks, be kind.