Courtesy Wheelchairs at parks??

[hmhs]

What are the courtesy wheelchairs in handicapped section the parking lots of the theme parks used for? Are they free to use in the parks?

Here's our situation, if someone can help that would be great...

We are at WDW now and trying to figure out how to do Animal Kingdom tomorrow. My FIL has been using a scooter all week, but we are having trouble transporting it around to non-monorail parks. We went to Hollywood Studios this afternoon and there was a courtesy wheelchair left by our parking place so we used that instead of his scooter... the scooter is so very heavy to lift in and out of our SUV. We took the wheelchair into the park and used it the rest of the day which worked great. It occured me later that maybe we weren't supposed to bring it into the park but no one said anything.... was that okay to do??

If not, we'd like to rent a wheel chair for Animal Kingdom in the morning.... we are having breakfast bf the park opens and will be going in about 8:30am... will the wheelchair rental place be open? I think we are going to be in a hurry.

Any advice would be appreicated!!

 

[dclfun]

The courtesy wheelchairs are only to be used to get to the parking lot to the w/c rental area. If all of them are taken, then another guest won't have the assistance they might need as it can be quite the hike from the lot to the park entrance. Most that I have seen though have large poles and flags to prevent them from being taken into the park- perhaps the one you found was one that was abandoned by another guest. As to the second question- the rental area should be open at park opening. ---Kathy

 

[hmhs]

Thank you... that's what I thought. The one we used defintily looked abandoned by someone else- like they rented it and didn't bring it back. do you happen to know how much the rental is?

 

[SueM in MN]

as dclfun posted, the courtesy wheelchairs have a tall flag on them to prevent them being brought into the park. If the one you found didn't, then it was rented by someone and brought out to the parking lot - the park rental ones are usually not allowed out of the park though, so thst doesn't totally explain how it got there.
For rental prices, follow the link in my signature to the disABILITIES FAQs thread. You will find rental prices listed in post #2.

 

[jmartinez1895]

It may take you more time, but is is possible for you to take the monorail to a park ( say MK ) and then go to the buses and take a bus to the park you want to go to. This would mean a few stops and changing buses ( I think you would have to go to a resort, get off and wait for the bus for the park you want). If you don't mind the time and want to go for a ride it might work. If not then I would suggest either bring your own scooter even though it is hard on you or rent a wheelchair once your inside he park. I was just trying to brain storm and come up with something that may help.

 

[livndisney]

It may take you more time, but is is possible for you to take the monorail to a park ( say MK ) and then go to the buses and take a bus to the park you want to go to. This would mean a few stops and changing buses ( I think you would have to go to a resort, get off and wait for the bus for the park you want). If you don't mind the time and want to go for a ride it might work. If not then I would suggest either bring your own scooter even though it is hard on you or rent a wheelchair once your inside he park. I was just trying to brain storm and come up with something that may help.

It looks like the OP is staying at Bay Lake. The most direct route to AK would be for them to take the scooter on the bus to AK. If the issue with the scooter is getting it onto the bus, perhaps someone else is your party could drive the scooter onto the bus for you FIL. Ak is very uneven and would be hard to push someone in a chair all day.

Failing that-leave your scooter in the room, take the bus to AK and rent a scooter there. It is a bit of a walk from the bus area to the scooter rental (but shorter than parking and walking). If your FIL can board the tram from the parking lot that will get him the closest to the park entrance.

 

[aspen37]

I am late in posting this but this is what happened to me, and what we did.
I tore my Achilles Tendon after only being at WDW for 45 min.
When I checked in at AKL the valet saw I couldn't walk and she got me a wheelchair, and said we could use it during my entire stay at NO cost. I was having a ECV deliver later that day to use during our stay also. We found that sometimes it was much easier to use the wheelchair than the ECV too.
I have found out from other people that it is stander for the Valet to have wheelchairs at the resorts for NO cost. I hope you had a great time at AK.

 

[SueM in MN]

I am late in posting this but this is what happened to me, and what we did.
I tore my Achilles Tendon after only being at WDW for 45 min.
When I checked in at AKL the valet saw I couldn't walk and she got me a wheelchair, and said we could use it during my entire stay at NO cost. I was having a ECV deliver later that day to use during our stay also. We found that sometimes it was much easier to use the wheelchair than the ECV too.
I have found out from other people that it is stander for the Valet to have wheelchairs at the resorts for NO cost. I hope you had a great time at AK.

The important things to keep in mind when considering getting a wheelchair from the resort are:
- they can't be requested or guaranteed ahead of time
- there may not be any wheelchairs when you request one
- people have posted in the past that they did get a loaner wheelchair, but it was the wrong size or in poor condition

So, be sure to take along phone numbers for some of the rental places.

 

[tekoa]

The important things to keep in mind when considering getting a wheelchair from the resort are:
- they can't be requested or guaranteed ahead of time
- there may not be any wheelchairs when you request one
- people have posted in the past that they did get a loaner wheelchair, but it was the wrong size or in poor condition

So, be sure to take along phone numbers for some of the rental places.

That is true about them sometimes being in poor condition. We were allowed to use a courtesy wheelchair when we stayed at the Beach Club about 6 years ago. It was rusty and in very shabby condition. At the time I did not know about outside vendors or I would have given them a call.

 

[debbiemomto4]

I were able to borrow one from the Grand Floridian the last time we went. DS adaptive stroller broke when we went to concierge they offered me some coupons to rent one at the park. There were no wc to borrow there but two days later she found me to tell me that they had one we could borrow for the remainder of our stay. We did have it taken at a ride but they located another resort one for us to take with us. They said it didn't matter that it said a different resort on the sidethey were all shared in house.
He definitely preferred the wc and need to get our own before our next stay.