WheelieBigDisFan
Disneyland is my second home!
- Joined
- May 28, 2011
- Messages
- 85
I posted late last night in a thread after getting home from DLR/DCA. Here is the step by step of my interesting day...without pictures of the food we ate to go with it. I need to remember to start taking pictures for all those who love a bit of Disney food porn.
My friend Callie came back to Cali for a visit (trying to get transferred back to California for work) and we decided to go to our favorite place, Disneyland! We both needed to renew our AP's, so our first stop when we got to the park was the ticket window. We parked in Mickey and Friends, got on the tram and I had the CM strap my wheelchair in since I am recovering from a fractured hand and am not supposed to transfer very much (remember this for later). I told the CM where it was safe to attach the Qstraint system to my chair, and off we went. When we reached DTD another cast member unhooked me, and I went to go unlock my brakes (D's Locks, hub lock brakes) and my left brake would not disengage. The way my brakes work is I have a locking lever on the right side of my chair attached to the frame. When the lever is pushed under the frame it is unlocked, and when I pull it out towards the wheel the brakes lock.
This time, I pushed the lever back under the frame, and my right wheel moved but the left didn't. I pushed back harder, and still no budge...nothing I did could get that left brake unlocked. I was able to push and hold the lock lever long enough to have the CM get me off the tram and onto the top of the ramp, and I had to transfer (1) down to the floor to inspect what was going on with my brakes. I called the manufacture (I am friends with him) and he told me how to manually detach that brake, knowing that it wouldn't work for the remainder of the day. He will have to send me new parts to fix what the CM broke. Meanwhile, the CM who unhooked me said that the restraint was hooked to my axle and was hooked around the bottom of the axle, with the hook sitting right on top of the cable that goes to my brakes. He also said that they are specifically told NOT to hook the restraint there, but the previous CM who I did not get the name of did it anyways.
The CM's called over a lead from transportation who wrote me a voucher for a wheelchair for the day, and also a voucher for ice cream for Callie and myself.
From there, I transferred (2) back into my manual wheelchair and Callie and I head off to the ticket window. We renew our AP's (Premium...we decided we want to stay in the hotel on New Years Eve this year) and head to DLR turnstiles. The first stop for DLR is the stroller and wheelchair rental counter to get an ECV for me to use since my manual chair now has no brakes. We quickly discovered that the stroller and wheelchair rental is now just outside of the DLR turnstiles where they have the rental counters when they are really busy (I think they have it between the two parks now since there is so much construction at DCA for remodeling. Now, we make a U-Turn and leave the park to get the wheelchair. I handed the CM the voucher for a wheelchair and say that I need to rent an ECV since a cast member accidentally broke my manual chair brakes, and that I can't push a rental manual chair because of the stress it would put on my healing fracture (remember that a "hospital" rental chair is set up MUCH differently than a custom made ultra lightweight wheelchair). They happily lent me an ECV, I transferred (3) in, and off we went. Again, entered DLR through the turnstiles and headed towards City Hall to make a formal report of damage for my wheelchair, and also to get a GAC (I have other disabilities besides my mobility challenges).
I had a hard time in City Hall with the first CM in re: changes to the GAC policy. She did not understand that I was not asking about a GAC for my mobility limitations, and said that since I had an ECV that was enough...finally she got a team lead and he was able to adequately understand my needs in re: a GAC, and issued me a GAC to meet my needs. The GAC can be issued for a period of up to 2 months, so since I go frequently he issued it for the full 2 months. I like this so that I don't have to go to City Hall every trip anymore! After this, he gives me the form to fill out for the damages to my wheelchair, and faxes that copy to their claims department. He gave me a card with a number I have to call tomorrow (Monday) to begin the official process to get my chair repaired. It is now nearly 2:00pm and Callie and I are hungry. We wanted to eat lunch at Rancho Del Zocalo near the Golden Horseshoe Corral. We were also thinking ahead to dinner and I called dining reservations to see if there was any availability for Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. Luckily we were able to get a 6:00 reservation
.
Off to Rancho Del Zocalo for cheese enchiladas, sauteed vegetables and Cinnamon Crisps. This is definitely one of my favorite meals at DLR!
Callie had not had the chance to see World of Color yet, so after lunch we went over to DCA to get FP's for the 10:15 showing of WoC. I saw it shortly after Christmas with my friend who is a DL CM (actually, the guy who came up with the idea for WoC and created the show. He has lots of stories of when he was working on the elements in the lagoon and being really cold, but not wanting to "go" to warm up, LOL). While in DCA we decided to go see the Little Mermaid Ride for the first time.
From the FP line near Grizzly River Rapids, we walk around to LM and show the GAC to the CM. The wait was only 20 min standby. We went through the regular cue to a rope that we were directed to for mobility assistance. We were in line for maybe 5 minutes total. The cast member told me where to park the ECV and assumed I would walk to the ride. I told her that I could not stand to transfer to the ride. They had a WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) coming around soon, but it would not accommodate the ECV, so I had to transfer (4) to a manual chair at the attraction and a CM pushed the chair up onto the WAV (Callie couldn't push b/c she loaded into the WAV first). The ride was amazing, and when it was over the CM unloaded the chair, Callie pushed me back to the ECV where I transferred (5) back. From LM we went over to Toy Story Mania (TSM). We went to the alternate entrance and the CM's directed us over to the accessible loading zone. The CM here again told me to park the ECV and walk to the ride, but I told her I couldn't stand/walk to transfer, and she was like, you can't transfer? I said again that I could not STAND to transfer so she allowed me to pull the ECV up to the ride car and transfer (6) to the ride. If anyone else is like me, please ask to transfer to a manual chair located at the attraction and sit in the manual chair in the wheelchair accessible vehicle. This makes a bit of extra work for the CM (they have to remove the seat) but the transfer otherwise is WICKED hard. I had to transfer from the ECV over to the door of the accessible car and from the door onto the seat of the accessible ride vehicle. Also, since I had transferred to the ride car before Callie got in, she had the control with the push button (accessible) shooter. I wished after the fact that I had been in that seat because using the regular pull shooter really hurt my fractured hand, LOL. Callie beat me, miserably and after the ride I of course had to transfer (7) back to the ECV.
After the ride, we decided to stop at an ice cream cart and buy the Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. My favorite! We made our way back up the hill to the pier and to the front of the park. We decided to try and catch a showing of Aladdin (my friend Jennifer is in the show, but was not working yesterday). From Aladdin Callie and I headed to the exit and back to stroller and wheelchair rental counter to drop off the ECV to be held until we came back from dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I retrieved my manual wheelchair and transferred (8) back to it for dinner. We headed through DTD to the Disneyland Hotel. After waiting for just a couple minutes we were called to be seated at our table. Callie and I enjoyed dinner of New York Strip, Ribs, Youkon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Vegetable Pot Stickers, Macaroni and Cheese Pizza (her younger sisters got me hooked on these), and a really good pasta with white sauce, shrimp, carrots and peas...I forgot the name of it. For dessert I had a bite of jello, and a few bites of peach blueberry cobbler with vanilla soft serve. Callie wasn't feeling well, so she skipped dessert. We decided to head back to DLR so we went back through DTD, stopped at the stroller and wheelchair rental to pick up the ECV again, transferred (9) to the ECV and went through the turnstiles into DLR.
Callie suffers from a condition that causes her feet to swell horribly, so she needed to stop at First Aid to lay down and put her feet up for a bit. After about 40 min in First Aid she decided that we would go on Star Tours (she had to rub it in her sister Elizabeth's face that she got to ride the updated version first) and then head for home since she still wasn't feeling well. We decided to wait to see WoC on the next trip. At Star Tours the CM directed me through the exit in Star Traders. We waited at the bottom of the ramp for another rider in an ECV to come down, then were directed up the ramp. When it was time for us to load the CM told me to leave the ECV and walk to the seats, and I had to tell them that I could not stand to transfer (this seemed like a trend yesterday, LOL). They didn't hear the STAND part and heard that I couldn't transfer, and I was like, no, I just can't STAND and WALK...I can transfer. I guess the ECV is too heavy for the ramp? so they had me transfer (10) to a manual chair at the attraction, the CM pushed the manual chair down the ramp where I transferred (11) to the ride car for the full Star Tours experience. After the ride/show I transferred (12) back to the manual chair and transferred (13) again to the ECV after we got up the ramp. We headed back out of Tomorrowland where they were getting ready for fireworks, so we had to go around to the other side of the hub (one way only) and walk up main street.
We stopped in the Emporium so Callie could get gifts for people back home in Texas (a picture frame for her sister who is engaged, a t-shirt for her mom's friend, a Beauty and the Beast mug for her boss, etc.). After getting gifts we headed back to City Hall to find out about getting a wheelchair rental on our return trip on Tuesday, since my chair will still not be fixed (the manufacture can't send the parts till business on Monday). City Hall told us to talk to the lead at stroller and wheelchair rentals, and since that was our next stop anyways to return the ECV thats exactly what we did.
I returned the ECV while Callie talked to a CM at the window. I got my manual chair and transferred (14) back to that for the last time. I met Callie up at the window where she was talking to a lead CM. The lead was very nice and wrote a note for the lead who would be working on Tuesday at the time we are going to arrive. I made sure to get everyone's name so that I can give compliments for great service! She also told us what CM lead to ask for on Tuesday when we get there, so that made it a bit easier for us knowing that not only would the message be passed on, but that we actually had the name of a person to ask for if needed.
We left stroller and wheelchair rental and headed to the tram where I again instructed the CM where to SAFELY attach the restraints to my wheelchair. This CM LISTENED and did hook me up safely. I got his name so that I can compliment him also (way to go Marc from Ontario California...not Canada). Mark from Pleasant Hill CA unhooked me back at Mickey and Friends and Callie and I proceeded to the car to head for home. We definitely had a nice ride home in the rental Mustang Convertible with the top down! It was 65* outside, but felt amazing!
Despite having my manual wheelchair broken at the beginning of the day, it turned out to be a great trip. This was definitely the most ups and downs we have had at DLR in one day. Callie and I usually go go go all day with no problems, have never had to visit First Aid, etc. and rarely have to go to City Hall for anything other than a GAC or compliment form! I am very happy that Disney has been willing to make sure that I am taken care of in the interim while my wheelchair is not in full working order (I still have no brakes...so I am being very careful in daily activity).
I was disappointed in the sheer number of transfers that I had to do during the day because I was in an ECV instead of my manual wheelchair. Here are the transfers I could have skipped if I had my chair the whole day:
1) manual wheelchair to floor
2) floor to manual wheelchair
3) manual wheelchair to ECV (stroller and wheelchair rental)
4) ECV to manual wheelchair (LM)
5) manual wheelchair to ECV (LM)
6) ECV to TSM
7) TSM to ECV
8) ECV to manual wheelchair (stroller and wheelchair rental)
9) manual wheelchair to ECV (stroller and wheelchair rental)
10) ECV to manual wheelchair (Star Tours)
11) manual wheelchair to ECV (Star Tours)
12) ECV to manual wheelchair (stroller and wheelchair rental)
Many of these would have been avoided because the attraction that we were riding was accessible to a manual wheelchair, just not an ECV. If I were in my manual wheelchair I would have just been loaded onto the ride car and off we go. The two transfers that would not have been avoided are from manual chair to Star Tours and Star Tours to manual chair.
I will call Disneyland claims department tomorrow to see what needs to be done to get reimbursement for the expenses related to fixing my wheelchair.
I definitely am not mad at Disneyland for the damages since I know that accidents happen all the time. I have been to DLR many many many times without incident like this, so of course I can't say that it ALWAYS happens, LOL. I have heard of airlines damaging wheelchairs way more than DLR or WDW CM's. What speaks volumes to me is that DLR is so far very willing to resolve this issue and make sure that I have adequate accommodations while I am there to make up for the damage.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to go to DLR on Tuesday and ride Haunted Mansion and some of the other rides we usually ride but were unable to do yesterday.
Mandy
My friend Callie came back to Cali for a visit (trying to get transferred back to California for work) and we decided to go to our favorite place, Disneyland! We both needed to renew our AP's, so our first stop when we got to the park was the ticket window. We parked in Mickey and Friends, got on the tram and I had the CM strap my wheelchair in since I am recovering from a fractured hand and am not supposed to transfer very much (remember this for later). I told the CM where it was safe to attach the Qstraint system to my chair, and off we went. When we reached DTD another cast member unhooked me, and I went to go unlock my brakes (D's Locks, hub lock brakes) and my left brake would not disengage. The way my brakes work is I have a locking lever on the right side of my chair attached to the frame. When the lever is pushed under the frame it is unlocked, and when I pull it out towards the wheel the brakes lock.
This time, I pushed the lever back under the frame, and my right wheel moved but the left didn't. I pushed back harder, and still no budge...nothing I did could get that left brake unlocked. I was able to push and hold the lock lever long enough to have the CM get me off the tram and onto the top of the ramp, and I had to transfer (1) down to the floor to inspect what was going on with my brakes. I called the manufacture (I am friends with him) and he told me how to manually detach that brake, knowing that it wouldn't work for the remainder of the day. He will have to send me new parts to fix what the CM broke. Meanwhile, the CM who unhooked me said that the restraint was hooked to my axle and was hooked around the bottom of the axle, with the hook sitting right on top of the cable that goes to my brakes. He also said that they are specifically told NOT to hook the restraint there, but the previous CM who I did not get the name of did it anyways.
The CM's called over a lead from transportation who wrote me a voucher for a wheelchair for the day, and also a voucher for ice cream for Callie and myself.
From there, I transferred (2) back into my manual wheelchair and Callie and I head off to the ticket window. We renew our AP's (Premium...we decided we want to stay in the hotel on New Years Eve this year) and head to DLR turnstiles. The first stop for DLR is the stroller and wheelchair rental counter to get an ECV for me to use since my manual chair now has no brakes. We quickly discovered that the stroller and wheelchair rental is now just outside of the DLR turnstiles where they have the rental counters when they are really busy (I think they have it between the two parks now since there is so much construction at DCA for remodeling. Now, we make a U-Turn and leave the park to get the wheelchair. I handed the CM the voucher for a wheelchair and say that I need to rent an ECV since a cast member accidentally broke my manual chair brakes, and that I can't push a rental manual chair because of the stress it would put on my healing fracture (remember that a "hospital" rental chair is set up MUCH differently than a custom made ultra lightweight wheelchair). They happily lent me an ECV, I transferred (3) in, and off we went. Again, entered DLR through the turnstiles and headed towards City Hall to make a formal report of damage for my wheelchair, and also to get a GAC (I have other disabilities besides my mobility challenges).
I had a hard time in City Hall with the first CM in re: changes to the GAC policy. She did not understand that I was not asking about a GAC for my mobility limitations, and said that since I had an ECV that was enough...finally she got a team lead and he was able to adequately understand my needs in re: a GAC, and issued me a GAC to meet my needs. The GAC can be issued for a period of up to 2 months, so since I go frequently he issued it for the full 2 months. I like this so that I don't have to go to City Hall every trip anymore! After this, he gives me the form to fill out for the damages to my wheelchair, and faxes that copy to their claims department. He gave me a card with a number I have to call tomorrow (Monday) to begin the official process to get my chair repaired. It is now nearly 2:00pm and Callie and I are hungry. We wanted to eat lunch at Rancho Del Zocalo near the Golden Horseshoe Corral. We were also thinking ahead to dinner and I called dining reservations to see if there was any availability for Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. Luckily we were able to get a 6:00 reservation
. Off to Rancho Del Zocalo for cheese enchiladas, sauteed vegetables and Cinnamon Crisps. This is definitely one of my favorite meals at DLR!
Callie had not had the chance to see World of Color yet, so after lunch we went over to DCA to get FP's for the 10:15 showing of WoC. I saw it shortly after Christmas with my friend who is a DL CM (actually, the guy who came up with the idea for WoC and created the show. He has lots of stories of when he was working on the elements in the lagoon and being really cold, but not wanting to "go" to warm up, LOL). While in DCA we decided to go see the Little Mermaid Ride for the first time.
From the FP line near Grizzly River Rapids, we walk around to LM and show the GAC to the CM. The wait was only 20 min standby. We went through the regular cue to a rope that we were directed to for mobility assistance. We were in line for maybe 5 minutes total. The cast member told me where to park the ECV and assumed I would walk to the ride. I told her that I could not stand to transfer to the ride. They had a WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) coming around soon, but it would not accommodate the ECV, so I had to transfer (4) to a manual chair at the attraction and a CM pushed the chair up onto the WAV (Callie couldn't push b/c she loaded into the WAV first). The ride was amazing, and when it was over the CM unloaded the chair, Callie pushed me back to the ECV where I transferred (5) back. From LM we went over to Toy Story Mania (TSM). We went to the alternate entrance and the CM's directed us over to the accessible loading zone. The CM here again told me to park the ECV and walk to the ride, but I told her I couldn't stand/walk to transfer, and she was like, you can't transfer? I said again that I could not STAND to transfer so she allowed me to pull the ECV up to the ride car and transfer (6) to the ride. If anyone else is like me, please ask to transfer to a manual chair located at the attraction and sit in the manual chair in the wheelchair accessible vehicle. This makes a bit of extra work for the CM (they have to remove the seat) but the transfer otherwise is WICKED hard. I had to transfer from the ECV over to the door of the accessible car and from the door onto the seat of the accessible ride vehicle. Also, since I had transferred to the ride car before Callie got in, she had the control with the push button (accessible) shooter. I wished after the fact that I had been in that seat because using the regular pull shooter really hurt my fractured hand, LOL. Callie beat me, miserably and after the ride I of course had to transfer (7) back to the ECV.
After the ride, we decided to stop at an ice cream cart and buy the Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. My favorite! We made our way back up the hill to the pier and to the front of the park. We decided to try and catch a showing of Aladdin (my friend Jennifer is in the show, but was not working yesterday). From Aladdin Callie and I headed to the exit and back to stroller and wheelchair rental counter to drop off the ECV to be held until we came back from dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I retrieved my manual wheelchair and transferred (8) back to it for dinner. We headed through DTD to the Disneyland Hotel. After waiting for just a couple minutes we were called to be seated at our table. Callie and I enjoyed dinner of New York Strip, Ribs, Youkon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Vegetable Pot Stickers, Macaroni and Cheese Pizza (her younger sisters got me hooked on these), and a really good pasta with white sauce, shrimp, carrots and peas...I forgot the name of it. For dessert I had a bite of jello, and a few bites of peach blueberry cobbler with vanilla soft serve. Callie wasn't feeling well, so she skipped dessert. We decided to head back to DLR so we went back through DTD, stopped at the stroller and wheelchair rental to pick up the ECV again, transferred (9) to the ECV and went through the turnstiles into DLR.
Callie suffers from a condition that causes her feet to swell horribly, so she needed to stop at First Aid to lay down and put her feet up for a bit. After about 40 min in First Aid she decided that we would go on Star Tours (she had to rub it in her sister Elizabeth's face that she got to ride the updated version first) and then head for home since she still wasn't feeling well. We decided to wait to see WoC on the next trip. At Star Tours the CM directed me through the exit in Star Traders. We waited at the bottom of the ramp for another rider in an ECV to come down, then were directed up the ramp. When it was time for us to load the CM told me to leave the ECV and walk to the seats, and I had to tell them that I could not stand to transfer (this seemed like a trend yesterday, LOL). They didn't hear the STAND part and heard that I couldn't transfer, and I was like, no, I just can't STAND and WALK...I can transfer. I guess the ECV is too heavy for the ramp? so they had me transfer (10) to a manual chair at the attraction, the CM pushed the manual chair down the ramp where I transferred (11) to the ride car for the full Star Tours experience. After the ride/show I transferred (12) back to the manual chair and transferred (13) again to the ECV after we got up the ramp. We headed back out of Tomorrowland where they were getting ready for fireworks, so we had to go around to the other side of the hub (one way only) and walk up main street.
We stopped in the Emporium so Callie could get gifts for people back home in Texas (a picture frame for her sister who is engaged, a t-shirt for her mom's friend, a Beauty and the Beast mug for her boss, etc.). After getting gifts we headed back to City Hall to find out about getting a wheelchair rental on our return trip on Tuesday, since my chair will still not be fixed (the manufacture can't send the parts till business on Monday). City Hall told us to talk to the lead at stroller and wheelchair rentals, and since that was our next stop anyways to return the ECV thats exactly what we did.
I returned the ECV while Callie talked to a CM at the window. I got my manual chair and transferred (14) back to that for the last time. I met Callie up at the window where she was talking to a lead CM. The lead was very nice and wrote a note for the lead who would be working on Tuesday at the time we are going to arrive. I made sure to get everyone's name so that I can give compliments for great service! She also told us what CM lead to ask for on Tuesday when we get there, so that made it a bit easier for us knowing that not only would the message be passed on, but that we actually had the name of a person to ask for if needed.
We left stroller and wheelchair rental and headed to the tram where I again instructed the CM where to SAFELY attach the restraints to my wheelchair. This CM LISTENED and did hook me up safely. I got his name so that I can compliment him also (way to go Marc from Ontario California...not Canada). Mark from Pleasant Hill CA unhooked me back at Mickey and Friends and Callie and I proceeded to the car to head for home. We definitely had a nice ride home in the rental Mustang Convertible with the top down! It was 65* outside, but felt amazing!
Despite having my manual wheelchair broken at the beginning of the day, it turned out to be a great trip. This was definitely the most ups and downs we have had at DLR in one day. Callie and I usually go go go all day with no problems, have never had to visit First Aid, etc. and rarely have to go to City Hall for anything other than a GAC or compliment form! I am very happy that Disney has been willing to make sure that I am taken care of in the interim while my wheelchair is not in full working order (I still have no brakes...so I am being very careful in daily activity).
I was disappointed in the sheer number of transfers that I had to do during the day because I was in an ECV instead of my manual wheelchair. Here are the transfers I could have skipped if I had my chair the whole day:
1) manual wheelchair to floor
2) floor to manual wheelchair
3) manual wheelchair to ECV (stroller and wheelchair rental)
4) ECV to manual wheelchair (LM)
5) manual wheelchair to ECV (LM)
6) ECV to TSM
7) TSM to ECV
8) ECV to manual wheelchair (stroller and wheelchair rental)
9) manual wheelchair to ECV (stroller and wheelchair rental)
10) ECV to manual wheelchair (Star Tours)
11) manual wheelchair to ECV (Star Tours)
12) ECV to manual wheelchair (stroller and wheelchair rental)
Many of these would have been avoided because the attraction that we were riding was accessible to a manual wheelchair, just not an ECV. If I were in my manual wheelchair I would have just been loaded onto the ride car and off we go. The two transfers that would not have been avoided are from manual chair to Star Tours and Star Tours to manual chair.
I will call Disneyland claims department tomorrow to see what needs to be done to get reimbursement for the expenses related to fixing my wheelchair.
I definitely am not mad at Disneyland for the damages since I know that accidents happen all the time. I have been to DLR many many many times without incident like this, so of course I can't say that it ALWAYS happens, LOL. I have heard of airlines damaging wheelchairs way more than DLR or WDW CM's. What speaks volumes to me is that DLR is so far very willing to resolve this issue and make sure that I have adequate accommodations while I am there to make up for the damage.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to go to DLR on Tuesday and ride Haunted Mansion and some of the other rides we usually ride but were unable to do yesterday.
Mandy
