Difficulty transferring questions

[darthspud]

Hi every one.. I just have a question I am starting to plan the itinerary for the group of students I am chaperoning on the senior trip.. out of the 7 students that will be in the group 5 are in chairs 4 are able to transfer with ease one of them not so much (he has duchene's and its starting to progress greatly) there will be 4 other adults in the group but I am the disney freak so they basically are letting me plan everything

we are going to MK and either studios or epcot (i would prefer epcot)

so my question is how easy is it to transfer onto say test track? PoTC? space mountain? splash mountain? you know all the rides that you have to step down into it...

at epcot I know that chairs load from the exit and you have to transfer my question for that is can you bring the chair up to load platform or do you have to walk up to it? do they have a seat where you can slide onto it using a slide board or something like that?

we really want to make this trip great for our young man with duchenes he's been to disney once before on his wish trip but he was able to take few steps then now hes really physically compromised which is scary to see he's 17 and at our school we have yet to have a student who's had duchenes make it past 19

thanks every one!

 

[Mary976]

Space Mtn is an extremely tough transfer and you need to be able to do it quickly. Even worse, after you leave the ride the ONLY exit (or so say all the CMs) is a moving walkway with a STEEP ramp. DD's chair tipped back on it's anti tip bars even while she was leaning forward and I suspect she may have fallen over if I hadn't been there. I personally would not take a chair on the walkway without an assistant who can support the chair. Also, DD thinks you need a fair amount of upper body stability for this ride (I wouldn't know...I refuse to get on!)

We don't do Splash so I can't comment on that one. POTC is tough, DD doesn't love the ride so we skip it.

At Epcot, what rides are you thinking of doing? Some have mainstreamed lines and accessible vehicles (Nemo, Ellen's Energy Adventure) while some require transfer.

In general, the rides that are a chair to ride vehicle transfer (as opposed to chair to floor to ride vehicle), you can bring the chair right up to the edge. Also, some rides have cars with cut away sides to help transferring. Haunted Mansion and Spaceship are two examples of this style of ride. DD does a two part transfer to get into Test Track, but doesn't think it's as bad as the chair to floor transfers.

One website we've used before is http://www.themouseonwheels.com/index.htm because it gives good descriptions of the rides. Also, I think allears.net has pics of ride vehicles and their seating arrangements. With this young man, do you know if he has to be lifted? Can he get easily from his chair into a car? Can he support his weight if he has someone to balance him? Knowing that might help you figure out what rides will work the best.

Good luck! I'll look later tonight to see if we have some pics of ride transfers from our last trip.

Mary

 

[SueM in MN]

Check out the EPCOT FAQs thread near the top of this board. She I have put descriptions of some of the attractions along with picture montages.

Also, post # 3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread has a link to my DIS Board photo album, where I have pictures of the wheelchair car or ADA ride car (those are ones with cut away sides) for many attractions. I have pictures of most WDW attraction ride cars (the regular ride car for those without a wheelchair or ADA ride car, but not all are posted - I usually post them when someone asks since I have limited time). There is also a link to the allearsnet.com webpage with pictures of ride cars on post 3. Also, on page 2 of that thread, there is some information about each park in a thread about rides that require a transfer and the ones with a wheelchair car are also noted. Post 18 is about MK, post 19 is about Epcot, 20 is about Hollywood Studios and 21 is about AK. The FAQs thread is near the top of this board or you can follow the link in my signature. Our 2 favorite parks for accessibility are Epcot and the Studio.

I agree that mouseonwheels has some good information, so it is definitely worth a look. Sometimes, the more different ‘looks’ you have, the better.

For choosing one park - a lot depends on what he wants to go on and what he will be disappointed about not being able not get onto because the transfer is too hard.

MK has many attractions which are difficult transfers. These attractions have wheelchair accessible ride cars:
Buzz Lightyear
Small World
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

All shows are accessible and for the attractions without a wheelchair car, the wheelchair can be brought as close as you need to the ride car (even touching it). Some transfers are relatively easy - like Haunted Mansion where someone could do a sliding board transfer(this is a picture of the HM ADA ride car with a cut out side):

We don’t do Space Mountain because it is a difficult transfer and also because it would not be safe for my DD to be sitting alone. Splash Mountain is a difficult transfer because you have to get over the side of the ride car and then down through a tight space. If he can’t lift his leg, he would need to be lifted over and it is a pretty high lift. And, the small space to sort of ‘shimmy’ your body into is not easy to work with. Plus, it is very possible to come out of Splash Mountain pretty well drenched. The last time I rode was last October. My companion was wet enough that she had to purchase a new shirt. I was pretty wet (down to the skin in some places).

The other thing to think about is how good his sitting balance is and how god his side to side balance is. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is not that difficult of a transfer because there is not a step up of down. But, the ride car does not have much support and riders can get really whipped around from side to side.
Pirates is a difficult transfer. To get in, you have to get over the side of the ride boat, which is about 10 inches high. Then it is a step down onto the ride seat and from there another step down to the floor of the boat. Sometimes, getting in is easier than getting out because gravity helps you getting in, but you are working against gravity getting out.
This is a picture of the Pirates boat at the loading area:

I have to go to bed, so I will just cover Test Track before quitting.
There is the regular boarding area, which is a step down to below floor level to the seat and then further down to the floor of the ride car (the wheels of the car are actually recessed into the floor at the board/unload point).
There is also a transfer area where the ride car is above the floor. The best description I can think of is that it is a bit like getting into a seat over the edge of a bathtub. This is a picture of the accessible loading area - it’s hard to get a good picture because the area is kind of tight. They also have a grab bar that can be added to help in transfers.

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[darthspud]

I've been to disney about a billion times so I've seen almost all of the ride vehicles but what I lacked was the first hand experience so thanks all

Our young man with duchenes does not have the best upper body support so the rides we will attempt to get him on are limited thankfully there are enough at the magic kingdom he can ride in his chair that the only ones im willing to transfer him onto are haunted mansion as long as he has staff on either side of him for when the car rotates backwards..

the rest of the group are able to walk or at least take a few steps when needed they are the ones that would be able to ride splash/test track/space/btm/

my other question is about soarin... id love to be able to take the young man on that but im afraid about his ability to keep himself up straight so I don't think id attempt that... in the group I have another young man whose wheelchair can rise and lower so I was thinking since the ride vehicle is just a little bit higher then a normal seat he should be able to rise his chair to the height of the ride vehicle and slide transfer on the seat but of course that only works if there is a row that does not have the arm rest on the last seat in the row... does that exist?

thanks all so very much... I dont know who's more excited about this trip me or the students

 

[SueM in MN]

I've been to disney about a billion times so I've seen almost all of the ride vehicles but what I lacked was the first hand experience so thanks all

Our young man with duchenes does not have the best upper body support so the rides we will attempt to get him on are limited thankfully there are enough at the magic kingdom he can ride in his chair that the only ones im willing to transfer him onto are haunted mansion as long as he has staff on either side of him for when the car rotates backwards..

the rest of the group are able to walk or at least take a few steps when needed they are the ones that would be able to ride splash/test track/space/btm/

my other question is about soarin... id love to be able to take the young man on that but im afraid about his ability to keep himself up straight so I don't think id attempt that... in the group I have another young man whose wheelchair can rise and lower so I was thinking since the ride vehicle is just a little bit higher then a normal seat he should be able to rise his chair to the height of the ride vehicle and slide transfer on the seat but of course that only works if there is a row that does not have the arm rest on the last seat in the row... does that exist?

thanks all so very much... I dont know who's more excited about this trip me or the students

Soarin is actually not that bad of a transfer, but there are no seats without an arm rest. This is a small version of a photo montage of Soarin’s line that I made. There is a larger version in the EPCOT FAQs thread.

and a link to this picture - once it is open, you can click on it to open a bigger picture:
http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/2590Soarin_Slide2.jpg

And here is a montage about the seating and show itself:

and a link to this picture - click on it to open a bigger picture:
http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/medium/2590Soarin_Slide_3.jpg

Another thing that might be helpful to you - in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread, there is a link to a trip report from a DIS poster named eternaldisney fan. She and her sister both have MD and visited WDW. She made very detailed descriptions and pictures of their trip (including planning and their trip in a motor home). Post one of her trip report is an index that tells where she recorded particular days and which parks they went to. It might be very helpful to you. eternaldisneyfan and her sister did ride Soarin’ and sound like they were much more affected by their MD than the young man you will be going with - so it may be possible. She talks about it in post 389 of this thread.

There are a few other trip report links that might be helpful to you in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread. Scroll to the end of post 3 to find them. mrsksomeday travels with her significant other, Bill and she gives very good reports (with pictures) of what they do. Bill has cerebral palsy, which severly affects his ability to move or transfer.

 

[SueM in MN]

I've been to disney about a billion times so I've seen almost all of the ride vehicles but what I lacked was the first hand experience so thanks all

Our young man with duchenes does not have the best upper body support so the rides we will attempt to get him on are limited thankfully there are enough at the magic kingdom he can ride in his chair that the only ones im willing to transfer him onto are haunted mansion as long as he has staff on either side of him for when the car rotates backwards..

the rest of the group are able to walk or at least take a few steps when needed they are the ones that would be able to ride splash/test track/space/btm/

my other question is about soarin... id love to be able to take the young man on that but im afraid about his ability to keep himself up straight so I don't think id attempt that... in the group I have another young man whose wheelchair can rise and lower so I was thinking since the ride vehicle is just a little bit higher then a normal seat he should be able to rise his chair to the height of the ride vehicle and slide transfer on the seat but of course that only works if there is a row that does not have the arm rest on the last seat in the row... does that exist?

thanks all so very much... I dont know who's more excited about this trip me or the students

The ride seats in Soarin’ are very close in height to the height of my DD’s wheelchair seat - the top of her seat is 23 inches from the ground.
There are good handholds on both sides of the seat, which are helpful for some people who might otherwise use a sliding transfer.

 

[KPeveler]

Something to note is that there is a limit to the number of wheelchair-using guests allowed on a ride at any one time. I don't know all the numbers in WDW, but out here it is 1 for Fantasyland rides, 2-3 for most others. The only ones I have seen a large limit are Small World, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates. I am not sure about the numbers at Epcot. They do this for safety reasons (5 people in one ride car who cannot walk out of a ride in the event of an emergency can be very dangerous). Someone else here might have a better idea of numbers, but you may have to take turns riding once you get through the line.