Difficulty walking...Which one?

[yippeeDCL]

Hi!
I am in need of expert advice! My son (12) suffered a stroke several years ago (7) and has some difficulty walking. He can walk...distance is just a bit more of a problem. We have been on DCL several times. Unfortunately, a seizure disorder restricted him from amusement parks but, is now cleared by the doc's to visit the park---big victory! Needless to say, my son is soooo excited!

Any advice you can provide is much appreciated!!

Best place to stay--reduced walking?
Any "tips"?

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Move your thread over to the Disabilities Board and they can fix you right up. Lots of knowledgeable people over there. You may want to rent an ECV for your son.

 

[BrianD]

Well, first of all, that is great news that he gets to go to WDW! What a great place to take special people. As for which resort, I guess it will depend on how much you are wanting to spend on your resort. Are you thinking Value, Moderate, or Deluxe.

All of the Values are large sprawling resorts but have "Preferred" rooms you can book, meaning they are closest to the food court and bus stop.

Of the Moderates, I would say go with POFQ, because it is by far the smallest of all the moderates and even the furthest walk is only about 5 - 7 minutes.

As for the deluxes, I would say a Tower Room in the Contemporary is probably going to require the least amount of walking. Or maybe a room in the main building of the Grand Floridian, although those rooms are all concierge level and are very expensive.

It really depends on how much you are wanting to spend.

Have a great vacation whichever resort you choose!

 

[yippeeDCL]

Hi!
I am in need of expert advice! My son (12) suffered a stroke several years ago (7) and has some difficulty walking. He can walk...distance is just a bit more of a problem. We have been on DCL several times. Unfortunately, a seizure disorder restricted him from amusement parks but, is now cleared by the doc's to visit the park---big victory! Needless to say, my son is soooo excited!

Any advice you can provide is much appreciated!!

Best place to stay--reduced walking?
Any "tips"?

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[yippeeDCL]

OOPs..sorry. I did post on the disabilities board.

Well, first of all, that is great news that he gets to go to WDW! What a great place to take special people. As for which resort, I guess it will depend on how much you are wanting to spend on your resort. Are you thinking Value, Moderate, or Deluxe.

All of the Values are large sprawling resorts but have "Preferred" rooms you can book, meaning they are closest to the food court and bus stop.

Of the Moderates, I would say go with POFQ, because it is by far the smallest of all the moderates and even the furthest walk is only about 5 - 7 minutes.

As for the deluxes, I would say a Tower Room in the Contemporary is probably going to require the least amount of walking. Or maybe a room in the main building of the Grand Floridian, although those rooms are all concierge level and are very expensive.

It really depends on how much you are wanting to spend.

Have a great vacation whichever resort you choose!

Thanks Brian! I'm going to make this as special "as possible". My first thoughts were... Poly, Contemporary or POFQ.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

I assume you are getting an ECV or a wheel chair for him to use in the parks? you might want to rent one from off site to use all the time Hotels as well that way you won't be as restricted as to which resort of how close to things etc.
There is probably 5 to 10 miles of walking a day at disney, even if it is with breaks as you go on things etc. still it is grueling. This would be your very best bet. there is a list on this board of good off site places to rent from and they deliver to your hotel and pick up from it. I use Walker mobility myself.
Good luck and I hope he enjoys the trip.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to disABILITIES!

To minimize walking I would pretty much say you would need one of the deluxe hotels with interior corridors. Probably Contemporary Tower would be best, but it is not cheap. Everything, including the monorail entrance, is only an elevator ride away.

The Moderates and Value resorts are very spread out.

As he is under 18, neither Disney nor the off-site companies will rent an ECV. I would suggest using one of the off-site companies to rent a wheelchair for him; this way you are guaranteed in getting him one and it will be suitable for his size (and not as heavy as the WDW rentals).

See the disABILITIES FAQ (one of the Forum Stickeys) for more information, including contact information for recommended off-site companies.

 

[Kimberle]

The CR is your best bet, in the tower. Everything is up/down on an elevator. He won't have to walk far at all. Plus, there is a monorail stop right in the building.

 

[Deb & Bill]

OOPs..sorry. I did post on the disabilities board.



Thanks Brian! I'm going to make this as special "as possible". My first thoughts were... Poly, Contemporary or POFQ.

No OOPS needed. Just trying to help you get the best answer. You just beat me to that one! Hope you find the best one for your needs.

 

[rcraw45425]

The least expensive rooms in the tower are the ones that face Bay Lake, the view is quite lovely from them. You also get to see the Electric Water Pagent from the balcony at night. That is so great that he is doing so well. If he is more into EPCOT and MGM studios, I'd suggest an EPCOT resort, provided he has an ECV, from the YC (our personal favorite) Or any other EPCOT resort,you can board a boat to EPCOT and also one to MGM studios. The pool complex at Beach Club/Yacht Club, Stormalong Bay, is zero entry too, and has a sand bottom that he might enjoy. The pool at the Poly is also zero entry, but the Poly is a bit more spread out, as in different buildings whereas BC/YC are all under one roof.

 

[SueM in MN]

I would suggest first thinking about which park you want to spend the most time at and look at resorts that are most convenient to that.

For the least walking, you might want to look at the maps of the resorts from another part of the DIS site. When you look at the maps, keep in mind that they are not all drawn at the same scale. Some of the maps that look small are actually pretty big resorts. You can compare the size of the bus stops to see how the maps compare since the bus stops are pretty much the same size.

Many people like Port Orleans, French Quarter (the part in kind of purple on the bottom of this map). It is a moderate and is about the smallest, least spread out resort.

If you do rent a wheelchair from offsite for him, you can look more at comparing the features of the resorts.

 

[fla4fun]

The only problem with an ECV may be his age. Disney won't rent to anyone under 18. I don't know if the off property rental companies will or not. You could rent a regular wheelchair though.

Epcot is going to be your biggest challenge. It's over a mile just going around WS one time, not counting Future World at all. They used to have buses that went around WS, but not any more. So you might want to consider splitting Epcot into two days even if you can't spend two days in the other parks.

At MK, utilize transportation systems as much as possible. Use the trolleys on Main Street or the WDW RR to get from one area to another.

AK is a difficult theme park to maneuver a manual wheelchair, because of the textured walking areas. The Studios is one of the easiest, because it's fairly level and it's a compact park.

There are plenty of benches, so be sure to stop and rest frequently. People watching is another great attraction at Disney. Sometimes we'll sit and try to guess where people might be from just from the way they are dressed. If you can allow more than one day to visit each park, you can take it slower and still see everything.

 

[mechurchlady]

For the resort you need to decide what in the resort he would want to walk to such as video arcades, restaurants, and snack machines. You could use the wheelchair to go to the distant places. It might be easier to take him in the wheelchair to the pool, games areas, activities then let him walk about.

I have in the past used an ECV then parked and walked around a bit then go back in and went some place else.

 

[SueM in MN]

The only problem with an ECV may be his age. Disney won't rent to anyone under 18. I don't know if the off property rental companies will or not. You could rent a regular wheelchair though.

Disney and the off-site rental places won't rent an ECV to anyone younger than 18 or for use by anyone under 18.

Check out the disABILITIES FAQs thread; there is a lot of information there that should be helpful.

 

[SueM in MN]

In case anyone wonders why this thread looks different than the one you posted on - or where the one you posted on went, there were 2 threads. I merged them together into one.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Firstly, do get some wheels, they will make your trip infinitely easier for all of you.

Also, make sure you pace yourselves. The last thing you want is to try and do everything on the first day, and have your son too worn out to enjoy the rest of the trip. I'm sure you're used to pacing yourselves in the 'real world', but it's a lot harder at Disney. You may not see everything this trip, but it's better to enjoy what you do see, that to try and go 'commando' (besides, if you don't see it all, it's a good excuse for another trip ).

If you need to reduce distances around the resort (wherever you end up staying), you can request a room close to certain amenities (say, the restaurant, the pool or the bus stop, depending on what you think you'll need the most). Make sure you state that this request is 'for medical reasons', so they know that you actually need this and aren't just being picky. When they assign rooms, they will allocate those with medical requests first.

Good luck and have a great trip!