Disney transportation with 3 ECV's and a Wheelchair

[ckdisneyfan]

Hi!
We are planning a grand gathering for October and 3 members of our party will be needing ECV's and my neice will be using a wheelchair. I have been to disney several times and used the Disney transportation extensively, but never with anyone with mobility issues. I have read the FAQ's in this forum (a few times ;-) which are full of great information.

Questions I still have:

1. Do you have any suggestions on navigating the disney bus system with 3 ECV's? (niece is small enough for us to carry her on/off the bus and fold up her WC if need be) We will be staying at CBR, so taking busses pretty much everywhere.

2. Would we be better off to rent at the parks each day instead of from an outside company? All three are somewhat mobile and do not use ECV at home, but will not be able to handle walking/standing in the parks. We are staying 8 days, so an outside company would definately be cheaper, we are just worried about the bus system.

I would really appreciate any advise.

Thanks in advance

 

[ckdisneyfan]

oops forgot to subscribe..

 

[SueM in MN]

Hi!
We are planning a grand gathering for October and 3 members of our party will be needing ECV's and my neice will be using a wheelchair. I have been to disney several times and used the Disney transportation extensively, but never with anyone with mobility issues. I have read the FAQ's in this forum (a few times ;-) which are full of great information.

Thanks for the praise!
Questions I still have:

1. Do you have any suggestions on navigating the disney bus system with 3 ECV's? (niece is small enough for us to carry her on/off the bus and fold up her WC if need be) We will be staying at CBR, so taking busses pretty much everywhere.

There are some buses that do have 3 tiedown spots, but the majority have only 2.
So, even with folding the wheelchair, you will probably need to split into 2 groups for getting to and from the parks. Making sure each party has a cell phone and can call the other groups will be helpful so you can connect up again when you all get to the park.
When you get there, I would call Transportation to get some other ideas they may have for transport. also, get a phone number for Transportation from the front desk so you can call from a cell phone if you have a long wait or a problem with the bus.
If you plan to get going early each day, you may want to request rooms near the first bus stop. Getting on at a later bus stop, there is more chance that someone else would have gotten on earlier and filled at least one of the tiedown spots.
If you plan to go later, when guests might be returning from the parks, you might not want to be near the first bus stop because the wheelchair spots on the bus may be full with people returning.

2. Would we be better off to rent at the parks each day instead of from an outside company? All three are somewhat mobile and do not use ECV at home, but will not be able to handle walking/standing in the parks. We are staying 8 days, so an outside company would definately be cheaper, we are just worried about the bus system.

I would really appreciate any advise.

Thanks in advance

Some things to think about:

1) ECVs are limited in numbers and can't be reserved ahead of time at the parks, so there is no guarantee that there will be any ECVs to rent when you arrive at a park, especially if you are not arriving within the first few hours that the park is open. There is no way to know which days will be busy for ECVs, so you could be lucky.

2) The park wheelchairs are not ones that someone could sit in and propel themselves for a very long period. This might not be a problem if you have enough people to push a wheelchair.

3) Another possibility may be to rent 2 ECVs from off-site places and plan to rent either a wheelchair or an ECV at the park for the third person. That would give you the best chance of being able to get on buses, would ensure that you have at least 2 ECVs and would save money compared to renting 3 at the parks.
If there are no ECVs and you have to rent one wheelchair, the people using the ECVs could switch off with the person using the wheelchair, so everyone has a chance to be a bit more independent than being pushed all day.

With 2 off-site rental ECVs, your people who can't walk too far could switch off between walking and riding the ECV. If they are all concerned about walking around the resort, you could rent 2 ECVs and one wheelchair from off-site.
You could leave the wheelchair at the resort and rent another wheelchair at the park or fold it and bring it on the bus.
If there are ECVs at the park to rent, they would store the wheelchair for you while you are at the park.

 

[Michigan]

In February I was told by a bus driver to pick up the phone by the bus stops in the parks and ask for a bus that would hold my 2 daughters wheelchairs and my dad's ECV be sent to our hotel stop. They have one bus that can hold 8 wheelchairs that only goes out if a group calls for it.

 

[SueM in MN]

In February I was told by a bus driver to pick up the phone by the bus stops in the parks and ask for a bus that would hold my 2 daughters wheelchairs and my dad's ECV be sent to our hotel stop. They have one bus that can hold 8 wheelchairs that only goes out if a group calls for it.

Thanks, I was not positive they still had that, so just suggested calling Transportation to see what options were available.

 

[KPeveler]

In February I was told by a bus driver to pick up the phone by the bus stops in the parks and ask for a bus that would hold my 2 daughters wheelchairs and my dad's ECV be sent to our hotel stop. They have one bus that can hold 8 wheelchairs that only goes out if a group calls for it.

Wow, didnt know they had that - thanks for the update!

 

[SueM in MN]

Wow, didnt know they had that - thanks for the update!

We rode on it once when several buses in a row had problems and could not load any mobility devices. I think there were 3 or 4 of us waiting with wheelchairs/ECVs when the special bus arrived at MK to take us back to OKW.

That was quite a while ago, but I had read those buses were discontinued, so I am glad to hear they were not.

 

[ckdisneyfan]

SueM, Thank you for the wonderful info and ideas. It will definately make our trip run smoother and be much more enjoyable.

There will be 17 of us, and it will be the first (and probably only) trip for 12 of them. I had not thought about renting 2 ECV's offsite and trading off. That is something I will talk with them about.

Michigan, Thanks for the tip about the phone at the busstops