Thanks to a friend that works at the park that had extra tickets because she had to work during the CM soft opening dates and was able to get us reservations, we went to Disneyland on Saturday, which was indeed it's birthday.
Our party consisted of DH and I, both using ECVs, a friend with a service animal, who also used an ECV and our friend that got us the tickets. I used a park rental, which are newer and slightly better than the old ones, at least in design, but really are poorly assembled pieces of junk. Based on this I would recommend avoiding Scooterbug at all costs.
We arrive at the Toy Story lot at about 7 AM, first the not so good part, they have new buses that from an access view point we're very poorly designed, they put the ECV/wheelchair spots at the front of the bus directly across from each other and barely long enough for a victory 10. A Maxima would not be able to fit and do not try to actually put two ECVs on at once, you will have to out one in neutral and push it off and that is if you are lucky enough to have enough strength to pick up part and move it.
Amazingly, we lasted long enough for the fireworks, something that never happens with our group when we get to a park that early.
So, we decided to go ahead and go in. Historically, we have had issues with people stepping on the service animal; however, we positioned him between two of the scooters and positioned the scooters in a way to provide the barrier he normally would provide. And the person not in the ECV stood behind in such a way to assist with this as well.
This worked really well for the fireworks and prevented all issues during the fireworks. The trick was after the fireworks. DH pulled his scooter in front of me and the person with the service dog, so he was also protecting the service dog. Please note that his was purchased from Gold Mobility, so it is Red with the Yellow Reflective stickers, as well as the undercarriage lights, so it was extremely visible.
About 2 minutes after he did that, a CM came and asked if we needed any assistance getting anywhere and we told him we simply pulled in this way to protect the service animal while others left and he said no problem, he just wanted to make sure the service animal remained safe and then pulled another CM over to direct traffic around us specifically. This CM was also great with the service animal until it was safe for us all to be able to move with his assistance. None of us (including the person that works at the park) had ever seen something like this before and we all have seen many CMs go way above and beyond before.
We so often hear a lot of the negative and I do mention the bad side here, but more to forewarn people so that they don't have the same issues we had on the bus. DH ended up driving his ECV back to the Toy Story lot rather than deal with the bus again. He said next time, if he has to pay for parking anyway, he would likely park at one of the hotels across Harbor that are selling all day parking for the same price as Disneyland parking and would be closer.
The positive we experienced way outweighed this minor negative though.
And on a side note, Paradise Garden Grill at DCA has an Impossible Cheese burger Mac & Cheese that is incredible. Just know that for some you will want more than one....lol. and we are in no way vegans or even vegetarians. Do note that it is still unclear to us if the cheese was vegan or not, so if that matters to you, do ask, as it didn't matter to us, the other two in our party doesn't eat beef or pork, so this fit the bill. In fact all of the plant based dishes we had on Saturday were delicious.
Our party consisted of DH and I, both using ECVs, a friend with a service animal, who also used an ECV and our friend that got us the tickets. I used a park rental, which are newer and slightly better than the old ones, at least in design, but really are poorly assembled pieces of junk. Based on this I would recommend avoiding Scooterbug at all costs.
We arrive at the Toy Story lot at about 7 AM, first the not so good part, they have new buses that from an access view point we're very poorly designed, they put the ECV/wheelchair spots at the front of the bus directly across from each other and barely long enough for a victory 10. A Maxima would not be able to fit and do not try to actually put two ECVs on at once, you will have to out one in neutral and push it off and that is if you are lucky enough to have enough strength to pick up part and move it.
Amazingly, we lasted long enough for the fireworks, something that never happens with our group when we get to a park that early.
So, we decided to go ahead and go in. Historically, we have had issues with people stepping on the service animal; however, we positioned him between two of the scooters and positioned the scooters in a way to provide the barrier he normally would provide. And the person not in the ECV stood behind in such a way to assist with this as well.
This worked really well for the fireworks and prevented all issues during the fireworks. The trick was after the fireworks. DH pulled his scooter in front of me and the person with the service dog, so he was also protecting the service dog. Please note that his was purchased from Gold Mobility, so it is Red with the Yellow Reflective stickers, as well as the undercarriage lights, so it was extremely visible.
About 2 minutes after he did that, a CM came and asked if we needed any assistance getting anywhere and we told him we simply pulled in this way to protect the service animal while others left and he said no problem, he just wanted to make sure the service animal remained safe and then pulled another CM over to direct traffic around us specifically. This CM was also great with the service animal until it was safe for us all to be able to move with his assistance. None of us (including the person that works at the park) had ever seen something like this before and we all have seen many CMs go way above and beyond before.
We so often hear a lot of the negative and I do mention the bad side here, but more to forewarn people so that they don't have the same issues we had on the bus. DH ended up driving his ECV back to the Toy Story lot rather than deal with the bus again. He said next time, if he has to pay for parking anyway, he would likely park at one of the hotels across Harbor that are selling all day parking for the same price as Disneyland parking and would be closer.
The positive we experienced way outweighed this minor negative though.
And on a side note, Paradise Garden Grill at DCA has an Impossible Cheese burger Mac & Cheese that is incredible. Just know that for some you will want more than one....lol. and we are in no way vegans or even vegetarians. Do note that it is still unclear to us if the cheese was vegan or not, so if that matters to you, do ask, as it didn't matter to us, the other two in our party doesn't eat beef or pork, so this fit the bill. In fact all of the plant based dishes we had on Saturday were delicious.
(even if the 
