DLP with disabled mum

[angel80]

Hi I'm new to this forum and am hoping that someone can help me with a couple of questions that I have.
Me (27) and my fiance(28) are taking my mum(50) and dad(54) to DLP on Sunday for 4 days It's a 50th birthday present for my mum who is disabled, this is why we have some many questions!! She has never been to disney before but me and my fiance have been to Florida on our own and Dlp once before on our own but that was about 5 years ago so I'm sure lots of thing have changed since then.

My mum has had a stroke and is unable to walk so she has an electric wheelchair so this will give her more independence around the parks.
We will be travelling by eurostar which is a first for all of us so the first question I have is when we arrive at disney is there a way that we could get the adapted minibus that they do between hotel and parks to take us from the station to the hotel? If so how do we arrange this?

What will my mum have to provide to get the Assisted Access Card which enables her to get through any queues that have not been adapted for wheelchairs? We were thinking about her blue badge but that has to be left in the car at Ashford

We are staying at the Sequoia Lodge but although we couldn't get a disabled room we have been told that the only difference is the bathroom being bigger (which isn't a big problem for us as in a worst case senario if she can't fit in she can use the toilets in the hotel) and also a disabled room only has a double bed which to be honest wouldn't have been much use as we were looking to share a room anyway so that I can help my dad with my mums care. Can anyone tell us if the doorway through to the beds looks big enough for a wheelchair to get through? That's our only concern because we can manage to get her to the bed once into the room. Disney have told us that all doors are the same width as a disabled room so am hoping that is wide enough. What is the hotel like? The pictures of the hotel look really nice!!

She is looking forward to seeing if she can go on it's a small world and I have been told that she should be able to go this in her wheelchair, is this right? If so she has an electric wheelchair so would that be ok or do they have a normal wheelchair for her to transfer to in order to ride? She keeps talking about going on this ride so can't wait to see her face if she can go on it
Sorry this is so long just starting to get really nervous as we go on sunday and mum is really excited as she has always wanted to go to disney so don't want to let her down and come accross loads of problems. I would rather know before hand so I can sort things out. Thank you.

 

[hildasmuriel]

Sorry that I can't help with a lot of your questions, but I have definitely seen wheelchair users on IASW. One of the boats has most of the seats taken out to allow a ramp and a space for the wheelchair.
Sequoia Lodge is (IMO) a beautiful hotel with a lovely warm atmosphere. As you open the main hotel room door you are in the room really, with the bathroom off to the side, so there is no additional doorway to the bedroom as such. I haven't tried it, but it appears plenty wide enough for a wheelchair.
I hope you all have a really lovely time.

 

[angel80]

Sorry that I can't help with a lot of your questions, but I have definitely seen wheelchair users on IASW. One of the boats has most of the seats taken out to allow a ramp and a space for the wheelchair.
Sequoia Lodge is (IMO) a beautiful hotel with a lovely warm atmosphere. As you open the main hotel room door you are in the room really, with the bathroom off to the side, so there is no additional doorway to the bedroom as such. I haven't tried it, but it appears plenty wide enough for a wheelchair.
I hope you all have a really lovely time.

Thank you very much, that's a great help If it's only the one door in the room then we should be fine. I did have a look at one of the virtual tours of the room and it does seem to be quite wide so i'm not expecting too many problems there. Also from the photos it does look like a lovely hotel and i'm looking forward to it.
As for IASW I'm so happy that she can go on the ride without us trying to struggle to transfer her as this would probably be impossible in a boat!! She's going to be so pleased to know that she can go on this ride. We are hoping that we can get her on a couple of other rides if possible. If we can stand her up we can help her twist herself around to sit on a seat as long as the ride is on the same level and isn't too far down (e.g a boat ride) as we would never get her back out!!! I'm not to sure which rides we could do this on but we are up for the challenge
It's come around really quick and we are nearly ready to go and i'm sure when we get there all the worrying will be forgotten obout

 

[lojo]

You might the following interesting:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/tag/paris_tag.htm

CMs are not allowed to provide assistance when wheelchair users are transferring to and from rides, but they will stop rides (if you ask them) if it will take you a little longer than average to transfer.

When you are getting your disabled pass, ask the CM there which rides are accessible for your mum's level of mobility and mark them on your park map - it will save a lot of uncertainty. We wasted a bit of time queuing up in the wrong places, or trying to take the wheelchair through inaccessible areas. My mum is able to walk short distances, but she found some of the cars a bit awkward to navigate.

You are supposed to have proof of disability in order to get the Disney disabled pass, actually being in a wheelchair doesn't seem to be proof, but if you have to leave your blue card in your car, then get a letter from your doctor. Some people have been determined enough to persuade the CM to issue a blue card without 'proof', but you might as well be prepared and save yourself some hassle.

When booking meals, tell the staff that one of your party is a wheelchair user, this way the table should be set with the correct number of chairs and be easy to access.

Most areas of the park are wheelchair accessible, but we did find ourselves backtracking a few times when we found that the path we had chosen had steps and no ramp. You could get the CM to mark steps on your map, or just treat the park like a hugh maze (like we did). You will find that some of the pavements don't have their ramps opposite each other, so you have to sidetrack or just stay on the 'road' until you find another ramp.

Can't think of anything else at the moment but if you have any specific questions.....

 

[Cyrano]

Hi angel80 and welcome to DLP DIS board
We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here, DIS posting guidelines can be found here.

It would assist you greatly if you have a doctors letter with you. Go to City Hall (left hand side as you enter the park underneath the railway line) and the CMs will help you regarding Assisted Access Card.

If you send me a PM and your personal email can accept a 60Mb I can send you DLP for disabled travellers

 

[BRobson]

This link also has some info

www.dlrpmagic.com/guides/practical/disabilities/

 

[A Small World]

Are you in a Montana room at Sequoia? Those rooms are in the main building whereas the other rooms are in lodges so may not be as easy to access with a wheelchair and are also a distance from the main building if needed.

I think Buzz Lightyear ride also has some cars which are adapted to fit a wheelchair in

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi angel80, to the DIS and I hope you all have a wonderful trip!

 

[angel80]

Thank you all for your information and tips I have read all the links and found them very useful
We will be taking a doctors letter as my mum has a lot of medication so we can use this when needed. We have just started to pack today and I think my mum is planning on packing everything bar the kitchen sink I think that she thinks we are going to the other side of the world!! Never mind, she is excited and it's nice to see her smile after a tough past few years.

 

[SandraVB79]

I think Buzz Lightyear ride also has some cars which are adapted to fit a wheelchair in

It has, and it works fine for a regular wheelchair, but every time I have seen electric wheelchairs on the thing, they have had problems.

I'm afraid most rides do require to transfer from the wheelchair into the ridecar/boat/whatever.

 

[Wuzefelix]

Hi!

The cast members will stop most rides for you, which makes a transfer from the wheelchair into the ride vehicle easier. I don't know how mobile you DM is, but perhaps you could try out Phantom Manor. It really is not that difficult to get in the ride vehicle if you take your time.
Small World will definitively be fine.

In general, you should concentrate on the things to do besides rides:

Disney's once upon a dream parade
Mickey's Winter Wonderland show in Chapperal Theatre
Honey I shrunk the audience
Disney's cinema parade
Cinemagique
Animagique
The art of Disney Animation
Armageddon Special Effects
Alice's curious Labyrinth (only partly wheelchair accesible)

I'm not sure about these two, but they should be ok as well:
The Legend of the Lion King
Lights Motors Action Stunt Show

Simply have a great time !