Doing WDW with older parents with limited mobility

[misskari]

We are planning a family trip in October and taking my older parents with us, my mother tires easily and walking can sometimes be uncomfortable. Any tips on how to make their visit easier? I do realize that we will be doing quite a bit of walking but any insight on renting a scooter, or good places to stop and rest, etc. thanks!

 

[ldo]

We just got a wheelchair from the bell station. We got one at VWL and also at AKV another visit and used it while we were at WDW. They only have a few. We were going to rent one at the gate, otherwise. That worked really well. Dad could walk when he felt like and and then ride to take a rest. It is a bit tiring to push it, but not too bad. And the trip was a much better with it.

 

[disneynutz]

Rent a ECV for those who need one. Check out the disABILITIES! forum for added info.

If this trip is about them, pick a park and resort that they will enjoy like BWV, Epcot. More open space, not as crowded, ECV friendly.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Make certain that your mother will be comfortable in driving the scooter before renting one. My mother could not for physical reasons but she also would not have wanted to navigate the crowds. We always rented a push wheelchair which worked extremely well for her. We chose to rent to make certain we got a quality one and were certain we would get one rather than rely on the resort still having a loaner available. They also really prefer the resort ones to just be used around the resort but no one would ever say anything if you took it to the parks.

Renting scooters are easy and you can find a list of the preferred vendors on the Disabilities thread. Those are the ones that Disney allows to deliver to bell services. Here's a link to that thread: http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

[travelbug]

My parents went along on several WDW trips when they were still able to travel, and both had limited mobility. We rented scooters for both of them from a local company, and the scooters were a real lifesaver! They both LOVED WDW and the scooters made it possible for them to enjoy everything without distance or stamina being an issue.

We also learned (the hard way) that my dad especially needed to ride his scooter as far as possible in ride queues. The trickiest part for us was getting both scooters loaded on buses. My parents would get very nervous trying to maneuver the scooters into place on the buses with people watching them. So eventually they would get off the scooters, board the bus, and I would get on each scooter in turn and get it in place on the bus. They were much happier with everyone staring at me instead of them.

We found that afternoon breaks back at the resort were very important for them. On the last trip or two with them, they preferred to stay behind in the evenings and just relax while everyone else went back to the parks. Maneuvering the scooters through crowds after dark became more difficult.

Have a wonderful time with your parents! Mine are now unable to travel, and increasingly frail. I'm so grateful for the times we were able to enjoy WDW together.

 

[deedeetoo]

We vacation every summer with my Mon who is now 79. At home. she can walk short distances Ok but uses a cane whenever leaving the house. She doesn't use any other helping device at home. But, at WDW where there is just so much walking, we always get her a wheel chair. We get the multiday one at the parks so she is pretty much in the wheelchair most of the day, though she has no trouble transferring out for rides, restaurants and stores. She walks around the resort with her cane and beings her cane with her to help to get from the buses to the park (sometimes there are free wheel chairs for this purpose but you can't count on it).

My mom has zero interest in a scooter. She doesn't have experience driving one and learning in a crowded place like WDW is not something she wants to do. My daughter was run over a few years back by some guy in a scooter who didn't even apologize or look back after he hit her. His wife was running after him yelling "You just hit a kid!" and he still didn't slow down. That has given us all a pretty bad feeling about scooters.