ecv in non-accessible room?

[gellar]

My parents and I are taking my 2 kids to Disney in Sept. Dad will be renting an ECV. It's my understanding that the accessible rooms at POR have a king bed, but for our party size we need the 2Q+murphy which makes getting an accessible room not an option. Will getting in and out of the room be difficult?

 

[lanejudy]

The doorways into the rooms are the same. An "accessible" room will have features in the bathroom such as handrails for toilet and/or tub, and some have a roll-in shower. If your father doesn't need those features, a regular room should be fine.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[gellar]

Thank you! I assumed so, but wanted to know for sure. He has cancer and tires easily, but should be able to manage the tub/toilet, though he may require some help from mom for the tub. Out of curiosity, what type of room would be accessible and accommodate a party of 5? Anything other than a suite?

 

[SueM in MN]

There are 2 types of accessible rooms at each resort.
As lanejudy mentioned, one type has a roll in shower.
That type is fully wheelchair accessible and have a 3 foot wide 'path' thru the entire room so guests who use wheelchairs can get from one part of the room to the other. Those rooms used to only have a King sized bed. That was because the bathroom needed to be bigger than usual and took some of the space of the bed area to make the bathroom bigger. Those rooms have been renovated and reconfigured. Most now have 2 beds.

The other type of accessible room has less accessible features, but does have grab bars, as lanejudy mentioned. Those rooms have the same size bathrooms as 'non-accessible' rooms, so they always had the same number of beds as the regular rooms had. That is the type of room you would be looking for.

If he doesn't need grab bars, you don't actually need an accessible room at all since the doorways and other spaces in the room would be the same in that type of room as in the regular rooms. You can rent a bath bench or may be able to get a bath bench from Housekeeping (if you get one from Housekeepng, inspect it to make sure all the screws are tight).

 

[SueM in MN]

Not every room at Port Orleans has room for 5 since not all have the pull down bed.
I am not sure that any of the accessible rooms (even those with tubs) have pull down beds. I think there are a small number of accessible rooms that sleep 5, but if there are any, it would be a small proportion of the total number of rooms.
I believe all the rooms with pull down beds are in Alligator Bayou. I know there are a limited number of those rooms that sleep 5, so there may not be any available for the dates of your trip (accessible or non-accessible).
The Alligator Bayou area does not have elevators, so you would need to request a room on first floor and make sure they know the request is a medical request.
This is a picture from the Disney website of the pull down bed folded up - it's to 'seat' part of the TV stand. Having that gives you less storage space, since the area taken up by the bed would normally be storage.


And, here it is unfolded and ready to use:


Port Orlean does not have suites, so if you need a suite, you would probably be looking at a Deluxe resort, a Disney Vacation Club one bedroom, one of the Family Suites at a Value resort, or the cabins at Fort Wilderness.

 

[lanejudy]

I've tried searching some random dates to see what's available, but haven't found any accessible rooms for 5 at the moderates. I'm not saying they don't exist, but they are likely very limited in number.

However, I also wanted to mention that if one of your children is under age 3 you technically can stay in a room for 4. It would mean the little one uses a pack-n-play because there is only space for 4 in beds. With an ECV, that likely would be tight, though probably no worse than 2 ECVs or 2 PnPs which people have reported is work-able. Squeezing 5 people from 3 generations into one room might be close quarters anywhere, depending on how close you are to begin with. So it may not be the best option, but it is an option.

If it was my family and we needed the accessible room, I'd look into either a family suite at ASMu or AoA or 2 rooms at a value resort.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[GrammyJudy]

You might be better getting 2 rooms at a value resort that are connecting rooms and then have 2 bathrooms and more privacy Your father may need rest time away from the kids. This would make for a more enjoyable vacation for all of you. Yu would be close but not on top of each other all the time.