ECV Rental

[MouseketeerKelsey]

I have been reading through lots of posts on here and let me first say coming across this is a gift, finding people that understand some similar struggles.

I am going to Disney with my mom for my 19th birthday. I have some health problems that result in chronic pain issues and I have had to come to accept that I can't do Disney without a ECV, because I don't want my mom to be stuck pushing me in a wheelchair.

I went to disney and rented one from offsite because it was a better deal for the 4 days that I was there. The issue was that it was an absolute nightmare getting it in and out of the car!

Looking at the prices now and knowing that this time I am only going for 2 days I was wondering if it would make more sense to spent the extra $10-$15 a day and just rent from the park. My other question with that is does anyone know if you can take the Disney ECVs from park to park with you if you are park hopping?

This whole thing is extremely stressful to me already because I hate having to accept that I need one and hate getting some of the looks I get for being as young as I am and using one but the stress has only gotten worse with trying to figure this out and any input that anyone could give would be welcomed with open arms.

Thanks!

 

[gratefulfred]

You can not take them park to park, they can't leave the park you rented them from. If you park hop you can use the receipt from the first park to get one in the second park with out having to pay again. These park ecv can and do run out as they are on a first come first serve basis so keep that in mind.

 

[bidnow5]

Not sure if this will help our last trip 3 weeks ago dollar car rental upgraded us to a minivan for free it was so much easier putting our scooters in and out. I will always rent a minivan from now on

 

[WheeledTraveler]

If you were only going to a park a day, I'd say renting one in the park makes sense for only 2 days, as long as you won't have issues getting to/from the parking lot to the rental location. (This includes things like navigating the monorail or ferry to get from the TTC to the location in the MK.) Parking hopping, I think you'll need to figure out whether you can make do if you can't get an ECV at the second park. I know for sure you'll have the option of waiting by the rental place for an ECV to become available or using a WDW wheelchair. I'm not sure if it's possible to go off and do things using the wheelchair (or walking) while still being on a wait list for an ECV or not.

Depending on why you need a mobility aid, if there aren't ECVs available at the second park, you could alternate using a rental wheelchair as a walker part of the time and being pushed when you needed to sit (assuming your mother can push you in a pinch). That would give you a place to sit and the support of using the wheelchair as a walker could very likely allow you to walk further than walking unsupported would.

Try to remember that anyone who gives you a dirty look isn't worth knowing. Why they'd spend any thought at all to judging others rather than experiencing WDW is beyond me I was about your age when I first started using mobility aids and while you can't avoid the dirty looks, really it's a statement of that person's prejudices. Also, this will sound out of left-field, but you might want to look at disability culture in general. Exposure to disability rights & disability culture when I was about 19 was one of the biggest things that helped me accept my condition and it made things down the road much easier. I've gotten more mobility impaired since I was 19, but I didn't fight as I needed new mobility aids because I'd already started thinking in terms of how they empowered me rather than limited me. (And, quite honestly, the mobility impairment part of my condition is one of the parts that bothers) Unfortunately, the site that was the best resource I knew for an overall exposure no longer really exists so I don't have any great suggestions for where to look, but I'll think about it. I know there are other sites, I just don't use any of the ones that would be useful to someone who is newer to the disability experience.