mom3sonstt
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2008
- Messages
- 1,937
Just returned from a 9 day trip and have some observations.
I pre-ordered an ECV from Walker (used them last year also). It was at Saratoga waiting for us, no problem. I used it Downtown then went to Magic Kingdom the first evening. I noticed that if I would use the reverse side of the lever, the lever itself didn't stick, but when I would let go of it it would keep going. It wasn't a long distance, more than just the wheels settling into place. But loading on and off the buses when you can't totally control your backward motion wasn't going to be good. We sat there between the Buzz exit and Carousel of Progress where it was pretty empty and drove back and forth - I'm sure we looked pretty silly. I would do it, then hubby would hold on to the controls and do it (because he didn't believe I was letting all the way off the lever) I called Walker. It was after hours so I left a message on their answering machine what the problem was, and although it wasn't major I didn't feel comfortable with it. They called right after 7 the next morning and said if we could have ours up front at 9 they would have another there. That was a bit of miscommunication. Hubby took it up front, and instead of taking it to the luggage area, he sat there thinking he was going to be meeting them and swapping. I guess after awhile he finally checked with bell services and Walker had already dropped the new one off. Hubby was upset, but he also hadn't taken his cell phone with him (so he could check back with me) and he didn't check in at bell services, so I am not leaving Walker on the hook for that. That was my one and only issue with the ECV. The new one I never had a problem with
We were staying at the Treehouse Villas this trip. I did not request (and did not want) a handicap acessible room. I had asked ahead of time if there would be room under the treehouse to store the scooter and if there were outlets. I was told there was room and that there were 2 outlets. And for once, I was given correct information from Disney. I was able to drive the scooter off the sidewalk right under the treehouse. There was a little bit of a drop off, but some areas were less of a bump than others, so thats where I drove. There was a plug in in the base over by all the fuse boxes and stuff. I could have plugged directly in there, but that side of the treehouse was facing the main walking path. I felt a little better parking it around the side more closer to our stairway. We had brought an outdoor extension cord with us. I also brought a mower cover to keep the scooter covered. That turned out to be unnecessary because where I had it parked it never got wet - but we felt better keeping it covered anyway. I took the key in with me every night. We never used the internal buses because I didn't want to load on and off 2 buses every time we went somewhere. So I had requested a unit near the walking path. We were in unit 7034 which was right at the mouth of the walking path over to Saratoga. Had we wanted to use the internal buses, the bus stop was right there. We just walked to the end of the sidewalk and there it was.
As for parking at the treehouses - that could be a bit of a problem. We drive a fullsize van, and the first spot we pulled into seemed like a pretty tight fit lengthwise, since it is a fairly narrow road going through there. But when we tried another one it was even shorter. There was one by itself (the one we stuck with) then there was a cluster of 3 spaces one of which said "compact car" on the space. I think there were 3 or 4 more space on the other side of the road just a little ways down. If we had a lift on the back of the van I imagine we would have had to park in the main Saratoga lots, because there wasn't room for any more length to our vehicle.
Since we didn't use internal buses, we walked (I rolled) over to the Grandstand bus stop. It was just a few minutes away and was the first stop the buses made so if I got there early enough in the morning I was able to load onto an empty bus. By the time they got to the Springs (which was my understanding that the Internal buses dropped you at) it was usually standing room only - at least at the "busy" times. If you were going late morning, early afternoon that stop would probably be fine but we liked using Grandstand. I did see the Treehouse buses stop at Grandstand. So I don't know if I was misinformed about them only taking people to the Springs stop, or if it depends on the driver or time of day, but while at Grandstand I saw Treehouse buses several times, so I don't believe it was a fluke - but I also don't know how regular it is.
I pre-ordered an ECV from Walker (used them last year also). It was at Saratoga waiting for us, no problem. I used it Downtown then went to Magic Kingdom the first evening. I noticed that if I would use the reverse side of the lever, the lever itself didn't stick, but when I would let go of it it would keep going. It wasn't a long distance, more than just the wheels settling into place. But loading on and off the buses when you can't totally control your backward motion wasn't going to be good. We sat there between the Buzz exit and Carousel of Progress where it was pretty empty and drove back and forth - I'm sure we looked pretty silly. I would do it, then hubby would hold on to the controls and do it (because he didn't believe I was letting all the way off the lever) I called Walker. It was after hours so I left a message on their answering machine what the problem was, and although it wasn't major I didn't feel comfortable with it. They called right after 7 the next morning and said if we could have ours up front at 9 they would have another there. That was a bit of miscommunication. Hubby took it up front, and instead of taking it to the luggage area, he sat there thinking he was going to be meeting them and swapping. I guess after awhile he finally checked with bell services and Walker had already dropped the new one off. Hubby was upset, but he also hadn't taken his cell phone with him (so he could check back with me) and he didn't check in at bell services, so I am not leaving Walker on the hook for that. That was my one and only issue with the ECV. The new one I never had a problem with
We were staying at the Treehouse Villas this trip. I did not request (and did not want) a handicap acessible room. I had asked ahead of time if there would be room under the treehouse to store the scooter and if there were outlets. I was told there was room and that there were 2 outlets. And for once, I was given correct information from Disney. I was able to drive the scooter off the sidewalk right under the treehouse. There was a little bit of a drop off, but some areas were less of a bump than others, so thats where I drove. There was a plug in in the base over by all the fuse boxes and stuff. I could have plugged directly in there, but that side of the treehouse was facing the main walking path. I felt a little better parking it around the side more closer to our stairway. We had brought an outdoor extension cord with us. I also brought a mower cover to keep the scooter covered. That turned out to be unnecessary because where I had it parked it never got wet - but we felt better keeping it covered anyway. I took the key in with me every night. We never used the internal buses because I didn't want to load on and off 2 buses every time we went somewhere. So I had requested a unit near the walking path. We were in unit 7034 which was right at the mouth of the walking path over to Saratoga. Had we wanted to use the internal buses, the bus stop was right there. We just walked to the end of the sidewalk and there it was.
As for parking at the treehouses - that could be a bit of a problem. We drive a fullsize van, and the first spot we pulled into seemed like a pretty tight fit lengthwise, since it is a fairly narrow road going through there. But when we tried another one it was even shorter. There was one by itself (the one we stuck with) then there was a cluster of 3 spaces one of which said "compact car" on the space. I think there were 3 or 4 more space on the other side of the road just a little ways down. If we had a lift on the back of the van I imagine we would have had to park in the main Saratoga lots, because there wasn't room for any more length to our vehicle.
Since we didn't use internal buses, we walked (I rolled) over to the Grandstand bus stop. It was just a few minutes away and was the first stop the buses made so if I got there early enough in the morning I was able to load onto an empty bus. By the time they got to the Springs (which was my understanding that the Internal buses dropped you at) it was usually standing room only - at least at the "busy" times. If you were going late morning, early afternoon that stop would probably be fine but we liked using Grandstand. I did see the Treehouse buses stop at Grandstand. So I don't know if I was misinformed about them only taking people to the Springs stop, or if it depends on the driver or time of day, but while at Grandstand I saw Treehouse buses several times, so I don't believe it was a fluke - but I also don't know how regular it is.
I've been curious as to how accessible the new Treehouses are, so this review is a great help! We're staying at POR in September, so I'd like to visit. So, if we do visit, would you reccomend getting off at Grandstand? I'm on wheels myself, so don't really fancy loading on and off either. Also, how close is the boat jetty to the Treehouses?
