Ecv....

[ANGRebel]

My mother in law will be accompaning us on our trip in June 2011. She can walk, but tires easily and has some disabilities which keep her from walking long distances so we are planning to rent an ECV during our trip. We are staying at the AKL, and I was wondering if it would be better to rent from Disney at the parks or to rent from an outside agency.

I know that with the outside agency we will have the ECV for the entire trip, but I just wondered if it would be worth the hassel of getting on and off Disney busses with the ECV or if we should just rent from the parks, which is where she will need it the most?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[culli]

My mother in law will be accompaning us on our trip in June 2011. She can walk, but tires easily and has some disabilities which keep her from walking long distances so we are planning to rent an ECV during our trip. We are staying at the AKL, and I was wondering if it would be better to rent from Disney at the parks or to rent from an outside agency.

I know that with the outside agency we will have the ECV for the entire trip, but I just wondered if it would be worth the hassel of getting on and off Disney busses with the ECV or if we should just rent from the parks, which is where she will need it the most?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

My Mom is in a similar situation, we used walker mobility 3x's now and had great luck with them. It takes awhile on the bus but I would think it is worth the trouble. It probably depends on how many days at the parks etc. I have not rented from the parks so I don't know what kind of a hassle or the cost. We usually stay at an EPCOT resort so having it at the resort is as important as the parks for our family. We walk to EPCOT and HS and just stroll around the BW area - it allows Mom to come with us and not be too banged up sore and other alignments that bother her. She loves being mobile and checking out the resort, I have not been to AK but heard it is a large resort you might reconsider if you think she will need it there or not.

 

[peemagg]

I would rent from an outside company. I know that you can rent a ECV from Apple (their number is in the FAQ's sticky at the start of this forum) for about $150 for a week including insurance. Disney costs are $200+ and no guarantee that there would even be one available for you when you get there. Disney has only a certain amount and they are on a first come, first served basis. You also can't take them with you if you go to another park and again once you get to the other park no guarantee there would be one available for you once you got there.

The buses are not really that big of a hassle. If you plan ahead and try to not use the buses say right at park closing, or any other real busy time, it goes a lot easier.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree with the other posters.

If you decide to rent from the parks, you will need to consider:

1. can she walk around the resort itself
2. can she walk from the room to the bus stop and back again at the end of the day
3. can she walk from the bus stop at the park to the ECV rental area and back again at the end of the day
4. if there are no ECVs to rent at the parks when you arrive, will someone be able to push her in a wheelchair

If the answer to all of the questions is yes, then you would be safe renting at the parks if she doesn’t want to try the buses (although, as already mentioned, it is more expensive to do that way and the buses are not that much of a problem if you are not traveling at the busiest times).

Some other things to think about:
- someone else in your party can drive an ECV onto the bus for her
- practice with an ECV ahead of time may make her more comfortable. You can find ECVs at places like Target, Walmart and grocery stores. Those are much bigger and more cumbersome to drive than any you can rent (the cart on the front makes them even larger). If you rent from off-site, she should practice until she gets comfortable with driving straight forward, turning in both directions when going forward and backward.

 

[JudyS]

I agree with the other posters who suggest renting a scooter from an outside agency. The ECV/wheelchair rentals at the parks are generally quite a distance from where the buses drop you off. Also, the distances at the Disney hotels (from one's room to the bus stop or to a restaurant, say) are often surprisingly far.

I'm a total klutz and have trouble parking an ECV on the buses, but I try to travel at quieter times (when the buses aren't crowded) and the bus driver often offers to park the ECV for me. They aren't required to do that, but I've found that they often offer to.

 

[Bete]

Through the last ten years we have done it both ways. Economically, it's easier on the pocket book to rent from an outside source. You get use of the scooter at the resort, too. The walks to the buses aren't that close sometimes. The downside of outside rental is you have to get on and off the bus. My best suggestion here is that if your MIL can't quite make the manuevers to park it, etc. on the bus then I would strongly suggest someone else doing it for her. This looks easy to do until you have to do it. Some even put the scooter into manual drive and push the scooter into position on the buses. It's by far the worse thing you have to do with a scooter. Also, you have to park the scooter in your room each night and you have to charge it each night. If something bad happens to the scooter, you will be delayed getting it fixed, replaced, etc. from an outside source. You can always rent another scooter or wheelchair at Disney if this happens, but then you have extra expense. Personally, I hate having to do the bus thing with a scooter, if you can manage to walk onto the buses on your own accord.

The other side is not without issue, either. If you rent from Disney you will pay way more for the scooter rental. You have to wait in the stroller lines at each park to rent and then you have to do the same when you return it. Then you get the privelege to do this each and every day. Park scooters can get sold out (if you arrive later in the day especially) and then you are put on a waiting list for one. In that scenario you may have to do a wheelchair for her; until, a park scooter rental can be done. This happened to us once and we waited about 5 hours to get a Disney scooter. We did have a scooter from Disney breakdown on us once and I will say it was a relief to have a cast member get us a replacement. The CM saw we had an issue and came right over to help us. It took about a half hour to get a replacement. I thought this was wonderful. If you want to park hop you have to return your Disney rental and get another one at the new park. You don't pay again, but you do the line thing again to get one at the new park and as the day goes on it can become increasingly difficult to get a second scooter for a new park. Even if you come back to same park you go through this same process again.

I think each way has it's plusses and minusses. My biggest issue with your MIL is not to stress her out before she even gets to the park. This will set the tone for the day.

I can't really say I like one way or the other, but I'm somewhat of a penny pincher and the cost does pursuade me to do an outside rental, now. There was a time Disney rental costs were much more reasonable then they are now. Disney bought newer and better scooters not so long ago and then the prices sored up when they did it.