ECVs and Rain?

[aubriee]

We will be renting an ECV for my mom for our Sept 6ht-14th trip to WDW. I know the ECVs come with a little shower cap thingy to cover the controls, if it rains. We have also bought us all good heavy duty ponchos to wear, plus an extra poncho to cover the ECV. What else do we need to do? Any more suggestions for keeping the ECV safe and dry? Will we still be able to tour in the rain is what I guess I am asking?

 

[SueM in MN]

Sounds like you are pretty well set.
One other thing to remember is that you may have less traction in the rain. Be careful going up and down hills and leave plenty of room for stopping. Some of the really smooth concrete area gets quite slippery. One that gets quite bad is the area under roof between Mousegears and the Electric Umbrella at Epcot and the similar area across from it. People track water in there and it can get as slick as ice.

 

[aubriee]

OK, gotcha! We'll make sure one of us are in front of her at all times, so that if she hits someone it will be family and we'll make sure she keeps the ECV on turtle speed. Thanks! I was concerned that our shoes have plenty of good tread on them so we don't slip, but hadn't even consider the ECV slipping.

You can use an ECV in the rain though, as long as you keep the control panel dry?

 

[SueM in MN]

OK, gotcha! We'll make sure one of us are in front of her at all times, so that if she hits someone it will be family and we'll make sure she keeps the ECV on turtle speed. Thanks! I was concerned that our shoes have plenty of good tread on them so we don't slip, but hadn't even consider the ECV slipping.

You can use an ECV in the rain though, as long as you keep the control panel dry?

Yes.
If the control panel gets wet, it can short circuit and will behave erratically.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When it rains I will put a poncho on so the back of it is over the back of the seat and the front goes over the steering tiller. This helps keep me and most everything else (especially the seat) dry.

 

[mechurchlady]

I did WDW and it rainied on and off in Sept. 1998. Keep the panel dry and everything else can get wet though a wet rump is not fun.

My rain advice. Wet clothes can lead to chafing or other problems so you need to watch that you do not get chilled or skin problems from being soaked anywhere. At Knott's I had soaked pants and walked out of the park, ooh that chaffed my legs a lot. At various places I have gotten wet then walked into an air conditioned building and gotten chilled including WDW.

At WDW one warning is the OMG, RAIN, HIDE, TAKE COVER people. I was trying to get into the Haunted Mansion (whateveryoucallitinWDW) and there was a nice canopy sticking out in front of the place with lots of people so like at DLR and other place, I got into line. Finally the CM came up and tried to make people move as they were blocking the entrance to the ride while avoiding the rain. They will actually scream and cuss out CMs because they want to be in an off-limit dry area. They do not care if they are blocking aisles or doorways as they MUST get out of the rain.

With the right clothes and planning I would go to WDW in a monsoon or rainstorm. Fewer people, shorter lines and there are so many things to see indoors like most of Fantasyland rides are indoors and at Epcot there are lots of places indoors including shows, rides, stores and exhibit. Treat your ECV like you would in a Los Angeles freeway and you will be fine. As Sue said there are possible hazards but a good ECV driver can easily avoid most.

 

[Angel16]

One suggestion I would make is to take a couple small handtowels with you. I would put one in my bag each day. If it rained suddenly (as it frequently does in Florida) while you are in a ride; you have the towel to dry off the seat and control. I finally learned to cover my control panel whenever I felt the chair unless I found a covered spot to park it. The towel also came in hand when the seat was hot from the sun.

 

[Nanajo1]

This may sound strange bur I literally put a poncho on my ECV for the days that it rains on and off. This way I don't have to rush to get my ECV covered. I sit on a towel so I don't stick to the poncho. I use the contol cover and wear I poncho myself as others have said with the back draped over the seat back.
Be advised some off site rental company stae in the contract that you can not use their ECV in the rain. This seems silly because it rains so often in Florida.

 

[aubriee]

This may sound strange bur I literally put a poncho on my ECV for the days that it rains on and off. This way I don't have to rush to get my ECV covered. I sit on a towel so I don't stick to the poncho. I use the contol cover and wear I poncho myself as others have said with the back draped over the seat back.
Be advised some off site rental company stae in the contract that you can not use their ECV in the rain. This seems silly because it rains so often in Florida.

Thanks for the adice guys. We appreciate it. We always used a towel over the seat last year, so will be doing that again and had planned to cover the ECV with the extra poncho anytime she got off of it. We are renting from Walkers. Does anyone know if they're one that says you can't use the ECV in the rain? We do plan to protect it and paid for the insurance on it.

 

[Nanajo1]

Walker's is the vendor that provides the rain bonnet control cover. They did not say anything about not using the ECV in the Rain.

 

[zumbergc]

The one bad thing about being in the ecv, and it being raining is, that your feet get wet! I wear the poncho, trying to keep dry, but my feet always get soaked, cause they are sitting out farther than the poncho covers.


I have to wear tennis shoes because i need the support in the shoe, when getting around on and off rides, etc. Well, I've thought about bringing sandals or crocs to pop on when its starts raining and putting the tennis shoes in the back pack. Just a thought. Thats one thing I hate about the rain, wet feet. Well, if its super rainy, wet shirt, pants, etc too. Being wet then going inside to a super ac room. But i manage, we have been lucky the last few trips. We were in philharmagic, or tiki room.

If your tennis shoes get wet, and you have a daily newspaper, stuff the newspaper in the tennis shoe. Helps pull the water out, then check the paper, as it gets moiste and wet, put fresh dry newspaper in there.
Connie