EVC Solo and Hotel Door.

[Selket]

I will be renting an ECV and staying at All Star Music. I will be traveling solo and am wondering what is the best way to hold the room door open so I can drive in and out.

I've stayed often at the values (last time at AS Movies in December) and I had no problem fitting my ECV in the room. It is a challenge to hold open the door. We stay in rooms with 2 Queens - the one by the door is a table bed and definitely leave that up cause it gives you a lot more space. If you're able to walk and pull the ECV a bit - there's a switch (pedal) in the back of the ECV that makes it go into "rolling" mode while it is turned off. This is how Cast Members move ECVs around in the park when they don't have keys to it. When you pick up the ECV ask the provider or Bell Services where this pedal/switch is. Get close to the door and put it in rolling mode - open the door and using your body to hold it open grab the front handle and pull it into the room.

I realize not everyone can do this. Definitely look into the Wedge-It and if nothing else go to the front desk of the resort and tell them the issue and see if they can help with a door stop.

I rarely have seen ECVs in the hallways or outside the rooms but it does happen. You shouldn't have a problem fitting it into the All Star room if you can keep the door open.

 

[chaoslobster]

I'm not sure about other resorts but in the values, especially Pop, the doors are HEAVY. I'm a small woman and severely disabled and although I can get off the scooter and open the door, I wasn't ever able to because I'm not strong enough to push the door open once it's unlocked. I had to literally shove my whole weight against it and shove an inch at a time and then squeeze through and if it was a bad pain day i couldn't open it at all, I was trapped until I called the front desk for someone to get me out.

If that happens, you can ask the front desk to send somebody and they can unscrew the thing on the door that adds tension. It is not the door itself that is so heavy, it's that the bit that forces it to close by itself is adjusted to super tension so you have to use tons of force to open it. When I first had the problem, for a few years they removed that piece entirely and the door no longer closed automatically, in recent years they won't do that anymore (and I understand why!) but they will loosen the tension so the door is much easier to open.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I have seen ECVs parked in the hallways of Disney Resorts, being charged on almost every trip we have made, and that has been more than I can count over the years. It happens all the time. It is very difficult to get in and out of the room when you are solo and using an ECV.

 

[jmenjes]

I'm a solo traveler, and use an ECV to help get around.

With a Wedge-It to hold the door, I have no problems at all with getting the scooter in and out of the room at the All Stars or Pop.

 

[maux]

Wanted to say thank you for all of the advice given. I bought a Wedge It and it is working perfectly. It can take a couple of try’s to back the ECV out of the room in the morning, but the Wedge It has been a godsend. Thanks to all who have suggested it!!

maux

 

[Goldelpack]

Wanted to say thank you for all of the advice given. I bought a Wedge It and it is working perfectly. It can take a couple of try’s to back the ECV out of the room in the morning, but the Wedge It has been a godsend. Thanks to all who have suggested it!!

maux

It's a perfect solution (the Wedge It) as I also travel solo and have had to come up with angular calculations for depth and angle of attack of ECV while I try to reach the lock with my magic band and then push forward.... Plus.. I have my personal ECV stored in the room plus a rental so pulling inside was a feat... solved with wedge it. Another tip... if you can push it in neutral out the door it makes life easier.

 

[DisneyOma]

Hah. Well good luck with that. 99% off scooters are stored and charged in halls. They rarely fit in rooms. I used one following knee replacement in December and the only room it for in was 14th floor at CR. There are scooters charging in halls on every floor of every Disney hotel. There is no run of scooter theft. Wow.

more power to you if you can even get yours in the door at an all star. Have fun.

need visual evidence of 2 scooters in the room at pop. Don’t care what people claim. As I said, we couldn’t get our stroller in with the door open. Heck, the door didn’t open fully. It hit the bed

Could you show us where you got your statistic, please? Sounds like you need a smaller stroller, BTW, if it doesn't fit through a doorway, it doesn't fit inside the limits set by WDW for strollers used in the parks. If the bed was in the way, then the bed was not where it should be. Did you call the front desk to have the bed moved?

To anyone thinking of leaving an ECV unattended in a hallway - I saw kids pour slushie all over a scooter outside a room at our hotel. That's probably the worst I've seen, though.

 

[Goldelpack]

Hah. Well good luck with that. 99% off scooters are stored and charged in halls. They rarely fit in rooms. I used one following knee replacement in December and the only room it for in was 14th floor at CR. There are scooters charging in halls on every floor of every Disney hotel. There is no run of scooter theft. Wow.

more power to you if you can even get yours in the door at an all star. Have fun.

need visual evidence of 2 scooters in the room at pop. Don’t care what people claim. As I said, we couldn’t get our stroller in with the door open. Heck, the door didn’t open fully. It hit the bed

I posted visual evidence within this thread.. but I will repost. As for your statement that

99% off scooters are stored and charged in halls. They rarely fit in rooms

- I think you have it backwards - 99% are stored in rooms meeting all policy and most of all fire code restrictions.
My personal scooter can be collapsed and put into a corner so I have room at the door and I can move the rental off to the side. So to all of you who may panic thinking you'll have issues... you won't. JUST USE TURTLE speed.

 

[sshaw0715]

I have done it by myself at pop century and it sucks. No other way around it. It’s a pain.

 

[mamabunny]

I have done it by myself at pop century and it sucks. No other way around it. It’s a pain.

Did you use a doorstop to help hold the door open? Or did you have a human helper? It's really tough to deal with the Resort doors without a helper, or a doorstop!

A lot of people think they have to "rush" through the door, but the reality is that you have finer, more accurate control at the slower/slowest speeds. Some folks think that they have to go fast over the threshold, but the ECV will make it fine at slow speed.

 

[sshaw0715]

Did you use a doorstop to help hold the door open? Or did you have a human helper? It's really tough to deal with the Resort doors without a helper, or a doorstop!

A lot of people think they have to "rush" through the door, but the reality is that you have finer, more accurate control at the slower/slowest speeds. Some folks think that they have to go fast over the threshold, but the ECV will make it fine at slow speed.

Solo trip with no door stop. It was my first solo trip with a scooter. I didn’t even think about a door stop. I don’t use a scooter in everyday life. Lots to learn.

 

[mamabunny]

Solo trip with no door stop. It was my first solo trip with a scooter. I didn’t even think about a door stop. I don’t use a scooter in everyday life. Lots to learn.

A very popular doorstop, for me and lots of folks here is the Wedge-it. You can sometimes find it locally in hardware stores, or on Amazon here.