EVC use question

[tacomaranch]

Friends, it is great to have a question about someone other than DS and his autism!

I want to bring my mom to WDW with us later in the year. She is very young looking and she thinks she is younger than she is. However she has a very bad knee and she limps on a good day. I worry about her having to walk all day. I don't think I could ever talk her into an ECV but if I could would it be ok? I read so much about people abusing EVC and the entire system.

I know mom would walk all day. I also know she would be in such pain at nite and never say a word. Then there is the fact that she will most likely run people over. I never let her drive! It scares me!

Mom in WDW? Mom on an EVC? Is it ok? I think it would just make life easy and trip full of magic.

Thanks, April

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Why not rent a wheelchair?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

First thing to do is select an area your mother is familiar with. Pick a place that is about 1.25 miles away from where she lives and ask her about walking there. At that point you may mention to her that is less than the distance of once around the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot.

Then, once that is done, please ask her the following questions. Here are the suggested answers to go with them.

1. Are you disabled (even temporarily)? Yes.

2. Do the people you are travelling with, such as your family, know you are disabled? Yes.

3. Do you expect to meet anyone you know during this trip who may not know you are disabled. Probably No!

4. Do you expect to meet a bunch of people who you will probably never meet again in your life? Probably yes!

5. Is there any reason at all that you should care what these people think about you? Absolutely No!!

6. Will using a wheelchair or ECV make for a better vacation for you and your family? Absolutely YES!

 

[dodukes]

I think the ecv rental is a better idea than even a wheelchair. Someone has to be pushing that wheelchair around and that can become exhausting if you are not used to it. The only time we took my grandfather to disney was NYE to epcot, his first time and he has always wanted to go, well it was a miserable ay with lots of rain so we didnt do mucha nd he didtn get to see anything. We were pushing him in the wheelchair rental and it was exhausting! In the next few months i will be taking him back and i think i want to get him the ecv, (he is 92, he can walk and stuff and is "healthy" for his age but he has difficulty walking and i know that i dont want to kill him walking around the parks!!..lol..) anyway as far as her driving it, the ones i see at the park seem really easy to manuever and dont go that fast so she should get the hang of it fast. good luck with waht you decide.

 

[yorkshiregirl]

You could always have a practice at the stores where they have ECV's for customer use. My husband used one last year as he now has mobility problems and it took a lot of the strain out of the holiday for us. He is pretty good at reversing etc but we met quite a few ladies who were not yet and the CM's helped them where necessary. A little humour helps. I did see lots of people pushing heavy wheelchairs around and felt for their backs!

 

[Flora Fan]

Certainly she can use an ECV. Using it to get her from place to place would accommodate her knees and she can still walk onto the ride and even wait in line if she feels up to it. Perhaps if she were to talk to her doctor, it would make her feel a bit better about using one.

 

[shovan]

I agree with all of the recommendations. I would stress that she get some practice at a local store or rent one at home first. It does take some practice to learn to drive them. I would also suggest rental from an off-site company as they have smaller scooters that are easier to manuever than the huge ones that WDW has for rent.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree with the other posters, but I wanted to respond to one comment.

I read so much about people abusing ECV and the entire system.

Most of the people who write about wheelchair/ECV abuse are writing what they think about assumptions they have made, rather than about actual facts.
Many people assume that guests using wheelchairs or ECVs get to bypass lines on most attractions. Because of that, they assume that anyone they see who does not look like they need the wheelchair or ECV must be abusing it to get what they think is an advantage.

When MK and Epcot were built, no one thought that much about how people using wheelchairs or ECVs would access the attractions. As a result, some were not wheelchair/ECV accessible or were not accessible thru the regular line; those attractions had a 'wheelchair entrance'. People who didn't use wheelchairs or ECVs saw the 'wheelchair entrances' as a 'perk' or something Disney did to be 'nice' to people with disabilities.
Those of us who used wheelchairs or ECVs knew the truth; that was the only way that those particular attractions were accessible. As time went on and those attractions were renovated or replaced, some were able to be made accessible without a wheelchair entrance.

AK and the Studio were built with accessible lines/attractions (called Mainstream Access), so in most cases, people using wheelchairs or ECVs at those parks will wait in the same lines and for the same amount of time as other guests (LONGER in some cases).

The majority of attractions at WDW are Mainstream Access, so don't worry about people thinking your mother is 'abusing the system'. As the other posters wrote, if she can't walk the distances, she needs to use something.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

She certainly CAN use one if you talk her into it because there is no requirement to rent them. they are available to anyone with the cash some times whole families rent them.

I won't comment on the morality of that situation but as far as Disney is concerned they are Convenience vehicles not Handicapped only vehicles.

I also agree that renting one off site to be delivered to your hotel is a good idea as you have it with you all the time.

I bring my own and usually rent one for my husband.