Feeling VERY sad about using a scooter, Don't know which place to choose.

[Jeanieblue114]

I have been to Disney MANY times. I have always been overweight, so the walking has been an issue since I was a kid. But, I still do it. It's Disney and I feel motivated when I'm there. Plus, we usually only go to the parks for 1 day during each trip. So, that is my only sore feet day usually.

Like I said, I have always just pushed through without a scooter.
We go back to Disney in 2 weeks. Last week I injured my heel. It has been EXCRUCIATING to walk on even just to the bathroom. Despite my resisting a scooter for my weight issues, it now seems that I will need one due to this injury (I'm hoping it will heal up a lot, but it is not looking good).

I resolved myself that I will probably need a scooter for our park day. We will be going to DHS.

But, the injury isn't really healing well and now I feel like I might need a scooter for the ENTIRE stay just to get to a restaurant from a parking lot.
The idea of this has had me crying nearly every day. I am upset for a few reasons.

1. I knew that one day I might need to use a scooter. But I wanted it to be my choice when I finally do. With the heel injury, the choice has been taken away from me and I'm frustrated.

2. I am afraid that people in the park (who have become increasingly ruder in past years) will make nasty comments. They will assume that I'm in a scooter for my weight and feel they have the right to ruin my vacation by telling me to lose weight or call me lazy or something. I just don't want to call extra attention to myself.

3. We will have a car and plan on using it all the time. We are at OKW. I need a scooter for my larger weight and it seems like several company's heavy duty scooters aren't able to break down and go in a trunk. I think the heavy duty ones from Walker rentals who advertise here on the Dis are portable but I'm not sure. I want to be able to use my car.

4. If I have to use the Disney buses because the scooter won't break down and go into my trunk, I will be humiliated spending all that time holding everyone up getting my scooter on the bus.

5. My family is very supportive and know that I have always walked the parks in the past and now I am injured and can't do anything about it. But, it really really bothers me that I feel like I'm holding back everyone's vacation. I try to tell myself that having the scooter will probably make it much easier for me to keep up with everyone, but the inconvenience of different ride cues, being accommodated at restaurants, using transportation, and basically being clueless as to how to go about this has me very upset and I don't want to detract from their vacation.

6. I have no idea what companies are reliable for renting a scooter. I saw buena vista scooters. But their heavy duty scooters will NOT break down for transport and that would be a big problem for me and their scooters are advertised as stopping if they get in the rain at all. It is florida. It rains every day. I don't want to make everyone sit all afternoon because my scooter is dead.

I also saw Walker rentals on here and they have heavy duty scooters that breakdown and their website says that the scooters are waterproof. I think that would be a better fit for me, but I have NO idea who is a reliable company. I am TERRIFIED of being stranded and ruining everyone's vacation.

(Not to mention the guilt on suddenly adding on a $300 expense to our trip for the rental).

Please, any help anyone can provide to me would be great. I am reading the Disability information and trying to inform myself so that this goes as smoothly as possible. But in 35 trips, this is really Disney in a new and scary way for me.
I need suggestions so that I am informed and can stop crying about this situation.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to disABILITIES!

Please ask 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 traveling 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!

Any of the companies listed in Post #2 of the disABILITIES FAQs are there because people have repeatedly said that they are reliable and reasonable in their price. If it is a company not listed there it does not mean that it is bad, just that we don't have many comments about them.

Also, Post #5 talks about ECVs and cars.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

thanks for the encouragement.

I have spent the day with my foot up in bed reading all of the info. I'm working through it slowly but surely and making a little word document to print out and take with me with all of the info that I might need on what I can and can't do.

I'm dissapointed that Disney's site is not very helpful at all..no details on anything.
I'm really relying on the Dis and Allears. I'm finding that a lot of the info is several years old and I'm just trying to go through everything to find the most up to date and accurate info.

Disney has a way of changing a lot of things without anyone knowing. This is not a circumstance where I can rely on one thing and they have changed. It's not like showing up for a funnel cake and finding out that they don't have them anymore. It means that I might be 'stuck' somewhere. Not a happy thing. ..and slightly more dissapointing that the loss of a funnel cake.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I know you're disappointed; I know you're concerned about what people might think. And that's completely normal. But please don't let fear ruin you and your family's vacation. You're still going, and you're still you- you're just going to have a set of wheels. That's it. It's not going to be that different. This is not a permanent change, it's a temporary setback due to injury. I know it's hard, but maybe sit and watch the travel channel specials, or you tube, or listen to music from Disney you love, and try to recapture the joy of the fact that You're going to Disney

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I'm so glad that I've heard from such nice Disers. so glad I found this place.

Still crying a little.....but moving towards happy tears.

THANK YOU!

 

[Tiggerish]

Using the ECV will change your whole experience for the better. I know from personal experience. I am also pooh sized. I also have an invisible disability (MS) that makes it difficult to walk for any distance but I "look so normal". I also was fearful of using an ECV. At home I am still getting by with a walker but at Disney, I must have an EVC. I was worried that people would think I was just using it because I was too fat to walk and extremely afraid of how to get it on and off the buses. Everything worked itself out and I am plotting my return in 2010.

The first time I had the ECV, I just kept repeating to myself, "I will never see any of these people again so I DO NOT care what they are thinking or what they say."

 

[Jeanieblue114]

thank you for sharing, it makes me feel much better.

What is funny is that, I don't normally feel self-conscious. I don't mind that people see me as a big girl...it's pretty clear. I am not bothered wearing a bathing suit at the pools or waterparks. (I'm actually an excellent swimmer and love it).
I just have a hang up about them thinking something that is not true. That I'm lazy instead of that I have a (hopefully) temporary injury.

I have been reading the boards today as my own personal therapy.
I have decided to make the best of this.
I'm getting some fairy wings for the scooter and I made a glittery sign to hang on it that says "My Pixie Dust Ran Out Before I Landed".

Maybe my being in the scooter will actually give some people some healthy laughs then! (and they won't step in front of me and make me run them over).

 

[wdwmickey]

Glad to hear you're feeling better Just keep in mind that when you're on on ECV or in a wheelchair you become "invisible" and people will walk in front of you, they think we can stop on a dime Love your sign idea--I may have to "borrow" that idea for my next trip. Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Go ahead....maybe a lot of us will have that sign?

We can start a class action "faulty pixie dust" law suit.

Why don't they come with horns?? I'd just go through the park beeping. Maybe i'll buy a little bike "ching ching" bell for it?

 

[peemagg]

The sign idea is great, but I caution you about the bell and horn. Too many people do just what you are thinking and then it gives all of us who need devices to get around a bad name. I think you will be better off with just polite, but loud 'excuse me's'.

Most who get the nasty comments or stares are people who try to use their scooter or wheelchair as a battering ram of sorts. When you use the horn, it is seen as trying to be pushy.

Go and have a good time, just don't use your horn.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

The sign idea is great, but I caution you about the bell and horn. Too many people do just what you are thinking and then it gives all of us who need devices to get around a bad name. I think you will be better off with just polite, but loud 'excuse me's'.

Most who get the nasty comments or stares are people who try to use their scooter or wheelchair as a battering ram of sorts. When you use the horn, it is seen as trying to be pushy.

Go and have a good time, just don't use your horn.

even a 'ching ching' bicycle bell which is what I was thinking of?
I actually thought it would be more funny not rude (I wouldn't use it for getting people out of the way...I don't move people out of the way when I'm walking. I wouldn't do it now that I need a scooter). Just use it as a 'sound effect' with the decorated scooter.

My other thought was , since we are planning on the halloween party, to decorate the scooter that night with the other suggestion of the doombuggy and put on cobwebs and a spider. I remember being over at Ft. Wilderness 2 years ago at halloween time and everyone had their golf carts decorated...it was very festive!

 

[CJN]

I used Walker's last January and their heavy duty scooters were easy to breakdown once we'd done it a time or two. Of course, I really shouldn't say "we" because it was my wonderful brother-in-law who loaded and unloaded the thing for me everyday. We were using a minivan, btw.

I was nervous about using an ECV for the first time, too, but once on it, it took me about three seconds to realize its biggest benefit....freedom, baby, FREEDOM! I could finally do Disney right instead of planning around my physical limitations and pain level. To not have to struggle to keep up or ask the rest of my group to slow down was heavenly. We were ALL happier at the end of the day.

I always hear lots of people talk about being stared at but that's not my experience (and, yep, I'm a big girl, too). Or if I did get a stare it was accompanied by a smile - due, I'm sure, to the pixie pinwheels, iridescent pompoms and little pink bicycle horn I decorated the scooter with.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

wooo hoooo...You're a pretty pink princess too!
Girl after my own heart.

 

[sharadoc]

Hi. I have bad arthritis and finally broke down and used a scooter on our last trip in August. I had a GREAT time. No one made any comments that I heard and my family thought it was so much better than having to wait for me every 20 feet while I rested on a bench. I didn't have throbbing pain in my legs the entire trip.

Please go, use the scooter and have fun. The heck with everyone else - it's your life and you're entitled to live it to the fullest.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

thank you!

 

[cybrary]

For years, I brought my sister to DW and pushed her in a wheelchair. We had to use the bus most of the time to get to parks. I cannot recall a single time that anyone ever made a comment, or even looked at us in a rude fashion, because they had to wait for her to be loaded onto the bus. Because of her arthritis, she was unable to use an ECV. Now, I am having knee replacement next month, and I will have to use an ECV during my Dec. trip. I'm not real concerned about how strangers might feel about that. I just want to enjoy my trip painfree. You will most likely find that your trip is better than ever because you won't have to think about inconveniencing the people you do know, like family! Go, enjoy your mobility, and have a great trip. I plan on doing the same!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

I agree. My main thing is the feeling of being a burden. They all insist that I am not. But I still feel that way.

I'm working past it....I've only been injured for 2 weeks and I'm hoping that in a week when I get there I'm at least slightly more mobile.
I'll still need the ECV for the parks for sure...but I decorated it like the Tinkmobile with wings and everything....I'm working on it!

Best wishes on your trip as well and get better soon!! (people I know who have had the replacement surgery have been running around like kids in no time).

 

[Nanajo1]

I have rented from Walker Mobility and Care Medical. I recommend either. But if Walker has one that you can break down go for it!
Have a great trip.,

 

[Jeanieblue114]

yep...got one that breaks down.
They have a video on the website of how to break it down..takes about 15 seconds.