First time with an ECV

[mom3sonstt]

I am back from my trip and just wanted to share. I had debated whether or not to rent an off-site scooter. Finally decided to do it. W went with Walkers. We arrived the evening of the 6th and my scooter was there waiting for me, we checked out the morning of the 16th. My rental was $253. The charger was just a plug in. I had heard that it was a large unit - and maybe in some cases it is - but mine was just a cord. They did say they would make a note that we wanted a portable charger. I was very concerned about buses - and my fears were realized. Some busese you pull directly on then have to paralel park where the tie downs are. Others you have to back onto a lift. Inevitably the bus driver would pull up and when the ramp is flipped out or the lift is lowered there would be a pole or something at the bus stop that I would have to maneuver around. I never mastered the art of gettting on and off of the buses, but I did get better at not caring. Some drivers were very helpful, others were less so. I only did boats a couple times. We stayed at Old Key West and took the boat to Saratoga one time and Downtown once or twice. We were low when we docked, but by the time everyone got off we raised high enough.

The bad times. My 15 year old and I went to Downtown Disney - we were going to go to the Comedy Warehouse but realized that hubby took our tickets - he had them for fastpasses earlier in the day and we never got them back. So we went straight to the bus stop on the west side and just missed an OKW bus. We figured since OKW is close to downtown it wouldn't be too long for the next bus even if they were only running one. When the bus finally came you could tell it was full - the driver came running off and aid his lift was broken but that there was another bus coming. We didn't believe his lift was broken but hadn;t been there too terribly long and didn't think it was worth the argument. A transportation guy walked by and asked who we were waiting on - we told him. Several minutes later (15 - 20) we saw him again and he was surprises we were still here. I told him there had been one bus but that his "lift was broken". He rolled his eyes and told me someone was probably lying to me, and that he would go call and have a bus come. He left and in less than 10 minutes a bus came.

Another morning we were at the bus stop hoping to get to hollwood studios before they opened. The bus came but said it was too full and we would have to wait for the next one. Another family got on and I wish I had sent the boys on that one because it was over half an hour befor another bus came. When it came he raised both benches when they loaded me. then we went to the next stop where there was a wheelchair waiting. When we got off the bus at the sttudios a Transportation guy with a clipboard came walking over while both of us were being unloaded. Apparently the first bus driver had also told the wheelchair family that he didnt have room and they called the Transportation number. We were told that even if they are full they have to tell people to get up. They guy in the wheelchair asked if people have to get off the bus to make room (that seemed a bit much to ask) and the transportation guy was pretty non-comital on that. But between the two of us we had the bus number, the drivers name and what time he was at each of our stops.

Those were the only two times a bus driver wouldn;t take me. We were at Epcot and the line was enormous and there were 2 wheelchairs/ecvs ahead of us, so we knew we wouldnt get on the first bus. Well, while they were loading another bus pulled up. We should have been put on it - but it wasn't exactly in the load zone and everyone in line walked by the bus that was loading the first two ECVs and got on. Hubby was oblivious or he would have had a fit. Where the bus was was kinda pulled up beside the first bus so the back door was blocked. Fortunatley another bus was there shortly and we didnt have to wait too long.


As far as using it at the parks. I was on a learning curve. I did pretty good with it eventually. I couldn't get the people I was with to understand my preferences. If I was with hubby he kept stopping and turning around and looking at me to make sure I was there. Well, everytime he stppedd, I would stop so I didnt run into him. When I was with my kids they would never look back so I would lose them in the crowds. Ideally I would be told where we were going so if I lost anybody I knew where to head. Mostly it was my husband just saying "follow me" so when I'd lose him I;d have to call him. At the end of the week we had some friends join us and the wife decided it was best if she held on to the scooter. She thought people saw us better if it was me coming at them in a scooter with her holding on to the arm of it. That actually bugged me because I felt like I had to maintain her pace and had to try to drive where she could walk. I did better if could drive between th crowdds nd pause when need be or speed up to catch back up. My husband was also real good about wanting to go in the opposite direction of the way I was faced, so I would have to get turned around and then catch back up with them.

All in all the scooter was a good thing. I left it parked part of the time, I did all of Tomorrowland without it. We did roll right into a good spot for the Jungle Parade one day. We were trying to avoid the Parade and couldnt but got parked in the wheelchair area. So we had a good spot - exept for "Darius the Dancing Fool". The Cast Member who was supposed to keep the walkway going, and keep people out of the wheelchair area - really got into the paade. He was dancing the whole time - but he was on the other side of the rope and was positioned just so that just about every picture we took has him in it.

Back to the scootere - there was a little baggy attached to the steering column adjuster. In it was a rainbonnet that goes over the key console when it rains. I wasr eal good about covering it up when I left it parked "just in case". But one night when we were going back to the rooms in the resort we got caught in a downpour and I forgot to cover it up. The next day it acted funny - the power light would stay on after I took the key out, the power wouldnt pop right on when I turned the key on.....but by the end of the day it was ok. It probably just neeed to dry out. It never stopped working - it just acted strange for part of the day.


I had bought one of those strecthy braclet keychains before I went and put the keys on it so whenever I got off I took the key out and just slipped it on my wrist. i didn't ahve to worry about losing the keys.

I forgot to charge it one night - but never had a problem. We spent full days at the parks every day and my battery never got low - even when it had to go two days without being charged.

I was totally satisfied with my scooter experience. Yes, you have to watch out for people cutting in front of you or dragging their children in front of you. My husband would say "run 'em over if they can;t pay attention" and my sons would tell me to honk my horn (a pretty puny thing!!) But I would try not to run over people and the horn wasnt in a convenient place to honk it when it needed to be honked. But most of the people don;t look like they are deliberately trying to be in your way - I think they are oblivious. They are trying to get to point b from point a and are distracted by everything around them and they arent expecting to see someone rolling by on a scooter. I did say "most" because there are some who look right at you and step in front of you Those were the ones that usually heard "Run em over" and "Hit your horn" from my assemblage along with seeing me come to a sudden stop and look very irritated.

Bottom line - I would use the scooter again, I would just hope for uncrowded buses. I knew I wouldn;t do well getting on and off the buses, and the more crowded the buses were the worse I did.....but that's just me!

 

[Nanajo1]

Thanks for the report. I feel your pain about keeping up with your group. Been there, done that, ran over DH

 

[Dawn68PA]

Thank you so much for your post. I will be using my ECV for the first time at WDW this year. I have my own and like you, don't need it a lot of times. I will take it to the local mall once or twice before we leave, just so I can get the hang of it to my satisfaction. We will be driving ourselves as the busses just seem like they'll take too much time out of our vacation and I don't want to deal with any rude looks.

I'm glad to read you would do it again. It's also great that your family was very supportive.

DH wants to put flames or racing stripes on mine before we leave....maybe I should let him

 

[mom3sonstt]

Thanks for the report. I feel your pain about keeping up with your group. Been there, done that, ran over DH

WEre you watching me??? I only ran over him twice.....and only once was on purpose...sorta. He was really making me mad so I hit the gas....just a little...to run into him. But his foot was in the way and I ran over him. The other time we were in the Walt Disney Story and I was trying to get up to where you could play with the audio animatronic displays towards the end and he was closer than I thought and I ran over him again. That time he really should have moved

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Thanks for the report. And althought there were a few problems, you probably had a much better time than if you did not have the eCV. And for the next trip your crew (as well as you) will be more experienced.

 

[mom3sonstt]

Oh -- I just remember something I meant to mention about loading and unloading on the bus - the bus that had ramps I had to turn the speed up on the scooter to get up over the hump of the ramp - but then would have to turn it back down to maneuver for parking. Something I never mastered. There were some bus drivers that could "park me" They would steer the scooter into place for me either with me in it, or i would move to a seat and they would work it around. Others just let me struggle while my husband yelled directions. The only problem with my husbands directions were they usually consisted of "go the other way" when I hadn't determined which direction I was going yet so the "other" one was undertermined. We had that prolem the whole trip - a definate language barrier. When we got off the safari and I got back on the scooter they had it crammed in with a bunch of others and he was trying to talk me out of where it was. The only problem is I thought I was supposed to go out one corner of the area (where they had let us in at) and thought that was where he was directing me but I was actually supposed to be going out the other corner so I wasn't going where he wanted me to - but I wasn't doing what he said because I thought I was ultimatley going in a different direction. He always thought he could just tell me which way to turn, when I would prefer knowing where I was supposed to be going. I could never handle one of those games that you play in team building things where one person is blindfolded and the other person gives them directions.

I did leave teh scooter behind when I took the boys to Pleasure Island one night. I knew we would be late getting back, and I didn;t want to deal with it that late at night especially if I was dealing with a bus full of people who may have spent the evening clubbing so I left it behind and just used my cane. I was going to leave it behind the day we went shopping but hubby convinced me to go ahead and bring it. I left it parked outside the stores. World of Disney is confusing enough to get around in without trying to maneuver the scooter in it.

I did use the scooter going down Main Street. That was one of my big concerns with getting a scooter was losing the ability to shop my way down Main Street. The aisles are actually wide enough that it was pretty easy to get around. The main problem was the same it was everywhere else - people standing around blocking where you are going. It did take a little more planning - I usually kept going in a forward motion through the store instead of meandering around. We really didn't shop a lot this trip. We did spend one morning trying to spend $10 and wandered back and forth quite a bit (I bought a watch for $30 if we spent $40 or more we could get this other watch for $10 ($20??) hubby decided he wanted that watch - so we wandered all over the Emporium complex trying to spnd the additional $10 in order to have the privelage of buying the watch. Which we did - and he wore the new watch while we were there for 3 more days, and not since we have been home We also have a tote bag, and a rolling duffel, due to those "deals". The rolling duffel we used on the way home - it turned out handier than the duffel we had brought with us


Another scooter thing I noticed was that when I would park it and get back on it it seemed like the speed had been changed. I don;t know if kids walking by would turn it or what but I know when I'd get on sometimes it would be all the way to turtle and it would hardly move, and other times it would be all the way on rabbit and you'd plow people over. I usually had it set just to the rabbit side of center. If I was getting off at the Hospitality House and "walking" back to the room I would crank it up a little more, but for the most part I kept it in the same spot. I did have to adjust it getting on and off the bus but going through the parks I was able to adjust my speed with the lever and not have to change the setting too much.

My oldest son works at a grocery store so he has to put their scooters away after the customers use them, so sometimes I would have him put it on the bus if it looked like it was going to be a problem (bus parked too close to a pole, too crowded....) Hubby didn;t like when I'd do that because he thought it looked like I was faking. I told him they would appreciate that I was having him do it because it was saving them the time that it would take if they had to wait for me to do it - and if they thought I was faking, they could just look at my non-existent ankles, and knees and see that if I could walk it wouldn't be pretty

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the report.
The reports about bus trouble are disturbing. I don't think there have been any reports lately where someone had no problems with the buses. There seem to be a lot of drivers telling people the bus is full when it isn't, that the equipment is broken when it isn't.

They can't make people get off the bus to make room for a wheelchair. They can tell them that they need to move if they are seated in the benches that need to be folded up to make a space for a wheelchair. There is a sign above those seats.
About all we can do about it is keep reporting problems, with the time, location, bus number and driver's name if you can get it.

 

[mom3sonstt]

I figured I used the buses about 30 times - I KNOW I used them over 20 times (10 days - a trip to the park and back each day would be 20 plus any extra trips we took. So in about 30 times on a bus I had 2 "bad" experiences. That's what - about 5% That's not too bad. The night that he told me his lift was broken - I don't know where he would have put me anyway - there were already people standing. I would rather he said that they were packed and not lied to me. Now the morning that they did say they were too full I didn't appreciate it because they weren;t. They were full - but not too full. people could have stood. In fact the next day we had a bus come with people standing - I told hubby it didn;t look good, and the driver didn't even blink an eye. He just flipped out his ramp and loaded me up. I did stay on the scooter that time - he strapped me in with a seatbelt like they do on some of the wheelchairs. I probably could have gotten a seat, but just stayed put. I also stayed on the scooter on the boat. The first time we got on a boat I asked because they don't even strap them down on a boat and the driver said I was fine where I was. It wasn;t a space issue - there were plenty of empty seats - one of the ladies on the boat said - you might want to stay where you are - that seat looks more comfortable than the boat seats. ithought that was kind of odd - that they don't even strap them down on the boat - but I guess the boat is moving more slowly than the buses. Or maybe regulations havent made it to watercraft yet??

 

[SueM in MN]

The first time we got on a boat I asked because they don't even strap them down on a boat and the driver said I was fine where I was. It wasn;t a space issue - there were plenty of empty seats - one of the ladies on the boat said - you might want to stay where you are - that seat looks more comfortable than the boat seats. ithought that was kind of odd - that they don't even strap them down on the boat - but I guess the boat is moving more slowly than the buses. Or maybe regulations havent made it to watercraft yet??

They have never strapped wheelchairs down on the boats; when you think about it, there are no seatbelts for anyone on boats.
I think the chance of getting in an accident is not that big, plus, as you mention, they are not going that fast.

When you look at the bus situation, 5% is not that bad, but it should be 0, so compared to 0, it is high.

 

[mechurchlady]

5% is way too high. This is supposed to be the magical happy moment in a person's life but they cannot go anywhere because of a broken bus. Not fair and the rate should be near to nothing or 1 out 10,000.

Busses are top heavy and travel up to 45 mph. Ask the bus drivers and they will tell you horror stories of accidents and incompetent drivers who will cut in front of a bus and stop. As you know the ECV and even wheelchairs are more prone to tipping than a seat on a bench. I would never sit in a chair or ECV on a bus if I could help it due to safety reasons. Boats set in the water, are slower moving, and they travel areas that have few watercraft that are not run by CMs.

Nice report.

 

[Schmeck]

Actually, there are a lot of rental boats in Bay Lake, and in the waterway from EPCOT to DHS. They go pretty fast too, even though there are 'No Wake' signs and speed limits posted. On a windy day it can get very choppy as well.

I think the 5% is fair - think about people not needing the accessible seating/tie-down spot, they have to wait for the next bus about 5% of the time as well. I know we have waited many times for the next bus, either it was full, or I had to have a seat because my leg was killing me and there were no seats available.

 

[disneymarie]

Oh -- My oldest son works at a grocery store so he has to put their scooters away after the customers use them, so sometimes I would have him put it on the bus if it looked like it was going to be a problem (bus parked too close to a pole, too crowded....) Hubby didn;t like when I'd do that because he thought it looked like I was faking. I told him they would appreciate that I was having him do it because it was saving them the time that it would take if they had to wait for me to do it - and if they thought I was faking, they could just look at my non-existent ankles, and knees and see that if I could walk it wouldn't be pretty

I did that, my husband drives fork lifts and if the bus was crowded I just let him put it on for me. Most drivers prefered I sat instead of sitting on the scooter anyway. Who cared what they thought, at least I did not hit the gas and hit them!
I was terribly intimadated the first time. By the third year I am fine with it. No problems parking.
Thanks for sharing.