Help someone broke their leg: Post moved from old Board

[SueM in MN]

I moved this post from the old board. Let's start our new board out right by giving some help to Cindy.
Author: mccachern
Welcomed Guest

From: Edmond, OK
Registered: 03-26-01
Posts: 23
Help! I'm going to DW in four weeks and I just broke my leg in 3 places. We have been planning a two week vacation to Disneyworld for months. The day before yesterday, I was
moving boxes downstairs from the attic when I fell and broke my leg in three places. I had surgery yesterday and the doctor says that I won't be able to put any weight on it for at least two months. One of my big concerns is our vacation. Our family has been so excited and planning all the details. Now there is a new difficulty to be addressed. Can you help me figure out what I need to do to manage best in the parks? Can electric wheelchairs be rented in the park? How much are they? Thanks for any help you can
give.

Cindy

 

[SueOKW]

I know very little about casts - but I can tell you will be limited in your movements.

There are ECVs, and wheel chairs, but no power wheel chairs. People are very happy with ECVs. I hope Teri or SueM or Wheelsie can get our disABILITIES facts over.

I can tell you that you will have more fun than you think you will....

Sue

 

[teri]

Click on the link in my signature and you will find lots of great information. I am just getting to know the new boards, I hope this works!

 

[lisapooh]

You can rent an ECV from an outside provider. I don't know that they will rent you an electric wheelchair unless you are a regular user of one.

Care Medical
Randy's Mobility
Walker Mobility

 

[piratesmate]

When we were in WDW last Aug, an old knee injury became nearly unbearable. We rented manual wheelchairs in the parks. I had surgery, but still cannot walk for distances and we're renting from Walker next month. Getting around the parks can be accomplished fairly easily, but what I wanted to address is:

"I had surgery yesterday and the doctor says that I won't be able to put any weight on it for at least two months." I had serious difficulty getting in & out of rides last time. The ones that didn't stop to allow access moved too quickly to allow much "fin-A-gling" to get in. (I have NO idea how to spell that word, so I wrote it as it sounds - sorry!) One of the worst was Haunted Mansion - & they allowed me to enter a completely stopped car!

My advice is to research the rides before you leave so that you are aware of which ones sound like you won't be able to do - I enjoyed just sitting & watching the people & the looks on the kids' faces when they returned many times. It was difficult, however, when everyone wanted me to go on a ride & weren't willing to "give up" when I thought I couldn't do it. Being prepared should help!

PS - The people on this board are the greatest! I'm sure that you'll get plenty of suggestions!

 

[SueM in MN]

I tried your link, teri and it worked just fine, so it should work for Cindy.

Cindy, it's not the end of the "WORLD" (pun intended). You and your family will still have a great time, just a little different than you planned. You will find a lot of good info in teri's link.

Getting there:
If you are traveling by plane, the bulkhead seats have a larger space in front of them and you won't have anyone in front of you recline their seat onto your leg. The only drawback is that you don't have any underseat storage; everything has to go in the overhead bins.
Ask to preboard. Most airlines do it automatically if you have a mobility problem, but one time that we didn't ask, they didn't do it. Can't remember what airline it was, but their reason was they did not want to degrade us if we didn't need help.(Didn't make sense to us either)
I assume you will be bringing a wheelchair with you. You can gate check it, which means you are able to use it until loading on the plane. To gate check, ask when you first check in. They may give you a tag then or have you get one from the gate agent. At the door of the plane, you can transfer to an aisle chair, a narrow wheelchair that will fit in the aisle of the plane.

Where you are staying: You should change your reservation to ask for first floor for MEDICAL REASONS if you are staying in a hotel without elevators. Also ask to be close to whatever you need to be close to (bus, pool, food court). You may want to think about getting a handicapped accessible room. If you are staying on site, you can contact WDW RESORTS/SPECIAL RESERVATIONS
(407) 939-7807 [voice]
(407) 939-7670 [TTY] for help in getting things accessible.

At the Parks: You can rent ecvs (electric convenience vehicles - they should be called electric necessity vehicles, but no one asked us). The ecvs are first come, first served. You would need a wheelchair or something to get to the park in the first place, so you may want to rent one from off site.
There is actually a FAQ about full leg casts on the official Disney site. Here's a link to it: http://disney.go.com/disabilities/mk/faq.html#3
Ask as many questions as you need to and I'm sure other posters will add information when they get over the shock of the new boards.

 

[LindaDVC]

I had planned to write suggestions on the room but I see Sue beat me to it!

I am sure you will still have a great trip. My mom once hurt her knee the day before we left for WDW. We packed my husbands manual chair for her and he used his power chair. Things worked out fine !

Linda

 

[Cheshire Figment]

In February we were with some friends from Chicago. Less than two weeks before the trip the wife broke her ankle in two places, and the doctor said she could not bear weight on it for at least a month or so.

She was able to walk (short distances) with crutches. She rented an ECV from Walker. We were staying at the Caribbean in adjoining rooms. Walker delivered the ECV (and charger) to the Caribbean and bell services placed it in the room so it was there when she arrived.

In airports she was able to get wheelchair service to and from the aircraft. She and her family (husband and two "tween" girls) had a limo from Orlando Airport so no worries about baggage, etc.

For getting around in WDW she had no major problems. We did have some logistic problems, as I also use an ECV but my need was not as severe as hers. If we were going somewhere that I would not need my ECV, we would take hers in the trunk. Otherwise, she and some (or all) of her family would use Disney Transport. Almost all the buses are lift equipped. When there was need to transfer to a ride vehicle she could use her crutches.

One important thing with crutches -- bring along a couple of bungee cords with hooks so the crutches can stay attached to the ECV.

One "fun" thing that was involved was getting all the characters to sign her cast. She brought along a couple of "Sharpie" pens so she would have something that would allow them to write on the cast. A problem she had when the cast was removed was having them cut it off without destroying signatures. If you want to save your signed cast draw a straight line along it before the trip and ask the characters when they sign to not cross the line, and have that as the cutting line.

Just remember that you may not be able to do everything that you had planned, but you will probably have fewer problems at WDW than almost anywhere else.

 

[tink2dw]

Call your WDW resort and ask to Reserve a wheel chair. It will be a manual one But it's free for your stay from your resort!!

I totally forgot that I had researved a WC and we spent alot of extra money renting one each day at the park! even if you rent a ECV you may need the manual in your room for trips from the bed to the bathroom.

And if you decide you don't need it you can just return it to your resort.

 

[JenVanderVeen]

Just one note on having your cast signed - I only recommend doing this if there is some sort of removable lining in your cast. I tried to save mine after a tendon injury in my ankle and it was totally disgusting. There was no way to make it acceptable for keeping. The nurse said if they had known ahead of time that I would want to keep it, there was some kind of liner they could've inserted. Just thought I'd add that warning!

 

[mccachern]

Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it. My trip is definitely going to be different than what I'd planned, but hopefully still great!