Help!!!!!!!!!!

[jawbones]

What do I do? My wife and I have been planning our son's first trip to WDW (he turned 1 in April) with my mom and stepdad. Anyway, my stepfather got into a motorcycle accident, wrecked his new Harley and broke his leg. Now, they are counting on me to make arrangements so that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Please help direct me on who to call, where to call, what to expect cost-wise and when to make these arrangements.

We are staying at WL. We requested non-smoking, castle view and connecting rooms. Now, they need a handicapped room. Can we still get the connecting and the other stuff in a handicapped room. Will they guarantee handicapped? Should I just get them the handicapped and go on our own as far as trying to get our other preferences met?

Where do we rent an ECV/wheelchair? Will it be there when we arrive? How much will it cost? People with experience please chime in. Has anyone ever used the chairs from the resort (more specifically WL)? Am I missing anything?

We are AP holders and WDW veterans. However, this is all new to us. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know that I have not covered everything, so please make me aware of anything that I am forgetting. We leave on July 23rd!!!!!!!!!!!!11

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

 

[232271]

go to the disabilities board and post this they will give you tons of info there!

 

[copper68]

sorry to hear about the accident

maybe this will help a little about the wheelchair question..

http://allearsnet.com/pl/mobility.htm

as far as your room goes, i would just call and ask them about the handicap room and see what they say..

 

[cjsmom5]

We went last year, for the first time, with my mom who needed a great deal of assistance. Disney has a number you can call for medical/disability assistance. They can work to get you guarantees that noral CROs can't do. We rented a scooter from an outside company. Got the name from the desk at the AKL by just calling them. Reserved it with the company. They dropped it off and picked it up. Was very easy. Your bus transportation should be easy. Buses should pull up and not let others on until they load your dad. If they don't see you though, they won't do that so you need to pull up to the curb so they can see you when they pull in. They should load your dad and then let your party follow him on. You will wait until the end to get off, though.

The connecting rooms will need to be guaranteed by someone other than the CRO, though. And it will depend on whether you will get connecting rooms with one of them being a handicapped. You may also have to be in a handicapped room if that is the case. We haven't stayed at WL so I am not sure.

When you arrive at the park, visit guest services. They will tell you which rides are accessible and which ones aren't. At that time they will make a decision as to whether or not you can use the alternate entrances. They let my mom do this as she has a handicapp sticker and a note from the dr. It helps because they give you more time to get on and can stop the ride to make it easier but you must stop at guest services at the park you go to the first day to get this pass. And, it will depend on the cast member. It will be good for up to 5 other people in the party.

Most everything is handicap accessible. Only one time did we get a bus that wasn't and then we had to wait for the next one but other than that it went smoothly. I got lots of great tips off the disability board, though. Be sure to look.

 

[SueM in MN]

Here's a link to the disABILITIES Board FAQs. It's a "work in progress", so it doesn't address everything, but does have information about renting wheelchairs and ecvs (electric scooters), borrowing wheelchairs from the resorts and contact info for off-site rental places. It also has a post about bus travel.

The second post on that thread has links, including some to the official Disney website that list rides/attractions where the queues and attraction are completely wheelchair/ecv accessible, which ones you hve to transfer for, etc. For some, you need to transfer from an ecv to a wheelchair. When that is the case, they have wheelchairs at the entrance that you can transfer to. The park maps also have an icon by each ride that tells whether or not you can stay in a wheelchair for the whole attraction. And there are signs at then entrance to each line that tell a little about the ride (like "Fast moving thrill ride") and how accessible they are.

When you arrive at the park, visit guest services. They will tell you which rides are accessible and which ones aren't. At that time they will make a decision as to whether or not you can use the alternate entrances. They let my mom do this as she has a handicapp sticker and a note from the dr. It helps because they give you more time to get on and can stop the ride to make it easier but you must stop at guest services at the park you go to the first day to get this pass. And, it will depend on the cast member. It will be good for up to 5 other people in the party.

If you are using a wheelchair or ecv, you don't need to stop at Guest Services for a Guest Assistance Card, unless you have needs besides needing the wheelchair/ecv. Just having the wheelchair/ecv alerts the CMs that you need to use the wheelchair accessible entrances. In many cases, you will be waiting in the same lines with everyone else and boarding at the same place. These are called "Mainstream Lines." In other cases, you will be waiting in line until just before the usual boarding place - at that point you will be pulled off to board at the sxite. Usually, you will be waiting the same amount of time as everyone else, you just may not be waiting in the same place as they are.
Here's a
link to a disABILITIES Board thread about boarding rides that specifically discusses the moving walkway rides.

Two other things. I don't know about your stepfather's needs, but he may or may not need an accessible (handicapped) room. The "features" of a handicapped room are things like a raised seat toilet, roll in shower (or some handicapped rooms have bathtubs with grab bars). If he doesn't need those things, then you can stick with your original requests.
This is the phone number for WDW Resort Special Reservations:
(407) 939-7807
(407) 939-7670 [TTY]
It's the phone number that cjsmom5 mentioned. They can assist you with figuring out what type of room you need.
There's a link to the disABILITIES Board in my signature. Please come visit and ask any questions you can think of.