How easy to rent wheelchairs offsite once there?

[Earstou]

My husband agrees that I'll need a wheelchair this time in WDW, but he doesn't think we need to rent one for our entire stay. He wants to just rent one from the parks. I've read the posts about wheelchairs and ECVs, and think we should rent offsite and have it waiting when we arrive. I've never used a chair before, but we know I probably won't be able to make it without one.
So here's my question:
Can I rent after I get to WDW, or do I need reservations in advance? Will there be problems with availability?
Just how worn out will my dh get pushing me around? (He says he won't!!)

 

[LizL]

You should really get an ECV, rather than a manual chair. I pushed my husband in his chair for two years before we bought a power chair. Having gone through Disney recently I can tell you that your DH will get worn out unless he is in really good shape (I mean like an athlete). The ramps to the monorail are killers. Plus the parks are not flat as they sometimes appear to be in pictures. We rented from Care and had no problems. GO ahead and make a reservation. They take a credit card number, but it is not charged until the day before you arrive. We also rented a powerchair rather than an ECV - ECV's might be easier to use if you have never used a power chair before. Go to a store that has ECV's and practice before you go.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Earstou,

Can you rent when you get there?

It might depend when you are going. If I were running an ECV renting company, I would have just enough for peak periods which would mean I had plenty to spare at less busy times.

You say you have never used a wheelchair before.

There are two types of manual wheelchairs. The first is built like a tank, indestructable, weighs a ton, is balanced for total stability, and is only good for pushing someone along a hospital corridor.

The second is light as a feather, balanced to perfection, much easier to self-propel and costs a bomb.

Guess which ones Disney and the offsite renters provide. If you rent a manual, you will have a hard time, even before you take account of all those slopes.

LizL is spot on in advising you to get an ECV. In any case, I don't think they will rent you a power chair unless you can prove to them that you already have experience of driving one. I use a powerchair because I can no longer get on and off an ECV. If you can use an ECV, you will find them just as convenient, and less costly to hire.

Andrew

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by Andrew Bichard
There are two types of manual wheelchairs. The first is built like a tank, indestructable, weighs a ton, is balanced for total stability, and is only good for pushing someone along a hospital corridor.
The second is light as a feather, balanced to perfection, much easier to self-propel and costs a bomb.
Guess which ones Disney and the offsite renters provide. If you rent a manual, you will have a hard time, even before you take account of all those slopes.

it worries me to hear this. my grandmother (in early-mid stages of Alzheimers) is probably not capable of operating an ECV. (she doesn't know how to drive, or even how to ride a bike) she tires easily, so we don't want her to walk long distances.
we were thinking about renting a manual wheelchair, and a few of us will take turns pushing her. we have no experience with wheelchairs either.
if all the manual wheelchairs that can be rented/borrowed are the tank-like heavy kind, what are we to do?

i've heard of a model called the Breezy (sp?). is that the second type mentioned here?
is that model available for rental in Orlando from any supplier?

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Originally posted by disneyberry
it worries me to hear this.

Sorry to worry you. I use the word 'tank' relatively. If your grandmother is average weight of lighter, and you have a team of pushers to swop off, you will do fine.

Andrew

 

[SueM in MN]

i've heard of a model called the Breezy (sp?). is that the second type mentioned here?
is that model available for rental in Orlando from any supplier?

Since my DD has her own wheelchair, we don't have personal experience renting, but being the curious medical type, I always look at the wheelchairs where ever I am.

The wheelchair for rent at the parks, available at the resorts and the standard wheelchair at the outside rental places is the "tank" kind that Andrew mentioned. If you are renting from one of the outside places that is a full service medical equipment supplier, you should also be able to rent a light weight wheelchair on request. Breezy is a lighter weight model of wheelchair made by Sunrise Medical. These are full service suppliers:
Care Medical:
http://www.caremedicalequipment.com/

Colonial Medical
http://www.colonialmed.com/about_cms.html

You might also want to ask about a "transport chair". We saw someone who had rented one on our last trip to WDW and they highly recommended it. It's a light weight wheelchair meant for someone who will always be pushed in the wheelchair. Instead of large real wheels, which the rider can use to propel themselves, it has 2 smaller rear wheels. That makes it lighter and easier to fold up to fit in a car, etc. It may work better for someone with Alzheimers; since she can't propel it herself, she couldn't sneak off on you with the wheelchair.

In any case, I don't think they will rent you a power chair unless you can prove to them that you already have experience of driving one.

The websites say that and that was what I was told when we looked into renting a power wheelchair for our last trip (DD has a power wheelchair, but we didn't want to bring it along to WDW on the airplane). They might make exceptions, but in general won't rent a power wheelchair unless you already have experience driving one.

 

[cupcake]

Wow, lots of wc questions today! The quality of the WDW rental wcs is very variable and you can get very uncomfortable spending a lot of time in a subpar wc. If you rent offsite, you will have a newer wc that is adjustable (with the WDW ones in my experience, nothing is adjustable, so if they only have ones set for very short people, for example, you will spend the day with your knees in a weird position). My dh pushed me for years before I saw the light & became an EVC convert. There are a few obvious killers for pushers (e.g. if you want to sit at the front at Beauty & the Beast and are being pushed, someone's gonna have to get you back up that huge ramp!!!) but overall, he's was fine when we were too chicken and cost conscious to rent an EVC (ie he didn't know any better and it was push me or sit on a bench all day). He's in very good shape, and I can't say that he was ever happy when it was very warm out. Overall, after 10+ years pushing and one EVC trip, he wants me to get the EVC again and says it is well worth the $. Re WDW EVCs, they are harder to drive than offsite ones and availability isn't guaranteed.

Cupcake