how hard is it to use an ecv?

[Anna_Marie]

Family and I are going to a theme park near us and it is very hilly! I use a wheelchair at disney but I know it would be hard on my poor husband pushing me up and down those hills.

He suggested I rent an ECV there. All the horror stories I hear about people getting run over with them have me scared. I certainly don't want to run into someone. How hard is it to stop and start? Are the controls easy to figure out? And do you think an ecv would be able to make it up some hilly areas?

Just wanted to add, we are going at a VERY slow time for that park, so it won't be as crowded and wall to wall people like at Disney.

 

[pbrim]

First of all, I think you need to allow for observational bias in reports in the forums of TAB people having problems with ECVs. If someone does get "run over" by an ECV, and is upset enough to post about it, they are naturally likely to exaggerate the incident. I'm not saying they are deliberately lying, but people tend to remember things that upset them as happening more dramtically that they actually did.

Also, bear in mind that most people don't notice ECVs at all unless they have a problem with them. A person may be in the vicinity of 100 ECVs, say, in a day at the park. If one hits him, that's the only one he's likely to remember. So he is going to say that every ECV in the park was driven by someone who couldn't handle it.

My friend and I spent 10 days in the park on our last trip, with both of us on ECVs for the first time, and neither of us hit anyone or saw anyone getting hit. Granted, a few ECV riders may run into or over people, but so do a lot of people waking around. A certain percentage of people just aren't paying attention, no matter how they get around. Stay alert and you should be fine.

If you have doubts, try out the ECVs at a local grocery store. These will be much more clunky, awkward and difficult to manouver than any you will rent, so if you can handle these, you can handle one at a park

 

[jdb in AZ]

To control the ECV's we rented, you just squeeze the lever on the handle to go forward, or push the lever away from you to back up. No brakes, but as soon as you let go of the lever the ECV will stop. Just remember to let go of the lever. If the battery is fully charged (and it should be when you get your rental!) you won't have any trubble on the hills. When our ECV's became sluggish we found an electrical outlet at a restaurant as we were having dinner, and by the time we finished eating the battery was recharged and rarin to go. As the PP mentioned, it's a good idea to practice driving an ECV at a grocery store. preferably an uncrowded grocery store.

 

[Vala]

Handling an ECV is really easy, don't worry. I'm German and ECVs are really unknown here. I had to use one out of the blue after an accident on our trip.

I was so scared, I was sure I'd run over Mickey or something!

The ECV was delivered to our hotel (this was in Anaheim), and until we had made it from Disneyland Hotel to the park entrance I had figured things out.

Just set speed accordingly and you'll be fine. I've been bumped into with an ECV twice too, and I can assure you that those drivers were not beginners. They were just rude and speeding where they shouldn't have. As it's been said, they just were not paying attention.

I've once bumped into a person during our trip myself, that was in the past Fantasmic crowd at New Orleans Square. It was just lightly as I was going really slow. I apologized immediately and it wasn't a problem. He realized I was trying and there really is only so much you can do when a person suddenly cuts your way - there are we again at the "paying attention" part.

 

[POOHsie]

Please make sure to charge your ECV every single evening. You should have good batteries that will last all day, but if they are not good for all day, call the rental place immediately. They will replace.

Your ECV will have brakes. You won't have a brake pedal like on a car. The brakes are always engaged, by default, unless you press the lever for forward or reverse. The brakes don't stop on a dime; it is a gentle stop so that you don't injure yourself by the unit stopping too fast and throwing you off.

You can control speed with a speed knob you turn, and also by how hard you press the forward and reverse levers. I usually set my speed knob on medium-high, and measure the pressure I give the forward lever based on what I am seeing around me. When entering a bus or the monorail, I turn the speed knob down quite a bit so I maintain precise control.

The 2 biggest hills for me at WDW are the entrance to The Land at Epcot, and the ramps up to the monorail at MK and the TTC. (Epcot monorail has an elevator. However, it wasn't working our last trip.) When I had a smaller, lightweight scooter, my family would push the back of the scooter seat to help me up the hill. It saved a lot of scooter battery life.

I wouldn't worry too much about the horror stories. There are people with diminished capacity who should not drive them. I question why their family put such a person on an ECV. But ECV incidents are rarer than the impression you get from reading the internet. I have been to Disney many times in the last decade with my scooter, and I haven't seen any incidents, and I have not been victimized by an ECV incident personally. I agree with PP that drama is added to internet postings for questionable reasons. Some healthy walking-around people think ECV users fit a stereotype that is OK to make fun of. That is, until the person making fun needs an ECV for him/herself or a member of his/her family. Then the story changes, like they had a sudden revelation about what a great tool the ECV is, and how it enabled a disabled person to go to WDW with the rest of their family and have a wonderful time.

Proceed cautiously, have patience, and maintain a great big smile at all times. These will solve most every one of your worries. Write back and tell us how it went!

 

[Bete]

and that has a lot to do with how welll it will take hills.

We've been in a park where some areas were tough with the hills scootering. In fact, it stated in a few instances this slope is not scooter friendly. One hill was long and we ended up having to push the scooter some up that hill.