Hurt Foot...Need Advice

[WendyBelle]

My family and I have been to Disney many times over the past 10 years. Our next trip is coming up in less than a week. (May 16-21)

A week ago today, I fell and badly sprained my ankle. I'm still barely hobbling around and am starting to realize that it is going to greatly impact our Disney trip.

I'm looking for tips/advice on touring Disney with a scooter or wheelchair. I'm leaning towards the scooter because I don't want hubby or kids having to push me around.

All comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[disnut8]

My family and I have been to Disney many times over the past 10 years. Our next trip is coming up in less than a week. (May 16-21)

A week ago today, I fell and badly sprained my ankle. I'm still barely hobbling around and am starting to realize that it is going to greatly impact our Disney trip.

I'm looking for tips/advice on touring Disney with a scooter or wheelchair. I'm leaning towards the scooter because I don't want hubby or kids having to push me around.

All comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I've toured in a wheelchair. My husband has toured in a wheelchair. My father has toured in a wheelchair. All manuals and we didn't have a problem with the pushing aspect even with me being just 5'1" tall and weighing 100 pounds on a good day pushing my husband who, well, weighs more than me. None of the three of us felt that we could handle a scooter and the driving part to it.

We rented offsite (my father had his own wheelchair at the time) and had the chair delivered and picked up from our resort with no problems. Once was an offsite resort, once was on Disney property.

The big advice I can give you, not matter which vehicle you decide is that your family needs to be aware of the other guests in the park. Not that anything bad is going to happen but simply because of your now reduced height level when moving around in the park. You will see more human rear ends than normal and most guests won't realize they could be obstructing your view. We didn't ask anyone to move so the wheelchair person could see better but we had to realize that different perspective. When I pushed my husband, I tried to make sure he was in front of me for viewing and I tried to visualize his view and if railings or any other thing was in his way.

Another thing to remember - you will be lower than your family. When you talk to them and they talk to you, make sure you and them can be heard. For example, when my husband was pushing me and he would talk, I couldn't hear him because he was behind me and above my ears. I'm sure you can work that out easily.

One more thing but this probably won't affect you since you will have more people. It was a comedy after we got our food at Flame Tree BBQ. I was in the chair and my husband was juggling the tray and two beers all by himself. He put the tray on my lap and boy that was hot on my legs! then he attempted to put the two beers on the tray but that wasn't going to work. Thankfully, a Cast Member saw the entertainment we were providing and offered to take the beverages to a table for us. So, the advice here is to make sure your family thinks about things like that if you do counter service food.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

no personal experience but what about those knee scooters? Where you put your knee on them and scoot around - better than a wheelchair as you are at least not sitting (view is not obstructed) and you are able to move around yourself.

 

[jade1]

Here is a video of one in action-I would do one for sure over a wheel chair.

Skateboarder review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU7hBew1VYo

Or some others:

Collapsable will help when you get to some attractions.

Or maybe:

 

[acciodisney]

Last October, I was in the parks with my mother who rented a wheelchair in the parks for three days of our trip. At first, I was fine pushing her around, but there are actually more hills than you would think, particularly at Epcot. By the third day my palms were very sore from pushing up and down hills, so she ended up calling an offsite scooter rental. Let's just say the rest of the trip was much more enjoyable for both of us. She was worried about getting looks or comments loading into the buses on a scooter, but that never happened.

So if you think you have enough people to take take turns pushing you could try a wheelchair rental, but I would recommend a scooter. If you do go with the wheelchair and decide you would do better with a scooter, the companies are amazingly fast at getting one to you even on short notice.

 

[shrinkydinky]

i'm so sorry! That must be very frustrating. i have not used a scooter before but will need to for our trip in October due to mobility issues. You may want to look under the disAbilities forum for specific questions and concerns. But from what i've read, there should be no problem getting around, riding the buses or boats with a scooter. The ones you rent at the parks are first come first serve and i think too expensive. There are local companies that rent them and will deliver and pick up from your resort. i plan on renting from applescooter.com. They seem to have good prices, which include insurance, and i have read positive things about them on this board.

 

[Nohal]

I had mobility issues 2 years ago and started out with a wheelchair. I realized that it was taking its toll on DH and DS and then rented a scooter. It is much cheaper to rent from and offsite company who will deliver it to your resort. I didn't want to do that because i didn't want to deal with the scooter on the buses. I think it was $50 a day to rent from the parks and there were plenty of scooters available. You can park hop and get another scooter in the next park as long as you save your receipt. If you rent from the park ask when turning it in for complimentary wheelchair so you don't have to walk to the bus or monorail and just leave the wheelchair at the stops. There are places to put it. I wish I knew this from the beginning as it was a struggle to walk to the bus stop for me. As someone else mentioned you will get a lot more info the the disability forums. Go and enjoy your trip.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I have knee issues and have to use either wheelchair or ECV. I would go with ECV as you are in control of your self but remember there are a few rides that you have to use one of their wheelchairs for. if go one, you park your ECV and take one of the chairs when leaving the ride you take chair back and pick up your ECV. most rides you stay on ECV until you load into ride and they move your ECV to where you get off. as others have said look at an offsite rental, they are cheaper plus you have to use at the resort as it can be a hike from bus stop. I would also let resort know about what has happened and see if you can get first floor if no elevator to upper floors

 

[WendyBelle]

Thanks so much for the advice. I went to the ortho this morning and am now in a cast to just below my knee. We have decided to rent a scooter to make life easier for everyone. I'm a little discouraged and worried that our trip will not be quite as magical, but not so much so that I'm willing to cancel. If you're there next week and see me wheeling around in my scooter and bright pink cast, say "Hi".

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I would recommend a scooter. You can rent from off site (check DISabilities board for specific vendors.)

A wheelchair will be quite the workout for you and your husband.

I see you are doing that and you have a cast. I just got out of mine and am in a walking boot for another month after a broken ankle.

Don't forget to bring your crutches. There will be times, as when you need to maneuver in a bathroom, where the crutches will be useful.