I’m torn on what to do.

[Groot]

I have a trip in 59 days, and up until recently, the plan was to take my own personal powerchair down to Disney with us. Wouldn’t have to worry about renting a scooter, getting through the airport, etc. Until my mom reminded me that we can always rent a scooter down there and as an added incentive to that second idea, she’d start the process of letting me upgrade my current powerchair to a newer model when we get home.

So basically, the pros and cons of each situation is like this:

Powerchair:

Pros: 1. Don’t have to remember to do a rental when we get down there. 2. I would have it for the airport. 3. I wouldn’t have to climb the bus stairs, instead just “Drive on” the the bus myself. 4. No “Nose” to worry about when making tight turns. 5. It’s my own personal device that I use everyday, so there won’t be no “getting used to it” period.

Cons: 1. Worrying about how it’s going to be loaded onto the plane. (Especially since we have to fly Spirit, who has a death grip on the closest airport to me, so there’s no other airline to fly.) 2. Waiting an extra 10 minutes for the baggage handlers to unload my chair and pray that they don’t damage it. 3. An extra 5 minutes to set up my chair (put the seat cushion on, putting the batteries back inside, plugging the joystick in, etc.). 4. Having to allow for extra room in the car. 5. Remembering to fill out the wheelchair information card and taking the removable parts off my chair when it gets loaded onto the plane. (Spirit has the planes that DON’T HAVE a closet in the cabin, so it’ll have to be stowed underneath.)

Scooter:

Pros: 1. Not having to worry about Spirit damaging my chair and ruining my vacation. 2. Luggage room in the car won’t be at a premium. 3. Wouldn’t need to wait an extra 10 minutes for the crew to get it off of the plane. 4. No extra forms to fill out. 5. No need to dismantle anything.

Cons: 1. Bigger turning radius and having to take that “Nose” into account. 2. Remembering how to parallel park on the park buses. 3. Having to climb the airport bus steps instead of simply “Driving” onto the bus. 4. Having to deal with the airport’s manual chairs and having to find one that I can easily push myself and having to remember to buy a new set of pushing gloves. (Even though my mom said that she wants one of the airport people to do that for me, I want to prove to her that I CAN push myself in a manual if that’s what I end up with after we move.) 5. Not having my own personal powerchair for the airport.

I don’t know what to do.

 

[Evita_W]

For the airport bus, you can request to use the lift, even without a chair.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I would take my own, as the park ones are slow and bulky. However I understand the concern loading it on plane. My adult son uses a Convaid chair (he can walk most of the time at home, but with Downs and Autism its impossible at parks). His first chair was a $3000 model (I got new but 2nd hand for $1200, never had been used). Anyway, we gate check it. At end of jetway I strap it up as best that it does (still bulky). When we landed I look out the window and they opened up my son's chair and piled up loads of other chairs on top of it, to push them around. Like, what? They were using it like it was their own piece of equipment. It wasn't damaged. But jeez.

Good luck and have fun, our trip is 50 days away.

 

[Selket]

I really don't know since I don't have a personal chair but the idea of turning it over to the baggage handlers makes me very ... well...the word that comes to mind is anxious. Seems like if they damage it then trying to get them to pay seems like a real pain in the backside but I don't know? On the other side I don't know how likely it is they would damage it? Maybe that's fairly rare? Spirit Airlines has had a lot of trouble lately cancelling almost half their flights - fyi. I realize you said you don't have an alternative airline to fly but just so you can keep an eye on that.

 

[SueM in MN]

We have not ever taken my daughter’s power wheelchair for 2 main reasons.
The first is potential damage - her chair has a lot of moving pieces and cost more than my car. Because of the complexity of her chair, it’s got more than the usual chance of damage.
The second only affects her - she’s a good driver, but would not have stamina to drive it 5-10 miles per day.

I would be especially concerned traveling with Spirit. Airlines in general don’t have a good record of transporting power wheelchairs without damaging them, and Spirit has a string of flight cancellations and other problems.

I know you are looking at renting an ECV, but have you looked into renting a power wheelchair? There are companies that rent power wheelchairs. The are a bit more expensive per day than an ECV, but would be more maneuverable than an ECV - more like what you are used to. We don’t have the opportunity to rent one for our daughter - she’s too small to fit most and has more specialized needs than a generic power wheelchair provides. If we could, I would rent one.

Guests are not able to use the Magical Express lifts standing, but they do have wheelchairs you could ride up and down the lift on request.

 

[redberyl]

Every time we have flown with my daughters adaptive stroller it has been damaged. All minor stuff that is easily repaired, but i wouldnt risk flying with something as expensive and important as a powerchair

 

[ZellyB]

My situation is not exactly like yours as I have a scooter at home and not a power chair, but I've also gone through some of your same pros and cons. My scooter at home is far superior to any of the rental ones and we took it last time since we drove. It was awesome to have. But we are flying this time and I'm really leaning toward renting primarily due to my concerns about damage. If it does get damaged, the time it would take at the airport alone just reporting the damage and going through that hassle and it just setting the trip off on a very negative tone, I think I'm better off to rent one. Again, it's not as complicated a choice as yours, but that damage thing really worries me and I know your chair must be considerably more expensive than my scooter.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

I always take my own because I have particular needs that scooters/most rental models don't cover. If your mom is already talking about upgrading to a new chair when you get home, I assume that means a new model is in the budget such that if the worst were to happen on the trip down, you could still rent a scooter when you get there and then get or rent a chair when you get home if needed. I would really hate having to get used to driving a different chair with a bigger footprint in the most crowded place on earth (TM). I also haven't had problems with my chair being damaged on planes (knock wood), though friends of mine have.

 

[Groot]

I would take my own, as the park ones are slow and bulky.

We would rent from an offsite company. Us going during the opening week of the 50th, we know that there won’t be any park rentals left.

However I understand the concern loading it on plane. My adult son uses a Convaid chair (he can walk most of the time at home, but with Downs and Autism its impossible at parks). His first chair was a $3000 model (I got new but 2nd hand for $1200, never had been used). Anyway, we gate check it. At end of jetway I strap it up as best that it does (still bulky). When we landed I look out the window and they opened up my son's chair and piled up loads of other chairs on top of it, to push them around. Like, what? They were using it like it was their own piece of equipment. It wasn't damaged. But jeez.

Yeah, I have been thinking of asking to see them load my chair on the plane to make sure that there’s no funny business going on.

I really don't know since I don't have a personal chair but the idea of turning it over to the baggage handlers makes me very ... well...the word that comes to mind is anxious. Seems like if they damage it then trying to get them to pay seems like a real pain in the backside but I don't know? On the other side I don't know how likely it is they would damage it? Maybe that's fairly rare? Spirit Airlines has had a lot of trouble lately cancelling almost half their flights - fyi. I realize you said you don't have an alternative airline to fly but just so you can keep an eye on that.

That’s Spirit for ya. We were originally scheduled to fly down on the 5th of October, but then they changed our arrival time from 1pm, to 4pm! By the time we got to the hotel and stuff, the parks would’ve been closed and we would have wasted a whole day just in travel! So now we get there a day ahead than originally planned.

We have not ever taken my daughter’s power wheelchair for 2 main reasons.
The first is potential damage - her chair has a lot of moving pieces and cost more than my car. Because of the complexity of her chair, it’s got more than the usual chance of damage.
The second only affects her - she’s a good driver, but would not have stamina to drive it 5-10 miles per day.

She drives a Permobil, right? I agree on the price. I even “mock built” one for myself and for the one I wanted (with none of the fancy seat moving features), I couldn’t do it for LESS THAN $23,000! That’s why when I move to Florida and need a more substantial chair for all dayers, I’m strictly looking at Quantum, which I’ve given the tagline “Same features as a Permie, but WITHOUT the Permie Pricetag!”

I would be especially concerned traveling with Spirit. Airlines in general don’t have a good record of transporting power wheelchairs without damaging them, and Spirit has a string of flight cancellations and other problems.

Yeah, and finding out what airlines have a better track record of that is extremely hard to find on the internet.

I know you are looking at renting an ECV, but have you looked into renting a power wheelchair? There are companies that rent power wheelchairs. The are a bit more expensive per day than an ECV, but would be more maneuverable than an ECV - more like what you are used to. We don’t have the opportunity to rent one for our daughter - she’s too small to fit most and has more specialized needs than a generic power wheelchair provides. If we could, I would rent one.

Yeah, but the problem with those are that they’re all Front-Wheel Drive and I tried out a Front-Wheel ONCE and I wasn’t comfortable driving it. I prefer Rear (which my current chair is) or Mid (What the Quantum would be.)

 

[KPeveler]

K&M rentals, which I have never rented from, but have heard of here on the boards, has a real wheel drive power wheelchair.
https://www.km-rentals.com/power-chair-rentals-orlando
Also, there is a mid wheel drive powerchair from Scootaround.
https://scootaround.com/en/disney-world
Hope this helps a little.

 

[RoseGold]

I’ve checked a Whill chair on six MCO flights, four of them spirit, with no issues. Whill is tough, but still a fancy chair. I guess my answer would depend on how fragile you think your scooter is. Can it handle being thrown around a little?

 

[Chickenlady]

I’ve checked a Whill chair on six MCO flights, four of them spirit, with no issues. Whill is tough, but still a fancy chair. I guess my answer would depend on how fragile you think your scooter is. Can it handle being thrown around a little?

I've checked my WHILL Ci on at least 8 flights and it's been really damaged once (took about 5months to get the replacement part) and generally banged up on several. I take everything off that I can..battery, controllers, seat cushions, basket and tape down the side arm covers and fold the seat down and tape it. I've had mine for about 1.5 years or slightly more and its looks like crap. The foot rest (hard plastic/rubber) looks like someone has taken bites out of it and the cover on one front wheel is flapping, DH has run out of ways to tape it down. I do have replacement arm covers but don't dare use them since they too will be trashed soon. I love my WHILL Ci but i would not call it tough. I am a very careful driver and don't use it very much at all. In fact, since the pandemic I rarely go out.

 

[RoseGold]

I've checked my WHILL Ci on at least 8 flights and it's been really damaged once (took about 5months to get the replacement part) and generally banged up on several. I take everything off that I can..battery, controllers, seat cushions, basket and tape down the side arm covers and fold the seat down and tape it. I've had mine for about 1.5 years or slightly more and its looks like crap. The foot rest (hard plastic/rubber) looks like someone has taken bites out of it and the cover on one front wheel is flapping, DH has run out of ways to tape it down. I do have replacement arm covers but don't dare use them since they too will be trashed soon. I love my WHILL Ci but i would not call it tough. I am a very careful driver and don't use it very much at all. In fact, since the pandemic I rarely go out.

My relative has thousands of miles on two Whill Cis, we kind of swap parts from them, over the last four years of hard use. My relative is wheelchair bound and it is permanently in use.

I agree it doesn't look good, but it has stayed functional. I guess I wouldn't even notice cosmetic damage, haha! Sorry about it getting damaged on a plane. Hasn't happened to us, but I can see how the risk is there! Compared to the other wheelchair options, we are thrilled with the Whill, and I do consider it tougher than what we had before, and their service has been incredible.

 

[Groot]

K&M rentals, which I have never rented from, but have heard of here on the boards, has a real wheel drive power wheelchair.
https://www.km-rentals.com/power-chair-rentals-orlando
Also, there is a mid wheel drive powerchair from Scootaround.
https://scootaround.com/en/disney-world
Hope this helps a little.

If only Scootaround told you the make/model of the chairs they rent…

 

[KPeveler]

If only Scootaround told you the make/model of the chairs they rent…

I am sure you can call them and they can tell you. Also, you can rent a Whill from them. It is front wheel drive, but it is supposed to be really easy to drive.

 

[mamabunny]

I am sure you can call them and they can tell you. Also, you can rent a Whill from them. It is front wheel drive, but it is supposed to be really easy to drive.

A lot of the Orlando vendors who rent power chairs will only rent to people who use one at home, because the learning curve can be steeper than people expect.

 

[SueM in MN]

You can call any of the companies to find out what type/brand power wheelchairs they rent. Based on what they have posted on their website, this Is a list of the companies I found that rent power wheelchairs.
Scootaround has the Whill and also pictures what looks like it could be a Jazzy midwheel power wheelchair.
Orlando Medical Rentals has foldable rear wheel drive power wheelchairs.
Randy’s Mobility doesn’t say the brand of their power wheelchairs, but the picture looks like a mid wheel Jazzy brand.
Gold has a Jazzy front wheel drive pictured.
Yellow Scooter has pictured what appears to be a mid wheel.

 

[Groot]

Do any of them have an hd version?

 

[SueM in MN]

Do any of them have an hd version?

Scootaround has different models for up to 250 lb and 300 lb
Randy’s are listed under ECVs and says up to 400 pounds
Gold says theirs is Pride Jazzy Elite for up to 300 lbs
Yellow Scooter lists theirs as a ‘Select 6’ for up to 350 lbs

 

[Sakiki]

We would rent from an offsite company. Us going during the opening week of the 50th, we know that there won’t be any park rentals left.



Yeah, I have been thinking of asking to see them load my chair on the plane to make sure that there’s no funny business going on.



That’s Spirit for ya. We were originally scheduled to fly down on the 5th of October, but then they changed our arrival time from 1pm, to 4pm! By the time we got to the hotel and stuff, the parks would’ve been closed and we would have wasted a whole day just in travel! So now we get there a day ahead than originally planned.



She drives a Permobil, right? I agree on the price. I even “mock built” one for myself and for the one I wanted (with none of the fancy seat moving features), I couldn’t do it for LESS THAN $23,000! That’s why when I move to Florida and need a more substantial chair for all dayers, I’m strictly looking at Quantum, which I’ve given the tagline “Same features as a Permie, but WITHOUT the Permie Pricetag!”



Yeah, and finding out what airlines have a better track record of that is extremely hard to find on the internet.



Yeah, but the problem with those are that they’re all Front-Wheel Drive and I tried out a Front-Wheel ONCE and I wasn’t comfortable driving it. I prefer Rear (which my current chair is) or Mid (What the Quantum would be.)

K&M rentals, which I have never rented from, but have heard of here on the boards, has a real wheel drive power wheelchair.
https://www.km-rentals.com/power-ch...true"]https://scootaround.com/en/disney-world
Hope this helps a little.

We’ve used K&M since 2016, when DW first needed to rent an ECV, and they’ve always been good. And one of the benefits for us is that their office is on the 192, close to the Arabian Nights Boulevard junction, and you can save a few $$$ by picking up and dropping off at their place rather than have them deliver. We like being able to pick up our car at MCO, drop down to K&M and then go on to (usually) our villa. We have the ECV from the get-go and don’t have to worry about hanging around waiting for a drop-off that might be delayed for whatever reason…

We initially picked them off an internet search for no better reasons than the founder is a UK expat (who has now taken US citizenship!) and their prices were competitive and per day, which is handy when you’re looking at 16 days or some other odd period rather than multiples of 7 days…

This of course is not to decry in any way the other companies out there, who I have no doubt also do an excellent job; it’s simply that K&M are the only ones we’ve ever used…