I have some handicap questions speciafically concerning transportation

[tinkpower]

Two members of our group are going to be needing electric scooters. We are trying to decide if we should rent them from a local company or onsite. I cant remember what the handicap parking setup is for DL or DCA. My mom cant walk far so I'm concerned if we drive from our rented house and plan to rent them at the park that she will be exhausted just getting from the car to the gates? Can you shed some light on this for me. Also, our house is a "15 minute" walk from the park. Can anyone offer an opinion on riding the scooter from the house to the park if we rent locally. Any information are opinions are welcome. Thanks

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Rent from a local company (Deckerts is highly recommended). You can't take the Disney scooters off property, which sounds like it would be a big problem for your mom. A "15 minute" walk isn't necessarily short. Was that time frame calculated for a fast or a slow walker?

 

[tinkpower]

We don't need the scooter off property. I'm trying to decide if we drive to DL and park in the handicap area what is the walking distance from the car to the tram and then rental area? I'm worried about her being able to walk that distance. The alternative would be to rent off site but I'm not sure if the house we have rented is truly in walking/riding distance. It says "15 minute" walk. It looks like its about .75 miles

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

We don't need the scooter off property. I'm trying to decide if we drive to DL and park in the handicap area what is the walking distance from the car to the tram and then rental area? I'm worried about her being able to walk that distance. The alternative would be to rent off site but I'm not sure if the house we have rented is truly in walking/riding distance. It says "15 minute" walk. It looks like its about .75 miles

If I remember correctly when it comes to parking at least in M&F i know they direct a lot of people who have the placard to either Chip and Dale or Pinocchio, both of those are on the first floor (Chip & Dale is in the parking structure, Pinocchio is outside) I don't think its that long of a walk if you get there early enough and get a prime spot. Walking from the tram to where you pick up an ECV/Wheelchair could be long, because it can be stop and go depending on how backed up the line is to get through bagcheck, and the rentals are towards the turnstiles.
I mean a 15 minute walk isn't too bad, I don't know if it would take longer with an ECV though.

 

[dotfurio]

My friend with a broken foot parked at the Toy Story lot and wasn't thrilled with the distance from parking spot to bus, then from bus to where you rent the scooters. There were a lot of handicapped spots, and so some were quite a ways from the bus (compared to what you'd expect for handicapped from say a store). It was doable, but she had to take it slow.

I agree you'd have better luck if you arrived early.

 

[lalasmama]

First, let me let you in on a little secret re: lodging near Disneyland. Everything is "15 minutes or less!" Places advertised as "right across the street!" can still be a 20 minute walk, because they are across the street at the far corner of the park, as far away from a pedestrian entrance as possible. It takes most people about 10-15 minutes to get to the pedestrian entrance from Katella and Harbor (technically, still "across the street!"). And the "blocks" in Anaheim aren't regular city blocks... they are much, much longer (ie, multiple hotel properties can make up one side of a "block").

Going off my state's rules (assuming that other states are similar), to receive a disabled handicap placard for parking, you can't easily walk more than 200 feet. I'm willing to bet that there's going to be a heck of a lot more walking from the car to the pick-up point for the tram, and then from the tram drop-off, through security, and over to the ECV rental area. I mean, yes, there are benches the whole way, but I'd assume that would still be pretty darn taxing for a person with mobility issues.

For the reasons above, I'd rent locally (Deckerts Medical Supply and Apple Scooters both get high ratings here on the boards), and walk to/from the parks, with those who need it riding their scooters. Especially at the end of the day in the parks, it's a long walk back to the tram, then to the car from the tram.

 

[Morningsun70]

I can't speak to the parking situation, but this is how I did transportation In 2011. I rented an ECV off site for the week. I stayed at the Worldmark Aneheim at W Katella & S Zeyn, which is across Katella from the toy story parking lot. After one trip on the ART bus I decided to just ride my scooter (alone) to the parks. I did not love loading and unloading on the bus. There was nothing inherently wrong, the drivers were nice and it's relatively easy, but I am impatient and on a personal level I felt like I was slowing everything down. I LOVED the trips to and from the park on my scooter. It was uncrowded and kinda pretty. I never felt unsafe. I always arrived within 5 minutes of the rest of my party. Occasionally before them. I thought it was a nice peaceful trip. I never actually timed my trip but I believe it took about 10 minutes. My scooter was much faster than the ones in the park and the trip to & from the park was the only time I could go full speed ; )

We are returning in February and staying at Dolphins Cove near Harbor and Orangewood and I plan to do the same thing. This time my son and a friend that both love to run will be with us so they may jog/run to the park with me in the morning.

I highly recommend renting an ECV off site. It's less expensive. Having it always available is a real bonus. And it's likely a better quality ECV. Also, the "short" walks in and around Disney are deceptively long.

 

[VandVsmama]

We went to DL in June and October of this year. For both trips, we had looked into having my MIL join us and she has mobility problems. For our June trip, we parked at the Toy Story lot. My thoughts in no particular order re: Toy Story:

• distance from handicapped parking spaces to where the parking lot bus picks you up can be pretty far for someone who can't walk very well.
• Distance from the bus drop-off location at Disneyland to the wheelchair/scooter rental area inside the Esplanade is LONG! Plus, you need to be physically fit enough to stand in the security line first. Sometimes if those lines are especially long on a busy day, you could be standing for 15 minutes (but this is rare, those lines move pretty quickly).
• Disneyland will NOT, under ANY circumstances, allow you to take one of their scooters or wheelchairs out of the Esplanade area. This means that you do not have the option of having your family member ride the scooter to the Toy Story bus pick up location, then have another family member take the scooter back to the Esplanade to turn it back in.

Realistically, I think that a person needs to be able to walk about a 1/4 mile easily. If your mom can't do that without frequent stops & rests, then you need to rent a scooter or a wheelchair from a local company.

 

[BryANDJessMom]

Just do not rent from Apple. They were nice but the batteries and way old and I spent most of my time last September visit waiting for new scooters or trying to find a place to recharge. ( fully charged battery that was charged overnight from Apple would only last about four hours )

 

[tlovesdis]

Just do not rent from Apple. They were nice but the batteries and way old and I spent most of my time last September visit waiting for new scooters or trying to find a place to recharge. ( fully charged battery that was charged overnight from Apple would only last about four hours )

Agreed!!! Apple is horrible! Use Deckert's! Never had trouble with them in all the years I have used them. Twice I thought paying less would be a good idea and boy was I wrong (and it wasn't even that much less)!!

 

[AZMermaid]

I'd call it roughly "a block" from the tram drop offs to security and sometimes security is quick, sometimes 20 minutes or more. I recently read a report of 60 minutes, but id say that's the exception more than the rule. If you parked in Mickey and Friends, it's another "block" to where the rentals are. On the Toy Story lot side it'd be shorter. But even then, sometimes they redirect traffic and dont allow for parking at Toy Story. For me, that feels like a lot of variables that could go wrong. I'd rent off site. I think the pp reccomendation of being able to walk at least 1/4 mile is a good one.

 

[tinkpower]

Thank you all so much. I think we will try to rent from Deckerts. Do any of you know if they will drop off or pick up at the park. We are renting a house but we can't check in until 4pm and our flight comes in at 1230. I'm hoping it's possible to not waste all of that time.

 

[lalasmama]

Thank you all so much. I think we will try to rent from Deckerts. Do any of you know if they will drop off or pick up at the park. We are renting a house but we can't check in until 4pm and our flight comes in at 1230. I'm hoping it's possible to not waste all of that time.

I believe they drop off/pick up at a residential-type location (ie, hotel, rental, etc.). I don't think they would drop it off at the park.