I'm back!!!

[cupcake]

Hello, all! Here are some highlights from our recent trip. We were at the Swan for a week for a conference with my dh, and then went on the 7 day Western Disney cruise on the Magic.

-- Used Walker and rented a scooter for the first time. Yes, I did drive into someone (thought I was backing up) on the first day, but overall, after a few hours, I was scooting around like a pro and getting complimented by cast members for my ability to back up at rides, etc. The boats are a piece of cake, and it was also really easy to zip over to Epcot. Monorails were also no problem, I didn't have any trouble backing up off the ramp. Had a bad first experience on a bus, the driver wasn't helpful and there were many people who did not get out of the way. I was too freaked to say anything, but afterwards in other situations it helped me be more aggressive about asking people to move. Ran into a mega-nice woman on a boat to MGM who gave me some great tips -- eg you can call the concierge at the hotel (or ask at guest services at a park) and with 45 minutes notice, they will send over the wider very easy to maneuver in handicapped bus to the locale of your choice (nice even if you don't need the larger bus to avoid buses with non-working lifts, etc). But after the bad first trip, I ventured out again in a bus and bc I was more comfortable in the scooter, I backed in great. The trick is to back into the ramp and then cut the wheel as sharply as it will go and you can parallel park w/o a problem. No guts, no glory! I have never felt so independent, I zipped all around.
--AK was not fun in the mornings for me. I should have avoided the animal viewing areas and stuck to shows in the mornings till it cleared out. There are many doors (which people waltzed through, cutting in front of my scooter and then letting it shut on me) and my theory is that people are looking at animals, etc and are even more oblivious than usual to wheelchairs/sccoters. It was pretty frustrating.
-- Weird experience with a wheelchair at the MK (we had a day post-cruise so I did not have the sccoter). For rides with access thru fast pass, they have always just let us go ahead w/o a fast pass except for rides with big lines like Splash Mountain. This time, they said I needed a fastpass or the cast member gave us a return ticket with a time 1 to 2 hours out on it. It was really annoying bc the rides had short waits in the standby line (10-25 minutes) and yet we were stuck bc it isn't like we could go thru the regular line. It's impossible to plan one's day when you have no idea whether you can ride or not. Eg, 10 minute regular line at the Haunted Mansion, no fastpass line at all, we got a ticket to return 90 minutes later. Since it was a half day for us at the park we did not go to guest services. We stopped by on our way out to enquire but there was a huge line and we had to leave anyway. I thought we would be ineligible for a GAC since I can use the regular wheelchair access. It just seems to make it harder for guest in wheelchairs in that it penalizes you bc you cannot use the regular line when it is short to non-existent. It was access as usual at the other parks, and in fact most of the time when I rolled up to even get a fastpass the cast member there gave me one for immediate access. Kinda frustrating, and since it's hard to do the MK anyway bc of the crowds & layout it was not ideal to be constantly circling around. Also, when I had the scooter and went by myself to the MK when my dh was working, they didn't do this. The inconsistency was bad, if they are going to change the rules they should be consistent so you can plan your day.
-- The Swan stashed the scooter in a room by the concierge desk, and let us keep it there overnight. Our room was right by the elevator (but quiet) so it was s short walk upstairs and we did not have to keep it in the room.
-- The Swan, unlike the "real" Disney resorts, does not have wheelchairs to borrow. We showed up Saturday post-cruise for our last night and were stuck renting at the parks. They rent them for guests and with no notice it was way pricey. LOVE the new temporary wheelchair policy to get to and from the car!!! What a blessing, so it was fine w/o the wheelchair from the resort anyway.
--The Fallene sunblock (from drugstore.com for lots of $$$) was a total winner. It's icky to apply (it's got zinc oxide and various physical blockers in it, so it is gloppy) but boy, it works. This is the first trip someplace sunny since I started the meds that make me photosensitive that I haven't gotten sun poisoning and/or the dreaded itchy rash. If anyone decides to try it, unless you are very fair, I would get the tinted kind (has a tube of colorant to darken it as much as you want). The "clear" is really a very pale skintone. It was perfect for me, but I have extremely pale skin (typical red hair coloring).

This is getting long, so I will take a break for now! Overall, we had an absolutely super trip in every way. A huge thank you to everyone for all the information and encouragement re the scooter. It was totally worth the $$$.

Cupcake

 

[Nanajo1]

Glad to hear you had such a good time. The biggest constant at WDW is the inconsistency.
Thanks for reporting back.

 

[Mazzy]

Welcome Back!

I have been waiting to hear all about your first trip with a scooter and it's good to hear that despite some initial problems with the busses, you managed to cope fantastically!

I am staying at the Dolphin in December, so I was interested to hear that you left your scooter overnight in a room near concierge, I may ask about that at the Dolphin to save space in our room.

Sorry to hear about the inconsistency with the MK rides, that must have been SO frustrating!

So a bit WELL DONE for having the guts to use a scooter - you have given me hope for my trip in December!


BTW, did you rent from Walker, if so, what did you think of the service/scooter?

 

[mamajoan]

Cupcake.. please do tell about your experience with the 7 day cruise. Did you utilize a wheelchair on the ship? Were you able to do any of the island experiences? How was tendering?

Thanks so much for any info you can give re the cruise.

I am so glad you had a GREAT time at WDW..

another redhead here who douses herself with max spf..
Joan

 

[cupcake]

Boy, I am so verbose these days!

Mazzy, I did rent from Walter. I had no problems, here and it was in great shape when I arrived. In fact, I arrived Friday and wanted the scooter from Saturday to the following Friday, and thought it might get there Friday night but it was there when we got there midafternoon. Was very glad I had the smaller three wheel rental scooter as the people in the WDW scooters were definitely not as nimble. At least 4 people must have asked me about mine. The tip I got here to bring a towel was excellent, the seat is vinyl so it’s more comfy and it also helps identify your scooter. There were quite a few Walker ones! I also suggest going to an easier to manage park your first day to just make you more comfortable. I thought the easiest was Epcot in terms of crowds and layout. The scooter was waiting for me in the room by the concierge and they told me I was welcome to leave it there at night. If you are thinking of doing this, I would call & tell them you have a scooter and ask for a close in room so you aren’t hiking down a super-long hallway. I did not transport mine in the car, so no insight there. There are assembly/dissasembly instructions in the back pocket, which we found mid-week. I will say that when I had my initial problems, it was because I was flustered bc I was in a crowded inside area or crowded bus. I don’t know how much you can walk, but I can walk some, and as the trip went on, I began to park outside more and check out a shop or go into a restaurant on my own. If you take your key with you, it’s fine. The bad morning at AK was also good for me mentally in retrospect bc it gave me more of an “I don’t care” attitude that was helpful. If people are going to dart in front of me, so be it, it isn't my problem and worrying about it isn't going to help things, it will just aggravate me. The lesson? Keep moving, you will be fine! It works like a charm, even in super croded situations like exiting Fantasmic. If you don't people will flood around you.

Oh, it did drizzle one day and I put the baggie they provide over the control panel. I also echo the suggestion someone gave me, think about how you will get out whenever you park, whether outside or in an attraction. Often backing in or angling yourself towards the exit is a great idea.

Overall, the scooter was easy to drive and the transportation really was ok. My dh is in good shape (he’s 37) but he was glad not to be pushing me in the heat when we were together and it was just so independent to be able to do stuff by myself or scoot along by myself when we were together. If you have any other questions, do let me know! If I can do it, you can too!!

Joan, I did not use a wheelchair on the ship, as I can do some limited walking w/ rest breaks (I have extra bones in my feet). We did not tender bc we didn’t get to go to Grand Cayman (tropical depression). Are you in a wheelchair 100% of the time? The observations I have are that I noticed a lot of signs directing people to different bathrooms for an accessible bathroom, I am not sure that I actually ever saw one, I wonder how many there are. I agree with Sue that the elevators could be a real potential pain, as they are small and pretty consistently crowded. I saw some wcs waiting to get off the ship, they have you go first. The ramps are quite steep. Not sure how it would be when waiting to get back on, as there can be lines. They have a metal detector when returning to the ship and I assume they would do a manual scan. Some of the decks we cut across on a lot (eg the deck with the pools) were crowded in terms of access bc the chairs and people ended up blocking aisles, just something to think about when figuring out your elevator choice. Castaway Cay is also accessible, with the exception that I do not recall seeing an accessible tram to get to the adult area if you wanted to do that. They may have them, but I didn’t see them. The main area is a short walk (about 8 minutes from the boat) so the tram is likely more trouble than it’s worth. I heard that they have sand wheelchairs to borrow. They no longer have cabanas on the adult beach, bad for us vampires! But they reconfigured so there are many more umbrellas. For Key West, we did the trolley excursion to see the area w/ minimal walking. No warning that it was a hike to get to the trolley (a good 15 minutes plus standing to wait), and I did e-mail DCL ahead of time to ask. There were sidewalk cuts. Cozumel . . . saw a lot of steep plywood ramps over portions of steps & sidewalk cuts at the end of most streets. It got super crowded very quickly in the shopping areas and the sidewalks were very narrow, I don't think we could have managed with a wc due to the crowds and very narrow sidewalks (which also had poles & benches manking them narrower), but that's just my opinion. I hope this is helpful, please let me know if my dh and I can put on our thinking caps and let you know anything else that might be helpful! What kinds of activities were you thinking of doing? We did virtually all of the adult activities on board.

Oh, when you get onboard, I would go to Sessions (or wherever they have changes for dining) and see where your table is. You might prefer to be by the door so you don't have to thread thru the crowds.

Finally, they had two people signing for all of the shows who were in costume and were even incorporated into some of the shows – very nice!

Cupcake

 

[JudithM]

Cupcake, thanks for taking the time to share your detailed report. Glad to hear you liked renting a scooter from Walker. I rented from them earlier this month & had a positive experience.

 

[mamajoan]

Cupcake, Sounds like you had a fabulous vacation! Thanks for the extra info on the cruise.
We took the Magic 3 day cruise a few years ago. I use a wheelchair for all of my distance walking...hec that is now getting limited. I would estimate that I now use the w/c approx 80% of the time I am not in my home. I can transfer etc., we utilized a reg. room. but put the w/c in the hallway as we were at the very end of the hall and it was not in anyone's way out there.
My kids, now fullblown teenagers really would like to do another Disney cruise. We are considering a 7 day but would like to have lots more info on accessiblity of island stop overs before we make the $$$$ decision. I was very happy with the accessibility of the ship-virtually no problems while on board. Thanks for all your tips!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the long reports, cupcake and glad to hear that you had a good time.
The only consistent thing that we have found about WDW is that it is inconsistent. Sometimes a sign will tell you what to do; like at the Land ride at Epcot, it said wheelchair users should report to the fastpass return line. When we went there, the CM said we couldn't come in because we didn't have a fastpass. When we shoed him the sign, he said we could use the fastpass line, but then, (even though there was no one in the line) they made us wait about 15 minutes.

 

[Mazzy]

Thanks for all the useful tips and suggestions Cupcake, it's always good to get information first-hand!

 

[SueM in MN]

bumping for cupcake.