In a tizzy need a quick answer.

[vwlfan]

Don’t know why I didn’t think to ask here earlier.
Wife badly sprained ankle. Have to cut trip off. Leaving this evening.

no one knows of the car rental return provides a wheelchair to get fromcar return to southwest terminal.

no one seems to know how southwest handles people on need of wheelchair help.

disney has called to no avail. I have called to no avail. I Facebooked and tweeted both the car rental agency and Southwest.NO answers from either. Prompt advice is welcome.

 

[FCDub]

Sorry this happened.

The MCO website says:

If you require a wheelchair, please contact your airline in advance and they should be able to provide a wheelchair for your use within the airport. If you require a wheelchair for the duration of your visit, please email Visit Orlando or visit its web site. They should be able to provide you with a list of companies offering such a service.

You'll likely just need to do this at the airport. Drop your wife off at the terminal, then go return your car. Then deal with the wheelchair situation inside.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Searching for answer online… looks like SkyCap assistance at curbside? Other answers suggest calling 48-72 hours in advance with the Airline you are flying. …
I probably would have returned rental early and used Magic Express to be able to stay together as you search for wheelchair assistance or skycap.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We got a wheelchair at curbside dropoff , where you drop your checked luggage. They will let you use it all the way to the gate, then they have a smaller chair right to s seat if necessary.
I'm sorry I dont know about the car rental places.
I'm sorry your trip was cut short. Best wishes

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Don’t know why I didn’t think to ask here earlier.
Wife badly sprained ankle. Have to cut trip off. Leaving this evening.

no one knows of the car rental return provides a wheelchair to get fromcar return to southwest terminal.

no one seems to know how southwest handles people on need of wheelchair help.

disney has called to no avail. I have called to no avail. I Facebooked and tweeted both the car rental agency and Southwest.NO answers from either. Prompt advice is welcome.

Just last week: returned car to Alamo on A side. A number of skycaps were available inside the garage to assist with our luggage and bring a wheelchair for DW. Skycap wheeled cart with luggage and I pushed wheelchair with DW aboard to Southwest baggage check. Once we had checked the bags and tipped the skycap, a SW employee helped DW transfer from the skycap-supplied wheelchair to a SW wheelchair and called for assistance to take us through security to the gate. All this add no more than 15 minutes to the time needed to get to our gate compared to our usual experience without needing a wheelchair. We normally do security with TSA-Pre, but MCO has a dedicated wheelchair security line that we used instead.

Regarding SW, we had requested wheelchair assistance using DW’s login to the flight reservation on the SW web site, so it was noted on her boarding pass. SW also indicated that the request could be made at the time we arrived at the airport. By doing the advanced request, a wheelchair was waiting at the arrival gate, and DW was rolled to baggage claim so I could claim our luggage. She used the walker we had gate checked to get from baggage claim to our homebound transportation, but the person who took us to baggage claim would have rolled her outside to where we met our homebound transportation if we needed that service.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Also, you may want to check this from the SW web site.

https://www.southwest.com/html/cust...el-needs/customers-with-disabilities-pol.html

 

[Simba's Mom]

What they did with me was dropped me off at curb-side check in. Then you could return car yourself. Curbside check-in had a wheelchair, and they wheeled me to Southwest, where I had to switch wheelchairs ( curbside check-in people needed theirs back). Southwest took care of me from there, took me to gate. I was totally alone, though. I’m sure that your wife could tell Southwest she wants to wait for you, then either you or Southwest (your choice) could push her to the gate. I’ve always had great disability service from Southwest.

 

[CarolynFH]

Don’t know why I didn’t think to ask here earlier.
Wife badly sprained ankle. Have to cut trip off. Leaving this evening.

no one knows of the car rental return provides a wheelchair to get fromcar return to southwest terminal.

no one seems to know how southwest handles people on need of wheelchair help.

disney has called to no avail. I have called to no avail. I Facebooked and tweeted both the car rental agency and Southwest.NO answers from either. Prompt advice is welcome.

Just wanted to say I’m sorry y’all had to go home early. Hope your wife recovers well.

 

[Evita_W]

First off, while it may be too late for your trip and may not have worked for you, just a heads up for anyone else in such a situation that Gold Mobility is usually really good about providing last minute ECV rentals so you wouldn't have to cut the trip short. Not perfect, but might help someone.

As for at MCO, they are the absolute worst airport ever when it comes to wheelchair service. DH waited almost an hour on our last trip for someone to take him from the gate to ME.

DH purchased an ECV there, so he had that for the way back.

 

[vwlfan]

Just wanted to say I’m sorry y’all had to go home early. Hope your wife recovers well.

oh thank you for your kind words! My command of the English Language doesn’t capture the trip home.

12 hours plus. But we are home now. First of all Disney was beyond supportive. Can’t say enough. Their advice re the car rental and navigating MCO was not in their wheelhouse but they tried mightily to help. Dollar car did not know what to do and did not respondto our messages. Their staff however unofficially stepped up and got us to the terminal. A miraculous MCO employee emerged from the blue and practically carried us to the gate.

same is true for southwest As far as responsiveness.

we got to SW early to be sure we could negotiate check in and security only to find out without notifcation, that our flight had been delayed two hours. That delay cascaded to three more hours so we were waiting boarding for 7. Through all my wife soldiered through her discomfort and all’s well that ends well.

my respect and empathy for those with more disabling and permanent conditions is geometrically multiplied.

i will point out that the loss of the Bags service from BC was starkly obvious. had we had that, things would have been much easier all around.

and yes we will be back. This was our splurge 50th wedding anniversary trip and we mean to celebrate it.

Thanks to all for your advice to someone who clearly not as smart or as seasoned a traveler as you all!