Inspired by a couple posts...bathroom question

[BluOrchid2]

Well, you've go a point... You could just hear your teeth gritting as you wrote! Sorry for getting a laugh at your expense. There are some issues that make me feel that way too. I just don't try to friendly them up!

and that's genuine! LOL too funny.....about hearing my teeth grit. Actually I suppose it is a pet peeve of mine, hearing people state their opinions as if they are facts.

 

[Harligirl]

So...companion bathroom is a family restroom....It makes sense. I do agree with others that I hope people don't take advantage of them. We don't live in a perfect world. Not every is considerate....

I promise to everyone "I will only use the family/companion restroom if I need to take my son in. I promise I will not abuse this privelage. I promise to be considerate of disabled guests and share nicely."

I am not being fresh- I mean it!!!

Thanks for all the different opinions...really makes you think!

 

[MommytoMJM]

There are 6 companion restroom in MK, MGM and AK, 7 in Epcot......

That is for EVERY handicapped person who needs help in all of the parks. As opposed to HOW MANY stalls available for able bodied people?

I'm sorry, but there are really so far fewer restrooms for the HC than for everyone else. I have to plan my day around those specific restrooms if I am having an awful day and some can use ONLY those restrooms every single time. Please think about that before you use them.

 

[Harligirl]

There are 6 companion restroom in MK, MGM and AK, 7 in Epcot......

That is for EVERY handicapped person who needs help in all of the parks. As opposed to HOW MANY stalls available for able bodied people?

I'm sorry, but there are really so far fewer restrooms for the HC than for everyone else. I have to plan my day around those specific restrooms if I am having an awful day and some can use ONLY those restrooms every single time. Please think about that before you use them.

I am so sorry to ask but where did you get your info they were only for disabled? I have been searching around and it is stated on more than one site that companion restrooms are family restrooms. They even say family restrooms are also located in Baby Care Centers. Family restrooms are fairly "new" to the restroom market, perhaps it was originally for disabled but they have expanded to being family restrooms now....

Please know I truly understand that it would be aggravating to see these restrooms being abused. I just don't understand how it would be different for a Dad to take in his 4 year old GIRL to go to the bathroom or a disabled person going in. They both need assistance....

 

[robinb]

I'm sorry, but there are really so far fewer restrooms for the HC than for everyone else. I have to plan my day around those specific restrooms if I am having an awful day and some can use ONLY those restrooms every single time. Please think about that before you use them.

I think that as long as the OP (and others in her same situation) use the Companion Restrooms in a conscientious manner, then I don't see anything wrong with her using them.

 

[MommytoMJM]

I am so sorry to ask but where did you get your info they were only for disabled? I have been searching around and it is stated on more than one site that companion restrooms are family restrooms. They even say family restrooms are also located in Baby Care Centers. Family restrooms are fairly "new" to the restroom market, perhaps it was originally for disabled but they have expanded to being family restrooms now....

This is a wuote from my post on page 4..... I also called Disney and was told that while they cannot STOP anyone from using a restroom they are put there for their disabled guests and they would hope that their guests would exercise restraint in using them since they are put there for the use of thir disabled guests (and my CM DID check with a Manager)

There are family bathrooms in babycare, that is true, but they are the only ones labeled as such, the rest are labeled Companion or Companion Assist Restrooms.

The C/CA Restrooms are only found in the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities, are not on any WDW maps and are not referred to on any official WDW site as family restrooms.

I am not trying to be harsh, please don't take it that way, you all just have so many more options than those that need help.

 

[DISUNC]

In public places, if no one is in the Womens restroom, I bring him with me. If it is busy, we either skip the bathroom or if I let him in the mens room and he needs to be quick. I am so nervous about it though. He is a quiet kid, very well behaved and way too trustworthy....

Sorry- I didn't mean to bring up a heated topic! I guess since there are Companion restrooms, we will do all our stops there!!! Go whether you have to or not!

Thanks for all your replies!
Lisa

My mom was the same way! I am 45 now...and still cringe when I think about wjen I was a kid and how she use to make me go to the ladies room. However, I survived! Dont worry about the "HEATED topic". Better safe than sorry!
Most horrible things that happen to children, happen in their own house. Also WDW is a pretty busy/safe place, and there are cleaning people contantly in the rest rooms...I wouldnt worry about it at all.

 

[DISUNC]

Something that just occured to me as possible alternative to calling out to your son every 30 seconds or so: Have him sing. If the singing stops, you go in. Though singing might still be embarrassing, I think if I were 8, I'd rather sing than have my mother call my name every 30 seconds and responding with things like, "Still peeing, Mom." It's also more continuous - no 29 seconds of vulnerablity between contacts.

Brett

Very good idea! My kids sing in the restroom alllllllllllllllllllllll the time! LOUD & BAD!

 

[Selket]

I haven't read the whole thread but the topic reminds me that I noticed that set of restroom stalls in the Baby Care center in the MK says something on the door like "unisex." I used them - and it is all stalls - so this would seem like a good place for a dad to take his daughter or a mom to take her son to the bathroom.

I guess the only downside is whether one is expected to be with a baby or diaper-age child when using the baby care center? You could always ask the attendant. I realize that there is only one baby care center in each park - not very convenient if you're on the other side of the MK and your child needs to go to the restroom!

 

[SueM in MN]

On the internet (such as Deb Will site), you will find references to Family Restrooms at WDW, but the only restrooms that Disney actually labels as Family Restrooms are the ones in the Child Care Centers (which are the ones that have the small size toilets in them that someone mentioned in an earlier post.) Here's the actual quote from mouseplanet.

"If you have a potty-training toddler, you may wish to bring their children to the Centers to use the toilets since the restrooms there are both larger and more private than a typical stall in a public restroom. At the Magic Kingdom, a family restroom houses two toilets, one adult-size and one child-size."

Disney calls them Companion Restrooms and they are not listed on the park maps. The only place you will see them mentioned by Disney is in the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities. As someone else mentioned, the handicapped stalls in the regular restrooms look large, but at MK, there are none that are large enough to bring a wheelchair or a companion to assist you into the stall and close the door. So, in effect, that means there are 6 stalls in the whole MK park (not 6 restrooms) that people in that situation are able to use. We have had the situation of going thru the park all the way from Haunted Mansion to the Companion Restroom near Pirates (passing several ladies rooms we could not use) to find the Companion Restroom full (a lady with a 3 or 4 yr old girl) with 2 other parties waiting to get in (a man with a preschool age boy), (a woman with a preschool boy). I don't know if they had other choices available to them, but we didn't.

I'd ask that people be considerate and ask themselves whether it is a choice for them to use the Companion Restroom or a necessity. If it's a choice, please remember that there are other people who don't have a choice - that is the only restroom they can use.

 

[pirateparrot]

One note on public mens' room ettiquite for sons, and this may seem kinda gross, but moms who are concerned about men flashing their sons might want to suggest to their boys that when peeing at the urinals, keep their eyes forward and not look into others urinals. I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell little boys "Hey little man...keep your eyes forward!" as they're looking all over the place. Not all kids do this mind you, but it definitely is not appreciated by fellow urinal users.

Keep your eyes forward and no talking unless you have been drinking. First two rules of the men's room.

 

[YourMajesty]

I think that as long as the OP (and others in her same situation) use the Companion Restrooms in a conscientious manner, then I don't see anything wrong with her using them.

How are these marked when you pass them. Do they have the blue handicapped sign or just a man/women picture on the door?

 

[missj171]

I dont have kids, so this is just a perspective froom a restroom user!

If a lady brought in her 8y/o son I would assume there was a reason he didn't go to the men's with his dad/other male. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if he behaved maturely and was in and out.

In fact, it is more 'offensive' (for want of better word) when people bring their kids in to the restroom (of the 'right' sex) who behave hysterically and intrude into people's privacy (looking under doors, making 'toilet' jokes etc.)

So a well behaved little boy with his concerned mum would be much preferable to some wild girl-kids invading my bathroom privacy!

But WDW is so full of staff, Im sure you could always send a staff member to check on your DS while you wait outside if you felt it was necessary (like if he seemed to be taking too long). And yes, we could say 'but they could be a pervert' - but if you take that view you'll never let your kid leave the house!

 

[pampam]

If you go to first aid, they will give you a list of all the companion restrooms in the park. Also, they will tell you that these are for the disabled. Now, common sense cannot be legislated. And it may not be illegal to use a handicap stall when one is not disabled. But come on, people. It just isn't nice. MothertoMJM was correct. If you were to count all the regular stalls and all the handicap stalls, you would see that there is a great difference. As our population ages, the demographics change, and more and more people are becoming disabled, so there is even more of a lineup for these stalls. I've had someone tell me that it wasn't like a handicap parking spot, so anyone could use it. And I suppose if you are that insensitive that could be true. But surely you know in your heart if you really need to use the handicap stall. It really isn't for anyone of us to judge, because so many disabilities are hidden. However, if someone is in a wheelchair, or using a ECV, that is not hidden. It is obvious that they need more space. And if someone needs a companion, then they will require even more space.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Keep your eyes forward and no talking unless you have been drinking. First two rules of the men's room.

That was a "guys rule" i didn't know! YOu learn all kinds of things on the Dis!

 

[SueM in MN]

How are these marked when you pass them. Do they have the blue handicapped sign or just a man/women picture on the door?

At one point, they did have the blue handicapped sign on them, but from what I heard, then people thought they were only for use by people using wheelchairs. There are people with invisible disabilities, not using wheelchairs, who did not feel they were welcome to use those restrooms when the handicapped sign was on them. Some of them could choose to use the handicapped stall in the regular restrooms, but others could not use that choice (two examples would be a mom with an older son who is autistic or an adult male and female, who needed assistance of the other in the restroom ) The sign on the doors now say Companion Restroom or Companion-Assist Restroom.

There was a very short time in the mid 1990s when some of the signs did say, Family Restroom (that was when Family Restrooms were just being put into malls, etc and Disney felt the need to offer them. Because of complaints from people with disabilities (who could not choose to use another restroom) that they could never use those restrooms because there were too few restrooms and too many families using them, the signs were changed to Companion Restrooms.
During that time, the only restroom I could take my DD to at MK or Epcot was First Aid, because the regular handicapped stalls in ladies rooms at MK and Epcot were not large enough for a wheelchair to be in the stall and close the door and the newly labeled "family restrooms" were always in use by families.

There are Companion Restrooms available in First Aid, but we choose not to use those unless we have no alternative because:
1) They are the only restroom available for someone who is feeling ill in First Aid to use.
2) There are no locks on the door and the door opens outward, so there is no way to block the door and it could be opened at any time.

They are not mentioned on the park maps at all, even as Companion-Assist restrooms. If you go to the official Disney site and look up "Family Restrooms", you will not get any results. The only place Disney mentions them at all is in the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities, where they are called "Companion-Assist Restrooms."

So, no matter if anyone thinks a Companion Restroom is the same thing as a Family Restroom, Disney is only making information about the location of them available to people with disabilities. If their intent was for them to be Family Restrooms, they would be listed on the park maps that way (I guess you could say that's my opinion, but it's based on lots of facts).

 

[meatballsmom]

I dont have kids, so this is just a perspective froom a restroom user!

If a lady brought in her 8y/o son I would assume there was a reason he didn't go to the men's with his dad/other male. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if he behaved maturely and was in and out.

In fact, it is more 'offensive' (for want of better word) when people bring their kids in to the restroom (of the 'right' sex) who behave hysterically and intrude into people's privacy (looking under doors, making 'toilet' jokes etc.)

So a well behaved little boy with his concerned mum would be much preferable to some wild girl-kids invading my bathroom privacy!

But WDW is so full of staff, Im sure you could always send a staff member to check on your DS while you wait outside if you felt it was necessary (like if he seemed to be taking too long). And yes, we could say 'but they could be a pervert' - but if you take that view you'll never let your kid leave the house!

I feel the same way. I am a single mother of a son who is 5 (turning 6 next month) and I bring him in the ladies room but he knows the restroom ediquette. I don't know why a woman (especially a mom) would have any problem with this since he goes in a stall and so do they. Why is this such an issue???

 

[RachelEllen]

Does anyone else use the restroom to wash up and change? I occasionally do (for example, when we were staying at Fort Wilderness and needed to wash up before going to dinner), and it's much cleaner out by the sinks than in a stall. So as long as you don't mind your eight year old kid seeing some lady in her underwear......

 

[Disneymommie]

OK....did anyone ever solve the what to do if Dad has to bring a little girl to the bathroom???

My DH wanted to take the kids DD9 DD8 and DS6 to the movies to give me a break. But he could not. I trust my girls to go inside to use the bathroom alone However there is no way they could wait outside the mens room while DH or DS used the restroom. What to do?

If alone I do still bring DS into Ladies room but DH can not bring Girls into mens room. Thankfully we will not have that problem in WDW as we will all be there.

I appologize if my opinion offended anyone about the companion restrooms. But if DH was along with the girls he would have to use them as he would have NO other option that could keep my children safe in this world we live in. It is a shame.

 

[meatballsmom]

Does anyone else use the restroom to wash up and change? I occasionally do (for example, when we were staying at Fort Wilderness and needed to wash up before going to dinner), and it's much cleaner out by the sinks than in a stall. So as long as you don't mind your eight year old kid seeing some lady in her underwear......

Ok, first I will put my flame suit on....... To answer your question, no I don't change out by the sinks in a restroom. If I have to change it would be done in a stall. It's not just an 8 yo son that I wouldn't want to look at someone standing in their underwear, but I wouldn't want my daughter or even I wouldn't want to have to see anyone in their underwear. Your still in a public restroom. I guess I'm a little modest.