Is The Doubletree Resort (Downtown Disney Area) Bus ECV Equipped?

[Mark P.]

Hi,
My folks are staying at the Doubltree at DTD, and I'd like to know if the bus (or busses) at the Doubletree is equipped for electric wheelchairs, as my mother uses one.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[SueM in MN]

If they provide transportation to people without disabilities, they also have to provide transportation to people with disabilities, according to the ADA.
How they do this might vary. Some places (like WDW resorts) have a fleet of regular buses that are equipped with lifts/ramps and tiedowns to accomidate wheelchairs and/or ecvs.
Some of the offsite places use the same type od bus. Others have an arrangement where people needing accessible transportation calle Mears or one of the taxi serevices that use wheelchair ramp vans.
You can probably get an answer on the disABILITIES Board if you don't get one here. I'd also suggest calling the resort directly. I didn't see anything specific on their website, but there is a Contact Us link. It sort of implies that they are part of the WDW transportation route, but doesn't actually say that.
If they are, Chip N Dale express will know for sure (even if they are not, he'll probably know).

 

[Mark P.]

Thanks a bunch

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The answer to your question is yes and no.

Fleetwood (the company that runs the transportation) recently bought a bunch of new shuttle busses to replace the Van Hool coaches that they ran into the ground. All of the new shuttle buses that they bought DO have lifts in the rear door.

HOWEVER... there are two catches. First, Fleetwood doesn't have a maintenance facility. They don't take care of thier buses like Disney does, so who knows if the lifts will actually work. The buses are only a year old, so my guess is that they still do. But then again, the buses have been beaten up, so it's anyones guess.

The second catch is that they've started to run the old VanHool coaches again. Some of these coaches do have lifts, but they do not work.

My advice would be to call the hotel, and ask them what the procedure would be. It might just be that you need to call them ahead of time, so that they can make sure that a lift-equipped bus is on that route for that particular day.

 

[Mark P.]

Thanks, Tyler