Is there reserved seating available on the bus for the handicap that can walk?

[Bete]

I know there are lifts for the wheelchairs and ECVs on the bus.

Is there special seating reserved, as well on the bus for the handicap? Most of the time, this type of seating is in front of the bus? Although, walking is possible to a degree, it would be better to be at the front of the bus.

My 87 year old mother-in-law will be joining us for our Oct. trip. Anyway, we will be renting at the parks for ECVs. Sorry, I don't want to do an outside service for an ECV. I have my reasons. I don't want her to have to walk the length of the bus, if she can sit in the front. We are taking the bus 4 times during our week there. There are some mobility issues with her. It will be exhausting enough for her to just climb the stairs of the bus to get on. I'm also afraid without reserved seating she may not get a seat all the time on the bus. I suppose, if it's crowded with standing room only, we could wait for another bus. The problem with that answer is then we have to stand 15 minutes longer or more to catch the next bus. That's not very helpful for her, either.

I may have to change my mind about busing it, if this is too bad.

 

[philaround]

Sorry but ther are no sprcial reseerved seats for handicapped. The bus seating is strictly a first come first seated proposition. The only way tob e sure to get a seat is for someone in your party to be in a wheelchair or ECV as they will be loaded before those who walk. Of course if you are at the front of the line waiting for the bus and you are at that buses first stop you will be able to sit where ever you wish. If you are willing to wait for a later bus so you can insure that you are first on you will always have your choice of seat, but this will mean you will be standing in line for quite a while until you are at the front of the line for loading on the next bus.

 

[Michigan]

I know you said you had your reasons for not renting off site but you may want to reconsider that.

First ECV's are on a first come basis and may be all gone when you get their.

Second if she will be too tired climbing the stairs and is unable to climb on a tram it is a long long long walk from the handicap parking to the monorail at MJK and even if you park in the regular lot and ride the tram she will still have to walk up the steep ramp to get to the monorail because there is no elevator.

 

[Heather Smith]

Whatever happened to people standing to allow the elderly sit. If people were still courteous this wouldn't be a problem.

 

[minnie61650]

There is no handicap seating on the Disney buses
Maybe you need to reconsider renting from offsite.
They will deliver the EVC right to bell services. You don't need to be there then MIL would not have to walk to the bus stops or stand in line for bus.
After the EVC is loaded on the bus the driver loads on the rest of the party.
If you are worried about MIL driving the EVC onto the bus you could have another family member load it for her than you all get on the bus together.
I am renting an EVC from an offsite company and the cost is $30 day compared to $35 for on property rental.
Renting from an offsite company means the EVC will always be available for me to use to and from the bus stops and parks as well as being able to use it to go to the food court or pool whenever I want.
The off site rental EVC's are also a lot easier to use than the ones in the parks. The ones in the parks have 4 wheels, kinda like a golf cart and are much harder to turn.
Another solution might be to reserve a regular wheelchair at your resort and use that to and from the parks. Then when you rent a park EVC they can tag the wheelchair so she can pick it up after her park visit.
Hope the info helps.
Have a wonderful time at Disney!
Linda

 

[SueM in MN]

There are signs over the front seats of the bus. I don't know the exact wording, but it's something to the effect of people sitting there should be prepared to give up their seats to people with disabilities. In actual practice though, they may or may not give them up willingly and the bus driver may or may not help "encourage" them to give up their seats. At any rate, you (and she) are likely to need to be assertive in asking people to move.

There are a lot of unknowns:
- There is no guarantee that any ecvs will be left for rental when you get to the park. If she is willing to use a wheelchair, you are likely to find wheelchairs in October even if all the ecvs are gone.
- Depending on which hotel you are staying at, which park you are going to and what time you are going/leaving, there may be very few people on the bus. During the middle part of the day, the buses may not be full, but they do run less often.
- The buses are most likely to be full in the first few hours after the park opens, the first few buses after parades (a lot of people leave right after a parade) and the first few buses at closing. If you hold off leaving the parks after parades and closing, you will find much smaller crowds.
- Many of the bus stops do have some benches close to the bus stop area. She could possibly sit on the bench to wait while some of your party waits in line. No guarantee that there is a bench though or that it is vacant.
- Many of the newest buses have a small ramp to walk on rather than having a set of steps - again, no guarantee that you will get a newer bus. The newer buses have less seats, so there is more chance of standing on them.
- The Epcot and AK buses leave a fairly long walk from where the bus leaves you off and where you can rent ecvs. There are some benches for resting on the way into the park.
- If you have rented ecvs in the parks in the past, you are aware of this, but I just wanted to mention that the park ecvs are larger and less manouverable than the ones that can be rented off-site. If she doesn't have experience renting them, I'd suggest trying out the ecvs that are available for shoppers in stores like Target and Walmart. Those are a bit harder to drive than the park ones since they have a cart attached to the front, but otherwise they are pretty similar.

 

[Nik's Mom]

It seems kind of weird that they don't require guests to move from seating if a disabled person needs them. You know darn well that most people will not move if they are not told to do so.

 

[Bete]

I'm thinking about other options. I like the idea of getting a wheelchair to go back and forth to the parks. I didn't know the parks would tag them for you when you rent a scooter at the park. This would be good for travelling around the resort like eating at the resort, etc. This would solve my bus seating problem which is my biggest obstacle.

We will have three people requiring ECVs; so, it's not practical to get outside rentals in this case. From what I understand the buses can't handle three ECVs at one time. I wouldn't expect it. We will be early at the parks. I've never had an issue with getting a scooter, if you get there early. We will even do early entry a few times with EMHs. If we take a break in the day or park hop, I understand it's harder to get one, especially three scooters. We will be savy and come back to the parks after the parades when I believe it will be a good time to get scooters again. If we have to go on a waiting list for a scooter(s) we are prepared for it. If this gets to be a real issue we will rearrange our schedule at the parks and we won't take breaks back at the resort. I can adjust to the flow.

Now, can anyone share a good place to do a wheelchair rental?

 

[SueM in MN]

For wheelchair rental, look in the disABILITIES FAQS. The companies listed there rent wheelchairs and ecvs.

The buses will hold a maximum of 2 wheelchairs or scooters. It would only be possible to get more on a bus if one of the wheelchairs could be folded (but someone would have to hold it). If you have more than 2 ecvs/wheelchairs, the front desk at your resort can help you with the Transportation phone number. They can send a different type of vehicle (like a small wheelchair accessibel bus) with space for more than 2.

 

[Brightsy]

I don't know if all the busses can do this or not but one I rode on did a weird, and neat thing.
There was an elderly woman who was having problems with the stairs onto the bus. The driver had her step back a little and he hit a button, the whole bus leaned a little down towards the curb and she was able to maneuver that first big step! It was pretty cool. Oh and then my 6 yr. old son leapt out of his seat and offered it to her!

Sara

 

[clkelley]

On a trip last September, we had three ECVs in our group. The bus driver almost always radioed for another bus to come immediately. We had to wait a few minutes for the second bus, but since our disabled members of the party had a place to sit (their ECV), waiting a few more minutes for a 2nd bus was never a problem. We always planned our transportation so that waiting for the 2nd bus wouldn't make us late, so it was never an issue.

Carol

 

[Bete]

Supposedly, if you can't use the stairs easily on the bus, etc. due to arthritus, etc. that you can request the busdriver to allow you on the lift to access the bus.

Now, I'm, wondering if this would get my MIL on first as handicapped w/o a vehicle; so, I don't have to worry about getting a seat for her.

Does anyone think this will work? I'd even carry her handicap card with us to show the busdriver, if this would work.


TIA

 

[SueM in MN]

Supposedly, if you can't use the stairs easily on the bus, etc. due to arthritus, etc. that you can request the busdriver to allow you on the lift to access the bus.

Now, I'm, wondering if this would get my MIL on first as handicapped w/o a vehicle; so, I don't have to worry about getting a seat for her.

Does anyone think this will work? I'd even carry her handicap card with us to show the busdriver, if this would work.


TIA

I'm not sure if it would work or not.
How I have heard the "use the lift without a wheelchair" working is the rest of the party waits in the line with the other people getting on the bus. When they get to the front, they tell the bus driver that "grandma (or whoever)" wants to use the lift to get on. If it happens that way, you won't be loading first.

 

[zumbergc]

If your really going to be renting 3 scooter's from disney everyday, and really only have to worry about the mobility of gramma.

Why don't you either rent 1-2 scooters from an offsite place. Then 1-2 can fit if the bus is empty, may have to wait if 1 scooter is already on the bus.

This way you have a guarentee from gramma, she has a nice seat waiting for the bus, she gets loaded first. Then when you get to the parks, get the other 2 scooters!
It really sounds like gramma would have a rough time with the walking to and from at the resort to bus stop and bus stop into each park.
I bet gramma is going to be happier, and less tired, than getting all wore out first thing in the morning, by the long walk to the bus, and the long walk to the park entrance.

Borrowing a push wheel chair from the resort. Its first come first serve, you can't reserve them ahead of time. There might be one there, then again they might all be gone.
Connie

 

[dclfun]

Also they may or may not let someone take the lift without a chair- it really isn't safe and the bus driver would be liable if that person lost their grip or fell due to the lift jerking or guest's instability. The newer ramp buses shouldn't be a problem, but the actually lifts are a different story. Kathy

 

[JudithM]

Also they may or may not let someone take the lift without a chair- it really isn't safe and the bus driver would be liable if that person lost their grip or fell due to the lift jerking or guest's instability. The newer ramp buses shouldn't be a problem, but the actually lifts are a different story. Kathy

I wondered about the safety of standing on the lift of the older WDW busses, too. I cannot say I would want to try it.

To the OP I know you do not want to use an outside medical supplier, but I think you might want to reconsider for many of the reasons already posted.

 

[Bete]

I called special need reservations today. I wanted to make sure certain room requests were done, too; so, I called and talked for a while learning more.

I think my best option is to get her and only her a scooter from an outside source. I still don't exactly like the scooter idea at the resort; because, we planned on doing all the hard parts of the scooter driving for her like parking it, going backwards, etc. We want to keep it really simple for her. There are three adults in the same room (space constraints) and I think even having one scooter to charge, etc. may be too much of a hassle and chore each day. I still have to think about it all a little more. I'm still debating on a wheelchair for the resort area and getting to the parks that way, too. We can have it saved and tagged at the scooter rental area.

The lift has nothing to hold - no rails and I don't want to trust that for my MIL, nor do I want the bus driver ill at ease.

This is my first time with mobility issues on a trip; so, as a newbie I wasn't knowledgeable enough to make a good decision. With all your help and special needs, I think I have a couple of good solutions, now.