just back. 1st trip with hubby wheelchair dpendant in parks

[smidgy]

we rented a wheel chair from Walker moblity. I have to say, at both universal and disney I was SO pleased with the service and consideration!
walker mobility : it was $110 for 16 nights. met up with them in the lobby of Sapphire Falls and uni. and then again outside baggage area the last morning at pop century.. the chair had a rear storage bag (the zipper was broken) but that's just an extra we weren't charged for.. came in handy. great service.
team members at UNI. and cast members at WDW were very helpful, as were the bus drivers.
it was so worth it to have the chair for the entire trip and not just at the parks.
we thought he would walk more around the resort but his back was screaming and, admittedly, I got impatient......we can walk V E R Y slowly to the pool bar for those Mai tais.. Or I can push you! lol

but, truth be told, the food court, etc. standing a long line, would have been a lot after 5 fusions in nov.

as soon as we pulled up to a ride, they were right there telling us where to go and what to do. they slowed the moving vehicles for him (can't do that for peter pan) and sometimes it was the exit. the chair was right there when we returned.

for shows, after I explained the he couldn't be way in the back cause of vision issues, they brought us to the front.

most people were very helpful (other guests) holding doors, etc. in summation, I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.



I have to throw in a negative... sorry... there are a lot of slopes at WDW, walking you don't even notice them, but pushing a wheelchair. OMG! and I can't believe how many people cut you off. going uphill, I need to get momentum going. but downhill is worse. I consider myself pretty strong for a 60 year old lady (I still carry those heavy trays at the restaurant, and buckets of lettuce, and cases of beer at the bar) but it's all I can do to hold him back on those downhill slopes.

(it was tempting .. esp if I was a mite peeved at him.. to let him go , say "whee!" and see what would happen. just kidding.... wouldn't want any innocents to get hurt lol) point being, I can't stop on a dime holding hubby and chair back as best I can with all the strength I have in my arms. not a good time to cut in front of us.

we flew AMerican Airlines . I called ahead needing special assistance. and that went SO smoothly. just a 10 minute wait for a wheelchair and a porter at the airports for departure. on arrivals? someone was RIGHT THERE! waiting. (I can't push him and carry the carry ons, etc.) this is free of charge.. but feel free to tip generously!!!!!!! it's worth it!) and because I called for the special assistance, we had TSA precheck!
so, all in all , if any of you are debating a wheelchair for your trip, do it. it is so worth it not having a family member in pain the whole trip. and on the whole, almost everyone was really nice and helpful!
(I would have rented an ecv.. not sure of the cost, but with nebo's vision, I didn't want him bowling down a few families....)
I hope this review helps someone

 

[smidgy]

yikes ignore the typos in the thread title.

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks for the report. So glad you had a great vacation!

 

[DisneyOma]

I wondered why parts of WDW are sloped when it looks like it doesn't have to be that way. Older daughter has a friend who is an Imagineer - was told it is to help with drainage in some places, stuff running underneath in others. If they could make it flat, they would, but they did build in a swampy area.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks so much for your review. I also found the CMs to be very accommodating at the attractions, with just a couple rare exceptions -why do we remember the one bad thing, but not so much all the good?

 

[jo-jo]

Thanks for the information.

I am trying to convince my DH to rent a wheelchair on our Epcot days. Although he can walk fine, he endurance fails quickly and it seems like benches at Epcot have almost disappeared. I'm thinking with all the shows and standing around, it will be needed if only to add enjoyment and not be worn to the bone.

 

[bopper]

jo-jo
Here are top 5 Reasons that people think they shouldn't get an ECV when they should.

I can't drive one. Go to your local Costco/Walmart/Target or other large store. They probably have an electric cart type thing that you could use while shopping. Try it out. I bet you can drive it.

People might think I don't really need it because I can walk. Are these people going to share the pain with you at the end of the day? Do you care what they think? Save your walking energy between rides and use it for lines or getting on the rides. Enjoy your family and your vacation.

It will slow my family down. No, actually it will speed your family up. No more rests because mom is tired. No more going back to the hotel because grandpa is in pain. No more cranky mommy because she tried to walk miles and miles in Disney instead of renting an ECV. You are completely mobile on your own (nobody pushing you in a wheelchair). What's the slow down here?

It's expensive. Um, how much are you spending on this vacation? Don't you want to enjoy it? If money is that tight, take a day off of your trip and spend that money on the ECV so you can enjoy it!

I don't want my kids/family to think I am disabled. You are either temporarily or permanently disabled in some way if you are even asking about this issue...once again, why not make it a better vacation by saving yourself from pain? Nobody is saying you have to confine yourself to a wheelchair permanently or you should not stop trying to get better. If somebody told you to go walk 4 miles, you would think they are crazy. But you are paying for the privilege when you go to Disney to do just that...why not use an ECV to make your family's vacation better?

 

[pigby]

We are travelling in a similar situation in just over a week Smidgy and your post was really encouraging - we are renting an ecv for 17 days (DH will be first time user). I also booked airport assistance - we are flying with Virgin Atlantic.

 

[smidgy]

I'm so happy to help or encourage anyone,. ask me any questions. I'll be glad to do my best to answer.

I agree with bopper you should get use any help you can get.
in our case, a rental of an ECV wasn't really an option. as my husband has low vision. so I had to push him in a wheel chair (not an electronic one)

 

[Rozz]

So glad things went well! Sounds like you enjoyed your trip. Might there be a trip report?

 

[smidgy]

rozz! I'm so sorry. as you know nebo hasn't written trip reports lately.. he just finds it hard to see the computer screen, and then there were those wrist surgeries from his fall down the stairs. he really misses writing the trip reports . especially the back and forth banter with his readers!!!

 

[happymommy]

So glad it all went well, and that you were treated so well also!

We rented off site a couple of times for my daughter, but then found the Invacare wheelchair at Amazon for about $150 that is pretty much the same one we had rented twice from Apple. She needs it only at Disney, but it was nice to have her own! It was easy to gate check it with the airline (we took off the foot rests and just brought those on board in a bag). Since we have two more trips booked, it was cheaper than renting one!

 

[smidgy]

happymommy, that is something I thought about.. and maybe would be a good idea, I really can't imagine nebo walking thorugh the parks anytime soon and it might be cheaper to just buy a chair. mayb emedicare would help pay for it? it just sounded like yeat another hassle.. but I'll look into it..
we might take a sprign tri[p, but not sure if I'm up to pushing him around again so soon. it really took a toll on me in the ehat and humidity. my calf muscles ar estill screaming.
ross. nebo misses writing his trip reports, but between his bad wrist for typing and his poor vision, he hasn't been on the computer in a couple years. even to repsond to Ponzies reprts.

 

[happymommy]

It does slow us down a bit to have me push her, but it helped make it easier to get to magical express at the airport to have her chair with her! We ended up with quite a long wait for the bus (for some reason, I think 200 of us landed at the same time going to the same resort! Had to wait for 4 buses, over an hour in line! She could sit and read her book; the standing would have been too much). I didn't bother seeing if insurance would pay; I think I could have turned in the receipts from renting before but didn't bother!

 

[Ahicks50]

We typically rent a wheelchair for my mom, but its getting a little difficult for me to push a wheelchair throughout the parks. So when my mom recently came down, I tried a rental company called Big Orange Mobility in kissimmee. Surprise, they were very helpful and seemed genuinely concerned about helping us. The price was pretty good too. Kudos! Check out their website for their helpful videos. Bigorangemobility.com

 

[lanejudy]

rozz! I'm so sorry. as you know nebo hasn't written trip reports lately.. he just finds it hard to see the computer screen, and then there were those wrist surgeries from his fall down the stairs. he really misses writing the trip reports . especially the back and forth banter with his readers!!!

@smidgy Has he tried any speech-to-text apps that he can dictate and it will convert to written text? My DD uses one at school and at home; it may take some practice for the app to recognize his voice inflection, but my DD's works well if she wears a headset with a microphone and speaks slowly. I believe there are also text-to-speech apps which will read written text out loud. I honestly don't know how either would work in relation to a forum like this, but it might help him get back online if he misses it.

 

[gap2368]

I use the speech to text some I use something g called dragoon and I also use the text to speech ( and I know I will get this name wrong) called kirzwel I used both in college but do not use them any more I have my dragon CD/box in my house I may try to put it on my computer to see if it works with the forms

I think if you did get the sprang to text and if it dose not work with the forms you could just do it in word and copy past it on the form

 

[smidgy]

@smidgy Has he tried any speech-to-text apps that he can dictate and it will convert to written text? My DD uses one at school and at home; it may take some practice for the app to recognize his voice inflection, but my DD's works well if she wears a headset with a microphone and speaks slowly. I believe there are also text-to-speech apps which will read written text out loud. I honestly don't know how either would work in relation to a forum like this, but it might help him get back online if he misses it.

thanks! there is SO much we need to check out. many tools and aids avaialbe for loe vision.. we will be looking into vitrectomy surgery.. but you have to maintain a face down posture during recovery for a week of more.. which would be difficult considering his recent back surgery. (to lie face down). I did pester him for us to llok into the speech to text thing.. he just has been so distracted with the back susion surgery, and the physical therapy, etc.
(he has no cell phone and I have a flip phone.. we are SO behind!!! lol but thanks somuch for the suggestions.

actually something like that might help him during face down recovery from the vitrectomy (IF his retinal specialist oks it)

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear you had a good time.

I just wanted to mention a couple of things -
Pre-arranging assistance at the airport doesn't necessarily get you TSA Precheck all the time, but the skycap will help you get thru security.

If you are looking for new phones or a tablet, Apple has really good support for vision disabilities, including reading text for you from websites, texts, messages (called VoiceOver) and the built in keyboard allows dictation.
Stevie Wonder has said in the past that he can do everything with his iPhone that a person who is not blind can do. And that was before recent enhancements.

Here's more info:
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/

 

[smidgy]

THANKS so MUCH FOR ALL THE GREAT INFO!