Just Back from First Trip to Disney with ECV

[everylastbreath]

First I have to say thank you to everyone who helped with my planning of this trip- little recap: We took my mom (81year old) along with almost 3 year old GS, my daughter, my husband and myself. First trip with ECV. We rented from Randy's (Wonderful! Highly recommend them). At first Mom was resistant, but quickly realized that she would not have been able to do nearly as much without the ECV. Randy's was wonderful, they delivered right to the hotel room, explained how to use it, charge it, and disassemble to put in the minivan. It took a while for her to get use to driving it (most of the week) but without it she would not have made it one day.

We started our week at RPH in Universal, and anyone who has stayed there knows the path we walked to get into the park - she would never have made it there once, but she quickly took to riding down the path, crowds on the other hand were difficult, she also had some difficulty getting out of elevators and pulling into tight places, it was very trying but it was a blessing- without it we would have had more difficulty.

I have a newfound respect for people who have to travel on ECV's, people are so rude, they walk in front of them, stop short, and generally push them off their path by just walking into them.

Also once we got to the Poly and went to Magic Kingdom, I got her a GAC which helped tremendously - which I would never had know about without this board.

Thank you all for your help, I felt so prepared for this trip because of this board.

 

[honugirl]

Thanks for recommending Randy's. I think that's who I'm going to go with next month when I get there.

If it's not too personal, was your GAC for the ECV or for other reasons? Just curious because I don't think a GAC would do anything for me unless it would permit me to drive the ECV through all the lines.

Sounds like you had a good time!

 

[everylastbreath]

The GAC was to keep my mom out of the heat/sun as much as possible, so they stamped it for her to wait in a shaded area and no stairs. Cast members asked for it when she was off of ECV on handicap line. We had forgotten it one night and the cast member just asked to see the key for ECV.

I would highly recommend Randy's they were the only ECV rental place that actually gave you personal instruction on the unit, others just drop it off at hotel, since it was our first time using one I felt better having someone actually show us how to use it.

Feel free to ask anything, more than happy to answer anything I can.

 

[honugirl]

I don't think that would do me much good, but good to know that the GAC worked well for you mom.

Good to know you had a good experience with them too in delivery. I haven't used one before either so I will need the extra instruction. Especially on the break down. I won't have to do it until the end of our trip, so I hope I don't forget how to do it!

Did you encounter any problems using Disney transportation?

How early did Randy's deliver for you? I'm hoping to get to MK for the rope drop on my first day there. Maybe I'm too ambitious!

Were you able to get a full day out of a single charge?

Thanks for answering my questions!

 

[everylastbreath]

I don't think that would do me much good, but good to know that the GAC worked well for you mom.

Good to know you had a good experience with them too in delivery. I haven't used one before either so I will need the extra instruction. Especially on the break down. I won't have to do it until the end of our trip, so I hope I don't forget how to do it!

Did you encounter any problems using Disney transportation?

How early did Randy's deliver for you? I'm hoping to get to MK for the rope drop on my first day there. Maybe I'm too ambitious!

Were you able to get a full day out of a single charge?

Thanks for answering my questions!

The instructions were very simple I'm sure you won't forget how to do it!

We didn't use Disney Transportation, except the Monorail, which the only trouble she had was sometimes backing out, but we talked her thru it (and thankfully she didn't hit anyone, a podium once but no people)

We arrived at 3am (horrible delays) so I had to call them the next morning, but you can call the night before to arrange delivery, they told me they would be there before 10am, and they were - Randy's said all their deliverys are done by 10am, so I don't know if you will make a rope drop that day.

We got the full day out of a charge, I never saw the charge meter drop below fully charged even after all day, but we charged it every night anyway.

Glad to be able to help someone else, I had so many questions before this trip too.