Just back - wheelchair issues

[piratesmate]

We had reserved a large wheelchair from CARE (Walker was out) for our stay. It was supposed to be delivered before 10AM to AKL. (I had tried repeatedly to get through to AKL directly, but was unable to do so.) Anyway, we got there & no chair. At least 3 different CMs went looking for it, but couldn't find it. The first CM told me not to worry, they'd just give me one & cancel the other & they wouldn't charge me for the usage. I told him I had reserved a 22" chair & he came back with one that seemed like it must have been at least a 24" - don't know if there is such a thing! They provided us with a lock & cable with which to secure the chair. (I wasn't sure when I was to use it, however, as the CMs always needed to move the chair after I transferred.)

I turned out that the chair had been delivered the day before but there was too much in front of it & they couldn't see it. I had trouble getting through to the right person at CARE to cancel the chair due to days off, etc. BUT - when I called the morning after getting home, they had already reversed the charge, less a delivery fee. I told them that was okay, since they had actually delivered it, although neither was it my fault. They then reversed then delivery charge as well stating it was because I was "a repeat customer." Well, I wasn't & I told them that - but they reversed it anyway, which I thought was very nice.

We had trouble with the larger chair, though. Many lines do not allow for sufficient turning radius. e.g. I had to walk through the gate at Star Tours (just before entering the "vehicle.") We also had trouble getting on the monorail as the portable ramps seemed to be exactly as wide as the chair wheels.

As many have stated here before, the wheelchair access at Kilamanjaro Safaris really stinks! We got FastPass and saw people drive by in jeeps who had been in the 25 min standby lines! I understand they wanted to stop giving special, advance access to the handicapped (well, I don't really, but that's another issue) but making them wait longer is nuts!

We encountered several of the bus drivers who were very set in their ways regarding wheel chairs. One REFUSED to allow me to walk onto the bus & have DH put the wheel chair in the back. It was annoying because it took so long to load & strap me in & it wasn't necessary. On the other hand, we had some really great drivers who went out of their way to make things go smoothly.

 

[teri]

Just in case anyone thinks using a wheelchair is giving you an advantage... !!!!! sounds like you had quite the hassle. I hope that you enjoyed your trip anyway.

 

[piratesmate]

Teri,

The trip was wonderful - but over too soon! The problems were few & relatively minor. However, sharing may help out someone else . . .

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for sharing. Even with the little hassles, it will help encourage someone who has never used a wheelchair to maybe decide it is not such a bad thing to do.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

Hi, Piratesmate!
Thanks for posting your experiences with wheelchairs and AKL. We just returned from 6 days at AKL (May 18 - 24 - were you there then?). One member of our group was in a power wheelchair (and has a service dog!), and we found the buses at AKL great! Almost all the bus drivers knew how to load the wheelchairs and strap them in. The buses were never full when arriving at the lodge, so there was always room for the wheelchair. We thought the lodge was great for wheelchairs, though our standard room was pretty tight but the bathroom was huge. The only issues we had were with the "zero-entry pool", which I will post in another thread! But overall, we were pleased with choosing AKL for our needs.

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[piratesmate]

Yes, HugsforEeyore - we saw your party while we were there. I hope you had as great a time as we did!

We stayed from 5/20 - 5/29. The waiting problems we encountered were largely after the 24th, but we did have a few before that. After the 24th, we had buses with SRO multiple times from the resort and even more often from the parks. This was somewhat expected due to the approaching holiday weekend, but it still seemed worse than necessary. What surprised me was that the parks we not crowded on Mon & Tues (28 & 29) but we still encountered the waits & SRO buses. Go figure!

We found AKL to be a great place to stay! Our main problems were with the size of the chair - not use of the chair. The automatic doors (the ones opened with the button, not the sensor) in our area of the hotel only opened one side. For some if you pushed/pulled slightly on the other side, it also opened - so I don't know if they were stuck or designed that way. This made it very awkward for me to move around the hotel without a companion, though. I believe that a standard sized chair would have fit easily, since I only "just" got stuck with mine.

I found the staff to be very helpful and the building layout made moving around easy - with the exception of attempting to get out onto the savannah area off the lobby. We never found an elevator nearby to take us to the 2nd floor to get out there. We had to use the one at the front of the lobby. No big deal . . . we just had to ask, as we couldn't figure out on our own how to get me out there!

I think that Disney may be better prepared to assist people who must remain in their chairs/use power chairs than for those like me. You are correct in that all drivers knew how to load & lock down the chairs. We didn't want to use that option all the time. This is when we ran into resistance. Many drivers insisted on opening the rear & closed the front doors. A number of times I simply got out at the door & waited while DH went to the back & told them we to transfer. They were usually very agreeable at that point. Overall, I'd rather they err in this fashion than the reverse. Far better to strap me in than to let someone else go rolling around the bus!

 

[HugsForEeyore]

Hi, Piratesmate! You did see us at AKL? Wow! We were pretty hard to miss, I guess! I hope we weren't doing anything too illegal or embarrasing at that time (hee hee ) - I even wore my DIS t-shirt one day there. Our group had the beautiful black lab service dog, which probably about half of the whole Lodge petted at one point or another! He was quite the popular guy!

Funny you mentioned the buttons to press to open the doors - we had a problem there, too. My friend who uses the power wheelchair would press the button, but by the time she could maneuver her chair to get through, the doors would already be closing. Her range of movement is quite limited, so many things were pretty difficult for us, but we managed. My friend also never went out the savannah area off the lobby - I think there was an elevator somewhere, but we actually never saw much of the animals, since it unfortunately was not a priority during our trip. We had a parking lot view from our room, and the door to the balcony swings open (not slides), so even if we had a savannah view, my friend probably would have had great difficulty getting out on the balcony in the power chair.

But overall, we had a great time at AKL and WDW!! I got to get a trip report up one of these days!

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[piratesmate]

HugsforEeyore - You weren't doing anything embarassing or illegal any of the times we saw you! In fact, you were all so calm & polite to people that I felt embarassed the few times I felt annoyed with people around me. (It really irks me when people either walk in front of the chair & expect you not to hit them or they lean or jump over it!

Anyway, we had a pool view room on the Giraffe Trail & our balcony door did slide. If you ever stay at AKL again, I would let them know & see what they can do. They were very accommodating. We had paid for a parking lot view, but requested proximity to the buses. (I'm not a size 3 & DH has to push the manual chair everywhere.) It would have been a tight squeeze though for your friend to move around the room, though.

Also, the only people we saw interact with your service dog were the life guards who brought water one evening while you were at the pool. I thought the lab might kiss his face off! LOL! My DD wanted to come over to see the dog (we rent & can't have one & she really, really wants a dog!!!) but we had told her not to approach the dog as it is a service dog. (I used to have deaf friends with a service dog who had difficulty with people always playing with it.) Now I wish we'd introduced ourselves. I probably would have if we'd seen you with the DIS shirt! I never saw any lime green ribbons - the entire 10 days! (We never got any - the local stores had various shades of green, but none seemed right & it kept getting put off!)