Lines that are difficult despite being accessible

[WDWAurora]

I thought, following our experience last week, that it might be helpful if there were a list of lines that were difficult, even though they were accessible, for ECVs and wheelchairs.

For us, the worst was for the Little Mermaid ride. There were a lot of narrow switchbacks in low lighting. Add to that, a trash can was placed in the middle of a switchback, shortly after coming into the low lighting. Pretty sure my dad dented it, and the noise was awful when he hit it.

Nemo was similar, with the coming in from daylight into low lighting, with multiple switchbacks.

Both of these were probably more difficult to navigate due to low crowds-continuing to move, rather than having pauses with the line.

Any other examples? I may think of more as I think about it more.

 

[serenitynow]

As soon as I read your thread title I knew I was going to slam Little Mermaid line. It is the worst. Tight turns, dim lighting, switchbacks and wide enough in places for people to try to rush past while you are slowly trying to make the short radius turns. Then you have to worry about hitting the people trying to go around you while also struggling not to run into anything. Epic fail on the designers part!

 

[minnie mum]

I have no doubt that some queues are difficult for ecvs, including the 2 mentioned. Some ECVs have a larger turning radius and some drivers aren't particularly skilled, which can make even the widest queue a demolition derby. But I have to say that I haven't encountered any difficulties using a wheelchair.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Let's see, which lines do I hate the most? I push DS (age 25) in a manual (Convaid) chair. Soarin' and Space Mountain are awful. So hilly and it is hard to deal with the WC, the chair has brakes but it is hard to keep locking them and unlocking them. But I guess for EVCs it is not a problem. Nemo at Epcot has so many twists and turns, and it is usually an empty queue for the first 2/3 of it. While I love the Monster's Laugh floor holding area with the separate line, but before you get to that point, there are many, many switchbacks, and again, it is often empty, and I think they could let WC (and everyone else for that matter) skip all that back and forth.

The entrance hill to Animal Kingdom is tough, and omg parking in the parking garage at Disney Springs and trying to walk to the World of Disney is a nightmare with steep hills. All of this worries me, because DS loves Disney, but as I get older, it gets harder to deal with the pushing up and down hills.

It does not ruin my trip, of course, and I just grin and bear it, and try my best.

 

[ttintagel]

Yeah, Finding Nemo and Space Mountain are both dark and twisty. And although it's technically past the queue, getting from the stretching rooms to the loading area at the haunted mansion is pretty rough - absolutely pitch dark, and lots of people running around willy-nilly pushing and shoving. Buzz Lightyear is well-lit, but also cramped and tight.

 

[WDWAurora]

My new one: great movie ride!!! Those lanes are super narrow. We also got scolded there for not having my dad in front. Seriously? Clearly she had never tried to keep an excited 5 and 3 year old from being in front where they could see better than when they were behind the ECV!

 

[ButterflyEffect]

May I ask what a switchback is?

 

[WDWAurora]

May I ask what a switchback is?

When the line is going one direction, then turns back the other direction. Does that make sense?

 

[minnie mum]

When the line is going one direction, then turns back the other direction. Does that make sense?

Yep. You know how the line goes back and forth and back and forth? The switch back is where you go from forth to back. Or vice versa.

 

[dvc at last !]

I am very interested in this info. We will be at WDW in February with my brother who has issues since his stroke.

 

[blondietink]

I agree about Soarin". First we are pushers ... parents pushing two young adults in wheelchairs. First of all the steep climb into the building usually dodging people coming down from the building in the lane that is clearly marked for wheelchairs. Then having to try and fit in the tiniest elevator of all time, then get in the ride line that you have to push up a hill and then when you get close to the ride itself, you have to hold the wheelchair on a decline. We usually try and turn the wheelchair to face the wall just so we don't have to put the brakes on and off all the time. The other horrible place is to get the monorail at the TTC. The incline is terrible for pushers of wheelchairs. We almost always take the ferry boat now, especially since we have exhausted ourselves pushing down and then up on the sidewalk from the handicapped parking lot. These places would be fine in an ECV, but as pushers of wheelchairs, they are the worst!

 

[Wendydagny]

I have actually asked at both LM and Nemo to go through the fastpass line when the wait is less than 20 min because of this, and have always been accommodated.

 

[Simba's Mom]

So on Nemo they let you go through the line in your ECV? I was wondering about that-I had to unexpectedly rent an ECV at Epcot last trip, and I avoided Nemo (even though I had a FP+). Do they take your ECV and have it for you at the end of the ride?

 

[WDWAurora]

So on Nemo they let you go through the line in your ECV? I was wondering about that-I had to unexpectedly rent an ECV at Epcot last trip, and I avoided Nemo (even though I had a FP+). Do they take your ECV and have it for you at the end of the ride?

You go just past where everyone else gets on, then they move the ECV.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Trying to get up the hill to get onto the monorail at MK is another rough one for manual chairs. Epcot has an elevator, which is nice.

 

[lizard1]

I would agree with Soarin' Add to it the CMs who keep yelling at you to move forward and fill in the space. I would be closer if I wasn't afraid of running into the people in front of me with the wheelchair I am pushing! I think part of their training should involve pushing an adult in a wheelchair through those lines, maybe then they would understand why I would like to leave more than a few inches in front of me!

 

[The Hunchback]

Mickey's Phliharmonic is really my least favorite on an ECV. In addition to the switch backs, the rail is just the right height to hit your head on if you are forced to move fast to get out of someone's way. Toy story is also tough if you can't get family to be in front of you and behind. I need room to cross back and forth in the line to make the turns smoothly.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I have actually asked at both LM and Nemo to go through the fastpass line when the wait is less than 20 min because of this, and have always been accommodated.

I wish the CMs would get their acts together and stop breaking the rules.

 

[pampam]

Another difficult ramp while pushing a WC is at the TTC going onto the Ferry boat. One time it was damp from rain, and as I was telling myself "Be careful, you might fall" as I tried to hold the WC back so it wouldn't get away from me, I slipped and fell flat on my back with the bag on the back of the WC, oxygen cylinders, the wheelchair, and DD in the chair lying on top of me. Fortunately, the bag on the back of the WC cushioned the weight of it all on me.

 

[Wendydagny]

I wish the CMs would get their acts together and stop breaking the rules.

Snark much?

How is it breaking the rules to ask to enter the FP+ line using a DAS when the standby time is low enough that you would not be given a return time anyway? I'm pretty sure that in each of these cases my dd has actually waited longer (due to needing the wheelchair vehicle) than any of the people walking right on from standby.

These queues in particular can be very dangerous to someone on a ventilator or running IV fluids (or even tube feeds) because it is impossible to see, and easy to snag tubing in all the switchbacks.