Manual wheelchair rental

[BorisMD]

Hi,

My family and I will be going down in March, staying at the Beach Club Villas, and my wife likes to use a wheelchair for park touring. It would be nice to have one at the hotel so that she can be pushed over to Epcot International Gateway, Boardwalk, etc. What I'm looking for is information about where we can rent a manual wheelchair for the duration of our stay. Furthermore, I'd like to get one of the nicer, "younger", style chairs (e.g. quickie). I have seen that many of the rental places will drop off and pick up at the hotel, that would be a plus.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

Boris

 

[LizL]

Someone will be along shortly with teh names, websites and phone numbers for the 3 most frequently used places. One is walkermobility.com. They have scooters and manual chairs.
POwer wheelchairs can be rented from Care mobility. Both of these places deliver and pick-up from your hotel.

You didn't mention your wife's health problems, so I don't know how much she uses the chair, but I'll give you my two cents worth as a long-time pusher of manual chairs.

DH and I are leaving for our first trip in about 30 minutes. He has been using a manual chair for teh past 2 1/2 years that I push. He has to use it everywhere he goes. We just bought him a power chair but it has not arrived yet. He cannot use a scooter because he cannot hold his arms out that long.

If he were able to use it, we would have rented a scooter. But we are renting him a power wheelchair that uses the joystick control from Care mobility.

When we return next week,I will let you know how it went.

If your wife can manage it, I would highly recommend a scooter or powerchair. For one thing, you WILL get tired of pushing the manual chair. But most importantly, she will be dependent on you for transportation - not fun at Disney. A scooter or power chair will allow her to get from one place to another on her own.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would definitely agree with LizL's comments about being better off with an ECV rather than a wheelchair as pushing a wheelchair can get very tiresome, especially if you are not used to it. Also it depends on the weight of the passenger and the condition of the pusher(s). Some information for off-site rentals are:

Here are the urls:

Walker Mobility:
1-888-726-6837
www.walkermobility.com

Care Medical:
http://www.caremedicalequipment.com/

RANDY'S Mobility is in Kissimmee 407-892-4777
http://randysmobility.com/

Colonial Medical
http://www.colonialmed.com/about_cms.html

These should also have various wheelchairs available, as well as ECVs.

I have used Walker a few times. They will ask for a credit card and charge it the day before arrival. They will deliver the ECV to your hotel bell services before your arrival and pick it up there after your departure. Their rates, especially for longer than a week, are much better than Disney's. Also, their scooters are much better.

You don't say if you are renting a car or what. If you are using a car for getting around, the ECVs break down into five pieces, the heaviest about 39 pounds. They take about a minute or so to take apart and about two minutes (once you are used to it) to put it together.

If you are not using a car, Disney Transport is very good about handling both wheelchairs and ECVS.

Another possibility, but not a definite, is borrowing a wheelchair from your resort. If they have one available, there is no charge and it will be useable by you for the duration of your stay. However, comments have been that these are definitely not the gbest wheelchairs available, and they probably do not have nay of they specific type youwant.

 

[Talking Hands]

I also recommend a scooter over a manual wheelchair. Once she tries one she will never want to go back to a manual. The freedom is wonderful.

 

[BorisMD]

Thanks everyone for the replies. My wife is an above knee amputee, and normally wears a prosthetic leg. She can walk fine with this, but the distances required at Disney get to be too much, and her leg getting sore becomes the limiting step (pun intended) for our park touring. We've rented manual chairs at the parks in the past, but have then had to leave them at the parks. As I mentioned earlier, I was hoping for something to use around the hotel, to cruise over to boardwalk, Epcot, etc. The electric would be more than we really need, and I really don't mind the exercise of pushing (I'm actively fighting the fact that I just turned 40 , and trying to burn off those excessive Disney calories).

BTW, if you see a guy pushing around a wheelchair loaded down with a mom and two kids, it's likely to be me--it's quite a sight--that does get to be a tough haul, especially up some of those inclines!

We will have a rental car, and depending on the park we're visiting, we'll either drive or use WDW transportation.

Thanks for the info, I'll give those folks a call.

Boris

 

[SueM in MN]

I just wanted to add that the rental places will not rent a power wheelchair to you unless you already have experience using one. Power wheelchairs take a little more practice to use than an ecv; they drive with a joystick that controls direction and power. The ecvs steer with a yoke, kind of like steering a bike, so they are much easier to drive.

 

[cupcake]

If you would prefer a wc at your resort, I personally would rent from an off-site vendor. It's reasonably priced and you will be able to control what you get. I have, however, borrowed wcs from resorts for many, many years (back when I didn't know about off-site rentals). Unlike others here, I thought they were generally in better condition that the park wcs. In fact, they all looked like they hadn't been used much. If your resort doesn't have what you need, they can borrow from another resort. Downside: you risk losing time getting what you need and there's no guarantee that you will be 100% able to get what you need or whether it will be in good shape. The Swan doesn't have their own fleet of wcs, they rent off site & need advance notice (I assume the Dolphin is like this too). Also, if you are going during a peak period, I absolutely recommend renting off-site, the resort fleet isn't that large and you may be out of luck. Finally, another plus of off-site rentals is that their wcs are more comfortable. Many of the WDW wcs (esp those at the parks) cannot be adjusted (footrest height) or are somewhat saggy. Have a super trip!!!!!

Cupcake