My experience w/WDW busses from All-Star Music & scooter

[Goldelpack]

Back in December I stayed at the All Star Music for an 11 day vacation. On each of those days I used WDW busses utilizing a scooter to get to & from parks, Disney Springs, etc. Overall it was a positive experience with a few minor glitches - mostly on bus driver issues. The most repeated issue was being told to wait at different places at the hotel pick up spot. Generally I waited at the indicated wheelchair spot - but some are hard to determine which park it's for! Usually it is too the LEFT of the normal spot - but not always. The most frustrating for me was having a driver tell me to wait at Point A for the MK because the driver can see the person clearer - so the next time I went to the MK I parked there... and the driver of that bus said.. No! You must wait over there and directed me to go all the way around and behind the line of waiting guests to the place I was told not wait at rather than let me roll the very short distance along the curb. She was not very nice about this. Similar experience for the Epcot stop. The wheelchair waiting spots should be made much more clear.
An isolated issue shows how adaptive the busses can be - but also some driver issues - one night I was leaving the MK about 30 minutes before park closing. When I got to the MUSIC bus stop there was a full line of people and 2 ECVs waiting so I didn't even go up there to wait. Once the full bus left - probably 15 minutes later, it was myself (on scooter) and another scooter person with a group of about 10. No others on the line yet. 15 minutes passed and a fairly long line of people showed up along with an ACADEMY bus - which apparently are a 3rd party bus service that WDW was using and are NOT able to carry wheelchairs or scooters. (This had happened several times & I just had to wait for next bus) - but since both of us had been there before the line up formed - a cast member came over and said they were going to contact dispatch to have a bus come for us right away - I was staying at MUSIC and the other party was staying at MOVIES. About 4 minutes later, a bus pulled up. I boarded first and told the very friendly driver I was going to MUSIC and she proceeded to attempt to lock down my scooter. The only way to do it for my model is to use the S hook -- but she was trying to hook it to the fender without the hook. This took at least 5 minutes until she finally relented and hooked around instead of under. In the meantime a fairly big line up of guests was forming. Next party loaded and we figured she'd allow the other guests to board. NOPE! She drove away leaving all the people - the cast member who'd called for her to come was signaling her to stop, but she ignored him. We go through the gate to All-Star resorts - Sports was still closed and I was a bit surprised when she completely passed MUSIC and turned into MOVIES. She pulled the bus up to where the unload place should be - and when she came back to operated the lift - I said.. I'm staying at MUSIC - and she said... oh I thought you were both here.. then she opened the door and the lift wouldn't work so she lifted it by hand - and when it was deployed it was about 3 feet away from the curb - just floating in the air. The bus had to be at least 5 or 6 feet from the curb. She closed it and went back to reposition the bus... an now it was about a foot away from the curb. 3rd try -- it was now at an angle and about 6 inches of one side of the ramp was touching the curb - she directed the woman to go slow -- and thankfully no harm done.. but that was concerning to me...
ok. back to driving and we headed back around to MUSIC - and once again when she deployed the ramp it was a significant distance from the curb and not possible for me to use the ramp.. she got close enough the next time - her testing it by stepping on the ramp - which was probably a 1/4 of the weight of my scooter & me.
Under normal circumstances I would not have used that ramp..
I did compose an email describing this.. but realized I never sent it and it's probably not worth it now - I would hope she realized she needed more training.

 

[Selket]

I stayed at ASMovies the first week of December and I agree sometimes it wasn't clear exactly where to wait. Usually my son boarded the bus with me so he could see better and would check around to make sure I was in the right place. It's not really any more fun to be staying at a resort that has one us stop and there are multiple ppl using a WC/ECV and we're all going different places. The AS resorts used to have CM's out at the bus area during busy times to help people out but I didn't see anyone there this trip. All my bus drivers and experiences were good fortunately.

That's crazy about your bus ride! I would have had her drive my ECV off the bus if she thought it was safe. Geeez. I did figure out that it was closer for me to get off the bus at ASMusic - my room at Movies was fairly close to their bus stop. If the bus was full of people it was def easier to get off the bus at Movies since it was the last stop and that way everyone was off the bus so I always stayed on to disembark there.

 

[Evita_W]

Whe we stayed at All Star Sports, we ended up using all of the All Star buses interchangeably since DH and I both had scooters, we literally went with whichever line didn't have too many scooters, even sometimes splitting up between buses going to two different resorts. The mice thing was we rented from Gold, so we always had way more than enough power to go any distance we needed to when we got back.

They really need to stop using the coach buses completely.

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

We were waiting at Ak in October to go back to Jambo House. When we got in line no one was there. We were the first ones. We waited in the wheelchair spot. We had 2 wheelchair Convaid strollers that are transport ready . They have the hooks for the tie downs . We waited about 30 minutes for the bus and then there was a long line. And guess what bus came ? The coach bus with no wheelchair access so we couldn’t get on. My daughter doesn’t walk. We were so upset.So we had to wait again and when the next bus came the driver wasn’t very nice. He almost wasn’t going to take us because he asked us where our red stroller tag was , the ones you get stroller to be used a wheelchair. I said we didn’t get them as they are wheelchairs and besides I didn’t think you needed those for the bus. I thought those were for the parks. I explained that these are wheelchairs and are transport ready and not a regular baby stroller. They are specifically made to be transported on buses and crash tested. He told us he wasn’t supposed to take us because we didn’t have that tag. He was not nice!We are going to Disney World next month and I Am bringing my daughter’s wheelchair instead of the convaid stroller because of the hard time we had.

 

[DisneyOma]

We were waiting at Ak in October to go back to Jambo House. When we got in line no one was there. We were the first ones. We waited in the wheelchair spot. We had 2 wheelchair Convaid strollers that are transport ready . They have the hooks for the tie downs . We waited about 30 minutes for the bus and then there was a long line. And guess what bus came ? The coach bus with no wheelchair access so we couldn’t get on. My daughter doesn’t walk. We were so upset.So we had to wait again and when the next bus came the driver wasn’t very nice. He almost wasn’t going to take us because he asked us where our red stroller tag was , the ones you get stroller to be used a wheelchair. I said we didn’t get them as they are wheelchairs and besides I didn’t think you needed those for the bus. I thought those were for the parks. I explained that these are wheelchairs and are transport ready and not a regular baby stroller. They are specifically made to be transported on buses and crash tested. He told us he wasn’t supposed to take us because we didn’t have that tag. He was not nice!We are going to Disney World next month and I Am bringing my daughter’s wheelchair instead of the convaid stroller because of the hard time we had.

I think the confusion is because the Convaid stroller (which you call a stroller here, right? So it looks more like a stroller than a wheelchair?) is not a typical wheelchair. Depending on the model, many look like conventional strollers with nicer seats. How did you access attractions without the stroller as a wheelchair tag? None of the CMs questioned you? (That would be awesome, as that means they are all well trained to recognize them)

Instead of bringing the wheelchair, you could always get the tag, couldn't you?

 

[lanejudy]

@tinkerbelllacey If the Convaid is more comfortable for your child, I would definitely bring that again. Not all Convaid strollers have the transport option, so only some can safely be tied down on the buses. I recommend you use electrical or painters tape to mark the tie-downs for the drivers, and politely explain it is transport-ready. The driver is actually doing what he should do -- which is question the stroller -- because the vast majority of strollers are not safe for use during transport. Some guests who rent a special needs stroller don't know the difference and try to tell the driver it's a wheelchair when it doesn't have the appropriate fittings for tie-down. You are correct that the stroller-as-wheelchair tag should not be used to designate a transport-ready stroller.

Of course, that doesn't excuse rudeness on the driver's part and I'm very sorry you encountered that. But I would definitely use the Convaid on another trip if that is more comfortable. Be sure to get the tag at the parks so you aren't questioned there, either.

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

I think the confusion is because the Convaid stroller (which you call a stroller here, right? So it looks more like a stroller than a wheelchair?) is not a typical wheelchair. Depending on the model, many look like conventional strollers with nicer seats. How did you access attractions without the stroller as a wheelchair tag? None of the CMs questioned you? (That would be awesome, as that means they are all well trained to recognize them)

Instead of bringing the wheelchair, you could always get the tag, couldn't you?

We didn’t have any problems in the parks. No one questioned us. They said it was a wheelchair so we didn’t need the tag. It looks much bigger than a regular stroller. It is a convaid easy rider.
My daughter is an adult, age 23 but very small and looks much younger. she is severely disabled.Thank you

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

@tinkerbelllacey If the Convaid is more comfortable for your child, I would definitely bring that again. Not all Convaid strollers have the transport option, so only some can safely be tied down on the buses. I recommend you use electrical or painters tape to mark the tie-downs for the drivers, and politely explain it is transport-ready. The driver is actually doing what he should do -- which is question the stroller -- because the vast majority of strollers are not safe for use during transport. Some guests who rent a special needs stroller don't know the difference and try to tell the driver it's a wheelchair when it doesn't have the appropriate fittings for tie-down. You are correct that the stroller-as-wheelchair tag should not be used to designate a transport-ready stroller.

Of course, that doesn't excuse rudeness on the driver's part and I'm very sorry you encountered that. But I would definitely use the Convaid on another trip if that is more comfortable. Be sure to get the tag at the parks so you aren't questioned there, either.

Thank you

 

[DisneyOma]

We didn’t have any problems in the parks. No one questioned us. They said it was a wheelchair so we didn’t need the tag. It looks much bigger than a regular stroller. It is a convaid easy rider.
My daughter is an adult, age 23 but very small and looks much younger. she is severely disabled.Thank you

That's great news, that the park CMs didn't question the wheelchair stroller. I'm wondering if the bus drivers question them because they are not the "classic wheelchair" style, and they get dozens (if not hundreds) of people trying to wheel strollers onto the buses. We were at a stop once, and the bus driver got one guest with a wheelchair on, then a half dozen families with strollers stormed the ramp and pushed their way on. It was horrible.